I’ve been devouring – a little late – High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, Charles Fleming’s page-turning and hair-raising 1998 biography of the late Hollywood producer and ‘bad boy’, who along with his ‘good boy’ partner… Read More »How Don & Tom Made ‘Top Gun’ So Steamy
How Sam’s body in ‘Psycho’ melted mine and Julie’s minds On New Year’s Day I rewatched Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. As you do. Released in 1960, his low-budget, shockingly deviant, uber-Freudian masterpiece is sixty years old this year. Pensionable, almost. In… Read More »Psycho Somatic
Mark Simpson finds Midway ‘dumb, numb and empty of cum’ When I went to see Roland Emmerich’s teensploitation flick Midway this week I had low expectations. In fact, they were so low I almost ran aground on the way to the multiplex.… Read More »Midway to Paradise (So Near, Yet So Far Away)
What’s your favourite scene in Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Bill Murray and Martin Landau’s best movie? (I’ve written an appreciation of Ed Wood for the new online arts mag Culture Kicks.) Here’s mine.
By Mark Simpson (Independent on Sunday 31 March 2002) Guys! Do you worry that your body isn’t sufficiently lean and muscular? Do you frequently compare your muscles with other men’s? If you see a man who is clearly more muscular… Read More »Muscle: Hollywood’s Biggest Special Effect