Category Archives: Arts and Culture

I want to talk about one of my all-time favourite films: The Grand Budapest Hotel. For me, it’s a joyous, stylish, endlessly funny and rewatchable classic and in my opinion, the very best of Wes Anderson’s impressive collection. The challenge in writing about it was therefore not in coming up with things to say butContinue reading “Anatomy of a Scene- “The Grand Budapest Hotel”- “The Police Are Here” Scene”

You may have heard (if you follow me on any social media platform you definitely have…) that I took a show that I co-wrote, co-produced and then performed to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022. It’s now been a few days since the last performance and I’ve had time to reflect on the experience as aContinue reading “Lessons from the Edinburgh Fringe”

This is a kind of blog I’ve been thinking about doing for a while. As mentioned previously, film is one of my passions and I’ve already written the occasional post about some of my favourites. The problem with doing that more regularly is that films are so vast, to be able to get out everyContinue reading “Anatomy of a Scene- “Moneyball” Ending”

It has been a long time since I’ve written a blog. It’s not that it’s been a deliberate neglection, but rather it has just fallen so far down the priority list this last year, it’s practically been buried into the ground. If you read my little mission statement that I outlined in my very firstContinue reading “Derry Girls- Laugh till you Cry”

I rewatched Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise this week, planning to use it a source for a bibliography I have to write for Uni. It is a risk to return to a film you loved upon first watching it, as the enjoyment can so often be wrapped up in the individual, first-time viewing experience. Seeing itContinue reading “Before Sunrise: So Much More Than an Experiment”

Let’s be fair. It’s been a shit year. We’ve all needed, at various times, a little pick-me-up and I have found just the film to provide it. The Intouchables or Untouchable, as is the release title in the UK, is one of those films that can’t fail but make you smile. It proved so popularContinue reading “The Intouchables: Guaranteed to make you smile.”

Sadly, it takes a pretty special book these days for me to feel genuinely excited about reading a novel. Luckily, John William’s Stoner is a pretty special book. I came upon it purely by luck, browsing through WH Smith’s pretty average selection of classics (I used to work for Waterstones so I may be aContinue reading “Stoner Review”

We are living in a golden age of television at the moment. Never has there been such quantity or quality consistently available to our watching eyes, with the plethora of streaming services now out there also meaning that there is more content than we could ever want or need. Due to this, it has perhapsContinue reading “Detectorists: Hidden Gold”

When Gavin and Stacey returned after ten years with the 2019 Christmas Special, the show also had the chance to return to the public conscience. The truth is it had never left. The 12.3 million viewers that tuned into the special on BBC One on Christmas Day show just how popular and culturally significant theContinue reading “A Love Letter to Gavin and Stacey”

I must admit that I have never been a huge fan of silent films. Like most people born in the age of talkies, I find it hard to concentrate when I don’t have the sound and rhythm of dialogue to follow. Then, coincidentally, I found myself watching two (mainly) silent films from two completely differentContinue reading “When Silent Films Shout the Loudest”