Film & Books
Where as the Music Journalism section of my site is basically my writer's CV this section is more like a diary, offering my thoughts on the latest books I've read and the films I've seen either on DVD or at the cinema. I use to write film reviews for the webzine musicOMH but when I moved onto other publications I stopped writing about films so this is a good opportunity for me to talk movies...and books!18/11/07 Catching Up...
With Christmas just five weeks away and a busy writing schedule trips to the cinema have unfortunately been few and far between recently.
Michael Moore’s latest documentary ‘Sicko’ is typically one-sided and manipulative but essential viewing. He looks at the US health service which from Moore’s point of view appears totally corrupt and unjust. Perhaps the most interesting part of the film is when Moore comes to England and interviews some NHS workers in London: one GP is asked how much he earns annually, how much his car is worth and how much his house is worth. When translated into US dollars it’s a million pound house and about $100,000 a year salary. Moore was shocked to say the least. Of course Moore overlooks the waiting lists, the poor management and the bad reputation that the NHS currently has. You can either hate him or love him – I’m for the latter.
‘Stardust’ is a terrific fantasy film based on a novella by cult author Neil Gaiman. Perhaps a little over-long, nevertheless, ‘Stardust’ is filled with many memorable characters and some witty dialogue. Robert De Niro plays a cross-dressing pirate to hilarious perfection and Ricky Gervais has a scene stealing cameo as a dodgy salesman. It’s especially good to see a strong British cast. ‘Stardust’ shows that Matthew Vaughn has a promising career as a film director; his next picture is supposedly ‘Thor.’
I’ve got to quickly mention the last book I read: Richard Hell’s ‘Go Now.’ It is a clever, smart and utterly gripping novel written in first person narrative similar to the film noir writers of the thirties and forties and later, the beatnik writers of the fifties. Hell – a leading figure in the punk movement – creates a taut setting as his character strugglers with drug addiction and all of his other vices while travelling across America. ‘Go Now’ had been sitting on my bookcase for years but I’ve only just found time to read it. Well, better late than never as they say…
Neil.
07/11/07 Books On The Table …
As we’re quickly approaching Christmas the bookstores are crammed with music biographies and autobiographies; if you can find your way through the maze of commercial rubbish such as the latest literary endeavours by Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne then there are in fact some great tomes to be found in the pre-Christmas sales rush. Check out:
‘The Autobiography’ by Eric Clapton
‘The Heroin Diaries’ by Nikki Sixx (with Ian Gittens)
‘The Autobiography’ by Ronnie Wood
‘Barefaced Lies & Boogie-woogie Boasts’ by Jools Holland
‘The Autobiography’ by Slash (with Anthony Bozza)Matthias Mader at Iron Pages in Berlin kindly sent me an English copy of the magnificent tome ‘The N.W.O.B.H.M Encyclopaedia’ by Malc Macmillan and his own German book on Judas Priest; although I can’t read German the photo sections are superb and it looks like a very professional and interesting read. Go here for details: http://www.ip-verlag.de
Evidently, I’ve got plenty to read that’ll take me well into 2008.
Neil.
24/10/07 Recent Film & Book Releases …
I’m not a fan of Rob Zombie’s films although I do love his music: I thought ‘House Of 1000 Corpses’ was utter drivel and ‘The Devil’s Reject’s’ was rotten nonsense. His current film – a remake of John Carpenter’s classic slasher film ‘Halloween’ – is just plain boring. Carpenter’s version cannot be improved upon; it’s a terrific low budget Hitchcockian film and a fine representation of the genre. However, Zombie’s remake is totally devoid of any cinematic intelligence; sure, I can just about cope with the over-abundance of swear words and the nudity is certainly not a problem but there is a complete lack of suspense and intrigue. Similarly to Gus Van Sant’s pointless remake of ‘Psycho,’ it’s a complete waste of time.
Contrastingly, I also had to sit through Pixar’s latest CGI film ‘Ratatouille.’ It’s not that bad but it’s not that good either unlike ‘Toy Story’ and ‘The Incredibles’ which are truly brilliant films. It’s over-long and the jokes are too few and far between. The problem with Pixar film’s is that the effects and scripts are just too damn perfect; sometimes I just want a bit of grittiness even in a Disney film.
The third film I’ve seen at the cinema in as many weeks is ‘The Dark Is Rising.’ Since the success of Peter Jackson’s big screen versions of the ‘Lord Of The Rings’ trilogy there is a huge market for fantasy films, which should keep quite a few well-respected British actor’s in employment for a while. This film stars Ian McShane and Christopher Eccleston; both of whom have built up strong reputations on the other side of the Atlantic in recent years. ‘The Dark Is Rising’ is fun stuff but barely making an-hour-and-a-half it is too short and the action pieces are rather ineffective; the characters could have been better developed too. Having said all that, it could have been a lot worse…like ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ which was just awful.
I’ve also finished reading the new Van Halen bio ‘Everybody Wants Some’ by the revered US metal author Ian Christe for a review in the December issue of Powerplay. It’s definitely a recommended read and like my Judas Priest book it is also unauthorised but that doesn’t stop Christe from shedding some light on the band’s tumultuous history. More information is obtainable from www.soundofthebest.com
18/09/07 Books Glorious Books …
Alongside the clichéd desk lamp and dusty mat, PC, dictionary and coffee stains, there’s a pile of books on my cluttered desk that doesn’t seem to be reducing in size. I’m a compulsive book buyer by nature (mostly second-hand books) and not only do I buy books regularly but I have the luxury of occasional receiving a free book too, albeit music related.
At the minute I am looking forward to reading ‘Echo Park’ by Michael Connelly, ‘Divine Visions: A life Of Phillip K. Dick’ by Lawrence Sutin, ‘The Beat Hotel’ by Barry Miles, ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorised Biography’ by Nick Rennison and ‘The Poe Shadow’ by Matthew Pearl.
Music-wise I’ve got ‘The Rolling Stones: The Origin Of The Species: How, Why and Where It All Began’ by Alan Clayson to get through as well as ‘Billy Joel: The Biography’ by Mark Bego and perhaps most excitingly of all Ian Christie’s unofficial hardback biography of Van Halen ‘Everybody Wants Some: The Van Halen Saga.’
I may not have much space to write, but hell, with such quality I can’t really complain can I?
14/09/07 Introduction.
In this section of my website I finally get the chance to discuss the latest films I’ve seen and the books I’ve read …
I watch most types of films: the pretentious side of my personality loves 1960s French Cinema (aka Novalle Vague,) Italian neo-realism, film noir and films by such esteemed directors as Hitchcock, Scorsese, Ford, Hawks, Wyler, Ray, Cukor et al. A special mention must go to three of the world’s most underrated film-makers; Don Siegel, Walter Hill and Nicholas Roeg. The other side of me loves Hollywood blockbusters – especially films from the eighties. I like films by Robert Zemekis, James Cameron, Richard Donner, Joe Dante, John Landis and any other director who can make an entertaining Hollywood film that doesn’t patronize you and makes you feel like you’re in a fantasy world for a couple of hours. I’m horror film fanatic and at some point I’ll give you a detail feature on my love of the genre. Meanwhile here is a small list of some sites every lover of weird cinema must visit:
Gorezone
www.gorezone.co.uk The Dark Side
www.darksidemagazine.com Empire
www.empireonline.com SFX
www.sfx.co.uk Total Film
www.totalfilm.com
Books wise: my main love is of American detective fiction. I have recently started to expand on my collection of LA crime fiction so authors like Michael Connelly, Robert Crais and James Ellroy feature extensively. I also like science fiction and horror – I have an almost complete collection of UK hardback books by Stephen King. Clive James and Colin Wilson inspire me as do a few other public intellectuals. To learn how to write ‘proper’ bio’s I obviously read a lot of autobiographies/biographies related to film and music. I enjoy reading music books by the likes of Mick Wall, Chuck Klosterman, Paul Morley, Joel McIver, Jeff Apter, Chris Welch, Chris Salewicz, Phillip Norman, Gavin Baddeley, Charles Shaar Murray, Mark Bego, David Buckley and Barry Miles. I also like to read film books by such writers as Kim Newman, Mark Kermode, Mark Cousins, Peter Biskind, Peter Cowie, David Thompson, Joseph McBride and Donald Spoto. If you’ve got a spare minute, make an effort to check out the following sites:
Kim Newman
www.johnnyalucard.com Stephen King
www.stephenking.com Clive Barker
www.clivebarker.info Ramsey Campbell
www.ramseycampbell.com Michael Connelly
www.michaelconnelly.com James Herbert (Fansite)
www.james-herbert.co.uk Don’t close that door people … I will return here soon!
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