The i Paper: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Review)

 

I loved Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and wrote a review of it here for the i Paper. 

The i Paper: Wonder Woman 1984 (Review)

 

I gave three stars to the insipid WW1984 juggernaut, though I liked Chris Pine. Read my thoughts for the i Paper here. 

The i Paper: Midnight Sky (Review)

 

For the i Paper, I reviewed middling Netflix sci-fi flick starring & directed by George Clooney. Read it here. 

Empire Magazine: I'm Your Woman (Review)

     For Empire Magazine, I gave 4 stars to new Amazon Studios film I'm Your Woman, a female-centred crime flick set in the 70s and starring The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's Rachel Brosnahan. Read my review here. 

The i Paper: The Godfather Coda / Why Do Filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola Keep Fiddling With Their Most Famous Films?

 

For the i Paper, I wrote a brief op-ed exploring Francis Ford Coppola's considerably improved re-cut of The Godfather Part III, now renamed The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. In print and online. 

Little White Lies: Muscle is a Fearless Exercise in De-Constructing Onscreen Masculinity

I interviewed British filmmaker Gerard Johnson about his brilliant crime flick set against a bodybuilding gym, Muscle, for Little White Lies. You can catch the film on VOD and read what I wrote here.

The i Paper: Mank (Review)

For the i Paper, I gave five stars to David Fincher's Mank. Read my review here.

Vulture: Everything You Need to Know About Old Hollywood Before Watching Mank

 

For Vulture / NY Mag, I wrote a handy A-Z guide of Old Hollywood references and allusions in David Fincher's Mank, which is now out on Netflix. You can read it here. 

Empire Magazine: Sean Connery as 007 / Interview with Bond Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson

 

     For the new commemorative special edition cover of Empire Magazine, I celebrated the early days of 007 by looking back at Sean Connery's original casting as James Bond, and spoke with Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson on what Connery brought to the role. You can find it in print only now.

The i Paper: Possessor (Review)

For the i Paper, I reviewed Possessor, which I thought was very smart and very scary indeed. Read more here. 

The i Paper: Jungleland (Review)

 

I reviewed new drama Jungleland, starring Charlie Hunnam and Jack O'Connell, for the i Paper. Check it out here. 

The i Paper: Billie (Review)

For the i Paper, I reviewed new documentary Billie, one of the best documentaries of the year for my money. Check out my review here.

Little White Lies: Threads / The Majorette Uniform

 

In the latest issue of Little White Lies - dedicated to David Fincher's Mank - I wrote for my movies & clothes column Threads about the drum majorette uniform. You can read it in print only, and find the magazine here. 

The i Paper: About Endlessness (Review)

 

    For i Paper in print and online, I wrote a 5-star review of About Endlessness, a beautiful, 78-minute masterpiece from Swedish director Roy Andersson. You can check my review out here, and see the movie streaming now in the UK on Curzon Home Cinema. 

Empire: Huracán (Review)

 

   For Empire Magazine, I reviewed Cassius Corrigan's debut film about an ex-con MMA fighter trying to go pro, Huracán. Check it out here.

The i Paper: Does Borat Still Work in 2020?

 

  For the i Paper weekend print edition, I wrote about Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm and whether Sacha Baron Cohen's brand of satire still works in 2020. (Guess what? I think it does.) You can read online here. The film is now streaming on Amazon Prime. 

Little White Lies: Threads / Cat-Eye Glasses

 

For the latest Little White Lies - focusing on Josephine Decker's brilliant Shirley - I wrote in my column on clothes & movies about cat-eye glasses, their history, and how they represent an ideal of '50s femininity. Find it in print and on newsstands only, or for purchase here.

BBC Culture: How Nashville Captured the Turbulence of 1970s America

 

    For BBC Culture's 'American Century' series, I wrote about Robert Altman's masterpiece Nashville and how it encapsulates American life & politics in a disturbingly relevant way right now. You can read the piece here. 

The i Paper: Ben Wheatley's Rebecca (Review)

 

    In my debut for the i paper, I reviewed Ben Wheatley's adaptation of Rebecca, available on Netflix from tomorrow. I wasn't a huge fan. You can read what I thought here. 

Empire: Nocturnal Review

For Empire, I reviewed Nathalie Bianchieri's debut feature, Nocturnal. Read it here. 

Empire Magazine: Rocks

 For Empire Magazine, I spoke to the brilliant cast and creative team of British indie film Rocks, about a London teenager and her attempts to protect her young brother after their single mother takes off. The issue is on newsstands and available online now.

Here's the feature now it's online! 

BBC Culture: The Twisted Horror of the American South

 

For BBC Culture, I wrote about the cinematic and literary genre of Southern Gothic, Antonio Campos' new Netflix film The Devil All The Time, and whether the film fits the bill. Check it out here. 

Empire Magazine: Is TikTok the Surprising New Place for The Next Generation of Classic Film Lovers?

 

    For the new issue of EMPIRE, I reported on a growing niche on TikTok full of young women expressing their love and knowledge of Classical Hollywood. You can find it in print only and on newsstands everywhere now! 

For the same issue, you can also find me writing in memoriam for the great Olivia de Havilland, who passed last month aged 104. 

BBC Culture: The Wanderers is a Forgotten Great Coming-of-Age Film

 

For BBC Culture's 'Cult Film' series, I wrote about one of my favourite teen gang films, set in the early 60s: Philip Kaufman's The Wanderers. I got some input from Kaufman himself a few years ago on the film, which is included in the piece. You can read it here. 

Vulture / NY Mag: Christopher Nolan's Tenet is a Locked Puzzle Box with Nothing Inside (Review)

For Vulture, I reviewed the new Christopher Nolan movie, Tenet, out Weds 26 Aug here in the UK and 3 September in the USA. Read what I made of it here.  

BFI: Ten Essential Films from 1970

For BFI online, I wrote about ten great films from around the world made fifty years ago, in 1970. You can check it out here. 

Empire Magazine: Babyteeth (Review)

For Empire, I reviewed the heartbreaking drama Babyteeth, out in the UK from 14 August. You can check out what I had to say here.

Empire Magazine: Unhinged (Review)

I had a lot of grisly fun reviewing the new Russell Crowe thriller Unhinged, out in the UK on 31 July, for Empire Mag. Read it here!

MUBI Notebook / Act Like a Man column: Harry Belafonte, Mr. Conscience

I was pleased to be able to write my latest column for MUBI Notebook, on actors, manhood and persona, about the heroic Harry Belafonte. You can find the piece here online. 

Little White Lies: Foodies on Film

For the new Food & Film issue of Little White Lies, we paused my usual column on movies, Threads, for a print feature about the wondrous world of cinema foodies and movie biz people who lived high on the hog, from Orson Welles and Liz Taylor to Gerard Depardieu. You can read it by picking up the latest issue on newsstands now or on the website, here. 

BBC Arts: Inside Cinema Video Essay / 'Lust, Camera, Action'

For BBC Inside Cinema, I wrote and voiced a new video essay on the topic of lusty women on the silver screen, and what cinema can give women in the audience, too. Featuring Richard Gere, Michael B. Jordan, Robert Redford, Timothee Chalamet, and more. 

You can watch it here, or if you're in the UK, on BBC iPlayer.  

Little White Lies: Goodfellas is My Comfort Blanket Movie

For Little White Lies' series about 'comfort blanket' movies, I wrote about why Martin Scorsese's gangster classic is a maybe unlikely form of comfort for me and some of my closest loved ones. Check the piece out online, here.

Sight & Sound Magazine: An Interview with Spike Lee on Da 5 Bloods

Via Zoom during lockdown, I had the pleasure of speaking to Spike Lee on his latest film for Netflix, Da 5 Bloods, a Vietnam War epic. You can read the interview in the Summer 2020 bumper issue of Sight & Sound Magazine, available here.

MUBI Notebook: Act Like a Man / Jeff Bridges, the Quintessential Dreamer

For the latest edition of my column on male stars and stardom, Act Like a Man, I wrote about one of my favourite movie stars - Jeff Bridges - and how wonderful he has been in nearly every decade of American cinema since the '70s. Read it here. 

Sight & Sound Magazine: Interview with Yarit Dor, Intimacy Co-Ordinator

For the latest issue of Sight & Sound Magazine, I spoke to the fascinating Yarit Dor, an intimacy co-ordinator who explained how her job on film and television sets is to protect actors and crew during sex scenes and nudity. You can pick up the magazine here.

Empire: Ryan Murphy's Hollywood / Review

For Empire Magazine, I reviewed (& hated) Ryan Murphy's new show, Hollywood, set in the 1940s and reimagining a much nicer history of the dream factory. Read what I thought here. 

BBC Culture: Why Dick Cavett Was The Greatest Talk Show Host Of All

For BBC Culture's series My Happy Place, I wrote about the Youtube archives of one of my very favourite cultural obsessions: '70s talk show The Dick Cavett Show. You can read about this fascination of mine here.

She Found it at the Movies: Women Writers on Sex Desire and Cinema / Book Press & Interviews

For ease of access, I've added a rolling master list here of press / reviews / interviews connected to my first edited anthology, She Found it at the Movies: Women Writers on Sex Desire and Cinema.

You can order the book from the publisher, Red Press, here, or wherever you buy your books!

2020 is a Breakthrough Year for Women Lusting in Front of a Screen
VICE

A Cinematic History of the Horny Female Gaze 

i-D

'Movies Never Gave Me a Language, But They Gave Me a Look' 

The F Word

'She Found it At The Movies: Book Review' 

Sight & Sound 

Review of 'She Found it at the Movies' 

Cineaste Magazine 

'She Found It At The Movies' is a Manifesto for Female Thirst on the Silver Screen 

The Indiependent

This Feminist Book Will Make You Reconsider Women's Sexuality in Cinema    

  Town and Country Magazine

The History of Female Desire In Film, by LS Hilton 

  The Times

Books to Read This April 

   Dazed Digital

Interview with Christina Newland
  The Strand, Kings College London Magazine

Summer Books of 2020: Film 

   Financial Times

   

MUBI: Act Like a Man / Robert Montgomery, War Hero and Respectable Heel

For the new edition of my column on masculinity and actors at MUBI Notebook - Act Like a Man - I wrote about 1940s war hero and actor-director Robert Montgomery. Read it here.

Little White Lies: Threads #14 - PVC

 For the new issue of Little White Lies, the cover movie is Promising Young Woman. My column about clothes & movies, Threads, is all about characters who wear PVC, from Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman to Audrey Hepburn. 

Film Comment: An Interview with Black Panther Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter

For the April/May issue of Film Comment, I spoke to the Academy Award-winning and veteran costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, who has worked with Spike Lee throughout his career and was the first black woman to win an Oscar for costume design for her work in Black Panther. You can pick up an issue on US newsstands or here. 

Dazed Magazine: Brian Cox Q+A

For the spring 2020 relaunch of Dazed Magazine, I had the immense pleasure of speaking to actor Brian Cox, the star of HBO's Succession and veteran of six decades on our screens. You can find it in print only, on newsstands across the UK. 

Sight & Sound Magazine: Elia Kazan, The Immigrant

For the new issue of Sight & Sound, guest-edited by Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho, I wrote about the work of Elia Kazan -- and specifically his relationship to his immigrant status and outsiderdom in America. Find it in print on newsstands now.

Film Comment: Feeling Seen Column - Guys & Dolls and the Limits of Nostalgia

    For Film Comment online, I wrote for the Feeling Seen series about Guys & Dolls, how much I love it, and the limitations of nostalgia. Check out the essay here. 

MUBI Notebook / Act Like a Man: The Defiant Individualism of Zbigniew Cybulski

In the second edition of my new column over at MUBI Notebook, I wrote about Zbigniew Cybulski, the 'Polish James Dean' and tragic young star of classic film Ashes & Diamonds (1958). The column is called Act Like A Man, and it's all about actors past & present and their relationship to masculinity, persona, desirability, and their viewers. Read it on the MUBI Notebook website here. 

BFI: Where to Begin with Elia Kazan

For the upcoming BFI Southbank retrospective of his work, I wrote a little primer of where to begin with the films of Elia Kazan, the great director who brought both Marlon Brando and James Dean to our screens for the first time. Check it out here, on the BFI website.