Devon Malcolm

Clash at the Castle(field Bowl).

23 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Not discounting or arguing your perfectly reasponable opinion but it's interesting how different people can view the same match. I absolutely loved this match, and my only criticism would be there wasn't enough Eddie Kingston. Though Mark Briscoe did an excellent job carrying the majority of the match - he's just so fucking great.

What I really loved about this match is that the key part of the story they told was actually about holding back on the thing the fans wanted the most - Adam Copeland vs Malakai Black. They spent the whole match teasing it then backing away from it and withholding it from the audience then at the matches conclusion they finally face off Black immediately cheats to cut it short and get the victory. Proper good old school stuff. You put on an exciting match while simultaneously building up the next big match.

And I think this is where my only watching the PPVs falls down a bit, because I do miss the context and connections of other things that may be happening.

I've never been a Kingston fan but I absolutely do see the appeal with him so that's a personal thing really. But I actually did enjoy Mark Briscoe in this and I think overall his recent story has been a real feelgood one that has been born out of tragedy. What I've seen of him and heard of him in the last year suggests that the booking and use of him has been largely excellent. I could see some of that here, for sure 

Peter Oborne's babyface turn tour continues.

8 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I also understand that Julia/Willow was so short because Julia’s been injured for a while now so it wasn’t what it was supposed to be.

That makes sense then, I suppose. Hopefully they'll get a fuller length rematch one day.

I watched this! And I nearly regretted it!

Pac vs Okada

Not a bad start but I would have liked more pace to this, which I thought I was going to get from these two. I hate that 'go on, hit me then!' shit, especially from a heel, but Okada did some good heel work later in the match and his near fall kickouts are brilliantly timed. I like that most of his stuff is just older school wrestling stuff executed really well. Far longer than it needed to be but loads of fun in its final stretch.

House of Black vs Copeland, Briscoe and Kingston

Eddie Kingston's usual boring strong style shit and this was just too long as well. Just needed to be a mad sprint, went on forever. Nah.

Julia Hart vs Willow Nightingale

I think this was my first Willow Nightingale match. Julia Hart has got better every time I've seen her. So I was looking forward to this one, and then it was over as soon as it got started. Fucking hell. Knock 6 hours off the stupid trios match and give them some time ffs.

Roderick Strong vs Kyle O'Reilly

Good match, this, even if I didn't really care about it that much. Strong's heel run here is easily the most interested I've ever been in him, he's always been a total dullard to me. What the fuck was the point of Wardlow's run in? He gets caught by the ref before he does anything, does a "Oops, you caught me, mister!" and then Strong won clean. So they even found a way to balls this one up to a degree.

Hook vs Jericho

Hook is an absolutely brilliant talent who they've done fuck all with so far. I don't know about Learning Tree, but Jericho looks like a gnarled yew. There's no point wishing he would fuck off at this point because it's obviously not going to happen. It's amazing how uncomfortable the atmosphere is when Jericho's in the ring, I've never seen anything like it. This was crap.

Toni Storm vs Thunder Rosa

Now we're talking. Started fast, settled down with nice heavy shots and work from both of them. Easily the best match of the card so far, brilliant near fall on the Storm Zero near the end. Loved this.

Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson

Nigel McGuinness an absolute hoot on commentary again, having the time of his life. Obviously an absolutely fantastic match on almost every level, practically faultless and the only match of the night that needed to go this long. Brilliant.

FTR vs Young Bucks

A ladder match, so the usual thing, really. Didn't outstay its welcome and I quite enjoyed it but I never want to see the Young Bucks again in my whole life. Same goes for Jungle Boy as well.

Swerve Strickland vs Samoa Joe

Fantastic match between two of the best around right now. The right time for Swerve after Joe's excellent reign, he's a massive star and they need someone new at the top. Whether his reign will be booked well is probably in huge doubt but a cracking moment.

Fair to say this was a show of two halves, the first half was not good at all but the second half far better.

JLM having a proper Dalton Castle-esque breakdown here.

2 hours ago, Nick James said:

The only other acceptable winner of that battle royal would have been Chelsea Green winning after cheating her way back into the ring. 

She's brilliant, isn't she? Great to see someone happy to be thriving in that sort of position.

Busted out these when I was watching AEW Dynamite. Gave up on them after four crisps because they were absolutely foul. Two hours later and they've still left an aftertaste. Even worse than the Jericho vs Hook match. 2/10.

No idea if this is the right thread for this but balls to it.

17yo was invited by The Proud Trust in Manchester to take part in a series of interviews they're shooting for their website at The Proud Place, just off Oxford Road near MMU. The interviews are a mix of people who run the charity and various groups under its umbrella (he goes to the Stockport one on Wednesday evenings) and those who have been supported by the service in various different ways. I got invited along because I've become friends with the person who runs the Stockport group, and I just wanted to support 17yo in case he found it a bit much.

It was a brilliant experience. Listening to him talk to a neutral party about his experiences of being a trans kid and now a young adult, the difficulties at school and meeting other people like him was an eye-opener and an education. We were then chatting to the film crew at the end and the people who run the place about our shared experiences as dad and son and they decided to shoot an extra segment with the both of us chatting about our relationship and how I've changed as a parent in the last several years.

The nicest people, just wanting to help and look after young people who need it so much. I'm so thankful places like that exist.

They made the mistake of letting us in their photo booth though.

1 hour ago, garynysmon said:

Be thankful, fans of 98% of football clubs are facing winning fuck all this season.

More than 98% of football clubs didn't spend the best part of a billion pounds to dump a three goal lead to a mid-table Championship team and get outplayed in extra time.

19 hours ago, gmoney said:

And of course, The Wiz. 

Forgot about Network as well!

The Anderson Tapes, Guilty as Sin and Find Me Guilty are good too. Although the latter does feature Vin Diesel with hair so it's disturbing.

20 minutes ago, no user name said:

Good job I wasn't drinking when I read that I would of spat it out.

I hope @air_raid wasn't drinking when he read that or same.

"Enlarged to show texture"

6 hours ago, SwayWays said:

Knight is someone I'd love to see have a stint at a world title, I'm not even a massive fan or anything - he's just a throw back to the attitude era

And that's why he must be stopped at all costs.

58 minutes ago, Magnum Milano said:

I just checked out his filmography and I'd completely forgotten that he directed Dog Day Afternoon which I loved and thought was excellent with an outstanding performance by Pacino.  The other two of his that I've seen are Serpico, which featured another tour de force performance from Pacino and is another fantastic film, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, which I think I watched after seeing a review on YouTube and again really enjoyed.  So four for four from Lumet with two absolute all-timers.  I tried to watch The Offence, possibly after seeing a post by yourself, but wasn't in the right frame of mind for it at the time.  Will definitely get back to it at some point.

The Offence is one of his very best but, like with many of his films, you need to be in the mood for it. The Pawnbroker especially. The Hill, Fail Safe, Running on Empty, Equus and The Verdict are all absolute must sees too. Several others are good value. You rarely go wrong with him.

Your boy on the left has been prominently featured in the People Who Are Pleasing To Look At thread, I believe.

2 minutes ago, FLips said:

Man on Fire

We watched the first two Equalizers on Netflix and thought they were pretty enjoyable so moved on to another Denzel film as Equalizer 3 isn’t on Netflix yet.

I can only speak for the first 40 minutes as we turned it off after absolutely fuck all happened for the full 40. An action/thriller with no action for nearly the first full hour. Yawn.

The editing is headache inducing as well. Constant quick cuts and filters and rubbish camera angles. It’s like watching Raw at it’s worst but with awful early 2000s greeny brown filters over everything. 

Maybe it gets good but I’m not investing that much time into it to find out.

Monkey Man was excellent. A really good story and array of characters, especially in the second half with the hijra representation. Really impressed.

4 hours ago, Magnum Milano said:

Thanks for this.  I'll write about it next time I make a post, but I watched 12 Angry Men for the first time last week and Fonda was amazing in that. Everything about it was incredible from the character development, the script, the performances.

One of the greatest American films of all time by one of the greatest American directors.

This Belinda Carlisle discussion doesn't feel right without a @Bellenda Carlisle contribution.

The Teachers' Lounge (cinema)

Films set in schools are usual manipulative, clichéd crap but this is one of the few that captures the complexities and challenges of being a part of the education process on any level. Anxiety-inducing and superbly acted.

The Ox-Bow Incident (Talking Pictures TV)

Magnificent western, more like a courtroom drama played out on the plains. Dark, depressing and one of the earliest westerns to be loudly critical of western mythology. Henry Fonda is one of the greatest actors of all time.

Making Mr. Right (YouTube)

Did you ever want to see John Malkovch in a dual role, playing a scientist and an android who falls in love with a human woman and pulling off some of the better slapstick comedy you could wish to see? Of course you do. This was great.

Testament (1983)

Incredibly depressing nuclear fallout drama. Would have scared the absolute shit out of me as a kid, like The Day After did, and it's still really affecting stuff today. Doesn't provide any light at all. Would make for a nice double-bill with Threads if you really wanted to feel bad.

Beyond Re-Animator

What an excellent trilogy this is. I don't think this is far below the quality of the first two, even if it's a little slow getting going. I'm going to watch them all on the same day when October rolls round.

Kronos (YouTube)

Really enjoyable old 50s sci-fi horror about a massive alien robot that tries to suck all the energy out of the earth. Like you do.

Nope

I still think this is the weaker of Jordan Peele's three films to date but only because Get Out and Us are so amazingly good. Just love the genre crossing and imagination that's gone into this.