MOSTLYFILM: Famous Last Words

And that's your lot. Today's post on MostlyFilm, Famous Last Words, is the last thing we'll ever put on the site. We'll keep it available - don't worry, we stuffed some money in the meter before we left - but there won't be any more new content after this one.

Still, you can't deny that you've had plenty of new content over the last week and a bit. And to wrap everything up, I've got what I believe is the largest number of people collaborating on a single post: 21 in total, all of whom have suggested their favourite movie ending using a single image and a bit of dialogue.

This means, of course, that the page you're reading right now is the last ever Red Button Bonus Content post I'll ever do. So what should it be? Well, as my concluding stint as editor gave me access to the site stats, I've decided to reveal to you which are the ten most popular posts I was responsible for during my seven years writing for the site. There are a couple of surprises low down the list, but I think the top five is pretty predictable. See what you think, anyway.

MOSTLYFILM: Shortly Oscars 2018

Still hammering though the final days of MostlyFilm - we've published four more pieces since the one I was plugging two days ago - and this one, it has to be said, was the most stressful to get though the editorial process.

It shouldn't have been, really. We always knew that the big climax of the week was going to be the Oscars. Just before the weekend of the award ceremony - that is, today, Friday March 2nd - I wanted Indy Datta and myself to do what we've done in previous years, and publish reviews of the nominees for Best Live Action Short and Best Animated Short. Luckily, as in previous years, Shorts HD were releasing them as downloadable videos across all the major digital platforms - iTunes, Amazon and Google to name the main ones in the UK. "The films will be available on February 27th," it said on the Shorts HD site, which gave us three days to watch them and write the reviews. On February 27th, that was changed to "The films are coming soon." Apparently, co-ordinating the release of the shorts packages across all platforms had proved more troublesome than they thought. That wasn't good.

The site still says 'coming soon' at the time of writing, but in fact the shorts crawled out without fanfare on Thursday morning, two days late. Lucky for them: at one point, when it looked like we wouldn't be able to see them in time, I was planning for us to watch all their trailers on YouTube, and make snap judgments on the films based on those. You may think it's massively unfair on the filmmakers: we thought it was exactly the sort of professional discourtesy that a movie review site should try to pull off in the final week of its existence. What were they going to do, throw us out of future advance screenings? Exactly.

But we didn't need to do that, so you can read proper informed reviews now on Shortly Oscars 2018. And if you fancy seeing those trailers for yourself, they're right here.

Simian Substitute Site For March 2018: A Surprisingly Deep History of Celebrities Being Attacked by Primates

MONTH END PROCESSING FOR FEBRUARY 2018

Internet: Or is this Telly? Depends where you live, I guess. Stories From Norway is currently showing every Monday night at 9.30pm on TVNorge, and if you're not Norwegian that information is of precisely zero use to you. So why should you care? Because this is the new show from Ylvis, the guys who went viral with The Fox several years ago. Stories is a series of documentaries about recent bits of Norwegian history - the two episodes broadcast so far involve a tower construction project that went out of control, and a Justin Bieber tour that went similarly pear-shaped. Ylvis have gone to the effort of interviewing the main people involved in each case: and then they've turned the results into a musical, with several ridiculous songs based on the story in question. Interestingly, all the songs are in English: and on the day after an episode's transmission, they're all available worldwide on Spotify and iTunes as a digital EP. A couple of video clips have also made it onto YouTube, and based on that evidence these songs work better when they've got a bit of visual context behind them. But Ylvis' way with a catchy tune and an unexpected lyric is still strong - a list of Bieber's hotel rider requirements has 'Norwegian shitting snack' casually buried in the middle. I have no idea if the concept of the 'investigative musical' can be sustained for a full series, but I'm willing to find out.

Movies: Or is this Video? Duncan Jones' new film Mute has gone directly to Netflix, but it's also getting the briefest of theatrical releases courtesy of Curzon cinemas, and that's how I got to see it. If you're reading this on March 1st, you still might be able to catch it in a cinema today. I wouldn't rush to do that, though, because it's a right old mess. The one possible advantage of watching it on the big screen is to get a better look at its vision of Berlin in the future, but it quickly becomes apparent just how derivative it is visually - all the steam, neon and flying cars just make it Blade Runner with a U-Bahn system. Take the visuals away, and all that leaves you with a badly-plotted story about mute bartender Leo (Alexander Skarsgård) searching the streets for his missing girlfriend, which has so many gaps in its logic that you can only assume the film used to be an hour longer. There's a totally separate problem with the queasy attitude the film has to its female characters, who are all either sex workers or young girls being threatened by paedophiles. Jones was responsible for two of the smartest sci-fi films of recent years - Moon and Source Code - but Mute is so far away from them that it's hard to believe it's by the same guy.

Music: Well, this is definitely Music, anyway. This month's Audio Lair playlist is made up entirely of tunes released during the first two months of 2018. A few words of explanation, plus videos where available for the non-Spotified amongst you:

1. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend maybe lost its way two-thirds of the way through the current season, but by the end it was back on track again. Regardless, the songs have remained tip-top throughout.
2. For some reason, I only seem to like odd-numbered Go! Team albums, the direct opposite of the accepted rule about Star Trek movies. Luckily, this is from album number five.
3. I'm currently two months into a three month trial of paid Spotify. First advantage: nobody else apart from Spotify told me that Lykke Li had released a comeback single.
4. David Byrne's got a new album on the way, and the lead single is as reassuringly nervy as ever.
5. Okay, nobody else release any more singles this year, because Janelle Monae has brought out the perfect one.
6. Nice to hear PJ Harvey reinvestigating her folkier side, in this tune from the soundtrack of Dark River.
7. Second advantage of paid Spotify: discovering GoGo Penguin on one of their You Might Like This Based On The Shit You Normally Listen To playlists. They were right.
8. My favourite type of They Might Be Giants song is probably the sort that contrasts their usual upbeat tunes with astonishingly downbeat lyrics. (Apologies for the YouTube version.)
9. Until Janelle came along, I was all for giving Young Fathers an early Best Single Of 2018 award. On this evidence, we're due a few amazing albums this year.
10. A jolly singalong from First Aid Kit to wrap things up, even if it does almost become Fairytale Of New York by the end.