Mark Kermode

Mindhorn review

The Mighty Boosh's co-creator brings us an idiotic 80s-style detective, a host of supporting talent - and the Isle of Man.

Dad's Army review - the wit goes awol

Canny casting and fine performances are undermined by a script that falls short of Croft and Perry's vintage TV sitcom.

Convenience review

A hold-up turned hostage situation in an all-night store is played for laughs.

Pride review - power in an unlikely union

Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and George MacKay sparkle in this tale of lesbian and gay activists' support for the miners' strike.

David Brent Movie - Can it possibly work?

I can't guarantee that it'll hit the six-laugh Mark Kermode quotient that makes for a good comedy but I'd rather give The Office a proper chance than have to endure any of that tosh.

Video - Frank: Mark Kermonde's first reaction

There's an extraordinary new film out based on the cult character Frank Sidebottom. Here's my first reaction to it.

Audio - I've got That Sinking Feeling

Bill Forsyth's debut film That Sinking Feeling is out on disc this week. It's a personal favourite - and here's why.

Video: Mark Kermode reviews The Harry Hill Movie

Mark Kermode reviews The Harry Hill Movie. He says he didn't laugh once.

What an intriguing, and unsettling little movie Black Pond (2011, Black Pond, 15) is. At the Baftas its makers (director Tom Kingsley, writer/director Will Sharpe and producer Sarah Brocklehurst) were nominated for an outstanding debut award, and there is plenty here to suggest that they are an ever-so-slightly surreal force to be reckoned with. The story of a family who unwittingly achieve tabloid notoriety as a killer clan, the film mixes faux documentary interviews with off-kilter (and carefully coloured) scenes from a waking dream of life, interspersed with animated legends of lost ladies of the lake and three-legged dogs. It's peculiar stuff, occasionally funny, often poignantly uncomfortable, and consistently weird, like some subdued English relative of David Lynch's American gothic oeuvre. Chris Langham and Amanda Hadingue provide a suitably awkward mainstay as the collapsing couple at the centre of the drama, although Simon Amstell appears occasionally to have wandered in from a different (and more overtly comedic) movie as a madcap phoney shrink taunting Sharpe's mockable Tim. Extras include deleted scenes and the Sharpe/Kingsley short film Cockroach.

The Liverpudlian returns for a second series of his show, mixing stand-up, sketches and interviews, covering a different subject affecting the British every week.

In this week's episode, Bishop covered the subjects of "Music and Fashion". Bishop is rather Peter Kay-esque in his methods. Quite a lot of his humour is nostalgic, looking back at things from when he was young, such as his routine about going into Woolworth's and buying a record.

This is also evident during his interview section which featured among other things people talking about records they have brought and their guilty pleasures. One pair of identical twins admitted buying a record by The Smurfs (speaking of which, now that The Smurfs have been made into a 3D film, what's Mark Kermode going to compare them unfavourably too?).

For me, the best parts of the show were the sketches. There were two sketches in this week's episode, one covering the time Bishop went to see U2 during their "Make Poverty History" page, and what was the perfect way to get back at them; and other being about Bishop's confusion about the phrase "kiss vigorously" when he was filming Skins alongside Ronni Ancona.

These bits were simply brilliant. The images depicted were hilarious, as were the gags. When you think that the sketch had ended, it didn't, getting even better as it went along.

A very enjoyable and funny programme. Like Peter Kay, but not so full of himself.