Thing about Kevin Williamson or Joss Whedon dialogue and those of affiliated WB/teen shows and films of that era is that it was all melodrama. Big dialogue fantasy. Scream trilogy is full of it. Kids realised this and took it all seriously. Young audiences would tear it to shreds today.

Thought Riar Rizaldi's avant-garde docu-fiction MONISME was the best I saw at Adelaide Film Fest a few years back and so happy to see it getting a rare screening here in Melbourne this week. Really unexpected, formally adventurous Indonesian cinema. www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/mon...

Monisme (2023)

Riar Rizaldi's "MONISME", set on Mount Merapi, screens at ACMI with a post-screening Q&A with the director. Presented with Multicultural Arts Victoria.

acmi.net.au

Local cinema is playing POSSIBLE LOVE, which is great! Only two sessions though, which are 12:30pm and 8:35pm (gets out at 11:40pm!) which are about the worst times you could get.

Watching old X-Files and there are a few non-negotiables for Coogler’s reboot. Shooting on location utilising actual proper atmospheric lighting. It can’t just be dark sludge. Character actors (and EXTRAS!) and not just a famous person. Single episode arcs. No one-season one-story.

I am watching a season 3 episode of The X-Files episode where it is revealed (for the first time?) that Agent Scully has a pet dog. She’s spent most of this season on the road. Surely at this stage it’s no longer her dog and just the dog sitter’s.

Watching old X-Files and, like so many shows from this era, there are things that if done beat-for-beat word-for-word in the new version will get crucified as “woke” by a dumb dumb male culture and right-wing nut jobs.

The problem with making a sequel to The Social Network—a movie that was inarguably at the mainstream core of a lot of the first wave of anti-Facebook movement—and calling it "The Social Reckoning" is that we all know what happened and there has been no such reckoning at all. In fact, it got worse!

Every time I see James Acaster on Celebrity Traitors, I see Ed Kavalee’s younger brother.

In lieu of that dire-looking TV version of Carrie, I rewatched (27 years!) THE RAGE: CARRIE 2 (Prime has all version of Carrie atm). Very much from the director of POISON IVY, it loses most of de Palma's nous, but the oh-so-'99 of it all makes for a fascinating relic. Murder by compact disc!

I am on an extended bout of sick leave (well, at least a week) so now is the time to the get into The Traitors… tell me, folks, what seasons are the ones the watch?

Saw a billboard for a “adult lifestyle expo”, which is maybe just a rebranded Sexpo? Being an adult is a lifestyle now, apparently.

I really hope my friends and followers in NYC are taking the opportunity to see Douglas Keeve's UNZIPPED on the big screen thanks to its 4K rerelease. The greatest, funniest and most stylish fashion doc of all time (helped, yes, but mimicking MADONNA: TRUTH OR DARE's style). A '90s classic.

Sad to hear about the recent passing of the great Australian avant-gardist Arthur Cantrill. This, of course, follows the death of his wife and creative partner Corinne not too long ago. Discovery some of their works on 16mm at the Artist Workshop this year has been a real treat. Vale to a great.

Let me guess, all the children (and now grandchildren) will treat her appallingly with a meanspiritness that Americans will somehow justify as “what all families are like” before a wholly unjustified, overly sweet third act where they learn to love her…

The Hollywood Reporter@thr.com · last mo.

Jean Smart is joining the Stone family for the holidays.

This is one of those moments where changing a title internationally would be a good thing.

Let me guess, all the children (and now grandchildren) will treat her appallingly with a meanspiritness that Americans will somehow justify as “what all families are like” before a wholly unjustified, overly sweet third act where they learn to love her…

The Hollywood Reporter@thr.com · last mo.

Jean Smart is joining the Stone family for the holidays.

Was in Darwin last week and had a wonderful six days swimming in pools at the waterfalls and with crocs. 2 big questions remain: 1. Why was Eagle Eye Cherry’s “Save Tonight” the song that I heard played the most on local radios and at fairs? 2. Why is there a womenswear store called INFIDELITY?!?

Finally submitted my Vulture Movies Fantasy League ballot. Honestly just seemed foolish to not put THE ODYSSEY on there (even without the box office points). I reckon those two docs at the bottom could win a lot of critics prizes even if only one (HARLEM) seems like Oscar's taste.

Is it ‘mack-uhl-more’ or ‘mack-luh-more”?

Was in Darwin last week and had a wonderful six days swimming in pools at the waterfalls and with crocs. 2 big questions remain: 1. Why was Eagle Eye Cherry’s “Save Tonight” the song that I heard played the most on local radios and at fairs? 2. Why is there a womenswear store called INFIDELITY?!?

The NFL match has done more than anything else in history to make Americans aware of the correct pronunciation of Melbourne.

I’ll never understand why documentary filmmakers are so obsessed with using a 1.85:1 as opposed to 16:9. People heads always getting chopped off! And when using archival footage that’s usually 4:3, it can make for jarring viewing—black stripes over there, now up there, back there and over and over.

DREAMS IN NIGHTMARES: Shatara Michelle Ford’s latest is a road movie unlike any you've ever seen. Joyous and thoughtful, it's a visually stunning ride with a scene-stealing Jasmin Savoy Brown. Seattle folks, go see it starting Fri. 📽️ My review @seattletimes.com: www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...

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One thing I see a lot in modern celebrity interview videos that do the rounds is that they so often have the interviewer go, “you have said…”. Quoting other interviews because actors and filmmakers have to do so many of these and all on camera so they’ve got nothing knew to say.

I know nothing about this Ella Langley person but if you told me she was AI I’d believe you. “Choosin’ Texas” sounds like some content-scraped bullshit. On Spotify, where I just listened to it for the first time, it moved into “Be Her” which sounds the exact same. People need to get some taste back!

My favourite Dolly Parton song is actually “What a Heartache”, in particular the version from (of all things) RHINESTONE. Shout out to the re-record of “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” from STRAIGHT TALK, which I think clears the original ever so slightly. open.spotify.com/track/6BeHCf...

What a Heartache

Dolly Parton · Rhinestone (Soundtrack) · Song · 1984

open.spotify.com

Dolly Parton!!!

There a solid dozen blokes at the gym right now who Benson Boone has stolen the aesthetic from. Truly the Aussie lad look.