4 Stars

“There are no secrets about the world of nature. There are secrets about the thoughts and intentions of men.” Most people in this day and age, myself included, didn't necessarily know the name of J. Robert Oppenheimer until Christopher Nolan's brilliant film came out and swept the 2024 Oscars. However, back in the early 1950s he was probably the most famous person on planet earth. Described as the father of the nuclear bomb, his face was plastered the covers on publications

I've always struggled with this album. It is often heralded as a classic and the pinnacle of Paul Simon's long and highly distinguished career. This is saying a lot for someone who, in Simon & Garfunkel and solo, became known for making perfect slices of Americana in musical form. Songs like 'Mrs. Robinson', 'The Sound of Silence', 'The Boxer, and 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' are synonymous with America itself, in the same way that Elvis Presley, or the Marlboro Man, or John

Widely considered one of the greatest films ever made, David Lean's 1962 behemoth has been described as the "epic to end all epics" and with good reason. Magnificently filmed in Panavision Super 70mm, (which basically results in a massive frame, handy when shooting the infinite abyss of the middle eastern desert) the sheer scale of this film is something to behold. The budget for extras alone must've given the studio bigwigs a mild aneurysm. Simply put, it is massive. 

“As with everything else in my life, I decided that if we were all going to get through this in one piece, I’d better have a sense of humor.” If you're like me, you may have been made aware of this book because of David Fincher's macabre 2017 TV Series of the same name, which is a faithful adaptation of the account of John E. Douglas - creator of the FBI's Criminal Profiling Program and allegedly the first person to coin the term "serial killer". 

The films of Alexander Payne usually feature a few things. Typically there is a male lead, somewhere in their middle ages, quite often kicked around by life and verging on full-blown curmudgeonism. Whether being played by Matthew Broderick ('Election' 1996), Bruce Dern ('Nebraska' 2013) or George Clooney ('The Descendants' 2011), there tends to be a similar protagonist at the core of most of his work. The most memorable of these characters, in my book, was Miles Raymond - por

Since the release of their debut album (2017's 'Brutalism'), Bristol-based IDLES have steadily ascended the musical ranks with their defiant style of angry rock (but don't call it punk, they don't like that), culminating in a magnificent headline set at Glastonbury 2024. While they built their name on predominantly boot-stomping riot starters, over time the band have started to explore the quieter side of their capabilities. So much so that legendary producer/atmosphere maste

Christopher Nolan is probably the single best director working in film and television today. He has reached that rarified space wherein his name alone warrants an immediate green light from studios and guarantees box-office draw. His films are generally always pushing the envelope of what a big budget studio blockbuster can be and he is one of only a few working directors today for whom you drop everything and insist on seeing his latest release at the cinema. Such was the ca

"I wondered if sometimes the difference between a psychopath in Broadmoor and a psychopath on Wall Street was the luck of being born into a stable, rich family.” Jon Ronson is an investigative journalist who shot to fame when his first book 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' became not only a best-seller, but also a major Hollywood film starring George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey. Quite the cast. Here he turns his microscope to what it means to be conside