While our music writer Loretta Galloway copes with a career change (good luck in the new job Loretta! and thank you for all your hard work on the music column) we have reeled in film fan Alasdair Kearney to give us the update on films new and old.

Currently studying for a degree in film production at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, he has spent the past four years watching, analysing and studying films.

This included one year at the University of Stirling and a further two at Cardonald College.

Now he’s at the RSAMD studying digital film production for a BA honours degree.

His first review for the LOCAL NEWS is an older release, ‘The Apartment’.

It deals with love and relationships and is a typical romantic comedy just perfect for the Valentine’s Day theme.
Presented courtesy of Icon Home Entertainment, it is widely available from most decent retailers or can be found on: www.amazon.co.uk

‘The Apartment’ (1960) - dir: Bill Wilder Cert: PG

In an attempt to climb the ladder in his New York insurance firm, C.C. ‘Buddy Boy’ Baxter lends out his apartment as a place for his peers to bring their secret affairs.

Billy Wilder’s 1960 classic boasts all the charm and charisma you’d expect from a piece of work from the so-called golden age of Hollywood.

Jack Lemmon is terrific as the ‘loyal and faithful’ Baxter finding himself between a rock and a hard place.
The film flows magnificently with the comedy and romance interwoven so finely that it simply leaves you smiling throughout. We’ve all heard the phrase before; ‘the old ones are the best’, but in this case it’s true. Excellent.