Pomona Rewind

Chuck Lorre's 'The Kominsky Method' is not the first sitcom about a couple of grumpy old men. However, with Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin playing the two old codgers at the heart of it, it might be the starriest. Netflix's eight part series casts Douglas as Sandy Kominsky, an actor who runs an acting school in LA with his daughter, Sarah Baker's Mindy. Sandy has not quite achieved superstardom but is moderately successful. He is also deluded enough to believe he has great wisdom to impart about the profession. His best friend is Arkin's brusque showbiz agent, Norman Newlander whose wife, Susan Sullivan's Eileen passes away in the first episode after a battle with cancer. Eileen continues to appear to Norman after her death and guide him through life but his loud conversations with a wife that no longer appears to other people makes them believe he is losing his marbles. Over the course of the season, Sandy and Norman comp

It's the silent movie that has been making a huge noise during the awards season. Michel Hazanivicius' 'The Artist' has been wowing critics ever since it premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival. And last night it further boosted its Oscar frontrunner credentials after it scooped the Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) at the Golden Globes. But is this French-made movie worth all the hype?  Unquestionably. In a year when Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese have been paying their debts to their cinematic forefathers, 'The Artist' is a daring concoction that harks back to a golden age of silent cinema, yet celebrates talking pictures with a message that is hugely relevant to the audiences of today. Hazanivicius' film begins with a silent movie icon, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) riding the crest of a wave. His latest movie 'A Russian Affair' has the audience on its feet at its Hollywood p

THE DEVILMENT IS IN THE DETAIL Are you getting that sinking feeling about 'Titanic' being re-released in 3D? Do you nevertheless yearn for a movie set on the high seas? Well, thank God, then, for Bristol-based animators Aardman who have returned to our cinemas with a wonderful family film, 'The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists!' The creators of Morph and 'Chicken Run' are back with their first claymation feature since 'Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit ' and it doesn't disappoint. Pirate Captain (Hugh Grant) is loved by a motley crew of trusty sea dogs that includes  Pirate Second (Martin Freeman), Pirate with Gout (Brendan Gleeson sporting a goofy Dublin accent), Albino Pirate (Russell Tovey) and a woman disguised with a false ginger beard called Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate (Ashley Jansen). The crew initially bicker over what's the best thing about being a pirate - is it the scurvy? Is it cutlasses? S

"In space, no-one can hear you scream". With these seven words, a sci-fi horror franchise was born. In 1979, Ridley Scott's 'Alien' came hot on the heels of 'Star Wars'. As Hollywood sought to cash in on the huge box office success of George Lucas's film with a flurry of family friendly science fiction films such as 'Battlestar Galactica' and ' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ', Scott pitched his movie at a more adult audience. 'Alien' was dark. It was tense, it was cleverly paced and it was unconventional, giving audiences a heroine, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) when they might have assumed that the spaceship's captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt) would have had the principal role. Scott's film was a masterclass in horror moviemaking, slowly building up the tension as the crew of the Nostromo stumble upon a crashed spaceship after picking up a distress signal, only for an alien pod to lash out at one member of the

Hats off to the organisers of the Belfast Film Festival. This year's programme got off to a rip roaring start with two world premiere screenings of the Terri Hooley biopic 'Good Vibrations' which have given the movie one hell of a launch as it tours the international film festival circuit. A screening of James Marsh's 'Shadow Dancer' only enhanced its reputation at the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals as a skilfully made, well acted and cleverly told espionage thriller about moles operating within the Provisional IRA at the tail end of the Troubles. The world premiere of Kieron J Walsh's Derry-set drama 'Jump' also generated positive buzz and there were well received events honouring two of Belfast's finest screen actors, Stephen Rea and James Ellis and a memorable series of screenings in the High Court of classic legal movies. The festival drew to a close at the Waterfront last night with the European premiere of Ter