Good morning, friends! For a limited time, here is our labour of love: PASSION POP A proof of concept short film we made in 2023 that had its fest run last year, hitting up 12 film festivals around the world. It's my favourite thing I've made & my most personal. Hope you dig vimeo.com/1065759474

Happy Weekend for all who celebrate, with surprise Crowley!

Justice League (any version.) Or Wonder Man.

Please, please, PLEASE, universe — I beg of you — do NOT enshittify the Last Place I Love On The Internet. @letterboxd.social

Film you've watched more than six times, represented by a gif. hard mode*: no star wars, star trek, lotr, dc, marvel, disney, pixar, dreamworks, spielberg, cameron, wachowskis, or ghibli *not as hard for anyone over 45

New call for phans’ help with hospice care for “PHANTASM’s” Reggie Bannister. https://ow.ly/vbp650YRg3B

With the buzzy release of new video game adaptation EXIT 8, why not accidentally watch my old movie EXIT instead?

"In his prime, you could look at Russ Meyer & see a pornographer, a sleaze, a pervert... But today, Meyer’s films, edited by history, play as radical. In Meyer’s world, gender can be a trap, or gender can be an art. It can be a font of misery or of great joy. The choice is up to you. So go be free."

Weird yet irrefutable fact: Despite the movies’ wildly variable quality, every modern Batman-led film has an incredible musical score. Elfman, Goldenthal, Zimmer and Giacchino all understood the assignment.

I also interviewed LEAVING NEVERLAND subjects James Safechuck & Wade Robson about why they chose to explain in detail the sex acts they say Jackson made them perform with him. You can't watch LEAVING NEVERLAND anymore, but if you're thinking of seeing MICHAEL, read what they have to say first. 2/2

Hot tip: go see ALPHABET LANE, now screening at select Australian cinemas! It’s not only a quietly deranged, oddly romantic dark comedy, it’s also a film I played a small part in helping to get out there, so I’m hugely proud of James (writer/director) & Luce (producer). Support good Oz indie cinema!

An obvious point, but: corporations want you to do everything online so they can more easily data-mine everything you do. Meeting people in real life is an act of resistance!

Share an ‘80s movie you will always love

Repost with your first crush

I'm finding this, too. Older relatives who were always, at least, fiscally conservative, have been developing increasingly hardline sociopolitical or conspiratorial beliefs since retiring and becoming more online / tuned into Sky News. It's scary shit.

Fast AND strong, great. One day closer to robot hordes murdering us all in our sleep. 🙌 These tech-shilling, robot-building, singularity-chasing Frankenstein-ass douchebags clearly took all the wrong lessons from sci-fi. Also, how is “Machine is faster than man!” news?

Had an absolute blast (and a privilege, given it’s his favourite film of that year!) chatting to the great @oneblakeminute.bsky.social about Ivan Sen’s brilliant outback-noir sequel, GOLDSTONE — also serving as an open letter to Sen and Aaron Pedersen to reunite and make that third Jay Swan movie...

Also why the only TERMINATOR franchise that works is T1 + T2 + DARK FATE. Because you know who knows most of all that the story is really Sarah’s all along? James frickin’ Cameron. Because these are the only TERMINATOR films he was involved with: writer-director of 1&2, producer and story on DF.

The team at BUFF are doing the lord’s work, and this is a sweet interview with esteemed fest director Felix Hubble by the lovely @stephenarussell.bsky.social — I dare you to read this and NOT want to rush out and buy a BUFF festival pass immediately! (Speaking of, Buff.film is the place for that!)

That’s right. As it should be.

Sir, a second bird is at the feeder

Jesus fkn Christ. Et tu, Sodey?! You’re better than this. “Thematically surreal (AI) images”? Like the sort I strive to avoid online every day because they make me want to actually throw up? Those ones? And “90% of this 90 minute film” is AI? Fuuuc— Enough with this stupid new century already.

Did you go to Ringwood Secondary College in Melbourne and appear in TISM's 'Thunderbirds Are Coming Out' music video from 1998? Send me a message or email [email protected] 🐁 Here's a refresher if the ol' memory reserves are a little fuzzy... youtu.be/QYwQ9wOOLxA?...

THE ICE TOWER is my #1 new film I’ve seen so far in 2026, I dig EVOLUTION lots and have never seen INNOCENCE, so the idea of having these 4 stunningly crafted films in one box thrills me no end. (My one & only minor quibble: no LA BOUCHE DE JEAN-PIERRE?) Essential tribute to an innovative filmmaker!

One of our finest is in need, and I’d love for anyone who reads this — especially those who have read, heard or seen Alex’s exemplary and hugely entertaining film criticism and historian work, or has spent a moment in her delightful, expletive-strewn company — to donate whatever they can to help. 🖤

Such a privilege to be an Essendon supporter right now, to witness the worst era in our 155-season history. Already saw our worst losing streak ever in 2016, but wait: we’re soon to blow past it, and then some, in the next few weeks. It’s entirely possible we’ll not win again for another two months.

My wife says this photo is missing Benoit Blanc

I dunno the immense feeling of relief when a meeting is canceled is what I assume doing heroin feels like

Two different horror icons dead today at 54. RIP you glorious scare kings. Too fucking young.

Hey, gang. I moved from Substack to Ghost at the end of 2025, and the rebuilding at Ghost is moving slowly. The truth is, Substack did have tools to help you grow an audience, including their algorithm. BUT...

@oneblakeminute.bsky.social Hey Blake! Hope you’ve been well! LOVED your HIRE draft; thanks for fighting for the best one (Beat The Devil, obvs)! Just wondering… What armoured truck does an ex-podcaster/radio host turned audio commentator have to ram to get a slice of this Decade Project action…? 😏

The Suicide Squad and The Nest. One should’ve had bigger box office, the other, Oscar nominations.

Given all the handwringing about Glen Powell’s perhaps wobbly box office drawing power, I’ve figured out what it is about him that may explain it: he’s less of a next-Gen Cruise or McConaughey, but rather a Millennial Dennis Quaid. (Just to clarify: that’s 1980s/90s Quaid, not nowadays’).

The second the military started in with drones, I couldn’t help thinking how this wacky-ass movie was so insanely prescient about this point.

I’ve needed a good gee-up song for ages now, and this one is proving enormously helpful right now. Just crank it up and stomp it out until your soul follows: youtu.be/x-FLnQrUGTc

Now would be a great time for some angry WB employee to leak the BATGIRL movie.

This pup found a stick shaped like an old timey pipe earlier today and has already solved three mysteries. 13/10

The passing of Catherine O’Hara is such an awful shock. She was comedy fire in absolutely everything she was in (we had only just finished THE STUDIO — where she has a beautiful parting line to Rogen’s Matt Remick — the night before waking up to this sad news). Vale to a true great. 💔😔

Some film recommendations for this day. #NeverCeded #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe #NotADateToCelebrate

As Chandler Bing might say, could the titles of these AACTA award-nominated films *be* the most Australian titles ever?

Today would have been the 80th birthday of the brilliant dreamer and filmmaker, David Lynch. "No matter what the weather is, I wish for all of you blue skies and golden sunshine internally all along the way."

The No. 1 global app for News? Well, *that's* terrifying.

Love to see Lee Byung-Hun cosplaying as Wonder Man on @latenightseth.bsky.social earlier this week

What’s a movie you think nobody but you and a handful of people have heard of, that you think is a fantastic film? Trench (2018) by Paul Anthony Nelson & Perri Cummings. & I! We made this micro budget b&w feminist comedy noir & I'm damn proud of it.

Here is the fundraiser for Renee Good’s wife and son, from a very trusted source.

Watched THE NEST again last night, and not only does it remain a great film about the fragile masculinity that lay at the heart of high finance bloodsuckers, but the way Carrie Coon’s pitch-perfect performance was completely blanked during the 2021 award season remains a blight on our society.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY! A day late but hopefully not a dollar short, here is my wrap-up of 2025 for Cinema Viscera and my year in film: www.cinemaviscera.com/blog/2025-in... Wishing you all health and happiness for 2026!

Merry Christmas (or whatever way you feel like celebrating), everyone! 🎄🎅🤶🎁 Wishing you all love, health and good cheer! Probably not as much “good cheer” as this guy, though…

Does anyone else ever wonder why, in the music video for the Backstreet Boys' "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)", everyone looks like a giant dork except the vampire, whose shots and makeup look genuinely good and are actually lit like a horror movie? It's always puzzled me. No? Just me? Okay, then.

The only word that's wrong in this post is "basically". THIS IS SPINAL TAP is the perfect comedy film. As he goes on to say, it has every kind of comedy inside it - it's smart/dumb, verbal/visual, character/situational, slapstick/witty - and somehow remains relevant to every band, before & since.