Fústar

One of my very favourite haunted mirror films (well, segment of a portmanteau film). Dead of Night’s classic segment is up there too.

Great stuff! Many congrats to you both.

G’wan Treaty!

A ★★★½ review of The Final Conflict (1981) Always had a bit of a soft spot for this one. It’s trash. It’s hokum. But enjoyable trash & hokum (much funnier than the previous 2, but nastier as well). If you like your Sam Neill dialled up beyond ...

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A ★★★ review of Damien - Omen II (1978) Pretty fun ‘n’ campy sequel that becomes, essentially, a proto-Final Destination sequence of (generally) creative deaths. Evil firmly located in corporate, militaristic & otherwise privileged realms. ...

boxd.it/bujumH

A ★★★★½ review of The Fly (1986) Disgusting. Beautiful. Violent. Romantic. Gory. Tender. And very, very sad. Hadn’t seen anything like it before. And haven’t seen much like it since. Terrific performances. Gorgeous (Howard Shore) sco...

boxd.it/btC1ph

A ★★★½ review of The Omen (1976) Moral of the story? Don’t give birth to (or, in this case, adopt) boys. Because they’ll probably be wildly annoying, entitled and evil little shits who will end up trying to kill you. Little fucking p...

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Belated congrats, man. 👍👍👍

A ★★★★½ review of House of Usher (1960) “Madeline and I are like figures of fine glass. The slightest touch and we may shatter. Both of us suffer from a morbid acuteness of the senses. Mine is the worst for having existed the longer, but bo...

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A ★★★ review of Mirror Mirror (1990) Always love me a haunted mirror story. Though they’re rare enough on screen. There’s the superb one in Dead of Night. The almost as good one in Amicus’ From Beyond the Grave (with David Warner). Oculu...

boxd.it/bkOjfH

Hey, I’m sure they’re all perfectly cromulent words.

Probably my favourite DeNiro performance in possibly my favourite Scorsese movie. It’s excruciating, and sad, and very very funny. The ending is obviously very Taxi-Driver-like in its ambiguity, but the final bits we see of Pupkin the performer? He could cut it at the Catskills. Or on cruise ships.

A ★★★★½ review of Shadow of a Doubt (1943) One of my favourite of the (somewhat) less-heralded Hitch flicks. It’s kinda like a bizarro Meet Me in St Louis, fused with Twin Peaks. So much to enjoy. You’ve got Charlie (the younger) as a plucky, ...

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I got to ask Gabriel Byrne a question about the performance at the Galway Film Fleadh years ago, and it was a genuine thrill. As it’s one of my favourite performances of anybody in anything. So restrained & distant & understated but absolutely bubbling under with longing & tenderness & melancholy.

And Tom’s motivations for everything he does or doesn’t do in the movie (& it can be hard to keep track) are simultaneously a mystery even to himself (the smartest guy in the room, supposedly) & the logical and inevitable outcome of a VERY complicated love triangle. Where he knows he has to ‘lose’.

Also, Gabriel Byrne has never looked more beautiful than in this. 😍

Tom: Think about what protecting Bernie gets us. Think about what offending Caspar loses us.

Leo: Come on, Tommy, you know I don't like to think!

Tom (adjusting hat, probably): Yeah. Well, think about whether you should start.

Tom exits. Cut to black. And…credit sequence.

*chef’s kiss*

One of my fave ever pre-credit sequences too. From the ice cubes clinkin’ in the glass to the incomparable John Polito (RIP) talkin’ about friendship, character & ethics, to Leo & Tom’s sparring, Tom’s exit & then…straight into Carter Burwell’s sublime & soaring adaptation of Lament for Limerick.

Miller's Crossing with Ari Aster Podcast Episode · Blank Check with Griffin & David · 27/07/2025 · 2h 10m

Listening to this on the walk home. And now VERY much want to watch Miller’s Crossing for..oh…probably the 30th time?? It’s by a clear distance my fave Coen brothers’ flick. And though I probably know every bloody line by this point I always notice something new.

podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/b...

Ok. I’d been relatively ambivalent about, and semi-tolerated, AI shit up to now. But *this* is an act of war. I’m getting suited up & going full Sarah Connor.

Thoughts also with all of Seán’s family and friends and the wonderful producers and researchers who worked on Arena down through the years. A fabulous group of people. A joy to work with.

I was on Arena many many times with Seán over the years. He was always so lovely and always set you at ease. Have many happy memories of doing the Classic Movie slot with him. And the chats before broadcast. And he’d always be game for some of my more…niche ideas. He’ll be badly missed. RIP.

Pat Ingoldsby - 20 years of Dublin street life in poems a singular legacy left by a legendary Irish poet

www.kickstarter.com/projects/pat...

Or a young Vigo the Carpathian.

One of today’s charity shop finds. Have very vague (but very warm) memories of watching this with my Nana in her house. She was a major fan. And smoked constantly as we watched.

Think it was literally just an arrow pointing to the badger with text indicating that the badger was terminally ill. Also I think it (the badger) was coughing. My satirical cartooning ‘skills’ were, and are, on the very very limited side.

Later (regular) interactions with said postperson were normal and cordial. There was no mention of Brian Cowen’s cock and/or balls. And no mention of the crudely-illustrated postcard I sent myself as a test case. Which, I think, featured a naked Brian Cowen urinating on a terminally-ill badger.

They’re a bloody nightmare. Nothing against those v talented creative folk who create all the Warhammer content. Models, books, novels etc. But dealing with the company itself was an endless headfuck.

I’m not surprised it’s turned out to be dogshit, tbh. Because I’ve had interactions with GW in a work capacity numerous times over the years and they are, without doubt, one of the worst & most frustrating companies to deal with I’ve ever come across.

Remember being at work and talking to you on the phone at the time about potential responses to the Garda involvement and asking you about obscenity laws in relation to material sent though the post. Fun times!