White Noise (2022) is an apocalyptic black comedy written and directed by Noah Baumbach, and adapted from a 1985 novel by Don DeLillo — widely considered his breakout novel. One filmmakers have apparently been trying to adapt for decades. The film, in this case, centres around the Gladney family and focuses on the dad, Jack (Adam Driver), a professor in Advanced Nazism studies at the … Continue reading White Noise (2022): mood, themes and vibes
Should you celebrate your name? I think so. Be proud, I say. After all, it’s your name. And thinking on my own name being one of the oldest in the world — it stands to reason that it would’ve turned up in quite a few movies and TV shows. So I decided to investigate. Here are a few favourites. Sean Astin as Mikey in The … Continue reading My favourite film and TV characters named Mike or Michael
Someone I know recently dyed their hair pink. It was previously purple, or maybe green or blue. I forget. Whatever it was, I remember it looked cool at the time. I always noticed it. And let’s face it, if you’ve got bright hair, weird hair, or queer hair, you’re automatically twice as interesting as the rest of us. At least in my book. It’s sort … Continue reading My favourite women in film with brightly-coloured hair
Ah, the humble gas/petrol station. Screenwriters love it as a setting for scenes. Perhaps because, in road movies at least, it offers a way for the characters to have a break from one another, to encounter other people, to get into trouble, assess their situation, that sort of thing. Here are five I like, from action and comedy to sci-fi. Continue reading Top five gas/petrol station scenes in movies
I recently rewatched the 2015 movie Focus, about con artists, and seeing it again I was struck by how truly electric Margot Robbie is on screen… here are some of my favourite performances of hers. Continue reading Top five Margot Robbie performances
As most of us are locked down (note: it’s a pandemic), Valentine’s Day seems somewhat hollow. A good way to fight back against all the romance and declarations of love out there is with movies. But the opposite of romance, if you can find it. Think of them as palate cleansers. As a rule of thumb, when searching for anti-romance, I look for ’90s erotic … Continue reading Anti-Valentine’s Day movies
After getting lambasted by angry man-babies for his attempt to do something very slightly different with Star Wars, you could forgive writer-director Rian Johnson if he decided he wanted to retreat to the hills never to make a movie again. However, the best thing you can do, with most setbacks in life, is to get back out there. And boy, he did. For Knives Out … Continue reading Knives Out: a twisty, hilarious tale from Rian Johnson
We were first introduced to super spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in the first Mission Impossible in 1996 (directed by Brian de Palma), and it represented a bit of a departure for Cruise. His last film credited film before that was Interview with the Vampire (1994) and, with maybe the exception of Top Gun, he’d not really done action before. Not that the first Mission … Continue reading Mission Impossible Fallout: the best one yet?
Recently I was listening to a podcast with Alicia Vikander, one where she talked about her role as the new Lara Croft and how the character has been rebooted as a more realistic heroine for modern women. She mentioned how it seems there’s momentum these days, indeed appetite, towards high quality, well put together, action-driven films that feature a female lead. She mentioned Charlize Theron … Continue reading The rise of the action woman
‘Have you heard the news? Spielberg is directing Ready Player One!’ Thus went the geek cries across the interwebs – and I was one of them. For this was pleasing, one of cinema’s greatest directors was going to bring to screen a fast-paced and cinematic – but frankly tricky – book by Ernest Cline. Mostly because it’s packed with ’80s pop culture references, which go … Continue reading Ready Player One: a young man’s game?
Mikey's Medicine 