There are few events more entrancing to the serious film fan than the presentation of a classic silent movie with live musical accompaniment.
Tonight, in Waterford's Christ Church Cathedral, Donald MacKenzie, the Scottish master of the cinema organ, will be laying sombre chords over FW Murnau's peerless Nosferatu. The 1922 film, arguably the most unsettling film version of the Dracula story, should suit the neo-classical confines of Christ Church very nicely indeed. The event begins at 10pm and tickets can be booked by phone from Garter Lane Arts Centre, 051-855038, www.christ churchwaterford.com
Dark night of the dorks
We are all very keen on The Dark Knight, but the deranged devotion of some Batman fanatics is beginning to cast a slightly sour stink around the film's unstoppable advance. Within hours of its release, the picture had been propelled to the number one spot on the Internet Movie Database's chart of all-time greatest movies. (At time of writing, a week later, it is still at the top.) An examination
of voting patterns revealed that not only were thousands of Knight fans rating Christopher Nolan's epic 10 out of 10, but they were repeatedly scoring The Godfather, hitherto the most admired picture, a dubious 1 out of 10.
More worryingly, the minority of critics who did not like the film have been deluged with offensive - and sometimes threatening - e-mails. David Edelstein, a distinguished reviewer at New York magazine, was sufficiently irritated by the fan-boys' taunts of "idiot, fag [ and] prick" to author a well- written rejoinder. "You blunt the force of your attack when you write to an author to say, 'No one cares what you think'," he writes. "Because, uh, at least one person does." Quite so.
You can bank on Vince
It's Friday. It's Reel News. It must be time for the latest stupid list.
To be fair, Forbes magazine's annual attempt to assess which stars offer the best value for money is always fascinating. Observing the success of the indifferent Hancock, any idiot could identify Will Smith as the most bankable star, but he also costs a very great deal. It's actually Vince Vaughn who proves to be the best value in Hollywood - for every dollar invested, he brings in $14.73.
Elsewhere, the list is somewhat compromised by the fact that actors such as Julia Roberts (third place) and Brad Pitt (fourth) took pay cuts to appear in Ocean's 13. More interesting is the inclusion of Tobey Maguire at number two, Naomi Watts at number five and - good for her - the likeable, resilient Jennifer Aniston in eighth place.
Costume drama that smoulders
As reported last week, a new version of Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh's delicious combination of snobbery and sentimentality, will be making its way to us before the end of the year. The film has received some decent reviews on release in the US, but the appalling trailer is already becoming something of a minor cult. Scored with clanging electric guitars and edited with ferocious impatience, the promo suggests - wrongly, we are sure - that the film is a combination of Basic Instinct and Dangerous Liaisons. Check it out at www.brides headrevisited-themovie.com.
