Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 10h

Rian Johnson goes gothic with WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY. Faith, guilt & an Easter murder at a NY church. Josh O’Connor brings great energy, Daniel Craig is more subdued than before, & the tone is confessional and reflective. Good stuff!
Opens #LFF tonight; cinemas 26 Nov; Netflix 12 Dec

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – LFF review

Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery trades the bright satire of Glass Onion for something darker and more introspective. Set in a small religious community, it follows Josh O’Conn…

whitlockandpope.com

1 3

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 10h

Why did this convoluted, painfully arch wordplay on a niche subject get such little traction? 🧐 Who’s to say.

1

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 10h

*how much

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 13h

I’m giving >50% odds of the bubble bursting in 2026; the only question is hire much of the economy will it pull down with it in the short term?

1 3

Reposted by Andrew Pope

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

GDT’s disappointing FRANKENSTEIN played @ BeyondFest; A sumptuous production that can’t allow its Creature to be anything less than a perfect little angel, a GDT trope that’s ossified within his work to the point it limits his vision & hobbles his movies. Not every monster needs to be unimpeachable!

Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein – Venice Review

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a sumptuous gothic spectacle, thick with atmosphere and design, yet weakened by unsubtle storytelling, heavy-handed voiceover, and pacing that tests patience. ★…

whitlockandpope.com

1 1 9

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 13h

The reason he’s taken his shoes off there is because he walked 500 miles, and then walked 500 more.

1 1

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

We touched on this in my @miskatonicihs.bsky.social talk on Shoegaze Horror! A hauntological flypaper trap. An endlessly looping present built from a vortex of regurgitated pasts, with no future to escape to, where every doorway leads back to where you already are. Kojima’s PT on a cultural level.

Roland Meyer @bildoperationen.bsky.social · 1d

So-called #genAI means the abolition of the future through the proliferation of endless streams of stochastically rendered generic pasts. Having turned large parts of the cultural archive into training data, it now traps us in a foreverized pastness, a 24/7 nostalgia for a past that never existed

QuoProQuid @quoproquid.bsky.social · 2d

have just come across a YouTube account that has been using Sora to upload reels of fake, AI-generated “90s sitcoms” every few hours

1 5

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

GDT is doing one of the most disappointing things a horror creative can do: he’s getting crushingly predictable. His work has become schematic and rote. Still: beautiful gowns.

5

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

GDT reading Frankenstein & shrieking NO NO & ripping out pages any time the Creature gets any innocent blood on his hands whatsoever. Not my perfect boy! Is the human the real monster in this one? Was that implicit in the text? Better make it explicit. Better have people repeatedly say it out loud.

1 6

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

GDT’s disappointing FRANKENSTEIN played @ BeyondFest; A sumptuous production that can’t allow its Creature to be anything less than a perfect little angel, a GDT trope that’s ossified within his work to the point it limits his vision & hobbles his movies. Not every monster needs to be unimpeachable!

Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein – Venice Review

Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a sumptuous gothic spectacle, thick with atmosphere and design, yet weakened by unsubtle storytelling, heavy-handed voiceover, and pacing that tests patience. ★…

whitlockandpope.com

1 1 9

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

If an AI designed to pump out trite video titles can’t come up with “Guess Who’s Winning Two Oscars” then I consider that a fail.

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

With apologies for not creating a more eloquent, sophisticated appraisal of this man’s words: What a prick.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 2d

Robert Jenrick complained of ‘not seeing another white face’ in part of Birmingham

Shadow justice secretary criticised for suggesting he could tell how integrated Handsworth was based on 90-minute visit Robert Jenrick complained about visiting an area of Birmingham where he “didn’t see another white face” and said it was not the kind of country he wanted to live in. After highlighting the lack of white people, the shadow justice secretary said it was not about “the colour of your skin or your faith” and he wanted people to live alongside each other. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

7

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

More like Neinfar Panabye 😭

SCREENTALK UPDATE
SCREEN TALK: JAFAR PANAHI
Fri 10 Oct 13:10 NFT1
Regrettably, the in-person Jafar Panahi Screen Talk is cancelled due to a scheduling conflict. The Screen Talk will now be recorded and made available online for free, first on BFI Player, and then on BFI YouTube.
Details of when they will be available will be announced shortly.

1

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 1d

“Capitalism is a Wound (Lo-fidelity Oscillator)”

3

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

Withdrawing my request that he adapt The Silence of The Lambs into a final season of Hannibal WITH THE QUICKNESS.

3 2

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

*lede

1

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

loool greatness through thievery.

1

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

Starting to really appreciate the ending of Inglorious Bastards.

3

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

I am almost certainly getting Orbital confused with FSOL! (In my defence it was 30 years ago and imho a bit boring).

1 2

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

I went to an early Orbital gig in London where the gimmick was that Orbital were… wait for it… IN NEW YORK! They were DJing via an ISDN line! Never before in clubbing history has etc etc. (Gig was a bit shit.)

1 4

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

People were burying the lead on THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER - it stars Jim Belushi as Ken Kesey. That’s how you get people into the cinema right there.

1 4

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you! A dream birthday: just wrote up an LKFF curtain raiser! 😉

1 1

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

they could’ve said no! 😝

wonder woman is holding a sword in her hand and making a funny face with the words kal-el no .

ALT: wonder woman is holding a sword in her hand and making a funny face with the words kal-el no .

media.tenor.com

1

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

Korean cinema’s stranger side hits London this November: disappearances, creative rivalries, moral rot, and one very weird superhero comedy.
Our pick of 8 films to see at #LKFF2025:

K-Cult Cinema: Eight Peculiar & Unsettling Entries at LKFF 2025

Eight of the most distinctive titles at the London Korean Film Festival 2025, from twisted thrillers to eerie dramas, showcasing the stranger, darker side of contemporary Korean cinema screening ac…

whitlockandpope.com

3

Andrew Pope @andrewpope.bsky.social · 2d

I dislike them for their repeated lyric “how does it feel like” on Let Forever Be. It’s “How does it feel” or “What does it feel like” you illiterate twosome. The second one scans fine!

1 1