Walter Koenig, best known for playing Ensign Pavel Chekov on Star Trek, died yesterday, October 25, 2026, at the age of 90. He also played Psi Cop Alfred Bester on Babylon 5.Walter Koenig was born on September 14, 1936 in Chicago. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union. His father was a translator for RCA Victor. The family moved to Manhattan in New York City when Walter Koenig was young. He acted in school plays at Fieldston High School in New York. He attended…

Melancholic and keenly attuned to the world of low-level New York City crime, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York provides an old-school helping of urban life that revolves around John Turturro’s performance as Harry, a pickpocket nearing the end of his hustle. Times have changed. Credit cards have put a crimp on light-fingered activities. The bricks that held up the old street order are crumbling. The movie can be taken as an ode to New York City as a haven for layers of hidden subcultures…

A mockumentary series about a group of failed MCs from West London and their passion for pirate radio. Extremely funny when taking in small doses, it feels like a neighbourhood variant of The Office. It’s funny at times, retarded at times, but it does a great job at entertaining. Five popcorns. To see all 30 photos, visit the article page. This article was originally published at: https://andrei.xyz/movies/people-just-do-nothing/

News has sadly broken of the passing of actor and writer Walter Koenig, veteran of the science fiction small screen where he played key roles on both the original Star Trek (and associated movies) and Babylon 5.Koenig was born in Chicago in 1936 to Russian parents. He decided to become an actor relatively late, after receiving a psychology degree and a professor suggested he try acting. Koenig's first notable television role was on The Lieutenant, produced by Gene Roddenberry.Koenig was then…

Bullet to Beijing is another Harry Palmer installment of the series that started with The IPCRESS File back in the 1960s. It was the first Palmer film in 30 years.Unfortunately, it’s terrible.It was supposedly filmed for theaters then released direct-to-video because it was so bad. Michael Caine has reported that filming this was the worst experience of his career, and he threatened to retire in the middle of it.Harry is forcibly retired from the service about two minutes into the film, which…

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO: Fair winds and following seas to Walter Koenig, Star Trek’s Pavel Chekov, passing at 90 from natural causes.

It’s not often that physical locations seen in Mark Frost and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks go on the market. There have been a handful over the years, and each time I dream of owning them. The latest is the famed Bookhouse seen during the first two seasons of the groundbreaking television series. I’ve previously discussed the... The post Go Inside The Bookhouse Now For Sale in Fall City, Washington appeared first on TWIN PEAKS BLOG.

The poster for Creature of the Pines (dirs. Chris Ruppert & Tyler Transue, 2026), prominently features red string. ▲ Creature of the Pines (dirs. Chris Ruppert & Tyler Transue, 2026) ▲ Creature of the Pines (dirs. Chris Ruppert & Tyler Transue, 2026)

While horror movies have had a remarkable run in the 20th century, I was being a scaredy cat who tried to avoid all of it. But I eventually realized I might be missing something. So many of my fellow cinephiles also love horror, and not just for cheap thrills. What did they see that I didn’t? Read my piece for Cinema Sugar where I lay out the five horror movies that brought me into the dark and showed me the light about a timeless genre.

In March 2021 I posted an article about the 8th annual National Air Carnival held in Birmingham on June 4-5, 1938. This air show was a well-attended event over a number of years in the city. As fate would have it, I have come across an item on the 1940 Carnival in the Gadsden Times. Several individuals are mentioned; let's explore the details.See comments below the article.Source: Gadsden Times 26 May 1940Steadham Acker [1896-1952]Source: Birmingham Aero Club Acker was a Gadsden native who…

As part of the Huston family of actors and filmmakers, Danny Huston can be considered

Why shouldn't an opera be set in an office? Not merely set there; performed there! On Saturday night, a couple of dozen audience members were ushered in to a genuine office in Tooting to watch a short comic opera by Opera UnTouched. It was a burst of sunshine in a rainy day. We're at Ben's leaving party. A flustered woman is busy on the telephone. Will Ben ever get her attention? Both Grace Watkins & Stephen Whitford are astonishingly good opera singers. They cover all the tropes, hit all the…

An uneventful day in an uneventful week, and I suppose we should be grateful for small favors like that. Over on NBC, one of the two schools on College Bowl is the University of Minnesota at Morris, located about ten miles from the World's Worst Town™. They lost badly to Bradley, though, so I don't feel too bad about it. On the syndicated music show Upbeat (1:00 p.m., WGR), whoever edited the listings managed to misspell Lesley Gore's name, but considering the number of typos I make, I…

Spooking: Monsters, Mayhem, and MarqueesAnd a Hand-Made Puppet Shall Lead Them --- Do click and enlarge the Beast. He’s a model, so are cars, so’s the street itself … would we have it any other way? Much appeal of Harryhausen was fans figuring they could do what he did at home. That’s how he started after all, in the family garage with a tabletop and stuff bought at the hardware. His was Dreaming the Possible Dream as lots loving his work would. More than a few made films like Ray did, enough…

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is … Continue reading →

How Julia's new cancellation system works.

Goldfinger (1964)

A trade journal ad promoting F.W. Murnau's 'Faust' (1926).I need to be more careful in introducing silent film programs. On Sunday, Oct. 25, prior to a screening of 'The Bat' (1926), I expounded on the many connections that the Batman franchise has with the silent film era.As an example, I cited actor Neil Hamilton, a popular silent-era leading man who many years later played Commissioner Gordon on the 1960s Batman TV series.I even used my patented laugh-getting line: "Seeing Neil Hamilton as a…

It’s on HBO Max now, the video says Netflix but people kept telling me it isn’t on there so I’m reposting to say that they just moved it to HBO Max since I posted it the first time. Go watch it there! Scavengers Reign! Jason Pargin review on Meta. He says it is one of the best sci-fi things he has seen. I have not seen it. Lots of ckips online, etc.

After brutally beating a prisoner, the police leave him alone in his cell but soon they (and the audience) learn of the man’s powers to change form and bend the laws of physics to make good his escape. Home Media Availability: Released on Bluray. Mr. Fantastic Audiences of the 1900s particularly loved two genres: special […]

Mark Frost and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks originally aired at a time before access to the World Wide Web was commonplace. While I dabbled in bulletin boards via CompuServe in the late 1980s, I didn’t access the internet until spring 1995. The early 1990s, however, saw some technological marvels that formed a foundation of the social... The post Twin Peaks Publicity – AP Leafdesk Photograph of Kyle MacLachlan from July 27, 1992 appeared first on TWIN PEAKS BLOG.

Evil Dead Burn (2026, Sébastien Vani?ek) Oh right, it’s the New French Extremism sequel, which is actually none of those things. Lot of severed body parts lying around as the girl kills a final zombie with a lawn tool then sets the place ablaze. Nice photography when the girl stands still and there are no CG beasties around, but any action is shot and/or edited like shit. I think her trauma is speaking to her in the form of a crumbling demonified husband who wants to get her holy dagger. The…

Today’s recording starts with the end of QI. There’s a trail for The Rob Brydon Show. A trail for Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow. And a trail for Excluded, part of a School season. Then, we have a film, The Special Relationship. This is the third film starring Michael Sheen as Tony Blair, after The Deal and The Queen, all of which were written by Peter Morgan. We meet him in Washington in 1992, being briefed by Democrat strategists on how to win an election. Four years later, and he’s…

Today many people probably have not heard of the movie Conrack (1974), directed by Martin Ritt. It received mixed to positive reviews upon its release, and it did somewhat poorly at the box office. Regardless, it is significant for its portrayal of life on Daufuskie Island (fictionalized in the film as Yamacraw Island), as well as one of the earlier portrayals of trick-or-treating in a feature film.Conrack (1974) was based on the book The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy, which was based on his…

There are a lot of “sophomore slumps” in television, but the second season of The Agency just knocked it out of the park.The focus of Martian in this go-around is two-fold —To capture “Viking,” the American solider who turned traitor and is working with the Russian mercenary group ValhallaTo free his lover, Samia, from her abduction by the Sudanese (or is it the Iranians?)This intersects with Daniela’s undercover work in Iran, which was an unfulfilled subplot in season one. And of course, there…

Find all previous and future episodes listed here or in your podcast app under “Barbican Station”. This episode I talk with returning guest Matthew Bradford about everything that happened in the final episode of season 6 of Slow Horses. We talk about crowbars, birthday parties and beaches. Plus differences from the books, who is coming back next season and that shocking death. Finally, what does it mean for the show now that it’s diverging so far from the book series? All that and more in this…

"I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star!" Peter O’Toole plays an Errol Flynn-like washed up drunk actor, tasked with appearing live on a comedy sketch show. A junior writer on the show (Mark Linn-Baker) has the job of trying to stop him running away. There’s an odd mix here of a sharp wise-cracking screwball style comedy, crossed with a cosy shapeless comedy-drama — and I like it! Peter O’Toole plays the charming but sad-behind-the-eyes part well, and everyone around him sort of struggles to keep…

Noirvember(the month to celebrate all things Film Noir) begins next Sunday. To say I am excited would be an understatement(it’s my favourite month of the year). Celebrations will begin even sooner here in the UK. The UK’s only Film Noir festival is back for its third year. Film Noir Fest 2026 gets underway in Weston-Super- Mare on October 30th, and runs until November 1st. You can book tickets, passes and find out screening times on the festival’s website…

★★★★: Tightly written, not a moment is spared. Tea Gives you all the twists, even if they aren't obvious on the first watch. There are a _lot_ of time jumps, maybe too many. I imagine it's hard to follow on a first watch. But the whole thing comes together so excellently it's hard to say the editing didn't work. There's never been such an excellent story of determination, rivalry, obsession, and revenge. FYI: My reviews are scored out of 4. Also, thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed and…

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Sometimes theatre can feel like it’s trying to smash you over the head with a sledgehammer when talking about particular issues. And one of the things I particularly liked about Ilford Boy at the Darmar Warehouse is that yes, it does cover really big issues like homophobia and racism, but it does it in a far more subtle way. The story is the story, and there is this underlying theme that threads through it. It’s in the little comments that people make just the way it would be…