slow start to the year, film wise, but here are some belated thoughts on Vincente Minnelli's The Band wagon (1953) letterboxd.com/jamesewand/f...

Until yesterday I would have bet real paper money that I'd seen 1973's Messiah of Evil years ago & had thought it was just ok I had not seen Messiah of Evil & review to follow but TLDR it's amazing So now I'm trying to figure out what vaguely similar, less good, 60's/70's horror I confused it with

"Bonjour" "Oh you're French?" "No, I am Finnish" "Oh, why do you speak French?" "Finnish is too difficult"

I see your Reality Bites homage Stranger Things finale. I see it & I like it

American Regional Horror Movies, a new thread for a new year 🧵 A rough definition: Independent low-budget horror movies, made far away from mainstream Hollywood, by local casts & crews which often might include non/semi-professional members. And sometimes only ever exhibited locally

Watching a 1970's Regional Horror Movie featuring a drifter who casts a reign of terror in a Texas town, by employing his moderately sized pocket knife Maybe I'm stereotyping the semi-rural American South, but I can't help thinking that someone should have just shot him by now

"Being Sick" Zero stars, would not recommend And now to watch what I fully expect to be some truly dreadful movies

Ending 2025 like I started it, feverish & distempered Happy New Year everybody

Going to watch Murder By Contract & looked up director Irving Lerner, to find that he was, inter alia, a real SOVIET SPY WITHIN THE MANHATTAN PROJECT If I was a Jules Dassin or a Joseph Losey, I'd have been a bit peeved to see ol' Irving not only walking freely around LA but also making movies

Experiment in Terror (1962) Neo-noir procedural, directed by Blake Edwards with cinematography by Philip H. Lathrop A new one for my list of best looking black & white movies Lee Remick is threatened by an unseen assailant. Can FBI agent Glenn Ford save her without tipping off the bad guy? 1/5

some brief thoughts on Satyajit Ray's 1955 coming-of-age classic Pather Panchali letterboxd.com/jamesewand/f...

The Mask of Dimitrios (1944) Greenstreet & Lorre star in this adaptation of Eric Ambler's classic espionage story, which sees Lorre's novelist on a quest through the murky world of pre-War Balkan intrigue in order to unravel the mystery of the late & unlamented Dimitrios 1/4

Totally. If you’re bored and have a couple of minutes to kill… some seasonal thoughts… www.patreon.com/posts/133679...

Superman (2025) Starts in a weird place & it feels longer than its runtime but, y'know, it made me believe a man can fly

Off to a family gathering to remind my cousins that, no matter how old they get, I'm still the eldest & am therefore still the boss of them

It’s quite rare that writing, acting, editing, casting and directing collide at the very same intersection in time and space, producing a piece of work that could be said to be perfect, but 1941’s THE MALTESE FALCON is such a movie - boxd.it/9H0VaB #FilmSky #Bogart

The important thing to know about an assassination or an attempted assassination is not who fired the shot, but who paid for the bullet. And Tiny Tim, who did NOT die....

Christmas Day movie: the wonderful Remember The Night boxd.it/cekJiL

They call Brigadoon a fantasy, but I grew up in Kirkcudbright and I call it documentary. I know it is probably Gene Kelly's least cool film, but I find irresistibly charming (accents and all). And there is a vein of something quite unusual that runs through it, with the Van Johnson character.

Why did you never learn to dive Les? Y'know, normal reasons, I've always lived near good public transport links, & insurance for learner drivers was just so expensive.....oh, & every single anxiety dream I've ever had has involved me being behind the wheel of an out-of-control car. So, there's that

At the recent Quatermass event, the panel was asked for TV recommendations beyond some of the more ‘obvious’ (Stone Tape, Casting the Runes etc). I gave a few but said I would compile a couple more. So as promised! Feel free to ask for any extra info.

Review of Sapphire (1959), Victim (1961) & Life Ruth (1962) from the creative team of Basil Dearden, Janet Green & Michael Relph on LetterBoxd (Because Bluesky won't provide me, history's greatest martyr, with a 'save draft' function) letterboxd.com/lessmarberry...

First watch: Sabrina (1954, directed by Billy Wilder). Love triangle between two rich brothers – playboy David (William Holden) and workaholic Linus (Humphrey Bogart) – and their chauffeur’s daughter, the titular Sabrina (an enchanting Audrey Hepburn). 1/4

Anyone else accidentally delete a 25 part thread at the very moment they were about to post it? No, just me? Fucking moron Les

Going to review the 'social problem' films of director Basil Dearden & screenwriter Janet Green later But a grimly funny nugget re 1961's Victim was that the censor objected to the intensity of the antagonist's homophobia, on the basis that "it might discredit legitimate disapproval of homosexuals"

The Grinch Who Would Be King

If you can, please support this; from his early teenage years, our late son James did what he could to support Manchester's homeless, whether it was a gift, food, or simply a kind word. It's a charity that means a lot to us & we give every year...

The Halfway House (1944) & They Came To A City (1944), back-to-back fantasy/magical realist pictures from director Basil Dearden, which have the interesting quality of feeling like sterile knock-offs of A Canterbury Tale and A Matter of Life & Death respectively, despite preceding both films 1/13

Wake Up Dead Man (2025) I think a good test of the strength of a recurring detective character is if they still work when placed slightly off-center in a story. And on that basis Benoit Blanc still has plenty of stories left in him 1/3

The Flaxborough Chronicles by Colin Watson Enjoying working my way through these mysteries/social satires based in the fictional Lincolnshire town of Flaxborough Watson was based in Lincolnshire for most of his journalistic career & takes evident glee in skewering small town respectability 1/3

Taking a couple of weeks break from Bluesky to get some real world stuff done, but, but....But where is the University?

That canceled TV show you'll never stop thinking about

Is buying a Peavey Rage a good idea in this the year of our Lord 2025? Possible alternatives are either a slightly beat up Fender Princeton 65 solid state, or waiting a while & getting a Roland Jazz Chorus 22

OK so it's dark and rainy and I feel like this story should be shared. The movie Grace Of My Heart is a sort of 'film á clef' loosely based on Carole King's life, interpolating a fictional romance with a character based on Brian Wilson. Musical director J Mascis said they HAD TO use a theremin...

Bunny & the Bull (2009) One for fans of The Mighty Boosh, as a host of Boosh regulars craft a sweet & funny tale out of a man (struggling with grief & agoraphobia) remembering a disastrous roadtrip. It's funny, I promise 'Craft' is the right word here for a beautifully handmade film

"Our Party's values.." "Your Party!" "Your Party's values.." "Splitter!!"

Ok, so The Iguana With The Tongue of Fire is by no means a great movie I don't care The State could build a whole Garda recruitment campaign around Luigi Pistilli's An Harry Salach character

Currently watching a giallo that was filmed & set in Ireland. Splendid days! Even better it features a detective who looks not unlike famed Irish civil servant T.K. Whitaker in middle age en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._K._W...

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023) Chapter 7 of Dracula expanded to feature length For most of this, it was fine, disappointingly fine, but fine. It only has the ingredients of atmosphere rather than an actual atmosphere, but whatever But the ending is so egregiously stupid I want to punch it

so my journal article on Mike Leigh's Mr Turner has been published (although annoyingly there is a formatting problem in the title that I have asked to be rectified): journals.openedition.org/ebc/16973

Klaus (2019) Cartoon about a spoiled trainee postman, a feuding town & an intimidating recluse, that gradually becomes a charming origin story for Santa Claus Holds a very special place for me as I first saw it when my daughter was a tiny baby & a few years later she fell in love with it herself

Just watched SHOOT (1976), a slice of post-Deliverance drive through exploitation at the centre of a recent plagiarism scandal… and which actually rocks A group of NRA-nut hunters bite off more than they can chew when they unwittingly become prey of a rival group of hunters. SIGN ME UP #filmsky 🧵

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) Benoit Blanc gets up close to the oligarch class & isn't very impressed This holds up so much better on re-watch than I would have ever expected. Delightful Daniel Craig is such a capital M, capital S, Movie Star

First watch: Umberto D. (1952, dir. Vittorio de Sica). Eschewing a straightforward narrative about poverty for one about a middle-class pensioner who has fallen into debt, the film was not well received at the time and considered to have marked the beginning of the end for Italian neo-realism. 1/4

Not one for me I think, bad sign when you keep hoping Nicol Williamson will suddenly burst in & strike a movie on its backside with the flat of his sword while shouting "Put some life into it!" But we'll persevere

This may be an issue of watching on TV vs seeing in cinema, or a case of middle-aged man yells at clouds, but would it kill The Green Knight if we, the viewer, could actually see what's happening onscreen?

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut (2023) A reconstruction of notorious porn epic Caligula, removing the hardcore sex spliced in by producer Bob Guccione without the knowledge of director Tinto Brass. With no input from Brass, the project tries to get as close as possible to Gore Vidal's original script

A multi-part adaptation of the Anno Dracula series by Kim Newman, in its entirety, with full practical effects & sets the size of a medium-sized urban center

First watch: Soylent Green (1973, dir. Richard Fleischer). Dystopian sci-fi that should probably be congratulated for putting global warming on the Hollywood big screen, after breakthroughs in climate science of the 1960s. 1/3

The title cards for the restoration of Caligula are quite the journey aren't they? Yes I am immediately following up Excalibur with Caligula Very normal Monday evening