A. J. Black

It will always have been higher in girls but depressing stuff. Doesn’t help lads that age are getting a firehose of macho bullshit every day that discourages this kind of self-enrichment. I know for a fact in a brief 6 month tenure as a school librarian I got some lads reading again. Proud of that.

At least the people who talked like this in A Clockwork Orange had the decency to kill you.

In Manhunter, Tom Noonan created one of the great screen villains In the wake of Tom Noonan’s passing, a respectful tribute to his uncanny performance as Francis Dollarhyde in Michael Mann’s Manhunter.

A brief yet heartfelt tribute to the late Tom Noonan and his mesmerising portrayal of Francis Dollarhyde in Manhunter.
filmstories.co.uk/features/in-...

I remember an English teacher in Yr 10 for Rememberance showing us the final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, which not only cemented my love of that series but absolutely helped me pass GCSE History a year later.

X / Pearl / MaXXXine with Jon Wroot Podcast Episode · Modern Horror Podcast · 18/02/2026 · 1h 57m

NEW EPISODE!

@ajblack.bsky.social @angryscotsman81.bsky.social & guest @jlwroot.bsky.social join forces to chat Ti West’s epic X trilogy - X, Pearl and MaXXXine.

Join us and don’t accept a podcast you don’t deserve. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

That’s the post-credits scene.

Thought + felt a LOT through highs and lows of Emerald Fennell's #WutheringHeights
Reminded me of Orson Welles' great, derided film Macbeth - his sketches for it below.
Echoes too of Jacques Demy films.
It's thin at times, but thinking visually rather than in terms of literature or psychology.

Indeed. One of the best.

Popped up last night on BBC Radio 2’s Midnight Mastermind after being invited on to chat a 90s movie and quiz the host on it. Got an @atthe90smovies.bsky.social plug in too!

Listen in for what the subject is, then check out the rest on BBC Sounds here from 36:05! www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Brilliant actor. For me, the one I’ll remember is his turn in The X-Files as a child killer who enters people’s dreams, but he played it less Freddy Krueger and more low-key Lecter. A one shot role but an important one for Mulder’s backstory, and Noonan gave it the import it deserved so memorably.

Susanna’s absolute innocence at the double meaning of what she said is adorable.

Would have been hard for anyone to follow up on BOBW Pt 1 with how brilliant that cliffhanger was. They set themselves up to fail really.

Which very much lingers in NTTD too. I don’t really know how you write Bond as someone who doesn’t go off book in the 2020s when the geopolitical Establishment are racing toward authoritarianism. What’s the point of this kind of solitary hero unless he does?

A thing of absolute beauty came today.

£90 and a very long wait but it’ll obviously be worth it. #Thunderbirds

Whistle is out in cinemas today and it’s bloody good fun.

I chat about it with Hugh and Kat, who also chats to its director Corin Hardy, in a terrific little conversation.

Hope you enjoy if you give it a listen. I fall down a manhole for some of it, if that helps?

I signed this one. Frustrating. They ought to be pushing through all kinds of stuff like this with a majority. Proportional representation too.

I think Labour would be amazed how many uber-woke, net-zeroist, rejoiners actually voted to put them where they are.

I haven’t seen it yet (will soon) so I won’t judge the actual article, but I did on hearing some details groan at YET ANOTHER modern Trek episode which obsessively venerates better storytelling that came before. Why can’t they just create their own stuff we’ll be talking about in 30 years?

Love love love this film and it was great to chat with Dev about it on AT THE MOVIES IN THE NOUGHTIES.

We get into lots - Pitt and Redford’s careers, the Cold War, cheesy lines and more.

Hope you enjoy.

Podcast Roundup: January 2026 A roundup of podcasts produced by and/or featuring AJ across January 2026...

A handy roundup to start your day of all the podcasts I produced/appeared on for January 2026, with some commentary.

www.reliablenarrator.co.uk/podcast-roun...

Podcast Roundup: January 2026 A roundup of podcasts produced by and/or featuring AJ across January 2026...

A handy roundup to start your day of all the podcasts I produced/appeared on for January 2026, with some commentary.

www.reliablenarrator.co.uk/podcast-roun...

Alien from Mars Attacks stuns in new look

Paddington in Star Trek Again

I Photoshop Paddington into a movie, TV show, or pop culture until I forget: Day 1785

Welcome to the Reboot If you can imagine a piece of modern intellectual property, it has probably undergone some kind of reboot or reimagining during the 2020s. Welcome to mine. For those new to this space, I'm A J. Black...

For anyone interested in what I do on the writing side, I’m rebooting my blog a bit.

Would be splendid and tremendous if you could give this a follow and hit the subscribe button so you get updates in your mailbox.

Thanks if you read, either way. www.reliablenarrator.co.uk/coming-soon/

Welcome to the Reboot If you can imagine a piece of modern intellectual property, it has probably undergone some kind of reboot or reimagining during the 2020s. Welcome to mine. For those new to this space, I'm A J. Black...

For anyone interested in what I do on the writing side, I’m rebooting my blog a bit.

Would be splendid and tremendous if you could give this a follow and hit the subscribe button so you get updates in your mailbox.

Thanks if you read, either way. www.reliablenarrator.co.uk/coming-soon/

Thanks. If you can follow back, I’ll DM you.

Podmetheus: An Alien Podcast After Shows Podcast · Monthly · In space, no one... can hear you podcast... Join author, writer and podcaster A. J. Black, alongside regular and special guests, for PODMETHEUS - a podcast devoted to ...

Absolutely. Do you have any review copies available @mikediver.bsky.social? We could promote on our Alien centric podcast. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/p...

Start your Saturday with me talking about this fun bit of Bard from the very late 90s.

Hope you enjoy.

one of the reasons I think it's hard to believe Catherine O'Hara died is because she was this super rare combination of both poise and chaotic energy and so she didn't seem to have a physical age; she was just oscillating between 40 and 17 and 60 at all times.