Michael Brooke
@marbleicehook.bsky.social
Freelance writer, editor and DVD/Blu-ray producer/commentator specialising in British and central/eastern European cinema. Indexes to my regular posts celebrating the latter (9am daily, 9pm most days) can be found at http://www.michaelbrooke.com/bluesky
Reposted by Michael Brooke
Saying Trump was "snubbed" for the Nobel Peace Prize is like saying Goonies 3 was snubbed for the Best Picture Oscar.
He was never in contention because he is a war mongering fascist.
He was never in contention because he is a war mongering fascist.
January 19, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Saying Trump was "snubbed" for the Nobel Peace Prize is like saying Goonies 3 was snubbed for the Best Picture Oscar.
He was never in contention because he is a war mongering fascist.
He was never in contention because he is a war mongering fascist.
"I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
January 19, 2026 at 1:48 PM
"I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."
Reposted by Michael Brooke
Three drunk college kids just walked past my place at midnight, loudly singing the Hindi version of "We Shall Overcome" while one of them accompanied (quite deftly) on a harmonium. Good shit.
January 14, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Three drunk college kids just walked past my place at midnight, loudly singing the Hindi version of "We Shall Overcome" while one of them accompanied (quite deftly) on a harmonium. Good shit.
Reposted by Michael Brooke
Well I guess that proves that Sharia Law works.
London’s homicide rate drops to lowest in more than a decade
Sadiq Khan says ‘public health’ approach has made the capital one of the safest cities in the western world
www.theguardian.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:52 AM
Well I guess that proves that Sharia Law works.
This was supposed to be Friday's last Substack post, but I ran into a subtitle-sync problem and had to fix that first. I actually have this as a legitimate DVD, but the Facets edition is so poor that the fact that I preferred to watch a YouTube rip with manually added subtitles tells its own story!
Samson
Poland, 1960, 117 mins, black and white
marbleicehook.substack.com
January 12, 2026 at 9:23 AM
This was supposed to be Friday's last Substack post, but I ran into a subtitle-sync problem and had to fix that first. I actually have this as a legitimate DVD, but the Facets edition is so poor that the fact that I preferred to watch a YouTube rip with manually added subtitles tells its own story!
This was Andrzej Wajda's first flop, both commercially and artistically—and aside from it not being a comedy, broadly equivalent to his friend Steven Spielberg's equally ill-fated 1941, both films being about their respective countries' messy, confused, and decidedly involuntary entry into WWII.
Lotna
Poland, 1959, 85 mins, colour
marbleicehook.substack.com
January 7, 2026 at 9:30 PM
This was Andrzej Wajda's first flop, both commercially and artistically—and aside from it not being a comedy, broadly equivalent to his friend Steven Spielberg's equally ill-fated 1941, both films being about their respective countries' messy, confused, and decidedly involuntary entry into WWII.
Today's contextual piece in my ongoing Andrzej Wajda survey on Substack is my most self-indulgent to date, but now that I've covered all three films in the 1950s War Trilogy I had an excellent excuse to write about the logistical challenges of planning and recording commentaries for them—with clips.
Talking about Wajda...
Recording commentaries for Second Run's War Trilogy Blu-ray box set
marbleicehook.substack.com
January 7, 2026 at 3:08 PM
Today's contextual piece in my ongoing Andrzej Wajda survey on Substack is my most self-indulgent to date, but now that I've covered all three films in the 1950s War Trilogy I had an excellent excuse to write about the logistical challenges of planning and recording commentaries for them—with clips.
To mark the passing of the great Béla Tarr, I’ve republished my Sight & Sound lead review of his penultimate film on my Substack.
The Man from London
A Londoni férfi, Hungary/France/Germany, 2007, 139 mins, black and white
marbleicehook.substack.com
January 7, 2026 at 9:17 AM
To mark the passing of the great Béla Tarr, I’ve republished my Sight & Sound lead review of his penultimate film on my Substack.
“Well, if you won’t give me the Nobel Peace Prize that I totally deserved, I’ll just go and bomb another country, and *then* you’ll be sorry.”
<stamps foot>
“And it’s all your fault. You made me do it.”
<stamps foot>
“And it’s all your fault. You made me do it.”
January 3, 2026 at 7:56 AM
“Well, if you won’t give me the Nobel Peace Prize that I totally deserved, I’ll just go and bomb another country, and *then* you’ll be sorry.”
<stamps foot>
“And it’s all your fault. You made me do it.”
<stamps foot>
“And it’s all your fault. You made me do it.”
If Ukraine had had fifteen years of security guarantees following the 1994 Budapest Agreement that persuaded them to give up their nuclear weapons, those guarantees would have expired by 2010.
Ukraine war live: US has offered 15 years of security guarantees, says Zelenskyy
Ukrainian leader had sought up to 50 years of security guarantees at Florida meeting with Trump
www.theguardian.com
December 29, 2025 at 10:42 AM
If Ukraine had had fifteen years of security guarantees following the 1994 Budapest Agreement that persuaded them to give up their nuclear weapons, those guarantees would have expired by 2010.
Probably just as well I had no plans to go there anyway. A review of up to five *days* of my social media history would most likely get me barred.
December 10, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Probably just as well I had no plans to go there anyway. A review of up to five *days* of my social media history would most likely get me barred.
Reposted by Michael Brooke
Found when sorting an old drive. I still, very occasionally, say 'not many badgers in the House of Lords' and this is why:
February 8, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Found when sorting an old drive. I still, very occasionally, say 'not many badgers in the House of Lords' and this is why:
A thing what I wroted. Usual caveat: everything in these BFI listpieces has to be currently in print in English-friendly form, preferably on a UK label, but I reckon I'd have gone for most of these even if I'd had a completely clear run at the entire corpus of Hungarian cinema.
10 great Hungarian films
From a seven-and-a-half hour masterpiece to one of the most beautiful colour films ever made: as a trio of István Szabó films arrive on Blu-ray, we present a 10-film primer on the glories of Hungarian...
www.bfi.org.uk
December 5, 2025 at 1:19 PM
A thing what I wroted. Usual caveat: everything in these BFI listpieces has to be currently in print in English-friendly form, preferably on a UK label, but I reckon I'd have gone for most of these even if I'd had a completely clear run at the entire corpus of Hungarian cinema.
Reposted by Michael Brooke
Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat
November 29, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Finally getting some theological clarity on the ethics of reclining in one’s plane seat
I had to check to see if this had been published today, as opposed to half a century ago during the last Harold Wilson administration, which was the last time that Britain had anything even vaguely paying the most token lip service to the concept of full-blooded socialism. But no, it was today.
November 27, 2025 at 9:19 AM
I had to check to see if this had been published today, as opposed to half a century ago during the last Harold Wilson administration, which was the last time that Britain had anything even vaguely paying the most token lip service to the concept of full-blooded socialism. But no, it was today.
RIP Udo Kier. In late 1983 and early 1984 I saw his Frankenstein, Dracula, and Dr Jekyll on assorted big screens, in all cases absurdly too young, in films that had a worryingly disproportionate impact on my entire cultural worldview. He truly fucked life in the gall bladder and no mistake. RIP.
November 24, 2025 at 8:32 AM
RIP Udo Kier. In late 1983 and early 1984 I saw his Frankenstein, Dracula, and Dr Jekyll on assorted big screens, in all cases absurdly too young, in films that had a worryingly disproportionate impact on my entire cultural worldview. He truly fucked life in the gall bladder and no mistake. RIP.
Reposted by Michael Brooke
Not sure how "sophisticated" this supposedly sophisticated publishing scam is when their fake photos haven't even been cropped to hide the watermarks showing that they're fake.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
November 16, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Not sure how "sophisticated" this supposedly sophisticated publishing scam is when their fake photos haven't even been cropped to hide the watermarks showing that they're fake.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
My latest commentary commission. I was honoured to be asked, and I hope I did these incredible films something vaguely approaching justice—although I can definitely say that I’m as proud of my work here as I’ve been of pretty much anything else I’ve ever done.
Treasures of Soviet Animation Vol 3 - The Short Films of Yuri Nostein
THIS IS A PRE-ORDER SCHEDULED TO RELEASE LATE DECEMBER/JANUARY.PRE-ORDERS CANNOT BE CANCELLED OR MODIFIED.YOU WILL BE CHARGED AT CHECKOUT. ALL ITEMS ORDERED WITH A PRE-ORDER WILL SHIP TOGETHER. IF YOU...
deafcrocodile.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:05 PM
My latest commentary commission. I was honoured to be asked, and I hope I did these incredible films something vaguely approaching justice—although I can definitely say that I’m as proud of my work here as I’ve been of pretty much anything else I’ve ever done.
Proofreading an OCRed document about Turkish popular cinema, I find that the name of the director Çetin İnanç has been misread as “Cretin Inane”.
Everyone’s a critic.
Everyone’s a critic.
November 13, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Proofreading an OCRed document about Turkish popular cinema, I find that the name of the director Çetin İnanç has been misread as “Cretin Inane”.
Everyone’s a critic.
Everyone’s a critic.
Does this mean that Donald Trump has seen the error of his former ways and will no longer be grotesquely misrepresenting people several times a day via a combination of selective quotation and flat-out lying?
I mean, one would hope so, but...
I mean, one would hope so, but...
BBC resignations latest: Trump threatens to sue BBC for $1bn if it does not respond within days over speech edit error
Donald Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn, after its chair admitted an error in the editing of a speech by the US president in a documentary about the January 6 riots in 2021. Downing Street...
news.sky.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Does this mean that Donald Trump has seen the error of his former ways and will no longer be grotesquely misrepresenting people several times a day via a combination of selective quotation and flat-out lying?
I mean, one would hope so, but...
I mean, one would hope so, but...