‘Zettel’ is German for a small scrap of paper. After the death of the Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein a box full of scraps of paper on which thoughts and ideas he had assembled over many years was found. These extraodinarily varied and profound thoughts were published posthumously under the title Zettel. I have chosen therefore a name to live up to.

I’ve loved movies all my life: fun movies, action movies, entertainment movies, challenging films, innovative films, and serious films. I love good trash movies. I admire many films I don’t like –some of Scorcese’s movies for instance.

I go to the cinema to be entertained, to laugh, to cry, to be challenged to think, to be moved, to feel the vicarious pleasure of fear and danger and suspense.

I hate to be preached at in movies, to have my intelligence insulted by weak plots, lazy writing, and exploitative movies driven by market analysis instead of artistic vision.

The movie and the film were the paradigm 20th century popular art form. Film in all its forms and currently diversifying distribution – cinema, DVD, released through TV, or streamed on the internet, remains one of the most important popular art forms of this century too. Yet most movie/film reviews are seen as transient writing about ephemeral entertainment.

I write about films because I believe they are worth it. Many moments in films are as precious to me and as memorable, often unforgettable, as any scene or character in any book. Yet novels, the play, are treated as serious art forms which may range from trivial and fun to deep and profound.  Cinema deserves the same respect.

I started writing reviews to develop my writing skill. Now I do it for its own sake. My interest in serious reviewing was aroused by the late Pauline Kael of the New Yorker. She had wit and style, and her incisive, perceptive writing, together with her sometimes for me, ‘wrongheaded’ analyses, made her a totally distinct and distinctive voice on movies.

Over 100,000 people have read my reviews on the internet so far through a writing outlet and a number of these reviews have won prizes. This site is to draw them all together, together with my other writing, especially poems, and make them freely available to anyone with a mind to read them. My objective is in a sense to share my love of movies through the reviewing process and I look forward to responding to anyone whether they share my analysis or deeply disagree with it.

Synoptic reviews are helpful – but I don’t write them. They are widely available almost everywhere. They offer no writing challenge or space to permit a distinctive voice to emerge. I do not try to cover all films released; I take those that seem worth the effort either to praise or even slate. I hope to make the fun I have writing the reviews come through to the reader of them. I am as delighted at trying to make you laugh as I am at trying to provoke your thought.

I studied and taught Philosophy at King’s College in London for 7 years in the 70s. A department heavily influenced by the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. His approach to philosophy and especially language constantly echoes through these reviews. I have also been a P.E. and Adult Education Teacher, senior manager in the Oil Industry and bookseller.

Zettel - July 2008