Mark Kermode, billed as the UK's most trusted and outspoken film critic, makes his way to Belfast next weekend to talk about Oscar-worthy films, his Cinemagic film choice and new book, Hatchet Job. Brian Campbell caught up with him
IF YOU'RE a film fan and you appreciate movie anecdotes, passionate personal prejudices, entertaining diversions and sardonic humour, then Mark Kermode's new book Hatchet Job is definitely worth a look.
Or you could just listen to the man himself when he makes another visit to Belfast next weekend.
Kermode is well known for his Friday film review on BBC Radio 5 Live alongside Simon Mayo and he's also becoming a fixture in Belfast, where he regularly appears at the Cinemagic film festival.
Next weekend he'll take part in a Q&A at the festival before a screening of his chosen film Scott Pilgrim Vs The World.
The comedy stars Michael Cera and is based around a 22-year-old slacker who plays bass in a band.
In order to win over the object of his affections Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Scott must first defeat Ramona's "seven evil exes", who are coming to kill him.
So why choose a film that was only in cinemas three years ago? "It's a film I like and a film my son loves. It cost quite a lot to make and did very badly in the cinema when it came out - it flopped," he says. "I did a blog saying I really liked it and it was a shame that it flopped and a lot of people told me they loved it as well. "So now I've done a blog saying it did badly and it's a better film than people think, but nowadays you can't find anyone who doesn't like it. The question is, 'Where were all these people when it was in the cinema?'"
But don't some films - including Frank Capra's Christmas classic It's A Wonderful Life - take a while to win people over after under-performing on their release? "That's true. It's very rare that film critics manage to identify the classics that will last. You usually only realise with hindsight. "With It's A Wonderful Life, it's television that made it the enduring classic that it is, because it was on television at Christmas year after year."
Kermode says he has been appearing at Cinemagic for about eight years now. "I love doing it and we come over to Belfast quite a lot anyway because my Godson lives there and we have good friends there."
In terms of Irish films, the bequiffed critic says he really enjoyed this year's Terri Hooley biopic Good Vibrations, directed by Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn. "It's probably not an awards contender but I loved Good Vibrations. When I did my half-year review, that was the best film I'd seen in the first half of this year," he says. "You've got this huge boom in the film industry there now and it seems to have been kicked off by Game of Thrones. "I remember coming into the airport there one time and every other taxi driver seemed to be holding a 'Game of Thrones' sign."
One of Kermode's favourite actors in the last few years has been Co Kerry's own Michael Fassbender.
Having worked with director Steve McQueen on Hunger and Shame, Fassbender also stars in McQueen's new film 12 Years A Slave - the story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped in Washington DC in 1841 and sold into slavery.
The film has won rave reviews and Kermode expects it to be in the running come awards season in the new year. "It's really something. What's fascinating is that people are already saying it's a dead cert for Best Picture [at the Oscars], which would be extraordinary. "It's a tough film but it's beautifully made and it's such an extraordinary story. As a result of the way Steve McQueen tells it, you're completely drawn into it. "Chiwetel Ejiofor is fantastic in it and Lupita Nyong'o is wonderful. Fassbender plays a plantation owner who in many ways embodies the most awful elements of the film and he's involved in some of the toughest sequences. But you just absolutely believe him in that role. "He's extraordinary and he's so different from film to film. He immerses himself completely in the role in 12 Years a Slave."
So will he be expecting an Oscar nod for Fassbender then? "I would certainly hope so. But bear in mind that my Oscar predictions are usually terrible. So I honestly don't know. I've never really understood Oscar voting."
While he says 12 Years a Slave has been "the real standout" of 2013 so far, he says he also loved The Selfish Giant and says Gravity was "good fun".
Not only did he like the Sandra Bullock and George Clooney science fiction flick Gravity, but - shock horror - the outspoken critic of 3D posted a video blog to declare that it
"was worth seeing in 3D". "I did that blog as a bit of a joke. I've always been accused of being closedminded about it, but in the case of Gravity
I do think it's worth watching in 3D. "I do still think the applications of 3D are very limited and not everybody can watch it. But if you can see Gravity in 3D it's that very rare case where I'd say it's worth doing.
It does actually add to the film. It was quite nice to be able to say that in this case I was proved wrong."
Judi Dench is also being tipped for an Oscar nomination for her lead role in the Stephen Frears film Philomena and Kermode says Steve Coogan "has quietened his critics" with his portrayal of reporter Martin Sixsmith.
Kermode's new book Hatchet Job has the subtitle 'Love Movies, Hate Critics' and he says he wanted to cover a few bases in the book. "It's about whether or not we need film critics in an age in which the internet means everyone thinks they're a critic," he says. "If you look at a movie poster now you're more likely to see a recommendation from Twitter than you are from an established newspaper critic. "Basically there is a reason for critics and you do need them. Of course that's self-serving, because as a professional film critic who has been doing it for over a quarter of a century, I'd very much like to carry on doing it for the next 25 years," he laughs.
In the book he also examines why people seem to remember more bad film reviews than good ones. "Why is it that the bad and really acerbic reviews stick? When Roger Ebert died - even though he had championed loads of films - people remembered him saying things like 'I had a colonoscopy once and they let me watch it on TV. It was more entertaining than The Brown Bunny [Vincent Gallo's 2003 film].'"
The book bills Kermode as "the UK's most trusted and most outspoken film critic". So would he agree with that description? "The 'most trusted' thing is true. There was a YouGov poll in 2010, a proper poll, and they discovered that I am the most trusted film critic in the UK - even though less than three per cent of the people they asked said they trust me."
* Mark Kermode's Film Night, with a Q&A and a screening of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (12A), takes place at QFT Belfast on Saturday November 23 at 5.30pm. For tickets (£10), visit Cinemagic.org.uk or call 028 9031 1900. Mark Kermode's book Hatchet Job is out now.