4v291o

I pressed play on this with the thought "Why do I want to watch this? I don't even like slashers." And then I ed I really liked the director of the first three films so I thought okay, I better watch this too.

By the middle, I was like "This doesn't feel like the same director. Is it? What was her name?"

And nope, it was not. Leigh Janiak gets an executive producer credit on this but nope, co-written and directed by a whole other guy. No wonder it felt different. Even with the little callbacks to the trilogy.

Eh. At least I got a new song out of it, one I actually managed to find. I'm Not Scared by Eighth Wonder. Sang along to all the others on the soundtrack.

So much queer potential in this wasted. And too a waste of Lili Taylor who deserves so much better. I deserve so much more Lili Taylor.

It was fine.

Well, that was goddamned delightful and then goddamned saccharine and goddamn if it didn't make me tear up a little.

The ending was a little abrupt but everything before then was utterly wonderful with so much characterisation and excellent dialogue with all that tough guy slang delivered rather better than I expected. And the whole Knights of the Round Table juxtaposed with a gang of thugs and bookies worked so much better than it should have.

Is this my first Shirley Temple as a kid movie? Nooo, I think I watched a few as a teenager but this might be my first as an adult. And boy, I can definitely see what that analysis I read that time meant about the borderline paedophiliac fetishisation of her. Made me damned uncomfortable.

Dorothy Dell was absolutely marvellous, what a revelation. It was such a wonderfully real and ballsy performance, and I adored how she softened without ever losing her authenticity. Ha, she was Aquarian, no wonder. And okay, now I'm a bit devastated to read about her death. What a hideous waste of a talent.

About a third into this, I decided this may well be my favourite Adolphe Menjou performance. Cos goddamn how cool is it to hear him talk slang and slum it? I think I've only ever heard him be suave and high society. Wait, was he like that in The Front Page? I can't .

I particularly liked the little touch of how Bangles' hair became less tightly curled and looser and softer ringlets like Shirley's as her character softened. Such a clever device.

Initially startled by how many Black characters -- three -- were in this film but then noticed how limited and caricatured their personalities were, though I very much enjoyed the moment when the maid put her feet up with the glass of alcohol and scoffed. Hell yeah, defiance to all the "yassah"ing which annoyed the fuck out of me.

Loved the costumes, loved the set design, particularly impressed by the camerawork and editing though I don't recognise either name of Alfred Gilks or William Shea. Oh my god, Gilks did An American In Paris, wat?!

Definitely going into my fave Classic Hollywood list.

Oh my god, why was that the most boring film ever?

Even my love for Jackie couldn't get me engaged.

Though I did love his reaction to the Burt Bacharach song and then all the nutty dancing. And him shocking the hell out of Peter Lawford.

I don't think I like Catherine Deneuve. But then I prolly shouldn't judge her on this incredibly boring movie, yegads.

I really want that song Sugar Kite but of course it's nowhere to be found. I'm having the rottenest luck with songs from movies lately.

One star for Jackie cos I loves him forever and ever he'll stay in my heart and I will love him forever and ever we will never part and I will

Is it weird that I felt oddly comfortable in this film? All the way through, I just felt safe and happy. Because of Ayo? Because of Malkovich whom I have always loved even if he creeps me out a little? Because it was so clear where this story would go and every beat felt very familiar?

I don't even like movies about cults, they bore the fuck out of me.

Loved the production aesthetic. The songs were actual bangers. Malkovich was a whole new level of Malkovich, and I adored how uncomfortable he looked with the dancing. Loved the costumes, particularly Ayo's hair with the blown out Fifties bob or at least that's how I thought of it.

Two lines that really stood out for me. One was my own reaction to the whole evolution of leaders speech: creative people don't want to be leaders, we're too fucken smart for that. We just want to create, leave the leadership to unimaginative ambitious fucks who can't create anything.

And the other was the actual line of "The greater the talent, the more complete the forgiveness." I've been suspecting that lately so it was uncanny to have it echoed back to me.

Fully disagreed with the notion that most people will go their whole lives without creating anything perfect. I call bullshit on that. It's perfectly possible for everyone to create something perfect in their lifetime and they don't need permission or recognition to do it. But they do need opportunity and education in whatever field and money and time and mental space to do it. None of those things should be privileges but depending on what socioeconomic level of whatever fucked up country you live in, yeah, they are.

I loathe fellow Aquarian Virginia Woolf's writing but she was absolutely right about a room of one's own.

Now I'm gunna go hunt down the soundtrack and read up on whether Malkovich actually did the vocals or was it Nile Rodgers and that Dream person? Ha, he did. Awesome.

Inadvertent Amber Midthunder double feature tonight, ha.

The things I watch for you, Jack Quaid my boi...

No, that was mildly amusing in spots, like the apologising during the fight and the banter. Mostly Jack getting to be adorable.

Though my god, how much weight did he drop to do this film or whatever? I was so thrown by how different his face looked until I noticed how ripped his body was and then went "Ahh, that's why." Feh.

Really, this felt like some incel fantasy and a weird throwback to the action films of the Eighties which bored me back then too.

The tattoos were pretty awesome, though. One star for them and two for my boi.

I had very low expectations for that but it was actually very fun, especially the final message. The lead kid was super annoying for a good long while but got less so by the final act. And it was very cool to see Cheech Marin be all swaggery and badass and on a bike again.

Aww, my Rorykins, one of my fave ever Feb Aquarians. Only man I know who can look unbelievably hot in a white shirt, I do not know how.

Kinda hilarious how my love for him battled with my professional loathing for self-rep litigants. "You can't bloody do that -- SHUT THE FUCK UP and sit down, you utter cretin!" But sokay, it was only a couple of scenes that were utterly laughable, I'm sure real life took way way longer and involved a lot more arguing and speechifying and rulings made by the judge.

*sigh* I really need to see Rory in a new dramatic leading role even though that will prolly traumatise me. I was wondering the other day what he'd think of my novel and how I should have prolly worked in his name somewhere but then I ed I used it in that AU fic I wrote back then. Ha. And at least one person picked up on it and went "I see what you did there, calling him Rory!" and I was like ermagard wat.

I can't believe that was Rob Delaney, I did not recognise him at all. I love how much Amit Shah pops up in stuff I watch but then I watch a lot of UK films and shows. And I'm pretty sure I squeed all the way through the one scene Hugh Bonneville had with Rory like I did in the first film. Now them two facing off a drama would be brilliant. Even though it will prolly traumatise me cos I love em both.

The humour was quite good, actually. I did chuckle inwardly at quite a lot of the lines, especially the giraffe/dachshund bit.

Loved loved the visual aesthetic and the frequently stunning frame composition and the interesting score.

But the plot did not engage me at all, and then the ultimate human defiance of "Fuck your existence" annoyed me. God, humans are so lame. I would have absolutely said yes, fuck, hook me up.

Funny, I Eiza Gonzalez being a much better actor but her incessant half parted lips with a hint of teeth just irritated the fuck out of me here. Omg woman, you don't need to keep doing that sex kitten affectation, you're beautiful even with your mouth fully closed like a normal person.

Another entry for the Hold On, Wasn't This An X Files Ep? list. And yes, of course it was Ice. It's always Ice. Though I did like the gesture towards anti-colonisation but of course that got subsumed by good ole human defence of bodily autonomy or whatever Barbara Creed said.

Eh.

That ended a lot better than I thought it would. Quite heartwarming, really.

Of course I enjoyed the murderous magical creature mayhem a lot more than the commentary on pharma greed or whatever, god I am so sick of that storyline in movies and shows these days, it's so fucken trite. Woowww, you finally realised that, like it hasn't been obvious since fucken forever, right from the Victorian era of laudanum and then Sixties pill-popping, whoop de fucken doo.

But the unicorn lore and use of medieval tapestry was wonderfully unexpected, especially with how those motifs were echoed in the prints and textures of the lodge itself.

And despite that cast being comprised almost entirely of my faves, I found all the gore very satisfying. Though really Anthony Carrigan was woefully underused. He deserves so much more.

I love my girl Jenna so much. And so happy she got to share lovely scenes with Paul Rudd though yes I did keep ing what she said at the about how diabolical he is to work with, hehe.

Were the plastic tunnels a reference to ET or is that just my Eighties trauma showing? I wonder.

The creature design was excellent. I really loved how the inspiration was obviously Shetland drays, those really heavy shaggy horses that could crush you to pulp. And the wicked detail on the horn. And the colour shift from black to white.

A lot of thought went into this film and I really appreciated that. Take away the pharma family bullshit and this would probably be the unicorn film I've always wanted.

And ha, I forgot St Vincent did a song for this until she started singing over the end credits and my body recognised her voice before my brain did. Still haven't listened to the song all the way through, I should prolly do that.

God, I was so emotional through all of that, right from the very start to the end. I did not expect this story to be filled with so much pain, so much repressed emotion. Which I suppose is like olskool diasporic desi film from like the 90s. But every character was so nuanced and ultimately interesting and rewarding. Of course they all became precious to me.

What I really liked was the choice to make our white boy adopted by Indians. That way he's totally familiar with the culture and there's no weirdness with the white person getting shocked by the cultural clash and having to come to with it. That difference really threw me cos I'm so fucken used to that particular paradigm in desi/white love stories onscreen.

Really was so trippy to hear Jonathan Groff sing DDLJ. Like whaaat is happening right now omg.

I think this might be my fave Karan Soni performance yet. I felt so protective of his character and how scared and timid he was, yes how repressed that I just wanted to shield him from everything, even love. That's what made me so emotional, so breathless with pain from the very start. And then seeing how he had become that from his parents' own repression and anxiety only made me hurt more.

It was such a wonderful trajectory to see them all evolve. I would love to see this onstage.

And yes, god, I heard that "nice Indian boy" line for the first twenty something years of my life. Until I replied with "Why does it have to be a boy? Why can't it be a girl? Or a sheep! A nice sheep!"

Never heard it again after that lol.

Mind you, the fact that they are making genuinely nice Indian boys these days makes it almost appealing.

I'm glad I stuck with that because though I wasn't engaged with it at the start, I knew Jillian Bell would make it adorable. And around the halfway mark, that's exactly what it became. All about female friendship and the loveliness of that.

Mind you, I would have loved it if Natalie Morales played the Santa Monica part but that's just cos I loves her my fellow Aquarian. And her part did end up pretty fantastic anyway. Maybe she had Greys Anatomy scheduling that got in the way or sumfin.

Really cool cast with so many faves including Paula Pell whom I adore. And I loved the colour palette and vibrant production aesthetic. And the sweetness of that sex journey and its ultimate realisation. Which Natalie got to articulate so double awesome.

Some of those song choices were really wonderful but like the Tears For Fears needle drop made no sense at all and why is that song suddenly everywhere? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my TFF but there are so many other amazing songs in their discography to pick from, my dude.

Actually, I need to go back and find a song they used that I really liked and didn't know. Too Fast Too Soon by Guilhem Hatt. Oh great, I can't find it anywhere.

I hope Jillian Bell gets to make a lot more movies cos I want to see how she evolves as a filmmaker. I have a feeling I might love all her movies like I love her. Also, her cameo was fun.

Celebratory rewatch cos I finished the novel today.

110K words. Pre-final edit and proofread which will happen in a month or so when I finish the beanie I started way back in January and then the blankie I promised a work friend two Christmas parties ago.

Did I ever realise that Dr Rita Miller sets out the meaning of the movie and the whole trajectory before we get distracted and overwhelmed with so much informatiom and the complicated distressing relationship that forms the heart of the narrative?

I love those few shots of them laughing together that is juxtaposed with her saying towards the end that she doesn't think anyone can say which part was real. Audio-visual dissonance which is so thematic of the film and I love the sensation that produces in my brain.

Of course I also distressed myself at several points going "Jesus, did I even do that face justice? How the fuck do I describe that mouth?!"

No, not now. I'll make a note of it and add it in the final edit/proofread.

Hilariously, I have so much of this score on the novel playlist that my body reacted to those bits when I had never really noticed them on previous watches. Talk about Pavlovian.

Was it because of John that I kept thinking the title I ended with was too long? He says Levi's title has too many syllables. I kept worrying the title had too many damned letters, but also I know it's still the best and right choice. I can see it on a book cover.

Had a mildly amusing moment when "A Moorhead & Benson Film" came up at the start. I literally thought, "Hey, that's my t-shirt!" and then rolled my eyes at myself. Ah-doi, yeah numbskull, that's why you have the t-shirt. It also happens to be my current fave tee since it's the most comfortable and flattering after my Down In The Weeds album tee.

I love the editing so much which is even more hilarious now that I've watched Felker's directorial debut. And I love the imagery of skulls so so much which is such obvious foreshadowing if you know what you're looking at. As well as being so Lake Mungo.

John was never so much an addict to substances as much as an addict to cults, was he? Religion, AA, secret societies.

Suddenly realised the triple mirror of brothers with sisters: both Levi and John have sisters, and the X Files is mentioned as well as that blending of the names which hurts me every time. And how did I never until this moment that Mulder's life too is blighted by the loss of his sister?

Such an incredibly rich text. I know almost every line by now but still there's so much to be read into it. Which is entirely apt.

One day I'm going to do a gifset of the wooden window strut. I say that on every rewatch and one day I will.

Started out dreary, got really interesting in the middle, and then ended far too abruptly and silly.

Also, I got such a shock when I saw Michael Powell directed it. Didn't even know that when I hit play. And I wasn't paying much attention but there was at least one cool thing he did with a mirror. And I loved the reaction shots.

Was very annoyed by the queer-coded character even though he gave good quote. The courtroom scenes were initially impressively accurate, especially with the judge telling the witness he would intervene if anything inappropriate was said/asked by the prosecutor which I have literally typed so many times in real life. But then they went off piste with the oh so dramatic introduction of a surprise witness which had me yelling "YOU CAN'T FUCKEN DO THAT! He needs to make a statement, it has to be served on the other side, they have to confirm their instructions with their client. YOU CAN'T JUST FUCKEN PUT HIM IN THE WITNESS BOX WITHOUT ANY NOTICE you incompetent cretins."

God, I hate that shit so much. It gets on my thungas.

The lack of background score really was stultifying. I hate that so much about early film. Makes me realise just how much I depend upon that extra stimulus.

Also boy, Christie looms large over this. I did wonder at one point whether the original play was a ripoff of a Christie novel that I couldn't identify even though I've read them all except the Tommy and Tuppence ones cos they drive me to tears of boredom.

Trust Oz Perkins to use a Stephen King short story to make me love him again. I mean, not that I didn't still love him but Longlegs was the first of his films that left me cold and that really dismayed me on a deep level. But yaaaayy, we are back, baby!

I love that he's clearly in his "Let's have fun with this" phase. It's such a joy, especially since he's melding that pitch dark sense of humour with gorgeous visuals that are as inventive and surprising as ever. I actually laughed out loud at that final kill, it was brilliant.

"I took liberties like a motherfucker. They [Atomic Monster] had a very serious script. Very serious. I felt it was too serious, and I told them: 'This doesn't work for me. The thing with this toy monkey is that the people around it all die in insane ways. So, I thought: Well, I'm an expert on that.' Both my parents died in insane, headline-making ways. I spent a lot of my life recovering from tragedy, feeling quite bad. It all seemed inherently unfair. You personalize the grief: 'Why is this happening to me?' But I'm older now and you realize this shit happens to everyone. Everyone dies. Sometimes in their sleep, sometimes in truly insane ways, like I experienced. But everyone dies. And I thought maybe the best way to approach that insane notion is with a smile." [x]

I love him, have I mentioned I love him?

(Please god let him not turn out to be an abusive creep)

Ooh, interesting cos yes, I was definitely feeling the Toy Story 3 trauma. "According to the director, the decision to have the monkey bang a drum instead of cymbals was due to the rights to the cymbal-banging version being owned by The Walt Disney Company, as the toy had appeared as a character in Toy Story 3. The cymbal monkey was in Toy Story 3 in the first place because its director Lee Unkrich is a fan of Stephen King." [x]

Very early in this, when I realised Oz was going for flat out comedy, I felt a sense of loss for the haunting ephemeral quality I love about his films and their core of trauma contained within a house or a family. Suddenly I felt quite untethered. And then in the very next second, I ed this was based on a Stephen King short story, one of the many I still haven't read so there would still be that core of family trauma.

And yep, the combination of the two meant that classic King preoccupation with male childhood trauma and the fear of damaging the next generation came totally to the fore in this and I loved them both for it. So so much. Especially when you realise it's a triple mirror: Hal and his dad, Hal and his son, and Ricky and his dad. Whereas Bill's more about his mum with zero awareness of other people's trauma around him.

King references I picked up: the babysitter's name is Annie Wilkes from Misery even though obvs very different fate. The paintings in the motel room look very much like The Dark Tower. And the clawed hand coming down in the dream sequence was so very Salem's Lot. I'm sure there were others I missed, of course.

And oh my god, I was wondering why Aunt Ida looked oddly familiar and it was only Sarah Levy! Hell yeah to the kid of a film legend casting the kid of a film legend.

That soundtrack was so good, from the Nina Simone version of I Shall Be Released which oddly got the Jeff Buckley version playing in my head to that delicious thrumming number which I have to hunt down and identify and add to a playlist. I suspect it was the actual score rather than a song, really wish I had made a note of the timestamp.

I was dreading this a bit when I realised Theo James was our lead. That boy bored me so much in Sanditon, oh my god. So I was mildly surprised that he was quite decent here with the dual roles but yeah, part of me still wanted to hit him with a cushion. Maybe it's Sanditon fallout, his character was such an ass and had me actually yelling at the screen, and I only watched it late last year. Or maybe it's his face, I don't know. He just annoys me. He looks so dumb, like there's no brain activity happening behind that face at all or that he's waiting for a thought to turn up. It offends me so much. Eh, maybe he'll grow on me with more different performances. I suppose.

And bonus Adam Scott, yay! No, I am not going back to Severance, I don't think I even made through the first ep. But I am very happy for him and for Ben Stiller. Cheering them on from a distance sort of thing.

I loved that Oz chose such a creepy minor character to play. What a dork.

I really want Mendo to be in one of his films. Their different kinds of weirdness would work so well together. Sigh.

My fellow February Aquarian, I'm so glad we're back on good . I never doubted we would find our way back to each other.

See, now I want to gif the thing in that final scene.

My bisexual Aquarian fool arse watching a Natalie Morales film about the military even though I am vehemently anti-military and so of course I hated this almost all the way through and had a fucken disastrous time.

But the performances were excellent despite my disgust of like ninety per cent of the lines and my loathing of such unselfaware characters. And the ending was very satisfying.

I love Ed Harris so much. Even though I wanted to hit him for most of this. It was so awesome to see him share screentime with Natalie even though they never actually said any lines to each other.

I really need my Aquarian bisexual girlie to not play dead people on film for a while. For me.

Three stars cos it was good, I just hated it.

So Friend Loren and I went to see the 4K version on the big screen this arvo. She had never seen it before and I've only ever seen it on various small screens. And it was long enough since my last watch that part of my brain was watching it as if for the first time while the other part was anticipating all my fave scenes and lines.

I did wish we were in the bigger cinema because it felt like we still weren't getting the full scope of those visuals. I mean, I didn't want IMAX but I would have liked maybe a Hoyts Xtreme screen or something.

I wasn't entirely sure which scenes were new -- ahh, turns out there are two scenes added back in? -- but I definitely did not the whole backstory with Alexandria's dad and my god, that gutted me to realise that the story she and Roy created together was as much about her trauma as his. And of course I teared up as always at her distress in that final gutwrenching act. I was busting to go to the loo -- stupid peach ice tea -- but was holding on for "Why are you killing everyone?" "It's my story." "It's my story, too. Let him live."

I definitely did feel how long that runtime is and how the pace doesn't always maintain momentum, how often the characters are just standing about, looking at the scenery or each other. But also I kinda love the defiance of that device, the subversion of the heroic quest always moving. And even if it was slow, the emotional logic flowed so beautifully, with such richness of subtext offered up.

The sculpture of hung bodies was definitely new and gloriously horrific like the artwork in Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I adored how long the camera stayed on it. I was watching it, grinning inwardly with the thought, "Yep, this is definitely the same guy who gave us The Cell. That's my Tarsem."

Imagery that Tarsem replicates from The Cell: horse on a rider on top of a dune; possibly the same dune and salt lake/desert in Tunisia; a shot tracking a horse and rider moving across the frame, all muscles and gleaming skin; someone getting an arrow shot into their foot; birds; using dolls as substitutes for vulnerable characters in horrific situations, ie children or women; people being held under water; bare branches of a tree against a stark sky or landscape.

What completely shocked and delighted me was realising the last time I watched this was before my immersion in Buster Keaton films. So that montage began and I thought "oh, I wonder if he'll use -- omg One Week! House stunt! Car grab! Steamboat Bill Jr blown along the road! Roof jump (and fall)." AND THEN THE WHOLE MOVIE ENDED ON MY FAVOURITE MOMENT FROM THREE AGES, the blow kiss and fall! Oh my god, I could cry. I never knew that was Keaton. And when I was watching and rewatching all those films, I never knew Tarsem, one of my all-time fave directors, used them in his magnum opus.

ittedly, I still love The Cell more but that's cos it's more personal to me. Whereas I love The Fall like I love Lady In The Water -- oh shush -- for their exploration of storytelling and narrative devices and who controls the story, who affects the story, how humans weave narratives out of their lives. And also Lee Pace who has the most perfect male body I have ever or will ever see, bless that delicious man and his exercise routine and his exquisite always true acting.

Speaking of, all the little fake overdone reactions were so familiar to me now after suffering through enough silent drama. And too the hokey dialogue typical of 1920s/early 30s Classic Hollywood which made perfect sense.

Friend Loren loved it, just like I knew she would. So of course I reeled off every factoid I knew about the making of and initial release and how this 4k restoration and re-release came about and how I never expected to be able to see that on the big screen here. How very awesome.

That score was so majestic and I never realised it wasn't Howard Shore. Huh.

And now I read The Cell is up for a 4K restoration too? I wonder if we'll get extra scenes for that as well, yes please oh please. My forever fave.

Ooh, that took me forever to get through. And perhaps at some other time, I would have adored and totally settled into the meandering pace of this film of so many small mundane moments strung together in loneliness and companionship, of women making their own lives and their own stories.

But as it was, I really hungered for a sense of momentum that was completely absent here. Not momentum of plot so much as emotional momentum, heading towards some big collision or some big epiphany. (I think we can safely blame Mike Leigh for that.) But that was not this film at all. So I struggled a lot and paused it to wander away several times. Because the use of Malayalam meant I definitely needed to read the subtitles though the Hindi was very clear to me.

I was wondering at the start whether I should have watched this before our India trip. But nah, maybe it was better I didn't. Because though I recognised and damned near got re-traumatised by the sound of horn blasts at night and by the sight of throngs of people and the claustrophobic lines of stalls, of course this film like most turns Mumbai into a magical place it absolutely is not if you're there for just a week and have been living for the last thirty years in a safe quiet clean inner city suburb in a western country. Even though you spent the first fifteen years of your life shuttling between two safe-ish quiet pretty suburbs of Mumbai.

So I was very much conscious of how we create myths about the cities we inhabit, how we find the magic in the colours and the rain and the moments of communal joy. How filmmakers create that onscreen for us.

For a film very much focused on female stories and how women find their own agency in systems of family and economy -- basically the patriarchy of not so modern India okay -- I grew to be fascinated by these women's relationships to the men in their lives: the absent husband (who's probably gay lbr), the young (almost certainly) virginal Muslim lover who went from nicely manicured in the first half to unrecognisably hairy in the second half; the doctor adrift in the city going back home; the man with no history washed up on the shore. All of these men could have been threats to the women but their characterisation made them very not, and that was so interesting.

That second half got me thinking about the Indian tendency to flee to the villages and the mountains to escape the cities. Except it's not just an Indian thing, we do it here in Australia too and everywhere across the world where people go to earn money in the city. But that mythologising of ruritania and the coastal villages struck me as interesting. The film spends more time talking about the shehr but it lets the visuals and events in the coastal village speak for themselves. Maybe by then, the film has primed us to find the beauty without telling us? Or maybe because it's much more obvious than in the city. Yes, that's it.

Whereas I would die without wifi and toilet paper, okay. Just kill me and leave me on the shore to rot. Don't assume there's wifi in every beach village in India cos there ain't. Still so glad I had my roaming on for those four days in Goa. You have to bring your own damned toilet paper. Never enter a toilet in India unless you have a packet of tissues with you.

Can't say I felt a great deal of affinity with either Anu or Prabha or was particularly invested in whatever journey could be discerned with either, but I was curious about Prabha's reserve and silence compared to Anu's youthful openness and spirit. What I liked was the way they talked and leaned on each other which wasn't particularly intimate in a distinctly Indian aloof way even in that rain window scene, and I especially loved that super important fragment of conversation in the second last scene. "Where's your boy?" And that smile.

That line of "You're not allowed to feel anger in Mumbai" was at once beautifully profound and complete bullshit. Cos tempers trigger like fuck on Mumbai streets at anywhere from 8am to 4am but yes, it's also incredibly true how resigned to small lives so many millions of people in the city are. Then again, are they really? Their expressions seem it when you them in your airconditioned car or cramped rickshaw but how do you know they're not seething with resentment and have all these big dreams and big ambitions within? I always imagined that inner turbulence and probably for the obvious reason.

Even though paradoxically, I live the smallest of lives here in a western country but also the most luxurious of lives compared to what I feared would be my future in Mumbai. Doesn't even bear thinking about, gah.

Likewise, the line of "They build the towers higher and higher as if they want to be God" struck me as patently false. Having been in my aunt's schoolfriend's 17th floor apartment looking down on a slum, I can tell you for a fact, behnji, that they build their towers higher and higher to get away from you particularly. And the film knows that too, makes it very clear with the glorious line of "We have to remind them that we built this city!" (not on rock'n roll, on dead bodies and maimed bodies and blood and tears and sweat)

The precise colours especially in the first half really impressed me, like the play of pink and blue and white on the rooftop, the yellow flowered quilt behind the nurses in their blue uniforms, and the glow of traffic through the window. And how beautifully dark South Indian skin was lit onscreen, the stunning bone structure of Prabha's face and the defined shape of her mouth, and the textures of hair and skin in the second half.

So yeah, I'm not sure I felt the full impact of that but perhaps I might on a second watch. Or not. It definitely played like something selected for the wankiest of film festivals so that was no surprise.

Just realised I chose to watch this on my mother's birthday. She would have been 74 today. She tried so many times and spent so much hard-earned money on a single income to get us here to Australia. She never got to leave India. But I did, nine months after she died.

Yep, it's official. I love Mike Leigh films.

There was literally only one scene in that which made me impatient and thinking it was quite unnecessary and I'd like to get back to other storylines, please, why do I need to spend time with this useless man who adds nothing to the story? That was the former business owner and I'm not just saying that cos he slagged Australia off though I did laugh at "It's too hot there, it's too cold here." Too right, mate, and I'd pick Straya over England with its miserable weather anytime. I was so fucken glad to get on that plane home and my chest cold cleared up within two days of being back here in the sunshine.

Anyway. Yes, this lived up to all the hype and then some. Like right from the opening credits. Every one of those five names before the title even came up were people either I loved or really liked, ie Claire Rushbrook whose face I've always found fascinating. And it was impeccable casting to make her Brenda Blethyn's daughter cos they have the same colouring and sharpness to their features and even something around the eyes.

My god, Brenda Blethyn. What an utter fucken legend of an actress. As if I didn't already love her from Vera. And how interesting it was to track the similarities between the two roles that makes me wonder if that twitchiness and the inclination to call people "pet" or "sweetheart" are actually her own mannerisms or something she took on for both roles.

It's such a meaty performance and yes, you could argue she chews up the screen and takes up all the oxygen in the room and more than once I thought "Yeah, this is a Lesley Manville role if ever there was one" but the difference is even as Cynthia irked me on some level, the rest of me was utterly entranced by every shade, every nuance, every emotion Brenda was exploring onscreen. Again, like Marianne's role in Hard Truths, I had enormous sympathy for this woman. I was with her every step of this journey and was so proud of her when she pulled herself together and did the thing and said the thing and healed the breaches.

I almost felt bad for Marianne cos in contrast, hers is a much quieter role but also if you pay attention, she's doing so much and going through so many emotions. I loved particularly the scene on the phone when Cynthia is persuading her to come to the party and Hortense is so full of misgivings and Marianne acts every one of them out because we can see her but Cynthia can't. It's such a wonderful scene. How she is so controlled but when she’s alone or comfortable, she’s so expressive and open.

So interesting too to watch this after Hard Truths and consciously or unconsciously compare the two. How this is all white people with one Black person in their midst. We only see her adoptive family for two scenes, and see her Black best friend for two even though they're all wonderful scenes in their own right. Whereas Hard Truths is unapologetically all Black people pretty much the entire movie. The few white people we see are incidental to the plot, in shops and supermarkets and at the medical practice. And Marianne does get to do the Jamaican accent here for one brief moment and it's fucken glorious.

I love that Michele Austin played her bestie here and her sister in Hard Truths, and they're both such rich interesting relationships. I did wonder if they're besties in real life too.

So glad Lesley bloody Manville had only one scene and another briefer one. She even annoyed me at the start of the first but that was intentional, and I was rather surprised at how much I liked her for the rest of the scene, how her character managed Hortense's emotions with such lovely sensitivity. Still very glad Hortense went her own way so I didn't have to deal with Lesley bloody Manville for the rest of the film.

It was so unnerving but I was weirdly aware of Brenda's body and how lush it was and how incredibly sexy I found her even in the horrible clothes with her blouse always straining at that one button. I think it's because I haven't seen much of her performances from this era so the default image I have for her in my head is the shapeless form of Vera.

All the little nuances of class and education between the characters was so thoughtful and fascinating in the ways they talked and dressed and the jobs they did. The contrast between Hortense's sleek modern apartment and the hideous old claustrophobia of the Purley family home and the new opulence of Maurice and Monica's new house.

Oh my god, Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan. I mean no offence to Kevin McNally whom I adore but watching Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan being married just made my heart so happy. They're both such intelligent beautiful sincere actors I could watch them go about their married life forever. And the details of her PMS and period pain and his sympathy in practical and emotional ways was so wonderful and foreshadowed so beautifully the big secret that is so obvious from the start and makes for such beautiful symmetry to Cynthia's story.

And Phyllis was so hot, omg! Also all the women had fabulous eyebrows. I was iring them all, such beautiful arches.

Still a bit puzzled by that line of "Don't break my heart" and the tears. Cos like was she raped? Or did she fall in love with him and was forced to break up with him or something? Did he die? Why the mystery? But why?

Of course Brenda won the Palme d'Or for that role, of course she did.

Love that I spotted Alison Stean and Liz Smith in the photo sessions. Didn't spot Phil Davis which is bad of me.

How unexpectedly sweet and awkward Paul was, and what a harrowingly thorny relationship Roxanne and Cynthia had. I don't think I've ever seen Claire Rushbrook so young and so unpleasant and I loved her performance. Halfway through, I undid my ponytail and made a half pony like hers. Also the cinematography made such good use of the blueness of her eyes.

This is such a kind and hopeful film compared to the almost unrelenting bleakness of Hard Truths but also I like that the open ending of that reflects your own personality and outlook whereas this gives you the healing with just that little question of "Wait, what happened?"

I'm almost nervous to watch the other Mike Leigh films now cos what if none of the others live up to this and Hard Truths? And no, I am not watching Naked. David Thewlis is such a creep, I never want to spend any time with him, eww. But I am curious about the Sally Hawkins one now. God, I hated it so much when it came out, I hated her so much. Lolz.

And to think the first time I ever saw Marianne Jean-Baptiste was in The Cell -- hey, I love that movie, fuck off with your hate -- and I immediately fell in love with her there and now I get to explore all the other amazing films she's done.

Taking half a star off for the unnecessary scene. Was there some symbolism to it? "There but for the grace of god"? Eh.

Dire realisation: am I capable of watching only Mike Leigh films during the writing of this novel? Cos my attention didn't wander once during this. Oof.

That started out with such bad acting and terrible direction that my heart sank with dismay. But then the combination of Edward G Robinson and Agnes Moorehead and Margaret O'Brien got me right into this not entirely saccharine and beautifully detailed rural story, completely fascinated by the characters and relationships and economic struggles.

ittedly, my attention wandered away a few times but then something would happen to reel me back in and goddamn, that was brilliant casting. To pair the tender realism of Eddie G and Agnes and then of course they would have a daughter who looked like Margaret O'Brien with her perfectly pointed face and melting heart and reproachful honesty. Every time I think I should be annoyed by her soulful intonation, I find myself melting instead. That girl is like kryptonite.

(So cool that she's still alive. I really want to find some of her performances as an adult, maybe on Murder She Wrote or Marcus Welby or Ironside. So curious about how that preternatural authenticity matured.)

And then oh my god, that final act gesture caught me completely off guard. Like I totally should have seen it coming, that is totally how Classic Hollywood melodrama works but there were so many storylines going and I was so distracted that when she stood up and said the thing, my brain and heart practically spasmed together and I wailed "Oh my god, that SWEET GIRL!"

So interesting how some of the sentiments particularly in the last act had me going "That's practically Communism, dude" and then ing that Dalton Trumbo who adapted the original novel got blacklisted by those HUAC dumbfucks. Man, it never ceases to amaze me how thoroughly brainwashed by capitalism people -- Murricans -- were.

Agnes Moorehead was so beautiful and I was wondering at one point why I was so amazed by this until I suddenly ed that aside from her Classic Hollywood stuff, of course the default image in my head is Endora. So hard to reconcile the garishness of that character with the elegant bones and dark hair of Agnes on film.

I really liked how much Norweigan there was in the film not just with the names but also the words here and there. Even though there was that token nauseating line of "But of course they're now Americans." Yeah, duh, move on with your erasure, Classic Hollywood.

Starting to think that I'm better off doing rewatches rather than first watches during the writing of this novel since I'm having such a hard time maintaining focus. My brain is so consumed by the story in progress and also constantly freaking out that the writing is turning to shit. Par for the course, really.

I really liked the technical craft of that: the dynamic cinematography, the production design with the lovely houses and the opulence of the crime den, the colour-grading that was clean but still warm and lovely, the playful score, the editing of the action scenes, the choreography of the fights that really was balletic and beautiful.

Everything else was mediocre to uninteresting. Aggressively mid, as the kids (might?) say. The characters were boring, the dialogue flat, the editing between scenes odd and choppy, the plot unnecessarily complicated.

Really, the only thing that kept me watching for a really long while was the sheer charm of Ke Huy Quan. And even then I tuned out before the last act and barely knew what happened. Also, he and Ariana DeBose had like zero chemistry which I found so strange cos I actually like them both separately.

Mustafa Shakir definitely got my attention, though. Wow.

Woefully under-used Rhys Darby, pity.

Bloody hell, that was long. I wasn't entirely sure it needed to be that long but also I couldn't tell you what they could have cut from that story. And yes, human beings do have complicated narratives that can't be easily fit into 90 minutes. I say that, raging about every biopic I'm subjected to, so I really shouldn't be complaining about the amount of detail included here.

But I really loved the humour that was so dark it shocked me more than once and also delicious as a result. My fellow February Aquarian Abhishek did so well though I was constantly dismayed at how much weight he had put on and I'm assuming it was only for the role. But he played every emotion of that so beautifully, not a single moment false or overdone. And I loved the subtle character arc and the evolving father-daughter relationship.

It wasn't difficult to see why he took his role, being a girl dad as he is. And I'm so glad he did. He just goes from strength to strength as an actor and I'm so glad to see him get opportunities that expand his range.

I wonder if Johnny Lever was included cos of him. Their dynamic was too too entertaining but then pretty much every relationship in this was interesting.

Wait, do I love Mike Leigh films?

This was so flawless in every way. The pacing, the writing, the production design in the contrast between the two homes illustrating the sisters' personalities, the utter tornado that is Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

And that ending that totally left me floundering for a few minutes, trying to work out what happened next and then realising that was the point. That she could choose to go either way from there but we don't get to see what she chooses and maybe that's a gift to us or maybe a fiendish thing. Or is it that the two of them are trapped in their isolation but Moses isn't or maybe he'll end up there too in his own relationship? Oh it's all so interesting. And not actually as frustrating as it could be, huh. Like I hated the open ending of Broken Blossoms but I don't hate it here?

Her anger was so thrilling and also a little bit scary which was unusual for me cos I'm never scared by female anger and in fact am usually the angriest female-bodied person in the room. Wait, not always. But usually. But the sheer explosiveness of her rage was as wonderful as it was terrifying. Maybe that's still a novelty onscreen.

I did think at one point that I was very grateful I wasn't watching this as a play, that I could pause it at any point to have a break from her nastiness. Except I didn't, I kept going because Mike Leigh's pacing was such a thing of beauty, alternating her scenes with the scenes at the salon that were exquisite reprieve every time. If I was trapped in a theatre with that character onstage, I'd probably loathe every minute.

Unless it was Marianne Jean-Baptiste onstage and then I'd prolly hate it on some level but worship her on every other level. As it was, I was so glad it wasn't Lesley Manville in that role because I really cannot stand that white woman and why is she in so many damned Mike Leigh films, give me strength?

I can't believe I never knew Marianne was in Secrets And Lies, too. Can't wait to watch that.

At another point, I started thinking about my godmother aunt who is the most awful toxic person since her husband died suddenly and how living with her must be similar to this except without the violent rage but definitely the venom and the delusions of persecution.

Funny how not once during this did I have the exasperated reaction of "Oh my god, go to fucken therapy and sort your shit out" like I do with most other usually white characters who are messy af onscreen. Eg, most characters Lesley Manville plays. I wonder why that was. I'm choosing to believe it's cos Marianne was just that good, that I was with her even as I was appalled by her but still believing that she had every right to react the way she did. And fully accepted the reason when it was revealed even though I could have very well thought it was a weak reason but it clearly wasn't to her.

Is this the first time I've heard her sound Jamaican and use the phrases and do the sucking teeth thing?

I really need to learn more about the way Mike Leigh writes and directs.

Oh, interesting: "Our scripts, once they’re written, they’re static, too. There’s nothing you see on screen that is being improvised in front of the camera. My thing has always been, 'That’s how we do it or we don’t do it at all.' It’s as simple as that. I wouldn’t know how to make a film if I didn’t do that."

Marianne: "I don’t know if you know about the way that Mike [Leigh] works. You’re so invested in it. He regards actors as creative artists in their own right, not just interpreters. You’ve created this character with him. You’ve created the dialogue. It’s such a collaborative experience and a unique experience that, actually, talking about it is a joy."

Well, that was a revelation.

I knew despite my fondness for him that I didn't know much about Albert Brooks' career and boy, this proved just how much I didn't know. Wow.

And yet I was totally right that he really is as clever as I always thought he was. Rather smug about that and yes, I will have to watch the rest of his directed films. I am glad that I watched Mother without knowing just how autobiographical it was, oh my gosh.

I love that Rob Reiner directed this. It's so well structured and informative and also so fannish and also devastatingly personal at times and looks so good.

Rather odd timing that I've had this doco for ages and without realising the connection watched it the exact weekend that SNL turned 50. And very much noticed the absence of Lorne Michaels. Does he just not do press or did he specifically refuse to be in this? I do not know but I am curious.

May well revisit this after I've watched all his other films.

Yeah, about 28 minutes into this, I realised I wasn't paying attention at all. Too exhausted from writing.

I might have a go another time when I'm more alert.

I hit play on this with the thought, "Wait, why did I want to watch this?!" And then checked the names and went, "Oh yes, Jack Quaid my boi."

I did not expect that to be as comedic as it was, so that took some adjusting. But I really liked the narrative device in the first act that everyone in the room including the audience knew the secret except for her. I pretty much guessed everything that would happen so was a little disappointed that the movie didn't actually surprise me.

Loved the absolutely hilarious song choices, though. And fuck yeah to Megan Suri getting bigger projects. I very much enjoyed the sight of her and Jack together and then very much enjoyed the gay element in the second half which I have been wanting for a while, thank you, but not like that.

I really need him to stop playing entitled whiny white boy jerks even though he's clearly captured a type there. I did chuckle inwardly at "I don't even know what Telugu is." No, of course you don't, you white halfwit, you probably think they speak "Indian" in India rather than so many different languages including Telugu around which is a whole film industry. (yes, this was actually said to me by more than one white person ... the contempt that radiated from me lol) I did latently appreciate the joke of how dumb all these people were even though it irritated me.

Sophie Thatcher's low voice was just delicious so I found the sliders bit doubly amusing.

Nice production values, too.

A decent time was had but frankly, I wanted more, especially with the 100% intelligence. Though that did tie in rather hilariously with the first part of the novel which then got me brainstorming a later bit and stopping the film to make a few random notes.

Yep, still devastates me into tears.

That first meeting with the birth mum is just so powerful, how you feel the pain and terror of walking away from the kids. My chest always hurts so much in that scene. And then my god, that climactic scene destroys me. This time I realised why and got latently annoyed at myself cos damnit, my childhood situation was not that at all, it's not the same thing at all.

But the sense of betrayal is the same. The abandonment that is so true when Margo Martindale says, "After a while, you can't believe anyone can ever love you." I love the small inclusion of that scene, of all that backstory hinted at in just that one conversation, and of course Margo Martindale conveys it perfectly cos she is a legend.

This time also I realised that Rose Byrne's total authenticity is what balances out Mark Wahlberg's insane overacting in the first half. In the second half, he's a lot more believable. But Our Rose always makes everything better, bless her.

It really is quite a stacked cast. Tig Notaro and Octavia Spencer who are pure magic together and oh my god, I did not reallise that was Iliza Shlesinger, what the hell. I should rewatch that movie of hers, I loved it so much. And a totally random Joan Cusack almost at the end whom I pretty much wanted to follow out of the movie and into her own movie cos what the hell is going on with her character? I so need to see Joan leading a movie again, she is criminally underrated. What has she even been doing lately? Oh wait, was Klaus the last thing she was in? But why?

I love this movie so much, I'm so glad I took a chance on it those few years ago. I had a really bad day at work today, exacerbated by distressing physical pain, and then it got even worse when I locked myself out of my apartment which meant spending money I absolutely cannot spare at the moment and then spent even more money at the pharmacy to refill my scripts and hopefully treat the pain. Turns out the pain has gone away on its own, hopefully for good this time. So I suppose I chose this film cos I needed a cry? I don't know but it worked.

At least I slept a full eight hours last night. Fine-fucking-ally.

So I've been obsessed with a fistful of Peaches songs for a fair few years now. Specifically, Get Down (which I realise is an Emigrate collab but like play it at my funeral, play it everywhere oh my god), Suck And Let Go, Pickles, Oh My God (with P!nk), and Burst.

Oh my god, no, wait. The first Peaches song I heard was the track she did with Iggy Pop for whom I have absolutely no time but her energy caught me. And really, it's no wonder. And aaaahhh yess, I when she came to Big Day Out and I was too scared to go see her but I was so intrigued. From a distance.

Until I hit play on this, I didn't realise that I was listening to those few Peaches tracks in a total vacuum. I knew nothing about her, not even her birth name. Hell, until this doco I thought she was English. Never even occurred to me she was from the other side of the Atlantic.

So this was definitely an education if meted out in slightly frustrating piecemeal fashion. What I really loved was the sense of time and the recognition that pop culture now is so much embracing of queerness than it was when she started out. Not so spoken is the implication that her art and life contributed to that evolution.

Peaches starting her 20th anniversary show in old grotesque granny drag pushing a walker was so fucken brilliant. My brain broke a little with joy when I realised that comment on ageism. And I can't believe she got her name from the ending of Nina Simone's Four Women. I love that song, I never knew that! It's like when I found out St Vincent took her artist name from a line in a Nick Cave song I adored, There She Goes, My Beautiful World, that references Dylan Thomas, the only poet I can tolerate.

I love that under all that raunch and defiance and spectacle seems to be such a pure heart almost innocent in her desire to make music and help everyone live their authenticity.

And yes, I was watching this with the realisation of how important that fistful of Peaches songs is to the spirit of the novel I'm writing.

This perfect film.

Every time I rewatch it, I start with "Okay, this time I gotta pay attention to his wardrobe and see how it changes. Is it tees to shirts? Is it long sleeves to sleeves rolled up? Is it buttoned to open collars? How does it make him hotter as the movie goes on?" This time I was like, "Wait, hold on, does she start wearing the cholis she makes? I gotta track how her wardrobe changes!"

And every time I get so caught up in their evolving relationship, all the tiny details of their conversations and familial relationships that I totally lose sight of what I'm supposed to be tracking. God, I love it so much.

It's been at least three years since my last watch and it was almost like coming to it new, getting so invested in her tailoring journey -- the opportunity, the blocking of that, the way she cuts herself free, the resentment that spills over into their budding friendship, the despair and raging frustration at her stupid fucken family with their stupid small dreams.

The joy of how he helps her with the magazine and then the machine, how she strokes that machine with all the wonder of an artisan finding the tools -- I stroke handcarved crochet hooks like that, okay -- and the delight of seeing her be instructed by a proper teacher, the way she's invigorated by her learning. We get to see all those little and big moments and they warm my heart so damned much.

I love how important that female friendship is to both of them, not just helping her with the meat and the money for the course, the way they talk about their employers' response to their work. I love the inclusion of that very Indian reluctance to accept help in case it traps you into something unpleasant and the tenderness of Laxmi saying, "Have some faith in me." And Laxmi has her own issues with her employer and that shitty child we get to see for one scene of joy and how Laxmi really does love him so much and he loves her back like a proper ayah and puttar jalebi.

The eroticism of that kiss scene never fails to mesmerise me. It's filmed so well, and acted so well with the aching pace and the longing. How he hesitates and kisses her forehead first, and she leans into him, signalling her willingness, how she angles up for his mouth. So so beautifully negotiated, that traversing of boundaries and seeking consent.

That conversation with his friend is so so important for all the true brutal things he says. That yes, no one will let her forget she's a servant, it's so fucken true. The only way they can have a life together is if they escape to America and start afresh. And she can set up a little business there, have a beautiful little shop with beautiful clothes that she designs and employs a team to make. And I suppose then she'll have to bring her sister and the husband over.

It's such a beautifully constructed script.

I always wonder whether dropping the bag in the farewell scene was planned or just happened and Tillotama's frustration was real and they all knew in the moment that they could use it.

Mind you, I was very annoyed when I realised Netflix doesn't have it anymore and was so glad I procured my own copy. But then it turned out my copy doesn't have subtitles and I definitely struggle with the Marathi and sometimes even the Hindi they speak. And none of the damned subtitles synced up properly so I had to endure that dissonance the whole way through. Even though I know the dialogue enough that I can mostly the gist of what everyone's saying but I like to know the actual words. Ugh.

So not the best watch this time but still had my heart. That final scene is just pure Tillotama Shome magic and I love Rohena and the team for trusting her to convey all the emotions. Which she does. The grief of realising he's not there anymore, the near tears when she realises she has no way of finding him -- wait, she could ask Ankita, surely, definitely not his mum -- the joy of realising he's broken out of his own self-imposed little prison.

And then my god, the stillness when that phone rings and she sees it's him. The way her face changes when he says her name and she goes through the process of shedding the servant impulse to say "Sir" because they're equals now. Because she can use his name now and she just had to overcome her conditioning to do so. Take that step.

All the fucken feels.

I really should get into second season of Paatal Lok for Tillotama. I love her so much. She's truly a legend in her own time.

Yeah, no. That did not work for me. I wanted it to be a lot more interesting and profound than it was.

And perhaps I'm being super harsh because I've just gotten into the second act of the novel so the central relationship has just begun and I'm in this state of hyperawareness, needing to keep my mind on so many strands at the same time, making sure the characters and dynamics are all rich and profound and interesting as well as the sentences being good, so perhaps that hypercriticalness spilt over here.

But also everything about this felt so trite and shallow from the dialogue to the performances to the writhing sex scenes to the developing abusive relationship. I felt so tired watching it.

The cinematography, editing, and colour-grading were excellent, though. Absolutely top-notch. I particularly loved the colour palette of blues and warm peachy amber tones.

I need to go rewatch a fave now to reset my brain.

That was so much fun. I was chuckling almost all the way through, so tickled by the characterisation of each and how they evolved through the film. I loved that we discovered their personalities at the same time as they did, not hinted to the audience beforehand. So I was definitely reacting to him with the same facial expressions as her which was doubly hilarious.

When I came to log it, I thought it was a remake of a Telugu film from last year but nope, they just happen to share a name. Very different plots.

Both Yami and Pratik Gandhi were so good, I loved both their performances, didn't feel like there was a single false moment. It's so gratifying when a lead couple matches each other's realism onscreen.

Was it produced and co-written by Yami's husband? Does that mean she had a lot to do with the script? I hope so. Especially loved that speech she gave about why desi girls have to lie. I love her fire so much and I even like that she's almost typecasting herself as that personality onscreen.

Also, it was really cool to see a totally different part of Mumbai, one I've never been to though I've heard the names so much. Though I'm sure it doesn't look quite so glitzy and neon in real life.

Also yaar, seeing empty night streets of Mumbai is now completely artificial to me. Nope, no way, doesn't happen. Not the main roads. Total Bollywood fiction.

A weird thing: Before I hit play on this, I was watching the latest ep of St Denis Medical, and Wendi McLendon-Covey held up two tickets to SZA and said "Zha" and I was like "Oh, is that how you say it?" and immediately she was corrected to "Scizza" and yet again I was shown just how fucken old I am.

And then this started and I was like "Okay, I know that's Keke cos I've seen her in stuff but who's the other girl and why do I get a spooky feeling that's Zha I mean SZA?"

This was so much fun and ended in the most adorable heartwarming affirming way so now I can't wait to rewatch. Also I forget Janelle was in it and nearly screamed when she turned up but then I screamed at Dewayne too but I knew he was in it cos I follow them both on the Insta and it's only cos of him I knew this is currently number one in the US? That is awesome.

Half a star taken off cos some of the acting was not great but I loved everything else, especially the colours and cinematography. Biscuit Bandit is a hero.

Crossroads Of Life by The O'Jays has now been added to my Classic Hollywood playlist.

The line that got me in the feels this time: "The further you go, the prouder I'll be."

Wish fulfilment.

Do those songs get better on each rewatch? Gosh.

Okay, I loved how bonkers that was in every aspect, particularly the hilarious use of opera in the score. Also quite a lot of people I adore in that cast. I had no idea Reese could sing like that! And I always forget how good a singer Will Ferrell is.

The titles were so much fun with the fonts and descriptions. Love a cheeky font.

Also, have I ever heard the original of Islands In The Stream? I feel like my whole life I've only ever heard covers of it. Many, many covers. So many covers. In fact, I'm not even sure I knew it was Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton until they said it here and I was like "Huh." God, does that make me a millennial? Prolly.

Like my baby cousin saying about the Stereophonics cover of Don't Let Me Down, "I really love this song!" and me staring in horror at her before going, "You do realise this is a cover of the Beatles, right? You do know who the Beatles are?" and then turning to her mum/my godmother aunt and going "How have you raised this child?!"

I don't know why I decided this would be the movie to rewatch today, on my birthday. Especially since I really wanted to rewatch Turning Red but I feel like I do that a lot and I don't even know why.

I forgot how this movie fills me with such breathless pain, how my stomach clenches with hurt so intense it becomes physical. But the ruptures in the relationships did make me realise I didn't have a severe rupture in the novel. I did one aspect of "What's the worst possible thing that can happen to your protagonist?" but I didn't go for the obvious devastating blow. And maybe it's too obvious? I'm not sure. Does feel like without it, the novel lacks a satisfying conflict, doesn't wound my protagonist enough. And that was a deliberate choice at the start, I wanted to protect her. But maybe that doesn't make for a very satisfying or deeply engaging narrative. I want her to feel that same breathless pain.

I'll see how it works out. Made notes for now. I'll see how trite it feels when the narrative actually gets to that point. Long way off yet. I can always delete it and keep the story low stakes and conflict-free. That's an option.

This voice cast is so good, wow. And Chloe Grace Moretz is just brilliant, all the vitality she brings to that performance. I hope it was fun for her cos it certainly sounds it.

Riz was a lot clearer this time but I did have the subtitles on.

Rewatched on the Singapore to Sydney flight home cos I couldn’t most of it. Fell asleep before the showdown so clearly there was a reason for my dim memory.

Thoughts I had during this rewatch:

🤔 huh, Ranveer isn’t as crap in this as I , he’s actually quite good … have I misjudged him this whole time?

🤔 Sunny (Farhan Akhtar’s character in this film) might the only man whose cock I actually want to suck

🤔 This whole cast is insanely stacked … Shefali Shah is never not amazing … and Anushka! 

🤔 Has Anil Kapoor always chosen such interesting roles and progressive movies or is that just the last ten years?  

🤔 HOW is Farhan SO HOT in this?!  It’s the v neck sweaters, isn’t it? And the white tees and blue shirts and jeans. God, everything he wears in this makes him look so delicious

🤔 What is going on with Priyanka’s voice? When does Jee Le Zaraa come out? 

🤔 I really like how the corridors are used here

🤔 How does Farhan get even hotter when he dances?! What sorcery is this?

🤔 Does Ranveer not like dogs? 

🤔 Farhan’s face would look so good between my thighs 

🤔 This editing is so good, oh my gosh 

Started this rewatch five days ago in a Mumbai hotel room. Finished it this arvo on top of a mountain in the western ghats.

I do not apologise for my filthy mind.

Bit awkward in its direction and the middle of the film lost my interest a tad, but Huma and Sonakshi were so good together that really saved the film for me. Plus I liked how the romance was firmly kept lowkey and subservient to the female friendship. Also the ballad was really pretty with its melody and lyrics?

Watched in a boutique hotel room off Colaba Causeway in not amchi Mumbai anymore.

God, that was so badly paced, filmed, edited, and directed I felt so sorry for our main cast who clearly signed on for what was a good script but executed so shoddily, oof. All the fatphobia aimed at Swara Bhaskar was really fucken annoying. And holy fuck, all the product placement was so cringe.

Watched in a boutique hotel room off Colaba Causeway in not amchi Mumbai anymore.

I wanted something dumb and mindless to watch while I worry about what I haven't done or packed before our flight tomorrow morning. And this was so much dumb fun, particularly with all the messiness and the bickering and yelling and JLo getting so pissed off with Duhamel. Though I did wonder why she wasn't more skilled in combat stuff as a peacekeeper. Don't they have to know how to do all that military stuff?

I really liked the switching of gendertypes with him being the groomzilla and her not giving a fuck about the wedding prep except then they had to go and make that all psychologically meaningful which I really didn't need.

An absolutely insane cast, and D'Arcy Caden was so hot. Tho Jennifer Coolidge wielding a machine gun was pretty awesome too.

I had fun.

Well, that was a delight.

Basil Rathbone and my fellow Aquarian Ronald Colman were having entirely too much fun with Preston Sturges' adaptation of what I hope was already a hilarious play. And those costumes! The glitz, the brocade, the fur trim, the ridiculous headpieces. Again, I wondered how authentic and how glammed up for the screen they were by Edith Head and her cohort.

Basil Rathbone's evil lil cackle was too too wonderful. And Ronald Colman's curls, by god. Also his thighs in that velvet tunic and leggings were rather lovely.

I could have done without the Hays Code fate of the whore with a heart of gold and why were her last lines muted on my version, what the hell. But all the women in this were pretty fabulous and intelligent or spectacularly spoilt like the queen. I loved how Katherine was the one who came up with the idea and how she stood forward and defended him and that priceless final line. Though my heart did break for her when she realised the social ramifications and impossibility of their love before everything got magically fixed.

My first Joe E Brown as lead film and boy, did it take some getting used to. I was so bewildered at how staid the first half was and then it got all exciting in that pre-Code gambling way. And yeah, the finale was pretty cool.

Even if my brain went comatose at all the sports yeurk.

It was an almost flawless print, I was so surprised. And I really liked Patricia Ellis, how sensible and clever she seemed, and how he called her Boss. I just expected Joe to be zanier somehow? Curious.

That was so much better than I expected. Sure, it hit the familiar beats of a movie about a supernatural child unaware of their own powers, but they were all done slightly different and I was fascinated all the way through.

Particularly good characterisation in the final act with the sins of the previous generation revealed and their own pettiness resulting in further damage and then their own victimisation and trauma resulting in possible further damage. That scene between Jonathan Hyde and Eileen Davies was mesmerising and not just a little horrifying.

I was initially dismayed by how grotty and murky the colours were but then that seemed to be a stylistic choice to differentiate between city living and country living? Or was it just that the natural light of the English countryside automatically made those scenes so much vivid and prettier? Whatever it was, the contrast made me appreciate both.

Also really loved the genuine love between our parents and their love for their daughter who was so endearing. The choice to show their horror at the prospect of hurting her for her own good was excellent and made me love them so much. The tender moments of storytelling -- shout out to the original version of Rapunzel with the rampion -- and the handmade doll were so important and heartwarming. I felt Antonia Thomas' frustration as the stay at home mum who was more than a bit reluctant to have the baby in the first place. The complexity of that evolving relationship was really nicely done without being overwrought, I thought.

And that moment in the ambulance was chilling as fuck. I felt both her rage and resentment, and the sick guilt of Thea who failed to keep her parents safe. No dialogue, just flashing coloured lights and the connected gaze did all the emotional work in that moment and it was so effective. Just like the scene with the (hot) dad wrestling with the radio as displacement for his rage at the situation, and how she just wraps her arms around him and he clings to her. No words, just pure emotion conveyed perfectly.

For a six year old child, Thea was given a fairly hefty character arc and really quite big emotions to put across. My heart broke for her so many times, was so horrified at the responsibiilty put on her and so proud of her for taking it on. That scene at the dinner table was excellent. Again, minimal dialogue and all done with the chant and the music and the gazes. Her tears and misery at the showdown was absolutely heartrending, poor brave lil tyke. So well cast.

The metaphor wasn't obvious to me for a good long while and really it was only at the end I wondered if maybe the film was an analogy for parents of a child with a serious medical condition, something lifelong that had to be managed, that necessitated horrible treatments like chemo or something. Was I reaching? Was it something else entirely? Was it just parenthood and sacrifice and not visiting the sins of the parent on the child? I don't know but also I don't mind that I don't know cos the journey was so absorbing.

The CGI wasn't great but the corridor scene still chilled me so it worked. And I did like the creature makeup and that we only saw glimpses.

I had expected something entirely derivative and by the numbers so it was a small delight to find my attention very much engaged. Directed and co-written by a South Asian (most likely Indian?) guy, even. Ahh, he directed Misfits, hence Antonia Thomas. I like that it took me about ten minutes to recognise her. God, I loved that show even though it did me dirty.

Was the chant supposed to echo Lily, my fave Kate Bush song that, with Ordinary World by Duran Duran, got me through the pandemic? Gabriel before me, Raphael behind me, Michael to my right, Uriel on my left side, in the circle of fire... No, of course it's much older than the song and changed for the film with "zaquero". But the emotional resonance definitely worked for me.

Well, I said Lily, oh Lily, I don't feel safe. I feel like life has blown a great big hole through me. And she said child, you must protect yourself. You can protect yourself. I'll show you how with fire.

I love how that flipped from a really lovely bittersweet small story of two strangers making a connection to this batshit murder mystery and then with the most heartbreaking batshit ending.

I love Indian cinema so much.

And I knew the name Sriram Raghavan from somewhere! He wrote and directed my fave Urmila film, Ek Hasina Thi, in which she and Saifu are smoking hot together and it has the bestest ending. I really should rewatch that. For my birthday twin Urmila and Leo Saifu bringing the hawtness. Sadly, the Aquarian-Leo chemistry is a true thing.

Prolly the best performance I've seen from Katrina Kaif yet. And I loved how sweet and natural Vijay Sethupathi was with the kidlet who was so adorable and totally made my ovaries ache. Indian kids are the cutest kids but then I with my Indian genes am literally wired to think that. And no, my ovaries wil not be producing any, ew gross. 

Loved the production design of the apartment, especially with the rich red and green repeated without it being overtly Christmas. I would happily live in that apartment without the, you know, murder and other grossness.

Was so funny when the title came up with "Mumbai (Or Bombay as it was known then)" cos I used to say that too when people asked me where I was born. They changed the name just after I left.

And then I got the shock of my life when she said "Rose Manor." I was like "WHAT! That's my school! And it's still a school, it can't be an apartment building." But then I ed the actual house next to the school and okay, maybe? But they clearly didn't film it there. So funny that my school is now an International School. Less funny that their uniforms are so much better than the horror that was mine. I wuz cheated!

Sanjay Kapoor is so hot. And I think that's the first time I've seen Radhika Apte speak English? Also very hot. I hope she gets cast as lead in something awesome and not harrowing soon. I want that for both of us.

Edited about a month later: So turns out the block where my school is located is now called Rose Manor Chowk so it is totally plausible that she lives in the area. How funny that I didn't know that, watched this movie, and then went to Mumbai and visited the area and went past the school and took a pic of the memorial sculpture to my principal. Such a bizarre coincidence that I happened to watch this movie just before our India trip.

I've been thinking over the past few days about the chaos of this film so had to revisit it. God, I love it so much. Every time I rewatch it, I appreciate it more.

I love how Sturges (and Seitz) just cram so many people into so many scenes. And all of them are reacting to what's being said, you can watch so many people instead of the main players and they're all giving something, especially William Demarest that utter treasure. I wonder if it was all strictly rehearsed or if Sturges just let them go or a bit of both.

The camera moves so masterfully, whether it's that opening tracking shot from one person to another to another until we land on Eddie or whether it's those crowd scenes when we move with the crowd. It just makes my brain so happy. And even when the camera is still but the people move across the frame like in the bands scene that never fails to crack me the fuck up, it just all works so well. The camera complements the energy of the film and you couldn't ask for anything better in cinematography.

Raymond Walburn is another goddamned treasure. The way he manages all his tirades is just magnificent, the verbal tics, how his concentration totally becomes self-absorption because of his character.

And maybe it's cos Gail Russell was so bad in the last film I watched but compared to her, Ella Raines was positively electric on this rewatch. Have I been too harsh on her all this time? Nooo, I don't think so. It was the comparison.

Ugh, there's nothing like a Sturges film to get the blood pumping and the brain fizzing. I love him so much even though he was not a very nice man at times but then who is? I certainly am not, as I proved today when subjected to incompetence on my first day back at work. Thank fuck I'm getting on a plane Thursday morning and will be away from that bullshit for the rest of the month.

One way or another, that annoyed me all the way through.

The pedestrian dialogue, the jerkiness of the rhythms of scenes and conversations, Gail Russell's perpetual bewilderment, and most of all the persistent echo of The Turn Of The Screw. For a while there, I wondered whether Chandler et al had thrown out the original novel entirely and wrote their own version of Turn Of The Screw but no, turns out the source material is the same plot as the movie just in a different location. So was the original novel a rip-off of Henry James?

Turns out not so much in the end. But god, it bothered me so much all the way until then.

I did rather like how the identity of the murderer was kept from us til almost the end, how it could have equally been Joel McCrea or Herbert Marshall since both their characters came and went with suspicious convenience, and how the cinematography denied us any clue whatsoever. That was very clever and effective.

But then it fully pissed me off by literally shoving our female protagonist out the door for the big showdown and keeping it just between the men. After she had done all the footwork and all the detecting! Classic Hollywood fucken patriarchal bullshit. And that kiss on the stairs irked me even more.

Was Gail Russell the mad daughter in The Uninvited? But she was terrible in that! How could you cast her as lead in this? Oof. At least she had some nice ensembles with huge shoulders and collars that made her waist and hips look tiny.

Gotta say I absolutely adored that little girl Nona Griffiths. She was so earnest but I never wanted to slap like I do with most Classic Hollywood child actors. Instead like Margaret O'Brien, she melted my cold dead heart with every damned line. I'm a sook.

Two stars for Joel McCrea that delicious man and Herbert Marshall that delicious in an entirely different way man. I definitely wanted them to kiss but sadly, no, the Hays Code would never permit that. But a queer can dream.

Slight but satisfying.

Erana James has such intelligent screen presence, and I like her voice too.

Rima Te-Wiata's voice was all kinds of amazing.

Was that Get Out for straight white families?

The building sense of dread and discomfort was so well done, even though all the big reveals were pretty obvious from super early on. It was so effective that despite my deep and abiding love for McAvoy, I felt actual joy every time he got maimed. And I particularly loved the lil blood splatter on the camera lens at the end.

Scoot McNairy is disturbingly good at playing loser men. And I'm always bewildered by it cos he always seems so very clever so I always expect him to be that and he hardly ever is, not in the films I've seen. I still think of him and Mendo being idiots together on what was it, Killing Me Softly? That awful fucken film by Andrew Dominik in which they were both brilliant.

And oh, Mackenzie Davis, I would die for you. It's so satisfying when she takes charge. I'm like "Yes, everything will be okay, just listen to Mackenzie and do what she says. Shut your stupid mouth, don't think, just obey her." And I'm always right.

The moment of silent communication between them at the ladder was so good and works particularly well because they're both actors of such excellent calibre and happily the direction and script let them be that without forcing any unnecessary dialogue into that moment.

Was McAvoy doing a Devon accent? Is that what it was? I was so confused when he started singing about England. I was like, "But you're Scottish" and then ed oh yeah, actoring.

I'm vaguely curious about the original Danish film but also I do not want to go through that again, thank you. Oh wow. The original ends very differently. Huh.

And now I need to watch final season of Vera. I will miss her so muuuuchhhhhh!

Ngl, I actually laughed quite a few times. Mostly at Squeaky Bruce and Chewperman, and everything Natasha Lyonne said, and the invisible jet.

First superhero film I've watched since Black Panther iirc and really I was shocked at how much I recognised/ed from Smallville Clex fic. Obvs Rosenbaum will always be my Lex since he was the only good actor on that shit show.

The lighting was all very pretty. I wish Jameela Jamil would get cast in some role as major as Tahani again. She's so good.

Oh, I enjoyed that so much.

A super Eighties (even though it came out in 1990) horror film directed by a woman featuring a cast of nearly all women with so much agency, and a few men who are either love interests or slaughtered or both and one even cooks. That is my jam!

I knew I recognised Rainbow Harvest's name from somewhere and initially I thought it was The Witch Who Came From The Sea but nope that was the Seventies. Instead, I know her from Earth Angel, a movie I adore. And even there I wondered if she was supposed to be a Winona Ryder clone which gets turned up to woah here with the Goth look. Which I have to say looked fucken fabulous on her, I was quite envious, especially with the side shave and the blonde bit and the jet black bangs.

The theme of female friendship and really sisterhood was so wonderful, endlessly interesting and rewarding. At first, I wanted them to be actual doppelgangers to further the mirror analogy and also wanted a bit more queerness to their vibe. But the sisterhood thing worked just as well, especially with how clever and snarky Nikki was, taking no bullshit from anybody, male or female, and how Megan was so eager and grateful for her attention and affection. Oh my heart.

Also a really good instance of female nudity without it actually being gratuitous. I thought, anyway.

I absolutely loathed Karen Black even though the attempt at mother-daughter bonding towards the end touched my cold dead heart a bit.

Poor Stephen Tobolowsky! I love him so and he looked so good in his blue shirt with the lovely shades of blue tie. But also he deserved it so there.

The biggest shame was the production design which was so bland it really damaged what could have been a super immersive experience. Like her bedroom looked more like a hotel suite. You couldn't tell a Goth lived there and, like the rest of the house, there were no signs of actual human habitation, let alone a fricken teenager. Not a single poster on the wall or clothes strewn across the floor or even makeup or cassette tapes anywhere. What on earth were they thinking? Or were they not allowed to touch anything in a probably heritage house?

Likewise, the mirror itself was so boring. Okay, it had the few curves around it. But dude, dress it up! Add some fake carvings that look like a face up the top. Add some smaller faces down the side, shapes that look like clawed hands. Have you never seen one of those old creepy carved wardrobes that look like the repository of nightmares?! Do your thing, production design department!

Coincidentally enough, a few weeks ago I was reading a Regency romance that mentioned a cheval mirror and I thought, "What the fuck is a cheval mirror and why have I never googled it?" So I did and it's one of those swing mirrors with a foot stand. Which looked pretty much like this one.

I loved the glorious indulgence of power so much that I pretty much wanted Nikki to agree to share it and for them to live happily ever after, having mirror sex with the demon and each other. Kinda like that Adrian Blue story, The Mirror, except iirc that was incubi on the other side of the mirror.

A much happier ending than the one we get in the movie, oh well.

What the fuck is that fucken poster? There is no woman in a white nightgown in this film. God, I could shoot poster designers who don't even bother to consult their notes. Fuck you all so much.

My god, the shock I got at seeing Julian Sands.

Poor Julian.

This was actually much better than I expected. Lovely textures and use of colour. Loved that our protagonist was a piper herself, and I particularly loved the use of music theory, and how faithful this was to the Pied Piper story.

"Music is, after all, a disruption of the air." I loved that line.

ittedly, it didn't hold my attention all the way through but that might have been because I stopped it to write for a bit and to work out a plot problem and also change half the title of the novel. But once I got back into it, I was appreciating it all over again.

Pity the creature design and CGI of the final act were a bit crap. And I really didn't think the reveal in the last scene was necessary but I suppose it comes with horror these days. Though I did like the two person factor of the showdown. I wonder if they edited the visuals of Julian's character in the finale so not to be too distressing. Oh I hope so.

The whole discord/harmony thing reminded me of pre-LOTR Howard Shore's score of The Cell and how he got the London Philharmonic Orchestra to play a lil bit out of sync all the way through until the final piece when it all comes together and I swear that makes me cry every time, the beauty of it.

Two days later after seeing an Insta post: DID I ACCIDENTALLY WATCH THIS ON JULIAN SANDS’ BIRTHDAY WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

When I am asked, "What Classic Hollywood films would you recommend?"

Please note: as far as I'm concerned, the chronological era of Classic (Golden Age) Hollywood ends with The Apartment in 1960. Everything after that I class as modern good Hollywood.

And oh yeah, I'm throwing Brit film in there too. And the occasional German film.

• Holiday
• A Place in the Sun
• The Palm Beach Story
• The Animal Kingdom
• Singin' in the Rain
• Now, Voyager
• Pygmalion
• From Here to Eternity
• The Pirate
• The Ox-Bow Incident

...plus 102 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

A folder on my Collections hard drive replicated (more or less) in electronic form. Mileage may vary.

• Poison
• My First Summer
• Beginners
• Life Partners
• The Greenhouse
• Sequin in a Blue Room
• Looking for Langston
• Booksmart
• Lazy Susan
• Summerland

...plus 49 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Work in progress as I retrieve more from my memory and Letterboxd reviews.

• Frankenstein
• Finch
• Making Mr. Right
• Superintelligence
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• Terminator: Dark Fate
• Alien Resurrection
• Alien: Covenant
• Brian and Charles
• Frankenweenie

...plus 8 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Us
• The Wind
• Marrowbone
• 1922
• Ghost Stories
• The Ritual
• Annabelle: Creation
• The Endless
• Get Out
• I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House

...plus 105 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Queen
• Aiyyaa
• English Vinglish
• Salaam Namaste
• Love Aaj Kal
• Jab We Met
• Kahaani
• Kahaani 2
• Ek Hasina Thi
• Rang De Basanti

...plus 29 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Two by two. And a few triple features.

• False Positive
• Blood Born
• Idiot Box
• Kiss or Kill
• Bulbbul
• Roohi
• College
• Steamboat Bill, Jr.
• Wild River
• Swades

...plus 70 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Just the good stuff according to my idiosyncratic definition/standard.

• The Hole in the Ground
• Grabbers
• The Hallow

  This is a terrible movie but the mythology and atmospherics are great.

• You Are Not My Mother
• The Watchers
• Oddity

• Last Christmas
• Love Actually
• Home Alone
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
• Almost Christmas
• A Bad Moms Christmas
• Klaus
• Bad Santa
• Rise of the Guardians
• Holiday Affair

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

when I'm fully distracted by the crochet thing onscreen

films and shows

includes things that may or may not be crocheted cos sometimes it could be machine-knitted and I can't really tell

• All the Light in the Sky

  the grey lace motif shawl/throw that could be seamless as you go | the white/cream blankie with the triangles

• CODA

  the pink cable blankie

• Dramarama

  purple and white backloop chevron blankie

• The Starling

  gradient chevron throw in yellows and browns

• Midnight Mass

  gradient chevron throw in greys

• Toy Story 4

  green and blue mandala motifs with a blue satin border

• The Madness of King George

  Helen Mirren is crocheting lace with a tiny hook and finest thread in bed

• Les Girls

  a gradient throw in oranges and browns?

• While We're Young

  a throw of mitered squares on one couch, and a throw of granny square flowers on the other couch

• Ouija: Origin of Evil

  one horrible little granny square vest but then the lovely cluster stitch on the yoke of her white dress. Don't think the border above the hem was crochet, more like cloth flowers? Mebbe

...plus 25 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Apartment
• Grumpy Old Men
• Shrek
• His Girl Friday
• The Secret of Dr. Kildare
• Phffft
• Moana
• Teacher's Pet
• Tangled
• The Truth About Cats & Dogs

...plus 92 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Not ranked but yes, the first is the best

• 49th Parallel
• The Way Ahead
• Platoon
• From Here to Eternity
• Jarhead
• One of Our Aircraft Is Missing
• 1917
• Forever and a Day
• Mrs. Miniver
• Full Metal Jacket

...plus 29 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• The Medium

  Thai-South Korean production

• Svaha: The Sixth Finger
• The 8th Night
• The Host
• A Tale of Two Sisters

Criterion: movies set in Sydney that I like. I don't care what you like.

• Hot Mess
• I Met a Girl

  the geography is a lil suspect bit still pretty

• Dil Chahta Hai
• Here Out West
• Erskineville Kings
• Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt)
• Sequin in a Blue Room
• Babyteeth

  Only for the way it films Sydney

• Alex & Eve
• Idiot Box

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

From Riley's challenge.

I may or may not stick to these if I find something else that takes my fancy on the day. Also using this as incentive to finally get around to films I've been meaning to watch for ages.

1. Silent Hill

   from agracelm's favourites

2. Suspiria

   an Italian horror and one I've been meaning to watch ... YES, I KNOW

3. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

   the third in a franchise

4. Titane

   the most popular horror from 2021 I haven't seen

5. The Host

   eco horror

6. Freddy vs. Jason

   a Robert Englund film -- on Stan

7. The 8th Night

   My horror watchlist shuffled, seventh entry -- on Netflix

8. Gremlins 2: The New Batch

   a Gremlins film

9. Bride of Frankenstein

   horror from the 30s, 40s, or 50s

10. YellowBrickRoad

    a movie from 2010

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by Quinn’s list okay

• The Crow

  The GOAT

• The Princess Bride

  Westley 5 eva

• Megamind

  I love his giant blue head and his beautiful green eyes

• The Best Years of Our Lives

  Dana Andrews be still my heart

• Tangled

  Eugene darling

• Beauty and the Beast

  The Beast or Adam, either’s fine with me

• The Scarlet Pimpernel

  Percy my love

• Palm Springs

  Nyles is me and I am Nyles

• Plus One

  Ben is me and I am Ben

• Mullet

  Eddie my fave fuckup

...plus 24 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Because I am still going through so much Australian film, and there is so so much good stuff worth reccing.

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Strictly Ballroom
• Mystery Road
• Picnic at Hanging Rock
• Sequin in a Blue Room
• Babe
• Mullet
• The Interview
• Last Cab to Darwin
• Kiss or Kill

...plus 35 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Inspired by Quinn’s list okay

• Beauty and the Beast

  My Belle forever

• Maleficent

  MY LOVE

• Alien

  Ripley 5 eva

• Addicted to Love

  Meg in that smoky eye ... “It’s pretty, Sam.”

• Tumhari Sulu

  Vidya my preshus

• Set It Up

  Hell yeah Harper and her writer angst

• Summerland

  Also Alice and her writer angst

• Holiday

  Linda my love

• Bells Are Ringing

  Ella my pet

• Calamity Jane

  Calam forever

...plus 21 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.