Mark Kermode
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Mark Kermode (born Mark Fairey, 1963) is a British film critic who regularly writes for Sight and Sound magazine and The Observer newspaper. He is also a critic on other branches of the arts for the BBC2 programme Newsnight Review, and frequently appears on The Culture Show and BBC News 24.
He is best known for reviewing and debating the new movie releases each Friday afternoon on Simon Mayo's BBC Radio Five Live show. While he gives many favourable critiques, it is his scathing 'rants' that are most memorable, among them his scornful assessment of notorious 2004 Brit flick Sex Lives of the Potato Men, the 2005 Cameron Crowe film Elizabethtown, and the 2006 Keenen Ivory Wayans film, Little Man, which he described in his Five Live review as "genuinely evil." Kermode's vivacious reviews have gained him a dedicated following, and the show has gained a wide following internationally, now that BBC Radio is available online. The Five Live show is also available as a podcast.
He is a visiting fellow at Southampton University, having gained a Ph.D. at Manchester University in horror fiction. This, together with his former contributions to Fangoria, makes him something of a horror film expert, in particular on his favourite film The Exorcist. He is considered one of the world's leading authorities on that film, having written multiple editions of BFI Modern Classics: The Exorcist and contributed to many other publications and documentaries about it. Other cult films in his Top Ten list (published in 2002 [1]) include Brazil, The Devils, and Don't Look Now.
His appreciation of genre cinema is not always in line with popular taste: he has a personal dislike for both Pirates of the Caribbean films and the Star Wars films. Other pet hates include the actor Julian Sands, "pretty-boys" Orlando Bloom (referred to unapologetically by Kermode as "Orloondo Bland") and Hayden Christensen; documentary-makers Nick Broomfield and Michael Moore; and directors George Lucas and John Boorman.
His emphasis on genre cinema has meant he often expresses a liking for films panned by other critics, such as Basic Instinct 2 or Lassie because they follow genre expectations.
He is married to Professor Linda Ruth Williams who lectures on film at the University of Southampton and has written the book The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema.
He sports a 50s-style quiff hairstyle and is a pesco-vegetarian.
[edit] External links
- Kermode Film Page
- IMDb: Mark Kermode
- Reviews archive @ Rotten Tomatoes
- Kermode's self written biography page at the University of Southampton
- Podcast, download or stream Kermode's weekly reviews on Radio Five Live
- Kermode Uncut – An archive of articles written for the Film Four website
- Livejournal Mark Kermode Appreciation Society
