Film Desk
Ink opened Venice with a red-top roar
Danny Boyle's Murdoch–Lamb drama opened the 83rd Venice Film Festival on 2 September. 116 minutes. Golden Lion competition. US theatres 11 December, Netflix 8 January.
Pixie Lane · 4 Sept 2026
Reviews correspondent
Pixie Lane
Reviews desk
Pixie Lane is The Gold Standard's reviews correspondent. Lane writes about films and the living-room screen, making the case for pictures worth a second look.
Film Desk
The Dog Stars keeps a runway
Ridley Scott's Heller adaptation is in theatres after 28 August. Elordi flies. Brolin holds the strip. Grief, with pockets of hope. 118 minutes.
Pixie Lane · 2 Sept 2026
Film Desk
Carpenter’s station is still the coldest workplace
The Thing opened 25 June 1982. Universal. 109 minutes. Bill Lancaster from Campbell’s 1938 novella. Rob Bottin’s creature work. Dean Cundey’s ice light. The picture holds.
Pixie Lane · 31 Aug 2026
Film Desk
Dark Matter season two opened the Box again on Friday
Apple TV put the first of ten new episodes on 28 August. Blake Crouch’s novel is ten this year. The machine is still a room.
Pixie Lane · 30 Aug 2026
Game Reviews
Wild Ice hit Steam on 19 August; Lost in Tandem on 22 July
Journey Bound Games shipped a zombie-hockey co-op on 19 August for $16.99. Tempete Studio in Poitiers had already shipped Lost in Tandem, a hand-painted two-player adventure, on 22 July for $14.99.
Pixie Lane · 30 Aug 2026
Film Desk
Lang’s Metropolis is 99 years old and still a working drawing
Fritz Lang’s 1927 film opened a city of organ-pipe towers and a machine that is also a cathedral. Watch it in 2026 and the shock is not nitrate. The shock is how much downtown is still trying to become that set.
Pixie Lane · 29 Aug 2026
ArchiveFilm Desk
Scott’s Nostromo is still the most convincing workplace in space
Ridley Scott’s Alien opened on 25 May 1979. The crew eat, sweat, and have a shift tomorrow. The ship is a factory that learned to fly. Giger’s creature needed that workplace to be believed.
Pixie Lane · 28 Aug 2026
ArchiveFilm Desk
Villeneuve’s 2049 still treats light as a building material
Blade Runner 2049 opened on 6 October 2017. Denis Villeneuve directed. Roger Deakins shot it. Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas. The sequel does not replace 1982. It adds a wing.
Pixie Lane · 27 Aug 2026
ArchiveFilm Desk
Part Two opened 1 March 2024 and made the sand couture
Denis Villeneuve’s second Arrakis film, from Frank Herbert, opened in the U.S. on 1 March 2024. Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Austin Butler, Stellan Skarsgård. Legendary and Warner Bros. The desert is a textile. The worm is infrastructure.
Pixie Lane · 26 Aug 2026