It’s the beginning of the end of January and today is the first day of the year I’ve thought to blog at all; it’s been that kind of year already. I feel like Geoff Boycott, who used to open the English batting and score his first run after tea. The first few days of the year were so bad that my wife and I agreed to treat the sixth of January as New Year’s Day; I know better than to tempt Providence because, in my experience, as soon as you say, “It could be worse”, it promptly gets; so

My pardner and colleague, Jonathan Ali, had the experience all newspaper-writers know too well a couple of Sundays ago, when his Django Unchained review appeared with the crucial last sentence lopped off, presumably for space reasons. When, understandably, he moaned about it to me, my response was, 'That's what friends with blogs are for'. When you do read the last line, you will see how important it was, how the review is changed entirely by its ommision. Here, then, is Jonathan's review, not so much unchained as uncircumsised....

A Dish Best Served with Swag and Style
Django Unchained. (2012/Quentin Tarantino/USA/ Action-Western-Drama-Thriller/165’/R for strong graphic violence throughout, a vicious fight, language and some nudity). Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel Jackson.  

Can slavery be entertaining? According to Django Unchained, the answer is enthusiastically, overwhelmingly yes. The latest cinematic firebomb from the febrile

Here's a Guardian Sunday  Arts Supplement that appeared to go over well with readers; which figures: if you want to impress people in newspapers nowadays, write about movies!

The Descendants of the Artist’s Avengers - The Year’s Best DVD releases
by BC Pires

The last year was a bumper one for DVD (especially if measured from December to December) with several new films released for home viewing while still on the big screen, along with several “older” ones being released on DVD/Blu-ray for the first time. Here are the top ten DVDs of the year as well as five of the most memorable films of the last 12 months, most of which should be available locally, sorted by some of the most popular categories. Regretfully, no Indian film category was included because of the difficulty of sourcing quality non-Bollywood DVDs; should this feature appear at the end of 2013, the genre will be considered in-depth, though both Bollywood and Nollywood  are unlikely to be.

Two rules were applied in choosing films: one, no form of sequel was allowed, a guideline which kept out, thankfully, all that Twilight crap but also, regretfully, The Bourne Legacy, which, otherwise, might have

Here's my recent review of Idiom TV's Bush Diary with Robert Clarke Collection 1, which ought to make a good Christmas prezzie for anyone with a couple of O'levels....

Bush Bath Needed? A review of season one of Idiom TV’s Bush Diary with Robert Clarke
by BC Pires

In one of his Saturday Guardian columns, for which he may perhaps be better known, Paolo Kernahan, producer and writer of Idiom TV’s Bush Diary with Robert Clarke, told of a financial services company which, offered the chance to invest in a worthwhile local television production, replied that they had “already exhausted funds for donations this year”; instead of seeing Kernahan as a producer, they looked at him like someone begging for sponsorship of a raffle prize.
Money is a perennial problem for filmmakers everywhere - Woody Allen bemoans the expense of shooting in New York City - but Kernahan and Idiom TV seem

The rain of the last two days has held up and the sun shines bright on my old Bajan plantation home, but I’m still yearning for Port of Spain today; or, to be more accurate, tonight. jointpop are gigging at Shakers on the Avenue later, their annual fundraiser, Noise ‘N’ Toys - or is that Noize & Toize? Either way, it’s going to be a good spell of rock ‘n’ roll, since it’s also the band’s official live launch of the new CD, The Pot Hounds; man, how I wish I could be there.

If you don’t know the album, you’re in for a treat. I remember one of the luckiest nights of my life, the first time I heard “Calypso Music”. Unaccountably, I