The film opens with a horrifying double murder. We can’t quite determine who the murderer is. He’s stall, lean, and he knows exactly what he’s doing, but as we only see him from behind – the camera tracks him walking the street at a brisk pace – we never see his face. With brazen confidence, […]

It has all the hallmarks of being based on a true story. There are times and dates to give perspective, location titles to let you know where you are, plus there’s attention to detail with an added sense of urgency that makes things anxious and even exciting. Yet once you know that The Hummingbird Project […]

It’s amazing how potent the emotional impact of a 1949 play can be no matter how many times you’ve seen it. In a world where our technological developments advance at a breathtakingly rapid pace, certain things remain the same. When it comes to the laws of human nature, what was relevant in ‘49 can still […]

In the original 2014 Chilean-Spanish character-driven drama Gloria the title role was played by Pauline Garcia, a well-known playwright and theatre director from Chile. In the new American version, Gloria is played by Julianne Moore, and it’s a virtual scene-by-scene remake, which shouldn’t surprise when you discover that both films were written and directed by […]

Okay. So, raise your hand if you’ve ever heard a guitar riff by, say, Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton, and you’ve suddenly felt the urge to pull a rock ‘n roll face, bite your bottom lip, and play the air-guitar. I thought so. We’ve all done it. And if you said, no, then come on, […]

There’s a mistake Shakespearean scholars often make. When writing about the Bard they assume without explanation that the reader knows what a ‘Folio’ or a ‘Quarto’ is. The average reader doesn’t. But it pays to know in order to make sense of what those essayists are writing about. As the mobsters in the Broadway musical […]