As part of a genuine lineage of literary masters, born from an age of class brilliance, public schools, officers in world wars, country houses etc, Evelyn Waugh was one of those Englishman that Americans and Australians are convinced we’re all still like. Regretfully, we’re not. We are, of course, class mixed, socially removed from one-another,Continue reading “Decline & Fall – Evelyn Waugh”
Category Archives: Review
Fight Club (film, not book)
>The film indeed. For it is this, and not the book, that has seared itself onto the public consciousness. In a multi-media age even the DVD of Fight Club seems old fashioned now, but the book is a practical irrelevance for too many people, so I’ll park that for now. Even Chuck Palahnuick himself wasContinue reading “Fight Club (film, not book)”
Tombstone
Right, let’s not mess around here, I love Gunfight at the OK Corral. Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, great. But this film is something else altogether. It’s not so much a remake as an improvement and, yes, I dare say an improvement, because it’s just a better looking, directed, scripted, acted, produced and presented film. HandsContinue reading “Tombstone”
Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You My Lad – M.R. James
> In the 1800s there were an awful lot of accomplished men, who achieved over and above their fellow man. M.R. James was one such man. Linguist, Medievalist, biblical scholar and palaeographer (no, I don’t know either). Where James is best remembered now however is as a prolific short-story writer and, more specifically, ghost storyContinue reading “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You My Lad – M.R. James”
Unforgiven – Clint Eastwood
>The great thing about Clint Eastwood is that he’s great. Aside from some admittedly embarrassing films in the 70s and 80s when that odd woman Sandra Locke had her claws into him, he’s been pure gold. It says something about a man when people refer to other people as being a bit like you. ‘He’sContinue reading “Unforgiven – Clint Eastwood”
Four Kings – George Kimball
>Kimball was the lead boxing correspondent for the Boston Herald throughout, what he proposes was, the last great period of middleweight, and arguably any weight, of boxing. It’s hard to disagree with the assertion. The four ‘Kings’ in question are Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns and Roberto Duran. These fourContinue reading “Four Kings – George Kimball”
Comics as Literature
In modern culture the blurring of lines between genres, or indeed the format they’re distributed in, is not only prevalent, it’s increasing. The advent of the graphic novel elevated comics away from the ‘Zap’ ‘Pow’ world of underpants worn on the outside, and childish visions of superpowers solving the world’s problems with a wave ofContinue reading “Comics as Literature”
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