Sign in

James Martin Charlton

@jmcfire.bsky.social
138 followers 118 following 1.4K posts

"...a poet of the tower blocks" - What's on. Theatre 🎭 and Film 🎬, Academic 📚. Author of Fat Souls, Divine Vision. Views my own. linktr.ee/jmcfire

PostsRepliesMedia
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 13h
M. Night Shyamalan turns Trap (2024) into balderdash with its nepotistic miscasting and a serial killer who is only an evil genius up until the screenplay needs him to be dumb. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★ review of Trap (2024)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977) is a sequel so grimly unfunny that its cast of faded comics resembles mortuary work; Joey Heatherton is no Lyn Redgrave, or anybody else for that matter. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★ review of The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977)
A famous madam, and now agony aunt, gives evidence to a Senate committee which wants a more sexually puritan America. Truly terrible sequel to The Happy Hooker. The original film was no great shakes, ...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
jmcfire.substack.com/p/as-they-li...
jmcfire.substack.com
As They Like It
The RSC’s new production turns Shakespeare into a message carrier
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
New Substack: As They Like It - The RSC’s new production turns Shakespeare into a message carrier. Link 👇
100
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Initiation (2009) is a promising generational idea, buried under clichés and amateurish filmmaking; it offers a horribly poignant glimpse of Helmut Berger’s late-career decline. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★½ review of Initiation (2009)
An elderly gay Austrian, traumatised by wartime experiences, befriends a troubled youth who is involved with neo-Nazis. This is a potentially promising idea, that a man tries to reach out across the g...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Backrooms (2026) is a terrific horror premise, has some genuinely creepy spaces, but its script never quite decides what to do with them. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★ review of Backrooms (2026)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
jmcfire.substack.com/p/to-make-us...
jmcfire.substack.com
To Make Us Feel His Love
Two theories of Atonement and a Dylan song
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
New Substack: To Make Us Feel His Love: Two theories of Atonement and a Dylan song. Ransom Theory. Penal Substitution. Cosmic deals, divine blood-price - and then Bob Dylan. Link 👇
100
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A topical cartoon based on the RAF Fairford incident...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
thecritic.co.uk/ed-sheeran-n...
thecritic.co.uk
Ed Sheeran needs the Dylan defence | James Martin Charlton | The Critic Magazine
Ed Sheeran can’t win. After stadium owners refused to host Macklemore, a succession of support acts quit in solidarity, including Sheeran’s own backing group. None of this mess was Sheeran’s doing…
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
First time number 1 most read on The Critic with my Sheeran/Dylan article…
100
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Scansati... a Trinità arriva Eldorado (1972), Joe D'Amato’s directorial debut, is obscure, chaotic and mostly dreadful - but the future master of erotic nastiness is faintly visible in one scene. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★ review of Go Away! Trinity Has Arrived in Eldorado (1972)
A pair of conmen rob a wealthy and crazed Mexican general. This is one of dozens of cheap My Name Is Trinity rip-offs produced in Italy in the early 1970s, and no doubt one of the weaker ones. It is n...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I suggest that Ed Sheeran could take a few tips from Bob Dylan in terms of resisting attempts by journalists and activists to pin a music star down, in The Critic thecritic.co.uk/ed-sheeran-n...
thecritic.co.uk
Ed Sheeran needs the Dylan defence | James Martin Charlton | The Critic Magazine
Ed Sheeran can’t win. After stadium owners refused to host Macklemore, a succession of support acts quit in solidarity, including Sheeran’s own backing group. None of this mess was Sheeran’s doing…
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Yellowbeard (1983) ostensibly contains an extraordinary amount of comic talent, assembled to produce almost no comedy at all. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★½ review of Yellowbeard (1983)
A notorious pirate escapes from prison and goes in search of his buried treasure, accompanied or chased by an assortment of odd characters. Given the amount of talent involved in writing and performin...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The involvement of Welles, Perkins, Piccoli and Chabrol in Ten Days Wonder (1971) promises a great deal. So much for promises. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★ review of Ten Days' Wonder (1971)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
001
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Taking Sides (2001) offers strong pair of central performances and some intriguing questions, though Harwood and Szabó never quite pursue anything really dangerous. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★ review of Taking Sides (2001)
An American Army Major investigates the great German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler during denazification. Based on a play by Ronald Harwood, this is slightly schematic for European arthouse cinema. Ha...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
D. W. Griffith directs Abraham Lincoln (1930) as if he had somehow forgotten everything he brought to The Birth of a Nation. Still, who knew the 16th president could wrestle? letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★½ review of Abraham Lincoln (1930)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Project Hail Mary (2026) is a massively long space epic in which engineering problems, Gosling looking goofy, sentiment and a rock-shaped alien stand in for drama. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★ review of Project Hail Mary (2026)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
High functioning intellect is all well and good, but won’t do on its own, I argue in The Critic. thecritic.co.uk/the-limits-o...
thecritic.co.uk
The limits of IQ | James Martin Charlton | The Critic Magazine
For many conservatives, a return to meritocracy is axiomatic. Such a restoration would begin with the re-establishment of selection to universities on the basis of IQ. School testing has been shown to...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The Lady Vanishes (1979) is handsome, has some lovely performances and perfectly is watchable - but Hammer's last stand never finds a reason to exist. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★½ review of The Lady Vanishes (1979)
On a train from Bavaria in 1939, a much-married heiress encounters an English nanny who disappears; everybody denies they ever saw her. This film was the final nail in the coffin of Hammer Film Produc...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Coyote vs. Acme (2026) is an inventive and often very funny revival of classic Looney Tunes characters, although, like all Hollywood product now, it is compromised by a final urge towards redemption, prompted by the ravening maw of therapy culture. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★½ review of Coyote vs. Acme (2026)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
1941 (1979) sees Spielberg throws endless explosions at the screen in pursuit of laughs, and forgot to add in story, characters or jokes. You can, however, see whether Toshiro Mifune and Christopher Lee make a comic dream team. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★½ review of 1941 (1979)
A disparate group of characters get mixed up in the chaos of a rumoured attack on California by Japanese forces in the wake of Pearl Harbor. This followed two of Spielberg's biggest early hits - Jaws ...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Famous anime The Cat Returns (2002) offers a wonderfully imagined cat kingdom, but there's a nagging problem in the heroine's journey. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★½ review of The Cat Returns (2002)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Sad news about Richard O'Sullivan. From Carry On Teacher through Ptolemy XIII in Cleopatra, then the all-pervasive triumphs of 70s sitcom, Man About the House and Robin's Nest. I saw him (with Joyce and Murphy) in panto as Buttons in Cinderella. RIP.
100
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
36 Hours (1953) is a minor Hammer B-movie with an unpleasant hero and a restoration so good it does Dan Duryea's old eek no favours whatsoever. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★ review of 36 Hours (1953)
A man comes to England to kill his errant wife and has to prove his innocence when someone else offs her. This dull, minor Hammer B-movie has a big central problem - the protagonist is deeply unsympat...
010
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Night Terror (1977) is a schematic character arc wrapped around a surprisingly effective TV-movie chase thriller. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★ review of Night Terror (1977)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
jmcfire.substack.com/p/et-in-arca...
jmcfire.substack.com
Et in Arcadia ego
I hate to be that person.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Et in Arcadia ego: I hate to be that person. I explore why I was unconvinced by Stoppard's Arcadia, despite its enormous reputation. Link 👇
100
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Blood Bath (1966) is Roger Corman hiring Jack Hill to recycle Yugoslav footage with a vampire plot that may be either poetic or simply broken. As good as it sounds. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★½ review of Blood Bath (1966)
A gothic-style painter, descended from a mysterious fifteenth-century artist, turns out to be a vampiric murderer. This is a film stitched together from footage made originally for the unrealised thri...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The Happy Hooker (1975) is a jauntily sickening relic of 1970s sexual liberation, and one that looks considerably less amusing than intended from the vantage of fifty years later. Hey there, Lyn Redgrave, bad luck! letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★½ review of The Happy Hooker (1975)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I was proud when he asked me to be an Associate Director at the Warehouse, and co-run the Writers Workshop there. He taught me an enormous amount about putting on a play and the business of running a theatre. Rest in Peace, Ted.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I’m very saddened to hear that Ted has died. He was hugely important to my career and did a stunning job directing the premier of Fat Souls. Obituary: Ted Craig – director www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--...
thestage.co.uk
Obituary: Ted Craig – director
Director who led the Croydon Warehouse and co-founded the International Playwriting Festival
101
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
jmcfire.substack.com/p/becoming-s...
jmcfire.substack.com
Becoming Sixty
The personal significance of an age
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Becoming Sixty: the personal significance of an age. I turned sixty last month. My father died at sixty. Today, on the anniversary of his death, I’ve written about the strange significance an age can acquire, and about one night in 1975 that has never quite stopped happening. Link👇
100
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Too Many Crooks (1959) is not quite top-tier 1950s British comedy, but the cast (major stars and minor bits) make it much better than it has any right to be. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★½ review of Too Many Crooks (1959)
A criminal gang led by a bungling idiot kidnap the wife of a tax evader, but he's none too keen to have her back. This is a decent dark comedy of the period, elevated by the cast. Terry-Thomas is top-...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Kevin Costner wants four films about the frontier town of Horizon. After three hours of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024), I definitely don't share his enthusiasm. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★ review of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
001
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
You mean this?
110
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Some toned-down Harold Robbins depravity, automotive intrigue and an elderly Thespian doing things no septuagenarian should be required to do: it's The Betsy (1978). letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★½ review of The Betsy (1978)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Sexual frustration runs riot at a camp Paradise as Sid, Bernie and the gang pursue it the wrong way. Carry On Camping (1969) turns the British campsite into a bawdy Forest of Arden where people finally get it as they like it. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★★½ review of Carry On Camping (1969)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Chuck Norris gets drafted into a police drugs investigation in A Force of One (1979), one of his films that occasionally threatens to resemble an actual movie, even if it's one assembled by numbers. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★½ review of A Force of One (1979)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Dubrovnik, a lost Titian, Patrick Magee and one of Roger Corman's strangest production histories can't save Portrait in Terror (1965) from becoming a portrait in torpor. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★½ review of Portrait in Terror (1965)
A museum curator's only living relative is murdered - and the old man may have owned a lost Titian. The Dubrovnik locations are eye-catching and atmospheric, and from the visual interest they raise, y...
010
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
David Janssen, a couple of Eurotrash actresses, the usual supporting has-beens and a Swiss bank full of secrets in The Swiss Conspiracy (1976). What could possibly be of interest? Right. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★ review of The Swiss Conspiracy (1976)
A detective is hired by a Swiss bank to investigate a blackmail attempt against the bank and a handful of its clients. This is one of those 1970s films that often ended up on the wrong end of a double...
011
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Robert Mitchum is, for me, cinema's greatest Philip Marlowe in Farewell, My Lovely (1975) - a beautiful, weary journey through a 1940s Los Angeles of corpses, corruption and fakes. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★★ review of Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a newly freed con to find his girlfriend, Velma. The case soon becomes littered with mystery and corpses. This is the only theatrical Chandler/Marlowe adap...
020
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I look at the curious and not straightforward relationship between going to university and social mobility in The Critic. thecritic.co.uk/moving-on-up...
thecritic.co.uk
Moving on up or not | James Martin Charlton | The Critic Magazine
The Social Mobility Commission is a quango whose job it is to monitor “the progress made towards improving social mobility in the United Kingdom.” It has recently published a new report and set of…
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Edward Woodward, prophetic nightmares, an ominous teenage daughter and a spectacular car crash don't add up to much in the obscure British supernatural horror The Appointment (1982). letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★ review of The Appointment (1982)
This review may contain spoilers. Visit the page to bypass this warning and read the review.
010
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Penitentiary II (1982) gets Too Sweet out of prison, only to find increasingly unlikely ways of dragging him - and the film - back inside. A bizarre and often unlikely sequel in which the penitentiary has an almost gravitational pull on everyone involved. letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★½ review of Penitentiary II (1982)
A man is paroled with the proviso that he work for a boxing promoter. The promoter expects a fighter but the man initially refuses - after his girlfriend is murdered by an ex-cellmate, however, he dec...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
A book which asks What If Reform Wins? but doesn't dare write either serious political analysis or proper speculative fiction. Instead, Peter Chappell gives us what he repeatedly calls a "scenario". Cheap and amateur but unintentionally very funny. substack.com/@jmcfire/not...
substack.com
JMC Fire (@jmcfire)
What If Reform Wins: A Scenario is a pathetically bad book. Badly written in bad faith. Chappell simply cannot write, so he doesn't dare write either a serious non-fiction exploration of Reform's pol...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Boxing, sexual assault and survival are all rife Jamaa Fanaka's grotesque, grubby and unruly prison exploitation (and blaxploitation) hit Penitentiary (1979). letterboxd.com/jmcfire/film...
letterboxd.com
A ★★★½ review of Penitentiary (1979)
A drifter ends up in prison for murder after a fight in a diner. He becomes a champion boxer inside. Despite its plotline, this is no inspirational film like Rocky, but a descent into the depths. The ...
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
jmcfire.substack.com/p/love-in-th...
jmcfire.substack.com
Love in The Potting Shed
Graham Greene and a deal with God
000
James Martin Charlton @jmcfire.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
New Substack: Love in The Potting Shed: Graham Greene and a deal with God Link 👇
100