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SubscriptionsAuthor: Chris Sullivan
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A Naked Interview with Mike Leigh
Chris Sullivan interviews Mike Leigh about the re-release of his film Naked and explores the creative process behind his more recent films such as Peterloo and Turner
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The Social Conditions which Inspired ‘Ghost Town’ are Still With Us Today, Says The Specials’ Jerry Dammers
On the 40th anniversary of the hit song, Chris Sullivan finds its modern relevance terrifying
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‘What’s Going On’ Marvin Gaye’s Protest Album 50 Years On
Racism, police brutality, inequality, ecology, the trauma of the Vietnam War and drug addiction, Chris Sullivan considers how the classic 1971 album explored what was really going on
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Art and Violence: Technology and Domination: Futurism and Fascism
Chris Sullivan looks back at the role of painters and writers who co-opted 1930s technology and modernity to espouse far-right ideas
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Cultural Demise: The Gutting of the Hospitality Sector is About More than Jobs
Chris Sullivan, who founded the Wag Club in Soho, considers the sad end of London’s Café de Paris and the future of the UK’s pub, bar and club industry
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The Hounding of Billie Holiday
Chris Sullivan reviews the documentary ‘Billie’, detailing how one of the greatest singers of all time was hunted by officers at the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
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New York City: A Theory of Evolution
Chris Sullivan remembers the run-down, experimental and sleazy New York of punk, hip hop and disco – the creative epicentre of the world, suffocated in recent years by big developers, greed and rent hikes. But could COVID-19 signal a return to its innovative and more humanistic edge?
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Lost Cities: Notting Hill – From Rachman to the Westway
Chris Sullivan looks at the consequences for Notting Hill of the determination of successive Conservative Governments to deregulate rents and planning
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Cop Violence to COVID-19: The Survival of Notting Hill Carnival
Chis Sullivan examines the history of Notting Hill Carnival and its decades-long battle against the Establishment
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Infamous: A Bonnie and Clyde Tale in the Instagram Era
Chris Sullivan reviews Infamous, a new dramatisation of the insatiable lust for fame
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LOST CITIES: How Cardiff’s Thriving Multicultural Hub Was Crushed
Chris Sullivan delves into the history of one of Britain’s first successful multicultural communities and the authorities determined to destroy it
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The Traitor: An Italian Mafia Drama With Shades of Boris Johnson’s Britain
Chris Sullivan reviews ‘The Traitor’, a brutal Italian story of crime and corruption, and finds parallels with the UK
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Disappearing Cities: The Rift Between Notting Hill and Notting Dale
Three years after the Grenfell Tower tragedy, Chris Sullivan excavates the hidden history of one of London’s most polarised neighbourhoods
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Disappearing Cities: Soho — Gangsters, artists, brothels and landlords
Chris Sullivan, the founder of the famous Wag Club, looks at the history of London’s Soho district and how greed and acquisition replaced art and conviviality.
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Lockdown with Chris Sullivan: Volume One
Looking for an album, film or book to make our new Coronavirus reality more bearable? Why not start here…
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‘Misbehaviour’ Misses the Mark
Chris Sullivan reviews a new take on the 1970 Miss World pageant and explores the debate about sex and race which it exposed.
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‘The True Story of Ned Kelly’: Criminal or Freedom Fighter?
Chris Sullivan reviews an adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel that explores the boundary between banditry and rebellion.
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‘Dark Waters’: Bringing A Corporation To Account
Chris Sullivan reviews a new film exploring corporate destruction and greed and the tenacity of lawyers and litigants to achieve accountability and justice.
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‘Greed’ is Good: A Fast, Funny and Infuriating Take on the Emptiness of Acquisition
Chris Sullivan reviews a new comedy drama based on one of Britain’s most controversial modern businessmen.
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‘Cosh Boy’ Review: Gang Culture is the Stuff that Newspaper Sales are Made Of
Chris Sullivan explains how the tabloid panic about knife crime today is a repeat of the 1950s and wonders when we’ll actually do something about the real causes.
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‘1917’ Review: Tales my Grandfather Never Told Me
Chris Sullivan rates Sam Mendes’ new war film up with the classics and remembers his grandfather’s survival through the worst of World War One.
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‘La Dolce Vita’ Review: A Stylish and Thought-Provoking Look at Celebrity Culture and Its Cost
Chris Sullivan reviews the 1960 classic which has left its mark on our culture in many ways, beyond simply its famous title.
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‘Citizen K’ Review: A Prescient Warning of Oligarchical State Takeover in Russia
Chris Sullivan reviews the latest documentary from Academy Award-winning Alex Gibney which follows the story of one of Russia’s richest men, now exiled in the UK.
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‘Motherless Brooklyn’ Review: A Film Noir about Town Planning and Ethnic Cleansing
Chris Sullivan on a sprawling, ambitious tale of murder, blackmail, and corruption in mid-century New York that has dark resonances for London today.
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‘The Irishman’ Review: The Power of the Gangster Myth
Chris Sullivan reviews Martin Scorsese’ latest film, The Irishman and explores the history of the cult of Mafia films.
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‘Sorry We Missed You’ Review: Ken Loach’s True Story Delivers a Punch
A damning portrait of zero-hours contracts, private debt and public austerity in Brexit Britain.
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‘Joker’ Review: This Dark Tale of Gotham City Shows How a Hellish Populism Could Take Hold of Our Society
Chris Sullivan gives his take on the controversial new film starring Joaquin Phoenix and compares its dystopian vision with 1970s New York and the UK today.
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‘Judy’ Review – “If I am a Legend Why Am I So Lonely?”
Chris Sullivan reviews the film Judy and considers how the star became a victim of her own fame.
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The Second Summer of Love – North v South?
DJ and writer Chris Sullivan on the debate about where Rave culture first took hold in Britain.
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Spiderman – How to Make a Blockbuster in the Netflix Era
Chris Sullivan hails a new addition to the Marvel franchise, that marvels with its spectacle when all else fails.
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THIRTY YEARS OF RAVE: The Police, Ecstasy and Mrs Thatcher
WAG Club founder and DJ Chris Sullivan reminisces and riffs about the rave scene of the late 80s
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‘John Wick’ Body Count: Do Violent Movies Inspire Violence Amongst their Viewers?
Chris Sullivan on the age-old debate about whether fictional displays of violence increase it in reality, now informed by some groundbreaking research.
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Remembering Steve Strange: The Ultimate ‘New Romantic’ who Hated the Name
Chris Sullivan, DJ and writer remembers Steve Strange, lead singer of Visage and the New Romantic Movement on what would have been his 60th birthday.
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THIRTY YEARS OF RAVE: Why the Second Summer of Love was Met with a Police Backlash
DJ and writer Chris Sullivan on the timely new film ‘Beats’ as he explores 30 years of rave culture in the UK.
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‘Amazing Grace’: Aretha Franklin, Gospel Music and its Unsettling Roots
Writer and DJ Chris Sullivan explores how ‘Amazing Grace’, the new Sydney Pollack film finally released nearly 50 years after its original due date, got him thinking about the origins of Gospel music.
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Crystal Meth Maze: the Truth behind the Myth of Warhol and his Factory
Chis Sullivan searches for impoverished drug-fueled reality in the late Nat Finkelstein’s Photography Exhibition, ‘In and Out of Warhol’s Orbit’ from his past interviews with Nat and the people who knew the the Factory best.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Smelly – Review of Sisters Brothers
Chris Sullivan celebrates the gritty revisionism of the modern Western, but wonders whether Bad Smells alone are Good Enough
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FILM REVIEW: At Eternity’s Gate
Willem Dafoe’s performance as Van Gogh is “beyond brilliant” says Chris Sullivan, who ponders whether creativity is always close to madness.
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Why are Young People So Bothered about the ’80s?
The tolerance and acceptable of 1980s Britain is to be admired far more than Dallas, big shoulder pads and synth pop, says Chris Sullivan.
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Ben is Back: The Film that Dares to Tackle the Opioid Epidemic
Undeniably, the opioid/heroin epidemic sweeping the United States is the greatest drug endemic to ever hit the country. Indeed, more people died of overdoses in 2017 than all US military personnel killed during both the Vietnam and Iraq conflicts and more than those killed by guns, car, AIDS in any single year in the US.
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How to win an Oscar in one easy lesson
Journalist and DJ Chris Sullivan on the tired “magic formula” for gaming the Academy Awards system
