“The virtue of wrestling is that it is the spectacle of excess,” French theorist Roland Barthes, ‘Mythologies’

When I lived in Mexico many years ago, one of my favourite pastimes was a weekly visit to the wrestling ring. In the seaside town I was living in ‘Lucha Libre’ was king, and attending masked wrestling matches in Mexico City completely blew my mind. The strength, the theatricality and the passion of the audience were absolutely unfathomable to me previously; it truly was great spectacle at its best.

I was one of the lucky people who got to see New Zealand film ‘The Dark Horse’ debut at the NZIFF a couple of weeks ago, its first public outing and a night that ensured its future as a Great Kiwi Film. Everyone in the house was moved, buoyed and impressed by the tale of Maori chess Genesis Potini, and the work he did with underprivileged and challenged youth in his own hometown.

They emerged as smiley faced mop tops and conquered the world, but it was when The Beatles got all freaky that I think they really came into their own. It was also the moment that George Harrison - AKA ‘the quiet Beatle’ - really made his presence felt, and established his status as perhaps the coolest and most progressive thinking of the lot.

The documentary “George Harrison: Living in the Material World”  - directed by Martin Scorcese and showing now on Rialto - has been polarising for fans of the man and the band, but I love that fact that it has at its heart his dedication to Eastern thought and the power of meditation.

When I was growing up - in the era before the Internet encouraged us all to share exactly what/who we were eating/doing at any given time - female celebrities were quite a different bunch. The young female role models I looked up to were quirky, cool and fiercely independent, and the most outrageous stunt you could pull was to pop a couple of sleeping pills and rip off your local Marc Jacobs store (Free Winona!).

Poor old Shia LaBeouf  - from promising, seriously talented actor to plagiarising, homeless person harassing, booze-addled freak in little more than year or two. How did it all go so wrong?

One could point first of all to child star syndrome (see also: Lohan, Lindsay and Beiber, Justin), an unfortunate affliction that has claimed many with very few success stories bar the charming Ms. Drew Barrymore, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Neil Patrick Harris. We love those three though, and have loved watching them increase in talent a

Superhero flicks are most definitely a polarising genre - you either love them for their mix of the dark and cheesy (when they’re good) or you dismiss then just minutes in as preposterous, overblown, fantastical nonsense (when they’re bad).

We all identify with a particular superhero at heart though, and you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't fantasised about what super powers they’d like to possess at one stage, or entertained the idea of owning a dress up box for the moments when you have a crisis and  need some super human strength or when that perilously flat-lining relationship needs spicing up.

Last year’s exceptional - and not unexpected - choice of ‘Searching For Sugarman’ as the Oscar Academy’s Best Documentary Feature reinforced what many of us music fans have been saying for years: we are living in the Golden Age of the music film.  With the unmissable backing singers documentary ‘20 Feet From Stardom’ up for the same award and the Coen brothers’ ’60s New York folk scene period drama ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ also nominated, we are spoiled for choice. To say that there are literally scores of great music documentaries making the rounds right now would be an understatement - and even if the genre is not always your bag, the subject matter can still be utterly compelling.

“Big girls need big diamonds…” - Elizabeth Taylor

When it comes to great love affairs - be they historical, on screen or real life - Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's is undoubtedly one of the most famous and most glamorous… and most tumultuous. That’s why we love them, and even years later can’t get enough.

Fans of the pair will go mad for the beautifully made biopic ‘Burton and Taylor’, which follows the husband and wife as they reunite to perform the 1983 stage production of Noel Coward's play, 'Private Lives'. The dashing -and seriously talented- Dominic West plays Richard Burton, whilst the fabulously mad Helena Bonham Carter takes her turn playing the equally fabulous raven-haired actress in the BBC drama. I must admit that I was a little dubious about the latter’s appointment in the role when I first heard about it but DAMN she is good. The perfect balance of cheeky, sexy and more than a little mad, she also looks a right treat in many a serious gown, but we all know when it comes to La Taylor it is ALL about the diamonds.

When the Rialto Channel boss - AKA the wonderful Rog - asked me to think about “French kissing, French food, French beauty, French style….” as inspiration for this week’s blog, I realised that all four are found in the average French film. Try and think of one that doesn’t involve at least three of the above… I dare you!