Jimmy

Seeing a few people say he's good with his feet, which sounds like it's important under Ange. Just still impressed we moved onto another target so quickly - it feels like the recruitment structure is finally changing, which is long overdue.

Also @Lineker, some Serie A experts speaking very highly of him. It feels quite weird to see us move on quickly from a transfer because it's more than we want to pay and swiftly move onto another target. Apparently we're doing a lot more data led recruitment. Also I very much appreciate your position on this throughout the season, but yeah, find it hard to move past Arteta's gross comments about Partey and now seeing them sell him on for £40 mil to Saudi is just quite grimey.

2 episodes in and really digging it, love a bit of Sci-Fi and the cast is incredible. I think, with HBO a clear front-runner, I've started to think Apple TV have become quite reliable for quality TV.

Just gonna copy and paste my thoughts from Letterboxd on Guardians of the Galaxy 3 here. Pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this after struggling with Marvel films for the past few years. Guardians reminded me of why I used to love these films, for the duality of escapism and soap opera and I found its commitment to framing this adventure around love, death and grief really effective. Thankfully, maybe what I needed most from Guardians as a reminder that Marvel films can be made with love and care and this feels like the most well-aligned across the board in recent memory. It even seems largely in-tune with the fatigue of mass CGI fights, I found this refreshingly grounded and focused on the importance of family and making us actually feel something. I’ll always love the films that make me walk away with the feeling I used to get when reading comics as a kid - they’re becoming more few and far between - but I still appreciate it when it hits. I would agree that Mostly, I've been crying out for these films to feel distinctive and, while this is flawed, I had a really great time with it because of its singularity. I hope they learn the right lessons from this - lessons they should've learned from the original Guardians of the Galaxy. My feeling is, because the tone of that film was such a hit, they kept trying to replicate it in other films, ignoring that it's so good because it's totally its own thing.

Personally thought it was very satisfying and a finale that will only get better with time. I thought they completely nailed it. I'm jealous, I haven't got past the first few episodes of the new season, which I thought were really bad. I've currently got no enthusiasm to pick it back up, which is weird cos I dug the first two seasons.

I watched it last night and thought it was one of the worst they've ever made. I wonder if part of that is watching post Jonathan Majors allegations, who previously was one of my favourite working actors and it sort of meant I couldn't really enjoy his performance, which was objectively great. Honestly, alongside Love and Thunder, I feel we're seeing evidence on the screen that the people making these films no longer want to be making them. It's easily one of the worst looking Marvel films made, the script is pretty shoddy, nothing really happens and Michael Douglas absolutely doesn't want to be there. It was fun in parts, but I mostly thought it was a mess. I'll see Guardians in the cinema, but I think I'll be picking and choosing more in the future, whereas they all used to be must-see events for me. I think the MCU has totally lost its way in Phase 4.

Looks good, but starting to feel Marvel has delivered anything of real quality in a while, so very much hoping this lands because I miss when the MCU felt like something I wanted to rush out for.

Maybe, but this was a performance haunted by Conte. Mostly, because we kept his fucking assistant on. However, Skipp and Sarr bossed it at the San Siro, in spite of Conte, who hadn't played all season. They haven't played together, in spite of Hoj's obvious fatigue / generally hiding when it matters. We brought on Lucas Moura, who has been unfit all year, who has been terrible for about 3, who Conte decided he'd rather have, than Bryan Gil, who finally played himself into some good form after Conte was forced to play him. Same shit tactics, same shit subs. It's of Conte's making - he called out the players, but he's virtually played the same 11 all year, there's no consequence for a bad performance and there's no reward for a good one - you'll actually get sent out on loan if you dare to be creative. Conte can gleefully claim he was right, and the players were really poor yesterday, but a lot of this is still of Conte's doing and it's fucking baffling that Daniel Levy got rid of Conte and left his loyal assistant in charge.

I saw Tar this week and was absolutely blown away. Because of illness I'm a little bit behind on this / last year's releases, but Tar and Aftersun are the best two films I've seen from that crop. Tar is heavy going and not the easiest film but I thought it was phenomenal.

Good riddance. Will keep saying I feel for him on a personal level, I was honestly hoping he'd step away in Jan because I don't think anyone should be focusing on work after what he's been through. That said, his rant was self-serving and narcissistic bullshit. He keeps preaching patience while showing no intent to sign a new contract. He has been sufficiently backed in in the transfer market over three windows (two of which have been in January) and ultimately, this season, he's shown himself incapable of adapting his tactics or improving his players. He called out his players as being selfish, but he's played the same players virtually every game all season and has only rotated due to injury. This is a man who relluctantly played Bryan Gil into some form and then dropped him immediately for an out-of-form Lucas Moura, who is also leaving at the end of the season. He wouldn't play Djed Spence, despite our right wing back problems to make a point, and then the club went and bought him a £45 mil wing back in Jan despite having only 6 months on his deal. He was great for us last year, but this year we've played dreadful football, he talks us down, he talks about us as if he's doing us a favour and accepts no culpability for his dreadful football and inability to turn games. Honestly, I think there's loads of criticism to throw at Levy, ENIC and some of the players, but I truly think this year's poor performances and current capitulation are broadly of Conte's making.

0 shots on target in the last 3 games apparently

I really feel for him on a personal level, he's had a horrid year and I can't imagine work being his first priority after losing 3 of his closest friends and then needing emergency surgery. It's clearly best for both parties to change now - we can get someone (Poch) in to hopefully secure top 4 and starting building for next year, Conte can make himself avail for jobs in Italy where he wants to be. He can go back to Italy win things and not play young players, we probably still won't win anything, but it at least might be fun to watch.

😠

Just get him out, we're dreadful, play the most boring football in the league and he's not staying past summer anyway.

I'd take the World Cup added time over nothing, I'm in on the stop / start clock for 60 mins but I don't see it taking off because it's more of a radical change. Newcastle have the ball in play for the second lowest amount of time in the league, anecdotally a bunch of teams complain about their time-wasting specifically, when you came to Spurs it was genuine shocking (however, on that day, we could've had all the added time in the world and it wouldn't have mattered, we were awful as per). As I said, it only bothers me because I find it boring, every team does it, I don't like it when we do it, but I think you're the worst I've seen this year personally over a number of games. Again, you're nowhere near Ben Foster levels. That man. My God.

Nice to see the time added in tbh, time-wasting is easily my least favourite part of football at the moment, it's pathetically refereed. Newcastle are by far the worst I've seen it for this year, which I still don't have a specific problem with, because ref's allow them to get away with it. All while pundits still praise it as managing the game. Would love to see the Prem adopt World Cup added on time and just be done with it.

Tbf, he clearly pushes his shoulder, slips and hits him in the face. Would've been a silly red, much like Sonny's a few years back which never was. Complete farce, but the ref got the right decision in the end. Silva also had a cheeky elbow at Romero early in the game, and because Romero gives it and worse every game, I just think yeah fair enough get on with it. Ref had a bit of a mare and let it get out of control, thankfully, cos it was otherwise dull. We weren't great today, all our familiar problems remain, but thankfully Chelsea are so bad they made us look decent. Love Skippy though, thrilled for him.

he has lovely hair and can do whatever he wants

Wakanda Forever didn't really work for me, I thought the pacing was off and it didn't always feel cohesive to me, but still thought there was some lovely moments and good performances. I can't imagine what it was like having to re-write this film and produce it after such a loss, and while I didn't love it, I very much appreciate that must've been an incredibly hard thing to do and I hold a lot of esteem for everyone involved.

Which Todd Haynes also re-made as Far From Heaven, which is also incredible.

Ha yeah, I nearly went to see in the cinema before I got ill, but I haven't been in the best headspace for the last 6 months. Definitely eyeing it up as I feel more like myself.

I could keep going with Wilder - Stalag 17, One Two Three, Fedora, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes and Kiss Me, Stupid are all really good films too. I think William Wyler is another one of Hollywood's best that's worth digging into, the way he uses the camera and gets the best out of his actors is stunning - The Best Years of Our Lives, The Heiress, Roman Holiday, The Little Foxes, Dodsworth and The Letter are all great. I think Bette Davis, who he worked on The Letter and The Little Foxes, called him the best of all time and he won two Best Directing Oscars.

This is one of my favourite movies of all-time, but it is kinda fun that it's the number 1, because for the people who thought Citizen Kane was boring, wait until they sit down to watch this. I think it's a masterpiece, but wouldn't begrudge anyone who thinks its not for them. I've been working through the blindspots in that Sight and Sound List, I've got 14 left to go, most of which are the really long stuff like Shoah and Satantango. Looks like you're on track for ticking off some great movies - I'd defo just keep picking and choosing and would be more than happy to recommend some stuff based on what you're vibing with. I personally don't think you can go wrong with Billy Wilder, he has an insanely good run of American Classics. The Apartment is probably my favourite film of all time, but Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity, Sunset Bvd, The Lost Weekend, Ace in the Hole and a bunch of others are all really great. Also, as something slightly different, I absolutely love Douglas Sirk's 50's melodramas - All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, Magnificent Obsession and Imitation of Life are all brilliant critiques of America, packed full of subtexts, hidden under the guise of melodramas / soap opera.

Yeah, I gave in and got the game and this is the worst.