Matt Richardson

Creative Producer, buffoonish presenter, ineffectual animator & purple prose propagator, with a mind-blowing monthly movies & music show on @sohoradio.

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

Fly back 5 years to one my favourite episodes of @Poptique , when @wossy graced Alison Dennison & myself with his presence to discuss @sparksofficial on the release of @edgarwright's @SparksBrothers doc on @sohoradio!

The whole darn show is here : https://t.co/bBWoF6S4P1

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@bufocalvin @noirgal17 @LaurasMiscMovie The 6 or 7 year old me just assumed there were lots of things to grab & climb up (windows/ledges) on the ESB, ala Harold Lloyd in Safety Last, whereas a wall made of logs had nothing to hold onto.

A considerable number of decades later, I'm still sticking with that theory.

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

I'm not sure if this is or isn't a good trailer - but I do know that my subconscious was shouting 'HE'S A BABY! HE'S A BABY!' in @RealBobMortimer & @JamesMoir10's voices after the first 8 seconds or so.

[Netflix UK & Ireland @NetflixUK]

Blackmail, extortion and murder – just another summer in Hollywood. It's 1977 and Cliff Booth is back. Get tix now for THE FURTHER MIS-ADVENTURES OF CLIFF BOOTH. Only in IMAX on 25 November.

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@ReelJoBotting Surely that decade's Sir Alec Guinness (despite that decade also actually having Sir Alec Guinness)

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@vitaphonezone I'm hoping the entire film consists of him getting increasingly older, sitting in offices as miscast directors pitch Jimmy their movie idea & he just reads out the titles - "The Ice Follies of 1939..?", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance..?", "Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation..?".

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

This is an absolutely kickass monster movie & absolutely worth catching on the biggest flippin' IMAX screen you can find! #GodzillaMinusZero :

[GODZILLA.OFFICIAL @Godzilla_Toho]

Godzilla lives! Face the monsters in the historic, critically acclaimed epic #GodzillaMinusZero, in theatres & IMAX nationwide. #FilmedForIMAX

Get tickets now.
https://t.co/2Ktmma6fOa

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@landofthe80s Ummmmmmm. The photo on the right? It's not right.

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@MarshallJulius Had so much fun with this film - and I gotta say, bless that kid, her performance near the end was heart-breaking (at least for my fragile ol'ticker).

Also, Ghidorah's laser breath is among cinema's finest lasers (breath-based, or indeed otherwise).

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@ThisisWalter89 Congratulations! Always a pleasure to see hard work, dedication and passion get the recognition they deserve!

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

Thank Your Lucky Stars is genuinely one of my favourite films from the 40s, & the fact that it has a Hattie McDaniel musical number is a big big part of that.

[Celluloid Echoes @CelluloidEchoes]

Is it a surprise that Hattie McDaniel could sing? 🎶

Long before Hollywood, she was performing blues and comedy numbers with minstrel and vaudeville companies, later joining Professor George Morrison’s Melody Hounds. In 1929, she became one of the first Black women to sing on American radio, under the name “Hi-Hat Hattie.”

In Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943), she takes centre stage with “Ice Cold Katie...Won't You Marry That Soldier?”
Joined by Willie Best, Rita Christiani, Jess Lee Brooks and a chorus of singers and dancers, Hattie commands the Harlem-set number with all the flair of a seasoned performer. 🌟
#ThankYourLuckyStars #HattieMcDaniel #HollywoodMusical #Blues

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@rarefilmsguy Thankfully I've been able to enjoy the mild rollercoaster of getting it for 'not cheap' price when they announced it was getting deleted, then thinking I was a dolt for doing so when they re-released it, & now finally I can rest in the knowledge that it was a fairly good move.

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@smallslicesofme @hellothisisivan I did somehow manifest in my brain that he had Peter Lorre on as a guest, which would have been impossible - but I reckon that's my deteriorating memory mixing up the fact that Christopher Walken had a cookery show & Joe Pesci made an appearance.

(which might also not be true).

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

Interesting concept - Mickey Mouse's chummy exterior is a front & he's just biding his time until all his supposed friends leave him & his dog the eff alone so he can pretend he's an eight year old child.

[The Disney Beat 🍂 @DisneyBeat101]

Here's the trailer for Mickey's Home Alone! Premiering November 26th on Disney Jr. and next day on Disney+!

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

@hellothisisivan @JoeGayHistorian I would hardly call delivering a giant crate of Fry's Turkish Delight with one arm, on a boat, & then lugging it up to a castle whilst waving constantly as 'not doing bloody anything'.

[Un Étrange En Terre Étrange @LoinDuTribu]

I've only just discovered the story of Jack Barth, the original creator of Yesterday, and Christ alive, it's one of the most grotesquely ironic stories I've ever encountered in the film industry.

For those unfamiliar with it, Barth was a struggling screenwriter who conceived an ingenious premise: a musician wakes up in a world where The Beatles never existed, realises he's the only person who remembers their songs, and starts passing them off as his own.

Barth wrote the screenplay, originally titled Cover Version. After decades of trying to break into the film industry, he finally sold it.

Enter Richard Curtis.

Curtis rewrote the screenplay, transforming Barth's rather melancholy examination of artistic failure into a crowd-pleasing romantic comedy. Curtis received sole screenplay credit, while Barth was left sharing a story by credit with the considerably more famous writer.

Now, Barth agreed to this arrangement. That's important. But what happened afterwards is what makes the whole business so bloody unpleasant.

Curtis subsequently described receiving little more than a one-sentence premise, despite Barth's original screenplay containing several remarkably specific elements that survived into the finished film, including the elderly John Lennon and the Harry Potter gag.

Barth has argued that his contribution was systematically minimised, leaving him struggling to convince people that he created the story in the first place.

And here's where the irony becomes so vicious that Kafka himself would probably have rejected it for being too fucking obvious.

In Barth's original version, the protagonist DOESN'T become enormously successful. He possesses the greatest collection of songs in popular music history and STILL struggles to make it.

It's a story about the cruel indifference of artistic success. About how creative talent and commercial recognition are frequently separated by circumstances beyond an artist's control.

Then Barth watches his own creation become an international hit, with another writer receiving the lion's share of the acclaim.

And now, six years after Barth publicly complained about the whole miserable business, Yesterday is becoming a West End musical.

Judging by his reaction today, the news appears to have come as something of a surprise to him.

Fucking hell.

I appreciate that contracts exist. I appreciate that Curtis substantially rewrote the film. I even appreciate that Barth received payment and agreed to the credits.

But there's something profoundly depressing about an industry that can take a struggling writer's original screenplay, turn it into a multimillion-pound success, and leave that writer feeling practically invisible.

And now the machinery is apparently gearing up to do it all over again, this time with jazz hands.

As for Richard Curtis, a gigantic FUCK YOU.

[Darren Hayman @darrenhayman]

On Nov 12th, 19th 26th and Dec 6th I am doing four art workshops at Soho Poly in central London. The classes are subsidised by Westminster University and low priced at £8 each and a season ticket for £22. Each workshop has a different theme.

https://t.co/WH4vCrTnRD

[INDICATOR @indicatorseries]

WIN NIGHT OF THE DEMON ANNIVERSARY EDITION 666/2000

It has been unavailable for eight years. But now, our legendary Limited Edition Blu-ray release of NIGHT OF THE DEMON has been resurrected!

RT this post for a chance to WIN copy number 666/2000.

https://t.co/ysi9w0euLn

[Matt Richardson @Poptique]

You gotta love Billy Costello when he goes into full 'Red Pepper Sam', Ukelele-Ike-style scat mode :

[Fleischer Cartoons! @fleischertoons]

☠️Scattin’ Skeleton☠️

#fleischerstudios