Danny Graydon

Clearly, the casting of Kevin Costner as our beloved folk-hero Robin Hood twenty years ago continues to vigorously afflict our national consciousness: our vengeful response knows no bounds. First, Welshman Christian Bale  becomes the latest Batman, then Englishman Andrew Garfield becomes the latest Spider-Man and now, another dashing Englishman, Henry Cavill,  is set to take on [...]

Well, I guess my instincts suck…! You know, I was absolutely sure that the villain roles in The Dark Knight Rises were going to be Professor Hugo Strange and Talia Al Ghul. It just made sense. Nolan said that his third Batman films anatagonists would not have appeared in any previous Bat-films (I did not dream [...]

I think it’s an admirable quality to be able to roll with the changes – especially in this instance! As far as anyone knew, Sir Ridley Scott was currently hard at work on a prequel to Alien, the ground-breaking and hugely-iconic fusion of Science Fiction and Horror that made his name. Except, as it turns [...]

Devotees of Bondage – ahem – the world over breathed a deep sigh of relief last week when – finally! - the happy news emerged that the Hollywood studio MGM had successfully negotiated their way beyond their bankruptcy-threatening financial woes. Crucially, this meant that  production on the 23rd James Bond film, actively suspended in April last year, [...]

As I write this, David Fincher’s Facebook movie The Social Network edges ever closer to Oscar glory, having bagged four awards from the prestigious National Society of Film Critics in the US (a historically-strong barometer for success at the Academy Awards) and further bolstered by a great many other critical plaudits and a firm, enthusiastic [...]

 One of John Williams’ great strengths as a composer is his unerring ability to craft stirring and memorable character themes (or leitmotifs, as they’re known technically). For his score for The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, he created one of his finest efforts in The Imperial March, the dominant theme for the villainous Empire, but [...]

The proud and immovable flagstone of my abiding passion for Comics – one which now stretches back thirty-plus years and now possesses a broad, international appreciation – is a primary, fervent love of Superheroes. And, where caped crusaders are concerned, I unabashedly wear my heart on my sleeve: I am firmly, resolutely and unquestionably a “DC Comics [...]