INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION (Elio Petri, 1970). Absurdities and surreal developments abound in this frightening, darkly comic tale of a Police Chief who tests the limits of the justice system by investigating a murder that he himself committed. (1/2) >> #FilmSky

Half a knockabout romantic comedy with straight-talking Glenn Ford teaching businesswoman Evelyn Keyes how to get a man. And the other half is saccharine foster kid adoption melodrama. The film is really pleasant, and ends on an all-time horny line of dialogue, but it is a shade less than great.

Tonight's film

I have a free afternoon, and that comes with two choices. Go to the cinema to see this, or sit at home listening to this and reading a book.

Couldn't have been more impressed. When I coherently can form some thoughts, I will be giving it a stonecold 5 stars on Letterboxd.

My next list on Letterboxd is going to be "Christ, I can't believe these films weren't directed by John Ford"

My next list on Letterboxd is going to be "Christ, I can't believe these films weren't directed by John Ford"

This morning's film

"Bill, I've been trying to tell you that while you were drowned, lost at sea, there I was, a widow. Now remember that, a widow, a lonely widow. So... Well... Well? So I married Henry." Jean Arthur's delivery of "a widow, a lonely widow" is funniest way imaginable of saying those 5 words.

WHERE EAGLES DARE is on your tellybox now (BBC2), and on iPlayer thereafter. It's a Christmas film...my review on Letterboxd... boxd.it/bZA78F

Tonight's film

I can completely understand why people love Night of the Juggler. It is a maniacally full-throttle thriller, as James Brolin pursues a demented kidnapper across sleazy New York. He has Brolin's daughter and zero grip on his sanity. He has variety of tense run-ins, and fast-paced car and foot chases.

YouTube remains unsurpassed.

Walter Hill's Southern Comfort is one of the great (horror) films about American imperialist pride and macho war culture but boy does it hit harder in the wake of the ICE killings. #NowWatching

Tonight's film

First watch: The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963), written and directed by Ken Hughes (best known to me for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!) and starring the multi-talented Anthony Newley. Once-forgotten, ace noir set in multicultural Soho: a world of peep shows, jazz clubs, bookies and loan sharks. 1/4

I just remembered the scene in The Housemaid where they take the piss out of people who like Barry Lyndon. Might give it an extra star on Letterboxd for that.

THE STOOP SCENE

Here's my new favourite past-time. Checking Letterboxd to see what the most popular film that I haven't seen by the actors and director of the most recent film I have watched: George Stevens - The Diary of Anne Frank Jean Arthur - Too Many Husbands Joel McCrea - Stars in My Crown

If I could only take one actor's filmography to a desert island, I'd seriously consider taking Joel McCrea's.

For reasons best known to myself, I’m watching all the Andy Hardy films. Up to number seven (of 16):

Tonight's film

Tonight's film

I am going to stop listening to podcasts until Millie Bobby Brown stops trying to make me go Abu Dhabi.

My favourite first-time watches in December 2025, which seems months ago now. I watched WOMAN IN THE DUNES on 1st Dec, and it stayed in that top spot all month! #FilmSky #Films

Jeremy Renner for the biopic, NOW!

Incoming! 💿💿

When everyone’s off to wash the dishes but you say you’re joining the army to get out of it

I watched the first episode of The Lowdown. I liked everything about it, except Ethan Hawke's performance. Hawke is always an imitator and I don't know if I can watch him flail through another 7 episodes of him trying to do Jeff Bridges as The Dude.

A genuinely terrible film. Would watch again.

Off to the cinema to see

Ah, Bela Tarr. No-one else could have made 7 hours so long and painful to sit through. RIP.

Watched Roofman last night. So strange that so may reviewers seem to dislike the dissonance between the superficial charm of Manchester with the stupid immorality of his actions. It’s the driver of the film: the film is funny and lively but also sad and packed with pathos. A character study.

An amusing comedy from Frank Tashlin, summed up quite well by one of its taglines - "all about a man-about-town and a girl about 18...and things he learns about love FROM HER!" Way less creepy than that sounds, with a 108 year old Dick Powell, and an energetic Debbie Reynolds. I liked it.

The Freudian reading of this scene probably doesn't need a degree in psychology to parse.

Last day off today before I go back to work tomorrow. So, this morning I am going to watch:

Joel McCrea would have made a good Jack Reacher. He is a circuit judge who rides into town to arrest the son (Kevin McCarthy as a total shitheel) of a powerful landowner (the great John McIntire) to court for murder over. The rest of the town is the murderer's family and McCrea doesn't flinch at all

Tonight's film

Belatedly watching my first film of the year

THE CLOUD-CAPPED STAR (Ritwik Ghatak, 1960). Loved this beautiful, heartbreaking film, in which a compassionate young woman sacrifices her own needs and desires to support her ungrateful family. The soundscape and cinematography are especially striking, (1/2) >> #FilmSky

Current mood - thinking about this four or five times a day.

If committing a clandestine murder in the British countryside, this is also how I would dress. Subtlety is the key.

Tonight's film

Another of those films that I was barely aware of this morning and consider an all-time great by evening: The Small Back Room boxd.it/cryDrd

"Bonjour" "Oh you're French?" "No, I am Finnish" "Oh, why do you speak French?" "Finnish is too difficult"

Today's film

Read Benbecula: the first piece of fiction in the New Year. Perfect in its way: short and perfectly realised. An unreliable narrator who, in his narrow way, conjures up a lot of insights into island life, mental illness and moral philosophy.

It isn't always 1940s and 1950s classics here. letterboxd.com/dancedanceda...

Shot: "Always remember this: dames become unpredictable when faced with a mustache. It both arouses, and angers them, because... being as it is a symbol of masculinity, they feel drawn toward it."

Tonight's film