Feature Archives

Joker 2 | Here comes the fallout, as blame game begins

by Simon Brew | Oct 09, 2024 | Feature, News

The box office returns for Joker 2 - Joker: Folie A Deux - have come in short, and already, blame appears to be apportioned. A few thoughts....

Coffee image for Film Stories' regular mental health column

Mental Health Matters | Dealing with good news

by Sarah Myers | Oct 09, 2024 | Feature

When you're naturally not the kind of person to celebrate something good, how do you give yourself permission to do so?...

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter | The mystery of its missing UK release

by Simon Brew | Oct 08, 2024 | Feature, News

Dracula-adjacent horror The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is only just getting a cinema screening in the UK, over a year after it screened into in the...

Alien: Isolation 2 | Sequel to 2014's classic space anxiety simulator announced

by Ryan Lambie | Oct 08, 2024 | Feature, Gaming, News

To mark the original's 10th anniversary, developer Creative Assembly has announced space horror sequel Alien: Isolation 2....

Withnail & I | The heartbreak that lies beneath its quotable dialogue

by Ryan Lambie | Oct 08, 2024 | Feature

Bruce Robinson’s 1987 comedy-drama is one of the most quotable British films of all time. But there are some deeper, heartbreaking undercurrents in W...

Is fandom now controlling Hollywood’s biggest franchises?

by Maria Lattila | Oct 07, 2024 | Feature

If a new report's accurate, then studios are placing more and more value on the opinions of a small group of fans. A few words on toxic fandom and...

Stanley Kubrick | 2001: A Space Odyssey and its original opening sequence

by A J Black | Oct 07, 2024 | Feature

Director Stanley Kubrick originally had a very different opening in mind for 2001: A Space Odyssey. We head back to the early days of his 1968 sci-fi...

Ciné-Real | The Hackney film club that only presents on 16mm

by James Harvey | Oct 04, 2024 | Feature

Ciné-Real at the Castle Cinema is the only UK film club that screens exclusively on 16mm stock. Our friends at Great Big Story have made a short...

All the Disney+ films and TV shows that have been deleted from the service

by Lauren Miles | Oct 04, 2024 | Feature

It's a sad reality that streaming services have begun to delete original films and shows from their platforms - here's everything that's disappeared...

Is Joker: Folie à Deux a musical - and why do we care?

by James Harvey | Oct 04, 2024 | Feature, News

Joker: Folie à Deux might have a bunch of characters singing in it, but does that make it a musical? Short answer: yes. Find the long one below......

Film Quiz Friday | Dynamic Duos

by Mark Harrison | Oct 04, 2024 | Feature, News

The new Todd Phillips film is about a pair of Jokers and this week’s film quiz focuses on other movie duos....

The Big Lebowski 1998 press conference gloriously highlights the futility of press conferences

by Ryan Lambie | Oct 03, 2024 | Feature, News

Berlin, 1998. John Goodman and filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen sat down for a press conference to promote The Big Lebowski. Good lord is it awkward....

Killer Heat and the return of the acceptable mid-budget thriller

by Ryan Lambie | Oct 03, 2024 | Feature

Rather than try to rewrite the thriller rulebook, Prime Video mystery Killer Heat is content to be just fine - which is far from a bad thing....

We are losing our battle with all that is personal and real | Google, and the future of writing about film

by Simon Brew | Oct 02, 2024 | Feature, News

Changes to the way Google returns its search results are seeing websites downsizing and shutting, and writers losing their jobs. A few thoughts....

Mental Health Matters | 'Glimmers'

by Sarah Myers | Oct 02, 2024 | Feature

A few words on finding micro-moments of happiness, otherwise known as glimmers, in our weekly mental health chat....

Hellboy: The Crooked Man | How the dwindling of home media has affected a cult comic book franchise

by Ryan Lambie | Oct 01, 2024 | Feature, News

Hellboy’s back in cinemas with The Crooked Man, but its budget is drastically reduced from its 2000s heyday. A shrinking home video market may be t...

The Deadpool And Wolverine debate | Cinema’s saviour, or scraping the barrel?

by Simon Brew | Sep 30, 2024 | Feature, News

Deadpool And Wolverine gave cinema a massive live action hit just when it needed it. But now what? A few thoughts on Marvel's huge movie success....

What can I watch if I don’t like Megalopolis?

by James Harvey | Sep 27, 2024 | Feature

Francis Ford Coppola’s divisive epic hits UK cinemas today – but if it isn’t your cup of tea, why isn’t there anything on for you?...

James Cameron, Brian Sewell and Judi Dench: a weird week in AI, reviewed

by Ryan Lambie | Sep 27, 2024 | Feature, News

Previously a skeptic, James Cameron is now a Stability board member. Plus: fake Keir Starmer and Brian Sewell. We review a weird week in AI....

Film Quiz Friday | Coppola Questions

by Mark Harrison | Sep 27, 2024 | Feature

As Megalopolis arrives in UK cinemas, this week’s film quiz focuses on some of Francis Ford Coppola’s other movies....

Whatever happened to RoboCop Returns?

by Ryan Lambie | Sep 26, 2024 | Feature

For years, it looked as though 1987’s RoboCop would be getting a direct sequel, based on its screenwriters’ decades-old script. We look at the fat...

Leave 'em hanging | When a teased sequel never happens

by Dan Cooper | Sep 26, 2024 | Feature

We take a look at the Hollywood art of the sequel tease – not least when the movie being teased doesn’t happen…...

Mental Health Matters | Grieving differently

by Sarah Myers | Sep 25, 2024 | Feature

Sarah has a few words to say on processing difficult grief, and why there's not one way that suits all. Over to her......

Lost | Coming from Nowhere - exploring the show's original pilot concept

by A J Black | Sep 24, 2024 | Feature, TV

To mark the 20th anniversary of Lost, we look back at screenwriter Jeffrey Lieber's unused pilot script, Nowhere, and how it informed the hit show....