ANDY: Groundhog Day (Ramis, US, 1993)
Close-up of a radio alarm clock. In slow motion the giant numbers fall, like they’re trying to resist but are overwhelmed by the weight of time. Didn’t we do this […]
Author Archives: Andy
Dirk’s Five – krautrocksampler
It began with a joke name taken from the Amon Düül psychedelic improvisation ‘Mama Düül and her Sauerkrautband strike up!’ and changed the face of pop. Stockhausen and the Mothers […]
ANDY: Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog, West Germany, 1972)
Sometimes I like to imagine Werner Herzog works the way he does because nobody ever told him about special effects. If you want to make a film about a 300-ton […]
Dirk’s Five – Tex-Mex
All that other stuff, all that history? To hell with it, right? Forget the Alamo. – Pilar Cruz, LONE STAR The US-Mexico border has long been used in American cinema […]
Starburst Memories: A Guest Post by His Holiness Pope John Paul II
In 1995 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of cinema, the Vatican published a list of 45 (for some reason) “great” films, simply titled “Some Important Films”. And […]
ANDY: Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, Italy, 1948)
BICYCLE THIEVES (Ladri Di Biciclette) is one of those films that will always loom large on certain types of ‘greatest film’ lists, whilst simultaneously not feature at all on others. […]
Dirk’s Five – It’s Not Paranoia
Who watches the watchmen? The answer is “only people who can’t be arsed reading the graphic novel”. In the early days of the movies, themes of surveillance were traditionally found […]
ANDY: The Conversation (Coppola, US, 1974)
The fourth amendment to the United States constitution guarantees “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures”. As […]
Dirk’s Five – There Is Nothing Like The Dame
The identity of Deep Throat, the whereabouts of Lord Lucan, the recipe for Findus Crispy Pancakes: no secret of the last hundred years has been more impressively guarded than the […]
ANDY: Withnail and I (Robinson, UK, 1987)
There isn’t a single line in WITHNAIL AND I that you could edit. The unfortunate consequence of writing such a perfect script is that the wankers will quote it back […]
The Dirk Malcolm Alternative 