Greg T
@gregt314.bsky.social
Gentleman, wordsmith, man-about-town, et cetera and so forth.
Film #109 for 2025 is Frankenstein (2025). Guillermo del Toro does for Frankenstein what Francis Ford Coppola did for Dracula - a visually sumptuous gothic melodrama absolutely drenched in blood and desire. It steals fire from cinematic gods and refuses to give it back.
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Film #109 for 2025 is Frankenstein (2025). Guillermo del Toro does for Frankenstein what Francis Ford Coppola did for Dracula - a visually sumptuous gothic melodrama absolutely drenched in blood and desire. It steals fire from cinematic gods and refuses to give it back.
Film #108 for 2025 is King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). I am convinced a truly great film is hiding somewhere in the footage that Guy Ritchie shot for his balls-to-the-wall fantasy epic, and sometimes that film shines through, but the final version falls far short of what it could have been.
November 8, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Film #108 for 2025 is King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). I am convinced a truly great film is hiding somewhere in the footage that Guy Ritchie shot for his balls-to-the-wall fantasy epic, and sometimes that film shines through, but the final version falls far short of what it could have been.
Film #107 for 2025 is Joe Versus The Volcano (1990). Tom Hanks and three flavours of Meg Ryan in an ode to the importance of quality luggage, filled with bold choices that sometimes even work. It's a sporadically great film but not really a good one, that I'm going to quote from but never recommend.
November 7, 2025 at 8:29 AM
Film #107 for 2025 is Joe Versus The Volcano (1990). Tom Hanks and three flavours of Meg Ryan in an ode to the importance of quality luggage, filled with bold choices that sometimes even work. It's a sporadically great film but not really a good one, that I'm going to quote from but never recommend.
Happy New Florence + the Machine album day, for those who celebrate. Title track "Everybody Scream" is very solid.
November 1, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Happy New Florence + the Machine album day, for those who celebrate. Title track "Everybody Scream" is very solid.
Film #106 for 2025 is Ghost (1990), as a Halloween watch. Director Jerry Zucker (Airplane!) is far more comfortable with the comedy elements, which are wonderful, than with the romance, which fumbles. Whoopi Goldberg steals the show. Patrick Swayze is terrible. Demi Moore is there too, I guess.
October 31, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Film #106 for 2025 is Ghost (1990), as a Halloween watch. Director Jerry Zucker (Airplane!) is far more comfortable with the comedy elements, which are wonderful, than with the romance, which fumbles. Whoopi Goldberg steals the show. Patrick Swayze is terrible. Demi Moore is there too, I guess.
Film #105 for 2025 is Things Will Be Different (2024). It's Benson-and-Moorhead-by-proxy - a sci-fantasy time travel mindfuck, done on a budget, and built around a strong central relationship between its two leads. It's initially impressive, but enormously let down by an incoherent final act.
October 31, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Film #105 for 2025 is Things Will Be Different (2024). It's Benson-and-Moorhead-by-proxy - a sci-fantasy time travel mindfuck, done on a budget, and built around a strong central relationship between its two leads. It's initially impressive, but enormously let down by an incoherent final act.
Film #104 for 2025 is Marie Antoinette (2006). My thinking on this might evolve - its choices demand consideration - but my initial reaction is that in attempting to portray the tedium and unpleasantness of the French court, Sofia Coppola has made a film which is profoundly tedious and unpleasant.
October 29, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Film #104 for 2025 is Marie Antoinette (2006). My thinking on this might evolve - its choices demand consideration - but my initial reaction is that in attempting to portray the tedium and unpleasantness of the French court, Sofia Coppola has made a film which is profoundly tedious and unpleasant.
The Australian Human Rights Commission drafting their 15-heading 33-page 98-citation submission in relation to the government's age verification policies. (They were not a fan.)
October 28, 2025 at 6:19 AM
The Australian Human Rights Commission drafting their 15-heading 33-page 98-citation submission in relation to the government's age verification policies. (They were not a fan.)
I was saying last night how much I love this shot from Lost in Translation (2003) - the waiter's body visually separates Charlotte and Bob as their bodies physically pull away from each other, just as the viewer most wants them to draw closer. You want that waiter gone, and don't realise why.
October 27, 2025 at 12:03 AM
I was saying last night how much I love this shot from Lost in Translation (2003) - the waiter's body visually separates Charlotte and Bob as their bodies physically pull away from each other, just as the viewer most wants them to draw closer. You want that waiter gone, and don't realise why.
Screenshot rather than quote because there are no wrong reactions to a film, but also this drives me absolutely nuts because those things aren't (usually) there to impress other directors, they're to get a reaction from you, and "I'm reminded I'm watching a movie" may be exactly that reaction.
October 26, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Screenshot rather than quote because there are no wrong reactions to a film, but also this drives me absolutely nuts because those things aren't (usually) there to impress other directors, they're to get a reaction from you, and "I'm reminded I'm watching a movie" may be exactly that reaction.
Film #103 for 2025 is Lost in Translation (2003). I've seen Sofia Coppola's anti-romcom before, but if anything I liked it more this time. A sense of perfect tension that follows its heart, not its genre. Both stars are sensational.
October 26, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Film #103 for 2025 is Lost in Translation (2003). I've seen Sofia Coppola's anti-romcom before, but if anything I liked it more this time. A sense of perfect tension that follows its heart, not its genre. Both stars are sensational.
But check it out, this is actually what Jack Sholder looks like:
October 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
But check it out, this is actually what Jack Sholder looks like:
Film #102 for 2025 is The Virgin Suicides (1999). It captures something haunting and true about adolescence, and it's a film that embraces multiple readings, but at the same time it's so poetically self-serious that it constantly threatens to teeter over the edge into the absurd. Still, I liked it.
October 25, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Film #102 for 2025 is The Virgin Suicides (1999). It captures something haunting and true about adolescence, and it's a film that embraces multiple readings, but at the same time it's so poetically self-serious that it constantly threatens to teeter over the edge into the absurd. Still, I liked it.
When I see those photos of the East Wing demolition, this is the only thing I can think of:
October 23, 2025 at 1:49 AM
When I see those photos of the East Wing demolition, this is the only thing I can think of:
Film #101 for 2025 is Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988). It's cozy and charming, with perfect comedic timing. It's deliberately predictable, and the fun is in the anticipation of what you know is coming, and in how Caine and Martin are going to sell it. A genuine comedy classic.
October 21, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Film #101 for 2025 is Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988). It's cozy and charming, with perfect comedic timing. It's deliberately predictable, and the fun is in the anticipation of what you know is coming, and in how Caine and Martin are going to sell it. A genuine comedy classic.
Always a bit of cognitive dissonance to see Emperor Palpatine turn up as Michael Caine's manservant in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
I suppose it *is* directed by Yoda, though.
I suppose it *is* directed by Yoda, though.
October 21, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Always a bit of cognitive dissonance to see Emperor Palpatine turn up as Michael Caine's manservant in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
I suppose it *is* directed by Yoda, though.
I suppose it *is* directed by Yoda, though.
The correct answer is "no".
October 19, 2025 at 2:27 AM
The correct answer is "no".
Literally something the eSafety Commissioner told him yesterday.
October 18, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Literally something the eSafety Commissioner told him yesterday.
Anika = Communications Minister Anika Wells, and Julie = eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant.
Full transcript here:
ministers.education.gov.au/clare/press-...
Full transcript here:
ministers.education.gov.au/clare/press-...
October 18, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Anika = Communications Minister Anika Wells, and Julie = eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant.
Full transcript here:
ministers.education.gov.au/clare/press-...
Full transcript here:
ministers.education.gov.au/clare/press-...
Film #100 for 2025 is Sirat (2025). Breathtakingly beautiful, traumatically brutal. A man and his son unwisely enter the desert, in the company of strangers. The music is like a tide that ebbs and flows but never leaves; grief hovers everywhere; there are no easy answers. Phenomenal.
October 17, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Film #100 for 2025 is Sirat (2025). Breathtakingly beautiful, traumatically brutal. A man and his son unwisely enter the desert, in the company of strangers. The music is like a tide that ebbs and flows but never leaves; grief hovers everywhere; there are no easy answers. Phenomenal.
Film #99 for 2025 is Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009), an aggressively low-budget and largely talent-free British comedy that mostly exists to make you appreciate Shaun of the Dead more by way of contrast. It's not entirely without charm, but charm only goes so far.
October 17, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Film #99 for 2025 is Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009), an aggressively low-budget and largely talent-free British comedy that mostly exists to make you appreciate Shaun of the Dead more by way of contrast. It's not entirely without charm, but charm only goes so far.
I think you know what my least favourite is.
October 16, 2025 at 12:12 AM
I think you know what my least favourite is.
Plex appears to freak out if the Rotten Tomatoes score for a film is only a single digit. (NaN = Not a Number.) New Year's Eve is currently 7% fresh on RT.
October 15, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Plex appears to freak out if the Rotten Tomatoes score for a film is only a single digit. (NaN = Not a Number.) New Year's Eve is currently 7% fresh on RT.
Film #98 for 2025 is Final Destination 5 (2011). It's no masterpiece, but a sense of gory fun and humour make it one of the best in this unambitious franchise. The "take a life to save your life" twist is a smart reinvention of the premise - but fails to make events ultimately any less pointless.
October 14, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Film #98 for 2025 is Final Destination 5 (2011). It's no masterpiece, but a sense of gory fun and humour make it one of the best in this unambitious franchise. The "take a life to save your life" twist is a smart reinvention of the premise - but fails to make events ultimately any less pointless.
I'm playing Doom 3 (2004) on the PS5. This release is based on the 2012 "BFG Edition", so it includes both expansions, remastered graphics, and changes the flashlight to be shoulder-mounted (usable with weapons) rather than its own weapon, and balance changes intended to make it easier. (1/?)
October 11, 2025 at 4:16 AM
I'm playing Doom 3 (2004) on the PS5. This release is based on the 2012 "BFG Edition", so it includes both expansions, remastered graphics, and changes the flashlight to be shoulder-mounted (usable with weapons) rather than its own weapon, and balance changes intended to make it easier. (1/?)