Posts in tag

Jack Palance


One of the most compelling and consistent motifs to be found in cinema is that of the fish out of water. It’s a premise which works particularly well in comedies. The likes of Back to the Future, Enchanted, Pleasantville, Big, The Gold Rush and The Jerk all use the notion of a person thrown into …

Two of the greatest authors of terror, H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, revelled in the medium of short stories. The format lends itself to the horror genre, allowing directors to investigate a full gamut of fear. Anthology films are inherently difficult as, unlike collections of short stories, by their very nature there’s a much …

Narcissism and film-making are often happy bedfellows. Indeed, the theme of Hollywood and the film industry have proved to be fertile ground for screenwriters, directors and producers. There has been a lot of hatred and bile aimed squarely at the studio system. Great directors such as David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), David Cronenberg (Map to the …