Hot weather and cool sounds combined to make the 2017 Swansea International Jazz Festival the biggest and best yet. The temperature soared in South Wales for the fourth annual festival, again based in the city’s maritime quarter. Continue reading
Latest Entries
Crime / Drama / Television / Uncategorized / Wales
Countrycide: Midsomer smiles while Hinterland snarls
Murder in the countryside is a peculiar type of entertainment, and ITV’s Midsomer Murders is perhaps the most entertaining example. Continue reading
Drama / Film / Television / Theatre
From Benidorm to battlefield – how Ryan’s childhood vacations led to a career in acting
Ryan Ralph Gerrard is a talented young British actor, fast emerging as a star of the independent film scene, and gaining high-profile mainstream roles too. Currently [April 2017] working on Catalyst – a feature length version of the short film Remembering Amy – he has recently filmed scenes for season 3 of the TV hit … Continue reading
Swansea gets all fired up for summer jazz festival
Swansea International Jazz Festival gets all fired up this summer with the music of Earth Wind and Fire, soul star Ruby Turner, and the jazz of Dudley Moore among the highlights. Continue reading
Perfect pitch, but shattered dreams
A beautiful, talented young singer moves from Texas to California, with dreams of stardom. She meets and falls in love with an influential music producer, who promises to deliver fame and fortune. But in Shattered Pitch, a short film by Rafael Soto, the smooth path to happiness soon becomes a rocky road to misery and … Continue reading
Super-fit Samantha – the lightning-quick actress who went slow-mo with Doctor Strange
If you’ve seen Samantha Schnitzler on screen, you were probably struck by the physicality of her performance – whether it was a lightning-fast punch and a kick, or her grace and poise. It’s no surprise, then, that as a child, she loved to run and jump, and her first performances were as a dancer. Now … Continue reading
Tubby Hayes, the modern jazz maestro from the suburbs
Tubby Hayes may not be on everyone’s list of the all-time jazz greats, but that could be just because he wasn’t American. Continue reading
Mia highlights the power of friendship
When faced with a threat, characters in films will often use fists or guns to protect themselves. But it’s sometimes refreshing to see evidence of a more powerful weapon – friendship. That is at the core of a delightful new [I write this in January 2017, when release is ‘coming soon’] short British film, Mia. … Continue reading
Crime / Drama / Fantasy / Film / Horror / Science fiction / Superheroes / Television
Female action heroes and the spirit of Emma Peel
Female action heroes are now the norm, it has been suggested (by none other than Felicity Jones of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). Maybe or maybe not, but they’re certainly not new. Those of a certain age won’t forget the ass-kicking Emma Peel of The Avengers, and there have been many following in her … Continue reading
Film / Horror / Science fiction / Television / Theatre
How drama classes turned shy Kate into a kick-ass screen star
It’s hard to imagine actress Kate Marie Davies ever being shy or being bullied. On screen she exudes a hard-edged confidence as Nicole in the superb Bristol-set scifi web series, Horizon, and doesn’t appear the type to be messed with in the forthcoming Escape From Cannibal Farm [as I write this in November 2016, I’ve … Continue reading
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