‘They say a madman has the strength of ten…’ I think of him every time I see anyone drinking a half of Guinness. A lovely actor.

Hell of a thing to put next to a statue of Joan of Arc. (h/t David Pilling)

So good to see Demme getting some serious appreciation. His career has a fascinating arc and it’’s scattered with some priceless jewels. Also quietly impressed that David M Stewart knows who Bucks Fizz are.

Last year I opened the doors of the James Bond Book Club to all fans of Ian Fleming’s secret agent 007 with a wonderful conversation about Casino Royale podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/t...

We wrap up our Claudia Cardinale tribute week with Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary for the avant garde Federico Fellini classic 8 ½! trailersfromhell.com/eight-and-on...

I really fancy a Hammer horror after work tonight.

This.

My life, circa now and forever.

Cheap trills.

One of the first books that I was obsessed with was Denis Gifford’s Horror Movies: big, glossy and filled with monsters, gore and terrifying beasts. ‘Making Monsters’ sounds like just the kind of book to leave around the house and terrify/inspire a new generation of young horror fans.

New Writers on Film Caroline Young on Single and Psycho How pop culture created the unstable woman open.spotify.com/episode/0zpB...

Indomitable, inimitable, inspirational, and the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I’m not just upset, I’m heartbroken. Farewell Claudine Cardinale.

‘Let’s say…you’re a Lady.’ Currently watching for the first time in years. So, so good. I do miss Bob Hoskins.

The Beast Must Die, Amicus’s werewolf whodunnit is on Prime. I wrote about it a few years back for @screamhorrormag.com It is ridiculously good fun.

Do glad to see the return of this. Not read Colonel Sun yet, but its history is fascinating. Looking forward to the rest of the series. Lovely to hear @alsatch.bsky.social on again - kudos for the last minute Dalton impression.

Just gently reversed into a parking bay while the car next to me was pulling out, creating the illusion that I was rocketing backwards, and I nearly pushed the brake pedal through the floor. How’s your day going?

Six lesser-seen Robert Redford films you need to watch this week. Empire writers pick their favourite gems – from Sneakers and The Hot Rock, to The Old Man & The Gun. Read the list: www.empireonline.com/movies/featu...

Went through a big B-movie phase as a teenager - The Incredibly Strange Film Show was a huge influence - so this was a thrill to hear. Interesting to hear the comparison with Tommy Zissou. Very much with Will Sloan on this point.

This was a hard one to write. A true legend. www.heyuguys.com/robert-redfo...

You could trace the shape of mainstream American cinema over the past 60 years purely by watching Robert Redford films. A new presence in a dying form, the beautiful face of on-screen cynicism, through gently bloated star films to the dawn of the modern superhero.

Of all the great Hollywood icons who seemed impervious to death or even illness, Redford topped the list so this is almost impossible to process. He was everything I grew up thinking a movie star should be. THE movie star. So long, Sundance.

I discovered today that Jimmy Tarbuck once had a hit single written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards featuring Jimmy Page on guitar. This has pleased me.

Happy 100th birthday, Peter Sellers. Hard to say he’s a hero exactly, but I have a singular fascination with him that goes back decades, fired up by Roger Lewis’s phenomenal biography. An extraordinary unsolvable enigma of a man, his films have made me very happy.

Currently watching…. Taken back to the opening night, watching with friends, and half way through we all gave each other that look. The one where we all realised we’ll be bragging to our kids that we watched THIS on the day it came out.

Some excellent work in the upcoming Cinema Retro, including a grand article about one of the great highlights of my young life, North Sea Hijack with Sir Rog of Moore. #northseahijack #cinemaretro #rogermoore

Sesame Street will be putting a huge collection of episodes on YouTube starting in January 2026 This is a fantastic way to educate children It’s a form of resistance. Shows like Sesame Street teach love, tolerance, acceptance & more. These lessons are crucial for the long fight ahead.

C’est vrai.

Melvyn Bragg has been one of the last standard-bearers for a really important, and unfashionable, idea: that good conversation, between people who really know their stuff, on complex or difficult subjects, can be fantastic radio - and that the national broadcaster should do this. I hope it endures.

Do listen in, and if you want to watch the movie version as discussed, it’s on BBC2 tonight at 11pm.

Caught Jaws at the flicks in 3D. Found myself taking in a lot of the background detail which was really pulled into focus by the transfer. Spotted the Vaughn’s Realty sign on the mayor’s car door for the first time. Lovely touch. Of course he’s an ex-estate agent.

Richard Farnsworth in #Misery tweet.

Punchable online branding twat on Radio 4 explaining how the monoculture is dead and TikTok has won and I would welcome anyone who spouts this sort of bilge pointing to a moment where this brave new world threw up anything as actually, you know, *good* as the boring old monoculture used to.

Happy centenary, chaps. Congratulations on a fabulous podcast. Always a great pleasure to spend time in your company, learning about a cherished subject. Tears from my eyes gently arrived on several occasions. Here’s to you 🥂

🔥Hot off the press🔥 A new Condensed Histories #podcast on how 50 years on, I’m calling the 70s the the greatest ever decade for #movies 🎬 Please subscribe, listen 🎧 and share👍🏻

Thoroughly absorbing discussion on one of the key films of our time with the formidable critical double act of Tom Shone and John Bleasdale. The point about the reactions of the children and the dog struck me with chills.

Reminder: This is tomorrow, people! And if you can't wait to step on the seaplane to Summerisle, as it was shown on Beeb2 last night, it's already on iPlayer... The Wicker Man: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001t443

Graphic designer Joe Caroff passed away yesterday at age 103. Responsible for absolutely legendary posters and typefaces. www.printmag.com/daily-heller...

Push comes to shove, this is probably my favourite book of all time. Lewis is in a class of his own as a biographer and there are few subjects as fascinating as Sellers. I’m on a train. Going to plug in the headphones and spend the journey in excellent company.

It’s Nic Roeg’s birthday. I’m a rational man but these films always make me feel there’s something else going on just beyond the edges of reality. They have enriched my life immeasurably. Don’t Look Now Walkabout The Man Who Fell To Earth Performance (co-directed with Donald Cammell)

🔥Hot off the press🔥 A new Condensed Histories #podcast about #Japan and how it’s unique culture and history has had an impact on global pop culture 🇯🇵 Please subscribe, listen 🎧 and share👍🏻

Taking down my publication day pin of Visible Darkness the Cinema of Jonathan Glazer, but don’t despair. We still have some copies (hurry and buy one). And if you like it please write fulsome praise in customer reviews and give high ratings if you want.

The greatest piece of advice I have for anyone interested in film is to be curious and open-minded and watch as much as possible. Watch old stuff. Watch foreign stuff. Watch obscure stuff. You'll constantly be surprised and constantly find new things to love.

To mark Alfred Hitchcock’s 126th birthday, here’s the Vertigo essay from my book HITCHOLOGY: A Film-by-Film Guide to the Style and Themes of Alfred Hitchcock. Try before you buy! (Although trying is not an essential pre-requisite to buying) letterboxd.com/neilalcock/f...

Absolutely worship this man. Any scriptwriter is poorer without his priceless advice to hand.

Terrific interview. Candid, humble and very insightful. Could listen to him endlessly. Well, maybe with a 5min break here and there. youtu.be/nCs4gdt-mPY?...

Going through a Prince phase, listening to Sign O The Times a lot. If I Was Your Girlfriend has taken on a strange tint now that I’ve realised that the pitched-up effect on the monologue makes him sound like Jason Schwartzman.

Aww, Ray Brooks has gone. At least he left his voice behind as a kind of aural sanctuary for us all. Brooks, Brian Cant and Oliver Postgate. That’s what I have instead of a ‘Whalesong & Gentle Surf’ noise app when life’s thumb presses down on me. Thank you Ray.

The Deadly Affair (1967). Lumet back in the UK marshalling a strong cast on fine form. James Mason, Harry Andrews and Kenneth Haigh make for a memorable trio, and Simone Signoret is unforgettable. Plot dithers a little, but so lovely to see 60s London on vivid display.

Mick Jagger, who has very similar traits, was described by Keith Richards as “unknowable” and I think the same can be said of Clint Eastwood, and they’re both all the greater for it. If you do want to know Eastwood though, Levy’s book sounds like the perfect place to start.