Late to the party but PLUR1BUS is so fantastic. Chilling, funny and smart, downbeat but not cynical, definitely not as simplistic as I saw it described. It feels so now, like an allegory for the post-Covid society, the sense that nothing’s changed yet everything has changed…

The director of CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD, Eli Craig, is Sally Field’s son!

I unexpectedly had a great time with CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD, a fun, well-made (and well-lit, fancy that) throwback to late ‘90s/early’00s whodunnit slashers. The characters are likeable, there’s a sparingly and perfectly judged humour and a touch of sweetness that actually works.

It’s kind of funny the way, opening murders aside, CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD starts off like a Hallmark film. That (sexy) single dad looks like he’s about to discover the true meaning of Christmas. Or, well, of the the local corn holiday. And love.

youtu.be/CMPzcInRPxc DRIFTING LAURENT, in Les Cahiers’ top 10 of the year, looks wonderful. Also: Béatrice Dalle! Hopefully we’ll get to see it in the UK somehow, maybe on Mubi?

THE ASTRONAUT sure adds something different to the usual sci-fi “astronaut unwittingly brings back an alien entity from space” sub genre. It’s well directed with a certain visual flair and Kate Mara is reliably good but the script lacks coherence. That ending though…

I’m down with a chest infection again (lovely!), do you get more of these with asthma?! A bit fed up with being sick so often. So #NowWatching something undemanding, THE ASTRONAUT, whose premise is suspiciously close to an X-FILES episode (the scariest ever imho).

Watching PLUR1BUS late like I always do with TV series and one (chilling) episode in, with the current shitshow society is atm, I mean, the alien invasion seems to make everything just a bit nicer and orderly so, sure, why not

Léa Seydoux, a bit obvious but hey. Not just a fantastic, versatile actress but one with an impeccable taste in projects and directors. And then Wagner Moura, so magnetic even in rubbish films like CIVIL WAR and then I don’t need to go on about his performance in THE SECRET AGENT…

Great top 10 of Les Cahiers du Cinéma. And just as with Les Inrocks, O RISO E A FACA features. Someone really needs to release that brilliant film in the UK and US.

GdT’s AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS

Share a 90s movie you think deserves more love...

BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI’s first episode goes full steam ahead and bombards you with a lot of characters, information and flashbacks. So far it’s riveting and just as ravishing as anything Wong Kar-wai has done before, so many stunning shots. Oh and those glamorous female characters…

#NowWatching BLOSSOMS OF SHANGHAI

I’ve just realised that 5 films in my top 10 this year were directed by women, a first I think

There’s something specific about the atmosphere of deserted, wintery central European cities at night which Lucile Hadžihalilović captures so well in THE ICE TOWER, even in simple scenes like the ice rink one. I also wonder if she was inspired by VERONIKA VOSS, some similar vibes

THE ICE TOWER: a mesmerising and sad modern fairy tale about the bewitching and vampiric nature of filmmaking, fabulously atmospheric and mysterious with one stunning shot after another. Marion Cotillard’s best role in a while, so glamorous and enigmatic. I adored it!

Nice French poster for SOUND OF FALLING

KEEPER is fabulously bonkers, part throwback to ‘00s/‘10 zero budget mumblecore horror, part hallucinatory folk nightmare, slow burn and frightening with a striking imagery and a brilliant, committed performance by Tatiana Maslany. Loved it!

Dragging myself to one of my least favourite screens in London, the weirdly cavernous screen 9 at Vue West End with its tiny screen, for KEEPER which is showing in so few cinemas. It could be worse, could be the Vue Shepherd’s Bush lol. The things you do for Oz Perkins

Taken from the bad place FYC in Best Director: Bi Gan, RESURRECTION Kelly Reichardt, THE MASTERMIND Kleber Filho Mendonça, THE SECRET AGENT Lav Diaz, MAGELLAN Ildikó Enyedi, SILENT FRIEND Yours?

YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT has a few rare effective scares and the odd good idea with its HOUSE OF LEAVES-like cosmically disorienting haunted house but it doesn’t do enough with its premise and rushes towards a predictable ending. The dialogue is absolutely terrible as well.

I’ve just noticed YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT is on Prime and while I can’t remember reading anything about it, a Kevin Bacon/David Koepp reunion all these years after the underrated STIR OF ECHOES is worth a look

The whole HAMNET pull-quote storm is a so quaint in a pre-Musk 2017 kind of way. FWIW I think Focus is to blame, very unfair to put that outlet under so much exposure and scrutiny when they hadn’t asked for anything

It’s just so painful and sad to think back about the Bataclan attacks on the tenth anniversary of that terrible day, the loss of so many lives, the barbarity of it all. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-e...

I’m generally in a funk when it comes to going to the cinema. I make the effort for festivals or previews/special screenings and enjoy them but for some reason it’s the whole going to the cinema thing I just don’t do. It’s not even that I’ve had bad experiences in cinemas lately

I’m so mixed on seeing Maybe the real Predator: Badlands is the friends we made along the way, I just can’t muster the enthusiasm but it kind of sounds like fun too

The WEAPONS Aunt Gladys prequel only it’s a musical, WICKED style. Gladys Gladys for Good

THE RUNNING MAN is glorious, a brilliantly old-school blockbuster: fast-paced, action-packed yet character-driven, with a chaotic energy reminiscent of SCOTT PILGRIM. Glenn Powell burns up the screen, angry, masculine, funny and with a proper film star charisma. Loved it!

#NowWatching THE RUNNING MAN at the BFI IMAX

#NowWatching THE RUNNING MAN at the BFI IMAX

Great views on my flight back

They have CRAZY RICH ASIANS on my flight! As a big fan of Singapore I’ve always wanted to watch it :)

Japan's "Mundane Halloween" costume contest is back! Each year website DailyPortalZ holds a contest where people dress up as something super duper ordinary. Here's a thread of some of my favorites from the 2025 contest! #MundaneHalloween

That was so, so good. Deceptively simple but quality ingredients trumps overcomplicated food imho. The beef cheeks in chestnut sauce…

Segovia’s Alcazar is stunning and yet again so obviously an inspiration for RESIDENT EVIL 4. So much so that I’ve ordered the remake on PS5, all the areas I’ve visited over the last few days have reminded me of it.

Even under the freezing rain Segovia is absolutely stunning

EN EL CAMINO: a strong visual style and an affecting script that elevates a familiar premise in gay cinema and makes its developments utterly believable thanks also to the fantastic performances of the two leads. There’s some real tenderness for all the violence and hardcore sex.

Wonderful atmosphere for Halloween here tonight and it’s all so pretty. No drunken idiots, no aggressive vibes, it feels so safe and pleasant, a nice change

At the Valladolid film festival for EN EL CAMINO, so exciting!

Hello from Valladolid where the film festival Seminci is taking place. Sadly I only have time for one film but it’s a nice, pretty city

The countryside around here is so beautiful

Pretty mad that as guests of the hotel you can just wander around the actual monastery and even that big church attached to it, there was no one else there! A little spooky

The deserted Peñafiel. Pretty but also definitely giving out some RESIDENT EVIL 4 vibes.

The walk on Senda del Duero is so beautiful

The countryside around here is so beautiful

Hello from the Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena, a very beautiful hotel in a reconverted convent. And the nature around it is stunning!

And now without an unfortunate typo 🤣🤣 I always look a bit awkward when having to “pose” for a picture but can you see how uncomfortable I look on that very FINAL DESTINATION, high up glass platform?

MATERIALISTS blew me away, a painfully accurate, raw depiction of the transactional nature of relationships in which Celine Song eschews cheap cynicism, portraying her characters’ vulnerability with rare humanity, her tone is just so perfect. Fabulous performances all around.

Cheeky morning in Madrid before heading to the countryside