Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman is a film critic and writer for Sight and Sound, who Mark often quotes. Mark and Kim both share a particular love of the horror genre, but Kim has written more generally about film history, and has written fantasy and horror novels, among other things. They also share a mutual appreciation of Hudson Hawk, much to the consternation of Richard E Grant.
Newman is acknowledged (at least by Mark) as the founder of the theory that during some films, it becomes apparent that various of the supporting characters are so much more entertaining than those essential to the main narrative being shown that it would have been far better if the movie had been about them. Listener Julian Bailey in Birmingham noted that Mr Turner had all the essentials of a masterwork apart from an interesting plot, and would have been vastly improved had it actually been about Benjamin Haydon's descent into penury and ultimately suicide. Another example - when reviewing Junebug, James King observed that the film should have been about the then-unknown Amy Adams' character as the rest were all far too annoying to bother with.