Screengrab: Thank God for Tuesdays
Richard Lutz puts down his remote to tell us what’s good on the box when it comes to movies
Screengrab: The Hitch Abides
Wimbledon, Euro Cup (sans England), the grinding inevitability of the London Olympic bunfight…what you need is a good movie on the box to get you away from well endowed men and women doing sports
Review: An African Tale by Shakespeare
Director Greg Doran spent some time in South Africa and while there an actor told him: ‘Julius Caesar is Shakespeare’s African play.’
Review: A Cheeky Dick and The Monster Within
Richard III Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford on Avon from Richard Lutz You can’t separate history from art. When Shakespeare wrote Richard III in about 1592, he was always looking over his shoulder- or rather above his shoulder- at what the monarch and her cronies thought. It had to be that way. Otherwise your…
Screengrab: An Offer You Can’t Refuse
There’s a major classico this week on the box, says our man with the remote Richard Lutz
Screengrab: The Duke Goes to War- Hollywood Style
What with all the Jubilee stuff, the finals of The Voice, the re-intro of Big Brother and, finally, Greece ready to pummel Russia 5-0 in the opening of Euro 12, I guess flatscreens will be burning bright throughout this blessed isle.
Jeremy Hunt: Still Under a Murdoch Cloud
There’s nothing more disheartening than having a journalistic rant when everyone seems to agree with you, says Richard Lutz
Screengrab: Weird and Whacky Britain (and a sequel) Comes to a TV Near You
Britain makes great creepy movies, says RICHARD LUTZ. And none comes creepier and weirder than a great film from 1973.
Of Machiavelli, Murdoch and The Media
RICHARD LUTZ peers into a crystal ball to see how the Murdoch Saga might really be playing out behind the tattered scenery.
Birmingham’s Lord Mayor: Drawing Lines In The Sand
Petitioners have started circulating an E-campaign to stop controversial Birmingham councillor John Lines from taking up his role as Lord Mayor.
Screengrab: The Week of the Big Chuckle
Richard Lutz says the tv is filled with some classic film comedies this week. There is no doubt that Nicholas Cage, that on again off again Hollywood star, can make you laugh. Not at some of his over the top musclebound turkeys. But quite simply as a good screen comedian. Two are on the…
Leamington Sparring
Mention Leamington Spa and several things come to mind: the healthy spa waters, its Regency buildings and the shadow of local middleweight Randy Turpin who beat Sugar Ray Robinson sixty years ago.
Review: King John
Richard Lutz reviews the RSC production of King John – “The wrong king in the wrong time when the barons made him sign his name on the Magna Carta?”
Helmand: Six Years On From the First Military Death…And What?
by Richard Lutz In June 2006, Captain James Phillipson, died while rescuing ambushed colleagues in Helmand Province. He was Britain’s first combat casualty in that bleak part of Afghanistan. Today UK forces are still there, protecting, patrolling and fighting in this benighted patch of earth. And last week, The Ministry of Defence had the…
Screengrab: White Whales and Kirk Douglas Drag Us Into The Deep Blue Hollywood Sea
from Richard Lutz Stolid if not boring Gregory Peck takes to the high seas in Moby Dick (Mon, Ch5; 14.15) It was a great novel. Still is. It is a laughably appalling movie. Director John Huston made a mega mistake by signing up po- faced Peck to be Captain Ahab in pursuit of that…
Review: Two World Premieres and Dave Brubeck for City’s Ballet
Birmingham Royal Ballet Three Short Works Crescent Theatre Richard Lutz received a pleasant surprise when he sat down for a night of dance. I was psyched up for the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production that uses Dave Brubeck’s classic jazz number Take Five. I we always felt it was meant for dance. But what…
Screengrab: De Niro and Comedy
from Richard Lutz There is a nice anecdote about Robert de Niro that is either god’s honest truth..or else a nice anecdote. It goes like this: Close to forty years ago, the young de Niro just came off his Johnny Boy tour de force in Mean Streets. He played a crazy street thug who…
Theatre Review : The Tempest
Richard Lutz reviews The Tempest; “It is done beautifully. Hats off to the director David Farr and Jonathan Slinger.”
RSC: Loads of Tricks and Lots of Treats
Twelfth Night Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford By Richard Lutz This is a play about the pursuit of love in a crazed, tricky and askew world. Most of the characters are not what they seem. But they all want the same thing: partnership and passion. Twins separate and crave each other; lovers pine for an…
Screengrab: Best Western Ever?
Richard Lutz picks out the best movies on the box this week. I’ll kick off this column with a tribute to the 2010 film of the year: Meek’s Cutoff (Wed; Film4, 22.50). A group of tired and thirsty wagon train travelers are heading west in 1845. They may be lost or they may…
And Here Is Lots of News- North of the Border At Least
by Richard Lutz Banished to Scotland for a while, and thoughts turn to tv once I tire of haggis flavoured crisps, ‘interesting’ weather patterns and monomanic Old Firm sport coverage ITV’s local franchise STV, out of Glasgow, is an intriguing offer. Whenever I come north of the border, I notice it…
Screengrab: From Jack Nicholson And Into The Abyss With Mad Max
Richard Lutz looks at the week ahead on the box for movies Screengrab comes to you this week from Scotland. And it’s indeed a pleasure to report that along with heather and tartan, this place also has television. So, it is a complete and unalloyed pleasure to go through the listings and send you my…
Unk: A Titanic Milestone From 100 Years Ago
This Sunday is the centenary of the sinking of The Titanic. But for Richard Lutz, it’s the 100th anniversary of something else. You can’t avoid it. It is everywhere. The Titanic industry is at full throttle and bursts over the horizon on the fifteenth of this month- a hundred years ago the passenger liner sank.…
Screengrab: The Brits Are Coming
British directors take precedence in this week’s tv schedules. And one name dominates, according to Richard Lutz Someone at Channel 4 likes Alfred Hitchcock. Starting on Tuesday, each afternoon has one of his films and they range from good to bad to blissfully unknown. On Tuesday we kick off with Rear Window (Tues,…
Why This New Surveillance Bill Must Be Stopped
by Richard Lutz The Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei today was banned from videoing himself at home and posting it on a website. Whether he is doing this for artistic reasons- a kind of self imposed voyeur’s piece de resistance– or whether he is doing it in protest against state snooping- a real piece of…
Screengrab: John Wayne’s Secrets
from Richard Lutz There’s a great Hollywood story about the final shot in that John Wayne/John Ford classic The Quiet Man (Mon; Ch4, 12.45) . It goes like this: In the last scene, Wayne and his co-star Maureen O’Hara stand on top of a sunny knoll after all the Irish brawling, drinking and mayhem.…
Screengrab: Dross, Dregs and Sharktopus
by Richard Lutz Let’s start at the bottom and, don’t fret, some people like bottoms. To put it more succinctly: what’s on the satchannel Syfy this week? Well, in one 24 hour burst, you have such classics as Princess of Mars (Wed; 3.00pm) Mongolian Death Worm (Wed; 23.00), and, the most intriguing, Sharktopus (Thurs; 04.00).…
Afghanistan: Of Victims and Heroes
As the bodies of six UK soldiers are repatriated to Britain, Richard Lutz takes a look at a murderous tragedy where the Afghani dead are forgotten and the alleged killer cast as victim No sooner do they arrest the US soldier who slaughtered 16 Afghanis then the media propaganda war begins. And it isn’t subtle.…
Screengrab: Tv Movies On The Box
A good week for setting the record button, putting the feet up and catching some movies on the small screen, says Richard Lutz. Let’s kick off with today (Sunday) and I have to repeat that last year’s best film Winter’s Bone (Sun; Sky Arts1, 22.00 and other times) is the one to catch. It’s about…
Voices From The Void
A critic once famously said Waiting for Godot is about ‘nothing happening…twice’