HERE BE SPOILERS. Avengers: Endgame is not a film you can talk about in detail without spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, so please don't read on if you get upset by spoilers. I MEAN IT. I don't yet know if I liked the whole film or not. I was very bored in … Continue reading Avengers: Endgame.
Category: film
Sibyl Sue Blue
Sibyl Sue Blue is a sergeant in the police, a mother and a widow. (Or is she?) When she cruises bars in disguise to picks up the information she needs, she manages to look decades younger than she really is with wigs and makeup (and by choosing rather dim men). She adroitly refuses advances from … Continue reading Sibyl Sue Blue
Black Panther
I watched Black Panther as the only woman in a cinema full of men, which is a pity, because, on leaving the screening, full of joy, I realised that I’d forgotten to count the female actors, or to consider how the women were being portrayed. (A dreary game women have been playing for years.) There … Continue reading Black Panther
Which Loki?
Which Loki do you prefer? The Tom Hiddleston iteration of Loki is out and about again, in Thor: Ragnarok, which I would rate at 7 out of 10. He's a lot less Loki-ish in this film than in his earlier appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I think he loses impact by being normalised. … Continue reading Which Loki?
Wonder Woman, screenplay by John Buchan
I saw Wonder Woman last night, and have things on my mind (there will be SPOILERS if you read on). There were only seven people in the cinema (Tuesday night, 17.40 showing, my own private cinema), but by god the Dolby surround was loud, we needed more bodies to absorb the boom. The Themiscyra parts … Continue reading Wonder Woman, screenplay by John Buchan
Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures
I loved the film. I died for the costumes. I was delighted with the actors, the cinematography, the sound, the script. Janelle Monae killed it playing an engineer in NASA's obligatory high heels, though she did not convince me as a mother or wife. Taraji P Henson was stupendous as Katherine Goble, then Johnson, and nearly … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures
Suffragette fiction by Constance Maud: No Surrender
Suffragette fiction was written to persuade, as well as entertain. It is essentially polemic, and I've had a tough time persuading students to read it as literature rather than ranting politics from an age long gone. Let me hone my persuasion techniques on you, using another Really Like This Book podcast script catch-up, by enthusing … Continue reading Suffragette fiction by Constance Maud: No Surrender
Mad Max: Imperator Furiosa
(Warning: here be spoilers.) I don’t know why this Mad Max film is subtitled ‘Fury Road’. No-one cares or remembers what this ‘road’ is, because it’s a journey, not an actual road, and every film in the series has angry characters. What most people will remember as the film’s defining phrase is the lead character’s name, … Continue reading Mad Max: Imperator Furiosa
Hooting at What We Do In The Shadows
A vampire film is not my usual tipple, but I do love a spoof. Specially when it's a mockumentary dripping with blood; when the jokes just keep on coming; when the acting is so vérité that the idea of Wellington's nightlife and suburbia being inhabited by vampires, werewolves, witches and zombies seems totally plausible. The superb … Continue reading Hooting at What We Do In The Shadows
Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise
(Forgetfully and foolishly I wrote this pod script up twice: here in January 2015, and here in Sept 2015. They're mostly the same, but there will be slight differences. Sorry about that.) This podcast was written for the letter O, the classic 1960s cartoon strip writer, Peter O’Donnell. He is most famous for his creation of … Continue reading Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise
Kate Macdonald 