Welcome to 2010. There’s rather a lot of recordings today, but having checked the schedule this won’t keep up. It’s the last gasp of the holidays. The first recording starts with a trails for Doctor Who and Gavin and Stacey. Then, as a kind palate-cleanser for having to watch the two Pirates of the Caribbean movies, it’s Muppet Treasure Island. As we started watching this, my daughter commented that the score sounded a bit similar to POTC and wonders if that had been inspired, or if they were…

The Great Albert is an episode of the British anthology drama series Scorpion Tales (1978), which was broadcast by ITV for just one series of six episodes that had the loosely interconnected premise of having “a sting in their tale”, and it has something of a “wyrd” pedigree and background. It was written by John Peacock, who also wrote the And the Wall Came Tumbling Down episode of the 1984 anthology drama series Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, which, in A Year In The Country: Other…

lingthusiasm:What do you do when the only records that remain of a language were made by someone who had absolutely horrendous views of the people who spoke it?In this episode, your host Lauren Gawne gets enthusiastic about a crossover episode with Claire Aubin of This Guy Sucked! Lauren’s Guy who Sucked is Daisy Bates, who did a lot of early 20th century work documenting over 100 Indigenous languages in western and southern Australia, while also directly adding to policies and narratives that…

Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer - WikipediaJoin legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone as he defends early American settlers from British forces and hostile threats during the height of the Revolutionary War. Starring Bruce Bennett as Boone, this action-packed adventure blends history and heroism with classic 1950s frontier flair.

I just watched the film Ugetsu for the first time in many years, as part of my Mizoguchi retrospective, and found it just as great as I remembered (starring both Machiko Kyō and Kinuyo Tanaka — the only such film, as far as I know, although Tanaka later directed Kyō in The Wandering Princess). As every schoolboy knows, it’s based on Ugetsu Monogatari, “a collection of nine supernatural tales first published in 1776”; Wikipedia explains the title thus: The word Ugetsu is a compound word; u (雨)…

Well, even if I have no time for blogging, I at least can now talk about the first of the things we’re working on. A video essay for Masters of Cinema’s 1929 Laurel & Hardy collection, which we’ve titled Glorious Disaster, after a phrase by the great Walter Kerr. Always a little disconcerting when they […]

It's time for a look at the May schedule on Turner Classic Movies!Gregory Peck is the May Star of the Month. Approximately 20 Peck films will be shown spread across Friday evenings this month.The May Noir Alley films will be DRUNKEN ANGEL (1948) on May 2nd and 3rd, THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946) on the 9th and 10th, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) May 16th-17th, and HOUSE OF NUMBERS (1957) on the 30th and 31st.I love the May Special Theme, focusing on Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu every…

Blue Heron, an absorbing debut film from Canadian director Sophy Romvari, begins as if it's going to be an idyl about the joys of childhood. Romvari introduces us to the kids of a Hungarian immigrant family that's settling into a new home on Vancouver Island in the 1990s. A truck is unloaded, and the kids are encouraged to get out of the way. Romvari and cinematographer Maya Bankovic keep the camera close to their characters. You almost feel the children brushing past. Romvari bases the film on…

The opening credits of Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) strobe between red and black iterations of string and investigation boards. ▲ Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) ▲ Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) ▲ Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) ▲ Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) ▲ Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) ▲ Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) ▲ Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) ▲ Psycho Killer (dir. Gavin Polone, 2026) ▲ Psycho Killer (dir.…

For the second day of Golden Week, I went to see "A New Dawn" at Cinemalice in Jinbocho. This is an animated movie directed by Yoshitoshi Shinomiya. Shinomiya is a nihonga artist1 and worked under Makoto Shinkai; A New Dawn is his directional debut for a feature-length film. *This is a spoiler-free review. I won't give away the ending or specific plot details, but I will talk about the broader strokes of the plot, so be warned. SynopsisThe film centers around Sentarō, Keitarō, and Kaoru, three…

It had been a long wait to catch this movie on the big screen. Max and I decided to catch the late night show at Inox, Marina Mall on Thursday. I had [read the book](https://xavierroy.com/library/#eyJub3JtYWxpemVkIjp0cnVlLCJ0aXRsZSI6IlRoZSBBZWRpZmljaXVtIChCZXRhKSB7VGV4dCBzZWFyY2ggUHJvamVjdCBIYWlsIE1hcnl9IiwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly94YXZpZXJyb3kuY29tL2xpYnJhcnkvIiwiaGFzaCI6Ii4vL2xpYnJhcnkvPyZfc3VpZD0xNzc3ODAxNjE0MjU0MDQyNDU5NzAwMzA0Mzc4NDY3IiwiZGF0YSI6eyJjb21wb25lbnRzIjp7ImJvb2stc2VhcmNoIjp7InR5cGUiOiJ…

It was on my second viewing of RKO ‘s 1947 film noir They Won’t Believe Me that one scene stood out. A brief one, of the film’s protagonist, Larry Ballantine (Robert Young), waiting at a roadside stop for the bus bringing his girlfriend. It’s almost a throwaway; a setup for a squalid meeting between two conspiring lovers—one of whom (that being Larry) is married—who plan on absconding to Reno with stolen dough. But on this viewing I saw in this scene something…different, something meaningful. I…

AFTER THE SHOOTING Despite the title, Anna Yates’ setting in an episcopalian church room full of calm skylight, and one effective moment near the end, Fran Kranz’ tense 105-minute play draws little from any Christian sensibility of forgiveness or eternity. It concerns, like James Graham’s PUNCH but in real time, an episode of restorative justice. In this case it is vicarious on both sides: the perpetrator is dead. His parents are at a table with parents of one victim. The scene is set before,…

I’ve enjoyed watching Mr Chops on YouTube, mainly for his video game content, but his travel videos are pretty cool too. The one above shows how he went a whole day in London without spending any money. It involved a lot of walking, free water, and the hospitality of Sikhs in a gurdwara. The post Spending an entire day in London without spending an entire penny appeared first on Cultrface.

Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian, The Whitest Kids U’Know) co-wrote and directed this latest installment in the long running horror movie franchise, which looks to remain in the “side-story” realm for the Resident Evil franchise a’la the Mila Jovovich films. The trailer is nothing if not effective, with a very creepy looping of the incorrect number chime. We’ll see how it plays out. Resident Evil hits theaters on September 18th, 2026.

Oh god, when I first started watching the 1975 BBC miniseries Edward the King, about the

A special team, including prosecutors Lin Zhi Tao and Bai En Yu, works to protect children through the legal system. They come across crimes that test their emotional strength, but despite the horrifying cases, they have to fight for justice for one of society’s most vulnerable: the children. Characters Lin Zhi Tao (played by TBD): A no-nonsense prosecutor who becomes part of the special Juvenile Crime Division. Bai En Yu (played by Vengo Gao): A corrections officer at a juvenile corrections…

Who won Million Dollar Secret season 2? And how did the finale compare to season 1? Here are my thoughts and the final gambits of Daisy, Kaleb, Kat, Kevin, Lauren, and Nick.

Asian jumping worms on the sidewalk in Oakland, March 2024 (photo by Kate St. John) 30 April 2026 We’re used to watching out for pests while turning over the soil but here’s one you may not recognize. Asian jumping worms (Amynthas agrestis) are an invasive species that writhe and jump unlike our relatively placid earthworms. Earthworms benefit the garden but Asian jumping worms ruin the soil. If you have them, get rid of them! Here’s a quick video from Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York that…

I finally finished C-drama “How Dare You?!” (2026) last week, and just recently, I started watching “Pursuit of Jade”. My friends have been watching it on Netflix and they have been raving about it ever since. I also saw similar positive reactions on /cdrama subreddit, so I’m quite excited! I usually talked about C-drama series that I’ve been watching on this blog, but I couldn’t find the motivation to do so for “How Dare You?!” Not that the story is bad; it’s actually pretty good. IINM, it was…

Opera night. I put on the suit I got in Vietnam. And then I went to Dream of the Red Chamber. So many steps at the hall. So sheer. I thought of how the Aztecs would roll corpses down the pyramids. And if I would be beside them. I was up in the top right in the nosebleed section, and I could see the nosebleed. I was so conscious of my nose, the feeling that it was dripping. The hook of it. The actors were too forced, and I could see why opera is a dying art. That it has greatness in it. But it’s…

I Swear was a great movie experience for me. Highly recommended. As someone who has Tourette’s Syndrome, it was a tremendously rare and emotional experience to see someone like me portrayed sympathetically in a movie. Basically never happens, certainly never this convincingly. I felt seen and understood and touched. It’s a tear-jerker. I also thought it might be worth trying compare the experience of the protagonist with my own, which is a little different. The fact that the main character in I…

The new series Widow’s Bay came to Apple TV this week, along with a flurry of press. I was surprised to see anything about a new series leak into my sphere of internet awareness, since that never happens anymore. The only others I can think of are Pluribus (haven’t seen it yet, plan to) and Severance (watched a few episodes and had to take a break when it got a little too heavy). Every time I open the Apple TV app to watch a movie, the landing page looks like a mockup of a fake streaming…

Did MrBeast's briefcase destroy Survivor 50? Nope. Could it have? Yup. But up until he showed up at Tribal Council, this was one of the best Survivor 50 episodes yet.

This is a blog post that goes along with the most recent bonus pod! You can listen to the first 15 minutes of the bonus pod below, but you’ll have to subscribe on Patreon to get the RSS feed of the full episode (as well as access to our Discord). This might sound unreal, but one of my earliest and most distinct memories is of a particular day rummaging through my mom’s closet looking for presents. It wasn’t my birthday or Christmas or anything like that; I just had this wild notion that maybe…

by Cláudio Alves Ideally, trailers and other promo are meant to sell a movie to their prospective audience, enticing and seducing butts into seats. Ideally, they'll build anticipation for a good time. Ideally, they don't make dread pool in the bellies of those who might have been excited about the project before they laid eyes on its ads. And yet, the trailers for The Devil Wears Prada 2 almost dared us to be optimistic in the face of an obvious nostalgia-drunk cash grab like so many others…

by Cláudio Alves Ideally, trailers and other promo are meant to sell a movie to their prospective audience, enticing and seducing butts into seats. Ideally, they'll build anticipation for a good time. Ideally, they don't make dread pool in the bellies of those who might have been excited about the project before they laid eyes on its ads. And yet, the trailers for The Devil Wears Prada 2 almost dared us to be optimistic in the face of an obvious nostalgia-drunk cash grab like so many others…

THE GANG’S ALL HERE. Monogram Pictures, 1941. Frankie Darro, Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran, Keye Luke, Mantan Moreland. Director: Jean Yarbrough. Frankie Darro and his pal Jeff (Mantan Moreland0 land jobs with a trucking company that, unknown to them, is having a problem with hijackers. What’s worse, even though the boss and his daughter are fine people, the problem is an inside one. The budget restrictions were painfully obvious, but this is my kind of movie. It has everything: action,…

The first recording is a repeat of Space 1999 – The Dorcons. Media Centre Description: The Dorcons: Sci-fi drama series about space-age castaways. The Dorcons – the most powerful race in the galaxy – demand that the Alphans hand Maya over to them. Recorded from ITV4 on Thursday 31st December 2009 09:23 The recording ends with the start of The Champions. The next recording is a later showing of the same episode of Space 1999. Media Centre Description: The Dorcons: Sci-fi drama series about…

In the movie, Omaha, a recently widowed father (John Magaro) takes his nine-year-old daughter Ella (Molly Belle Wright) and his six-year-old son Charlie (Wyatt Solis) on a road trip. The family travels in a car that's so beat-up Ella must help Dad push the vehicle in hopes of getting a jump start. From the outset of this ultimately troubling film, it's clear that this is no pleasure trip. Setting a slight but emotionally rich story against lonely American landscapes, director Cole Webley…