I know! So good. Im never going to get any work done.

And I've got a lot more to find a home for yet

The bookshelves in the writing students studio are filling up

Ages of our dearly beloved Ambit!

London Magazines going back closing on 50 YEARS! @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social

Almost 20 YEARS of The Believer! @thebeliever.net

Only a very rough idea. I sent fiction selections to the journal eds at the beginning of the month. If the other subject eds were able to do the same, the issue should be in out by Christmas.

But sorry I can't be more certain than that. I'm not much involved in production after making my choices.

And ill end on my favourite small detail:

The blink-and-you'll-miss-it recreation of the moment where, after Coleman's triumphant comeback victory, he fails to jump out of the ring and falls awkwardly onto the canvas. Such a fun little reference for fans.

They did a GREAT job of emphasising just how big he was. His size was *conspicuous* and even thoughts the film never acknowledges steroids, youre aware of their presence.

The viewing experience is constantly: "woah thats a big guy..."

The many fight scenes are well choreographed, as you'd expect. It feels pretty real.

But the Foley art is bad, the punches often sounding cartoonish.

In The Smashing Machine documentary #thesmashingmachine there's a single transcendent image: Kerr hiding his tears under a towel after his loss. I did my own version in BRUISE. They had no towel in this version presumably as as not to hide The Rocks face. Feels very different.

One last bit on casting thats probably only interestingto me: interesting to see Satoshi Ishii as Enson Inoue, as Ishii was the inspiration for Tamura in BRUISE.

Ive got a few more thoughts on this which ill add soon!

In general the domestic scenes between Blunt and Johnson were the best part of the film. They were so tense and charged, so dynamic. Loved it.

Emily Blumt was great, as you'd expect. A lot of great moments with a very complex character.

Bader did fine, but it was odd casting, which the film does much more of.

Casting known fighters as other known fighters (Usyk as Vovchanchyn) or casting people as themselves despite being 30 yrs older (60yo Rutten plays himself at a time he was still fighting). And odd cameos - James McSweeney?

Ryan Bader plays Coleman but he just mostly just looks and talks like Ryan Bader, which is also a little odd. Bader is 42, but it looks like more than a decade separates him and Johnson, despite the film explicitly telling us that Coleman is a few years OLDER than Kerr.

But the Rock is 53 and he looks it. Kerr was about 30 during the events of the film, and his age is important to the story. It's a bit jarring and I was never able to unsee it.

It was especially odd when paired with Coleman.

Casting:

The Rock did a pretty good job as Kerr. There's a soft voiced quality to Kerr that I thought he emulated well. And there was a moment where he was wearing a toque and lifting weights where he really looked like him.