Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan on set. 2012-2025. 🤝🏾

We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today. And, in my book, a tremendous friend and man. I learned so much from him. I will miss you, Patrick Stewart, all of my days. @mang0ld

SIR PATRICK STEWART (1940-2026) Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end. You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love. We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions. My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in 'Star Trek'. “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk—getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”. Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theatre audiences, who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes ('X-Men' of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway. America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire. His farewell performance in 'Avengers: Doomsday' is yet to be seen. Ian McKellen 29 October 2026 Photo: University of Huddersfield

Of all the days for my Internet to decide to grind to a halt…. Phantom Blade has been downloading all day and I’m using my mobile hotspot to download FM27. 1.6Gbps broadband yet today I’ve been getting 5mbps download speeds. @EE’s unreliable service is messing up what should’ve been a chilled gaming evening.

In recent years I internally acknowledged that we will soon reach a time where we will lose so many iconic actors due to their age. Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen have always been the first that came to my mind, when thinking of those incredible actors whose careers were naturally coming to an end. Rest in Peace Patrick Stewart🌹

I’m eager to play Dune: Awakening but there’s too many other games to play at the moment. I may jump in when December arrives so I can fully envelop myself in Arrakis during the build up to Part Three. I plan to read Messiah during that time too.

Heading to sleep late but when I wake up today. It’s gonna be a good gaming day.

I might have to run it back at the BFI IMAX like it’s 2021 and 2024.

I took this photo at 5.56pm yesterday. This level of darkness at this time is a sign that summer is long gone 😂 Shot on iPhone 18 Pro Max.

A lot of it is coming from the soft performative folk who have barely been alive for two decades and think their opinions hold enough weight that they can change the perception of genres that have existed a century before them. Trying to censor the horror genre as whole is so laughably stupid. If it makes you uncomfortable then it’s doing its job, if you don’t enjoy it then don’t watch it, simple. People have become so self-centered that they expect every single thing to cater to them and what they deem “acceptable”.

I copped Modern Warfare 4 on my lunch break yesterday because I craved an adrenaline-filled campaign experience. A Michael Bay movie in video game form. I’m half way through and it’s delivering exactly that. The graphics on PS5 Pro are impressive too. Some of my favourite screen captures are below. The multiplayer is weak but I didn’t buy it for that anyway.

On Thursday I watched my favourite Giallo in the cinema. boxd.it/gZ9fIH

It’s 2026 and people still think 100% on Rotten Tomatoes means that all the reviews are 10/10. No matter what criticisms you may have for Wildwood, the level of artistry on display will make it hard for anyone to give a negative score. That’s why it’s still at 100%.

I have a wild double bill lined up next week. Starting at Prince Charles Cinema and then ending at BFI IMAX.

The third act battle in Wildwood is truly exceptional on all levels. There’s so many “how on earth are they doing this?” moments. That’s the magic of cinema right there. It’s as if Laika studied the battles from The Lord of the Rings and applied a similar rhythm to theirs.

I did some research and just found out that Laika is owned by Phil Knight, the billionaire co-founder of Nike. The film director Travis Knight who I am familiar with is his son who serves as president and CEO of Laika. That’s so rare and cool to see a billionaire funding the creation of such a painstakingly complex form of art. This means that their films falling short at the box office isn’t much of an issue, because they’re privately funded by Phil Knight. What’s a $100 million loss to a man with $27 billion?, if you have still managed to create a stunning film in the process. They literally have no outside pressure from film studios or reliance on them because they no longer do business with them for distribution. Anyway go see Wildwood. It’s a special film well worth your time and money.

I’m someone who loves Coraline and Paranorman but Wildwood is Laika’s magnum opus. It’s incredibly ambitious and a phenomenal feat in stop motion filmmaking and dark fairytale storytelling. It reminded me of the complexities within the animated films I grew up loving, which made them even more memorable. Films that contain intense sequences, involving chases/battles, and death. Films with compelling adult themes that children will appreciate as they grow older. Wildwood has all of this and more whilst being a beacon of craftsmanship and creativity, that we are at risk of losing if those who disregard the creative arts, in favour of soulless generative AI get their way. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My 6th day and 11th film this week at the cinema. #NowWatching Wildwood I’m going in blind. I don’t know anything about the plot and I haven’t seen the trailer. All I know is that it’s critically acclaimed.

Last night I was grateful to witness on a cinema screen, the presence of one of horror’s most mesmerising women. I first saw this back in 2021. Edwige Fenech has such an alluring presence that it made me eager to watch more of her films. So during that same year I watched more and became a great admirer of her and director Sergio Martino in the process.

I damn near forgot too because it was such a half assed element of the film. It disappeared almost as quickly as it was introduced and basically served no function.