Month: November 2012

Categories
Film Interview

A monster masterclass

Grabbers masterclass in Bo'ness with Kevin Lehane
Grabbers masterclass in Bo’ness with Kevin Lehane

The nice folk at Scotland’s oldest cinema, the Bo’ness Hippodrome, recently asked me to be part of their first Monster Day, a celebration of nasty creatures on the big screen featuring King Kong (who’s really just misunderstood) and screenwriter Kevin Lehane (who’s not nasty at all).

I was there to interview Kevin about his career in the film industry and his low budget Irish sci-fi feature, Grabbers, which I saw at the 2012 Edinburgh International Film Industry. Kevin managed to entice a few budding screenwriters along on the day and it was fascinating to hear how he’d left Ireland for Hollywood and returned home, only to have his script snapped up by a production company.

At the Hippodrome Grabbers masterclass
At the Hippodrome Grabbers masterclass

The event was organised by a group of local youth ambassadors for the cinema and I was put to shame by their film knowledge. I also had a lovely moment when Kevin mentioned a short review of Grabbers I’d written online which wasn’t as in-depth or well argued as it could have been, though he seemed to forgive me after we discussed our mutual love of 1990’s Tremors.

Watch the Grabbers trailer and try and track down a copy on DVD, it really is an entertaining way to spend an evening:

Photos courtesy Falkirk Community Trust

Categories
Broadcasting Film Interview

Explaining the Film Explainer

I was back on the BBC Radio Scotland Movie Cafe again today, this time interviewing Andy Cannon, Scotland’s only Film Explainer, ahead of a performance at the Inverness Film Festival this weekend.

The Film Explainer was a common sight in cinemas in early part of the 20th Century, when the literacy skills of film-goers meant they often couldn’t read the intertitles of silent films. In Japan, the Explainers helped patrons understand cultural differences in films made in the West.

Although I spoke to Andy for ReelScotland earlier this year, this new interview also included his collaborators, Wendy Weatherby and Frank McLaughlin.

The item starts at around 24 minutes in to this week’s show and will be on iPlayer for 7 days.

The Lost Art of the Film Explainer can be seen at the Inverness Film Festival this Sunday at 5pm.

Categories
Film Newspaper Twitter

One Skyfall screening is not enough

As my latest Edinburgh Evening News column isn’t on the website I thought I’d publish it here instead. I couldn’t resist writing about Bond as Skyfall takes the box office by storm.

It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that there’s a new Bond film in town, the 23rd adventure for Britain’s favourite spy.

Skyfall ignores the lacklustre Quantum of Solace (2008) and returns the series to its bombastic best, sending 007 (Daniel Craig) on a mission that takes him around the globe and back in time.

I revelled in every second of the spy saga, with one of the series’ classiest casts – from Dame Judi Dench as the steely M to Javier Bardem as the seriously nasty Silva – doing justice to a script that gives its audience something fresh while respecting its past glories.

On the subject of the past, my own memories of seeing Bond at the cinema stretch back to 1987’s The Living Daylights. With no internet to build the hype, we were left with TV adverts and promotions on packets of Trio biscuits to whet our appetites.

While I still think Sean Connery was the best Bond, I’ve a soft spot for Timothy Dalton as a harder-edged 007 who questioned his motives long before Daniel Craig picked up his Walther PPK.

Somehow I missed 1989’s Licence To Kill on the big screen and it wasn’t until 1995 that I was able to head to the Dominion to watch Pierce Brosnan don his tuxedo in GoldenEye. Since then I’ve waited patiently for each new Bond film, sneaking a peek at the trailers and reading the occasional plot outline without wanting to find out too much.

For Skyfall I had to avoid Twitter, Facebook posts and TV specials for weeks, ensuring no spoilers leaked through. MI6 couldn’t have done a better job.

I have a feeling I’ll be heading back to see Skyfall again soon, one screening is not enough.

Full disclosure time: memories of The Living Daylights Trio promotion were recalled thanks to the fantastic new Bond book, ‘Catching Bullets‘, by Mark O’Connell – here’s my Good Reads review.