Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social
Rotten Tomatoes-accredited film critic. Award-winning playwright. Noted international education analyst. Serviceable theatre director. Has multiple sclerosis.
www.fictionmachine.com
www.fictionmachine.com
One of my favourite things when watching a movie is when I think to myself "if this filmmaker had any kind of storytelling instinct they'd cut to credits now" and *then they do*.
December 7, 2025 at 4:04 AM
One of my favourite things when watching a movie is when I think to myself "if this filmmaker had any kind of storytelling instinct they'd cut to credits now" and *then they do*.
NEW REVIEW! Ozu Yasujiro's 1934 silent melodrama is sadly now missing its first and last reels, but the 71 minutes in between provide a valuable early look at Japan's master filmmaker.
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/07/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/07/r...
REVIEW: A Mother Should Be Loved (1934)
The terrible state of Japan’s silent film era has long been reported and discussed, where a combination of time, humidity, earthquakes, and American fire bombings reduced a legacy of literall…
fictionmachine.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:20 AM
NEW REVIEW! Ozu Yasujiro's 1934 silent melodrama is sadly now missing its first and last reels, but the 71 minutes in between provide a valuable early look at Japan's master filmmaker.
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/07/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/07/r...
NEW REVIEW! Michael Chaves' Last Rites purports to be the final film in the Conjuring franchise. Promises, promises...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/06/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/06/r...
REVIEW: The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
Believe the marketing, and Michael Chaves’ 2025 horror film The Conjuring: Last Rites marks the final instalment of the hugely successful Warner Bros franchise. Of course any viewer of Americ…
fictionmachine.com
December 6, 2025 at 7:38 AM
NEW REVIEW! Michael Chaves' Last Rites purports to be the final film in the Conjuring franchise. Promises, promises...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/06/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/06/r...
RIP Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. No one else is going to honour his performance as Absolutely Definitely Not A Worf Ripoff in Space Rangers, so I may as well do it.
December 5, 2025 at 6:43 AM
RIP Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. No one else is going to honour his performance as Absolutely Definitely Not A Worf Ripoff in Space Rangers, so I may as well do it.
Every pundit is going to have a take on Netflix buying Warner Bros. I guess if it drags all of WB off physical media and out of cinemas, it will be very, very bad. If it drags Netflix to engage with theatrical, maybe good?
December 5, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Every pundit is going to have a take on Netflix buying Warner Bros. I guess if it drags all of WB off physical media and out of cinemas, it will be very, very bad. If it drags Netflix to engage with theatrical, maybe good?
There is a Magic Faraway Tree movie coming in March. If I was still four, I'd be very excited.
December 4, 2025 at 12:04 AM
There is a Magic Faraway Tree movie coming in March. If I was still four, I'd be very excited.
NEW REVIEW! Gregory Peck plays a colonel overseeing American operations in West Berlin in this 1954 Cold War hostage drama.
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/03/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/03/r...
REVIEW: Night People (1954)
To summarise, and thus save valuable reading time: good concept, good cast, and weirdly listless direction. Fans of star Gregory Peck or Cold War thrillers might get a small thrill from 1954’…
fictionmachine.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:16 PM
NEW REVIEW! Gregory Peck plays a colonel overseeing American operations in West Berlin in this 1954 Cold War hostage drama.
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/03/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/03/r...
Reposted by Grant Watson
Steve Cropper, legendary guitarist for Booker T & the MGs, dies aged 84
Steve Cropper, legendary guitarist for Booker T & the MGs, dies aged 84
Prolific musician was known for work on songs like Green Onions and Otis Redding’s (Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay
Steve Cropper, the legendary guitarist whose work as an instrumentalist, producer and songwriter at Stax Records left an indelible impression on Memphis soul music, has died at the age of 84.
Hs son Cameron confirmed his death to Variety. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Steve Cropper, legendary guitarist for Booker T & the MGs, dies aged 84
Reposted by Grant Watson
Dan Houser on Victorian novels, Red Dead Redemption and redefining open-world games
Dan Houser on Victorian novels, Red Dead Redemption and redefining open-world games
As the Grand Theft Auto co-writer launches a new project, he reflects on his hugely successful open-world adventures and where game design might go next
www.theguardian.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Dan Houser on Victorian novels, Red Dead Redemption and redefining open-world games
Either Rudolph is a competent sleigh puller or he's not. Only employing him when there's a specific slot for his facial difference or disability is the kind of workplace discrimination that hampers the careers of people with disability worldwide.
Laughing and calling him names is a hate crime.
Laughing and calling him names is a hate crime.
December 3, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Either Rudolph is a competent sleigh puller or he's not. Only employing him when there's a specific slot for his facial difference or disability is the kind of workplace discrimination that hampers the careers of people with disability worldwide.
Laughing and calling him names is a hate crime.
Laughing and calling him names is a hate crime.
Kind of sad that I live in a city with a Chinatown cinema, and at the moment the only films it's screening are anime and Disney.
December 3, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Kind of sad that I live in a city with a Chinatown cinema, and at the moment the only films it's screening are anime and Disney.
Reposted by Grant Watson
Oh, hello! This is cool as hell.
From 2 years ago.
Free MIRRORSHADES! Weirdly this epic cyberpunk antho doesn't exist as an ebook. So we turned it into a free online webpage. Happy reading, and may ye wax gnarly and punk and dirty and ecstatic and intricate and all that good shit. Happy cybermonday. rudyrucker.com/mirrorshades/
Free MIRRORSHADES! Weirdly this epic cyberpunk antho doesn't exist as an ebook. So we turned it into a free online webpage. Happy reading, and may ye wax gnarly and punk and dirty and ecstatic and intricate and all that good shit. Happy cybermonday. rudyrucker.com/mirrorshades/
Mirrorshades
rudyrucker.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Oh, hello! This is cool as hell.
NEW REVIEW! A childish spring break game has unexpected consequences in Jeff Wadlow's 2018 horror movie Truth or Dare. Click on the link for the FictionMachine verdict.
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/02/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/02/r...
REVIEW: Truth or Dare (2018)
All things considered, 2018 horror film Truth or Dare is not particularly good cinema, but it seems to have just enough good ideas to pull through. It does not represent great entertainment, but it…
fictionmachine.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:31 PM
NEW REVIEW! A childish spring break game has unexpected consequences in Jeff Wadlow's 2018 horror movie Truth or Dare. Click on the link for the FictionMachine verdict.
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/02/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/02/r...
Reposted by Grant Watson
i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse
December 2, 2025 at 1:39 AM
i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse
NEW REVIEW! Released back in 2011, The Tunnel represents Australia's highest-profile contribution to the found footage horror genre. FictionMachine takes a fresh look.
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/01/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/01/r...
REVIEW: The Tunnel (2011)
The found footage genre of cinema has been a godsend for low-budget filmmaking – particularly when it comes to horror films, where a restricted point of view and limited visuals are more ofte…
fictionmachine.com
December 1, 2025 at 9:24 PM
NEW REVIEW! Released back in 2011, The Tunnel represents Australia's highest-profile contribution to the found footage horror genre. FictionMachine takes a fresh look.
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/01/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/12/01/r...
Something you'd rather never hear at the hospital: "You know, I've never had to draw blood from a vein that deep before."
My arm still hurts.
My arm still hurts.
December 1, 2025 at 10:23 AM
Something you'd rather never hear at the hospital: "You know, I've never had to draw blood from a vein that deep before."
My arm still hurts.
My arm still hurts.
It's December! If you wanted to read any of the Christmas movie essays I have written in the past - Bad Santa, Love Actually, Home Alone, and The Muppet Christmas Carol - you can access them all at the following link.
fictionmachine.com/tag/christma...
fictionmachine.com/tag/christma...
Christmas essays – FictionMachine.
Posts about Christmas essays written by Grant Watson
fictionmachine.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:42 AM
It's December! If you wanted to read any of the Christmas movie essays I have written in the past - Bad Santa, Love Actually, Home Alone, and The Muppet Christmas Carol - you can access them all at the following link.
fictionmachine.com/tag/christma...
fictionmachine.com/tag/christma...
While everybody is gearing up for Whamageddon, don't forget about Jean-Claude Van Dammageddon: if you accidentally watch a JCVD feature film before Christmas Day, you're out!
a man in a military uniform is giving a thumbs up sign while sitting in a chair .
ALT: a man in a military uniform is giving a thumbs up sign while sitting in a chair .
media.tenor.com
December 1, 2025 at 3:30 AM
While everybody is gearing up for Whamageddon, don't forget about Jean-Claude Van Dammageddon: if you accidentally watch a JCVD feature film before Christmas Day, you're out!
NEW REVIEW! Hayashi Kaizo’s 1986 directorial debut To Sleep So As To Dream is a jaw-dropping exercise in nostalgia, post-modernist reflection, and cinema history. I checked out Arrow Video's bluray, and wasn't disappointed.
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/30/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/30/r...
REVIEW: To Sleep So As To Dream (1986)
Hayashi Kaizo’s 1986 directorial debut To Sleep So As To Dream is a jaw-dropping exercise in nostalgia, post-modernist reflection, and cinema history. What makes it particularly impressive is…
fictionmachine.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:59 PM
NEW REVIEW! Hayashi Kaizo’s 1986 directorial debut To Sleep So As To Dream is a jaw-dropping exercise in nostalgia, post-modernist reflection, and cinema history. I checked out Arrow Video's bluray, and wasn't disappointed.
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/30/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/30/r...
NEW REVIEW! David Mitchell plays a puzzle designer turned detective in the award-winning Ludwig, now available on DVD in Australia from Via Vision.
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/30/t...
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/30/t...
TV REVIEW: Ludwig, 1.1
First broadcast 25 September 2024. The United Kingdom has a long successful tradition of ‘cosy’ detective and mystery series: very low-stakes, rather polite and understated, and often b…
fictionmachine.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:28 AM
NEW REVIEW! David Mitchell plays a puzzle designer turned detective in the award-winning Ludwig, now available on DVD in Australia from Via Vision.
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/30/t...
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/30/t...
RIP Tom Stoppard.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...
Tom Stoppard, playwright of dazzling wit and playful erudition, dies aged 88
A theatrical sensation since the 1960s, whose dramas included Arcadia, The Real Thing and Leopoldstadt, Stoppard also had huge success as a screenwriter
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 10:00 PM
RIP Tom Stoppard.
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/n...
NEW REVIEW! Japan can often seem a strange country, and cultural phenomena don't get much stranger than 'johatsu' - the act of walking out of one's life and disappearing forever. This German-Japanese documentary is fascinating, powerful, and rather haunting.
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/28/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/28/r...
REVIEW: Johatsu: Into Thin Air (2024)
Each year in Japan, so the on-screen text of Johatsu tells us, about 80,000 people go missing in Japan. Most of them either return home or are found. A small proportion are simply never heard from …
fictionmachine.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:55 PM
NEW REVIEW! Japan can often seem a strange country, and cultural phenomena don't get much stranger than 'johatsu' - the act of walking out of one's life and disappearing forever. This German-Japanese documentary is fascinating, powerful, and rather haunting.
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/28/r...
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/28/r...
Reposted by Grant Watson
THE RISE: Tales From The Gulp 3 is coming in February 2026, so it's a great time to catch up on vol 1 and 2.
Signed paperbacks of THE GULP and THE FALL, sent anywhere in Australia, only $50 shipping inc.
alanbaxter.com.au?add-to-cart=...
Only in Aus, I'm afraid. And please do spread the word.
Signed paperbacks of THE GULP and THE FALL, sent anywhere in Australia, only $50 shipping inc.
alanbaxter.com.au?add-to-cart=...
Only in Aus, I'm afraid. And please do spread the word.
November 11, 2025 at 4:39 AM
THE RISE: Tales From The Gulp 3 is coming in February 2026, so it's a great time to catch up on vol 1 and 2.
Signed paperbacks of THE GULP and THE FALL, sent anywhere in Australia, only $50 shipping inc.
alanbaxter.com.au?add-to-cart=...
Only in Aus, I'm afraid. And please do spread the word.
Signed paperbacks of THE GULP and THE FALL, sent anywhere in Australia, only $50 shipping inc.
alanbaxter.com.au?add-to-cart=...
Only in Aus, I'm afraid. And please do spread the word.
Five concerts, knowledge of which may enable you to know me better:
1. Angelique Kidjo in Hong Kong
2. Accept in Melbourne
3. A punk gig in Singapore
4. Iggy Pop at the Big Day Out
5. Kronos Quartet in Perth
1. Angelique Kidjo in Hong Kong
2. Accept in Melbourne
3. A punk gig in Singapore
4. Iggy Pop at the Big Day Out
5. Kronos Quartet in Perth
Five concerts:
Wolfmother
Foo Fighters (twice)
Capercaille
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
The Lovers (in a tiny little space above a cafe, complete with harp… it was magical)
Bonus: Kim Boekbinder, at a house party, where I knew no one except her music. It was incredible.
Wolfmother
Foo Fighters (twice)
Capercaille
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
The Lovers (in a tiny little space above a cafe, complete with harp… it was magical)
Bonus: Kim Boekbinder, at a house party, where I knew no one except her music. It was incredible.
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen:
The Bangles (I was 14 & ECSTATIC!)
Yo-Yo Ma (twice, and the two best live performances I have EVER seen)
The Cleveland Orchestra (many times)
Peggy Seeger
Iron Maiden (surprisingly often, since I married @patricksamphire.bsky.social !)
The Bangles (I was 14 & ECSTATIC!)
Yo-Yo Ma (twice, and the two best live performances I have EVER seen)
The Cleveland Orchestra (many times)
Peggy Seeger
Iron Maiden (surprisingly often, since I married @patricksamphire.bsky.social !)
November 28, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Five concerts, knowledge of which may enable you to know me better:
1. Angelique Kidjo in Hong Kong
2. Accept in Melbourne
3. A punk gig in Singapore
4. Iggy Pop at the Big Day Out
5. Kronos Quartet in Perth
1. Angelique Kidjo in Hong Kong
2. Accept in Melbourne
3. A punk gig in Singapore
4. Iggy Pop at the Big Day Out
5. Kronos Quartet in Perth
Recently released on DVD in Australia, The Serpent Queen is a 2022 historical drama about Catherine De' Medici starring Samantha Morton. I checked out its first episode.
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/27/t...
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/27/t...
TV REVIEW: The Serpent Queen, 1.1 “The Medici Bitch”
First broadcast 11 September 2022. Over the past decade or two there has been a surge in glossy American-funded historical dramas, thanks largely to co-production deals and improved behind-the-scen…
fictionmachine.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Recently released on DVD in Australia, The Serpent Queen is a 2022 historical drama about Catherine De' Medici starring Samantha Morton. I checked out its first episode.
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/27/t...
fictionmachine.com/2025/11/27/t...