Mel Killingsworth

Coffee and Noir: WHITE HEAT every instance of coffee in noir: 058

Caught up to a classic . . . and how it likes its coffee, for #Noirvember

melkillingsworth.substack.com/p/coffee-and...

LEFT: an animated medium shot of a man looking at his robotic hand RIGHT: a similarly framed shot of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator looking at his robotic hand

If you want more animation in your #Noirvember, boy do I have the "sci-fi detective noir with incredibly cool visuals" movie for you!

#MarsExpress: shotzero.substack.com/p/mars-expre...

These four shots from The Last Stop in Yuma County serve three distinct purposes: plot, pretty, and character.

PLOT showing us whether Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue) will successfully dose the coffee

1/3

A review of Obsession (1976) What better time to rectify a blind spot for me both in terms of De Palma and Hitchcock remakes - a double of a film about doubles made by a man who is always doing remakes and doubles, scored by the ...

#Noirvember, and crank it up to 11!

boxd.it/bBUeFl

Coffee and Noir: CUBA LIBRE every instance of coffee in noir: 057

#Noirvember continues, with coffee and Cuba Libre

melkillingsworth.substack.com/p/coffee-and...

A review of White Heat (1949) Catching up to one of those classic all-timers I hadn't seen, and whew does that opening train sequence have it all; some coldblooded stunts as well as plenty of other coldblooded ways to establish Ca...

#Noirvember marches madly on!

letterboxd.com/mehlsbells/f...

(too gay to function? oh no, not me. I'm juuuuuuuust gay enough to function, it's the whole cult upbringing which makes the functionality go WEEEEEEE OO WEEEEEE OO MEEP! MEEP! MEEP! MEEP! EGHH! EGHH! SQUAN-KEE! SQUAN-KEE!)

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and don't forget to click that button to subscribe

@oldfilmsflicker.bsky.social's strike rate remains 100

letterboxd.com/mehlsbells/f...

The red set from Kiss of the Spider Woman [if you've seen it, you know] is going to haunt my dreams.

Cardboard and paint turned pure cinematic joy.

*smashes add to watchlist button*

To kick off #Noirvember we're looking at a practical movement in one of the most influential thrillers of all time: Fritz Lang's M

Sending additional police to supermarkets to guard food that is so abundant it will be thrown out in massive volumes is “political violence”

Making the active choice to withhold emergency funding and starve large swaths of the country is “political violence” and it should be reported and viewed as such

Practical Tricks: M how Fritz Lang made what is now a special effects shot, practically.

Doing some deep dives on the 'how and why' of classic and neo-noir shots for #Noirvember over on @shotzero.bsky.social, kicking off with this window trick from Fritz Lang's M

shotzero.substack.com/p/practical-...

Coffee and Noir: L'INNOCENT every instance of coffee in noir: 056

Espresso and caviar and family heists, oh my!

melkillingsworth.substack.com/p/coffee-and...

life isn't fair, but there's always tomorrow

I can’t wait for Hermit Me to be able to tell the Mad Max world children what baseball was and about how the last baseball game ever went on for three entire years

this world series has reminded me both why I have always loved baseball . . . and why I no longer religiously follow it

I simply could not give my heart to any other sports if I did

Coffee and Noir: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN every instance of coffee in noir: 055

It's that #Noirvember time of year again!

Expect many new entries into my hyperspecific fascination of Coffee Scenes In Noir Films this month.

melkillingsworth.substack.com/p/coffee-and...

if I were an actor I would be banging down the door of whatever agent handles A$AP Rocky's film & tv gigs

not huge volume, but 10 years of bangers from DOPE to Popstar Never Stop Never Stopping, then two of the better / well reviewed) flicks this year

they are aaaabsolutely killing it

Week 25.43 - Socials Roundup - Spooktober! 20 Oct - 26 Oct 2025: KPop Demon Hunters, The Haunting of Hill House, Monsterland

Looked at a bunch of spooky shots for @shotzero.bsky.social this week!

The #HauntingofHillHouse martini shot may be my fave, but the #Kiki'sDeliveryService frame shake gives me the most joy.

shotzero.substack.com/i/171780310/...

Father Damien and Queer Subtext in THE EXORCIST gay love and death in a dance with God and the Devil

(I wrote this TEN YEARS ago good lord)

but the more I see it, the queerer The Exorcist looks

open.substack.com/pub/melkilli...

Its!

All this blue sky, still no edit button

[My problem with the quote isn't it's content, it's the choice of author . . . Though honestly the themes and quotes and references had been plentiful enough, I wish it had actually simply ended on the CU and left the quote off entirely]

Agree it's a deliberate choice, and I am not saying the filmmaker's position is "Victor is fine!"

What I'm saying is everything in that final boat cabin scene, in-world, gives Victor what he doesn't deserve, for the sake of verbalising said point about the Monster, and it stretches credulity

[The shot of the world, or the Byron quote?]

Either way, disagree. That's not about Victor's forgiveness, any more.

That seems the main point of difference

I felt as though it was being given directly to him

it's not a LITERAL "Victor is trying to get into heaven" confession

yes, knowing all that probably colours it; the ending gives Victor far too much grace

I love DT, I simply think this missed a few marks

his clear desire for absolution, the incredibly catholic framing of the whole thing, the undeserved forgiveness* a cherry on top

*does that say more about the Monster than him, yes; but you could do that 18 different ways without explicitly giving it TO him there