This morning I discovered the kids playing on Naboo in Star Wars Episode II are Padme's nieces - which means that Luke and Leia canonically have cousins.

RIP Marcia Lucas, editor of Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Taxi Driver, and - of course - George Lucas' American Graffiti, Star Wars, and Return of the Jedi.

I haven't acted since 2009, but yet my brain still has "it's opening night and you don't know the script" as it's go-to stress dream.

NEW REVIEW! Sayon's Bell (1943) was a first for me: a war-time Japanese propaganda movie about indigenous Taiwanese people. Follow the link to read more. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/29/r...

Backrooms is a mystery that takes place in the familiar and unknown making it a very specific distillation of the horror of the ordinary. Kane Parsons places us inside the interminable with genius and genuine menace. www.thecurb.com.au/backrooms-ka...

So Lego are basically making wuxia sets now.

Got confused at the licensing centre. Me: "Sorry, you must get idiots like me all the time." Them: "No, not at all." Wait. What?

I have not seen Caged, but Irreversible, Raw, and Trouble Every Day are all essential films to understanding the New French Extremity. This is a fantastic set.

NEW REVIEW! Kane Parsons' Backrooms is a smart, excellently presented new horror film. It opens in cinemas around the world today. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/28/r...

I feel like Chess is a musical where almost everybody agrees it is *almost* great, but no one can nail down quite what's stopping it from being a huge hit. variety.com/2026/legit/n...

RIP Nishimura Yoshihiro, director of Japanese cult hits like Tokyo Gore Police, Helldriver, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl, and others. 59 is no age to go. variety.com/2026/film/ne...

NEW REVIEW! It's been almost a decade since the release of Star Wars prequel Rogue One. Was its success responsible for the inward and backwards obsession in the franchise we face today? fictionmachine.com/2026/05/26/r...

NEW REVIEW! Mark Pellington's 2008 thriller The Mothman Prophecies never quite got the acclaim it deserved. Fans of The X Files in particular will appreciate its supernatural mysteries. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/25/r...

Does Hollywood have to pay Coppola every time they re-use this shot?

NEW REVIEW! In a post-Dial of Destiny world, is it time that we re-evaluate 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? fictionmachine.com/2026/05/24/r...

Watching Rogue One for the first time in years. The CGI Peter Cushing is still the most charmless, unethical thing. He's like some macabre puppet made from a corpse.

I still maintain that, had he not died when he did, Jim Henson would have wound up collaborating with Pixar.

3. Whatever people are like when they’re six, that’s what they’re going to be like for the rest of their life. #adviceat50

Having completed a festival run around Australia, Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling opens in general release on 3 June. It's a long, heavy work, but also a remarkable one. Anyone with an interest in the artful end of cinema should give it a look. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/22/r...

RIP Michael Keating, 79. Best known for playing Vila - the only character to appear in all 52 episodes of Blake's 7. He was magnificent.

It's the 20th anniversary of Red Road, Andrea Arnold's debut feature - and by extension the anniversary for one of UK cinema's most interesting and talented filmmakers. Here's my review of this film, which I published back in 2019. fictionmachine.com/2019/05/21/r...

NEW REVIEW! It's American soldiers versus dinosaurs during the Vietnam War in Luke Sparke's genre mash-up Primitive War, now available in Australia on home video. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/19/r...

‘Obvious markers of AI’: doubts raised over winner of short story prize www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

In this new subscriber essay, Praise Afolabi explores how Afro- and Africanfuturist texts present & use the idea of collective memory Subscribe for AUD30/year (~USD21 / GBP16) and get an extra essay a month: www.speculativeinsight.com/subs

NEW REVIEW! The FictionMachine Doctor Who rewatch continues with a look back at 2013's "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS". fictionmachine.com/2026/05/19/t...

I'm turning 50 soon, and want to impart some of the wisdom I've learned over my first half-century on Earth. Here's one. 2. There is no delicate way to correct someone’s pronunciation of a word. Just accept you’re going to come across as an asshole. #adviceat50

I'm turning 50 soon, and want to impart some of the wisdom I've learned over my first half-century on Earth. Here's one. 1. Someone pulling out a guitar without invitation is the cue to leave the party. #adviceat50

NEW REVIEW! Did you know that in 1981 Hollywood made two films about archaeologists getting shot at while searching for antiquities in Egypt - and that both of them co-starred John Rhys-Davies? Sphinx, which I am reviewing today, is the other one. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/18/r...

Yesterday I had the immense pleasure of introducing Masumura Yasuzo's The Wife of Seisaku at the 2026 Cinema Reborn film festival. Here is the short introduction to the director that I delivered. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/17/i...

As opposed to all the *good* serial killers...

I may be 50, disabled, and overweight, and I haven't professionally acted since 2009, but I feel I am your man.

NEW REVIEW! When a boy goes missing in an apartment stairwell, it sparks a twisting criminal thriller where three seemingly unrelated incidents become impossibly intertwined. It's ridiculous, but very effective. Cheng Wei-hao's Vanishing Point is in cinemas now. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/14/r...

Anyone want to explain to me how Angus Taylor proposing we restrict welfare services to citizens only isn't just naked racist-baiting jingoism?

NEW REVIEW! I always side-eye horror films that claim to be based on true stories, but Scott Derrickson's The Exorcism of Emily Rose is an effective and original blend of courtroom drama and supernatural thriller. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/13/r...

Careful now.

I didn't care for Mortal Kombat II, which sucks because I like pretty much everyone involved.

NEWSFLASH: movie inexplicably starring Jared Leto is tracking to underperform! More at 11. www.darkhorizons.com/masters-of-t...

The Secret Agent is out on DVD and bluray today in Australia. Here's a link to my review back in January. fictionmachine.com/2026/01/16/r...

Sam Raimi's Send Help (2026) is now streaming on Disney+. It is one hell of a mess. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/11/r...

Today's a 2/10 on the "How is Grant coping with his MS" scale. Have already forgotten to shave, it took 10 minutes to tie my shoes, and I forgot I had an MRI appointment.

Slightly increase a band. BD/ED

Is the change in Sam Vimes between Jingo and The Fifth Element the greatest leap in his development? Maybe. @tansyrr.bsky.social explores Vimes in his middle three books in this new essay, at www.speculativeinsight.com Free to read - tell your #Pratchett loving friends!

NEW REVIEW! Grand, complex, and striking, Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Pharaoh (1966) is an unexpected epic master work from communist Poland. A restored bluray is available from UK distributor Second Run. fictionmachine.com/2026/05/11/r...

Seeing a weird wave of clickbait Internet post about "Why C3PO had a red arm in The Force Awakens". Nobody cares. That's literally the joke. It's a great joke.

Share a horror movie that isn't talked about enough.

RIP Michael Pennington, best known as Moff Jerjerrod in Return of the Jedi ("I need more men!"). He also played Laertes to Nicol Williamson's Hamlet.

RIP Suzuki Koji, popular author of Ring, Spiral, Loop, Dark Water, and others.

The Farrer result is a win for everybody that hates Brown people and is too stupid to understand science.

When giving Labyrinth a fiercely negative review, critic Gene Siskel wrote that "the sight of a baby in peril is one of sleaziest gimmicks a film can employ to gain our attention, but Henson does it." Just how much peril did he think Toby was in?