Stephen A Russell

Not even hiding his maniacal villainy

I can't stop thinking about THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE...

If you're unsure whether to see it, this chat with Amanda Seyfried gives you a sense of what you'd be missing:

Isn’t it special??

Very much so! LOVELY too

Preaching kindness, Amanda Seyfried went all in on her latest role The Oscar-nominated star adored working with director Mona Fastvold to resurrect an astonishing religious figure in The Testament of Ann Lee.

Somehow I completely forgot to share a lil chat with someone you may have heard of… ab.co/407dFd7

My latest Substack newsletter is out. A report back on some of the crime fiction, film, as well as other culture that has preoccupied me over a long, cold Berlin winter.

andrewnette.substack.com/p/the-only-l...

Israeli president Isaac Herzog visited ASIO headquarters during Australian visit Australia's intelligence agency has confirmed Herzog met with ASIO director Mike Burgess after senator David Pocock pressed for answers.

#BREAKING: Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Australia's domestic spy agency during his state visit last month.

www.sbs.com.au/news/article...

Did you happen to mention to any of these people while you were taking advantage of their hospitality that you'd already agreed with the President of Israel to support another campaign to obliterate Muslim children?

the Greens keep saying the kinds of things that people who vote Labour agree with and Labour keep calling it dangerous extremism, and I’m not sure you could plan a better voter alienation strategy

sex matters trustee charlotte cadden

gorton and denton by-election result: she gets 706 votes, 1.9% of the total

underappreciated but very funny gorton and denton sideplot: the conservatives nominating literal sex matters (uk terf group) trustee charlotte cadden, only for her to get the worst result for the conservatives in by-election history and lose her deposit

Labour’s *majority* in Gorton and Denton in 2024 – just 19 months ago – was 13,000+. Tonight it got fewer than 10,000 votes total, on an almost identical turnout. In its heartland. That’s what a collapse of your core vote looks like.

Once again every shitposter on the socials was yelling this at Labour and the response was "sorry I can't hear you over how smart and sensible I am you scum"

YouTube video by DRM News FULL VICTORY SPEECH: Hannah Spence Addresses After Historic Green Party Win in Gorton & Denton| AC1Z

Hannah Spencer victory speech
youtu.be/Tf7wVpDEvho?...

"We have shown that we don't have to accept being turned against each other. We can demand better without hating each other"

Not dumb at all!!! You just learned something new to you xx

The Testament of Ann Lee review: a sublime vision | ScreenHub: Film, TV, Streaming and Games Mona Fastvold trusts Amanda Seyfried with the role of a lifetime in superb The Testament of Ann Lee.

Shakers biopic The Testament of Ann Lee glimmers thanks to shimmering star Amanda Seyfried and the startling vision of writer/director Mona Fastvold bit.ly/4ubJmjo

I think you’ll adore it Hugh

The 10 best Berlinale 2026 films to look out for | ScreenHub: Film, TV, Streaming and Games From fractious family dramas to queer resistance and pensioners with fire in their belly, here are our top picks of the 2026 Berlinale International Film Festival.

My fave films from this year's Berlinale bit.ly/4aZLVwe

Sirât review: a tempestuous work of brilliant cinematic art | ScreenHub: Film, TV, Streaming and Games Following a father and son on a desperate journey, Sirât is a visceral study of hope and despair.

Óliver Laxe's Sirât is epic CINEMA, go see it! bit.ly/478XzU2

Yellow Letters review: Golden Bear winner is a fraught character study for Safdie fans Ilker Çatak delivers a tense parable of state censorship in modern-day Turkey

My thoughts on the Golden Bear-winner at Berlinale, The Teachers’ Lounge filmmaker Ilker Çatak's Yellow Letters bit.ly/4qXFm2R

To every foolish bigot piling on someone with Tourette’s, maybe watch the fucking film 🤷🏻‍♂️

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

Federal police raided Dissent Bar in Canberra and stripped anti-fascist posters off the walls under Labor's brand new hate speech laws. Not a Nazi compound. A local café with political art. This is what biased laws look like in practice. 🧵

Jimpa review: supple and rewarding cinema | ScreenHub: Film, TV, Streaming and Games In Jimpa, director Sophie Hyde explores family dynamics with sensitivity and subtlety.

And my thoughts on this gleaming film about the sometimes bumpy but always beautiful overlap of intergenerational queerness bit.ly/497Mm8b

Director Sophie Hyde confronts family matters in Jimpa Sophie Hyde’s Jimpa, starring Olivia Colman and John Lithgow, lightly fictionalises her own family’s life.

Sophie Hyde’s beautiful Jimpa is in Australian cinemas now. Here’s my chat with her and star Aud Mason-Hyde bit.ly/4aqu1n2

‘The Weight’ review: Russell Crowe goes full Stinky Pete in a gold-smuggling adventure full of old-timey charm Ethan Hawke leads an enjoyably throwback band-against-the-odds western

Ethan Hawke-led The Weight is an old-fashioned film. That’s not necessarily a bad thing bit.ly/4rUHcm4

‘Animol’ review: Ashley Walters’ directorial debut is an energised prison drama with a queer undercurrent ‘The Long Walk’s Tut Nyuot tries to survive inside a youth detention centre in this compassionate British drama

Adolescence actor Ashley Walters' debut directorial feature, Animol, is a queerly intriguing take on the prison drama, hung on an outstanding ensemble led by a towering Tut Nyuot bit.ly/3OgDXac

Berlinale review: ‘Rosebush Pruning’ is a ‘Succession’-y feast of a bitchy family strife Callum Turner, Elle Fanning and Jamie Bell spar in this year’s answer to Triangle of Sadness

Sure to divide, Rosebush Pruning is just the deliriously dubious, dog-eat-dog, real bad family movie I dig bit.ly/4kDvN81

Losing Duvall and Wiseman on the same day is kind of extra sad, because they were two men whose work was so suffused with curiosity, and an ability to reveal humanity, in a way that spoke to it’s most caring, loving aspects, even when they were revealing the darkness. A lot of love in all that work.

If you don’t wanna answer curly questions, don’t do a press conference. We ain’t your publicist. Art IS political. Quit this mealy mouthed shit.

‘The Moment’ review: Charli xcx is taking over our cinemas with this brattish, cuttingly funny mockumentary The queen of snarky pop delivers her ‘Truth or Dare’

Had a moment with Charli XCX's anarchic The Moment at Berlinale bit.ly/4ajg9ej