CHRIS: Excalibur (Boorman, UK, 1981)
Sigh. If you would have asked me 30 years ago, “name your favourite film, go on, what is it?”. I would have snapped back the prompt response: “Excalibur. Its brilliant.” […]
Author Archives: Dirk
STARBURST MEMORIES: Everybody’s Tarkin
Dirk is pleased to add the mythical Moff Tarkin figure to the Hall of Fame. Believe it or not, it was the 1990s before this seminal figure made an appearance. […]
Dirk’s Five – Cover Ups
Sorry that this is a bit later than usual. Dirk was enjoying the crooning delights of the nation’s favourite bearded-labrador, Guy Garvey and Elbow on Friday, in an intimate gathering […]
CHRIS: Mad Max 2: Road Warrior (Miller, Australia, 1981)
This is a film that existed in my imagination long before I actually saw it on VHS. As a teenager in the nineteen eighties, there were a few posters […]
Dirk’s Five – Herrmann Scores!
This year marks the centenary of Bernard Herrmann, cinema’s foremost composer of soundtracks, and the collaborator with some of Dirk’s favourite auteurs, Welles, Scorsese, Hitchcock and Harryhaussen. This list is […]
CHRIS: El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) (del Toro, Mexico, Spain, 2006)
“I’m not convinced,” texted Dom-Dirk when I suggested that this was probably the most perfect film ever produced. Perfect in the sense that it cannot be improved. Perfect in its […]
Dirk’s Five – Canned Classics
Dirk was disappointed to hear that AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS has been canned. Universal bottled it in face of an unmarketable R-rating. A $150 million budget, James Cameron as […]
DOM: Breaking the Waves (Von Trier, Denmark, Sweden, France, Netherlands, 1996)
When I first started watching films in the late 80s and early 90s, as I have said before Halliwell’s Film Guide led me through the maze of films from the […]
Dirk’s Five – British Film Double Acts
Sorry for the break in the weekly Friday Fives. Dirk was enjoying a holiday in the Lakes and experiencing a poor internet connection. The isolation provided an excellent opportunity to […]
DOM: Listen to Britain (Jennings, UK, 1941)
Humphrey Jennings was called “The only true poet of the English cinema” by Lindsay Anderson, something that could be thought of as true, but Jennings has fallen out of favour […]
The Dirk Malcolm Alternative 