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Articles by Mark Carnochan
EDINBURGH 2026: Review: ANIA MAGLIANO: PEACH FUZZ, Monkey Barrel
Back in 2022, during my review of her first Fringe run, I wrote: “Ania Magliano is very much the definition of a rising star… definitely someone to keep your eyes on.” Well, if the last year alone hasn’t made her a star, I don’t know what will. A lot has changed for Ania in the past twelve months. From her excellent run on Taskmaster to her turn as Weekend Update Anchor on SNL UK, the comedian’s stock has risen exponentially since her last Fringe appearance.
EDINBURGH 2026: Review: CHRIS CANTRILL: REWILDING, Monkey Barrel
After months locked away in the writers' room of Saturday Night Live UK, three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Chris Cantrill is finally back. Bringing newfound wisdom and knowledge to the stage, the comedian very quickly declares, “This is not a political show.” Explaining his sudden declaration, Cantrill confesses, “I’ve been doing stand-up for sixteen years.
EDINBURGH 2026: Review: AMANDA DWYER: BETTER THAN REVENGE, The Stand Comedy Club
When the Glasgow International Comedy Festival first introduced the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow Award, they put forward the following criteria for the eventual winner: they should be resilient, open, unapologetic, gallus, and, above all else, funny. If anyone fits the bill, it is this year’s winner, Amanda Dwyer.
EDINBURGH 2026: Review: CHRIS RUTTER: IGNORANCE IS CHRIS, The Stand Comedy Club
Any performer who makes the pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe immediately faces an uphill battle. By simply putting on your act in the Scottish capital during the month of August, you inadvertently pit yourself against thousands of others, all of whom are trying to make their show a success. When you also happen to be a comedian trying to make punters laugh in the warmest room in Edinburgh, however, that battle for success suddenly becomes nigh on impossible.
We Believe You (Glasgow Film Festival 2026) – One of the Year’s Finest
To be believed is to be seen. All of us, at one point or another, have sought validation, not just in ourselves but in our experiences. Hoping for some form of appreciation or understanding of what we’ve gone through, and the emotions that have been evoked as a result. Statements of belief are hollow on their own, whereas action reveals the true extent of what one believes in.
Review: THE WIZARD OF OZ, The Brunton
Despite the partial closure of Musselburgh’s Brunton Theatre back in 2023, the spirit of the honest toun’s much-loved local theatre remains alive in The Brunton’s continued running of shows in several replacement venues across East Lothian. Whilst the spirit remains, the beloved Brunton panto returns for another year with 2025’s production of The Wizard of Oz, one of this year’s best panto’s that Scottish theatre has to offer.
Review: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: THE PANTOMIME, Portobello Town Hall
Following the immensely Popular Productions of Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk, the much loved Porty Panto is back in 2025 for another Christmas show, this time giving the immortal tale of Beauty and the Beast the pantomime treatment with a Scottish twist. With a British institution like the pantomime, in which there are hundreds of productions every year around the holidays, it is very easy for one to assume that making a good panto comes easy.
Misper Film Reviews - FILMHOUNDS Magazine
Fresh out of the prestigious National Film & Television School, director Harry Sheriff makes his feature film directorial debut with Misper, a darkly comic drama which had its world premiere at this year’s edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Fresh off the back of an impressive stream of short films like Jeremy: A Nightmare, Jester, and Date With Death, the big question is whether the newcomer can make the successful jump to feature filmmaking.
Irvine Welsh and Paul Sng open up on new documentary Reality Is Not Enough
Closing out this year's 78th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough is the latest documentary to follow Scottish writer and Edinburgh local hero, Irvine Welsh. Far from the first time that Welsh has been the subject of a documentary, Reality Is Not Enough may well be the definitive documentary about the novelist.
Dead Lover Film Reviews
EIFF's Midnight Madness strand returned in style this year with the world premiere of Ben Wheatley's experimental sci-fi film Bulk, the long-awaited UK Premiere of Macon Blair's The Toxic Avenger remake and by far the weirdest of them all, Grace Glowicki's reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Dead Lover.
On The Sea Film Reviews
Ten years after her directorial debut, The Violators, novelist Helen Walsh returns to the director’s chair for her latest effort, queer romantic drama On The Sea. Primarily known for her work as a writer, one can’t help but wonder if Walsh can weave a story for the screen as well as she can for the page.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: PALDEM at Summerhall
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival Paldem, a new, sexy and dark play written by BAFTA Rising Star winner David Jonsson, who you may know from his roles in Rye Lane, Alien: Romulus and the upcoming Stephen King adaptation The Long Walk, made its world premiere at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and what an impressive debut it was. The play opens with Kevin and Megan returning to Kevin’s flat after a long day of celebrating the marriage of two of their close friends.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: RUSSIAN ROULETTE, Bedlam Theatre
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival If you’re looking for absurdist comedy at this year's Fringe, then look no further! Fresh off his last play, another absurdist treat about a gibberish-talking Jellyfish-person and the repressive nature of traditional family values, Will Osbon returns with his latest show, Russian Roulette. Set in a strange world where two people, Franc and Kira, are placed in a room and tasked with playing all of the games (yes, all of them) in order to be able to leave.
Blue Film - Film Review
“Hey fa****s” – the first line of dialogue in newcomer Elliot Tuttle’s feature film directorial debut Blue Film. An introduction that is as sure to shock you as it is to grab your attention. From that moment on, you’re either with the movie or you’re against it, and the next ninety minutes are sure to take you on one hell of a wild ride, regardless of what side of the reactionary scale you land on.
Reality Is Not Enough Film Reviews
When it comes to the closing night of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, there is no better choice to close things out than with a documentary following Scottish national treasure, and Edinburgh local, Irvine Welsh, the writer of the Scottish classic that defined a generation, Trainspotting. Far from the first time that the writer has been the subject of a documentary, it was only two years ago that another project about the writer's life, Choose Irvine Welsh, also closed out EIFF.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: EMILY WILSON: UNDRESSED at Pleasance
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival If you were lucky enough to attend a performance of Emily Wilson’s last Fringe show, Fixed, then odds are you have been patiently awaiting her return to the Scottish capital for quite some time. Finally, she is back, and she has brought her brand new hour of stand-up with her.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: DEVIL'S POINT, TheSpace On The Mile
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival If you are a horror fan, the Fringe often feels like it is lacking. Filled to the brim with comedy, plays, musicals, dance and cabaret, the genre of horror is usually represented at the world-famous arts festival, but never enough to satiate the appetite.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: CHRISTOPHER MACARTHUR-BOYD: HOWLING AT THE MOON, Monkey Barrel
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival When you rock up to a venue during the Edinburgh Fringe only to be greeted by two separate lines - one for ticketed punters and another for hopefuls - in the hundreds (but which feels like thousands), something tells you that it’s a big deal.
Concessions Edinburgh International Film Festival
The slacker, hangout movie is a bit of a dying breed these days. Finding its heyday in the 1990s with the works of directors like Richard Linklater and Kevin Smith, the genre has almost entirely slowed down to a halt in today's market. Equally so, you can't spend two minutes on the internet without somebody screaming in your ear about how cinemas and the film industry are dying (Orson Welles was saying the same thing in the 50s but sure, go off).
Grow Edinburgh International Film Festival
Primarily known as a horror director following his 2017 high school musical, zombie, Christmas movie Anna and the Apocalypse, John McPhail returns to his roots with his latest picture, Grow. Originally making a name for himself with heartfelt short films like Notes, Just Say Hi, and his feature-length debut, Where Do We Go From Here? The question is whether this is one step forward for the director or two steps back?
A Hard Sell - Bulk (Edinburgh International Film Festival)
The midnight film is a tricky beast. Often used as another way of describing a B-Movie or a cult film, the midnight movie is so much more than that. There is no mistaking one when you see it, but detailing exactly what makes a picture a midnight movie is much more complicated than one might expect. But what is more difficult, however, is making a good one. By his own admission, that is exactly what Ben Wheatley's new feature film Bulk is trying to do.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: THE MANCHESTER REVUE IN CUBICLE LAND, Just The Tonic
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival An entire sketch comedy show based around real-life graffiti scrawled in toilet cubicles is the sort of premise you could only ever wish to come up with. Unfortunately, for any other sketch comedy groups looking for a good show idea, The Manchester Revue beat you to it. Though I’m sure audiences at this year's Fringe will be appreciative.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: KC SHORNIMA: DETACHMENT STYLE, Pleasance
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival If you don’t know the name KC Shornima, you may be familiar with her work as a writer for Saturday Night Live. Writing for the Weekend Update segments of the longstanding institution of comedy, she has written for hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che for three years now, but the real question is just how well she can write for herself?
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: SCATTER: A HORROR PLAY, Underbelly
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival Horror media, in any form, is often one of the most difficult genres to get right. Whether it be cinema, literature or theatre, the simplification of what Horror audiences expect - a good scare - makes it all the easier for a production to crumble. Horror and comedy have been compared in more than one way for many years. Both rely on audience expectations to expect one thing only to be taken by another, whether it be fear or laughter.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: THE DURHAM REVUE: SKETCH MARKS THE SPOT, Underbelly
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival You know those people begging you to take a flyer in Edinburgh throughout August, the ones whose very hopes and dreams rely on you taking a flyer and even considering going to see their show? Those are students! The bread and butter of the Fringe. Or, certainly, one sandwich atop a platter, with student groups specialising in comedy, drama and musicals making up a sizeable portion of the festival programme every year.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: AN ADEQUATE ABRIDGEMENT OF BOARDING SCHOOL LIFE AS A HOMO, Underbelly
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival Imagine Fleabag meets Normal People, only it’s gay! Well, great news, that pretty much sums up An Adequate Abridgement of Boarding School Life as a Homo, the wonderful play from Ned Blackburn. Meet Johnny (portrayed by the show’s creator), an 18-year-old at an all-boys boarding school. An outsider in almost every aspect, Johnny’s school days consist of Britney Spears, Waiting for Godot, and shagging the school’s star rugby player, Harry.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: SKETCH THIEVES at The Laughing Horse
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival When it comes to comedy at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, you have to find a way to stand out. A show where multiple sketch comedy troupes perform their sketches before swapping their ideas and performing each other's is certainly one way to do it. Not only that, but it seems like one of the few shows that could offer a good time - you’re either going to see some great comedy or a total car crash. What’s not to like?
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: RHYS DARBY: THE LEGEND RETURNS, Pleasance
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival When it comes to absolute legends of the Fringe, they come in all different shapes and sizes. There are the likes of Kieran Hodgson or Bo Burnham who have a handful of appearances at the festival, all of which have been some of the best shows ever brought to the Scottish Capital. You also have your Lin-Manuel Miranda’s or your Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s, who came to the festival early in their career and have since conquered the world.
Bookish (TV Review)
What a year it has been for Mark Gatiss. With roles in two big blockbuster hits, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it seems that the famed writer of Doctor Who and co-creator of such hits as Sherlock and The League of Gentlemen simply can't stay off our screens in 2025. However, it is his latest television show, Bookish, that is Gatiss's finest hour.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: STUART MCPHERSON: CRISPS AND A LIE DOWN, Monkey Barrel
Click Here for More on Edinburgh Festival It’s often said that the first day of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the hardest. Playing new material to new crowds, not quite sure what’s gonna hit with the weird mish mash audience of Londoners, American tourists, critics, and the odd local or two. In the case of Stuart McPherson, the first day of Edinburgh Festival Fringe previews may have provided an even harder battle, but one in which the comedian handled with ease.
An Underrated Gem Looking For A Home
The story of Narc is a pretty incredible one. For years, financiers turned down director Joe Carnahan's pitch for this raw, gritty cop drama inspired by the 70s films of Sidney Lumet and William Friedkin, claiming it felt like an episode of NYPD Blue. Pitch after pitch, Carnahan was told that nobody cared about the cop genre anymore. Not long after, Ray Liotta joined the project as its star and producer, gaining funding that would put the film into production.
Review: JELLYFISH, Bedlam Theatre
The old expression may be “the elephant in the room,” but if Filfbag Theatre has anything to say about it, it should be changed to “the jellyfish in the room.” After all, an elephant may be bigger, but a jellyfish is arguably more out of place. In this latest absurdist comedy from writer William Osbon and director Tilda Seddon, we follow the lives of Smiff (Osbon) and Willow (Raphaella Hawkins), the perfect man and wife that you’d expect to see at the forefront of the ideal, nuclear family.
Less Than Perfect - Human Resources (Film Review)
The latest American horror film to make its way over to British shores puts a new spin on the all-too-relatable experience of “retail hell” when young, shy, medical student Sam starts working at a local hardware store to make ends meet, only to find that everything is not quite as it seems. Braden Swope's turn in the director's chair marks his first time doing so, making his feature film directorial debut at just the young age of nineteen.
Festival Round-Up: Hippodrome Silent Film Festival 2025
Through the eyes of the general public, the view might be that silent cinema has been dead for decades, if not already a full century. Granted, talkies have long been favoured over silent movies ever since the invention of the form, and we have not seen a mainstream movie go silent ever since The Artist took home the Oscar at the 84th Academy Awards.
A Modern Day Folk Tale - The Luckiest Man in America (Glasgow Film Festival Review)
The idea of taking from the rich to give to the poor may be synonymous with the story of Robin Hood, but that same message is one repeatedly found within folklore all over the world. After all, that's why they are called folk tales, these are stories for the people. What better setting could there be for a modern telling of this tale, then, than a game show?
A Surprising Delight - Spilt Milk (Glasgow Film Festival Review)
If you haven't noticed recently, Ireland is having a bit of a moment. Whether it be the rise of Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan, Cillian Murphy's awards sweep for his role as J. Robert Oppenheimer or some of the fantastic art that has been coming out of the country these last few years, there is no denying that Irish talent is taking over the world. Spilt Milk, the directorial debut of Ireland's own Brian Durnin, is further proof that there is much more to come.
Played for laughs: how cinema still fails male sexual assault survivors
About Little White Lies Little White Lies was established in 2005 as a bi-monthly print magazine committed to championing great movies and the talented people who make them. Combining cutting-edge design, illustration and journalism, we’ve been described as being “at the vanguard of the independent publishing movement.” Our reviews feature a unique tripartite ranking system that captures the different aspects of the movie-going experience. We believe in Truth & Movies.
The Beginning - FILMHOUNDS Magazine
Celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the birth of one of cinema’s finest masters, Studio Canal presents one of this year’s most exciting Blu-ray releases in the form of Hitchcock: The Beginning. Releasing a sizeable portion of the director’s early works on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, this eleven-disc box set is something to behold, with brand-new scores, restorations, and a newly commissioned documentary.
Paul Mescal: The New Masculine
“Are you not entertained?!” The line that Russell Crowe famously delivered twenty-four years ago in Ridley Scott's box office behemoth Gladiator. A moment in cinema that shall echo in eternity and one that almost single-handedly skyrocketed Crowe to superstardom. It's easy now for many to look back on the first instalment as the sort of film that does little more than feed into the tropes of the sword-and-sandal epic; blood, sweat, muscles, and just guys being dudes.
Diving Into The Psyche of Vince McMahon — Mr. McMahon (TV Review) - Filmhounds Magazine
“Nothing that any wrestler, that anybody involved in Wrestling tells you, should be regarded as fact.” – David Shoemaker. If you grew up watching professional wrestling, then odds are you grew up with Vincent Kennedy McMahon. The daddy of pro wrestling as we know him today, McMahon has been known as a madman, a mastermind, a muscle-clad freak of nature, and a marketing genius, all at once.
Laurel & Hardy: The Silent Years
If you're a fan of Laurel & Hardy then you have undoubtedly been looking forward to this set for a very long time. Essentially a British version of the ‘Laurel & Hardy: Year One' set that was released in America almost exactly a year ago today, Eureka Entertainment has packed their release full of new goodies specifically for the British fanbase.
The Substance - FILMHOUNDS Magazine
If you were lucky enough to catch Coralie Fargeat's debut in theatres back in 2017 then you have undoubtedly been patiently waiting for her return to the director's chair ever since. Now, Fargeat is finally back with her sophomore effort and Edinburgh International Film Festival has gifted us with a preview screening of The Substance. With anticipation for the film at an all-time high, the question is whether it can defy expectations or not.
Lilies Not For Me
A world premiere is always an exciting occasion. With zero expectations and an audience full of intrigue, there is a certain buzz that radiates throughout the auditorium at such a screening. Regardless of cast, budget, distributors, or story, nobody knows quite what to expect. This is no different for Lilies Not For Me, the feature film directorial debut from Will Seefried. The film follows two young men as they wrestle with their sexuality in the repressive English society of the 1920s.
The Radleys - Filmhounds Magazine
When you're dealing with a genre as historied as the vampire movie, it is imperative to bring something new to the table. The latest world premiere at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival brings Damian Lewis and Kelly MacDonald together on the big screen but despite the calibre of the stars, the question is whether The Radleys can do something new with the genre to make it worth their time, as well as the audiences.
Armand - Filmhounds Magazine
Following its world premiere at this year's 77th Cannes Film Festival, the Scottish capital plays host to the UK premiere of the much-anticipated feature film debut from Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, Armand. Grandson of cinematic great Ingmar Bergman, screen royalty Liv Ullmann, and with a Caméra d'Or to his name, the director's first film comes with high expectations. The question is, can Tøndel live up to them?
Sing Sing - Filmhounds Magazine
The latest fare from A24 is almost always certain to garner some buzz, thanks in part to the company's cult of fans that has amassed over the past decade or so. Bringing unique movies and some of the best contemporary filmmakers to the big screen, the company proudly promotes cinema as an art form that can be used to explore, express, and astonish.
The Outrun (Edinburgh International Film Festival)
Opening up this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival is the appropriately Scottish-set adaptation of Amy Liptrot's 2016 memoir The Outrun. After losing her house, her job and her partner, a young woman returns home to the Orkney Islands to find her feet again after years of battling alcoholism.
Must Be Seen To Be Believed - Caligula: The Ultimate Cut (Film Review)
For forty-five years now Caligula has been known as one of the most controversial films of all time. With blood, guts, nudity and sex galore, the pornographic epic became the stuff of legend, in which the controversy both on screen as well as behind it, led many to flock to their local cinema to catch a spectacle of the flesh.
Can Costner's Gamble Pay Off? — Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (Film Review) - Filmhounds Magazine
The Wild West. What was once one of Hollywood's most popular backdrops has since dried up and detached from its roots. Just as a tumbleweed can sprinkle some magic into the right moment of an old-school Western flick by entering the frame at the perfect moment of a duel, the Western genre can still provide a touch of magic among the contemporary slate of movie releases. An actor who seems to share a similar trajectory to the beloved genre is Kevin Costner.
Kinds of Kindness (2024) Review
Kinds of Kindness (2024) Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Screenwriters: Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Mamoudou Athie, Yorgos Stefanakos If you popped along to your local cinema to see Poor Things back in January, you may be shocked to see that Yorgos Lanthimos has yet another film releasing already, only five months later.
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