Sweeping Strings

Yeah. Leaving aside the question of whether he should've bothered, to have done Gladiator 2 at what, 85? Bloody hell!

Quite pleased to see that War Of The Worlds has the lowest score, whilst also querying its inclusion on this list at all ... I rewatched last night, and it remains (mostly) HG Wells' classic alien invasion tale brilliantly adapted as a post-9/11 allegorical sci-fi survival horror.

Admirable how Scott is still 'at it' at his age too, I think. Similar work ethic to the only recently retired Eastwood.

I'd just like to reiterate that yes, every movie in the book was a financial flop but the author is NOT saying that means they're all bad movies. Noble failures are given their due. By the way, thanks for the engagement y'all!

Yeah, the book regards Hudsucker as a noble failure rather than a bad movie. So Alexander shares its highlight with Danny Boyle's Trance, then?

I'm just coming to the end of this highly entertaining book, in which Telegraph critic Tim Robey looks at selected flops from all of Hollywood history. He calls out the stinkers, recognises the noble failures and looks at the wider cultural context in which they flopped. The movies are - Intolerance (1916) Queen Kelly (1929) Freaks (1932) Sylvia Scarlett (1935) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Land of the Pharaohs (1955) Doctor Dolittle (1967) Sorcerer (1977) Dune (1984) The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) Nothing But Trouble (1991) The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) Cutthroat Island (1995) Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) Babe: Pig in the City (1998) Supernova (2000) Rollerball (2002) The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002) Gigli (2003) Alexander (2004) Catwoman (2004) A Sound of Thunder (2005) Speed Racer (2008) Synecdoche, New York (2008) Pan (2015) Cats (2019) I've seen Dune, a long time ago ... I know Lynch had an unhappy time on it. Also Cutthroat Island (really quite fun) and Cats (yeah, utterly and hilariously terrible).

Agreed, it got my vote. I have/had an absolute blast with Ready Player One and I don't care who knows it, but Indy 4 deserved so much better.

I've had a tax rebate cheque for a nice amount and an explanation letter delivered ... seems I overpaid tax in the 2024 - 2025 financial year. So quite a nice day, really .

Interestingly, 6 months after it aired on the BBC The War Between The Land And The Sea is still yet to be available on Disney+.

The Gentlemen - Guy Ritchie is in familiar Lock Stock ... territory with this crime action-comedy, in which cannabis baron Matthew McConaughey plans to sell his empire and sets off a chain of blackmail and schemes to undermine him. Fun enough, mostly worth seeing for Hugh Grant's amusing turn as a Cockney private detective. Also starring Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell and Eddie Marsan.

Thing is, when Daylights was released the Russians were still in Afghanistan so it was still topical. Rambo 3 ... not so much.

E.T. - I'm not crying, you're crying. Still a lovely thing of absolute charm, magic, amusement and wonder.

Uncommon Valor - retired Marine Colonel Gene Hackman assembles a ragtag bunch of ex-soldiers to go to 'Nam to search for his M.I.A. son. Ted Kotcheff directs his second movie in a row about Vietnam vets (the previous being First Blood) and turns in a pretty entertaining military actioner. Also starring Fred Ward, Patrick Swayze and Robert Stack.

In a way, there's something very British about Bond needing a licence to kill ... proper checks and balances, and all that. At the end of the day, essentially he's a civil servant.

Imagine if (seeing as how the Doctor 'revisiting an old face' is now an established thing) McGann now finally got a full series, or indeed if Eccleston was offered a second now that the people he had issues with are gone.