6u532b

Absolutely phenomenal, I really really love this play so much. That ending is just such a guy punch. Wow.

I will say however, after watching the filmed production today I do think it doesn't translate as well when filmed. Because when I saw it live in the west end back in May of last year it definitely worked a lot better in person because it is such a three dimensional show. Also the full blackouts literally made me jump everytime when watched live, and watching the filmed production today just wasn't the same. But still a really amazing play.

Absolutely adore seeing silent films with live accompaniment!! I really got lost in the atmosphere of it all this time and it was just glorious

Also inadvertently the perfect film to start pride month with cos there was something so cunty about Nosferatu sneaking around with his coffin tucked under his arm

Also what is it with Murnau and putting his lead actresses in terrible wigs?

Aggressively not my thing but unlike baby driver it wins me over with it's humour and unique charm every time. Scott and Ramona are literally every single alt girl and her weirdo boyfriend and I love that.

Needed more Wallace and Aubrey Plaza tho

(Also Fiona I feel you will dig this)

Liked this but idk wanted to like this a lot more, it was like a puzzle where every piece was really beautiful but just don't quite slot together, which is a huge shame cos this has so so much potential to be outstanding with a few tweaks.

Best part by far was Ayoade with Michael Cera as a close second but his character (and kinda the film) went downhill after his character's reveal. Idk it's very dense and I may very well like it more on rewatch

I think this is summed up very well by the fact that in the cinema just before the film started a random guy very loudly whispered to the person next to him 'what does Phoenician mean?'

Oh god.

This is so beautiful, not only visually but also in every other way. This feels like the pinnacle of all the Powell and Pressburger films I've seen, talking a little from each one but combining them into something magical. Maybe I'm a little biased tho cos I notoriously love films about a person's obsession with their work in the performing arts and films from the 1940s. Also the adaptation here is genius in the fact you don't think it's an adaptation of the fairytale because you think it's named after the in universe ballet but instead it is one of theost human and emotionally guy wrenching telling of the story.

Beautiful.

ALSO ALL FILMS NEED TO LOOK LIKE THIS

Forget your zodiac sign, which Cary Grant persona in this are you?

I'm literally a man and I still want Ellen's entire wardrobe from this film

Also team Ellen all the way, Danny was an annoying whiny little bitch who deserved it (also note that this is a high 4 stars, teetering on 4.5)

You know that Billy Wilder is the perfect filmmaker when he has gone on record saying the biggest regret is something as trivial as Barbara Stanwyck's wig in this film

As with all Wilder films, it just keeps getting better every time

Idk why but I have an irresistible urge to one day watch this in a room that reels of cigarette smoke

Watched on Tuesday May 13, 2025.

Eye do really quite like this

Nothing quite beats watching this on a pretty hot day

The real star of the show is Edith Head totally popping off with the costume design

"Janet Gaynor, in this week's acting challenge you dazzled us. The only thing that was hard to direct about you was your wig's hairline. Condragulations my dear, you are the winner of the best actress oscar"

The shot where the camera zoomed in to Isak and the lights around him all darkened at the same time made me gasp out loud in the cinema

Stanley Tucci always says gay rights……even when he’s Catholic

Also loved how Stanley Tucci’s head is so thin that his funny little cardinal hat is actually bigger than his head and sticks out at the sides

An incredibly deceiving title, this will stress you the fuck out, I'm literally shaking after watching this

Basically After Hours if Scorcese had made it a gangster film (and added pedophilia)

Flip flops a bit from outstanding to great to good to okay but overall is pretty strong. Basically all the best parts are when it feels like you're watching a serious after hours

Absolute perfection

Nothing beats scenes of Cary Grant falling over with his hair ruffled slightly out of place 😍

Didn't realise that this was showing without ads or trailers at the start so I literally had to sprint the whole way to the cinema (not particularly athletic btw) and I still missed the first five minutes of the film and entered the cinema literally dripping with sweat

That genuinely may be the absolute best way of watching this film, I completely connected to this on a whole other level. I have unironically just had a life changing cinematic experience like no other.

I'm now sad I don't think I could replicate an experience like this ever

Watched on Tuesday April 29, 2025.

I desperately want to give pépinot a hug and punch Mondain really hard in the face

Meh it was okay not really my jam

Liked the political drama way more than the final act. Judi Dench was the best part and Silva was so gay but like not in a 'its problematic but still iconic' kinda way like the classic Disney villains or Peter Lorre in the Maltese falcon, I just found it disgusting and villainising

I wanted to punch Jim in the face whenever he was onscreen, he's literally the 1940s equivalent of a 'Nice Guy's

Also gotta love the when someone hooks someone else with literally Minecraft fishing rod logic

Wow

What I am beginning to learn is that biopics are only outstanding when Fosse directs them. Now I completely don't understand why Man on the Moon exists cos it is literally this but inferior in every single regard. This also weirdly felt like the kind of film La Cocina was trying to be or at least trying to create the same atmosphere and prompt the same feelings in the viewer.

I find it fascinating because you can definitely see the groundwork being laid for All that Jazz and you could definitely argue that that is almost a combination of this and Cabaret. Although this is definitely visually a feast for the eyes far more than the others, it is black and white cinematography at its finest. You can also see Fosse's huge iration for Lenny throughout and how he almost sees himself as similar (with both being huge cynics) and that is also what likens this to all that jazz in a way.

Ugh Fosse is one of the absolute greatest directors of all time and definitely one of my favourite auteurs (if you can count him as one, I guess that'd make his auteur signature the inclusion/mention of threesomes)

Not bad at all and I'm probably being a little too harsh but I just couldn't shake the feeling that I could be doing something better with my 2 hours

Like I genuinely thought to myself during the film 'in this time I could watch Liza with a Z twice and still have time to spare'

Ugh just so outstanding and hilarious (very close to being a 4.5, may go up on rewatch)

One of the greatest things about this (other than just hot people being hot for 90 minutes) is Henry Fonda being incredibly awkward around women

"Yes you have a definite nose."

"I'm glad you like it. Do you like any of the rest of me?"

"Oh what I meant was in the card playing sense..."

"I know what you meant. I was just flirting with you."

"Oh."

Also completely unrelated but I think Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith should be recognised as a gay icon

Absolutely wouldn't be the same film without Bette Davis's outstanding performance (god she's literally one of the best actresses to ever grace the screen). Absolutely highly recommend this purely for her eyes alone.

But also be warned of the Ronald Raegen jumpscare (but the first thing anyone says to him is Geraldine Fitzgerald calling him a parasite so it's all okay, although I wonder how she could see into the future)

The Jewish odd couple goes to poland

Forget screaming Chicken Jockey at a screen with 30 other sweaty teenagers, the best cinematic experience you can have by far is watching this live with the Q&A and beaver/dog/horse mascot shenanigans.

It's especially better if you spent time before making your own version of the applejack hat and wear it there and Ryland compliments it when you get to meet him, and you also win best audience member and get a free badge of your favourite beaver (defence attorney beaver) as a result.

A truly magnificent and unforgettable experience

Oh. My. God.

Absolutely incredible. Bong is such a master especially when it comes to tickle and slap. Between this and parasite he is able to craft a more comedic first half and then a harrowing and horrifying second half. I literally went from laughing uproariously at Detective Park Doo-Man checking out men's crothches in the sauna to see if the have pubic hair, to spending the last half hour of the film frozen in fear on the verge of tears and literally biting down on my knuckles.

I think Bong is so good at creating this sudden switch up because he has an element of self awareness and is able to realise that crimes like rape and murder are so oversaturated and simply having them portrayed is unfortunately not harrowing enough. This allows him to slip in the humour as the stakes feel standard but he is able to build that up and have the exact same crimes feel 100x as horrifying by the end through the way he drip feeds the information and adds an element of a further desperation, as well as making the final crime personal, and reserving that for the end.

Wonderful film

The old woman smiling and cheerfully saying 'there's been a terrible catastrophe' is such a mood

When I started watching this film I had a really bad ache in my left leg, and the film was so good it literally cured it

Katherine Hepburn is completely right, the only thing better than goofy drunk Jimmy Stewart is Cary Grant in a cardigan 🥵🥵

Take that Hitchcock, Director Bong made the ultimate cameo by including a literal bong

Also half a star is literally just for pigeon man

I do really appreciate what this is doing and it's visually gorgeous but also very much not my thing

I also found the story telling really stilted and just slightly off and the editing as well felt it kinda lacked continuity at points (it always felt like each scene was missing a shot or 2 but maybe that's the point) also didn't really give a hoot about the characters and the romance but idk it wasn't bad at all either

I think I definitely need to watch it again to maybe get it more, and if I'm honest I actually kinda wanna watch it again now, like I weirdly have that feeling I have after watching a great film of desperately wanting to go back and start watching it again

But tbf some of that dialogue was so so bad

Grandma Chance said gay rights

There was a literal hand job and dripping cum but still the most sexual part of the whole thing was him making that sandwich

Click here to read my full review as part of the Picturehouse’s Fresh Takes Blog. Although its technically promotion for the film so they cut out me saying I thought it had ‘an over-cluttered narrative with an excess of characters that aren’t fleshed out beyond their initial introductions’ :(

This review may contain spoilers.

Really surprised to find out that this isn't based on a play, it just feels like one of those films

I would also let burt Lancaster ruin my life (only joking he's not actually hot in this film he's fucking terrifying)

Take that Kurosawa, Kobayashi's Samurai films have something that yours don't: decent bald caps

But genuinely this is absolutely one of those films where you finish it a completely different person, like it doesn't feel like the same day as when I entered the cinema

Slightly terrified by how much I relate to Felix, I literally drive my family mad like he does

Although if that means I'm being compared in some way to Jack Lemmon then I'm not going to complain

Gotta love how there is way more romantic tension between Holly and Harry, and Holly and Galloway, than there is between Holly and Anna

Also Orson Welles absolutely demolishes the competition for absolutely stealing the show with the least screentime

Gets way better every time. This is literally my happy place

This is one of my new all time comfort films because the only thing better than people screaming: 'lookherehildywhatimtellingyouiscrucialforthelongevityofthepaoerandubcshgdstghdtyiolbdhafudsygsgv' in transatlantic accents for 90 minutes is the charming gorgeous presence that is Cary Grant 😍🥵🤤

So proud of my husband for how good he is in this

Hits different when you watch it at your favourite local cinema that you go to and regularly and feels like a part of you

Also extra points for a clip of Cary Grant in His Girl Friday being played

Genuinely so unlike anything I've ever seen before, this is fucking insane (hence the lack of rating)

This is such a film of contradictions; this is simultaneously one of the weirdest and the most mundane films, it was also mind numbingly boring but also brilliant as a result. Very very confusing for me to wrap my head around, I'd definitely need to watch it again to fully grapple it but also I'm not sure if I can stomach that 3.5 hour runtime again (I still think I'm crazy for watching this in the cinema with no break)

Wow.

Sheer noir perfection, absolutely outstanding now I completely understand why the Picturehouse screened this last as part of it's little noir season. Not only is it such a gripping and intricate plot that flows so well throughout (and perfect dialogue as in Wilder's other noir masterpiece Sunset Boulevard) but it also has such a strong emotiona core within that you really can't help but root for Walter Neff no matter what (not an easy feat for me considering I associate his face with the absolute prick Mr Sheldrake from The Apartment). Also not to mention how some of it is so groundbreaking for the time, like it feels as if it could've been made at least a decade later if not more, but also Billy Wilder once again sneaks taboo themes in there, especially with that ending.

Speaking of Billy Wilder, not only has this further cemented him as my favourite director but it marks him scoring a quadruplet of perfection by making the perfect noir, the perfect noir/drama, the perfect drama/comedy, and the perfect comedy (Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment, and Some Like it hot, in that order). He genuinely is a genius and we are lucky that a filmmaker such as him existed. Also made me realise what a shame it is that there is no Billy Wilder film with Cary Grant in, maybe that's because it would've been so good it would have caused Hollywood to completely implode

Actually enjoyed this a lot more than the first time

I do love some nihilistic chain smoking

Nothing prepared me for that final emotional gut punch of realising that it was a real story

Also we need to start shooting things on film again

I was so jealous of that police officer that Cary Grant was basically sat on the lap of 😍😍

Also I was gonna give it 4 stars but fuck it 4.5 this is such a charming and fun watch and it oozes charisma through it's incredibly well paced runtime. So many great gags, amazing physical comedy, that 3rd act is so so outstanding both in how sweet it is and how funny (not to mention that wonderful ending shot I shall not spoil). Oh god just great, not to mention two stellar performances from a dog and a cat and Irene is marvelous as well I want to watch more of her films now and Ralph Bellamy is once again the pathetic new husband that Cary Grant third wheels. Wonderful joyful stuff, makes me glad to be alive

Got the 4D experience by watching this in the year of our lord 2025. God help us we're all fucked

It has always been a girlish dream of mine of marrying a man named Hugh Skinner (or Ncuti Gatwa)

Toshirō Mifune is actually one of the finest and most skilled actors of all time and Kurosawa directs him impeccably, I could swear on my life I'm watching a completely different person in every film I've seen him in

(Also he is really really hot but not so much in this film sadly cos of the beard)

The films I watched in the cinema (normally the Arts Picture House) that weren't new releases

• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Pride
• All About Eve
• Cléo from 5 to 7
• After Hours
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Paris, Texas
• The Bad Sleep Well
• The Third Man
• The Banshees of Inisherin

...plus 29 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Hot Fuzz
2. Shaun of the Dead
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. The World's End
5. Baby Driver

They're literally all great

(Will update as I watch more of his films)

1. Psycho
2. Rear Window
3. Dial M for Murder
4. Vertigo
5. North by Northwest
6. The 39 Steps
7. To Catch a Thief

Films I love and films I really want to watch that I own on DVD

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
• An Affair to
• All About My Mother
• All That Jazz
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Angels in America
• The Apartment
• Barton Fink
• Before Sunrise

...plus 88 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I love how these films look

• Wild Strawberries
• The Bad Sleep Well
• The Holdovers
• Cléo from 5 to 7
• The Lighthouse
• Seven Samurai
• All That Jazz
• Lenny
• Paris, Texas
• Cabaret

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Ace in the Hole
• After Hours
• All About Eve
• All That Jazz

  Genuinely got very close to starting it all over again just after finishing it for the first time, I definitely would've if it wasn't prett late

• The Apartment
• The Awful Truth
• The Bad Sleep Well
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• The Big Sleep
• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

...plus 57 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Not complete considering we haven't seen all the films we will study yet

1. Do the Right Thing
2. Vertigo
3. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
4. Breathless
5. Un Chien Andalou
6. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
7. L'Âge d'or
8. Skyfall

Top 10 films about male friendships. For the Letterboxd showdown.

• Some Like It Hot
• Hot Fuzz
• The Holdovers
• Cinema Paradiso
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• The Lighthouse
• The Odd Couple
• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Gilda
• Sweet Smell of Success

Top 10 films with locations in their names. For the Letterboxd showdown.

• Sunset Boulevard
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Casablanca
• Cinema Paradiso
• Chicago
• Paris, Texas
• Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
• Paris Is Burning
• The Philadelphia Story
• The Maltese Falcon

Nothing I love more than a good film noir (also idk if Breathless properly counts as a film noir)

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. Double Indemnity
3. Ace in the Hole
4. Laura
5. Gilda
6. Leave Her to Heaven
7. Sweet Smell of Success
8. The Third Man
9. The Maltese Falcon
10. Out of the Past

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• All About Eve
• The Lady Eve

Will update as I watch more Cary Grant films

1. His Girl Friday

   Walter Burns is an absolute bisexual king and I adore him for it. Everything from his sassy fast talking to his campy finger jabs (especially with Bruce's mother). Not to mention how much he constantly flirts with and completely bamboozles the utter himbo Bruce (obviously keeping that element from the play, in which Hildy is a man and his fiancée is a woman) especially in that one scene where he third wheels Bruce and Hildy's dinner and unashamedly flirts with them both; true bisexual excellence

2. Bringing Up Baby

   Soft spoken glasses wearing paleontology geek. Really uncomfortable around anyone attractive. Need I go on? Ok I will, there's a scene in which he wears nothing but a frilly chiffon bath robe and springs into the air screaming 'I just went GAY all of a sudden'. And if that iconic moment isn't enough, it is sometimes cited as the first use of gay in it's modern meaning in mainstream media, as it was only used to mean that within gay circles and Cary Grant allegedly slipped it in as an in joke. True chaotic bisexual behaviour. Also he's just particularly physically heightened and high energy and just especially campy in this one which totally adds to it, not to mention how imo younger Cary Grant is inherently more bisexual ( and way hotter) than older Cary Grant

3. The Awful Truth

   Obviously not explicitly bisexual in this as in most films from the era (obviously, although the ‘I just turned gay’ line of Bringing up Baby is pretty damn explicit) but Cary Grant is pretty damn Bisexual here. He is at peak hotness in this era and specifically this film especially since I’m a huge sucker for when he is massively charming and he is second most charming here (just behind His Girl Friday) and here he is at the peak of slapstick and heightened, camp physicality. Not only that, but also he has pretty good tension with Ralph Bellamy and the singing teacher, and other than with Lucy he doesn’t really express any interest with women throughout the film. Also he loves his dog which is pretty green flag and kinda bi. Also the final dealbreaker here is 100% the shot of Cary Grant bouncing up and down on the lap of the police officer on the motorbike (jealous).

4. The Philadelphia Story

   I’d say he’s quite bi in this considering how the entire thing is kinda a threesome between him, Jimmy Stewart and Katharine Hepburn. But also he's a little bit straight man icky towards Tracy at the start (although he’s fine by the end) but he does lowkey give the vibe of an old hollywood bi husband who likes men way more than he does women. Like when Jimmy Stewart is out at the party getting all drunk and seeing beautiful ladies, Cary Grant is sat cozily at home with a cardigan. He also just kinda lingers in a very funny way and is literally like the bi friend who knows and collects all the gossip because he’s always everywhere (just like me)

5. Charade

   Very goofy and over the top in this one, not to mention how he is fully committed to the bit 100% of the time (I feel like I'm also describing myself, which is why I'm counting these as bisexual traits). He's also incredibly sassy in this one just like in his girl Friday. And he has his whole elaborate plot of different names and aliases and such which is just pure camp perfection. Especially when he makes that silly face for the final reveal of identity. Not particularly specifically bisexual in this one but it's pure, honest to god camp perfection

6. To Catch a Thief

   I'd describe this as about average bisexuality, like nothing special but the signs are there. Obviously as with all these films, there's a straight romance, but he's a bachelor living in an extravagant mansion in the French Riviera and he wears tight fitting jumpers and cunty little neckscarves (honestly probably the best outfits of any Cary Grant films, the one of the black cravat and grey jacket is probably my favourite outfit of his ever). Also while his character is American he's lived in a long time and is inherently bi. Also this is the hottest he is in anything from 1955 and beyond (which is what id categorise as the shift from the far hotter young Cary Grant to like older Cary Grant) and he's just so effortlessly smooth and charming in this one as well, not an inherently bisexual trait but his charms worked on me so I'm counting it as bisexual. Also I'm sorry but ex cat burglar for the french resistance is probably the most bisexual job you can ever have

7. North by Northwest

   As things go, this is a pretty straight Cary Grant (which by normal standards is still bi, cos Cary Grant will always inherently be a bi icon in every role no matter what). Obviously he has his moments of camp and exaggeration like his drunk facial expressions, him whistling in the shower, him trying to shave with the tiny razor and his absolute horniness culminating in that final tunnel shot. But for the rest of it he's a very straight man, I guess partly as a result of the character supposed to be an average Joe. Also coincidentally his most bland and boring character imo, but that's also kinda the point. Just wish there would've been a few more bisexual moments, like a slightly camper outfit or a stolen glance at a man or something

• His Girl Friday
• The Awful Truth

Cinemaception

• The Holdovers
• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• The Third Man
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Breathless
• Cinema Paradiso

They're literally all masterpieces (will update as I watch more of his films)

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. The Apartment
3. Double Indemnity
4. Some Like It Hot
5. Witness for the Prosecution
6. Ace in the Hole

Since 1920

• The Holdovers
• Pride
• Hot Fuzz
• The Muppet Christmas Carol
• After Hours
• All That Jazz
• The Apartment
• Sunset Boulevard
• Double Indemnity
• The Awful Truth

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Black Narcissus
• Vertigo

Every film that has at some point or other been in my top 4 (also acts as a list of my all time faves)

• After Hours
• All That Jazz
• The Apartment
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Hot Fuzz
• Pride
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Singin' in the Rain
• Sunset Boulevard

• Paris, Texas
• Perfect Days

Godfather trilogy eat your heart out

• Paddington 2
• Paddington
• Paddington in Peru

• Bringing Up Baby
• Charade
• North by Northwest

Not including the obvious animated films, Star Wars films and Marvel films (also this is specifically uk disney+ so some of these films may not be on the us version)

• 10 Things I Hate About You
• (500) Days of Summer
• Alien
• Aliens
• All of Us Strangers
• Amélie
• The Banshees of Inisherin
• The Big Short
• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Black Swan

...plus 50 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Driving Miss Daisy
• Green Book

• Tea with Mussolini

  Mr Kirkland

• The Big Lebowski

  Mr Parkinson
  Mr Jones (English)

• Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

  Mr Ware
  (Also Star Wars, especially Phantom Menace)

• Jurassic Park

  Mr Hicks

• How to Train Your Dragon

  Mr Moore
  (Also Star Wars, especially Empire Strikes Back)

• Soul

  Miss Legg

• Blade Runner

  Mr Dobson

• Big Fish

  Miss Parker

• Shrek

  Miss Colaço

• The Holiday

  Miss Robinson

...plus 27 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Sunset Boulevard
• All About Eve

• The Lighthouse
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

• Adaptation.
• In a Lonely Place
• Sunset Boulevard
• Barton Fink
• All of Us Strangers

• The King of Comedy
• Death to Smoochy