Hahahahaha! In 2026 I’m just here for the:

A cheeky repost before the end of the year of my favourite films released in 2025: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER FLOW SENTIMENTAL VALUE A COMPLETE UNKNOWN I’M STILL HERE 28 YEARS LATER THE ORDER SINNERS BIRD SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE

If like me you were unaware that STRANGE JOURNEY: THE STORY OF ROCKY HORROR is currently streaming on SBS On Demand, and like me the show/film holds a special place in your heart, then I strongly suggest you take a look. It's a loving made doc with great interviews.

This is the joke my son just got in a Christmas cracker and read out to my family. 😆😳

My favourite films of 2025

My pick of the Boxing Day films is SENTIMENTAL VALUE, which I feel is also the final truly great film to be released in Australia in 2025. I'm very glad I saw it before finalising my favourite films of the year list. Some borderline coherent thoughts about it here: letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

I missed getting a new episode of Bill Nighy's podcast this week so I revisited LIVING, which made it into my ten favourite films of the year list in 2023. It was very rewarding to experience such a rich and moving film again, and it really does probably contain Nighy's greatest performance.

Raoul Peck’s latest doc ORWELL: 2+2=5 opens in Australia in a few days. It’s extremely blunt about the real world examples of what George Orwell was warning us about, but sometimes extreme bluntness is required. boxd.it/c5tym5

The RIEFENSTAHL doc is a good reminder that people who claim to be apolitical or not interested in politics usually sit somewhere on the spectrum between conservatism and fascism. Also, terrible people casting themselves as the real victims when confronted with their sins, is not a new phenomenon.

Only now digesting the upsetting news about Rob Reiner. THIS IS SPINAL TAP is the ultimate mockumentary, STAND BY ME is one of the great coming-of-age films, THE PRINCESS BRIDE was a revisionist fairy tale ahead of its time, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY launched the modern romcom, etc. RIP Rob and Michele.

Earlier today somebody told me it was weird seeing me dressed casually, and I took that as a goddamn compliment.

I don’t mean to boast, but I got a TARDIS cake made for me today.

simple really 💅

Happy Birthday DOCTOR WHO! 62-years-old and still ever present on my screen, in my ears and on my shelves. #DoctorWho

Video calls between director Sepideh Farsi, an exiled Iranian filmmaker, and Fatma Hassona, a young Palestinian woman living in Gaza, provides a deeply personal account of genocide. PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK is released in Australia tomorrow. More thoughts: letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

TWO PROSECUTORS is released in Australia tomorrow. Set at the height of Stalin's Great Purge it's a chilling study of the Kafkaesque strategies used by impenetrable bureaucracies to obfuscate and frustrate; depicting the more insidious techniques authoritarian regimes use to crush the human spirit.

Listening to the @ifbookspod.bsky.social hosts mercilessly mock Sky News Australia for their embarrassing attempt to weigh in on Zohran Mamdani was absolutely glorious. I love it when terrible things from Australia go international.

I saw and loved DIE MY LOVE last night. Probably Jennifer Lawrence's best performance to date. Some thoughts on how fraught it is portraying mental illness and why this film is an exception: letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

I first saw FONG SAI YUK in the mid '90s and it was one of the key films that made me fall in love with Hong Kong action cinema. I finally rewatched it again last night, wonderfully presented in 4K by @88films.bsky.social, and shared my reaction on @letterboxd.social: letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

The last time I saw Pulp live was over 20 years ago at a rubbish venue and I had a terrible seat. But I'm now going to right that wrong as I just managed to secure tickets to see them next year. I'm going back to bed as there's nothing more I need to achieve today.

Of all the bits of American culture that have been absorbed into Australia, their version of Halloween is one of the best. Last night my son wore his homemade costume, hung out with his friends and visited the neighbours. There are other aspects of Americanisation far more worthy of condemnation.

Another film released in Australia today that I really loved is HAPPYEND, a Japanese coming-of-age film set in the not too distant future when everything is getting just that little bit more authoritarian and repressive. Further thoughts at: letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

I liked BUGONIA a lot and attempted to briefly explain why it is more a film about human behaviour rather than politics, without giving too much away, on my @letterboxd.social account: letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

I can't stop thinking about Guillermo Del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN. It'll be on @netflix.com soon but catch it on the big screen if you possibly can. Further thoughts over at @letterboxd.social: letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

Rewatched PHANTOM THREAD over the weekend and knowing what happens gives it a whole different layer of enjoyment and appreciation. But nothing will beat the experience of seeing this for the first time in a packed cinema of people laughing in shocked delight at the audacity of where it goes.

Took a while to get through ALIEN: EARTH as after its incredible first episode it never quite lived up to its promise. But there are elements of the series that are among the best of what the franchise has done recently. Some reservations but I’ll absolutely watch the next season if it happens.

A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE is a nerve-racking reminder of how close the world is to nuclear war. Rebecca Ferguson stands out as one of the high ranking people struggling to remain professional in a situation of high anxiety. It's now odd to see a film about the US government where people are competent.

I don't think I've seen a film about living with dementia as tender as FAMILIAR TOUCH. It portrays the experiences of protagonist Ruth and her carers with so much dignity and compassion, while staying honest about the hardship and grief involved. There's a lot of comfort in this film's humanity.

If you were thinking of making a donation to the arts then today - #AusArtDay - is a great day to do it. There are loads of amazing arts organisation worth helping out but it would be wonderful if you could include St Martins Youth Arts Centre in your generosity and support. And please share!

The assemblage of police body camera footage to create such a compelling narrative in THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR (@netflix.com) is so impressive. It is a devastating and heartbreaking story that also works as a profound microcosm of contemporary America's damaged psyche and propensity towards violence.

Kelly Reichardt’s latest, THE MASTERMIND with Josh O'Connor as a likeable yet inept art thief, starts as an endearing and amusing low fi heist film but unfolds into an insightful examination of a man who's so disengaged, self-centred & self pitying that he's oblivious to the harm he does to others.

I've listened to WTF with @marcmaron.bsky.social since 2013 and I'm going to miss it. But I'm so impressed it went out in style on Maron and his producer's terms. A solo heartfelt 2nd last episode and then one final interview with one of the greatest previous guests: @barackobama.bsky.social. Bravo!

Not sure when I got the German blu-ray of THE NEVERENDING STORY but I've now seen both versions of one of my beloved childhood films. Nostalgia means I'll never be able to be truly critical of it but it does feel timeless; if it were to be remade now you could easily depict the Nothing as AI slop.

Diane Keaton could move seamlessly between comedy and drama, and is one of the reasons so many iconic 1970s (and beyond) films are so amazing, influential and memorable. She was one of the greats.

It wasn't my intention to wait until now to see ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER but it meant I saw it on 70mm at the Astor Theatre along with a really fun and savvy pre-show. Anyway, pretty great, right? Probably will become the defining film of 2025. A couple more thoughts: letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

I finally watched my DVD of RIFIFI last night, addressing a very long overdue #filmblindspot. It is easily one of the all-time great heist films, and arguably the one that set the standard and template that all others should be measured by. More fragmented thoughts at letterboxd.com/cinemaautops...

Considering how common the mockumentary has become it’s remarkable how few things have come close to nailing the format as THIS IS SPINAL TAP. So much of the joy comes from being lulled into feeling it’s an actual doc and then a random line catches you off guard and you laugh until your face hurts.

Arriving at the tail end of Classical Hollywood, becoming a star of New Hollywood, a director and an essential player in facilitating the wave of independent American cinema in the 1990s, Robert Redford's impact on the last 60 years of American cinema was enormous. Vale to a great artist.

I rewatched my 20th anniversary DVD of the original TRON, which I bought 23 years ago. Damn. One detail that's aged well is the villain is a smug tech arsehole who amassed power by exploiting the work of others to create an AI entity that's ruining the potential that computing once offered humanity.

SKETCH is released in Australia tomorrow. I was expecting a whimsical and wacky family film about drawings that come to life. Instead, it's a darkly funny kids horror with nods to PET SEMATARY, JURASSIC PARK & ARACHNOPHOBIA and more than a little DNA from 1980s Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg films.

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST sees Spike Lee in full operatic mode and Denzel Washington in full bombastic mode, and I'm here for both. Lee's distinct style is both familiar and surprising in the way it so often draws attention to itself or seems to go against the grain. A highly energetic morality play.

DRESSED TO KILL was a big De Palma #filmblindspot for me, so I’m glad to have finally seen it. It’s sleazy, exploitive, silly and problematic as hell but I really enjoyed the craftsmanship and unashamed perversity & voyeurism of it all. A beautiful fusion of Hitchcockian themes & giallo aesthetics.

My creepy backyard.

BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE is a smartly directed and assembled collection of archival clips and interviews to give context to who John Clarke was and why his satire is so beloved. It’s a loving and personal tribute that's moving at times, but mostly it's just really entertaining and very, very funny.

I'm not an Aronofsky fan but I thought CAUGHT STEALING was fantastic. Ensuring the chaotic misfortunes are kept mostly grounded gives the violent black comedy an extra edginess. When the film delivers a genuine buzzkill, it impressively bounces back. I finally get the appeal of Austin Butler too.

EDDINGTON encapsulates the pandemic years. It's part satire & part absurdist realisation of bonkers conspiracy theories. Every type of behaviour is ridiculed but it’s easy to see where the film’s sympathies lie when you look at what actions are deceptive & destructive, and what are simply annoying.

Walking out of an intense and often ambiguous film last night and was stunned by the number of people very loudly and confidently expressing how they didn't get every aspect of it so decided it was therefore a bad film. Really embarrassing.

Very charming moment during the Q&A with the filmmakers from THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO when an audience member went on stage to assist with translation and then was moved to tears while translating one of the replies. #MIFF2025