Monthly Archives: March 2009

FILM REVIEW: Richard Curtis’s ‘The Boat That Rocked’

Posted on March 30, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Richard Curtis’ new comedy “The Boat That Rocked”, about the pirate radio stations that sprang up briefly in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, is like a long, slow cruise where all the fun is … Continue reading →

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Interview with composer Maurice Jarre, who has died at 84

Posted on March 30, 2009 by admin

  By Ray Bennett Maurice Jarre, the great French composer who has died at 84, deservedly won Academy Awards for his scores to three David Lean films – “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Doctor Zhivago” and “A Passage to India” – and … Continue reading →

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MUSIC REVIEW: Elbow make it a beautiful day at Wembley

Posted on March 15, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Mercury Prize and Brit Award winners Elbow are the best band in the land. London’s Wembley Arena on March 14 was jammed to the rafters for a two-hour concert that showed the Bury lads at … Continue reading →

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The ruins of Detroit captured in beautiful photographs

Posted on March 14, 2009 by admin

Detroit has long been a city in trouble but living across the river in Windsor, ON, from 1969 to 1977 left me with a great fondness for the sad old place where I covered political gatherings and peace demonstrations, reviewed … Continue reading →

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Venice hit ‘In the City of Sylvia’ to open in the UK

Posted on March 11, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett Thanks to Axiom Films, a terrific film titled “In the City of Sylvia”, which I reviewed in Venice in 2007, is finally to open in the UK from March 13. You can see details of London screenings at … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ at The Old Vic

Posted on March 9, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Kevin Spacey’s Old Vic is back on form with a sumptuous revival of what has become an Irish classic. Presented in the round beneath the branches of a vast dying tree, Brian Friel’s “Dancing at … Continue reading →

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How a nightclub doorman’s stories became a film in ‘Clubbed’

Posted on March 8, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett It has taken many years for Geoff Thompson’s book “Watch My Back”, which details his time as a doorman at nightclubs in Coventry in the 1980s, to become a film. When “Clubbed”, as the film version is … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: ‘A Sentimental Journey’ with Doris Day

Posted on March 6, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Away from her bright and breezy film and television image, the often troubled life of singer and movie star Doris Day offers plenty of drama for a show and Adam Rolston’s “A Sentimental Journey” makes … Continue reading →

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THEATRE REVIEW: Peter Flannery’s ‘Burnt By the Sun’

Posted on March 6, 2009 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – The Gulag comes to Chekhov in “Burnt By the Sun,” Peter Flannery’s absorbing stage adaptation of Nikita Mikhalkov’s 1995 foreign-language Oscar-winning film. The story is set just before the Second World War as Russian dictator … Continue reading →

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