For as long as I can remember I've had a love affair with Hollywood. When I was a teenager I used to keep a diary listing every film that I watched with a check mark next to the title indicating what I thought of it. Some years that total nudged 500 but this figure dropped considerably as adult working life cut into my free time.
But on the plus side I succeeded in incorporating my passion into my job. First as a DJ and then journalist and news director on my hometown radio station, Southern FM in Brighton, I reviewed new films and dvds on-air and on-line. I also wrote regular reviews for the Sussex-wide daily newspaper "The Argus." This work continued when I moved to Birmingham as launch news director for the innovative rock music station Kerrang! 105.2. I regard it as a great personal victory that I held my own in the weekly unscripted on-air conversations with the anarchic and unpredictable host Ugly Phil.
Now I'm living in the USA and using THE FILM I'VE JUST SEEN to publish my thoughts on the films I'm seeing at the cinema and on dvd. This blog features a selection of the reviews I've written over the years together with my reaction to the films I'm watching now.
I aim always to offer a completely honest opinion regardless of whether or not that makes me popular. For example, I'm not one of those riding the "Dark Knight" - Heath Ledger bandwagon. I found the film overblown and overlong and his performance overhyped. Nothing encourages a loss of perspective like the premature death of an actor.
I'm not the kind of critic who imagines their writing has the power to stop someone watching a film they want to see. I'll explain why I loved, liked, loathed or merely tolerated a film but I don't expect you to necessarily agree with me.
What I hope is that my writing will encourage a greater appreciation of films by offering informed insight and context which helps you to get more out of your film-watching experiences.
