Darren Slade

Absolutely! Keep pointing us to these gems; they're easily missed.

Something not mentioned enough is that, over Christmas, BBC2 & iPlayer offered some of the greatest films ever made: this, Double Indemnity, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Bringing Up Baby, etc etc.

Impossibly glamorous couple solve a mystery at Christmas while barely spilling their martinis. I'm in.

Sorry, the phone lines are unusually busy, as usual.

This has made my day. Sweep was the real comic genius in that ensemble.

"Fixed it for you."
"[Checks notes]"

Ooh, that's going to bug me now!

Oh yes! Thanks to Starsky & Hutch and other US shows, I grew up thinking Americans didn't lock their cars or even wind up the windows.

In-car scenes where they remove the front seat headrests, presumably to make shooting easier. Once I notice it, believability is gone.

Agreed. I've struggled with podcasts about classic films. So many last longer than the movie they're discussing, beginning with 15 minutes of aimless chat before it emerges that the speakers have only just seen the film and haven't looked up basic facts about it.

Great review. I love the insight about "poisoning irony". Unfortunately I'm not ready to rewatch this one after the childhood trauma of seeing Toots get clubbed to death by the robbers. (Have I remembered that right? I can't believe I haven't. )

Had it every year from 1988 until its demise. I wish they'd gone out with a big hardback edition that reinstated the made-for-TV movies and the titles that were moved to the Classic Film Guide - and that was sturdy enough to last the rest of my days.

Stood a few feet from Douglas Adams in the foyer of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane as he collected his tickets for a Randy Newman concert. I, a huge fan, said nothing at all.

Do the 12 days of Christmas mean nothing to some people?

I know it's an obvious answer but Psycho. So surprising and yet so perfect.

This has come to feel like the official start of Christmas: the fabulous @bournemouthso.bsky.social Celebration of Christmas Carols in Poole.

That one really is perfect isn't it? Morrell is great and it may be Cushing's best performance. That moment where he's the one issuing the threat is superb.

Russell-Cotes Museum dining room with Christmas decorations

Russell-Cotes Museum main hall decorated for Christmas

Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth today.

All the set you need for a great evening of ghost stories: @nunkie.bsky.social narrated two MR James tales powerfully in Not Truly Dead at Poole's Lighthouse tonight.

Last year, I added The Holdovers to the roster and now I need a longer December.

Want to see your genre short film up on the big screen in a stunning award winning Art-Deco Cinema? Have you made a feature that will wow audiences alongside a choice selection of 35mm classic genre heavyweights?
Submissions are open for GRINDFEST FILM FESTIVAL 2026 via our FilmFreeway portal.

Also, estimating the number of words on a page by:
Counting the words on each of 3 lines and finding the average. Then multiplying that by the number of lines that ran more than half way across the page.

From newspaper days, drawing a diagonal line on the back of a photo and measuring how tall it would be if printed across a given number of columns.

Letterboxd email saying your pro subscription will soon renew.

Well done @letterboxd.social for being the only digital provider NOT to tell me the price of my subscription will be "changing" so it can invest in the product etc etc.

Saw Wake Up Dead Man at Dorset's lovely Rex cinema. Terrific fun, on a par with the first Knives Out. And worth seeing with an audience if you can.

Can't wait for this. Alastair Sim is the best Scrooge of them all.

It's an incredible piece of design isn't it? So small outside, so big inside.

Just last week we put a 7ft Christmas tree into a Honda Jazz with no trouble. Not sure you can do that with many SUVs.

While St Peter's Church in Poole has Scrooge with live music!

You wait all your life to see the Alastair Sim Scrooge with an audience and then two local opportunities come up on the same night!
The excellent @highcontrastcinema.bsky.social has it at Wimborne.