Roderick Heath
@roderickheath.bsky.social
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Confessions of a Film Freak 2025
By Roderick Heath Jump to review index Jump to Favourite Films of 2025 List Both personally and in cinematic terms, 2025 has been a very rough road, and perhaps the end of the line in general. As s…
filmfreedonia.com
Here it is: Confessions of a Film Freak 2025, the biggest yet, featuring comments on 76 films and my Favourite Films of the Year list:
filmfreedonia.com/2025/12/29/c...
filmfreedonia.com/2025/12/29/c...
Rewatch: Ken Hughes' Cromwell. As a timely reminder that even kings, eventually, can find themselves in the dock.
January 14, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Rewatch: Ken Hughes' Cromwell. As a timely reminder that even kings, eventually, can find themselves in the dock.
My review of The Force Awakens from just over 10 years ago. My lukewarm-ness on this felt out of step and exposed then; now of course it feels like I was far too kind.
filmfreedonia.com/2015/12/17/s...
filmfreedonia.com/2015/12/17/s...
Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
. . Director/Coscreenwriter: J. J. Abrams By Roderick Heath And so it begins. Again. After months of feverish anticipation, it finally came down to me amidst a movie theatre filled by fans, many dr…
filmfreedonia.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:15 AM
My review of The Force Awakens from just over 10 years ago. My lukewarm-ness on this felt out of step and exposed then; now of course it feels like I was far too kind.
filmfreedonia.com/2015/12/17/s...
filmfreedonia.com/2015/12/17/s...
Rewatch: Fleischer-Masuda-Fukasaku's Tora! Tora! Tora! "There's your confirmation!"
January 13, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Rewatch: Fleischer-Masuda-Fukasaku's Tora! Tora! Tora! "There's your confirmation!"
I'm kind of pulling for Rose Byrne to win the Oscar now, in part because I still remember her getting patronised by Aussie critics at the time of Two Hands, as they all foamed at the mouth for Heath Ledger and Bryan Brown.
January 12, 2026 at 5:40 PM
I'm kind of pulling for Rose Byrne to win the Oscar now, in part because I still remember her getting patronised by Aussie critics at the time of Two Hands, as they all foamed at the mouth for Heath Ledger and Bryan Brown.
I always feel so intensely flattered and humbled when David Hudson includes me in these...
The Golden Globes present an opportunity to catch up with some of the most notable best-of-2025 listing and polling — www.criterion.com/current/post...
January 12, 2026 at 5:29 PM
I always feel so intensely flattered and humbled when David Hudson includes me in these...
Too many people seem to be preoccupied with rescuing/restoring The Magnificent Ambersons and not nearly enough with actually watching The Magnificent Ambersons.
January 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Too many people seem to be preoccupied with rescuing/restoring The Magnificent Ambersons and not nearly enough with actually watching The Magnificent Ambersons.
Viewing: Michael Lehmann's Hudson Hawk. At times hit the wiseguys-do-Losey's Modesty Blaise vibe it seemed to be aiming for, but nobody involved had anything like the finesse required. A serious mess, but still, by '90s bomb standards it was Andrei Rublev.
January 12, 2026 at 2:03 PM
Viewing: Michael Lehmann's Hudson Hawk. At times hit the wiseguys-do-Losey's Modesty Blaise vibe it seemed to be aiming for, but nobody involved had anything like the finesse required. A serious mess, but still, by '90s bomb standards it was Andrei Rublev.
Viewing: George Cukor's Dinner At Eight. Shows it stage roots a little raw at points, but still works dynamite in surprisingly jagged oscillations of tragedy and comedy and a median of everyday angst.
January 11, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Viewing: George Cukor's Dinner At Eight. Shows it stage roots a little raw at points, but still works dynamite in surprisingly jagged oscillations of tragedy and comedy and a median of everyday angst.
It's very telling that the crux of the argument has been manufactured as whether Ross was defending himself in some manner, and not what gave him and his fellows any right to create that situation in the first place.
January 10, 2026 at 3:35 PM
It's very telling that the crux of the argument has been manufactured as whether Ross was defending himself in some manner, and not what gave him and his fellows any right to create that situation in the first place.
Finished The Terror. Generally a strong series, although some revisions of the book were baffling. Admittedly, Crozier joining a psychic shamanic cult who let Tuunbaq eat out their tongues and play them like human bagpipes would have been hard to visualise.
January 10, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Finished The Terror. Generally a strong series, although some revisions of the book were baffling. Admittedly, Crozier joining a psychic shamanic cult who let Tuunbaq eat out their tongues and play them like human bagpipes would have been hard to visualise.
At all times, and in all places, one basic truth must be constantly spoken and enforced: the state is the servant of the people. The people are not servants of the state. The state exists for their good and welfare, not the other way around.
January 9, 2026 at 5:57 AM
At all times, and in all places, one basic truth must be constantly spoken and enforced: the state is the servant of the people. The people are not servants of the state. The state exists for their good and welfare, not the other way around.
Started watching the TV adaptation of Dan Simmons' The Terror, 3 eps in. Beautifully mounted and generally faithful even if the direction's a bit mannered in places (bloody Edward Berger on the first two). Jared Harris customarily great.
January 8, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Started watching the TV adaptation of Dan Simmons' The Terror, 3 eps in. Beautifully mounted and generally faithful even if the direction's a bit mannered in places (bloody Edward Berger on the first two). Jared Harris customarily great.
Disgusting. And all the more disgusting for its inevitability. I hope the US realises what it's looking like more and more to the rest of the world.
January 8, 2026 at 5:09 AM
Disgusting. And all the more disgusting for its inevitability. I hope the US realises what it's looking like more and more to the rest of the world.
Not to play into fond fantasies but listening to Trump recently it's truly striking how old and tired and borderline coherent he seems. It took over three years doing the job to wear Biden down that much.
January 6, 2026 at 4:37 PM
Not to play into fond fantasies but listening to Trump recently it's truly striking how old and tired and borderline coherent he seems. It took over three years doing the job to wear Biden down that much.
I hate this moment in time so deeply sometimes I can hardly breathe.
January 6, 2026 at 2:52 PM
I hate this moment in time so deeply sometimes I can hardly breathe.
I once knew a man who'd been warned by doctors to stop drinking or he'd drop dead. He didn't and, of course, died. Trump supporters remind me of him - the pleasure of the night of drunken ecstasy is all that matters, no matter how it's rotting them out.
January 6, 2026 at 1:54 PM
I once knew a man who'd been warned by doctors to stop drinking or he'd drop dead. He didn't and, of course, died. Trump supporters remind me of him - the pleasure of the night of drunken ecstasy is all that matters, no matter how it's rotting them out.
Rewatch: Mario Bava's Knives of the Avenger. Such a nifty movie, cunningly and artfully executed on a very tight budget, simple yet fascinatingly complex. Also, Cameron Mitchell was The Man. Even Space Mutiny couldn't defeat him.
January 6, 2026 at 1:22 PM
Rewatch: Mario Bava's Knives of the Avenger. Such a nifty movie, cunningly and artfully executed on a very tight budget, simple yet fascinatingly complex. Also, Cameron Mitchell was The Man. Even Space Mutiny couldn't defeat him.
Rewatch: David Bruckner's The Ritual. I'd half-forgotten what a little banger this one is - creepy, intense, exceptionally well-acted.
January 5, 2026 at 1:52 PM
Rewatch: David Bruckner's The Ritual. I'd half-forgotten what a little banger this one is - creepy, intense, exceptionally well-acted.
In other news, Operation Change The Subject was a brilliant success.
January 5, 2026 at 7:35 AM
In other news, Operation Change The Subject was a brilliant success.
I'll always find critiquing the plots of comic book movies like they're serious sci-fi intensely silly. It's a mode of storytelling closer to the Brothers Grimm or Ovid than to Isaac Asimov.
January 4, 2026 at 6:25 PM
I'll always find critiquing the plots of comic book movies like they're serious sci-fi intensely silly. It's a mode of storytelling closer to the Brothers Grimm or Ovid than to Isaac Asimov.
Samuel Johnson was of course right about patriotism and scoundrels, but I doubt he knew how right...
January 3, 2026 at 3:26 PM
Samuel Johnson was of course right about patriotism and scoundrels, but I doubt he knew how right...
Psychotic bullshit.
January 3, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Psychotic bullshit.
Rewatch: Wolfgang Petersen's Troy. So the plot's fresh in my head for when the sequel comes out later this year.
January 1, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Rewatch: Wolfgang Petersen's Troy. So the plot's fresh in my head for when the sequel comes out later this year.
Rewatch: John McTiernan's The 13th Warrior. A very flawed film I still feel real love for. It's plainly patched together, but it has a great story attached to the last of the truly old-school epic film productions.
December 31, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Rewatch: John McTiernan's The 13th Warrior. A very flawed film I still feel real love for. It's plainly patched together, but it has a great story attached to the last of the truly old-school epic film productions.