Alistair Owen
@alistairwriter.bsky.social
Author & Screenwriter alistairowenwriter.com
Share a ‘90s movie you think deserves more love
November 25, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Share a ‘90s movie you think deserves more love
🎂 Happy 25th birthday to my first Q&A book, #SmokingInBed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson. It was a Pick of the Week for Nicholas Lezard, a Book of the Year for David Hare and a career-starter for me. So here's to it, and the inimitable Mr Robinson, and everyone who's ever read it and loved it!🍷
November 20, 2025 at 10:33 AM
🎂 Happy 25th birthday to my first Q&A book, #SmokingInBed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson. It was a Pick of the Week for Nicholas Lezard, a Book of the Year for David Hare and a career-starter for me. So here's to it, and the inimitable Mr Robinson, and everyone who's ever read it and loved it!🍷
I reviewed my favourite reads of 2025 for Shepherd Books: Year of the King by Antony Sher from @nickhernbooks.bsky.social, Karla's Choice by @nickharkaway.com and The Proof of My Innocence by @jonathancoe.bsky.social. I was asked to rank them, but all are first class...
shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/...
shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/...
November 7, 2025 at 3:28 PM
I reviewed my favourite reads of 2025 for Shepherd Books: Year of the King by Antony Sher from @nickhernbooks.bsky.social, Karla's Choice by @nickharkaway.com and The Proof of My Innocence by @jonathancoe.bsky.social. I was asked to rank them, but all are first class...
shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/...
shepherd.com/bboy/2025/f/...
This might be a job for Rick Dalton (aka Sgt. Mike Lewis in The 14 Fists of McCluskey)...
September 24, 2025 at 2:10 PM
This might be a job for Rick Dalton (aka Sgt. Mike Lewis in The 14 Fists of McCluskey)...
I've now talked to three different people with very varied tastes and, like me, they all gave up on The Thursday Murder Club after 20 minutes. Does Netflix's "No. 1 in Movies" algorithm tell them when viewers have bailed on a film cos it's unmitigated shit...?
September 1, 2025 at 10:01 PM
I've now talked to three different people with very varied tastes and, like me, they all gave up on The Thursday Murder Club after 20 minutes. Does Netflix's "No. 1 in Movies" algorithm tell them when viewers have bailed on a film cos it's unmitigated shit...?
1997, apparently. Or possibly 1988...
July 26, 2025 at 2:23 PM
1997, apparently. Or possibly 1988...
Particularly - but very smoothly - menacing in Narrow Margin...
June 13, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Particularly - but very smoothly - menacing in Narrow Margin...
The second time he performed that trick, in fact, the first being Plenty (1985), which seems to be all but forgotten...
March 27, 2025 at 7:58 PM
The second time he performed that trick, in fact, the first being Plenty (1985), which seems to be all but forgotten...
"I watch her. I assume she watches me."
Everything you might expect from director Steven Soderbergh and Panic Room writer David Koepp, and perhaps a little bit more: sleek, smart, stylish, slyly witty and coolly seductive. Mr & Mrs Smith meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, by way of The Ipcress File.
Everything you might expect from director Steven Soderbergh and Panic Room writer David Koepp, and perhaps a little bit more: sleek, smart, stylish, slyly witty and coolly seductive. Mr & Mrs Smith meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, by way of The Ipcress File.
March 17, 2025 at 7:58 PM
"I watch her. I assume she watches me."
Everything you might expect from director Steven Soderbergh and Panic Room writer David Koepp, and perhaps a little bit more: sleek, smart, stylish, slyly witty and coolly seductive. Mr & Mrs Smith meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, by way of The Ipcress File.
Everything you might expect from director Steven Soderbergh and Panic Room writer David Koepp, and perhaps a little bit more: sleek, smart, stylish, slyly witty and coolly seductive. Mr & Mrs Smith meets Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, by way of The Ipcress File.
"I'm a story that I tell people..."
Like Jason Bourne with laughs or Quentin Tarantino with heart, this super-stylish 6-parter from @joebarton.bsky.social is even more entertaining on 2nd viewing - episode 5, in particular, funnier than most romcoms amid the gunplay and bloodshed. Season 2, please!
Like Jason Bourne with laughs or Quentin Tarantino with heart, this super-stylish 6-parter from @joebarton.bsky.social is even more entertaining on 2nd viewing - episode 5, in particular, funnier than most romcoms amid the gunplay and bloodshed. Season 2, please!
March 11, 2025 at 7:04 PM
"I'm a story that I tell people..."
Like Jason Bourne with laughs or Quentin Tarantino with heart, this super-stylish 6-parter from @joebarton.bsky.social is even more entertaining on 2nd viewing - episode 5, in particular, funnier than most romcoms amid the gunplay and bloodshed. Season 2, please!
Like Jason Bourne with laughs or Quentin Tarantino with heart, this super-stylish 6-parter from @joebarton.bsky.social is even more entertaining on 2nd viewing - episode 5, in particular, funnier than most romcoms amid the gunplay and bloodshed. Season 2, please!
Starting shortly after he swapped the Westminster village for a walled garden in Northumberland, and ending on the day the Queen died, the fourth volume of diaries by @chrismullinexmp.bsky.social is as invaluable as its predecessors in tracking where we are as a nation, and how on earth we got here.
March 10, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Starting shortly after he swapped the Westminster village for a walled garden in Northumberland, and ending on the day the Queen died, the fourth volume of diaries by @chrismullinexmp.bsky.social is as invaluable as its predecessors in tracking where we are as a nation, and how on earth we got here.
The Owen oeuvre, canon, or body of work. #worldbookday
March 6, 2025 at 4:34 PM
The Owen oeuvre, canon, or body of work. #worldbookday
"All I am is what I'm going after."
Epic in scope, intimate in detail, and crafted with breathtaking precision, Michael Mann's crime classic hasn't dated a day in nearly three decades - and makes most current Hollywood movies look pretty puny by comparison.
Epic in scope, intimate in detail, and crafted with breathtaking precision, Michael Mann's crime classic hasn't dated a day in nearly three decades - and makes most current Hollywood movies look pretty puny by comparison.
February 24, 2025 at 2:10 PM
"All I am is what I'm going after."
Epic in scope, intimate in detail, and crafted with breathtaking precision, Michael Mann's crime classic hasn't dated a day in nearly three decades - and makes most current Hollywood movies look pretty puny by comparison.
Epic in scope, intimate in detail, and crafted with breathtaking precision, Michael Mann's crime classic hasn't dated a day in nearly three decades - and makes most current Hollywood movies look pretty puny by comparison.
"The less you know, the better you sleep."
Series 1 of Ben Chanan's conspiracy thriller was good. Series 2 is better: tense, twisty and unsettling - though it's ironic that a drama about data manipulation has been quietly recut from a neat 6 parts to a messier 8 on its way from the Beeb to Netflix.
Series 1 of Ben Chanan's conspiracy thriller was good. Series 2 is better: tense, twisty and unsettling - though it's ironic that a drama about data manipulation has been quietly recut from a neat 6 parts to a messier 8 on its way from the Beeb to Netflix.
February 16, 2025 at 1:01 PM
"The less you know, the better you sleep."
Series 1 of Ben Chanan's conspiracy thriller was good. Series 2 is better: tense, twisty and unsettling - though it's ironic that a drama about data manipulation has been quietly recut from a neat 6 parts to a messier 8 on its way from the Beeb to Netflix.
Series 1 of Ben Chanan's conspiracy thriller was good. Series 2 is better: tense, twisty and unsettling - though it's ironic that a drama about data manipulation has been quietly recut from a neat 6 parts to a messier 8 on its way from the Beeb to Netflix.
"It's always the question that involves the listener. It's never the answer."
The opening is so dry (even after skipping the titles) that I nearly gave up. But then I'd have missed a mixture of Kubrick's formalism, Polanski's suspense and Todd Field's own brand of cool detachment. Compellingly odd.
The opening is so dry (even after skipping the titles) that I nearly gave up. But then I'd have missed a mixture of Kubrick's formalism, Polanski's suspense and Todd Field's own brand of cool detachment. Compellingly odd.
February 10, 2025 at 1:29 PM
"It's always the question that involves the listener. It's never the answer."
The opening is so dry (even after skipping the titles) that I nearly gave up. But then I'd have missed a mixture of Kubrick's formalism, Polanski's suspense and Todd Field's own brand of cool detachment. Compellingly odd.
The opening is so dry (even after skipping the titles) that I nearly gave up. But then I'd have missed a mixture of Kubrick's formalism, Polanski's suspense and Todd Field's own brand of cool detachment. Compellingly odd.
"What a lovely thing she was..."
The story is absurd, the characters cardboard, the dialogue clunky and the direction workaday, but I love it anyway - for Alec Guinness's moving cameo, for John Barry's magnificent score, for the Titanic surfacing again. A not-so-guilty pleasure.
The story is absurd, the characters cardboard, the dialogue clunky and the direction workaday, but I love it anyway - for Alec Guinness's moving cameo, for John Barry's magnificent score, for the Titanic surfacing again. A not-so-guilty pleasure.
January 13, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"What a lovely thing she was..."
The story is absurd, the characters cardboard, the dialogue clunky and the direction workaday, but I love it anyway - for Alec Guinness's moving cameo, for John Barry's magnificent score, for the Titanic surfacing again. A not-so-guilty pleasure.
The story is absurd, the characters cardboard, the dialogue clunky and the direction workaday, but I love it anyway - for Alec Guinness's moving cameo, for John Barry's magnificent score, for the Titanic surfacing again. A not-so-guilty pleasure.
"Certainty is the enemy of unity."
The best adaptation so far, by far, of a Robert Harris novel, thanks to a taut script by Peter Straughan, powerful direction by Edward Burger, towering performances across the board - and a twist that stuns even more on screen than it did on the page. Riveting.
The best adaptation so far, by far, of a Robert Harris novel, thanks to a taut script by Peter Straughan, powerful direction by Edward Burger, towering performances across the board - and a twist that stuns even more on screen than it did on the page. Riveting.
December 10, 2024 at 5:36 PM
"Certainty is the enemy of unity."
The best adaptation so far, by far, of a Robert Harris novel, thanks to a taut script by Peter Straughan, powerful direction by Edward Burger, towering performances across the board - and a twist that stuns even more on screen than it did on the page. Riveting.
The best adaptation so far, by far, of a Robert Harris novel, thanks to a taut script by Peter Straughan, powerful direction by Edward Burger, towering performances across the board - and a twist that stuns even more on screen than it did on the page. Riveting.
Just realised that last Wednesday was the 24th birthday of my 1st book, Smoking in Bed: a distillation of 30 hours of wine-fuelled conversations between a wide-eyed film fan and the cult creator of #WithnailAndI. So, belatedly - chin-chin, Mr Robinson!🍷
November 26, 2024 at 2:53 PM
Just realised that last Wednesday was the 24th birthday of my 1st book, Smoking in Bed: a distillation of 30 hours of wine-fuelled conversations between a wide-eyed film fan and the cult creator of #WithnailAndI. So, belatedly - chin-chin, Mr Robinson!🍷
"You can't collaborate in anything without love."
David Hinton's feature documentary, passionately fronted by Martin Scorsese, is a wonderful, beautiful love letter to British cinema, right up there with the AFI's classic film about cinematography, Visions of Light. Moving, thrilling and inspiring.
David Hinton's feature documentary, passionately fronted by Martin Scorsese, is a wonderful, beautiful love letter to British cinema, right up there with the AFI's classic film about cinematography, Visions of Light. Moving, thrilling and inspiring.
November 25, 2024 at 9:13 PM
"You can't collaborate in anything without love."
David Hinton's feature documentary, passionately fronted by Martin Scorsese, is a wonderful, beautiful love letter to British cinema, right up there with the AFI's classic film about cinematography, Visions of Light. Moving, thrilling and inspiring.
David Hinton's feature documentary, passionately fronted by Martin Scorsese, is a wonderful, beautiful love letter to British cinema, right up there with the AFI's classic film about cinematography, Visions of Light. Moving, thrilling and inspiring.
The first paperback cover is also very evocative...
November 19, 2024 at 12:55 PM
The first paperback cover is also very evocative...
"The world's a hungry place."
Bridging the gulf between Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick's visions of The Shining, Mike Flanagan's 3-hour cut of Doctor Sleep is a tour-de-force: ambitious, disturbing and, when it finally goes where you hoped it would, oddly pleasurable. An adaptation like no other.
Bridging the gulf between Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick's visions of The Shining, Mike Flanagan's 3-hour cut of Doctor Sleep is a tour-de-force: ambitious, disturbing and, when it finally goes where you hoped it would, oddly pleasurable. An adaptation like no other.
November 17, 2024 at 7:26 PM
"The world's a hungry place."
Bridging the gulf between Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick's visions of The Shining, Mike Flanagan's 3-hour cut of Doctor Sleep is a tour-de-force: ambitious, disturbing and, when it finally goes where you hoped it would, oddly pleasurable. An adaptation like no other.
Bridging the gulf between Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick's visions of The Shining, Mike Flanagan's 3-hour cut of Doctor Sleep is a tour-de-force: ambitious, disturbing and, when it finally goes where you hoped it would, oddly pleasurable. An adaptation like no other.
"We're all just looking out for something real."
Drawing as much on Stanley Kubrick as Ridley Scott, this is a rare sequel that equals and even surpasses the original - director Denis Villeneuve crafting Hampton Fancher and Michael Green's script into a cerebral, ethereal and truly monumental work.
Drawing as much on Stanley Kubrick as Ridley Scott, this is a rare sequel that equals and even surpasses the original - director Denis Villeneuve crafting Hampton Fancher and Michael Green's script into a cerebral, ethereal and truly monumental work.
November 15, 2024 at 10:13 PM
"We're all just looking out for something real."
Drawing as much on Stanley Kubrick as Ridley Scott, this is a rare sequel that equals and even surpasses the original - director Denis Villeneuve crafting Hampton Fancher and Michael Green's script into a cerebral, ethereal and truly monumental work.
Drawing as much on Stanley Kubrick as Ridley Scott, this is a rare sequel that equals and even surpasses the original - director Denis Villeneuve crafting Hampton Fancher and Michael Green's script into a cerebral, ethereal and truly monumental work.
"Nothing can atone for a wasted life."
Mannered, melodramatic but intensely immersive, Alfonso Cuarón's adaptation of Renée Knight's novel is driven by mesmeric turns from Blanchett, Kline and - almost unrecognisable in a serious drama - Sacha Baron Cohen. A real kettle of fish.
Mannered, melodramatic but intensely immersive, Alfonso Cuarón's adaptation of Renée Knight's novel is driven by mesmeric turns from Blanchett, Kline and - almost unrecognisable in a serious drama - Sacha Baron Cohen. A real kettle of fish.
November 11, 2024 at 9:17 PM
"Nothing can atone for a wasted life."
Mannered, melodramatic but intensely immersive, Alfonso Cuarón's adaptation of Renée Knight's novel is driven by mesmeric turns from Blanchett, Kline and - almost unrecognisable in a serious drama - Sacha Baron Cohen. A real kettle of fish.
Mannered, melodramatic but intensely immersive, Alfonso Cuarón's adaptation of Renée Knight's novel is driven by mesmeric turns from Blanchett, Kline and - almost unrecognisable in a serious drama - Sacha Baron Cohen. A real kettle of fish.
"When the skies are grey, hope finds a way."
Paddingtons 1 & 2 were full of energy, tightly controlled. With a different director at the helm, and a bevy of writers on board - plus a new Mrs Brown - this charts a more wayward course, but remains a joyously entertaining journey.
Paddingtons 1 & 2 were full of energy, tightly controlled. With a different director at the helm, and a bevy of writers on board - plus a new Mrs Brown - this charts a more wayward course, but remains a joyously entertaining journey.
November 10, 2024 at 3:51 PM
"When the skies are grey, hope finds a way."
Paddingtons 1 & 2 were full of energy, tightly controlled. With a different director at the helm, and a bevy of writers on board - plus a new Mrs Brown - this charts a more wayward course, but remains a joyously entertaining journey.
Paddingtons 1 & 2 were full of energy, tightly controlled. With a different director at the helm, and a bevy of writers on board - plus a new Mrs Brown - this charts a more wayward course, but remains a joyously entertaining journey.