Guest blogger Adam Gee, cross-platform commissioner at Channel 4, shares his favourite lyrical inspiration:

Walter Pater, the art and literary critic much admired by Oscar Wilde, wrote that “All art aspires to the condition of music.” I read that as other arts striving for the direct impact music has on the heart and spirit without recourse to any physical medium and being able to by-pass the intellect. Much though I love music I’ve never tended to listen to the lyrics of songs in a coherent and systematic way. Phrases and lines emerge over time in their own way and hook themselves into the brain.

I was jogging along yesterday morning listening to a podcast of the evergreen Desert Island Discs when a Bob Dylan song came on and a line really resonated for me as a perfect expression of what women mean to men. When I got home and sat down in front of my machine for the first time that day I whacked the line into Quotables for posterity – and to look at it on its own for a moment.

“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”

Not particularly poetic. Quite ordinary really. But in its context perfect and to the heart of the matter, to the matter of the heart.

So I felt inspired to pick out 10 great lines from songs that are worthy of the condition of music, that have the resonance and penetrative power of the supreme art. I tried being strict about one stand-out line per song only (only cracked once with a couplet).

1. Bob Dylan, Shelter from the Storm (1974)

“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”

2. John Lennon, Oh Yoko! (1971)

In the middle of a cloud I call your name.

A powerful yet simple expression of romantic love.

3. John Martyn, Couldn’t Love You More (1977)

If you kissed the sun right out of the sky for me.

Song lyrics straining to capture Love (is there a theme emerging?)

4. Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze (1966)

‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky.

This could be love or drugs that’s fogging Jimi’s brain – either way it’s a great line.

5. The Clash, Garageland (1977)

Back in the garage with my bullshit detector.

A spirited (spirit of Punk) response to an early bad review (of a gig with The Sex Pistols at Islington’s Screen on the Green): “The Clash are the kind of garage band who should be returned to the garage immediately, preferably with the engine running”. [Charles Shaar Murray - what did he know?]

6. Bruce Springsteen, Atlantic City (1982)

Well now everything dies baby that’s a fact.

But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.

Reckon there’s a load of philosophy buried in this couplet.

7. David Bowie, Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed (1969)

As I am unwashed and somewhat slightly dazed.

Loved this phrase for a long time, the “somewhat” is just what’s needed to throw it off kilter.

8. The Doors (Jim Morrison), The Wasp (1968)

Out here we is stoned – immaculate.

One of those lines that throws a word into a whole new light.

9. John Coltrane, Acknowledgement (1964)

A Love Supreme.

Sometimes you don’t even need a whole line or clause – this is a transcendent chant. They’re the only words in this track and all the more striking for that.

10. Well, why don’t you add this one? What song words do it for you?…

From guest blogger Adam Gee, cross-platform commissioner at Channel 4.

So many books, so little time.
— Frank Zappa

One of the joys of quotations is that you can enjoy all of the pithy wisdom of great writers, thinkers, and speakers, without having to catch up on reams of reading materials.

However, here at Quotables, we love getting our noses stuck into a good book. Here are some of our Top 10 Quotes about the joy and importance of reading.

The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid.
— Jane Austen

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.
— Harper Lee

If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books in their house, don’t sleep with them. I think that’s very important.
— John Waters

There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.
— Bertrand Russell

People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.
— Logan Pearsall Smith

Wicked people never have time for reading. It’s one of the reasons for their wickedness.
— Lemony Snicket

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.
— Louisa May Alcott

No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.
— C. S. Lewis

The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.
— Alan Bennett

It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.
— Oscar Wilde

For more quotes about reading, check out our Top 100 Bookish Quotes, Top 100 Harry Potter Quotes, and Quotes for World Book Day.

What are your favourite quotes about reading?

Featured image by Kat Clark.

Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?
— Roy Trenneman

Sometimes quotations get a bad reputation for being stuffy or old-fashioned, but some of the choicest words were pronounced about technology, and remain timeless.

Quotes about gadgets and technology abound on Quotables. Here are some of our top quotations about the magic of modern technology and its inherent trickiness.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that do not work.
— Thomas Edison

Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.
— Stephen Fry

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
— Albert Einstein

There’s no such thing as information overload, there’s only filter failure.
— Clay Shirky

That’s a strange word, users. It is only used in the drug and computer industries.
— Edward Tufte

The email of the species is deadlier than the mail.
— Stephen Fry

Prior to the Internet, the last technology that had any real effect on the way people sat down and talked together was the table.
— Clay Shirky

Men are only as good as their technical development allows them to be.
— George Orwell

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
— Arthur C. Clarke

The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.
— Eric Schmidt

Still seeking information overload? Try our Top 100 Social Media Quotes on for size.

What are your favourite quotes about technology?

Featured image by James Vaughan.

UK Film Releases | Friday 29th April 2011

It’s Royal Wedding weekend, but if you’d rather hide indoors and let the regal parade roll by, cinema has been kind to all non-celebrators on this second lazy long weekend of British Summer Time.

Cedar Rapids

Sent to represent his company at the annual insurance convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Tim (Ed Helms) is soon distracted by three convention veterans (John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who will show him the ropes and push his boundaries. For a guy who plays everything by the book, this convention is like an overdue college road trip.

“Cedar Rapids” has something of the same spirit of “Fargo” in its approach to the earnest natures of its small-towners. The two films, otherwise so different, like their characters. Some of them do unspeakable things, especially in “Fargo,” but none of them want to be evil. They just hope to get out in one piece.
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

This trio of absolutely spot-on comic performances kick in as the movie’s hilarious mid-section rocks Helms’s cautiously circumscribed world, opening new horizons of alcoholic and narcotic intoxication, social interaction and commitment-free fornication.
— Miguel Arteta, Time Out

Insidious

From the director and producers of Saw, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) have a happy family with their three young children, but when tragedy strikes their young son, they begin to experience things that cannot be explained by science.

The suddenly frenetic action is matched by a riot of visual references to Japanese horror, Wes Craven and David Lynch, but the strongest analogue for the second half of “Insidious” is one that the filmmakers probably weren’t trying for: it feels like a less poetic version of an M. Night Shyamalan fairy tale.
— Mike Hale, New York Times

A blatant patchwork of every haunted house movie ever made, it still delivers a creep-out (the midget dancing to Tiny Tim), a face-at-the-window shock or a well-crafted scare (it’s behind you!) every few minutes. Not especially well acted and weighed down by silliness, but consistently scary. It hasn’t got more to offer than cheap chills, but sometimes that’s enough.
— Kim Newman, Empire

Farewell

Written and directed by Christian Carion, Farewell follows the French intelligence service as it alerts the U.S. about a Soviet spy operation during the height of the Cold War, setting off an unfortunate chain of events.

Grigoriev was the catalyst for Glasnost, but Christian Carion takes a sober approach. The performances are expert, the friendship compelling, but it cries out for a streak of Le Carré’s damp- paved noir to get pulses racing. [A] slightly underpowered as an espionage thriller, this is nonetheless a fascinating story told with real panache.
— Ian Nathan, Empire

Caron expands the story to provide a bit of political context, but the appearances of Ward’s Reagan and French President Francois Mitterrand (Philippe Magnan) and Willem Dafoe as the head of the CIA needlessly distracts from the bond at the heart of the film. Played by well-known directors Canet and Kusturica, the leads give “Farewell” a humanity that also speaks to the high stakes at hand. They’re fantastic.
— Glenn Whipp, LA Times

Pick of the Week: Thor

Kenneth Branagh directs Marvel’s latest superhero comic book blockbuster, Thor. Starring Chris Henworth and Natalie Portman alongside Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleson and Stellan Skarsgård, The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior reignites an ancient war. Banished to Earth by father Odin, he is forced to live among humans, where the most dangerous villain of his world sends its darkest forces.

Aside from its excellent visuals and sense of fun as the star adjusts to his surroundings, Thor avoids the common superhero trap of spending an age on back story before the plot kicks in. Director Kenneth Branagh (yes, him) ensures the action comes thick and fast. By Odin’s beard, it’s a winner.
— David Edwards, The Mirror

I’d hesitate to call this a good film, exactly. It’s overlong and all over the place… Some of the supporting players (most notably a stricken Stellan Skarsgård) appear poignantly all at sea. But there’s something weirdly charming about it just the same. Branagh has knocked his film together with a terrific, freewheeling gusto. It has its tongue in its cheek and the fun is infectious. For all of its flaws, Thor’s never a bore.
— Xan Brooks, The Guardian

Want more? Check out last week’s review for more films on general release.

Today we celebrate the birthday of  a man whose work has endured the centuries and earned him the title of the greatest writer in the history of the English language. Though his birthdate was not recorded, he was baptised on 26th April 1564. In his 52 years he wrote an astonishing 37 plays and several volumes of poetry. He has been the voice of romance and tragedy throughout the ages and Quotables HQ are proud to present a selection of his best loved quotes. The one, the only, William Shakespeare.

To be, or not to be: that is the question.
— William Shakespeare (Hamlet 3:1)

Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.
— William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night 2:5)

If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
— William Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice 3:1)

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
— William Shakespeare (Hamlet 1:5)

If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me.
— William Shakespeare (MacBeth 1:3)

If I lose mine honour, I lose myself.
— William Shakespeare (Antony and Cleopatra 3:4)

It’s not enough to speak, but to speak true.
— William Shakespeare (Midsummer Night’s Dream 5:1)

‘All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.
— William Shakespeare (As You Like It 2:7)

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.
— William Shakespeare (Twelfth Night 3:1)

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow.
— William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet 2:2)

For more Quotable greatness from the Bard, check out the rest of our collection of his words on Quotables here.

UK Film Releases | Friday 20th April 2011

Happy Bank Holiday weekend! It’s Easter madness at the UK cinematheque this week, with more films than we could squeeze into the Quotables Review. However, we’re still bringing you snippets from reviews of loads of this week’s releases, including Russell Brand as Arthur, comedy romance in Beastly, another injection of Fast and Furious with the new Fast 5, a somewhat premature How I Ended This Summer (we’re still enjoying spring!), Wim Wenders’ dancing delight Pina 3D, festival favourite documentary Sweetgrass, Fast 5′s 3D documentary counterpart TT3D: Closer to the Edge, and our Pick of the Week, Luc Besson’s Adele Blanc-Sec!

Arthur

Russell Brand stars in the remake of Arthur, taking on Dudley Moore’s boisterous billionaire  the brink of an arranged marriage to a wealthy heiress but ends up falling for a common working class girl instead.

Russell Brand doesn’t exactly improve on Moore’s playboy billionaire so much as convert the character’s tragic immaturity into alcoholic toxicity. Brand, already a Dionysian visual joke of swirling hair and rock-star poses, is always funnier when saying less. Too bad he’s got a lot to convey here; he comes off as more of a match to his narcissistic arranged bride, Susan (Jennifer Garner), than must have been intended.
— Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out

Brand shares a British heritage with Moore, but his comedy is much different. The guy is a talent, no doubt. Only last week, he put an undeniable comic jolt into Universal’s animation/live-action mix Hop. But there is edginess to Brand’s humor, even an aggressiveness. His Arthur creates scenes, not laughs. He’s a pathetic, bratty little boy who refuses to grow up rather than a genial alcoholic who wouldn’t harm a fly.
— Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

Beastly

Starring High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens and I Am Number Four’s Alex Pettyfer, Beastly is the edgy teen romance between handsome high-schooler Kyle who has been cursed to look like everything he despises. The only way to lift the curse is to find someone who will love him for who he is inside.

Barnz gives no life to any of these characters, nor does he make their situations the least bit believable. Perhaps most disappointing, since witchcraft underlies much of what is supposedly happening here, is that no sense of magic whatsoever pervades this movie.
— Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

But all good humor must come to an end, and a love story has to be able to fall back on tenderness and sweetness eventually. Unfortunately, every time Beastly reaches for either of those things, it’s … really bad.
— Linda Holmes, NPR

Fast 5

The Fast and Furious series continues with part 5 of its speedy franchise. Vin Diesel is back in the driver’s seat, taking on one final heist job in Rio to set himself up for a lavish retirement.

There may be more brains in your bucket of popcorn, but this gleefully silly smash-’em-up heist film is sturdy enough to restore much of the fan goodwill torched by the horror movie that was the Diesel-free The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
— Megan Lehmann, Hollywood Reporter

Full of foot-to-the-floor action, bikini babes and gleaming hoods, Fast and Furious 5/ makes no attempt to adjust the formula. But why should it? Converts may be scarce, but fans will lap up its major-league mayhem. Oh, and stay for the end-credits cliffhanger…
— James Mottram, Total Film

How I Ended This Summer

Set on a desolate island in the Arctic Circle, where two men work at a small meteorological station, taking readings from their radioactive surroundings. One day, apprentice Pavel receives news for Sergei and can’t bring himself to relay it. When his deception is discovered, dire consequences are not far behind.

Visually, it’s not ugly, but sundry shots of spectacular ice fields feel academically picturesque and impart a sense of prettiness not profundity. Characters, too, totter in arbitrary circles, their motivations entirely unfathomable. Their gradual descent into savagery is signposted by much anguished wailing and even a laughable shot of Dobrygin gnawing at some salted trout like a grizzly bear in a body warmer.
— David Jenkins, Time Out

Sergei Puskepalis (Sergei) and Grigory Dobrygin (Pavel) give powerful performances, but the real star is Mother Nature — her fury and her beauty, which cinematographer Pavel Kostomarov breathtakingly captures with his hand-held camera.
— V. A. Musetto, New York Post

Pina 3D

Wim Wenders’ 3D dance documentary is a tribute to the life and work of world-renowned choreographer Pina Bausch.

Instead of abandoning the idea of making a film about Bausch, Wenders has made a worthy tribute to her, inviting members of her ensemble to express their feelings about their mentor, partly through words, but mostly through achingly heartfelt performances, using 3D technology’s enhanced depth of field to capture the depth of feeling ever-present in Bausch’s work. It may not win any converts to the art form, but ‘mere’ movement has seldom been so moving.
— David Hughes, Empire

Presumably the 3D’s main role is to substitute for the “liveness” of the original performance, and there’s no doubt that 3D adds a lusciousness of texture to the company’s already refined and polished visuals. As the camera hovers over lines of dancers moving in unison, or inspects their controlled, intense gestures, Wenders creates an impeccably stylish, almost sculptural rendering of the performance.
— Andrew Pulver, The Guardian

Sweetgrass

Shot in the summer of 2003, this documentary follows a group of shepherds taking a herd of sheep one final time on a 300km journey through the snowy hills and valleys of the Beartooth Mountains of Montana, in the extreme northwest of the United States.

Sweetgrass does without interviews and without voice-overs. The only human voices heard are those captured in random snatches of conversation…. Made as well in the restrained tradition of Frederick Wiseman, “Sweetgrass” is intent on doing no more than observing, on having as unobtrusive a presence as possible in the world it is recording. But that world turns out to be as compelling as the circumstances under which the film came to be made.
— Kenneth Turan, LA Times

The film is visually stunning, filled with more breathtaking shots than you can count: silently falling snow; clouds’ moving shadows caressing a green mountainside; a bird singing on a single, bare branch; the cold white moon set against a midnight sky. It’s pure poetry.
— Michael O’Sullivan, The Washington Post

TT3D: Closer to the Edge

By vividly recounting the TT’s legendary rivalries and the Isle of Man’s unique road racing history, this 3D feature documentary will discover why modern TT riders still risk their lives to win the world’s most dangerous race. It’s also an examination of what motivates those rare few, this elite band of brothers who risk everything to win.

Whether you like motorcycle racing or not, Richard de Aragues’s debut is a must-see evocation of the event’s inherent dangers and the ‘balls to the wall’ bravery (or stupidity) of its adrenaline-seeking, carefree contenders. In the realm of the rousing sports doc, this truly excels.
— Richard De Aragues, Time Out

Billed as the world’s first 3D sports movie, that third dimension is really just window dressing on a motorbiking doc that’d be exhilarating in only two. The Isle Of Man TT is pure cinema—an insane blur of leather and machines that claims several lives every year—and director Richard De Aragues shows the bikers in their fearless element…It all makes for a motorsports movie you don’t need to be a petrolhead to enjoy.
— Phil de Semlyen, Empire

Pick of the Week: Adele Blanc-Sec

Set in the early 20th Century, Luc Besson returns with the tale of a popular novelist and her many distractions from suitors, to cops and monsters.

A romp magnifique, with enough thrills, giggles and pretty pictures to reward adventure-lovers who wouldn’t normally entertain the idea of taking in a treat with subtitles. Don’t miss the mid-credits postscript.
— Angie Errigo, Empire

The cast is terrific, bringing plenty of sassy attitude to each hilarious role. Everyone is so impulsive that the plot seems completely out of control from the start, and things get increasingly silly as it continues, with some genuinely ridiculous twists and turns along the way. Adele’s repeated cry “Into my arms!” usually results in something both corny and amazing. Yes, it’s hugely imaginative, but it also feels somewhat made up as it goes along.
— Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

We’re huge fans of the wonderfully-quotable Tina Fey, queen of American comedy, here at Quotables HQ. From Saturday Night Live, to Mean Girls, to 30 Rock, and not forgetting her infamous Sarah Palin impressions, Tina Fey is a pioneer of smart, side-splitting quips and slyly hilarious zingers, she’s the sexy, funny everywoman who is almost indecently talented. We love her rather a lot.

To celebrate the launch of Tina’s first book – the memoir/essay collection Bossypants, we’ve put together our Top 20 Tina Fey Quotables, including a choice few from her new book. And for all your 30 Rock fans, look out for our Top 20 Liz Lemon quotes next week! Click on each quote to love it on Quotables, or share on Twitter or Facebook – and let us know in the comments if we’ve missed any of your favourites!

Click here to buy Bossypants on Amazon.

1. I never dreamed I would receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, mostly because my style is so typically Austrian.

2.Ladies gotta say no to their husbands at the movies. They gotta say: “No, we are watching back-to-back cancer movies. And then this movie about a cat.”

3. I know older men in comedy who can barely feed and clean themselves, and they still work. The women, though, they’re all ‘crazy.’ I have a suspicion — and hear me out, because this is a rough one — that the definition of ‘crazy’ in show business is a woman who keeps talking even after no one wants to f*ck her anymore.

4. How do you juggle it all?’ people constantly ask me, with an accusatory look in their eyes. ‘You’re screwing it all up, aren’t you?’ their eyes say. My standard answer is that I have the same struggle as any working parent but with the good fortune to be working at my dream job. Or sometimes I just hand them a juicy red apple I’ve poisoned in my working-mother witch cauldron and fly away.

5. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am all about money. I mean, just look how well my line of zodiac-inspired toe rings and homeopathic children’s medications are selling on Home Shopping Network.

6. [On what to expect from her Oscar dress] I only know that this dress will have to be ‘fancier’ than a Golden Globes dress, but I wouldn’t hold your breath to see me in a four-foot ruffled train with an origami-inspired front. Whatever it is, it will be see-through, because that is my trademark.

7. I had to get back to work. NBC has me under contract. The baby and I only have a verbal agreement.

8. At the request of the Catholic Church, a three-day sex orgy to be held near Rio de Janeiro was cancelled last Friday. So instead I spent the weekend cleaning my apartment.

9. Researchers reported that they developed a “self-healing” plastic that repairs itself if cracked. The plastic will change the way airplanes are built and medicine is practiced. In a related story, Joan Rivers will never die.

10. Don’t be too precious or attached to anything you write. Let things be malleable. For sketch writers, remember they’re called sketches for a reason. They’re not called oil paintings. Some of them are going to stink. You have to let them stink.

11. Twitter seems like a busman’s holiday: just more writing. I have no plans to do it. I’ll just stick with my 24/7 webcam. I’m old-fashioned that way.

12. There are a couple of things I want to impart to ladies who want to be in comedy: One, you don’t have to be weird or be quirky to get your job done. And two, comedy skill is not sexually transmittable. You do not have to sleep with a comedian to learn what you’re doing. Male comedians will not like that advice, but it is the truth.

13. The part of Jack Donaghy was written for Alec Baldwin. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the courage to introduce myself to him and tell him that at the time, so for several months I met with some of the best actors in New York…it just became clearer and clearer that this part was for no-one except Alec Baldwin. And so I knew what I had to do: I got pregnant and I stalled for a year.

14. I really love cursing a lot. But as I get older, I realize it’s a little unseemly for women of a certain age. But then once you pass sixty-five, you can hit it full tilt again and it’s charming. Once you’re Lauren Bacall’s age, you can be like, “What the f*ck.”

15. I’m not a mean person, but I have a capacity for it. I have the biting comment formed somewhere in the back of my head — like it’s in captivity. Sometimes people expect that I’m going to be tough. It’s not a bad situation. People treat you better. People are on time.

16. Amy Poehler and I have been friends for so long, we’re like Oprah and Gale. Only we’re not denying anything.

17. Tina Fey: Maybe what bothers me the most is that people say that Hillary is a bitch. Let me say something about that: Yeah, she is. And so am I and so is this one. (pointing to Amy Poehler)

Amy Poehler: Yeah, deal with it.

Tina Fey: Know what? Bitches get stuff done.

18. May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers. [from 'A Mother's Prayer for Her Child']

19. I regularly ate health food cookies so disgusting that when I enthusiastically gave one to Rachel Dratch, she drew a picture of a rabbit and broke the cookie into a trail of tiny pieces coming out of the rabbit’s butt.

20. I like to crack the jokes now and again, but it’s only because I struggle with math.

UK Film Releases | Friday 15th April 2011

Spring is still powering on at the UK box office, with a range of releases this week including kids’ favourite Winnie the Pooh, promising independents Meek’s Cutoff and Little White Lies – both hits at recent film festivals, and this week’s biggest release, the much anticipated Scream 4.

Winnie the Pooh

Disney returns with a new adaptation of A. A. Milne‘s classic Winnie the Pooh tales. Narrated by John Cleese, this adventure begins when Christopher Robin takes leave and Pooh must help his friend Eeyore his lost tail.

The decision to keep the runtime down is wise, as none of the plotlines really need feature length development, but this is worth seeing in the cinema if you can, not least for a rather sweet short animation being screened before in about Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, and her quest for a home…. completely adorable and beautifully drawn.
— Catherine Bray, Film4

There’s much metatextual joy to be had in the way that the characters interact with the books from which they originated, walking from one of E. H. Shepard’s drawings to the next as scenes develop, or using letters displaced from the text as tools or toys. So while there’s little here that’s edgy, hip or envelope-pushing, under-tens and animation-fan parents will adore it.
— Helen O’Hara, Empire

Red Riding Hood

Set in a medieval village that is haunted by a werewolf, a young girl falls for an orphaned woodcutter, but she is betrothed to another man.

The level at which Red Riding Hood borrows from Twilight is not just limited to the dueling suitors and the werewolf component. The actor who plays Valerie’s father, Billy Burke, even plays Bella’s dad in the Twilight series. And Valerie has a special bond with the creature: she can talk to it, which causes her to worry about her own nature… Oh, Red, what purple prose you’ve been given.
— Mary Pols, TIME

The best that can be said is that the production design is striking. Otherwise, it’s a foolish story, marred by a strange blend of overacting and bland, offhand performances.
— Claudia Puig, USA Today

Meek’s Cutoff

Michelle Williams and Shirley Henderson star in this film from Kelly Reichart, following the 1845 journey of American settlers traveling through the Oregon desert in 1845. Leader Meek leads 3 couples on their expedition, wehre they find themselves stranded in harsh conditions.

There is a comparable sense of an embattled, frightened expeditionary force, out of food and water, and ideas: without the experience, resources or language to understand someone who may be their destroyer or their only hope of survival. This superbly made, austere film is Reichardt’s best yet, certainly a huge advance on her previous work, Wendy and Lucy (2008) and a powerful new addition to the western genre.
— Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Reichardt recreates the journey of Western-bound settlers…But the film remains very much of her style: it’s a deceptively small piece of onscreen art that resonates afterward with such insistence that I felt positively nagged by it. Because Reichardt leaves it open-ended, I kept having the illogical urge to get back to the film — as if it were a half-read story that could be picked up again.
— Mary Pols, TIME

Little White Lies

Little White Lies or Les Petits mouchoirs follows a group of friends who, despite a traumatic event, go on their annual beach vacation. Their relationships, are tested until they are forced to confront the little white lies they’ve been telling each other.

Clearly inspired by The Big Chill, Little White Lies feels overstretched in its two-and-half hour running time, with Canet too reliant at times on montages… You do, however, believe that these characters are long-term friends, who’ve become used to not being entirely truthful to themselves and to one another. Alongside some enjoyable comic moments… the real strength of this film lies in the performances.
— Tom Dawson, The List

Despite some good moments and strong performances from a talented cast, Little White Lies is ultimately something of a slog to sit through and the lack of likeable characters means that it fails to deliver the required emotional punch.
— Matthew Turner, ViewLondon

Scream 4

Eleven years after Wes Craven’s Scream became a cult hit, part 4 sees the director return to the franchise to redefine its own genre expectations.

Scream 4 is not without enjoyment. It’s good to see familiar characters back and the opening moments are quite spirited. But it’s a film about horror films without being a horror film itself. It’s enough to make you scream.

— Phellim O’Neill, The Guardian

There are flashes of wit in the opening film-within-a-film-within-a-fi lm sequence, which uses bankable blondes like Anna Paquin and Kristen Bell as Ghostface fodder. And some later jokes, like a visual jab at the director Robert Rodriguez, are funny. Others…are just dumb.

But the central conceit of the characters’ fates being determined by the “rules” of horror movies feels irredeemably tired; a clever idea that was worth one movie.
— Mike Hale, New York Times

All that choice and nothing appeals? Take a look at last week’s releases.

Which films are you looking forward to watching this weekend?

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.
— Charlie Chaplin

It’s a bumper month for birthdays, particularly our favourite classic movie stars. Last week we fastened our seatbelts with Bette Davis, and today marks the 122nd birthday of the world’s most famous silent clown: Charlie Chaplin.

Born in London in 1889, Chaplin was the son of vaudevillian performers and, after his father left, led a poverty stricken childhood. After turns as a child dancer and actor, he joined the Karno Company on his first tour of America alongside fellow silent star Stan Laurel (of -and Hardy fame).

Like everyone else I am what I am: an individual, unique and different, with a lineal history of ancestral promptings and urgings; a history of dreams, desires, and of special experiences, all of which I am the sum total.
— Charlie Chaplin

On his second tour of the US, he signed up with the legendary Mack Sennett’s Keystone Company, paving his way to become silent film’s biggest star.

Charlie Chaplin and I would have a friendly contest: Who could do the feature film with the least subtitles?
— Buster Keaton

With his silent short film Kid Auto Races at Venice, he created the character The Little Tramp, whose bowler hat, clownish gait, and twirling cane, make him the most recognisable film character of all time.

For years, I have specialized in one type of comedy—strictly panto­mime. I have mea­sured it, gauged it, studied. I have been able to establish exact principles to govern its reactions on audiences. It has a certain pace and tempo. Dialogue, to my way of thinking, always slows action, because action must wait on words.
— Charlie Chaplin

Even when the era of sound rolled in, Chaplin was a stout supporter of silent film. It was not until his 1940 feature The Great Dictator that film audiences heard the Little Tramp speak.

Motion pictures need dialogue as much as Beethoven symphonies need lyrics.
— Charlie Chaplin

After 4 more spoken-word features, extradition from the USA, and an Academy Award for the original score of his film Limelight, writing the aptly titled My Autobiography, Chaplin retired in Switzerland with his wife and young children.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
— Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator

All I need to make a comedy is a park, a police-man, and a pretty girl.
— Charlie Chaplin

In the end, everything is a gag.
— Charlie Chaplin

What do you want a meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning.
— Charlie Chaplin

A day without laughter is a day wasted.
— Charlie Chaplin

For more classic film quotes, check out Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Silent Film on Quotables.

Today marks the birth of the United States’ 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson. A founding father alongside the virtuous Benjamin Franklin et al, he was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson’s face appears on the illusive $2 bill and the trusty nickel. He’s also been immortalised – his impressive, (literally) chiseled looks grace the face of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. A wine connoisseur and book lover, he enjoyed the finer things in life – a trait he shared with Franklin.

After a long, industrious life, Jefferson died aged 83 on July 4, 1826 – the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. He confirmed this in his last words, “This is the Fourth?” Mere hours later, his pal, presidential predecessor and fellow Founding Father John Adams also passed away, but not before declaring – somewhat ironically – that, “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”

Jefferson is still survived by his words of wisdom, and we’ve selected some of his most quotable observations.

Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions.
— Thomas Jefferson

A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.
— Thomas Jefferson

He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
— Thomas Jefferson

Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.
— Thomas Jefferson

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
— Thomas Jefferson

Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.
— Thomas Jefferson

In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
— Thomas Jefferson

I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.
— Thomas Jefferson

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.
— Thomas Jefferson

If I am to succeed, the sooner I know it, the less uneasiness I shall have to go through.
— Thomas Jefferson

The glow of one warm thought is worth more to me than money.
— Thomas Jefferson

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
— Thomas Jefferson

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
— Thomas Jefferson

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
— Thomas Jefferson

He who knows best knows how little he knows.
— Thomas Jefferson

For more Founding Father wisdom, check out our quotes from Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.