We need to stop trying to turn these things from small talk you have with your friends to kill time into things people think have actual right & wrong answers because they’re dull
I've never watched Beatles Anthology series before, so I'm really enjoying the re-release on Disney+, but the AI upscaling on all the archive footage is monstrous historical vandalism. The lads' faces keep morphing into uncanny doppelgangers, and text is frequently mushed into gibberish.
Lots to say about One Battle After Another, but it's one of the best experiences I've had with IMAX. The Vistavision cinematography was unbelievably immersive. At times it felt like I was physically riding a rollercoaster.
"...Knight’s going back to Bond’s beginnings as a Royal Navy Commander before being recruited by MI6... to perhaps chart how Bond attained 007 status."
Please, God, no! No more origin stories!
deadline.com/2025/09/jame...
Cowboy, spy, journalist, paratrooper - Robert Redford had all my dream jobs when I was growing up. A blockbuster superstar who used his power to champion independent cinema, he represented all that American movies had to offer.
Not sure how to feel about this. I like a lot of Knight's stuff but he's pretty hit and miss.
Some film students in the pub overheard that I'd just watched Barry Lyndon and asked me what I "liked about it". Felt like I was being physically assaulted.
I am not psychologically prepared to be older than James Bond.
I don't think he deserves to be crucified.
Denis Villeneuve is probably the best choice we could have hoped for. Just don't mess with the gunbarrel and use the theme music a lot.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Went to an inexplicably 2003-themed pub crawl this year and did my duty.
Recently saw it projected on 35mm at the Prince Charles - they screen it a few times a year and I can't recommend it enough.
As another under-30 fan, I loved getting drunk and watching this film at uni. There's a fantastic authenticity to the dialogue - they all sound like men of their time, whereas most 21st century historical war movies just transpose modern sensibilities and mannerisms onto their characters.
RIP Brian Wilson.
Lovely podcast lads. You mentioned James M McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom - this extract on the 54th's assault and the aftermath has never left me.
I think half the MI films are genuinely good, and M:I 2 isn't one of them, but it's not terrible imo. It's got character, when a lot of the others tend to blend together. I can barely remember a thing from the third one, and I struggle to differentiate between Rogue Nation/Fallout.
In 1947, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin said the UK needed to build a nuclear bomb "with the bloody Union Jack on top of it." It's a real shame isn't alive to see his dream become reality in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
The final rankoning
I say this with a very heavy heart, but I did not get on with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. A couple of reheated stunts from Roger Moore Bond films can't save this talky, confused slog of a film. The endless procession of fan service, callbacks and retcons puts Spectre (2015) to shame.
I feel like a lot of the world's problems can be traced to the decline of internet forums. Social media wasn't build to handle so many weirdos and hobbyists.
These towns first appeared in the previous game, which is set a few years later. Armadillo is thriving and Tumbleweed has become a ghost town because it was bypassed by the railroad. They inverted this dynamic for the prequel, likely for the sake of variety and as tongue-in-cheek wink to fans.
Aha, didn't realise it was only WWII films, carry on. Astonished Pearl Harbour made the cut over Where Eagles Dare though.
I'm always surprised that Lawrence of Arabia never features in these lists. Is it considered too premium a film to be lumped in with other war movies?
Incredible film. Went to an exhibition on war films at the IWM about ten years ago, and there was a fascinating letter from David Lean to Carl Foreman on display. Lean didn't think Foreman properly understood the hubris at the heart of Col. Nicholson.
Finished watching 9-hour holocaust documentary Shoah yesterday. Fancied something a bit lighter afterwards, so put on Terms of Endearment, not realising was was a cancer movie.
Now the dust has settled on the Oscars, I finally wrote down some thoughts on my favourite films from last year: clueddown.com/2025/03/08/t...
I've come to the decision that he should be Bond.
They don't build actors like Gene Hackman anymore. Never predictable, his presence could be fearsome, charming or pathetic, but always a little enigmatic. He dominated so many classic movies, more than I can recall.
This video makes me feel like Robert De Niro is my grandad.
James Bond's death in NTTD makes more sense now - they must have suspected something like this was coming. If it had to end, I'm glad we got some sort of conclusion to the Broccoli family's 007. Whatever comes next will be something very different.
