Monthly Archives: January 2011

The Adventures of Tintin, boy reporter

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

With the Steven Spielberg-Peter Jackson motion-capture version of Tintin due for release next Christmas, the British Film Institute has shown good timing in unearthing, and releasing on all-region DVD, the only two live-action movies ever made featuring Herge’s quiff-haired boy … Continue reading →

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The Roxy Theatre, Neepawa

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

When I moved from Newfoundland to Manitoba in the spring of 1973, I spent the first two months in the small town of Neepawa – a community of about 4000, 110 miles north-west of Winnipeg. There wasn’t much there; mostly … Continue reading →

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The Genius of Matthew Rankin

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Given that this week filmmaker Matthew Rankin is back at Sundance with a short film for the second time in three years, he would probably be annoyed if I mention that I first encountered him as an odd, ferociously precocious … Continue reading →

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Peter Yates (1929-2011)

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Peter Yates died in London on January 9, aged 81. His two best-known films were Bullitt (1968) and Breaking Away (1979), and that perhaps indicates why he was not as widely known as many of his contemporaries. He directed a … Continue reading →

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DVD of the Week: Vampire Circus (1972)

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Although Britain’s Hammer Films was first formed in the 1930s, initially in an attempt to expand a theatre chain into areas of production and distribution, only five films were made before the war – comedies and mysteries. Production resumed after … Continue reading →

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The collector’s lament

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

Glenn Erickson over at DVD Savant has put up his annual “wish list” of titles he’d like to see on DVD, a reminder that no matter how many movies have been released over the past decade, there are still many … Continue reading →

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Mikio Naruse

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

In her January 1 post, the Self-Styled Siren pays homage to the Japanese actress Hideko Takamine, who died December 28 at age 86. The Siren’s warm comments immediately sent me off to watch When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960), … Continue reading →

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Walter Matthau, man of action?

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

The series of ten Martin Beck novels written by Swedish husband and wife Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowell between 1965 and 1975 are not entirely conventional mysteries. They are police procedurals which focus on the tedious sifting of facts and … Continue reading →

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Year End 2010

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Kenneth George Godwin

I find that my viewing habits in recent years have become so random and eclectic that the idea of coming up with a “year’s best” list is not only difficult – it borders on the arbitrary and meaningless. Much of … Continue reading →

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