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Philomena Cunk is coming for the movies

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Having previously defeated the people of Britain, the population of the Earth, and the very concept of life itself, investigative journalist Philomena Cunk has now set both her own sights, and presumably those of her mate Paul, on the movies. This is per Variety, which reports that a new three-part special from the groundbreaking reporter/fake comedy character played by comedian Diane Morgan, Cunk On Cinema, is now in the works.

For the unfamiliar, Morgan, as Cunk, has been deadpanning her way through the world for more than a decade at this point, having originated the character—who tackles interviews and walk-and-talk segments alike with the guileless charm (and also the researching and fact-checking skills) of a small child—on Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker’s BBC Two show Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe.  That grew into a number of popular TV specials (that even some light searching will probably dig up for you on YouTube; Cunk On Shakespeare is a favorite) before going international with Cunk On Earth, which was produced by Brooker’s pals at Netflix as well as the BBC.

That same setup is now underpinning Cunk On Cinema, which will presumably also follow much of the same formula of Morgan’s earlier efforts, combining rapid-fire absurd explanations of cinematic history with interview segments in which Morgan asks lightly-prepped experts some of the most baffling questions that Britain’s best comedy brains can formulate.

True to form, Philomena herself issued a statement in response to news of the new series, stating that,

Cinema has given the world some of the most profound, memorable, and moving visual moments in its unswerving depiction of the human condition: the shower scene in Psycho, Death playing chess in that Swedish thing, and Tom Selleck’s glistening moustache in Three Men And A Little Lady, to name but all three of the only examples I can think of at the moment. There will, unfortunately, be some bits in black and white, but we’ll keep that to the barest minimum.” 

(Brooker also got in on the fun, saying that, “Now that Sora has killed off Hollywood and itself (presumably as part of a murder-suicide pact), it’s the perfect time to look back at two hundred centuries of cinema, in the company of an idiot we’re apparently cursed to employ: Philomena Cunk.”)

Cunk On Cinema is currently in production; no word yet on when the three-part series will arrive on Netflix and BBC Two.

 



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DMack
25 seconds ago
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Victoria, BC
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Mubi's ties to private equity and Israel cost the streamer 200,000 subscribers

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Quibi notwithstanding, few streamers have had a reversal of fortunes quite as sharp as Mubi. Once aiming for the coveted spot as the cinephile’s streamer of choice, Mubi came close in 2024, when its tote bags were all the rage and a kaleidoscopic body horror satire called The Substance became an unexpected box office, critical, and Oscar success. In May 2025, Variety reported on the company’s Cannes buying spree and its quest to be “cooler than A24.” By June, it was fighting a PR grease fire that more or less engulfed its reputation. After securing a Best Picture nomination and $100 million investment from Sequoia Capital, which valued the company at a billion dollars in November 2024, a modestly viral tweet stated it’s “time to add @mubi to the BDS list” because of Sequoia’s investments in an Israeli defense firm called Kela. Another Instagram post by @filmworkers4palestine boosted the call for action against Mubi. Statements were released, boycotts were called, and, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, it cost Mubi 200,000 subscribers. 

The response to Mubi’s ties to Sequoia presented the company with a tough choice. By the end of 2025, the company hoped to hit 2 million subscribers by adding 600,000 users; it finished the year with 1.2 million, which is fewer than when it started, costing the company roughly $7.3 million on $200 million of revenue, WSJ reports. The subscribers and revenue losses spurred possible layoffs. However, a dozen or so of the company’s 400 employees, many of whom were outraged by the Israeli defense investments, took a buyout. 

However, despite the controversy, Mubi is showing signs of life. Coming off the box office disappointment of Die, My Love, which Mubi paid $20 million to acquire, the company’s track record with international hits buoyed them. Four of the five Best International Film nominees at this year’s Oscars were distributed by Mubi, including the winner, Sentimental Value. Those helped bounce Mubi’s numbers back up. Now with 1.7 million subscribers, the streamer is closer than ever to its 2 million subscriber goal.



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DMack
1 minute ago
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Victoria, BC
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David Duchovny doesn't know if Fox Mulder even exists in Ryan Coogler's X-Files

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Although his old pal Gillian Anderson has spent the last year or so signaling interest in Ryan Coogler’s efforts to reboot or revive The X-Files (when not desperately asking interviewers to give it a rest so that it doesn’t drown out projects she’s actually working on) David Duchovny has been a bit more taciturn. It’s still early days for Coogler’s efforts to bring back the long-running series, which has had a pilot ordered starring Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel. Hell, Duchovny doesn’t even know if Fox Mulder exists in this universe!

This is per an interview Duchovny gave to THR this week, in which all involved made their best possible efforts to talk about his History Channel series Secrets Declassified for an acceptable amount of time before diving into X-Files stuff. (Among other things, Duchovny put forward his own personal criteria for not believing in UFOs, despite their recent vogue, noting, “I’ve never really seen two people keep a secret, let alone thousands of people in a government throughout generations.”) But, gravity being what it is, the conversation inevitably drifted ever-more Mulder-ward, until THR just came out and asked what Duchovny knows about the reboot/revival.

All of which was pretty hedge-y, as Duchovny acknowledged that he’s talked to Coogler, but never seen a script for the project: “I haven’t. I’ve spoken to Ryan, and I have a general sense of what it is, but I haven’t read the script… There have been talks about certain things, but there’s nothing concrete at this point.” When asked about hypotheticals—i.e., whether he’d come back if asked to—Duchovny didn’t even go so far as Anderson’s cheeky “Call me” from last year: “I don’t know what the world of his show is. I don’t know if my character exists in that show. It’s all hypothetical to me, so I can’t really address it.”

All that being said, Duchovny did sound at least intrigued by the project, saying, “I wish them luck. It’s a great frame that Chris Carter came up with all those years ago—a believer and a nonbeliever tackling these mysteries. I always thought it was endlessly generative. It really comes down to the writers’ room for me. Because we had great writers. We had Vince Gilligan, the Morgan brothers, Howard Gordon, Darin Morgan and others. We were blessed to have a writers’ room that could generate 20 to 25 movie ideas. I’m not going to insult something like The Pitt, because that’s great television. But The X-Files was a movie idea every week. So I hope Ryan doesn’t have to do 25 and only has to do 10 or 12. And I hope he’s got great writers, because that’s really the key to making that show work.”



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DMack
3 minutes ago
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Victoria, BC
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Palestinian man says Israeli settlers sexually assaulted him in front of his family

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A man holds zip ties in his hands.

Israeli settlers sexually assaulted a Palestinian man — tying his genitalia with zip ties and parading him naked in front of his family — during a mid-March attack in the occupied West Bank, according to the victim and eyewitnesses.

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DMack
23 days ago
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This is a different sexual assault from the one that was caught on camera, and then the charges were dropped, and the rapist soldiers were hailed as heroes on tv, and the lawyer prosecuting them was put on house arrest
Victoria, BC
dreadhead
24 days ago
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Vancouver Island, Canada
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Release: Carmageddon: Rogue Shift with Soundtrack

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Carmageddon smashes back with brutal roguelite vehicular‑combat mayhem – Carmageddon: Rogue Shift, alongside its Soundtrack, are now available on GOG!

Adapt, upgrade, and unleash destruction on post‑apocalyptic zombie hordes. The legacy lives on, reinvented and unforgiving.

Now on GOG!

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DMack
25 days ago
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Looks like Stainless Games lost the name rights again? To the team that did Redout?
Victoria, BC
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With season 1 finale around the corner, HBO renews Neighbors

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For the past five Friday nights, HBO has brought ten wild feuds between neighbors across the United States to screens. It’s not surprising that there’s more where that came from. HBO confirmed today that Neighbors will return for another season of squabbles about backyard farms, property lines, and Halloween decorations. 

Saying that HBO “placed so much trust in us and gave us the freedom to create the show we always envisioned,” directors Dylan Redford and Harrison Fishman said in a press statement, “Thank you to all the incredible neighbors who bravely shared their stories and welcomed us into their lives to make the first season possible. We can’t wait to get back out in the field and introduce audiences to the NEIGHBORS they never knew they had.” 

Neighbors counts Marty Supreme writers Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie as executive producers, along with Marty Supreme producer Eli Bush. Safdie has produced quite a bit with HBO already, lending his name to Telemarketers, Love Has Won: The Cult Of Mother God, Ren Faire, and Pee-wee As Himself at the network over the past few years. The final episode of the first season of Neighbors airs on HBO on March 20 at 9 pm ET.



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DMack
25 days ago
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I've been watching Season 1 but I don't know why
Victoria, BC
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