Grant Watson

A large group of Taiwanese politicians fighting in their Parliament. A man in the centre of frame is falling over a bench head-first towards the floor.

"Man, I had a tough week, my job is crazy."

(Meanwhile, in the Taiwanese Parliament.)

Utter bawbag.

REVIEW: The Only Son (1936) Ozu Yasujiro’s The Only Son – his first talking picture – is an efficiently composed, modest gem. It tells a short, simple story but tells it very well. One can see the artist tha…

NEW REVIEW! Ozu Yasujiro's first talking picture sees the director emerge effectively fully-formed in terms of style, tone, and content. It's a modest and heartfelt family drama.

fictionmachine.com/2026/02/12/r...

What's the difference between a Looney Tunes and a Merrie Melodies cartoon, you may ask.

Warner Bros owned a very large catalogue of musical works. Merrie Melodies were set up to exploit this catalogue, while Looney Tunes were established for more generic animated short films.

So now you know.

Happy #LibSpill Day for those who celebrate.

This is why I always ask two questions of any film I watch:
1. What is the filmmaker attempting to do, and do they succeed?
2. Is it good?

If Question 1 is not "make a 100% faithful adaptation", then clearly the filmmaker can't have failed.

REVIEW: Nuremberg (2025) James Vanderbilt, who wrote the screenplay to Zodiac (2007), has now written and directed the historical drama Nuremberg (2025). It actually makes a lot of sense, and I feel one can sense both film…

NEW REVIEW. To an extent, James Vanderbilt's Nuremberg is just another glossy Hollywood courtroom drama, but a series of small moments and a blunt, factual representation of Nazi horrors elevate it to a higher quality.

fictionmachine.com/2026/02/11/r...

RIP James Van Der Beek.

I love Dern, but it has to be said she was taking advantage.

It's been really divisive among anime fans.

YouTube video by Geoff Love & His Orchestra - Topic Doctor Who

May I suggest each episode cliffhanger using *this* theme, specifically from 1:28.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSYS...

Mike Flanagan & Stephen King Back In Business With ‘The Mist’ Movie For Warner Bros Warner Bros is reuniting frequent collaborators Mike Flanagan and Stephen King on a new adaptation of The Mist, based on King's 1980 novella.

Given how good the Darabont film of The Mist is, this new adaptation is honest-to-god a waste of everybody's time. Flanagan's, King's, the audience's. Everybody's.

deadline.com/2026/02/step...

TV REVIEW: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, 1.5 “Series Acclimation Mil” First broadcast 5 February 2026. I have sat on writing this review for longer than usual, because “Series Acclimation Mil” is easily – for good or bad – the most interesting…

NEW REVIEW! "Series Acclimation Mil" is a near-perfect episode of Starfleet Academy in every respect bar timing.

fictionmachine.com/2026/02/10/t...

I have literally done the training courses, baiting cadets to prepare them for real life.

"What follows is based on the accounts of those who lived through it. And those who didn't."

I'm not quite sure this means entirely what you think it means, Nuremberg.

I have this specific response to JMS' writing where I think his dialogue is terrible but his monologues are masterful.

I have a very complicated relationship with B5. Quite liked it, then weird harassment from some fans led me to despise it, after a complete front-to-back rewatch a few years ago I think it's a weird mixture of genius and hack-handed terribleness in equal measure.

US judges dismiss lawsuits accusing Neil Gaiman of sexual assault Former nanny Scarlett Pavlovich filed suit in three US states alleging author assaulted her in New Zealand in 2022

This rather misleading headline neglects to include that the cases were dismissed because they were filed in the USA but the alleged crimes occurred in New Zealand.

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

"Not telling the full truth" honestly sounds like I'm being deliberately deceptive! "Is an old man with a literal brain condition affecting his memory" is more accurate.

Quickly Googling around, I note I did forget that "Into the Fire" was intended to be a two-part story, and that according to JMS the original Season 4 ending episode was going to be "Intersections in Real Time". So three episodes got shifted to Season 4, not two. Apologies.

Oh the loss of Claudia Christian absolutely shatters any chance the Season 5 telepath stuff had of being interesting. (IMO.)

I was originally referring to "Endgame" and "Rising Star" as the two episodes shifted from the start of Season 5 to the end of Season 4 when it looked like Season 5 wasn't happening.

My understanding has always been that "Deconstruction" was only made because the renewal for Season 5 meant they needed a new final episode for Season 4, and they came up with "Deconstruction" very late in the day and shot it as the first episode on the Season 5 schedule.

Season 4 wasn't sped up as much people think. They lost two episodes. (Which worryingly means Season 5 was always going to be that anticlimactic and boring.)

REVIEW: Scarlet (2025) It is difficult to imagine that William Shakespeare, when writing the playscript for Hamlet around 1600, could imagine it would still be getting fresh stagings and adaptations 425 years later &#821…

NEW REVIEW! Hosoda Mamoru's new anime feature Scarlet is a dizzying and ambitious epic riff on Shakespeare's Hamlet. It is screening now in Australian cinemas.

fictionmachine.com/2026/02/09/r...

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE The Ensemble of Flesh Mirror presented by Arts House and Melbourne Fringe Anthony Riddel, David Baker, Emma Norton, Janice Florence, Trevor Dunn, Sonia Marcon, Sylva Storm, Marco Cher, and Rebecca Jensen The Ensemble of Guewel presented by Arts House Awa Coulibaly, Aminata Sarr, Abdoul Aziz Ngom, Ndik Sene, and Anita Quayle The 43rd Green Room Awards

Congratulations to my wife Sonia Marcon and her very talented co-stars for their Outstanding Ensemble nomination in this year's Green Room Awards for Melbourne experimental theatre. Flesh Mirror was an amazing show, and their nomination is so well deserved.

Hong Kong courts have sentenced Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison; effectively a death sentence, given his frail health and age (78).

a woman in a floral shirt is laughing with the fox logo in the background ALT: a woman in a floral shirt is laughing with the fox logo in the background

Why don't ya skeet about it, old man!

Pretty sure we get to belittle the 30-odd people left using the word "skeet" though... :-D

Only 16 B5 eoisodes per year?