There are two types of people in the world and they’re living in your head. They vary depending on the person they’re inside. If you’re trying to stay healthy, then one person will definitely being trying to convince you to keep on the diet, whilst the other one is saying surely you’ve been good for long enough to earn at least one treat. If you’re trying to focus on getting something done then you know one of those people in your head is going to be telling you that there’s no harm in taking just one little night off.
Read MoreThere are some people in the world of cinema whose name becomes synonymous with what they do. You can spot them quite easily. They normally get the word ‘esque’ stuck on the end of their name to tell you another director has tried to respectably rip them off. It’s a sign that their talent has sewn them into the fabric of the cultural landscape. Steven Spielberg is very much one of those people. Although, unlike so many other directors who share that honour with him, he’s transcend the need to be seen as connected to only one genre or style of film. When it comes to Tarantino, Hitchcock, Fellini, Lean or Kubrick, you know roughly where the movie is going to take you. Whereas Spielberg feels more of an iconoclast than the rest of them. Or, at the very least, he appears to have a few extra clubs in his bag.
Read MoreOkay, I want to talk about something in particular this week. Only, in order to do that, I need to make confession before we go any further. Are you ready? This isn’t going to be easy for me.
Here goes nothing…
Next's week blog comes damn near seven days early and it's come with anger in its heart and disbelief on its sleeve. Be warned, there are spoilers beyond this point. There are also some opinions, some facts and a dash of vitriol. Enjoy!
Read MoreI want to talk about a man who’s been inspiring me since I was a kid. Mr Terry Gilliam. There are a lot of people who have shaped my brain. The Marx Brothers. Roald Dahl. Bill Hicks. Woody Allen. Neil Gaiman. Alan Moore. Arthur C Clarke. The list can go on and on, but Terry Gilliam is something special. In fact, he’s such a cornerstone of my desire to tell stories that I’d forgotten how big an influence he was until recently.
Read MoreOur language gives us the capacity to bottle pure lightning in words. There are people who will tell you this is the final act of magic our modern world will allow. They’re words that were created to allow us to express terror or wonder. They are words that feel like they’re carved from the foundations of the world under our feet. Words like genius or awe. Words like love and spirit. Words like monster.
Read MoreFor all my artistic aims, I spend 5 days a week as a data monkey, battling the endless tyranny of spreadsheets and databases. Last Tuesday, amid spreadsheet, a stray thought popped into my head.
Read More I saw Live by Night on Thursday. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. It’s long, I’ll give it that. If you’re looking for value for money, then Live by Night certainly delivers on running time.
On the way home, me and my wife, Sam, worked out that there’s an interesting story buried at the heart of the movie.