Henry McGinty-Gregor
mcginty511.bsky.social
Henry McGinty-Gregor
@mcginty511.bsky.social
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels

I mostly listen to hip hop for the beats, because I struggle to parse lyrics on first listen, and the beats here are too stripped back for my taste. Didn't grab me.

2.5*
November 8, 2025 at 12:23 PM
#watched #143

I missed Ballad of a Small Player at LFF, and I'm kinda glad I did.

It looks and sounds wonderful, but the script honestly barely exists. This is a movie about nothing at all.

A shame.

2.5*
October 30, 2025 at 10:02 PM
#watched #142

Good Fortune is the smuggest movie I've seen in feckin time. Richies telling other rich people what we all already know as though it's a revelation, and patting themselves on the back.

Aziz is always terrible, but particularly here.

There's not a single joke.

Worst of the year.

1*
October 30, 2025 at 9:58 PM
#watched #138 #LFF

Mares Nest is fecking weird.

Don Delillo is hard to parse for me at the best of times, let alone delivered by post apocalyptic children.

Beautiful looking and sounding, but tricky to stay engaged with for me.

3*
October 19, 2025 at 5:03 PM
#watched #137 #LFF

The Mastermind is a weird offering.

An entertaining 20 minute heist, followed by 70 of an entirely unthrilling time on the run.

It's lovely to look at, it's swiss watchly constructed, but I'm sad to say I drifted off for 5 minutes (it was a warm cinema!)

Great jazz score.

3*
October 19, 2025 at 8:32 AM
#watched #133 #LFF

In the most festival description ever, Silent Friend is a 3 hour exploration of our connection to the natural world and each other, through 3 stories separated by time, told from the perspective of a tree.

I loved it.

#filmsky
October 15, 2025 at 4:58 PM
#watched #132 #LFF

My favourite of the fest so far: Black Rabbit, White Rabbit is so fucking dense I barely understand it.

Like if Abed from Community made a David Lynch film after mainlining 8 1/2, its batshit, wryly funny, bizarre, and loving.

Also the director gave me a hug on his way out.

5*
October 14, 2025 at 9:07 PM
#watched #130 #LFF

Saw the premier of H is for Hawk, and it's rather lovely.

Yet another examination of grief, very well done in fairness, but with the wrinkle of also being a look into the world of falconry.

The feel of a Sunday with Mum type movie is there, but there's enough edge to get by
October 12, 2025 at 7:23 PM
#watched #129 #LFF

Only On Earth is slow, meditative, beautiful, wonderfully edited, and I was sadly thoroughly bored.

Its a documentary with no spelled out narrative, about the people and animals in a brutal wildfire in Spain.

It's just not pitched at a pace I can enjoy, and I'm sad about it.
October 12, 2025 at 7:16 PM
#watched #128 #LFF

HoneyBunch is an admirable swing at a full 70s psychodrama, but the characters are a little thin and underwhelming considering the weight their relationship has to bear.

Looks great, fantastic vibes, but not quite successful.

#filmsky
October 11, 2025 at 4:54 PM
#watched #124

Him ('24) is pretty bad.

The imagery is good, but it's thunderingly obvious and the scares are non-existent.

With the exception of Julia Fox, who's innate malevolence is well used, everyone is terrible. Especially the lead.

A generous 2* flick.

#filmsky
October 8, 2025 at 10:01 PM
#12 The Drawing of the Three

The best evidence of Kings unwillingness to edit. I love the bones of this book, but it's twice as long as it needs to be.

Eddie Dean is the best fantasy character and Aaron Paul was always the weirdest fancasting. Hes more 20-something McAvoy coded.
October 3, 2025 at 5:19 PM
#watched #117

New to me, A Cock and Bull Story makes the choice to make The Trip ever more surprising to me. Everything they say about Coogan and Brydons relationship is present here, along with so much more about movie making ego and British style megalomania.

Great movie, really funny.

#filmsky
September 27, 2025 at 8:13 AM
#watched #114

New York Ninja
September 21, 2025 at 4:42 PM
New York Ninja is amazing.

An unfinished '85 martial arts c movie, that they found the camera negatives of, edited, dubbed with new actors and got a new score recorded.

It's got every dumb and bad aspect of 80s ninja movies, ramped up by the modern transfer and the new cast.

Fucking hilarious.
September 21, 2025 at 4:36 PM
#watched #112

It's Alive 3: Island of the Alives
September 20, 2025 at 10:53 PM
The truest definition of batshit midnight movie: It's Alive 3 is amazing.

The lead looks and sounds like Casey Affleck as an accountant, but they script him as Snake Plissken. The plot just randomly stops and starts. The stop motion evil babies are fully nutso.

I loved it.

#filmsky
September 20, 2025 at 10:53 PM
#watched #111

Brainscan
September 20, 2025 at 7:50 PM
The first of the festival I actively disliked, Brainscan plays like an episode of Goosebumps, but with a C list Buffy villain and Frank Langella doing his utmost to bring some class to proceedings.

Horrible 90s slop.
September 20, 2025 at 7:49 PM
The Quiet Earth is my favorite of the Movies I've seen so far. I love a last man on earth story, and this is one of the most propulsive and interesting I've seen.

It has the honour of the first ever scifi produced in NZ, and it has a distinctly kiwi flavour that I loved.

#grindfest #filmsky
September 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Xtro is so fucking fun y'all. Creative fields in the UK in the 80s seem to be mostly run by cocaine with human assistants, cus this is such a coke movie it hurts.

A truly gross creature feature, that also finds time to do a lil Don't Send Me To The Cornfield riff as well.

Well done Grindfest
September 20, 2025 at 7:19 AM
#watched #109

Xtro
September 20, 2025 at 7:17 AM
#watched #107

Dreamscape
September 19, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Whereas the only British print of The Howling is fucking terrible bless em. Piss yellow throughout, it's the closest I've ever had to a true Grindhouse experience.

The movie... it's not really for me. I don't really care for mysteries that by design I know the answer to from minute 1.
September 19, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Opener is Dreamscape. An 80s b-movie Inception/Parralax View with teenidol Dennis Quaid and Obi-One Von Sydow. It's pretty ok, the print has aged astonishingly, some fun compositing FX work for dreamland.

Is it the first instance of nonsensically endangering the president to raise the stakes?
September 19, 2025 at 8:42 PM