What is life lacking right now? Hmm, Political Dramas?

As if we didn't have enough drama in the world of politics...😳😳😳😳 (Think of the future movies... they're going to be awesome!)

Over at Den of Geek today you can read my Top 25 Underrated Political Dramas, hooray! (This list only exists because there were way too many incredible films to squeeze into my previous list of political thrillers....)

 

My favourite part of writing these articles is that it inspires me to see AMAZING movies I would never otherwise have seen, like Soy Cuba (1964)

Political thrillers? Yes please

It's taken a while to dawn on me that political thrillers are one of my favourite genres of film. (After psychological thrillers and dinosaur films, obvs.) You might know the classics (they all seem to star Harrison Ford) but what about those classics which have slipped under the radar? Check out my Top 25 Underrated Political Thrillers over at Den of Geek! 

You'll also learn useful tricks; here Don Cheadle demonstrates

 the best way to have undercover meetings in the park

Yuppies in Peril, Part 2

At long last my faves Den of Geek have published my piece on the classic movies of the Yuppies-in-Peril genre. I don't think it's a spoiler to let you know that this young lady makes the list.

If movies about big-haired, designer-clad, manipulative people having all manner of psychological problems appeal to you, check it out.

My favourite movie genre: the Yuppie in Peril

I'm SO happy that I get to write for a website like Den of Geek; when I suggested that I could write something about "Yuppies in Peril" they said "Sure, go for it!" When I emailed a few weeks later and said "Um, it's gonna be quite long, and I had so many to write about I've split it into two, "classic" and "21st century" their attitude was still "bring it on". Ace! 

The first piece to be published is here: It's all about the 21st century! (And you thought YIP movies all took place in the 90s...)

The Gift: both the plot and the sexual politics could have come from a much earlier era. 

It took a while to write – I spent most of Christmas watching likeably trashy home invasion movies and erotic thrillers rather than repeats of Jurassic Park. (Oh, who am I kidding? I still saw it at least three times, and I regret nothing.) I also got to see some films I'd never heard of (most of them featuring Mr Cool himself, Samuel L Jackson) and even discovered some new favourites. Yay!

Sharktastic!

Here's my latest effort for Den of Geek: the Top 25 Shark Movies. It was a labour of love – who knew there were SO MANY variations on the humble "chomp" story? (I confess: Jurassic Shark only made it into the list because I started watching it and found it so unspeakably dreadful that the only way to salvage the wasted time was to include it in an article.)

Weirdly enough, I now find myself feeling quite fond – even protective – of sharks, although I'm still terrified of them, obviously. Think about all the other big fabulous predators in the world; lions, tigers, bears, even CROCODILES... they are all capable of being, if not tame, then at least amenable to human contact. Not sharks! But when you're a living dinosaur, I say you can do whatever you like.

Especially if you have comedy eyebrows. I LOVE this still from The Last Shark (1981)

Movies that will haunt you...

One thing I've learnt from hours of toiling on the internet is that when someone says (on twitter, Facebook, or their blog) something like "Whew! I haven't posted here in ages! But I'm totally going to start doing it again!" you know without a shadow of a doubt that it will be the last thing they ever write on that particular page. (If you don't believe me, look at the many dead accounts littering Twitter.) 

So I'm not going to say "Sorry about my long absence, but I'm totally gonna write loads of new blogs!" because... I'm not. I'm way too buy writing other stuff – that pays. (Sorry to be a mercenary, but there you go.) 

But I will be updating if I've written stuff that I think you'll like – and here is my latest piece for Den of Geek: 25 films which will haunt you with only one viewing. It's had more comments than anything else I've ever written, which is nice, even if 99% of them are berating me for not including the the film they personally found haunting. (I did point out several times that it's a subjective thing. And that I didn't want to just list gross horror movies. But never mind.)

It was tough choosing – I could have written the entire list about any of the sub-genres (holocaust, slavery, high school gun massacres, abusive parents) but I tried to balance it out to cover as many bases as possible. And I don't mind telling you, I just want to watch some nice cheerful movies now. I'm so over being traumatised by celluloid!

Where We're Going, We Don't Need Roads

The future of manicures

So here's my long-awaited article on the success / failure of the predictions of Back to the Future II, over at the wonderful Den of Geek. I say "long-awaited" because I started it ages ago but I got a little bit carried away with the research. (At one point it ran to about 10 pages!) It was awesome watching all these films again and being reminded of how utterly awesome they are. No wonder Secret Cinema sold out so fast!

50 Movies with Ingenious Costume Design

Writing and Clothes: my two favourite things! Remember when I said I was writing for Den of Geek and it was taking ages? Well, here's the finished product – it took freaking AEONS to finish as the old day job intruded somewhat. (I don't know if you've ever tried to buy Elizabethan dresses and chimp puppets on Christmas eve, but I can assure you it's not the best way to spend the evening.)

And before you yell at me for not including your own personal favourites (feel free to write your own countdown!) please note that it's not a list of the "best" costumes. It's not a list of the ones that took the most hard work and attention to detail. It's not even a list of the fashions that were the most influential. It's a list of movies whose costumes were ingenious in some way – and that's why quirky choices like The Gold Rush and Rosemary's Baby made the cut. Enjoy!

What are your Underrated Thrillers?

So I've been writing for Den of Geek again; my latest effort is a list of thrillers I consider underrated. I cheekily slipped in a few well-known titles (why doesn't everyone rave about them more?) but it's largely a list of the low-budget, lesser-known flicks. 

Here's a picture from Burning Bright, because the lovely Briana Evigan favourited the tweet one of my fellow Den of Geek writers sent to inform her of the article. Yay, girl crush!