Between 2000 and 2009, as first reviews editor/deputy editor then a contributing editor, I did around 800 reviews and features for Channel 4’s Film website. As of December 2009, that incarnation of the site has been closed down. I’m slowly adding links to my reviews on the new Film4.com site, plus re-creationing some of the features. Scroll down for some of my videogame columns for BBC Collective, and miscellaneous other work.
Channel 4 Film/Film4.com, reviews
39 Steps, The, Mar 2008. Hitchcock’s masterful 1935 interpretation of John Buchan’s novel.
28 Days Later, Nov 2002. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s influential apocalyptic horror/drama.
2012, Nov 09. Roland Emmerich’s CGI frenzy of global destruction.
Age of Stupid, Feb 2009. Eco documentary about out behaviour in the face of disaster.
Amélie, Sept 2001. Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s delightful romantic concoction.
Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, The, Nov 2007. Andrew Dominik’s epic retelling of the US legend.
District 9, Aug 2009. Neil Blomkamp’s acclaimed science fiction debut feature.
Morris: A Life With Bells On, Sept 2009. Great little British mockumentary comedy – about morris dancing.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Nov 2009. Second film in the angst-saturated teen vampire romance.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, June 2010. Feature film addition to the hit game franchise.
Channel 4 Film/Film4, features etc
Duncan Jones on Moon, July 2009. The director, and son of David Bowie, on his feature film debut.
Studio Ghibli, Dec 2005. History of the world-renowned Japanese animation studio, written prior to the UK release of Howl’s Moving Castle.
Why are videogame movies always rubbish? Nov 2008. On the release of the Max Payne film, I considered the problems of adapting games into films. No idea why the feature starts with the random words “Resident Evil”.
BBC Collective
Between 2002 and 2008, when the site was closed, I wrote for this innovative BBC online culture magazine. My main body of work for Collective was a weekly column discussing videogames.
Gaming Violence: Content vs Context, December 2007. Discussion of questions of videogame violence, and interview with game and filmmaker Danny Ledonne.
Assassin’s Creed interview, October 2007. Interview with Patrice Désilet, creative director of the videogame Assassin’s Creed.
Bioshock, August 2007. Interview with Ken Levine, lead designer on award-winning game Bioshock.
Whatever happened to the MMOFPS?, August 2006. Column discussing that elusive videogame genre, the massively multiplayer online first-person shooter, and interview with Rich Lawrence, executive producer of cult MMOFPS Planetside.
Onimusha 3, July 2004. Divided opinions with myself over Capcom’s game featuring a digital likeness of Jean Reno, with someone else’s voice.
Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye, September 2003. The strange wrench experienced when finishing a much-loved game, and parting company with the characters you’ve come to know so intimately.
Other work
Hollywood comes knocking, British Journal of Photography, June 2010. Feature about the utilising of DSLRs for shooting video and filmmaking.
‘Under Pressure: Depth-Charging, Confined Drama and Life On and Under the Water in the Submarine War Movie’, in Under Fire: A Century of War Movies, ed Jay Slater (Ian Allan Publishing, 2009)
The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, Eurogamer, December 2009. Review of this expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online RGP based on Tolkien’s epic saga.
Planetside re-review, Eurogamer, August 2008. Re-appraisal of Sony’s landmark massively multiplayer online FPS. The most underrated game of all time?
A Flight of Fantasy, Guardian Guide, October 2007. Feature about books potentially being made into the next crop of fantasy films.