Live Performance Review: Dave Gorman Get's Straight to the Point, Sunday 22.11.2015 20:00, The Alhambra, Dunfermline

This is the fifth time I have seen Mr. Gorman, king of the geeks, perform since 2006 and I have still never been disappointed. I probably would not have gone, due to the travel involved, if it weren't for the fact that I have a friend who was keen to see him.

There was support from a Nick Doody, who was a lot better than an audience has any right to expect from a support act. 

Mr Gorman himself did close to two hours all of which was very enjoyable and geeky. I would say this was not quite as good as the previous tour, though that relates to the material being presented not the delivery. We were treated to two 'Found Poems', just as he did on the last tour and it was lovely to hear him get such a jubilantly joyful response from packed crowd in this more provincial venue than I am used to. 

It was lovely to hear that Mr. Gorman is now a dad. It was even better to hear his response to the audience's cheers, saying along the lines of 'Don't applaud the fact that my cock works, we are not American'.

I had thought of giving this a top rating, though this did not feel quite right. It was a fantastically engaging eve. 

Rating: 9.5/10.    

Film Review: Love 3D (18) (France/Belgium 2015) (Director: Gasper Noe) (English and French with English Subtitles), Filmhouse, Screen One, Edinburgh, Wednesday 18.11.2015, 20:30

I went to see this film solely upon the strength of the director's previous film, 2009's 'Enter The Void', one of my all time favourite films and if you have not seen this masterpiece, I cannot recommend this more highly. 

I was aware of the sexually explicit nature of this film, though this neither intrigued or put me off. 

This is monumentally dull film. Every element was tedious. The dialogue was numskullish in the extreme. The three central characters are completely unengaging, with the most central character being a misogynistic prick who spends the film very self-indulgently hankering after a past lover while being unable to appreciate what he has or his own agency in creating his circumstances. All of this echoes what I have subsequently heard some film critics say of the film.

Gasper Noe has commented that he sees the film as being sentimental, which suggests to me that he struggles to understand  how his produce may be received by normal viewers. I really have no time for what I understand to be Gasper's first two films, 'I Stand Alone' (1998) & 'Irreversible' (2002), and now having seen  his latest dirge I can only conclude that 'Enter The Void' was a fluke. I don't know after this whether I will allow him any more chances with new product. I cannot rate or recommend this film in any way.