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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 18h

Not sure if it's true, but I did read rumours of Abrams throwing a pad of paper at the head of a Disney executive during story conferences and shouting "you write the fucking thing".

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 18h

Ewoks are in there. There's a shot of Wicket and his son in a montage at the end.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 18h

I would not even be slightly surprised. This is what making a tentpole feature while changing directors and constantly changing the script will buy you.

Dark Horizons @darkhorizons.bsky.social · 19h

“Rise of Skywalker” Cost Nearly $600M?
www.darkhorizons.com/rise-of-skyw...

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 22h

RIP Drew Struzan.
fictionmachine.com/2025/10/14/d...

Drew Struzan, 1947-2025

The artist Drew Struzan has died, aged 78. For those of us who grew up in the 1980s, he effectively illustrated our childhoods by illustrating the theatrical posters to some of the decades most pop…

fictionmachine.com

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 23h

The more I see of Shinoda Masahiro's remarkable body of work, the more I believe he may be the most underrated director of 20th century Japanese cinema.

fictionmachine.com/2025/10/14/r...

REVIEW: Ballad of Orin (1977)

In the early 20th century, a blind girl named Orin (Iwashita Shima) is adopted into a school for goze: blind female minstrels who would sing to entertain Japanese communities. When she breaches the…

fictionmachine.com

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like the last sentence kind of answered the question.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 1d

I never saw the trailer. I felt the poster was vague enough and the official synopsis suitably circumspect to preserve the surprises. Sadly I got spoiled by a friend gushing at me about this 'great film where SPOILER SPOILER', and in this specific case I felt that was a shame.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 1d

Danny Boyle's belated sequel 28 Years Later plays by its own roles and ignores or subverts a lot of sequel expectations, and this is to its tremendous credit.

fictionmachine.com/2025/10/13/r...

REVIEW: 28 Years Later (2025)

This is not how franchise filmmaking is supposed to work. The traditional studio-driven model demands regular sequels, returning characters, and perhaps a careful insertion of some new ideas each t…

fictionmachine.com

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 2d

The theatrical trailer: enemy of cinema since 1913.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 2d

2025 thriller Companion is an excellent film debut for writer/director Drew Hancock.

fictionmachine.com/2025/10/13/r...

REVIEW: Companion (2025)

Recently I reviewed the 2024 thriller Abigail, noting that its core premise was one best left unknown when viewing the film for the first time. Here we are again with Companion, a 2025 thriller tha…

fictionmachine.com

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 2d

One of my all-time favourites films: Kathryn Bigelow's Strange Days. 30 years old, right here, right now.

A long-haired and dishevelled man in a bloodstained shirt and jacket,standing with a black woman in a black party dress. Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett in the film Strange Days (1995).

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 2d

I think without Keaton, Allen would never have hit the peaks of popularity his films did in the 1970s. Without Allen, Keaton would have still become a major star.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 3d

I didn't find him punch able, but he's so low key and deadpan it's like he's barely present. Keanu Reeves can pull that off really well, but Leto can't.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 3d

RIP Diane Keaton. Will probably want to write more later.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 3d

FictionMachine's long-running series of 1955 western reviews continues, with a look at the Sterling Hayden b-movie Top Gun directed by Joe Nazarro. This was the third of four westerns Hayden made in 1955 alone.

fictionmachine.com/2025/10/12/r...

REVIEW: Top Gun (1955)

The actor Sterling Hayden made six features in 1955; four of them were westerns. It was a remarkably busy year for a man who professed to disliking acting. He remains a fascinating and contentious …

fictionmachine.com

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 3d

Former lostprophets singer Ian Watkins has been shivved to death in prison, where he was serving a 29-year sentence for horrific child abuse crimes. This one's not so much mourned as simply noted.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 4d

I thought they left it hanging for a sequel.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 4d

No one seems fussed that Tron Ares doesn't actually include Tron. It's like the Waiting for Godot of franchise sequels.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 5d

Finally checked out the live-action How to Train Your Dragon. Logged it on Letterboxd - the checkbox asked "Have you seen this film before?"

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 5d

I can imagine the editor now: "Well dang, Jimmy, I mean Cash was no Neil Sedaka but sure, immediately 1,000 words."

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 5d

Someone commissioned it too.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 5d

I smell bacon.

Dark Horizons @darkhorizons.bsky.social · 5d

First Photos: “Lord of the Flies” Mini-Series
www.darkhorizons.com/first-photos...

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 5d

No wonder she grew up with everyone calling her Dido - who names a child Florian?

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 5d

I love that the genre is feeling healthy enough to accommodate both.

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Grant Watson @fictionmachine.bsky.social · 5d

Mega-gory thriller Abigail is pretty great, right up when it becomes maybe not so great. The FictionMachine review is at the end of this link.
fictionmachine.com/2025/10/09/r...

REVIEW: Abigail (2024)

An anonymous group of criminals are assembled to break into a house, kidnap the girl living inside, and then transport her to a remote sprawling mansion. There they are tasked with sitting and wait…

fictionmachine.com

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