Grant Watson

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

452 followers238 following3.5K posts

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

My first five TTRPGs, as best as I can remember: 1. Red box D&D 2. Dragon Warriors 3. Warhammer FRP 4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness 5. Heroes Unlimited

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

TRIVIA TIME! Tonight I learned that before Nagata Masaichi, who ran Daiei Film and created Gamera, became a film producer, he was a signed-up member of the yakuza.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

NEW REVIEW! Corin Hardy's Whistle is the definition of an ordinary movie: it does what it says on the tin, is sufficiently entertaining, but also overfamiliar and unmemorable. You might enjoy it; you'll probably forget it. fictionmachine.com/2026/10/22/r...

fictionmachine.comREVIEW: Whistle (2025)Horror is a great genre of cinema, capable of enormous inventiveness and creativity, insightful societal commentary, and provocative transgressions of culture and morality. It has been a particular…
Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

RIP Tom Skerritt, 93. Captain Dallas in Alien, but also from M*A*S*H, The Turning Point, Ice Castles, The Dead Zone, Top Gun, and Steel Magnolias. I loved him as Sheriff Jimmy Brock in Picket Fences.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

"Was the $200 copy of The Keep too expensive with its big box, 4K editions, bells and whistles? How about $100 for a smaller box, 4K, and a steelbook?" How about $30 for a bluray in some sort of case?

Imprint Films@imprintfilms.bsky.social

Two sold-out Imprint titles return in exclusive matte SteelBook 4K UHD + Blu-ray releases: THE KEEP (1983) and JACKIE BROWN (1997)! 🩶 Strictly 1500 copies of each release only. 📀 Pre-orders open 1 December.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

TRIVIA TIME! On 1 Dec 1911 Yoshizawa Shoten released Journey to the West (西遊記), a film adaptation of the classic Chinese novel. Its director is unknown, but it starred Kinoshita Yoshinosuke and Gomi Kunitaro. It is the earliest-known film adaptation, pre-dating the first Chinese version by 16 years.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

I haven't confirmed 100 per cent, but it is as good as certain that no copies of this film exist. Between the fragility of nitrate prints, the humidity in Tokyo, the 1923 earthquake, and the 1945 firebombing, Japan does not possess many extant silent films.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

Adventures in spellcheck: was writing about the City University of Hong Kong, aka CityHKU. Spellcheck wants to change that acronym to "Cuttyhunk", which turns out to be an island in Massachussetts. Who knew?

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

If anyone in the writer's room pitches a returning species or character, hurl that ship into another galaxy that's further away. Keep hurling until they get the message.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

Imagine the terror of suddenly *not* having an explanation for all of your symptoms. During the five years she *thought* she had MS, she has been one of the greatest spokespeople for people with the disease. Ms Applegate: thank you and good luck. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

theguardian.comActor Christina Applegate reveals she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosisThe Married … With Children actor says the news is ‘unnerving’ and ‘really confusing’
Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

A lot of the focus on the violent assault on MP Helen Haines has been on how she's the first politician to be targeted like this in a long time - but going by ABS stats she would have been something like the 145,000th woman assaulted in Australia this year.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

And while we're playing with stats, let's remember that 74% of all police-processed violent offenders in Australia are men. For family and domestic violence cases, that proportion rises to 78%. For sexual assault it rises to 93%.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

I'm seeing a lot of comments along the lines of "what is happening to our country?", and honestly my answer is at least partly "Nothing - you're just paying attention more now."

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

"Knowledge Economy", a trading card game. Play a card, read it out to the room. Try to sound insufferable. If another player has a card in their hand of the same suit, they can play it on yours. When no one else can play a card, the last to put a card down collects the pile and all of the points.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

It is a gamified simulation of conversations at a science fiction convention or other nerd-like gathering where the sharing of trivia stands in for actual communication. Whoever knows the most random crap wins.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

If you watch the last scene of Back to the Future Part III very closely, one of Doc Brown's kids is desperately signalling to his mother off-screen that he needs to pee.

Amy "Thunderjam" Chase@amythunderjam.bsky.social

We all know the "Viggo broke his toe" story but what's another movie fact you're personally compelled to bring up every time without prompting? For me, it's the fact that Robin Tunney is wearing a wig in The Craft because of having just shaved her head to save her job filming Empire Records.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

Michael Biehn made more money as a little green computer graphic in Alien 3 than he made shooting the whole of Aliens.

Amy "Thunderjam" Chase@amythunderjam.bsky.social

We all know the "Viggo broke his toe" story but what's another movie fact you're personally compelled to bring up every time without prompting? For me, it's the fact that Robin Tunney is wearing a wig in The Craft because of having just shaved her head to save her job filming Empire Records.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

The blame for the attack on Helen Haines is obviously her attacker's to take, but I think there is plenty of culpability spare for Pauline Hanson, One Nation, and a complicit news media for deliberately raising the temperature of Australian politics in such an inflammatory and irresponsible manner.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

This is so exciting: not only do we get to keep writer/director Issa López on True Detective Season 5, but it's going to star Nicolas Cage and Antonio Banderas - two master talents. www.darkhorizons.com/cage-bandera...

darkhorizons.comCage, Banderas To Lead Next "True Detective"It’s official, Antonio Banderas will join Nicolas Cage as the leads of the fifth season of HBO’s “True Detective”. HBO Max made the announcement today in a brief clip posted to X. Issa López, who dire...
Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

NEW REVIEW! Two episode into Carrie, and I think Samantha Sloyan is emerging as the show's MVP: this version of Margaret White has nuance, depth, and - most importantly - an ability to generate sympathy. Carrie is streaming now on Amazon Prime. fictionmachine.com/2026/10/16/t...

fictionmachine.comTV REVIEW: Carrie (2026), 1.2 “Foreign LanguageFirst broadcast 7 October 2026. In the second episode of Carrie, gym teacher Rita Desjardins (Amber Midthunder) punishes Carrie’s classmates for their bullying her in the showers. Carrie&#821…
Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

NEW REVIEW! Personally I found the new Street Fighter risible, but it was for many of the reasons I found Masters of the Universe similarly risible. If you enjoyed that film, and more power to you if you did, you might have fun with this one. fictionmachine.com/2026/10/14/r...

fictionmachine.comREVIEW: Street Fighter (2026)If I had a dollar for every time in 2026 a Hollywood studio used 4 Non Blondes’ 1993 song “What’s Up” for comedic effect in an action movie – okay, so I would only hav…
Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

Sometimes studios have review embargoes to have all the positive buzz come out at once, and sometimes it's so critics can't warn you. I can't tell you which one this is; I'm under embargo.

Grant Watson
@fictionmachine.bsky.social

My list of the 10 movies you absolutely have to see: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . There's no list you fool: watch what entertains and enriches you. Curate your own cultural experience.

Grant Watson reposted

Philip Bump
@pbump.com

That $366 million Elon is spending to try and convince voters that Congress should stay Republican? It's more money than McCain's 2008 campaign spent. But it's also, relative to Musk's net worth, the same as a household at the median income spending $32.

ctinsider.comThe 2026 question: Which is more powerful, money or people?Elon Musk has spent $366 million this election cycle. Philip Bump examines what that kind of money can buy in American politics.