Helen O'Hara
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helenlohara.bsky.social
Helen O'Hara
@helenlohara.bsky.social
12K followers 210 following 1.6K posts
Film journalist, author, podcaster, broadcaster, etc. Empire's Editor-at-Large. If you would like to give me work, have a look at helenohara.com
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Reposted by Helen O'Hara
emilynussbaum.bsky.social
“For example, studies find that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of death from any cause compared to people who don't drink coffee.”

GAME SET MATCH
December 5, 2025 at 6:45 PM
helenlohara.bsky.social
I don't want to overly romanticise the studios. Many were set up and for decades run by sexists, racists and of course ruthless capitalists. They've often seemed hostile to film as an art form. But the situation now is not an improvement. Monopoly consolidation is Not Good. Cinema is Not Better Off.
December 5, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
shinobi602.bsky.social
RIP to the legendary Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

➡️ deadline.com/2025/12/cary...

He'll always be Shang-Tsung to me and killed every role he was in
December 5, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
pramsey342.bsky.social
Incredible
georgemonbiot.bsky.social George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 15h
1. Some good news at last. This week’s column is about the amazing thing a couple of us stumbled into three years ago, which we’ve now developed into a global research programme. It doesn’t change everything, of course, but it could help change quite a lot. + 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Over a pint in Oxford, we may have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture | George Monbiot
I knew that a revolution in our understanding of soil could change the world. Then came a eureka moment – and the birth of the Earth Rover Program, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
December 5, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
mikedrucker.bsky.social
I wrote a bit for McSweeney's about Isaac Chotiner interviewing Santa Claus. Just a little something for the holiday season. Enjoy!
The New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner Interviews Santa Claus
For several centuries, Santa Claus has been one of the most prolific mythical gift-givers in the world. Formerly known as Saint Nicholas of Myra, a...
www.mcsweeneys.net
December 4, 2025 at 7:02 PM
helenlohara.bsky.social
Magic
paulduane.bsky.social Paul Duane 🥔 @paulduane.bsky.social · 1d
Found the relevant pages, feels like an eyewitness account of the creation of the world, yeah that's hyperbole but holy shit
Otis is playing a bright red dime-store guitar, strumming simple bar chords as he sings: 'Sitting' in the mornin' sun, I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes - The front of the guitar is cracked, as if someone has stepped on it. As he sings, Otis watches Steve, who nods and nods, bending almost double over his guitar, following Otis's chords with a shimmering electric response. 'Sittin' in the mornin' sun -' 'But I don't know why he's sittin',' Otis says, rocking back and forth as if he were still singing. 'He's just sittin'. Got to be more to it than that.' He pauses for a moment, shaking his head. Then he says, 'Wait. Wait a minute,' to Steve, who has been waiting patiently. I left my home in Georgia, Headed for the Frisco bay - He pauses again, runs through the changes on his fractured guitar, then sings: 'I had nothing to live for, Look like nothing's gonna come my way - I write music everywhere, in motels, dressing rooms - I'll just play a song on the guitar and remember it. Then, usually, I come in the studio and Steve and I work it out. Sometimes I'll have just an idea, maybe for a bass line or some chord changes - maybe just a feeling - and we see what we can make out of it. We try to get everybody to groove together to the way a song feels.' After 'Dock of the Bay' was recorded, Steve and Booker added guitar and piano fills. The song boomed into the studio from a speaker high on the rear wall, and Booker played precise little bop, bop-bop figures, while Steve followed the vocal with an almost quivering blues line. The speaker went dead, then the engineer's voice came: 'Steve, one note's clashing.' 'Sure it is,' Steve tells him. 'It was written to clash.' Which, in point of fact, is not true, since nothing has been written down so far. 'Let's do it once more,' Steve says. 'We can do that bridge better. I can. First part's a groove.' Inside the control room, Otis and Duck are talking. 'I wish you all could go with me to the Fillmore on Christmas,' Otis says. 'Man, so do I. I got some good fren's in San Francisco. We could rent one of them yachts.' 'I got one already. Three bedrooms, two baths, sumbitch is nice, man.' 'My ole lady's kill me,' Duck says. When the recording is finished, Steve and Booker come into the control room, followed after a moment by the little boy in Congress sneakers. The tape is played back at a painful volume level. Steve and Otis stare deep into each other's eyes, carrying a kind of telepathic communication. The little boy, looking up at the speaker the music is coming from, says, 'I like that. That's good singin'. I'd like to be a singer myself.' If you got the feelin', you can sing soul. You just sing from the heart, and - there's no difference between nobody's heart.' 'That's it,' Otis says when the record ends. "That's a mother,' says Booker.
December 4, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk
An absolute honour to make my third appearance on this incredible annual tradition. I maintain, btw, that this is a film with its heart in the right place that absolutely isn’t a zero or one star experience.
helenlohara.bsky.social Helen O'Hara @helenlohara.bsky.social · 2d
The new season of #BahHumbug is here! Our first episode in an admittedly untimely manner is on #ChristmasKarma and all things A Christmas Carol, with my guest @20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk. open.spotify.com/episode/4glC...
Christmas Karma: Reinventing redemption, Dickens And Muppets
open.spotify.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
helenlohara.bsky.social
Still to come in the near future are Champagne Problems, A Merry Little Ex-Mas, Tinsel Town, Pillion, Oh.What.Fun, Goodbye June and more! We'll have some filmmaker and celebrity guests as well, so do consider subscribing to keep up on all the festive cheer.
December 3, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
helenlohara.bsky.social
The new season of #BahHumbug is here! Our first episode in an admittedly untimely manner is on #ChristmasKarma and all things A Christmas Carol, with my guest @20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk. open.spotify.com/episode/4glC...
Christmas Karma: Reinventing redemption, Dickens And Muppets
open.spotify.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:19 PM
helenlohara.bsky.social
The new season of #BahHumbug is here! Our first episode in an admittedly untimely manner is on #ChristmasKarma and all things A Christmas Carol, with my guest @20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk. open.spotify.com/episode/4glC...
Christmas Karma: Reinventing redemption, Dickens And Muppets
open.spotify.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
seamas.bsky.social
We're watching the wholesale burning of every scrap of dignity afforded to trans people in the UK, their rights, their medical services, their employment, their place within society, their bodily functions.

It is a disgrace, and a disgusting stain on the government and media of this country.
December 3, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
katbrownwrites.com
Nothing says feminism like forcing women to do something they have been vocal about not wanting to do.
December 3, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
brainmage.bsky.social
2025 advent calendar. Day one.

You run downstairs, excited to open the first door. A voice in the back of your mind tries to tell you that you didn't actually buy an advent calendar this year—and this wasn't in the house when you went to bed last night—but you push that aside.
December 1, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
katbrownwrites.com
1) Predatory men pretty much covers it

inews.co.uk/news/reasons...
Five reasons why women still aren't safe, according to the Sarah Everard inquiry
The senior lawyer behind the inquiry said 'society needs to stop normalising misogynistic perpetrator behaviour'
inews.co.uk
December 2, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
grmorgan.bsky.social
Had a great time last night at BFI discussing the work of James Cameron and airing my theory that The Abyss is actually his most important film. Great chairing by @helenlohara.bsky.social and lovely chat with @amonwarmann.bsky.social and Madeleine Mullett.
Left to right: Helen O'Hara, Amon Warmann, Madeleine Mullett and Glyn Morgan sit on stage in conversation at the BFI in front of a large screen which shows a space-water graphic and reads "James Cameron - A Season of Films at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX"
December 2, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
smoothdunk2.bsky.social
i’m setting you free. i’m releasing you from the discourse
4 panel comic Panel 1: Red Guy looking way way too happy yells “Hey Guys! Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?” Blue Guy next to him calmly says “Shhh” Panel 2: Blue Guy tenderly puts his arms around Red Guy and says “You don’t have to do this” Panel 3: Blue Guy still holds Red Guy tightly and repeats “You don’t have to do this every year”. Red Guy begins to break. Panel 4: Red Guy dissolves into Blue Guy’s embrace, sobbing. He finally feels the weight of Christmas Discourse lifting from his shoulders. He is finally free.
December 2, 2025 at 1:39 AM
helenlohara.bsky.social
Still some tickets left if you'd like to come to The Worlds Of James Cameron discussion panel tonight at the BFI with me, @amonwarmann.bsky.social @grmorgan.bsky.social and the BFI's Madeleine Mullett. It's going to be fun!

whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/artic...
Buy cinema tickets for The Worlds of James Cameron | BFI Southbank
whatson.bfi.org.uk
December 1, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
bmhughes.bsky.social
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
bcdreyer.social
I said it and I'm glad.
bcdreyer.social Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · Oct 29
May I suggest that Arcadia is the greatest play written in the English language in the last 150 years or so at least?
November 29, 2025 at 5:56 PM
helenlohara.bsky.social
Sad news about Tom Stoppard: a theatre and film giant. Hope someone stages Arcadia soon in tribute.
November 29, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
fwfilmfestival.bsky.social
Looking forward to James Cameron's next sci-fi epic?

Get yourself primed with The Worlds of James Cameron at BFI Southbank on 1 Dec with @grmorgan.bsky.social @amonwarmann.bsky.social and BFI IMAX Manager Madeleine Mullett hosted by @helenlohara.bsky.social.

whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/defau...
a man stands in front of a volcano that is erupting with smoke coming out of it
ALT: a man stands in front of a volcano that is erupting with smoke coming out of it
media.tenor.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:50 AM
helenlohara.bsky.social
Well now that's upsetting.
rydog.bsky.social Ryan Scott @rydog.bsky.social · 8d
We are now further away from the theatrical release of Raiders of the Lost Ark (June 12, 1981) than it was from the year it takes place in (1936). We have reached the Indiana Jones event horizon.
November 27, 2025 at 5:54 AM
helenlohara.bsky.social
This is fantastic news and it should never have taken this long. Congratulations to all the campaigners.
francesryan.bsky.social Frances Ryan @francesryan.bsky.social · 9d
And the two child benefit limit is abolished. An enormous victory for those who have campaigned tirelessly for eight long years through successive governments. This will lift at least 450,000 children out of poverty. Fewer kids will be hungry. No more women forced to disclose their rape.
November 26, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
bombsfall.bsky.social
idiot guy: i'm like the wolf i'm stalking my prey alone through the forest and being raw as fuck even if i'm in a group i'm the alpha
actual wolf: i love my friends so much!!! i love to romp and kiss my bros and work together as a family <3 awooo etc etc have you seen the puppies oh my god come see
November 26, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Helen O'Hara
statspeter.bsky.social
A child poverty strategy with the 2-child limit in place would *not* be a credible child poverty strategy. *All* of the growth in child poverty since the 2011/12 low point is for children in scope of this policy.
Between 2011/12 and 2023/24, child poverty rose by 900,000 in total. This is entirely due to increases in poverty in families with three or more children, with a small fall in poverty for smaller families over the period.
November 24, 2025 at 3:45 PM