These photos are not from some glamorous Italian resort, but rather the Welsh folly village of Portmeirion. It's genuinely one of the most eccentric and aesthetically pleasing architectural projects in the whole of the British isles.

I'm in love with my latest charity shop acquisition - a silver-plated soap/trinket dish! It's always exciting to realise there are still good finds out there.

I'm in the Peak District for my birthday weekend and the countryside here is so beautiful! Really amazing scenery.

THE TESTAMENTS was very enjoyable and I love the messaging (I'm always here for stories of female friendship), but it had some of the most preposterous plotting of any TV series in recent memory. The things the girls can get away with seriously undermine the idea of Gilead as a totalitarian state.

Another film to add to the list of likely THE LAST JEDI influences is SWORD OF DOOM. It follows an evil samurai who kills without pity, emotionless until the climax where he loses his grip on reality and slashes at the ghosts of his victims. There's are striking parallels w/ Kylo Ren's unravelling.

I'm all caught up with the first three episodes of RIVALS S2 and it's just as maximalist as the first season - a lavish live-action cartoon for adults, replete with hideous eighties fashions and the most gloriously dramatic plotting imaginable. Everyone's having a ball, and it's palpably enjoyable.

I also love that the local Wetherspoons (a former cinema!) is named after Cushing. He's definitely the town's most iconic former resident.

Had an inadvertent #MayTheFourthBeWithYou commemoration by doing the pilgrimage to Peter Cushing's charming seaside home in Whitstable (easily one of Kent's most pleasant towns!).

Unbelievably, this bust ('Eastre') is from 1924! I love how sci-fi it feels, even predating creations like Maria from Metropolis and C3PO from Star Wars.

I'm not opposed to the rumours of the Rey movie being folded into Kinberg's Episode X on the condition that there's a third act twist where saintly Jedi master-headteacher Rey is revealed to have secretly brought her former Supreme Leader boyfriend back from the Force netherworld. The drama!

I just watched the Sadie Sink version of Romeo & Juliet in London and it was fantastic - very much framed from Juliet's perspective, it's funny but also a deeply emotive and sympathetic portrait of adolescent angst. (There's a moment at the end where Romeo cradles Juliet exactly like this 🥲)

Also there's a full story breakdown of the shooting script (the most interesting part for me!) but to access it you have to click on this innocuous text with the arrow - it's easy to miss but essential!

"The scene of Kylo at the Resistance base watching the briefing before the final battle was set to be filmed on September 4th, meaning it might have been shot."

Best guesses only as to what they are acting out here. #TheForceAwakens #TFALive

I also find it beautiful that they depict Hux and Snoke like this (for the uninitiated, Snoke is shown as Dr Zaius from the 60s Planet of the Apes).

Also they announce a live show for The Last Jedi at the end of the stream:

David Dastmalchian makes for a gloriously emo/petulant Kylo Ren in the All-Star Live Reading of The Force Awakens. And I'm choosing to take this interpretation of the interrogation scene as a win for the Reylos.

Had a very enjoyable evening watching BIRD GROVE. The play is about George Elliott and is largely middling, albeit somewhat elevated by a nuanced exploration of her faith crisis. But the real star of the show is Elizabeth Dulau, who excels and mines deep emotion for the part. She's note perfect.

I had a fascinating visit to the study room at the David Bowie Centre at V&A East today, where I requested all their papers relating to Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. I made one particularly exciting discovery: two completely ‘new’ songs Bowie wrote for the film.

Make it Reylo: Prado edition.

This artwork is so beautiful - they really decided to double down and make baby Ben Solo the cutest little chunk 🥲

I was mixed on Anna Biller's The Love Witch as a film but unabashedly loved how successfully she resurrected the aesthetics of early 70s exploitation cinema. With THE FACE OF HORROR, she has successfully invoked the spirit of early colour horror films - just look at those colours! Those costumes!

I adored Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow - it has an uncannily astute grasp on the consuming effect of fandom, and the solace and hope it can bring to the lonely. I know almost nothing about TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA, but the title alone is a work of art all by itself.

I always have to find a way to make things about Adam Driver, so am including James Gray's PAPER TIGER. Gray's The Immigrant is one of the great overlooked films of the 2010s, and I'm very keen to see a Driver and Johansson reunion after they did fantastic work together in Marriage Story.

WILDWOOD has been much delayed, but I'm including it in the hope that it gets a 2026 release. Laika is one of the great animation studios, and the logline for this one has grabbed me with its strong Labyrinth vibes - I'm always game for a girl venturing to a magical land to rescue her baby brother.

While I'm not a die-hard Nolan-ite, I think he's a great filmmaker and am fascinated to see his take on THE ODYSSEY. It's so rare to get big-budget adaptations of Greek mythology, and I'm personally hoping for Nolan to fully embrace the supernatural elements - give me gods and monsters, please!

After being lukewarm on del Toro's take on Frankenstein, I have more hope for Maggie Gyllenhaal's THE BRIDE! Jessie Buckley is easily one of the most talented actresses working in Hollywood, and is brilliantly cast as the titular bride. The mash-up of gothic horror w/ Bonnie and Clyde is inspired.

I'm intrigued by HOW TO MAKE A KILLING, which is a remake of the excellent black comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets. Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley make for a red-hot pairing, and I always like the catharsis to be found in a good revenge saga. Am hoping for a smart twist on the killer premise.

This is my most controversial pick, but I have to include Emerald Fennell's WUTHERING HEIGHTS. I'm a die-hard fan of the novel and there's a high chance I will absolutely hate this take. Regardless, the sheer absurdity of the costuming and set design have successfully intrigued me. Please be meta.

My second film is SEND HELP, directed by Sam Raimi. It's got a brilliant premise: an overlooked office worker gets stranded on a deserted island with her smug boss, who's forced to rely on her survival skills. I'm very excited to see Rachel McAdams get an opportunity to have fun with a genre flick.