2026/09/02 Wednesday Doing last month's media log... I was watching a lot of stuff in the beginning of the month, but then I was caught up doing other stuff so I halted my movie-watching again... and I had a very bad last week as well, but I'm going to focus on the media log and get this out of the way. I'm still just watching stuff I had downloaded more than a year ago... With my father I watched The Penguin (2024) and this was quite a surprise. I don't remember the Battinson movie that well…

It might seem a little odd for a bird's common name to be so laudatory, but there you have it — the Splendid Fairywren! If you are sceptical of the "splendidness" of this bird, here's a picture of this brightly-coloured marvel: Australia is blessed to have these little wonders and it knows it — there's even a citizen science project that focuses on splendid fairywrens. The biodiversity of this continent/country is truly amazing!

Why did it take so long to write a WCW for Julia Sawalha?!? We all

For most of my life, the movie Fright Night was just a memory of a VHS box with a very cool cover. Back in the video store days, there were always movies with great covers that you didn't get around to watching, especially in the horror section. Heck, even now in 2026, I'm still trying to watch all of the movies whose VHS covers made an impact on me. Movies like Ghost Town, Cutting Class, and Mute Witness all still occupy lists that I made more than thirty years ago of movies I needed to see. I…

I'm going to sound completely insane saying this about random direct-to-video movies I hadn't heard of even a week ago, but this series is some of the funniest shit I have ever seen. I thought my life had been changed by seeing Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie earlier this year... I think the seventh SKFK movie is honestly having a similar effect on me?? It's really tremendous stuff!! These movies are really preoccupied with critiquing the entertainment business. That critique follows the…

Have you ever watched a film and thought, “Wait, I know that street”? A new interactive mapping project makes it easy to find out which iconic movie scenes were filmed right around the corner from your house.Movie Scene Map turns the globe into an open-air film set. It allows you to explore real-world locations from your favourite movies and TV shows, making it easy to track down specific filming locations - and maybe even visit them in person on your next walk or weekend getaway.Using the map,…

THE LOVE TRAP (1929), directed by the great William Wyler, was recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.THE LOVE TRAP is a cute romantic comedy which is of historical significance as a transitional silent-to-sound film.Most of the first half or maybe two-thirds of this 71-minute movie is silent, other than some sound effects.Next thing you know, the characters are speaking, but it's done so smoothly it takes a beat before the viewer realizes it. The dialogue then continues until the last…

I’m working on posts about a British horror movie, a Kollywood sci-fi movie, and a post that ties together Chapter 11 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, sci-fi, and Russian Formalist Boris Tomashevsky. I’m also beginning a study on the narrative purposes of interfaces in sci-fi. But all progress has stopped with the news last week that Dolly Parton and Tim Curry have passed. It’s parasocial, but the feels are real, and it was a lot to bear on top of current systemic anxieties. I’m GenX and both of these…

Feels like I didn't watch a lot of movies the past month or so, mostly because I've been working my way through all 15 seasons of ER lol. Movies Oppenheimer (2023) Watched on 2026-07-17: ★★★★★ Oppenheimer (2023) This one started off slow and given it was 3 hours I thought I might need multiple days to finish it, but nope, it was good enough that I got engrossed and finished it in the same day. I once again had some trouble with Nolan's sound mixing, finding myself often having to adjust volume…

tag(s): #useless-facts #random-thoughts (Por razones que no puedo explicar, este post tiene que ser en inglés. A pesar de que la historia de mi primer tatuaje fue en español. Y a pesar de que ambos están irremediablemente relacionados, ya que los hice uno después del otro. No tengo una explicación profunda. Es como es) The decision get a tattoo when I turned 40 was made a few months before the momentous occasion. María helped me pick a design. However I put it off for over 3 years. And I say so…

A glam icon obviously for his Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a movie much darker and more interesting than I had first imagined and great fun to write about in S+A. (Interviewed Richard O'Brien who said the character was his own secret self.) But I also love Tim Curry's turn as Stevie Streeter in the TV music biz satire Rock Follies (something else I managed to squeeze into S+A). In particular these scenes where Streeter talks about his stage concept for the song "Street…

HGTV's Totally '90s House gathers the decades finest actors—including Brian Austin Green, Jodie Sweetin, Matthew Lawrence, Joey Lawrence—and asks them to play pretend redesigning spaces.

Had a fun evening “ragging on The Telegraph” with Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt at the magnificent Union Chapel.

About I My Book | Consulting I X I Instagram I LinkedIn I Email

On the heels of Reading Maps, we have Movie Scene Maps, which appears to locate both plot locations and filming locations. The Bond movies never disappoint in terms of globe-hopping: here’s the locations for Casino Royale.

AMC has been taking part in the celebration of life for Dolly Parton by bringing some of her movies back to theaters, albeit at times that only unemployed people can see them. Luckily, I’m unemployed, so I got to finally see The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas from 1982. From the quick glimpse of the crowd, it looked like a couple dozen other Gen X-ers who were able to go see a movie in the afternoon on a Monday. And I shouldn’t make assumptions, but I’m guessing about half of us were gay male…

Melanie Raabe ist endlich wieder mit einem Thriller zurück. In „Daisy“ geht es um Selbstjustiz, Moral, KI und die Frage, wie weit Gerechtigkeit gehen darf. Warum mich das Buch begeistert hat und weshalb die Premierenlesung in Köln noch einmal eine ganz eigene Ebene dazugebracht hat, lest ihr hier. Transparenzhinweis: Ich habe das Buch kostenfrei vom Verlag erhalten. Den Eintritt zur Lesung habe ich selbst bezahlt. Zugegeben, ich bin ein Melanie-Raabe-Fanboy. Dass ich ihren neuen Thriller…

Do I remember how the third reboot of Spider-Man left off? Absolutely not. But if I’ve learned anything about blockbuster movies and my thin grasp of continuity, it wouldn’t matter. What I didn’t expect after decades of highly polished superhero slop, was a movie with an emotional core and action sequences that felt exhilarating. I got verklempt and didn’t mind tie-in(s) to the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well done Spider-Man #9 team! Currently Listening: Tame Impala “Loser”Reply via email

My frequently updated guide has all your fall reality show premieres in one place: TAR, RHONY, DWTS, and even non-acronym shows, from Halloween Baking Championship to Survivor.

My snoopysense went off while watching Repo Man, the offbeat punk sci-fi flick from 1984. About seven-and-a-half minutes in, titular star Emilio Estevez is silhouetted in a doorway, and on the door across the hall, there’s Charlie Brown! That’s part of a line of banners from the 1970s… in fact, it’s this one: Image swiped from a current eBay listing, if someone wants to buy it. The quote and image on the banner come from the May 24, 1967 Peanuts strip.

Pre-Code Crazy is the monthly series here at Shadows and Satin and over at the blog of my pal Kristina, Speakeasy, where each month we recommend a pre-Code film for you to watch on TCM – we never know what the other has selected until we post, and we try to never pick the same movie! My Pre-Code Crazy pick for this month was a no-brainer – as soon as I saw that TCM was airing The Secret of Madame Blanche (1933), my recommendation selection was secured! I’ve never seen this first-rate Irene…

Here's your fall 2026 guide to reality TV specials and documentary premieres, on streaming, cable, and even network TV.

Robert De Niro maintains an elaborate pushpin map in The Whisper Man (dir. James Ashcroft, 2026). ▲ The Whisper Man (dir. James Ashcroft, 2026) ▲ The Whisper Man (dir. James Ashcroft, 2026)

Watched: Spider-Man: Brand New Day 🍿A fun movie; Tom Holland is great in this role. Yet I still found myself wanting more.

If I dieWith a songIn my heartWill the musicWake me up?

Savage House (2026), written and directed by Peter Glanz, meets at the intersection of earlier

Tim Curry as Herkermer Homolka in Congo (1995) Vitals Tim Curry as Herkermer Homolka, desperate Romanian treasure-hunter Central Africa, Fall 1994 Film: Congo Release Date: June 9, 1995 Director: Frank Marshall Costume Designer: Marilyn Matthews WARNING! Spoilers ahead! Background After last week’s back-to-back losses of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry, my Letterboxd has been ablaze with fans rewatching 9 to 5, Clue, Steel Magnolias, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While I’ve seen all but the…

Image caption: Wikipedia In rural Pennsylvania, an unhappy housewife named Wanda (Barabara Loden) leaves her husband and children to take to the road. Her wanderings are listless and involve her jumping from man to man for protection. She eventually encounters a middle-aged robber named Norman (Michael Higgins). The two become lovers. Wanda now assists Norman with his robberies and other tasks, but her life is hardly exciting or any more fulfilling than it was before. When I first saw Barbara…

Following on from my previous movie summaries, this is my August 2026 review. Overall, I watched 27 new movies this month, taking the total for the year to 240! Watched 27 Hours 45 Average Rating 6.0 Highest Rated 9 After a lot of favourable ratings and hype online (mainly Letterboxd), I decided to venture to the cinema to watch Spider-Man: Brand New Day (8/10). It's been over four years since I saw the previous entry in this Tom Holland-era of Spider-Man movies, and he's (obviously) noticeably…

In 1926 Zimina took out a full-page ad in the Standard Casting Directory. One hundred years ago this month, Grace Kingsley had casting news about people from all kinds of backgrounds: James Pierce, a former football player for Indiana University and later a high school coach, had been hired to play Tarzan for F.B.O. Studios. Iris Stuart, an advertising model, had signed a long-term contract and would be the second lead in Bebe Daniels’ Stranded in Paris. Jean de Navelle, a famous Parisian…