BBC - Kermode Uncut Blog

Me and Me and Orson Welles

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:48:19 +0000

With Zac Efron as the titular "Me", this beautifully nuanced, studied, and hugely rewarding take on Orson Welles's game changing production of Julius Caeser at New York's Mercury Theatre in 1938 is a must see: but is it really, as one critic said, "The Feel Good Film of the Year"? And what does that phrase even mean? Man alive!

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The Serious Coens

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:48:00 +0000

They've worked with some of the biggest stars on the planet including Brad Pitt and George Clooney. They've earned Academy approval for their stunning visualisation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. As they release their new movie, A Serious Man, is it now fair to say that the brothers who began their movie career with blackly comic noir homage and late night cult favourite Blood Simple, and then later created a genuine cult hero alter ego for Jeff Bridges with The Big Lebowski, finally joined the mainstream?

5 live review: New Moon

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:41:51 +0000

5 live's resident movie critic Dr Mark Kermode reviews the Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Go to Mark on 5 Live for more reviews and film debate.

(Please note this content is only available to UK viewers)

Farewell Edward Woodward

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:13:51 +0000

Having met the man and shared a few memorable moments with him, I thought it might be appropriate to share some memories of the late, great Edward Woodward, the widely loved star of that extraordinary 1970s British horror masterpiece, The Wicker Man.

Screening Room: Animation & Aardman

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:40:02 +0000

Is animation the future and if so does that mean all of it? How about stop motion and the hand-drawn variety? Here are a couple of thoughts that didn't make it into this week's Culture Show Screening Room Animation Special and, as always, let me and Simon Mayo know what you think using the facilities below...

Call of Civic Duty 2

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:35:06 +0000

Attacked in the House of Commons and defended in print (and in Twitter) by Charlie Brooker, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the latest videogame to be declared a desperate hazard to the minds of the young and impressionable, but to me the whole controversy looks rather familiar: Yes, it's the 80s video nasty saga all over again. Honestly, next thing you know Spandau Ballet will be reforming and playing live.

5 live review: 2012

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:49:08 +0000

5 live's resident movie critic Dr Mark Kermode reviews 2012.

Go to Mark on 5 Live for more reviews and film debate.

(Please note this content is only available to UK viewers)

The Best Christmas Movie Ever

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:55:49 +0000

As a 3D Jim Carrey bursts out of screens (like some seasonal version of John Hurt's personal alien) in Robert Zemeckis's Disney version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, I'm reminded that it is time to court your opinions on the best Christmas movies of all time, as well as letting you know mine. With added Peter Andre...

Screening Room: Disaster!

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:43:47 +0000

On the screening room this week Simon Mayo and I wondered why apocalyse movies are always apocalyptically bad. Your comments please...

Bride Wars Revisited

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:37:11 +0000

Last time we checked, four films worse than Bride Wars had been released in 2009 and guess what, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is one of them. If there are ten films worse than Bride Wars then, as I promised in January, I will quit. That's it. I'll go get another job. Sayonara screening rooms. So as the year comes to a close, where are we up to, and what is the mysterious nature of what I'm calling the Couples Retreat Quandary?

5 live review: The Men Who Stare At Goats

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:12:34 +0000

5 live's resident movie critic Dr Mark Kermode reviews The Men Who Stare At Goats.

Go to Mark on 5 Live for more reviews and film debate.

(Please note this content is only available to UK viewers)

The future of cinema: This Is It

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:37:29 +0000

Michael Jackson has shown the way. Under the watchful eyes of the great Kenny Ortega (whose High School Musical series of movies are, as I have explained many times, the very definition of pure movie entertainment) the King of Pop has delivered unto us an all-singing, all-dancing saviour of cinema...

Twilight of the blogs

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:18:30 +0000

Seems last week's Hallowe'en blog about Robert Pattinson, Stephen Moyer, Brad Pitt and all those other sexy creatures of the night got your collective blood up, so after swift reflection (if not in mirrors) you bit back with the vampire movies that have possessed you including Salem's Lot, Dreyer's Vampyr, George Romero's Martin, and the much gorged on Near Dark, which, as I shall explain, changed my life. It's nice to know you all feel you have a stake in this blog and for that I'd like to fang you (That's enough bleeding vampires, Ed.)

The ten-second vampire movie

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:33:49 +0000

So it's true: the undead really are. Since Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee first donned Dracula's wardrobe, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise have chugged romantic gore in Ann Rice's Interview with a Vampire and even Eddie Murphy blooded himself as a Vampire in Brooklyn. But this year has seen a rhesus positive infestation with Stephen Moyer in True Blood and Robert Pattinson in Twilight representing only the fang tips of a blood sucking army that includes representatives from as far away as Korea and Denmark. So why can't we resist vampires? And more to the point, how do you get to be one? Now Halloween is here, allow me to explain...

The second second time around

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:38:04 +0000

So Stanley Kubrick, Terry Gilliam and David Lynch are the directors whose work troubles you enough to demand more than a single viewing, but really, just how many times does anyone need to see Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd in Anchorman? For some, more than you'd think. Also this week, the very last word on Jennifer Aniston's face...