Mark Kermode

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Mark Kermode
Born Mark Fairey
July 2, 1963 (1963-07-02) (age 46)
Residence Brockenhurst, New Forest, Hampshire, England
Nationality English
Citizenship British
Education PhD (English)
Alma mater University of Manchester
Occupation Film critic, presenter, musician
Employer BBC, The Observer, Sight and Sound
Known for Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews and The Culture Show

Mark Kermode (born Mark Fairey on 2 July 1963) is an English film critic who contributes to Sight and Sound magazine and The Observer newspaper.

He reviews films on Simon Mayo's BBC Radio Five Live show on Friday afternoons, and co-presents the BBC Two arts programme The Culture Show. He also discusses other branches of the arts for the BBC Two programme Newsnight Review, and appears regularly on the BBC News channel. He also writes and presents a film-related video blog for the BBC.

In The Screen Directory's chart of best ever film critics, Kermode appears at number 10.[1]

Contents

[edit] Personal background and education

Kermode was born as Mark Fairey[2][3] and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, an independent boys' school in Elstree, a few years ahead of comedians Sacha Baron Cohen, Matt Lucas and David Baddiel and in the same year as actor Jason Isaacs.[4]

Mark Fairey's parents divorced when he was in his early 20s and he subsequently changed his surname to his mother's maiden name by deed poll.[5]

He earned his PhD in English at Manchester University, writing a thesis on horror fiction. Kermode has stated that "I was a revolutionary communist affiliate in the 80s", but that "none of us had any respect for Stalin".[6]

Kermode now lives in Brockenhurst with his wife, Linda Ruth Williams, a professor who lectures on film at the University of Southampton and has written The Erotic Thriller in Contemporary Cinema and co-edited Contemporary American Cinema .[7] In October to November 2004, they jointly curated a History of the Horror Film season and exhibition at the National Film Theatre in London.[7] Kermode and Williams have two children together — a son and a daughter — who have their mother's surname.[5]

[edit] Career

[edit] Print media

Kermode began his film career as a print journalist, writing for Manchester's City Life, and then Time Out and the NME in London. He has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, Vox, Empire, Flicks, Fangoria and Neon.[8] Until September 2005, Kermode reviewed films each week for the New Statesman.[9] He regularly writes for the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine and The Observer newspaper.

[edit] Radio

Kermode began working at BBC Radio 1 on a slot called Cult Film Corner most Thursday nights on Mark Radcliffe's Graveyard Shift session.[10] He then moved to Simon Mayo's BBC Radio 1 morning show. He also hosted a movie review show with Mary Anne Hobbs on Radio 1 on Tuesday nights called Cling Film.[11] Between February 1992 and October 1993, he was the resident film reviewer on BBC Radio 5's Morning Edition with Danny Baker.

He currently reviews and debates new film releases each Friday afternoon with Simon Mayo on Mayo's BBC Radio Five Live show, which is also available as a podcast (and previously also as a vodcast).

The programme won Gold in the Speech Award category at the 2009 Sony Radio Academy Awards on May 11 2009. The judges' citation was:

"The winner of the Gold Award made the judges laugh out loud. They found this programme witty and entertaining, cheeky and irreverent, and they admired the sustained passion and energy of its presenters who made listening an effortless and rollercoaster pleasure."[12]

[edit] Television

Kermode is currently a regular presenter on BBC Two's The Culture Show. He also appears regularly on Newsnight Review and Film 24 on BBC News. It was during a 2006 interview with Kermode for The Culture Show in Los Angeles that Werner Herzog was shot by a crazed fan wielding an air rifle. Herzog appeared unflustered, later stating "It was not a significant bullet. I am not afraid".[13][14] On 19 May 2007 he was featured on the show playing with his skiffle band, The Dodge Brothers, in which he plays the double bass.

Kermode is also a resident film critic and presenter for Film Four and Channel 4 television, presenting the weekly Extreme Cinema strand. He also writes, researches and presents documentaries for Channel 4.[8] As of April 2008, Kermode has started a twice-weekly video blog hosted on the BBC website, where he posts clips of himself talking about films and telling anecdotes.[15]

[edit] Music

He played double-bass for a skiffle/rockabilly band called "The Railtown Bottlers" in the early 1990s's. The Railtown Bottlers were also the house band on BBC Television's "Danny Baker After All" in 1993 and 1994. In the 1980s Kermode also played guitar and sang with a group called 'Russians Eat Bambi'. He currently plays bass in rockabilly quartet The Dodge Brothers.[citation needed]

[edit] Other work

Kermode has recorded DVD audio commentaries for Tommy, The Ninth Configuration, The Wicker Man[16] and (with Peter O'Toole) Becket.[17]

[edit] Film reviews

[edit] Horror specialisation

Kermode is a visiting fellow at the University of Southampton, having gained a PhD at the University of Manchester in modern English and American horror fiction.[18] This, together with his former contributions to Fangoria magazine[19], his authoring of the monograph The Exorcist (BFI Modern Classics), and his work on film-related documentaries like The Fear of God; 25 Years of the Exorcist, Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of Ken Russell's The Devils, and The Cult of The Wicker Man makes him something of a horror film expert.[20] He calls The Exorcist (1973) "the best film ever made".[21] He recommends The Witch Who Came From the Sea as one of the best video nasties of the 1970s.[22]

Kermode is often critical of the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), the censor for film in the UK, calling for horror films from abroad to be shown in their uncut versions.[23]

[edit] Opinions

Kermode's appreciation of genre cinema is not always in line with popular taste: he has a personal dislike for all three Pirates of the Caribbean films[24] and the Star Wars films, which he regards as "a gross infantalisation of the dark hearted 'serious' sci-fi" that he grew up with.[25] Kermode's emphasis on genre cinema has also meant he often expresses a liking for films panned by other critics, such as Basic Instinct 2 (2006)[26] and Lassie (2005)[27] because they follow genre expectations. Kermode has been critical of documentary maker Michael Moore, accusing him of "feeding his own ego".[28]

Kermode rarely watches television, calling it "trivial" and stating that "I have been doing my best to avoid [TV] for the last 20 years."[29] On being challenged by The Observer to watch TV, he admitted "if there's one thing I've learned from agreeing to take up the Observer's TV challenge this summer, it's that an awareness of what's going on in television is probably helpful to an understanding of movies. Worse, it may even be essential".[29]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The Screen Directory". http://www.thescreendirectory.com/cat4/top_tens.php?c=70. Retrieved on 2007-09-10. 
  2. ^ Norman, Matthew (24 January 2005). "Matthew Norman's Media Diary". The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article16508.ece. Retrieved on 2008-01-14. 
  3. ^ Norman, Matthew (7 February 2005). "Matthew Norman's Media Diary". The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article9813.ece. Retrieved on 2008-01-14. 
  4. ^ Paul Lester (2008-02-01). "JC Interview: Jason Isaacs". The Jewish Chronicle. http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m12s28&SecId=28&AId=57814&ATypeId=1. Retrieved on 2008-06-23. "Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School ... [produced] quite a vintage crop in [Isaacs'] time: fellow pupils included Sacha Baron Cohen, David Baddiel and Matt Lucas. 'I've seen Baddiel a few times', Isaacs says, and he sees the others occasionally at awards ceremonies. ... [N]ot all the Habs stars of the time were Jewish, though, and Isaacs has a lot of time for another alumnus, the BBC's film critic, Mark Kermode: 'He is always incredibly lovely and says hello on his Radio 5 podcasts, which I've listened to in Auschwitz and many other strange places. He's said I was too cool [at school], but he was at the epicentre of the in-crowd.' " 
  5. ^ a b Lawson, Mark (9 April 2009). "Drawn to the devil". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/apr/09/film-mark-kermode-interview. Retrieved on 9 April 2009. 
  6. ^ "Koba the Dread". BBC Newnight Review. 2002-09-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/review/2249385.stm=. Retrieved on 2008-04-04. 
  7. ^ a b "Professor Linda Ruth Williams". University of Southampton. http://www.southampton.ac.uk/film/profiles/williams.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-08. 
  8. ^ a b Mark Kermode, English Department teaching staff, University of Southampton, accessed 14 January 2008
  9. ^ Mark Kermode, New Statesman, accessed 14 January 2008
  10. ^ "Fancy a Brew? (Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley website)". http://www.planetbods.org/markandlard/brew/others. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. 
  11. ^ "Mary Anne Hobbs". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/radio1/maryannehobbs.shtml. Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 
  12. ^ Speech Award 2009 citations Sony Rodio Academy official site
  13. ^ Herzog shot during interview, Hollywood.com, 3 February 2006, accessed 14 January 2008
  14. ^ Herzog on his latest film Grizzly Man, BBC News, accessed 14 January 2008
  15. ^ Kermode Video Blog from the BBC's Blog Network website
  16. ^ "The Wicker Man review". dvdoutsider.com. http://www.dvdoutsider.co.uk/dvd/reviews/w/wicker_man.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. 
  17. ^ "Becket review". reel.com. http://www.reel.com/movie.asp?MID=2337&PID=10117483&buy=closed&Tab=reviews&CID=18. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. 
  18. ^ Kermode on BBC Newsnight Review, accessed 14 January 2008
  19. ^ http://www.thebookseller.com/news/76846-kermode-to-random-house.html
  20. ^ Macmillan
  21. ^ Sight and Sound
  22. ^ Kermode was speaking during an interview with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 5 on 12 June 2009 which as of 15 June 2009 can be downloaded at here
  23. ^ Kermode, Mark (2002--06-21). "Mark Kermode on censorship: What are they scared of?". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/mark-kermode-on-censorship-what-are-they-scared-of-645952.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-11. 
  24. ^ "Mark Kermode, Pirates of the Caribbean review". Guardian Film. http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_Film_of_the_week/0,,1816109,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. 
  25. ^ "Mark Kermode, Sunshine review". Guardian Film. http://film.guardian.co.uk/sciencefiction/story/0,,2042101,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. 
  26. ^ ""Basic Instinct 2 - comedy sensation of the year"". The Guardian Online. http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/richard_adams/2006/03/basically_stinks_too.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. 
  27. ^ "Mark Kermode, Lassie review". BBC Online. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/fivelive_aod.shtml?fivelive/kermode161205. Retrieved on 2008-04-23. 
  28. ^ Mark Kermode (2004-06-27). "'Moore is shameless in feeding his own ego'". The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jun/27/uselections2004.film. Retrieved on 2008-04-30. 
  29. ^ a b Mark Kermode (2007-09-23). "Should a film purist find time for TV?". The Guardian arts blog. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/09/should_a_film_purist_find_time.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-01. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Kermode"
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