Donald Clarke

• Deaths
• January 31, 2011, 22:08

The urge to hum “The James Bond Theme” is almost irresistible. Dum dee dum dum, dum dum dum. Dum dee dum dum, dum dum dum. DAH DAH! DAH DOO DAH! But, of course, John Barry did not actually write that …

• Uncategorized
• January 30, 2011, 22:01

There’s nothing more tedious than newspaper articles whinging about the ubiquity of sequels. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We get it. Back in the old days, sequels were outlawed by the witchfinders and every film sprung fresh and new from Mrs Hollywood’s …

• Bride of Frankenstein
• January 27, 2011, 22:13

Here’s something to while away the hours. The busy people at Box Office Quant have found time to draw up a map — more accurately a Cartesian graph — that examines the merits of a sequel relative to the original …

• Oscars
• January 25, 2011, 18:19

I would not be human if I did not crow a little. Yesterday, this “blog” offered predictions for Oscar nominations in the best picture, best director, best actor and best actress races. How did we do? 25 out of 25. …

• Oscars Uncategorized
• January 24, 2011, 00:18

The Oscars nominations are due on Tuesday afternoon and the bickering over what’s in and what’s out is intense. Actually, it isn’t. Unlike last year, Oscar speculation has been sparse in this place during the current season. There are two …

• Oscars
• January 21, 2011, 22:14

On many previous occasions, I have given out about the Academy Award for best foreign language picture. I am not alone. The selection procedures for this gong are insane and, even when the correct films make it into the final …

• Hell
• January 20, 2011, 12:05

I cant beleeve it. Chrstopher Nowlan has cast Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in his follow up to what all cool critics say is the gr8test film of all time. this an outrage . She is three inches shorter than Selina …

• Television
• January 19, 2011, 18:18

Well, no. Last year, after climbing upon my high horse, I questioned the BBC’s decision to name Ms Winkleman as Jonathan Ross’s successor on the “Film” programme. It remains the case that she seems somewhat under-qualified. Whatever you think of …

• Golden Globes
• January 17, 2011, 21:17

You almost certainly had better things to do with your time than stay up to watch the Golden Globes last night. There were, however, some sources of entertainment during the shindig. Invited back after ruffling a few feathers last year, …

• 3-D
• January 15, 2011, 16:10

There was a mild disturbance in the Nerdisphere this week when images of Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man emerged. As you may be aware, the latest webslinger picture is to be a reboot of the franchise launched so successfully by Sam …

• Best-of lists
• January 13, 2011, 15:30

The good people at Dangerous Minds have just dragged out a clip from one of the great unseen debuts. Making Martin Scorsese’s Who’s That Knocking at My Door appear as conspicuous as Avatar, Quentin Tarantino’s My Best Friend’s Birthday has …

• Deaths
• January 11, 2011, 00:07

The versatile English director Peter Yates has died at the age of 81. Quite a number of the obituaries pointed out that he directed one of the great sequences of cinematic automotive mayhem. They are quite right. It featured cracking …

• Moaning
• January 9, 2011, 18:30

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with young people. They won’t watch old films any more. I thought about this recently when I was compiling a list of (how quaint) Christmas TV movies for a radio broadcast. My notion was to …

• 3-D
• January 5, 2011, 21:04

I am sure that distributors are sick to death of film critics complaining about the stubborn refusal of 3-D to go away and die. They spend millions researching this process, look back in delight as audiences flock to don the …

• Box Office Figures
• January 4, 2011, 20:48

Here’s an interesting statistic. With a take of around $25 million, the Coen Brothers’ True Grit has just secured the biggest US opening weekend for a proper Western in cinema history. (If you allow in Wild Wild West, which is …