I think it was Billy Connolly, most likely during one of his numerous appearances on Parky, who I once heard use the phrase ‘shortbread tin view of Scotland’. In essence, the views of Scotland on shortbread tins were idealised and far from the reality of current day Scotland. Even today, if you find an image…
Stella is the only child of Adam, a pastor, and Ulrika, a lawyer. Stella is now of legal age and looks forward to soon taking an Asian holiday with her best friend since childhood, Amina. The two teenagers have been through much together and of course, know a lot more about each other’s true selves…
Jackie Chan is one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. He’s known for his energetic and carefully choreographed fight scenes and for doing his own, often dangerous, stunts. But Hollywood hasn’t quite known how to handle him properly. Chan has found himself stuck in a number of formulaic lightweight action comedies like the…
The third and final installment in the Raymond Electromatic series, I Only Killed Him Once sees robot detective – turned gun for hire – in the fight of his “life”. “Life” requires a bit of wiggle room here as Raymond Electromatic is a robotic detective / hitman with a 24 hour long memory, and a…
Recently a lot of books have passed my way that have, as their central theme, white Australians’ mistreatment of Aboriginal Australians. This is, in my humble opinion, not a bad thing. In the case of Bordertown, however, it’s not a book that is written from an Aboriginal perspective, rather it’s the viewpoint of a white…
Stuber is another variant on the buddy-cop formula that was popular in the 80s and 90s. However, films like Lethal Weapon, Midnight Run and 48 Hours did this sort of thing much better. It’s LA’s hottest day since 1911. Vic Manning (played by former wrestler Dave Bautista) is a tough and perennially angry LA cop…
Anyone who enjoyed Jeffrey Archer’s seven volume Clifton Chronicles will lap up his latest rags-to-riches tale which contains all of the familiar elements of his novels. It is his first stand-alone novel in a decade as the Clifton Chronicles has taken up most of his time. There is a virtuous young hero who makes his…
Hands up those who thought we’d grow up to be Nancy Drew, although I will confess I was more in the Trixie Belden camp. But those books, The Secret Seven, The Famous Five and the Three Investigators series probably had a lot to do with anybody around our age addicted to mysteries, thrillers and crime…
Look, we all know what I’m going to say here, so let’s just get straight to it. The Logan McRae series is the bees knees of Scottish police procedurals. The plots are intricate, often confrontational (as is very much the case with this one) and the characters are brilliant. Grumpy, put upon McRae (is that…
Louisiana 1913. Three young boys are enjoying their summer playing outside near the edge of the forest as their wealthy parents Henry and Mary entertain guests at the family lake house. Next, the unthinkable happens. The Davenports are well known and respected in Opelousas and the disappearance of their youngest child galvanizes the small community…
