Tom Beasley
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tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Tom Beasley
@tomjbeasley.bsky.social
1.6K followers 610 following 760 posts
Stationary words about moving pictures. Freelance film critic/journo. London Critics member. Editor @ https://www.voicemag.uk/. Host of a Waterloo Road podcast. 'Beta nerd' apparently. (he/him)

Portfolio: http://tomjbeasley.wordpress.com/
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tomjbeasley.bsky.social
I think the Liverpool goal should have been allowed, but this stuff is very weird to me.

Yes, Sky Sports, making the first call on an offside is literally the main job of an assistant referee. It's why they have a big, colourful flag to lift. Not a conspiracy.

www.skysports.com/football/new...
From that transcript it is plain not only is the assistant referee the instigator of the decision to rule out the goal but, from Kavanagh's passive reply, that the assistant referee is effectively chief decision maker. While this insight is important in achieving a full picture of what took place, it does though raise fresh doubts about the validity of the decision.
November 12, 2025 at 2:33 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Two separate products seem to think that a fictional creature is one of the 26 most important animals my children should know. 😂 And one of them went to the trouble of finding "xene" and "vicuna".
A child's alphabet play mat where U stands for unicorn on a pink square with a yellow letter A child's white toy box where U stands for unicorn
November 8, 2025 at 11:41 AM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
One of the joys of my role as VoiceMag editor is the Voice Contributors scheme, in which I get to work with young people over 3 months as they explore #journalism & #creativewriting.

They're already producing amazing work and I can't wait to see what they do next. www.voicemag.uk/tag/voice-co...
Seven thumbnail images of young journalists against a pink background under the headline: "Meet our newest group of Voice Contributors"
October 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
#TheLongWalk is brilliant but so fucking bleak. Can't remember the last time such a good film made me feel so hopeless.
Poster for The Long Walk featuring several teenage boys walking towards a large pair of legs, which are in a military uniform
September 16, 2025 at 10:35 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
If you're in search of a Robert Redford film to watch, look no further than his final one. The Old Man & the Gun is a delightful, straightforwardly fun story in which Redford's charisma and charm is front and centre. He chose his own acting swansong, and he chose very well indeed.
Robert Redford leans against a fence while wearing a blue suit in a scene from The Old Man and The Gun
September 16, 2025 at 12:40 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
This is some Football Manager bullshit. Unlucky lads, but the great start continues! #PUSB
Stats for the 1-1 draw between Coventry and Norwich, showing Coventry had 64% possession and won on xG by 4.03 to 0.13. Coventry had 28 shots (four on target) to Norwich's three (one on target).
September 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
I reviewed The Thursday Murder Club, which is a bafflingly laugh-free take on a very funny book.

www.voicemag.uk/review/15614...
Ben Kingsley and Helen Mirren looking surprised at something off-camera in a still from The Thursday Murder Club
August 31, 2025 at 6:50 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Two lads here who have no idea that England usually don't win. 😂😂
Two baby boys wearing white babygrows with the word England and the Three Lions logo
July 27, 2025 at 6:49 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Just for fun, name two completely unrelated movies that share the same director.
Poster art for The Menu featuring Ralph Fiennes in chef's whites standing behind Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult, who are eating a plate of food Poster art for Ali G Indahouse featuring Sacha Baron Cohen in a yellow outfit and wearing a chain, surrounded by a gathering of women
July 13, 2025 at 3:19 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
I've been a bit quiet of late. This is why. 🩵🩵
Two beautiful baby boys lie nose to nose in a shared cot
July 12, 2025 at 9:22 AM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
what actor's expression in a movie will stay with you for the rest of your life?
Reece Shearsmith walks out of a tent with a grimace in a scene from A Field in England
June 24, 2025 at 10:51 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
First-time watch of 28 Weeks Later ahead of the new one and I was pleasantly surprised. It's a totally different film to the first, but it's an efficiently nasty action thriller.
Robert Carlyle runs from infected characters in a still from 28 Weeks Later
June 19, 2025 at 10:43 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
A quite incredible summary of the current bleakness from @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social. And this was written a couple of days ago, so you can basically +100 to everything.

www.garbageday.email/p/all-we-hav...
"It doesn’t matter if anyone believes the unreality of what they’re seeing online. Misinformation and disinformation don’t actually need to convince anyone of anything to have an impact. They just need to make you question what you’re seeing. The Big Lie and the millions of small ones online, whatever they happen to be wherever you’re living right now, just have to cause division. To wear you down. To provide an opening for those in power, who now have both too much of it and too few concerns about how to wield it. The populist demagogues and ravenous oligarchs the internet gave birth to in the 2010s are now firmly at the helm of the global order and, also, hooked up to the same chaotic, emotionally-gratifying global information networks that we all are, both social and, now, AI-generated. And, also like us, they are being heavily influenced by them in ways we can’t totally see or predict. Which is how we’ve ended up in a place where missiles are flying, planes are dropping out of the sky, and vulnerable people are being thrown in gulags, all while our leaders are shitposting about their big, beautiful plans for more extrajudicial arrests and genocidal territorial expansion. Assured by mindless AI chatbots that their dreams of world domination and self-enrichment are valid and noble and righteous. And there is no off ramp there. Everyone, even the folks with the nuclear codes, is entertaining themselves online as the world burns. Posting through it and monitoring the situation until it finally reaches their doorstep and forces them to look up from their phone and log off."
June 18, 2025 at 8:25 AM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Very easy to miss #DeepCover seeing as it's on Prime Video. Don't miss it. It's brilliant. All three leads on absolute top form, helped by a very tight and very funny script.
Orlando Bloom, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Nick Mohammed stand side by side while disguised as tough drug dealers in a still from Deep Cover
June 13, 2025 at 10:04 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Thoroughly charmed by The Ballad of Wallis Island. I could watch Tim Key just being weird all day. Less wowed by the maudlin stuff in the final act, but the middle section really crackles.
Poster art for The Ballad of Wallis Island, featuring Tom Basden, Tim Key, and Carey Mulligan against the backdrop of a picturesque beach
June 9, 2025 at 7:09 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
I had a lot of fun with #DangerousAnimals. But not as much fun as Jai Courtney is having. 😂
Poster art for Dangerous Animals, featuring the title in red type against an image of a blue ocean with an orange boat sailing away, leaving a trail of foam and blood
June 8, 2025 at 10:27 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Haven't seen them for a while, but my #goldfinches are back!
Two goldfinches sitting on either side of a bird feeder containing sunflower hearts
May 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Pretty sure that #FinalDestination Bloodlines is my film of the year so far. Horrible, hilarious, and a worthy addition to a franchise I have always loved. Zero notes.
Bong Joon-ho looks thoughtfully out of frame while wearing glasses. The caption says: "To me, that's cinema."
May 24, 2025 at 11:36 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
I'll give you one guess which player this is, very much not under-performing his xG 👍
Screenshot of Haji Wright stats on FotMob, showing 12 goals, xG of 11.22 and xGOT of 11.87
May 14, 2025 at 11:52 AM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
(stats via Transfermarkt)

Let's check in on Golden Boot winner Joel Piroe...
Screenshot of Joel Piroe's stats page, showing 163 minutes per goal
May 14, 2025 at 7:53 AM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
What’s a movie you think nobody but you and a handful of people have heard of, that you think is a fantastic film?

A year before Connor Swindells became a massive star because of Sex Education, he played a teenage battle rapper in VS. A very underrated and underseen British drama.
Poster art for the film VS., featuring two men facing in opposite directions against the backdrop of a green-hued seaside skyline. The tagline reads: "Rap is a battle. Life is a fight."
May 12, 2025 at 2:33 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Haven't seen something genuinely brilliant at the cinema for what feels like ages. High hopes for tonight's film though... 🍿
Poster art for Sinners, featuring the title in yellow text in front of Michael B Jordan looking to his left against the backdrop of an orange, setting sun
April 19, 2025 at 5:58 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Tonight's film! 📽
Poster art for Sister Midnight featuring a woman holding her hair above her head, with a bandaged nose, in front of a background split between yellow paintwork and white tiles
April 3, 2025 at 6:49 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Almost certainly our last theatre trip for a while, but I am VERY excited for this one! 🎭
Signage for the musical Hadestown, featuring a shadowy hand holding a red flower, outside the Lyric Theatre in London
March 30, 2025 at 1:43 PM
tomjbeasley.bsky.social
Been looking forward to reading this one! 📚
A copy of the book Feeding the Monster: Why Horror Has a Hold on Us by Anna Bogutskaya
March 23, 2025 at 1:35 AM