Friday

It’s Friday….

Which is good news for no other reason that it’s movie hour on Radio 5 with Mark Kermode. Kermode is a rare find, a critic whose opinion is actually worthwhile. You just have to either ignore the fact that he believes The Exorcist is the best film ever made, or admire the fact that in the company he keeps he is quite happy making and defending this assertion.

Of course the best film ever made is Casino. I know nobody will agree with me, the argument usually goes that Scorsese peaked with Goodfellas, and anyone who’s a fan of Casino would surely prefer his previous work (or Mean Streets for the real aficionados). While Goodfellas would certainly make my top 10, I am young enough not to have seen it at the cinema, whereas I did see Casino first at a beautiful Odeon in Bristol that unfortunately has since closed. I was at that age where I was in love with the cinema, the building, the architecture, the smell – the whole package (well, I still am actually, although the architecture of the local VUE cinema isn’t exactly Art Deco). Granted, the opening scene with the dummy in the car is terrible, but the dialogue more than makes up for it. Every scene could be shown as a short in it’s own right. The performances of DeNiro, Pesci and Stone have merited countless repeat viewings and will forever hold a sacred place in my heart.

I like Keromode as he is happy to give his personal opinion, rather than agreeing with his fellow critics just to be part of the club. So while we’ll never agree on the The Exorcist , I’ll continue to respect his opinion and look forward to 3:00PM on Fridays.

‘In the casino, the cardinal rule is to keep them playing and to keep them coming back. The longer they play, the more they lose, and in the end, we get it all.’