Brian Bowe

YouTube video by SenseiSample Yaphet Kotto - Have You Ever Seen The Blues "1967" (Jazz Sample)

It's Yaphet Kotto's birthday so as usual I will share his spoken word blues/funk release, because it is very good indeed:
youtu.be/hvugAn0nwEU?...

The only exception being a giddy-to-the-gills Red Buttons, to whom Eric Roberts is only happy to concede ground, and who at one crucial moment snuffs out a bad guy with a piss-filled bedpan to the head, hitting him with that doink-sploosh one-two combo!

THE AMBULANCE (1990) •
A lesser actor would’ve been upstaged by such a full-bodied mullet. Not Roberts, he’s going full tilt here and ain’t nothing holding him back.

Summer days of plastering yourself in suncream are long gone ☔️

Why not escape the rain with a hot drink in one of our cosy screens!

The Running Man movie review | Edgar Wright's flashy remake runs out of puff long before the finish line - HeadStuff Philip Bagnall catches up with The Running Man, Edgar Wright's Glenn Powell-powered remake of Schwarzenegger's 1987 campy sci-fi classic

Glen Powell is a star, but THE RUNNING MAN is an insufficient vehicle for his charisma. Edgar Wright pulls practically every punch. Far too reminiscent of the remakes of Robocop and Total Recall (ugh).

My review: headstuff.org/entertainmen...

ACT OF VIOLENCE (1948) •
Two broken toy soldiers stumbling in circles through dingy bars and empty streets, blinded by grief, guilt and looking for someone to pin it on. All 82mins seen through Van Heflin’s bug eyes and carried atop Robert Ryan’s ludicrously broad shoulders.

What, Letterboxd is down?! But how will people know the extend to which I think Russian Ark slaps and/or is fire (no cap)??

This is a disastrous move. RTE's documentary-makers in both radio and TV are held in very high esteem all over the globe, and to shutter the in-house TV unit is as stupid as it is short-sighted.

Hey Belfast - tomorrow I will be conducting a Q&A with Ben Wheatley after the Irish premiere of his ramshackle, handmade, brain-twisting, zero-budget new movie BULK.
Ben may also have copies of the fanzine he created about BULK if you're lucky.

belfastfilmfestival2025.eventive.org/schedule/bul...

Few films feel like velvet. This is one of them. Dark and deep. I held on to it, crawled into it and will be wrapped up in it till spring.

It ain’t a masterpiece. But as a time capsule it really hits home that on top of losing art spaces, we’re losing spaces where we can talk about art. It’s up to us to carve out these intimate pockets of conversation where we can. Start a film club! Join the library! Loiter in movie theatre lobbies!

With the amount of recognisable VHS covers poking from every nook, cranny and corner, you sense an almost fetishistic attention to detail leaping from every shelf. And I’m hoping some lovely fool on Letterboxd has created a list with every one! 🙏

I wonder if Jeff Lieberman had any clue that his goofy 1988 sci-fi REMOTE CONTROL would someday become a tearjerker for those of us old enough to remember the thrill of discovery and discussion that came with stepping into a video store
…

Orange and pink cover for Like a Cat Loves a Bird, a forthcoming biography of Muriel Spark, with a black and white photo of Spark holding a black cat on the cover

Here’s the cover for LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK, out 16 April with @sceptrebooks.bsky.social

Preorder here: lnk.to/LikeaCatLove...

Please share! The book doing well means I can write another (and fulfil my dream of owning a pizza oven), so it’s pretty serious

🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛ 🐈‍⬛

…that tear his chest open like cheap Christmas wrapping paper until he’s left a lifeless, tattered lump. Deader than dead! Does she then walk away? Yes, but not before kicking what’s left of this poor bastard in the balls. Lady Terminator, folks! ❤️

We watched LADY TERMINATOR (1988) over Halloween, and just to give you some insight into Lady Terminator’s meticulous work ethic: at one point, she blasts away a military officer with a heavy-duty machine gun, stands over his broken body, continues to riddle it with bullets (beautiful squib work)
…

Favourite first-time watches of October 2025:

• Stuck (2007)
• The Mastermind (2025)
• Dirty Weekend (1993)
• High Spirits (1988)

Beat the Lotto movie review | Irish doc hits the jackpot - HeadStuff In general, claims of a new “renaissance” can and should be treated as journalistic exaggeration, but there may be something interesting happening in the world of Irish documentary-making all the same...

“What makes Whitaker’s doc so compelling is the sense that he’s given us a glimpse behind the scenes of Ireland as it actually works.”

BEAT THE LOTTO comes to Netflix, so no better time to check back in with Ciarán O’Rourke’s review.

headstuff.org/entertainmen...

Where to Watch Movies From The 2025 Cannes Film Festival - HeadStuff A list of confirmed release dates for films screened at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, including Eddington, Honey Dont!, Sorry, Baby, and more

More films from Cannes 2025 have been given release dates, here’s the updated list:

headstuff.org/entertainmen...

IFI Horrorthon 2025 review | Primate goes ape! - HeadStuff Patrizia Thompson reviews Primate, directed and co-written by Johannes Roberts, which screened as the Surprise Movie at IFI Horrorthon 2025

“It’s like the chimp attack sequence from Nope (2022) as a full film.”

IFI Horrothon 2025 may have come to a close, but our coverage continues!

Here’s Patrizia Dahlia Thompson on @horrorthon-fest.bsky.social Surprise Film, PRIMATE.

headstuff.org/entertainmen...

Rebel Without A Cause at 70 | an immortal snapshot of teenage angst - HeadStuff Thomas Caffrey celebrates 70 years of Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without A Cause, starring James Dean in one of his final and finest performances

“Nicholas Ray’s film is an immortal snapshot of teenage angst, unfolding as a triptych of disillusioned youth.”

Thomas Caffrey on Nicolas Ray’s 1955 classic REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE

headstuff.org/entertainmen...

To Die For at 30 | Kidman stars as an unlikeable lead with a murderous appetite for fame  - HeadStuff Charlie Kendellen looks at Nicole Kidman in satire To Die For, which has inspired many other morally ambiguous female leads, 30 years on.

“…a welcomed depiction of a non-conforming, complex female character who paved the way for other morally ambiguous women in cinema.”

Charlie Kendellen celebrates 30 years of Gus Van Sant’s TO DIE FOR

headstuff.org/entertainmen...

a man in a red shirt is holding a candle and talking on a cell phone ALT: a man in a red shirt is holding a candle and talking on a cell phone

Time to shine a light on our film writers this week, putting out a stream of enthusiastic reviews and thoughtful anniversary pieces.👏👏

Recap below 👇

Gonna be a good’un

Horrorthon 2025 may be over, but our coverage continues! ✍️ ✍️

One day to go until BELFAST FILM FESTIVAL 2025 and I just can't get over how strong this programme is - certainly the best lineup I've seen from an Irish film festival this year, including events that look to challenge notions of what a film fest should be! 👉 belfastfilmfestival.org/whats-on

Now if only I booked a hostel several months in advance, I could've avoided these mad prices... crazy stuff.

One day to go until BELFAST FILM FESTIVAL 2025 and I just can't get over how strong this programme is - certainly the best lineup I've seen from an Irish film festival this year, including events that look to challenge notions of what a film fest should be! 👉 belfastfilmfestival.org/whats-on