Andrew Sumner is a movie journalist, editor, publisher & presenter who worked for the NME, Marvel Comics, Vox, Total Film and Uncut, before publishing Loaded, Uncut & Now magazines. He presented the Uncut Film on TCM, published for DC Comics and served as managing director of Cahiers du Cinéma. He’s currently executive vice president of the Titan Entertainment Group, where he also edits their Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels and presents Forbidden Planet’s broadcast channel, FPTV. Originally from Merseyside, Sumner is deeply passionate about movies, noir fiction, comic books, jazz and rock & roll – and has lived, very happily, in Ealing for thirty years.
What Makes a Great Movie?
For me, great movies are the ones that haunt my dreams and haunt my waking mind. Cinema is unique in its ability to imprint visuals, music, performance & dialogue – all working in harmony at the same time – onto your subconscious in a way that can be constantly, instinctively referenced. Those references can be dramatic, amusing, inspirational, silly, even euphoria-inducing. My brain is an end-titles Raiders warehouse of scenes & moments from the movies I’ve enjoyed since I was a kid and I love how those references abide (like The Dude from The Big Lebowski). One of my great joys is comparing indelible movie moments with my friends & family and discovering the movies that they love (that I might not). A great movie is one that colonises your soul, delivering snapshot moments of fascination & joy that echo throughout your life.
Favourite Movies
The French Connection, On the Town, The Great Escape, Kiss Me Deadly, Whiplash, LA Confidential, Citizen Kane, The Sweet Smell of Success,
The Departed, National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Royal Tenenbaums, Some Like It Hot and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.