Pomona Rewind

  There are many things that were popular in Britain during the 1970s and 80s that just make me cringe. Take food, for example.  Does anyone hanker these days for Angel Delight, Smash powdered potato or liver pate arranged in the shape of a pineapple?  It was a terrible era too for fashion - maxidresses, bell bottoms, platform shoes and donkey jackets and also very, very dodgy hairstyles. Wood panels, linoleum floors and shag carpeting were common sights in many homes. TV shows like 'The Black and White Minstrel Show' and racist sitcoms like 'Love Thy Neighbour' and 'Mind Your Language' were somehow deemed acceptable and just somehow make your toes curl today. The causal racism and sexism of "comedians" like Benny Hill, Jim Davidson, Bernard Manning is embarrassing. Even comic geniuses like Spike Mulligan were guilty, with sketches featuring scantily clad women and Pakistani Daleks. Then, there was the undignified spectacle of televised beauty contests...

It's easy to see why 'Military Wives' was made. Inspired by the 75 choirs of British Army wives and the hit BBC TV reality series 'The Choir,' the film offers an insight into what life is like for those left behind when their partners or children serve abroad. The film also falls into that category of plucky underdog movies with an ensemble cast that British film audiences especially love like 'The Full Monty,' 'Brassed Off' and 'Calendar Girls'. The director has form in this regard, having guided 'The Full Monty' to Oscar nominations and seen it mutate into a hit Broadway show. 'Military Wives' also features the kind of crowd pleasing humour that tends to go down very well with the grey pound. So it was unfortunate, then, that when Peter Cattaneo's film hit British cinemas in March, it fell victim to the lockdown that closed all entertainment venues. Like other movies impacted by the Covid-19 lockdown, Cattaneo's movi...

  It is going to be a Christmas like no other. After a year of living with the threat of Coronavirus hanging over our heads, 2020 has been a draining experience. And while it has made a lot of us alter our plans for Christmas as more Covid restrictions are imposed, a lot of us will be grabbing the time to unwind with our immediate family and recharge our batteries for a 2021 that may be equally challenging. Right through the pandemic, TV has offered us respite from the grim reality of Coronavirus. And what better way to escape and relax than settling down to watch a good film or several of them? Thank God, therefore, for Pomona Rewind's annual  recommendations for films on Festive TV. CHRISTMAS EVE Meet Me In St Louis (BBC2, 1.25pm) Vincente Minnelli's 1944 musical with Judy Garland, Mary Astor and Margaret O'Brien begins in the summer of 1904 - a year before the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri. But as the film follows the fortunes of the upper middle class Smith fam...

   'Dark Waters' is a very conventional corporate cover-up movie. What it isn't is a typical Todd Haynes film. The Los Angeles born director built his filmmaking reputation as a pioneering figure of the New Queer Cinema Movement with films like 'Poison,' 'Velvet Goldmine,' 'Far from Home' and 'Carol'. However 'Dark Waters' follows the same beat as James Bridges' 1979 nuclear power classic 'The China Syndrome,' Steven Zaillian's 1998 environmental drama 'A Civil Action' and Tony Gilroy's cynical corporate law tale 'Michael Clayton'  That isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it makes for a very effective, well made corporate corruption drama. Based on a New York Times magazine article in 2016 by Nathaniel Rich, headlined 'The Lawyer Who Became Du Pont's Worst Nightmare,' Haynes' movie raises disturbing questions about the manufacturing of the company's most celebrated produc...