James Martin Charlton
@jmcfire.bsky.social
"...a poet of the tower blocks" - What's on. Theatre 🎭 and Film 🎬, Academic 📚. Author of Fat Souls, Divine Vision. Views my own. https://linktr.ee/jmcfire
Pinned
My two most recent play publications - Divine Vision: William Blake in Felpham and The Pilgrim's Progress - are available from TSL publications:
tslbooks.uk/product-tag/...
tslbooks.uk/product-tag/...
Taking Sides (2001) offers strong pair of central performances and some intriguing questions, though Harwood and Szabó never quite pursue anything really dangerous. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of Taking Sides (2001)
An American Army Major investigates the great German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler during denazification. Based on a play by Ronald Harwood, this is slightly schematic for European arthouse cinema. Ha...
letterboxd.com
September 16, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Taking Sides (2001) offers strong pair of central performances and some intriguing questions, though Harwood and Szabó never quite pursue anything really dangerous. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
D. W. Griffith directs Abraham Lincoln (1930) as if he had somehow forgotten everything he brought to The Birth of a Nation. Still, who knew the 16th president could wrestle? letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of Abraham Lincoln (1930)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
September 14, 2026 at 8:11 PM
D. W. Griffith directs Abraham Lincoln (1930) as if he had somehow forgotten everything he brought to The Birth of a Nation. Still, who knew the 16th president could wrestle? letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Project Hail Mary (2026) is a massively long space epic in which engineering problems, Gosling looking goofy, sentiment and a rock-shaped alien stand in for drama. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★ review of Project Hail Mary (2026)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
September 13, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Project Hail Mary (2026) is a massively long space epic in which engineering problems, Gosling looking goofy, sentiment and a rock-shaped alien stand in for drama. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
High functioning intellect is all well and good, but won’t do on its own, I argue in The Critic. thecritic.co.uk/the-limits-o...
The limits of IQ | James Martin Charlton | The Critic Magazine
For many conservatives, a return to meritocracy is axiomatic. Such a restoration would begin with the re-establishment of selection to universities on the basis of IQ. School testing has been shown to...
thecritic.co.uk
September 10, 2026 at 8:32 AM
High functioning intellect is all well and good, but won’t do on its own, I argue in The Critic. thecritic.co.uk/the-limits-o...
The Lady Vanishes (1979) is handsome, has some lovely performances and perfectly is watchable - but Hammer's last stand never finds a reason to exist. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of The Lady Vanishes (1979)
On a train from Bavaria in 1939, a much-married heiress encounters an English nanny who disappears; everybody denies they ever saw her. This film was the final nail in the coffin of Hammer Film Produc...
letterboxd.com
September 9, 2026 at 9:02 PM
The Lady Vanishes (1979) is handsome, has some lovely performances and perfectly is watchable - but Hammer's last stand never finds a reason to exist. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Coyote vs. Acme (2026) is an inventive and often very funny revival of classic Looney Tunes characters, although, like all Hollywood product now, it is compromised by a final urge towards redemption, prompted by the ravening maw of therapy culture. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★½ review of Coyote vs. Acme (2026)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
September 6, 2026 at 10:16 PM
Coyote vs. Acme (2026) is an inventive and often very funny revival of classic Looney Tunes characters, although, like all Hollywood product now, it is compromised by a final urge towards redemption, prompted by the ravening maw of therapy culture. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
1941 (1979) sees Spielberg throws endless explosions at the screen in pursuit of laughs, and forgot to add in story, characters or jokes. You can, however, see whether Toshiro Mifune and Christopher Lee make a comic dream team. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of 1941 (1979)
A disparate group of characters get mixed up in the chaos of a rumoured attack on California by Japanese forces in the wake of Pearl Harbor. This followed two of Spielberg's biggest early hits - Jaws ...
letterboxd.com
September 5, 2026 at 11:14 PM
1941 (1979) sees Spielberg throws endless explosions at the screen in pursuit of laughs, and forgot to add in story, characters or jokes. You can, however, see whether Toshiro Mifune and Christopher Lee make a comic dream team. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Famous anime The Cat Returns (2002) offers a wonderfully imagined cat kingdom, but there's a nagging problem in the heroine's journey. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★½ review of The Cat Returns (2002)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
September 5, 2026 at 9:37 AM
Famous anime The Cat Returns (2002) offers a wonderfully imagined cat kingdom, but there's a nagging problem in the heroine's journey. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Sad news about Richard O'Sullivan. From Carry On Teacher through Ptolemy XIII in Cleopatra, then the all-pervasive triumphs of 70s sitcom, Man About the House and Robin's Nest. I saw him (with Joyce and Murphy) in panto as Buttons in Cinderella. RIP.
September 4, 2026 at 10:36 AM
Sad news about Richard O'Sullivan. From Carry On Teacher through Ptolemy XIII in Cleopatra, then the all-pervasive triumphs of 70s sitcom, Man About the House and Robin's Nest. I saw him (with Joyce and Murphy) in panto as Buttons in Cinderella. RIP.
36 Hours (1953) is a minor Hammer B-movie with an unpleasant hero and a restoration so good it does Dan Duryea's old eek no favours whatsoever. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★ review of 36 Hours (1953)
A man comes to England to kill his errant wife and has to prove his innocence when someone else offs her. This dull, minor Hammer B-movie has a big central problem - the protagonist is deeply unsympat...
letterboxd.com
September 3, 2026 at 10:22 PM
36 Hours (1953) is a minor Hammer B-movie with an unpleasant hero and a restoration so good it does Dan Duryea's old eek no favours whatsoever. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Night Terror (1977) is a schematic character arc wrapped around a surprisingly effective TV-movie chase thriller. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★ review of Night Terror (1977)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
September 1, 2026 at 6:19 PM
Night Terror (1977) is a schematic character arc wrapped around a surprisingly effective TV-movie chase thriller. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Et in Arcadia ego: I hate to be that person.
I explore why I was unconvinced by Stoppard's Arcadia, despite its enormous reputation.
Link 👇
I explore why I was unconvinced by Stoppard's Arcadia, despite its enormous reputation.
Link 👇
August 31, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Et in Arcadia ego: I hate to be that person.
I explore why I was unconvinced by Stoppard's Arcadia, despite its enormous reputation.
Link 👇
I explore why I was unconvinced by Stoppard's Arcadia, despite its enormous reputation.
Link 👇
Blood Bath (1966) is Roger Corman hiring Jack Hill to recycle Yugoslav footage with a vampire plot that may be either poetic or simply broken. As good as it sounds. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of Blood Bath (1966)
A gothic-style painter, descended from a mysterious fifteenth-century artist, turns out to be a vampiric murderer. This is a film stitched together from footage made originally for the unrealised thri...
letterboxd.com
August 31, 2026 at 12:36 PM
Blood Bath (1966) is Roger Corman hiring Jack Hill to recycle Yugoslav footage with a vampire plot that may be either poetic or simply broken. As good as it sounds. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
The Happy Hooker (1975) is a jauntily sickening relic of 1970s sexual liberation, and one that looks considerably less amusing than intended from the vantage of fifty years later. Hey there, Lyn Redgrave, bad luck! letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of The Happy Hooker (1975)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
August 29, 2026 at 10:32 AM
The Happy Hooker (1975) is a jauntily sickening relic of 1970s sexual liberation, and one that looks considerably less amusing than intended from the vantage of fifty years later. Hey there, Lyn Redgrave, bad luck! letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
I’m very saddened to hear that Ted has died. He was hugely important to my career and did a stunning job directing the premier of Fat Souls.
Obituary: Ted Craig – director
www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--...
Obituary: Ted Craig – director
www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--...
Obituary: Ted Craig – director
Director who led the Croydon Warehouse and co-founded the International Playwriting Festival
www.thestage.co.uk
August 28, 2026 at 8:11 PM
I’m very saddened to hear that Ted has died. He was hugely important to my career and did a stunning job directing the premier of Fat Souls.
Obituary: Ted Craig – director
www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--...
Obituary: Ted Craig – director
www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--...
Becoming Sixty: the personal significance of an age.
I turned sixty last month. My father died at sixty. Today, on the anniversary of his death, I’ve written about the strange significance an age can acquire, and about one night in 1975 that has never quite stopped happening.
Link👇
I turned sixty last month. My father died at sixty. Today, on the anniversary of his death, I’ve written about the strange significance an age can acquire, and about one night in 1975 that has never quite stopped happening.
Link👇
August 28, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Becoming Sixty: the personal significance of an age.
I turned sixty last month. My father died at sixty. Today, on the anniversary of his death, I’ve written about the strange significance an age can acquire, and about one night in 1975 that has never quite stopped happening.
Link👇
I turned sixty last month. My father died at sixty. Today, on the anniversary of his death, I’ve written about the strange significance an age can acquire, and about one night in 1975 that has never quite stopped happening.
Link👇
Too Many Crooks (1959) is not quite top-tier 1950s British comedy, but the cast (major stars and minor bits) make it much better than it has any right to be. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★½ review of Too Many Crooks (1959)
A criminal gang led by a bungling idiot kidnap the wife of a tax evader, but he's none too keen to have her back. This is a decent dark comedy of the period, elevated by the cast. Terry-Thomas is top-...
letterboxd.com
August 25, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Too Many Crooks (1959) is not quite top-tier 1950s British comedy, but the cast (major stars and minor bits) make it much better than it has any right to be. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Kevin Costner wants four films about the frontier town of Horizon. After three hours of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024), I definitely don't share his enthusiasm. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★ review of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
August 23, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Kevin Costner wants four films about the frontier town of Horizon. After three hours of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024), I definitely don't share his enthusiasm. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Some toned-down Harold Robbins depravity, automotive intrigue and an elderly Thespian doing things no septuagenarian should be required to do: it's The Betsy (1978). letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of The Betsy (1978)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
August 22, 2026 at 11:19 AM
Some toned-down Harold Robbins depravity, automotive intrigue and an elderly Thespian doing things no septuagenarian should be required to do: it's The Betsy (1978). letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Sexual frustration runs riot at a camp Paradise as Sid, Bernie and the gang pursue it the wrong way. Carry On Camping (1969) turns the British campsite into a bawdy Forest of Arden where people finally get it as they like it. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★★½ review of Carry On Camping (1969)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
August 21, 2026 at 6:23 PM
Sexual frustration runs riot at a camp Paradise as Sid, Bernie and the gang pursue it the wrong way. Carry On Camping (1969) turns the British campsite into a bawdy Forest of Arden where people finally get it as they like it. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Chuck Norris gets drafted into a police drugs investigation in A Force of One (1979), one of his films that occasionally threatens to resemble an actual movie, even if it's one assembled by numbers. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★½ review of A Force of One (1979)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
letterboxd.com
August 21, 2026 at 8:38 AM
Chuck Norris gets drafted into a police drugs investigation in A Force of One (1979), one of his films that occasionally threatens to resemble an actual movie, even if it's one assembled by numbers. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Dubrovnik, a lost Titian, Patrick Magee and one of Roger Corman's strangest production histories can't save Portrait in Terror (1965) from becoming a portrait in torpor. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★½ review of Portrait in Terror (1965)
A museum curator's only living relative is murdered - and the old man may have owned a lost Titian. The Dubrovnik locations are eye-catching and atmospheric, and from the visual interest they raise, y...
letterboxd.com
August 20, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Dubrovnik, a lost Titian, Patrick Magee and one of Roger Corman's strangest production histories can't save Portrait in Terror (1965) from becoming a portrait in torpor. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
David Janssen, a couple of Eurotrash actresses, the usual supporting has-beens and a Swiss bank full of secrets in The Swiss Conspiracy (1976). What could possibly be of interest? Right. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★ review of The Swiss Conspiracy (1976)
A detective is hired by a Swiss bank to investigate a blackmail attempt against the bank and a handful of its clients. This is one of those 1970s films that often ended up on the wrong end of a double...
letterboxd.com
August 18, 2026 at 7:45 PM
David Janssen, a couple of Eurotrash actresses, the usual supporting has-beens and a Swiss bank full of secrets in The Swiss Conspiracy (1976). What could possibly be of interest? Right. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
Robert Mitchum is, for me, cinema's greatest Philip Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely (1975) - a beautiful, weary journey through a 1940s Los Angeles of corpses, corruption and fakes. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
A ★★★★ review of Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a newly freed con to find his girlfriend, Velma. The case soon becomes littered with mystery and corpses. This is the only theatrical Chandler/Marlowe adap...
letterboxd.com
August 18, 2026 at 1:02 PM
Robert Mitchum is, for me, cinema's greatest Philip Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely (1975) - a beautiful, weary journey through a 1940s Los Angeles of corpses, corruption and fakes. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
I look at the curious and not straightforward relationship between going to university and social mobility in The Critic.
thecritic.co.uk/moving-on-up...
thecritic.co.uk/moving-on-up...
Moving on up or not | James Martin Charlton | The Critic Magazine
The Social Mobility Commission is a quango whose job it is to monitor “the progress made towards improving social mobility in the United Kingdom.” It has recently published a new report and set of…
thecritic.co.uk
August 18, 2026 at 8:11 AM
I look at the curious and not straightforward relationship between going to university and social mobility in The Critic.
thecritic.co.uk/moving-on-up...
thecritic.co.uk/moving-on-up...