Matthew Bruce

Matthew Bruce

I am a PhD in French (Film) Studies student at the University of Birmingham, U.K., looking for opportunities in film journalism.

Favorite films

  • Vertigo
  • Stolen Kisses
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • You Only Live Twice

Recent activity

All
  • Deadlier Than the Male

    ★★★½

  • Some Girls Do

    ★★★½

  • Spectre

    ★★★★

  • The Danish Girl

    ★★★½

Recent reviews

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  • Deadlier Than the Male

    Deadlier Than the Male

    ★★★½

    Classically trained British actor Richard Johnson was allegedly Terence Young’s original choice for the role of James Bond and rumour has it that Johnson was, at one time, offered the part, before turning it down. Perhaps, therefore, it was fate that led him subsequently to the role of fictional hero, Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond, in two pseudo Bond films from the 1960s, Deadlier Than The Male (1967) and Some Girls Do (1969). Prior to these films, Drummond was a well-known character…

  • Some Girls Do

    Some Girls Do

    ★★★½

    If Deadlier Than The Male can be thought of as a pint of bitter, it is followed by the vodka chaser that is Some Girls Do, a headier film than its predecessor with hints towards the “sex comedy” which would become popular fare in the following decade. This time around, a more world-weary Johnson as crime-fighter, Hugh Drummond, is called into action to investigate the accidents befalling people connected to the development of the world’s first supersonic airliner (the SST1).…

Popular reviews

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  • King Solomon's Mines

    King Solomon's Mines

    ★★★

    The success of Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films of the 1980s set in motion a series of adventure films in a similar mould, such was the thirst for historic thrills. One can cite Robert Zemeckis’ Romancing the Stone (1984), and its sequel, Lewis Teague’s The Jewel of the Nile (1985), both starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, as subscribers to this genre. While, perhaps, nothing more than sappy love stories to some, these films have the Jonesian characteristics of an…

  • Rocketman

    Rocketman

    ★★★★

    This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.