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burningthrucelluloid · 1 day ago

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Christmas Carol-cember, Day 24

A very Merry Christmas to you all as we finally reach the last day of this Christmas Carol challenge.

Throughout this month, I’ve covered many various takes on the Charles Dickens novel and the adaptations that came with them. From the classic films with Alistair Sim to musical adaptations with the Muppets to ponies to Ryan Reynolds to Mega Man, this is a story that finds footings with everyone in every genre or media.

So to end this properly, I wanted to dip into the historical with what might perhaps might signal the new form of storytelling that harkens back to old school practice: the podcast.

After Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol,” he began to go on tours where he would read the book aloud to listeners as well as discuss his book to eager listeners. With the advent of radio, it became a tradition of radio broadcasting to perform the tale much in the vein of radio dramas, with the most beloved and iconic being CBS’ “The Campbell Playhouse” which was directed and starred Orson Welles in multiple roles, but produced two different versions of Dickens’ story, one of them starring Lionel Barrymore in the lead role in the 1940 broadcast.

While film and television overtook the radio, radioplays never exactly went away as they evolved into the modern variety of audiobooks that would be recorded and allow for people to listen to them on vinyls them cassette tapes then to CDs before becoming digital. In that sense, the tradition of radio performers using the voice to play the characters in the story has evolved to the point you can go online and find fans recording their own performances to share to the world.

If radios are the spiritual successor to speaking tours then perhaps podcasts are just as vital to that evolution, for good and for bad. Luckily today we turn to a podcast that has no Rogans or hate speech but is a format to educate and entertain in a way that does not diminish or dismiss education. The award-winning history podcast, “The Rest Is History” by historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook.

This podcast episode, recorded in December 2021, takes a unique approach where the two historians are not sitting down in a coffee shop or a studio but taking to the Covid-19 lockdown streets of London where they seek to track down the actual locations Charles Dickens used for his 1843 novella.

They begin in Newman’s Court just off of Cornhill Street to try and guess where Scrooge’s counting house might have been situated as the two establish the history behind this street for London’s financial history as well as establish how much of the original London was lost in the Great Fire of London. They also take the time to explore Charles Dickens’ early life having to work in dangerous jobs as a child before making a living as a writer for his publishers, often using elements of the times around him to inspire his novels, much like “Oliver Twist.” They also point out the same time Dickens published this book was the same year Christmas Cards were established during this era.

The duo comment on how far Bob Cratchit must live as they detail Bob lived on Camden Town (which, according to Google, is not anything to laugh at as the walking distance between Camden and Cornell is over 3 miles) before they move on to Bengal Court where they go about looking at several historic inns (all closed because of the Pandemic) where they consider taverns like Simpsons and the Old Jamaica as possible locations before they land on the George and Vulture Inn as a bust of Dickens resides outside and it being used by Dickens’ descendants as a meeting spot every year.

As the two arrive at White Lion Court, admiring the historic homes around while discussing the parallels between Dickens’ novel and the Bible.

Scrooge is met by the ghostly Jacob Marley to herald the arrival of 3 ghosts, Mary is met by the archangel Gabriel to herald the coming of her Son which will result in 3 Wise Men to come. A parallel I had never truly considered before listening to this which shows these two have done their homework, even when it’s clear from their podcast they are pretty skeptical of the Bible but are not mean spirited or hard on any Christian listeners. They just take issue with how the word of Jesus has been misappropriated for untold cruelties across history, but that’s for their other podcast episodes.

After discussing the Ghost of Christmas Past, Dominic makes a joke about Tom being alone on Christmas as well as debating the emotional connection people have with Scrooge’s past of feeling alone on Christmas. They then discuss the Ghost of Christmas Present, recognize that A Christmas Carol is kind of a horror story before they move onto the Ghost of Christmas Future. After a commercial break, they arrive at St Peter upon Cornhill and to the Cemetery behind it to discuss Scrooge’s discovery of his gravestone, they reveal Dickens got the name of his character from a gravestone in Edinburgh from a party animal of a man named “Ebenezer Scrogugie” to the best I can spell out.

The duo then to Leadenhall Market, which was, again, mostly empty during recording, as the location where Scrooge got the Prize Turkey he sends to Bob Crotchet’s house. Dominic pokes fun at Tom for the year he bought a goose and left it in his car where someone broke in and stole it until the two finally get the main reason I wanted to spotlight this podcast as well as the episode.

After having spent the past hour sharing historical knowledge, making goofy jokes that show off that British wit and using references to current day events to are not difficult to understand, they get to the heart of the episode by asking just who is this story for?

As Dominic points out, “A Christmas Carol is a conservative book. The argument is there are tremendous inequalities in the world that affect the lower class but the answer to these is individual philanthropy. It’s intended for a middle class literate audience. It’s not a politically radical book, just give a little bit more at Christmas.”

They even acknowledge that Vladimir Lenin saw a production of A Christmas Carol and took such offense to the bourgeois undertones he straight up walked out.

That middle class appeal truly gets to the heart of why it remains the most adapted of Dickens work.

Dominic and Tom acknowledge the Muppet version, the Scrooge McDuck version, the Bill Murray version. A testament to the story being infinitely malleable and parodied as, from Dickens’ time to the present day, it’s a Victorian Era tradition that has remained as everyone goes out of their ways to uphold these ideals without truly considering where they come from and from the social cues they derive from.

I bring this up because every time I hear people complain about some “culture war against Christmas,” it shows a failure to understand that it’s not about trying to deny the significance of the holiday, but to recognize it’s commercialized traditions and give space to people who may not welcome Christmas into their homes but care enough about you to still extend in the same themes of compassion and generosity.

You can have your cake and eat it too.

It’s because of that insight and ability to connect it to the past to reveal our present and future is why this podcast episode of “The Rest Is History" feels like the perfect way to end this challenge of spotlighting A Christmas Carol for the past 24 days. We began looking over the various performances of Ebenezer Scrooge to see what different performers bring to the table, how the musical genre can be used to explore the themes of Dickens and how it can show the characters in a new light, a week focusing on the meta-narrative of people who know the story and still find ways to make it relevant and ended this challenge by exploring what will be the media of the future that will keep this story going for all the years ahead of us. If they are as informative, fun and engaging as how Dominic and Tom presented it, I’m certainly optimistic there’s a place for this story that will still appeal to us all.

“The Rest Is History: A Christmas Carol” is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Overcast, Pocket Casts, iTunes, and Podcast Addict.

And with that, my Christmas Carol-cember challenge finally comes to an end.

I hope I educated and inspired everyone who followed these goofy little reviews to check them out and give them a chance to go outside your comfort zones to find these tales. If there’s a favorite version you have that I didn’t describe, share it below. Who knows, perhaps you might inspire someone else to find their next favorite Christmas special to watch next year.

Merry Christmas to you all and God bless us, everyone!

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hansolostrickedoutweedvan · 22 days ago

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Here is a review of every movie I watched over 4 flights travelling to and from New Zealand

The Phantom Menace: The Phantom Menace SLAPS. It's also quite racist in a lot of places. But Duel of Fates kicks so much fucking ass. It's so good I fucking love it. Anyone who claims to have been seriously confused by the concept that businesses would commit war crimes over being taxed maybe just need to engage with the story a bit more. Skill issue is all I'm saying.

Justice League Crisis on Infinite Earths Parts 1-3. Part 1 was decent but nothing fantastic. Part 2 was just kind of bland. I don't super remember it. Part 3 sucked so much fucking ass it's making me mad just thinking about it. CAN WE PLEASE JUST LET THINGS STAND ON THEIR OWN?! WE DON'T NEED EVERY FUCKING PROPERTY TO BE INTO A MULTIVERSE CRAMMED WITH EVERY OTHER ADAPTATION OF THE SAME PROPERTIES. The movies suck as a unit, and as an adaptation of Crisis on Infinite Earths, they suck even harder. I really cannot emphasise how much I hated watching part 3. Don't watch it.

All 3 Lord of the Rings movies. By the time we were watching these I was very tired, and really more asleep then paying attention. Lord of the Rings is awesome

Phantom Menace but again, this time on the way back along with @bifirobin. Somehow turning the subtitles on makes Jar Jar come across as even more racist.

Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire: This movie kind of sucked. It was not something I would characterise as...good. Mothra showed up and that was great. Some of the visuals were cool. I'm a little unclear why...any of the plot felt the need to happen the way it did. I'm also unclear as to why the protagonists are surprised that the US Government balked at spending billions on "let's build Kong a power fist". If I was a US taxpayer, i would probably also rather they didn't do that. Godzilla curls up in the Colloseum, so that was fun.

Speed Racer: This one was new to me, but it was a lot. Watching it at the end of a 10 hour flight was about on par with being concussed repeatedly. Why was there a chimp there? Why was...any of the plot what it was? Why do the graphics look like the seedy underbelly of Lazytown? I will say though, for a movie called Speed Racer, they sure do a lot of Speed Racing. This is not a surfing dracula situation. They sure do a lot of Speed Racing

The Muppets Christmas Carol: Really fantastic. Michael Caine's best film. It's the summer of the soul in december, in case you didn't know. Deeply charming

The Addams Family: A great movie. I prefer Addam's Family Values, but they didn't have that. I am still unclear if Fester really was Fester with Amnesia he's slowly recovering from, or if, by impersonating Fester, he's opened himself up to become a vessel of Fester, and slowly metamorphises into being Fester, despite originally being a different person.

The First 15 minutes of Monarch from Apple+. I found it very boring, but I had been up for over 30 hours at that point, so my attention span was probably at a suboptimal point. I also think that it's pretty weird that the Monsterverse keeps introducing guys who think Kaiju are a conspiracy and have podcasts about it. Its a weird choice of a guy to keep introducing is all I'm saying.

#godzilla x kong #phantom menace #addams family values #monarch #the addams family #the muppets christmas carol #speed racer #justice league crisis on infinite earths #lord of the rings #airplane movies

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tunneltalkpod · 1 year ago

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In SportsCenter Tones

You know what your girls love? That's right, it's MATH! It's CONTINENTAL CLASSIC SPORTS MATH!! You'll be shocked and amazed to hear us get halfway through the episode before using the word erotic once because we're so obsessed with the "path" to various scenarios. But we do talk Jericho's sweet announcement of Kenny's diverticulitis, if Claudio's the only man not letting the Conny take him on an emotional journey, MJF's character problems and how we are gently tugging him off stage with a giant hook, and we end with a classic game: casting wrestlers as characters in a Muppet Christmas Carol. God bless us, every one!

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

#all elite wrestling #wrestling #podcasts #aew #continental classic

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thebunnyslibrary · 1 year ago

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Ficmas Week One: A Loki Christmas Carol

Date Originally Published: December 6, 2019 - December 24, 2019

Multi/One Shot: Multi, 5 Chapters, 8.8k words

Summary: In this rendition of Christmas Carol, Loki portrays Ebeneezer Scrooge, with his faithful clerk ~~Bob Cratchit~~ Tony Stark. When his partner from beyond the grave to warn him of a terrible fate, a Marvelous cast of spirits will show Loki the error of his ways.

Posting Location(s): AO3

About This Fic: The original summary i wrote when I posted this was had this incredible idea to see Tom Hiddleston as Ebenezer Scrooge And I still agree! I think Tom could EASILY play either Scrooge or Cratchit or even one of the phantoms!

A Christmas Carol is one of my favourite Christmas stories ofall time. Whether it be with Muppets, Patrick Stewart, or Daffy Duck! (Yes, it's real and it's amazing) Not to mention it's public domain! :D

I cast the Avengers all very carefully in this fic and had a TON of fun with it. It's a few years old now, I wrote it just before the pandemic but I still re-read this fic, along with the real story, every Christmas :)

It was also reviewed in a podcast! @the-shipping-forecasters reviewed this fic for this episode of their show! (starts at 33:30)

#merry ficmas #ficmas #Loki #A Loki Christmas Carol #Ao3 #Christmas Carol #Christmas Carol AU #(Yes that's a thing now)#Marvel #marvel cinematic universe #MCU #The-Shipping-Forcasters #Tom Hiddleston

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jack-of-ash · 1 year ago

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Tag Nine (or however many) People You'd Like to get to Know Better!

Tagged by: @rpsocsandcanonohmy and @do-these-eyes-look-human

Favorite Color(s): Purple, Brown, Black

Favorite Flavor(s): Chocolate, Mint

Favorite Music: could not possibly pick one but my most recent Playlist is a mix of Metal, Instrumental, and Showtunes

Favorite Movie(s): 10th Kingdom, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Repo! The Genetic Opera, LadyHawke

Favorite Series: Survivor (does it count?), The Mentalist, Castle, AtLA

Last Song: Santa the Barbarian: Snowpocalypse - Randall Standridge and the Lodge Studio Wind Ensemble

Last Series: that I finished - OG Trigun, that I saw anything of - Undead Murder Farce

Last Movie: White Christmas

Currently Reading: so many books brace yourself:

Fairest of Them All (graphic novel), Tales From the Cafe, Dangerous Spirits, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, Spoiler Alert, MonsTaboo, FrankenFran

Currently Watching: Undead Murder Farce, and the HBomberguy video

Currently Working On: 🥹 so many thing... To Love A Gentle Heart (my TavStarion fic), a Durgetash fic, a Rolan Baldursgate fic, an original novel about sentient androids, and I might be starting some kind of podcast or YouTube thing?

Tagging: @astro-0813 @ammoniababy @nonsequiturworld @mostpeculiarmademoiselleetmsieur

#tag game #get to know me #tagged

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callunavulgari · 1 year ago

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Scrapbook 2023 | Pt IV

NGL, a little heated that Tumblr's new editing bullshit has made it so I can't save more than a month at a time, so I guess I'll have monthly ones from now on.

For anyone that’s new to this, this is how I keep track of all of the things that I enjoy and/or create throughout the year. I have literally been doing this since I had a livejournal.

It’s a nice little snippet of my life and helps to organize my brain.

A reminder:

Normal font - Indifferent/Neutral Italicized font - Enjoyed bold font - Loved with an asterisk* - All time favorite (bracketed titles) - Re-watches/Re-reads strikethough - Disliked

Goals are: read 65 books, finish 4 video games, write more than 20 fics or something larger than 20k, and expand on your original novel outline to the point that you START WRITING.

Past Years

MOVIES

November

(Interstellar)

(Lotr: Fellowship)

(The Birdcage)

December

No Hard Feelings

The Muppet Christmas Carol

(Love Actually)

(Lotr: Fellowship)

Saltburn

(Everything Everywhere All At Once)

TV SHOWS

November

Loki, s2

Scavengers Reign s1

All the Light We Cannot See

December

Yu Yu Hakusho - Live Action

One Piece - Live Action

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

What If, s2

YOUTUBE CHANNELS

November

Watcher: Ghost Files

Watcher: Ghost Files Debrief

Watcher Podcast

Watcher: Food Files

Claire Saffitz Cooks

Gino's Italian Escape

Top 5 Beatdown

Inga Lam

December

Beryl!

Watcher: Too Many Spirits

Kimi

Imamu Room

BOOKS

November

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix [Fin]

The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten [Fin]

(A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab)

A Power Unbound by Freya Marske [Fin]

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros [Fin]

The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec [Fin]

December

(A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab) [Fin]

The Only One Left by Riley Sager [Fin]

(A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab) [Fin]

(A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab) [Fin]

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin [Fin]

All Systems Red by Martha Wells [Fin]

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells [Fin]

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells [Fin]

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells [Fin]

Starling House by Alix Harrow [Fin]

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia [Fin]

Network Effect by Martha Wells [Fin]

PODCASTS

November

Watcher Podcast

December

Watcher Podcast

VIDEO GAMES

November

Baldur’s Gate 3

Hollow Knight

LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom

December

LoZ: Tears of the Kingdom

(Ghosts of Tsushima)

POSTED FIC

November

for years or for hours | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 1,677 words | “What the shit are you doing?” Mobius hisses, and Loki— Loki is tired.

touch-a, touch-a, touch-a, touch me | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 2220 words | “God,” Steve murmurs into Eddie’s mouth. “You look— I cannot deal with how you look right now.”

December

these, our bodies, possessed by light | Shades of Magic | Holland/Kell/Lila, Athos/Holland | 2,134 words | Holland tells her simply. “I want to go home.”

this house says your name like an elegy | The Untamed | Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen/Xue Yang | 6768 words | “Good night, ghost,” he says. “We can play tomorrow.”

WIPS | UNPUBLISHED | ORIGINAL

November

Eddie/Steve - Rocky Horror

Yuletide

December

N/A

Fanmixes/Spotify Playlists/Graphics

November

Holland Playlist - Lost

December

N/A

DELIGHTFUL FIC

November

The Water's Edge by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 2k | In which Steve takes a walk in the rain, sees something he's not supposed to and has some thoughts he didn't expect.

The Shortest Straw by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 4k | In which Steve gets to indulge in a bit of roughhousing with a friend and realizes how much he'd missed it.

Manacled by senlinyu | HP | Hermione/Draco | 370k | Harry Potter is dead.

Extra Fresh Cherry Flavor by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | The cold, dry weather is not kind to Eddie's mouth, if only someone could offer a little help.

Faith, Faith, Faith by avocadomoon | Teen Wolf | Derek/Stiles | 21k | "Is there literally anywhere in the world you haven't been? Jesus fuck," Stiles said.

Crocodile Jock by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 4k | When in doubt, Eddie figures you can never go wrong with a classic.

some version of you (that I might not have, but I did not lose) by PinkCanary | Loki | Loki/Sylvie | 4k | Mobius offers her the bedroom, but she insists on the couch.

come back. even as a shadow, even as a dream. by harleygirl2648 | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 6k | Dreams don’t happen in the TVA.

the earth from a distance by spqr | HP | Draco/Harry | 16k | “Really,” Malfoy drawled. “We’re stuck in the 16th century, with no idea how we got here or how we might go about getting back – pray tell, Potter, how could this situation possibly be worse?”

Five Stars by Dira Sudis (dsudis) | The Sandman | Dream/Hob | 3k | Robert G. who brings the groceries is one of the most-texted numbers in Dream's phone. This will surely never cause any problems.

A Sign of The Morning by ToEdenandBackAgain | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 86k | Vecna is dead. The Upside Down is cut off from Hawkins yet again. Steve is trying to go back to normal, whatever that is. He's also trying to figure out exactly how Eddie Munson has managed to fit so easily into his life.

(meet me tonight in atlantic city) by greatunironic | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 20k | Ten years on, in a town in Nova Scotia, on the edge of the Atlantic, Eddie finds Steve again, and also maybe himself.

Desperate Measures by Asidian | BG3 | Astarion/Karlach | 7k | "I think Scratch is coming down with something," says Karlach the next morning, and Astarion, who's in the midst of packing up for the day's travel, drops the pillow he's attempting to make space for.

Eye Of The Beholder by entanglednow | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 22k | Eddie works himself up to ask Steve if he can borrow his instant camera, because the type of pictures he wants to take are…not the kind he can get developed in town.

In Our Blood by secretsalex | HP | Harry/Draco | 38k | Draco is an accomplished pure-blood curse breaker, and Harry is tasked with accompanying him on his latest job—cleaning up the Van Boer mansion, which has been under a devastating fertility curse for seven generations.

Terminus by RC_McLachlan | Loki | Loki/Mobius | 4k | "Keep me here," he begs against Mobius's lips. "You must keep me here."

What Made Milwaukee Famous by synthetica | Danny Phantom | Danny/Vlad | 31k | Ten years after establishing a tenuous truce, Danny crash-lands at Vlad's Milwaukee lakehouse with a particularly nasty wound, three days recovery time, and absolutely nothing to do but talk to his long-lost archnemesis.

December

then now and always by raisesomehale | Teen Wolf | Stiles/Derek | 14k | Stiles is stuck in the fucking snow in the middle of bum-fuck-nowhere at night with a broken down car three days before Christmas, and the nearest tow truck company—over fifty miles away—doesn’t open until morning.

many times, many ways by spqr | Suits | Mike/Harvey | 15k | Soulmates are something that other people worry about, normal people, the masses, like marriage and kids and mortgages in the suburbs, and besides, Harvey’s not the sort of person who wants a life partner.

Damage Control by entanglednow | Good Omens | Aziraphale/Crowley | 3k | When their meeting is unexpectedly interrupted by angels, Aziraphale and Crowley have very little time to do damage control.

the summer of '85 by ToEdenandBackAgain | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 20k | “Fuck The Man, Harrington. Gimme a taste.”

Handle Me with Care (I'm So Tired of Being Lonely) by thesurefireway | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 8k | “I’m a virgin.” Eddie figure’s he’ll just drop one unexpected revelation on Steve for now. He can only expose so many squishy, vulnerable parts of himself at a time.

Strawberry Fields by ParadimeShifts | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 19k | “No,” Steve had said three days prior. “Literally anyone else.”

i don't ask much (i just want you) by ToEdenandBackAgain | Stranger Things | Steve/Eddie | 8k | "The fuck are you doing, Harrington?"

Deadwinter Warmth by Asidian | BG3 | Astarion/Karlach/Wyll | 4k | In the noble houses, Midwinter is a time of alliances, and Astarion knows better than anyone what that means.

Blood in the Snow by linaerys | Crimson Peak | Lucille/Thomas | 5k | Before the house, there was the earth, and the blood.

you gave up all the golden factories by evewithanapple | Anastasia | Anya/Dimitri | 3k | Two Petersburg childhoods.

A Private Room by 20thcenturyvole | The Goblin Emperor | Csethiro/Maia | 5k | One morning in late summer, ten months into the reign of Edrehasivar VII and four months into his marriage, the Emperor was apprised of a scandal brewing in his court when his wife upended her teacup at breakfast.

unintended consequence by itsmylifekay | One Piece | Zoro/Sanji | 8k | Imagine person A making person B a friendship bracelet, expecting person B to never wear it, but when it’s given to them person B puts it on and is rarely seen with it off.

our lady of zapovednik by magneticwave | Shadow and Bone | Darkling/Alina | 24k | Alina Oretsev owns a bookshop in a neighborhood in Os Alta that is escaping gentrification by the skin of its teeth and the sweat of its most notorious occupants, the Dregs.

just me against the sky by magneticwave | DC | Tim/Jason | 49k | Tim Drake stops stalking Gotham’s nocturnal wildlife when she goes to college. Unfortunately, they don’t return the favor.

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

November

Loki | God of The Multiverse

THE LAST OF US | Ellie Williams

Loki & Sylvie || Running Up That Hill (+2x06)

Spider-Gwen

The Beginning of the end. [COLLAB]

Loki || Glorious Purpose (God of Stories)

December

LOKI & SYLVIE | DYNASTY

Loki | The God of Stories

MARVEL || Believe in Me ft. Armanni Reign

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

November

Now and Then - The Beatles

What Happens Tomorrow - Duran Duran

Vois sur ton chemin - BENNETT

could have been me - the struts

freya - christian reindl

history is now - natalie holt

purpose is glorious - natalie holt

have yourself a merry little christmas - mother mother

ice storm - lindsey stirling

December

my goodbye - jorge rivera-herrans

thus always to the tyrants - the oh hellos

a child's shadow - jessica curry

the power - borislav slavov

i believe - christina perry

dj play a christmas song- cher

paint it black - wednesday addams

my sails are set - sonya belousova

#heather says what #scrapbook #2023 #heather writes #recommendations

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guardianreadersofthegalaxy · 1 year ago

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If I were on the Films To Be Buried With podcast:

What was the first-ever film you saw, or remember seeing? Mulan. I remember the screen being really big, but I think maybe I was just small. I got a happy-meal toy of the fat bloke that would trundle along on wheels if you pulled a string (unlike the character in the film who didn't actually have wheels). And I got the CD-ROM tie-in game, my favourite bit being the level when you pick Mulan's outfit to meet the matchmaker. Then I got older, the toxic masculinity set in, and I felt retrospectively embarrassed for liking something girly.

What was the film that scared you the most? We watched The Mummy one Christmas Eve when I was in primary school as my parents had heard it was a fun family romp. The opening 5 minutes were so fucked up I didn't sleep for a week. I like being scared now though. I love the first part of Ghost Stories, the one with Paul Whitehouse in an asylum at night with his torch flickering out. I remember thinking "I've peaked! I can't physically be more scared than this!"

What was the film that made you cry the most, and are you a cryer? I'm not usually a crier but I like it when it happens. I know it's a cliche but I always cry at Up. Bereavement's my trigger. I always get a bit choked up at Tiny Tim's death in The Muppets' Christmas Carol but last year my wife and watched it shortly after the death of a close friend and we wept buckets.

What is the film that’s made you laugh out loud the most? I recently watched The Man With Two Brains for the first time. I love that kind of silly comedy where ridiculous things happen but the characters take it seriously, no one's rolling their eyes or saying "that just happened". Also RRR is unintentionally hilarious and I love it for that.

What film is underrated but you love it? A Knight's Tale never gets the praise it deserves. It's a fun, sincere, exciting, historical-romantic-comedy about jousting. Everyone in the cast gives it their all, especially Paul Bettany, and the needle drops are sick.

What is the film you once loved but watching it recently you realise it’s not great? I watched Donnie Darko in primary school as a sort of entry-level horror film (in that it had a creepy bunny-man and a few jump-scares) and thought it was really deep all through my teens. It was my favourite film for a long time. But I watched it recently and it's just kind of pretentious, with nothing going for it but great music and good ensemble cast and a lot of teen angst.

What is the film that means the most to you, not because of the film itself, but because of the memories, you have of it? I've got two films I associate with break-ups. I saw 500 Days Of Summer at a time when I was listening to a lot of Los Campesinos and thought it was cool to be cynical about romance. My girlfriend and I broke up the next day. Two years later, I came home after breaking up with my second girlfriend. My dad poured me a whiskey and we watched the 2005 Pride And Prejudice, just cos it was on TV. It's not a great film but it took my mind off the break up.

What is the sexiest film? I never really found films sexy until I saw Steven Soderbergh's Out Of Sight. George Clooney's a fugitive and Jennifer Lopez is an FBI agent trying to catch him, but they fancy each other so much that they meet up in a hotel to have sex anyway. The music is so frigging good.

What’s a film that isn’t probably supposed to be sexy but you found yourself turned on by? Mind your own business!

[EDIT] There's something about Mrs Tweedy from Chicken Run...

Which film do you most relate to? Eighth Grade. Like Kayla, I was a social pariah for some of my teenage years and it felt like that was just the way it was, I would never have friends. But, like a lot of problems it turned out to just be temporary. If you keep putting yourself out there, stay patient, and don't lose hope, you'll get there in the end.

Which film is the one you’ve watched the most? Probably The Fellowship Of The Ring. I remember my mum walking in on me watching the video going "really Dom?! That's the second time this week!" I'd have friends over and we'd reenact the council of Elrond: "So I'll say 'You have my sword' and then you be Legolas and say 'and you have my bow'..."

What’s the worst film you’ve ever seen? If there's a genre I can't get behind, it's biopics. They often assume you already like the subject so don't bother making them likeable as a character. The worst of all is Good Vibrations. It makes out Terri Hooley to be a smug, cocky prick who everyone's in awe of despite him treating them all like shit. I've rarely wanted to punch a character so hard.

Which film is objectively the greatest ever? It's tough, but I'm gonna go for O Brother Where Art Thou? Great performances, incredible music, hilarious comedy. The use of colour grading revolutionised the post production process. I love how it makes fun of its characters, except when they're singing - that it takes seriously. Even the villainous KKK leader gets a song and, weird as it is to say, that guy can really croon.

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