December's episode of 'Flick's Flicks' and R.I.P Irvin Kershner (1923-2010)

December's episode of 'Flick's Flicks' film preview show has gone up on the Picturehouse website. It's my last show as guest host - though I maybe back at some point in the future for one reason or another. Regular host Felicity (AKA Flick) will be back next month.

This month I suggested my top five films of the year (although these may differ from my final list on this blog in January!) and previewed 'Catfish', 'Somewhere', 'Love and Other Drugs' and 'Rare Exports'.

Thanks to Gabriel Swartland at Picturehouses and James Tucker, the show's director and editor, for their support during the last six months of shows. And a very big thank you to Flick herself for asking me to host the show in her absence.

Finally, on an unrelated note, I was sad to learn that the director of the best 'Star Wars' film passed away last weekend at the age of 87. Irvin Kershner directed the first 'Star Wars' sequel 'The Empire Strikes Back', which was released in 1980 and is widely regarded as superior to the original. I must confess that I don't know much more about Kershner's work, which includes the likes of 'RoboCop 2' and the unofficial Bond film 'Never Say Never Again', so for a proper obituary I recommend this one on the A.V. Club site. As a huge fan of 'Empire' I wanted to pay my respects here with a video of one of the film's finest moments, which I think highlights the human dimension Kershner, along with screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, brought to George Lucas' space opera.