Meeting Mark Kermode

As any reader of Thom's House Of Words will know, I love films. But not even my love of film can match that of Mark Kermode. Best known for being the BBC's premiere film critic (apologies to whoever is hosting Film 2011 these days, but it's a fact), Kermode has recently brought out his second book 'The Good, The Bad, And The Multiplex: What's Wrong With Modern Movies?', and came to Cinema City in Norwich last night to promote with a talk/Q&A/book signing.

The evening started with the talk, where the good doctor covered a variety of subjects in his usual entertaining and amusing style, but not before he said a few words about the great Ken Russell, a friend of his, who sadly passed away earlier in the day.

After that Kermode delivered a great talk about what was wrong with cinema today, from the films like Transformers 3 and Sex And The City 2 (the latter of which he really went to town on), to the modern day multiplex, where the film itself is no longer as important as the sweet counter at the front of the house, and projectionists, once a revered and skilled role, are now deemed pointless, and laid off left, right and center.

It's all true of course, as some of you may know, my Summer at the cinema this year was nigh on depressing. The 'blockbusters' were mostly terrible, and it did start to get me down a bit. These films get made, and people go to see them, and a lot of people hate them, but they still went to see them. Another great point Kermode made was that we get sequels that no-one really wanted!

And of course, there was also time to slate Danny Dyer a bit. Which should be par for the course really.

After the talk, the floor was opened up for questions, and apart from one very confusing one about films that mirror the country's current economic and governmental position, there were some real good ones. Independent cinemas, what makes a multiplex a multiplex, Pixar, horror movies and opinions on the outpouring of quality television shows (mostly American) provided some really interesting answers.

It was the Pixar question that led to a short debate on what was the best trilogy. Mark suggested that it had to be Toy Story, and the room did struggle to come up with anything that could top that. Suggestions such as The Godfather (doesn't anyone remember III?), Back To The Future and the first three Alien films (which almost ostracized my friend, and the entire row we were sat in!) were all shot down in his inimitable style. And the guy has a great point, I can't think of another trilogy of films that good!

Also mentioned in the Q&A was the role of internet bloggers, which is a subject that interested me, of course. Mark had a lot to say about them, and I like to think I'm staying on the right side of the line about what makes a good critic. Would be nice to have an editor though, I have to concur there.

After that was the book signing, and unlike so many other signings I've attended, it was a chance to have a nice chat with the man himself. A friend Michael, who along with his other half Mel we met up with after the talk, argued the merits of 2001 over Silent Running, a debate he was always going to lose, but it did end up with an amusing photo being taken. And sorry Michael, Silent Running is better!

When I met him, I asked something that just popped into my head. I'd heard many a time that Kermode's favourite movie, of course, was The Exorcist, and his least favourite was The Exorcist II, but I had never heard what he thought of the third film, which I think has a great film in there, but with a heap of crap dumped on top of it.

To my surprise, Mark agreed and said that he was convinced that the studio was sitting on enough footage to release a proper version of Legion, and one day he and William Peter Blatty would be able to get to it (I sincerely hope so!), but in the meantime he recommended a book that contained the the screenplay for the original Exorcist, and the original screenplay for Legion, so as soon as I got home I found and ordered that!

It was just a great night, and it was just so good to be able to listen to him talk about films, then be able to have a conversation with him about them. A thoroughly engaging speaker, and if the new book is half as good as the evening was, I'll be in for a treat.

The Good, The Bad, And The Multiplex by Mark Kermode is out now in paperback, from all good bookstores.