James Dalrymple
@jamesewand.bsky.social
Teaching/lecturing in France. Occasional academic. Cinema, books, music, vintage television, podcasts (usually while cooking for the family), teaching, life in France etc. Film reviews at: letterboxd.com/jamesewand/
I saw @andrewmale.bsky.social ‘s review for Primal Scream’s “Vanishing Point” from Select magazine posted online yesterday. It took me right back to reading it at 6th form college - how the words on the page enthralled, and made perfect sense when I first listened to the album.
First watch: Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023). Not sure what made me put this off so long, although I suspect that some Letterboxd reviews played a part. Although mostly positive, some were suprisingly vicious. Personally, I found it rather moving after a shaky start.
In which I talk to Vicky Krieps about life and failing and Love Me Tender www.thenewworld.co.uk/john-bleasda...
Vicky Krieps, the woman who won’t play along
The Love Me Tender star on method acting, motherhood and refusing to fit in
thenewworld.co.uk
I have watched three Albert Lewin films, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, and now The Moon and Sixpence, and there isn't quite anything else like them. Dreamy, hazy, and occasionally amateurish. Filled with deep emotion, selfish characters, and skilled artistry.
Wilson@wilsonjettone.bsky.social · yesterdayTonight's film
My interview with director/writer John Sayles looking back on Matewan www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
‘A reminder of why we have unions’: Matewan writer and director on the film’s lessons for the labor movement
John Sayles’s 1987 film, which dramatizes a 1920 labor conflict, shows how class solidarity can overcome prejudice
theguardian.com
Here, for what its worth, is the US edit, complete with that bloody awful title. This version takes a few seconds shy of 12 minutes to reach the end of episode 1 - Emer Gillespie, we hardly knew ye! youtu.be/Lqg-kPb4CXU?...
Monkey Boy ( 1990 )
YouTube video by Jake “Zebular” Friedel
youtu.be
Now reading Thieves Like Us (1937) by Edward Anderson Depression era Texas noir! 🤌 Anderson only wrote 2 novels. His other (Hungry Men, 1935) was an account of hobo boxcar life based on his own experiences This has some overlap - like James M Cain meets You Can’t Win (1926) by Jack Black #booksky
New on the blog today, my thoughts on THE TRANSIT OF VENUS by Shirley Hazzard. A stunning novel about love, chance, fate, power dynamics & moral integrity, fully deserving of its status as a modern masterpiece. I loved the subtle use of foreshadowing here! jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2026/08/04/t...
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
First published in 1980, The Transit of Venus is the third novel by the Australian writer Shirley Hazzard, an author I’ve been circling for some time. It’s also one of the best novels I’ve read so …
jacquiwine.wordpress.com
"...I have to add that he's a very good director..." youtu.be/Z6DC4AjTG2M?...
Orson Welles on Elia Kazan
YouTube video by John Frankensteiner
youtu.be
Tonight's film, courtesy of iPlayer: haven't watched this in over 30 years!
Two years ago I took redundancy from my temporary (22 years, as it turned out) part-time Creative Writing gig in academia. This new New Yorker cartoon by Guy Richards Smith neatly sums up what has happened to the Arts & Humanities since.
Watching Violent Saturday. Lee Marvin, in a powder-blue suit, just trod on a child. This is the kind of Saturday I was promised
CENTER STAGE (Stanley Kwan, 1991). Absolutely loved this beguiling insight into the life and work of the legendary Chinese actress, Ruan Lingyu, star of silent film in the late 1920s/early ‘30s. (She was known as the Chinese Greta Garbo back then.) (1/4) #FilmSky
One of those insane films where you wonder what kind of narcotics the screenwriters were on… Loved it! 😍 #FilmSky boxd.it/fCFJPx
A ★★★½ review of The Unknown (1927)
I loved the insanity of it and both Chaney and Crawford bring meaty acting chops to the psychodrama. Perhaps I was less smitten with the flatness of some of the photography but it was presumably done ...
boxd.it
"...Catherine Sloper's transformation is almost as impressive as Charlotte Vale's and makes one want to stand and cheer de Havilland, but it's underpinned by Richardson's deliberately unshowy turn..." My brief notes on THE HEIRESS on Letterboxd... #FilmSky boxd.it/fCjjtB
A ★★★★½ review of The Heiress (1949)
Catherine Sloper: "Oh, Father, don't you think he is the most beautiful man you've ever seen?" Austin Sloper: "Well, he's very good-looking, my dear. Of course, you wouldn't let a consideration like t...
boxd.it
About one third of the way into Michael Powell's autobiography and absolutely loving it. The descriptions of his childhood years living on a hop farm in Kent are beautifully evocative. He's like an old charmer, recounting tales over a bitter in some oak-panelled Soho boozer.
Very enjoyable Yakuza hokum… #FilmSky boxd.it/fCtyGv
A ★★★★ review of Violent Streets (1974)
Lurid Yakuza melodrama that runs slightly out of steam but still sustains a memorable arc of violent nihilism. Honour codes are discarded and loyalties betrayed in a veritable bloodbath , all shot wit...
boxd.it
When you’re prepping for a barbecue tomorrow and just want a familiar movie on in the background. #NowWatching (sort of) MILDRED PIERCE (1945), a perfect blend of #noir and #melodrama. This film earned Joan Crawford her only Best Actress Oscar. #FilmSky #MovieSky
All being well, I should be entering this sceptred isle in the next three hours
The Outfit is a flinty, no-nonsense, and efficient action thriller from 1973. It is about a variety of tough characters committing crimes, played by steely eyed actors showing little emotion. Thus, a great crime film from the 1970s. Directed by John Flynn from the Richard Stark Parker novel.
Wilson@wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 3d agoToday's film
More on the Paul Daniels death hoax from @dirtyfeed.org here: www.dirtyfeed.org/2023/04/paul...
BBC100: Paul Daniels Live at Hallowe’en (1987)
For more on this BBC100 series of posts, read this introduction. “Tonight is Halloween when strange things can happen, and even here live on BBC1, all is not what it seems.” And with th…
dirtyfeed.org
Ray Newman@raynewman.bsky.social · 3d agoMy longer-than-usual Letterboxd review of Ghostwatch puts it in the context of Paul Daniels faking his own death on a TV magic show, Alexei Sayle and his false starts and ends, and The Day Today. boxd.it/byUdjh
My longer-than-usual Letterboxd review of Ghostwatch puts it in the context of Paul Daniels faking his own death on a TV magic show, Alexei Sayle and his false starts and ends, and The Day Today. boxd.it/byUdjh
A ★★★★½ review of Ghostwatch (1992)
I don’t do this often but please indulge a multi-paragraph essayette on this one. The BBC played some dangerous games with pastiche and parody in this period, as a generation of writers, directors and...
boxd.it
Lovely to see George Cukor's THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) on the big screen at the Garden Cinema yesterday. Delightful in every respect, but what really stood out for me this time was Ruth Hussey's fab performance as the photographer Liz Imbrie. She's sharp, knowing & wonderfully humane. #FilmSky
