Publications

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

James Bowman

A Merry War is the American title given to the adaptation by Robert Bierman (director) and Alan Plater (writer) of…

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Mighty, The

James Bowman

The Mighty directed by Peter Chelsom and based on the novel by Rodman Philbrick, is at least an improvement annoying…

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One True Thing

James Bowman

One True Thing, directed by the excellent Carl Franklin (Devil in the Blue Dress and that Arkansas movie with Billy…

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Permanent Midnight

James Bowman

Permanent Midnight, written and directed by David Veloz and based on the autobiographical book by Jerry Stahl is chiefly notable…

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Pi

James Bowman

Pi, directed by Darren Aronofsky, is another chapter in the popular culture’s love affair with flashy intelligence—or at least the…

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Ronin

James Bowman

Ronin is directed by John Frankenheimer and is named after the masterless warriors in feudal Japan who, having lost face…

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Rounders

James Bowman

Rounders directed by John Dahl is wish-fulfilment fantasy of a different sort from that of Let’s Talk About Sex. This…

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Simon Birch

James Bowman

Simon Birch, written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson with a “suggested by” credit to John Irving for A Prayer…

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Touch of Evil

James Bowman

Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil, made in1957 and now restored according to a memo of protest Welles wrote to Universal…

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Unmade Beds

James Bowman

Unmade Beds by Nicholas Barker is the sort of picture I would normally hate: a kind of heightened documentary that…

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The Avengers

James Bowman

You know when, in the course of watching The Avengers by Jeremiah Chechnik, you see Uma Thurman grappling with herself,…

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Best Man, The

James Bowman

The Best Man, written and directed (in Italian) by Pupi Avati begins by solemnly informing us that “Once upon a…

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