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Grant Watson

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Grant Watson is a film critic based in Melbourne, Australia. He currently reviews contemporary and classic film for his own website FictionMachine, as well as the film review websites FilmInk and VCinema. Between 2003 and 2009 he wrote the film column The Bad Film Diaries for the science fiction journal Borderlands; for which he was awarded the William Atheling Jr Award for Science Fiction Criticism and Review on two occasions. He has also previously worked as the screen events manager at Western Australia's Film and Television Institute, where he curated numerous film programs and retrospectives.

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
Bugonia (2025) 87% 8/10 EDIT “The film is dominated by an unsettled tone, and an unwillingness to sit neatly with a single style.” – Fiction Machine Mar 27, 2026 Full Review Tora-san, His Tender Love (1970) 6/10 EDIT “Perhaps not quite as good as its predecessors, Tora-San, His Tender Love is still a charming and wholly satisfying light comedy with touches of drama and a beautiful showcase for late 1960s Japan.” – Fiction Machine Mar 25, 2026 Full Review Good Boy (2025) 90% 7/10 EDIT “The idea is a terrific one, and that unprecedented perspective alone is sufficient reason to give the film a try.” – Fiction Machine Mar 24, 2026 Full Review The Magic Faraway Tree (2026) 100% 7/10 EDIT “It does not reach the heights of Paddington 2 – what does? – but it does present an excellent all-ages fantasy comedy for the upcoming school holidays.” – Fiction Machine Mar 23, 2026 Full Review Wicked: For Good (2025) 66% 5/10 EDIT “Clumsy, oddly anticlimactic, and a solid half-hour longer than it needs to be.” – Fiction Machine Mar 22, 2026 Full Review Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026) 74% 6/10 EDIT “It’s pretty good, just not as good. If you enjoyed the first film, you will likely enjoy this – but maybe not quite as much.” – Fiction Machine Mar 18, 2026 Full Review Hero (1992) 68% 6/10 EDIT “It has decent elements and less effective ones and it hits the right note as often as it misses, but it remains a well-played comedy and has one of the pitch-perfect endings of its time. ” – Fiction Machine Mar 16, 2026 Full Review Step Lively (1944) 4/10 EDIT “There is a very quick way to review Step Lively, which is to note that it is a musical comedy where the songs are unmemorable and the comedy isn’t funny.” – Fiction Machine Mar 15, 2026 Full Review Sing a Bit of Harmony (2021) 100% EDIT “The result of all of this wild genre-blending is an anime that really stands out. It is not like anything I’ve seen before, and the originality of the piece makes it a film that gets better and better as it goes.” – Fiction Machine Mar 13, 2026 Full Review Higher and Higher (1943) 6/10 EDIT “It is all remarkably silly stuff, but is played with enthusiasm and good humour.” – Fiction Machine Mar 9, 2026 Full Review Summer Ghost (2021) 100% 7/10 EDIT “Very Japanese, and steeped in quite a bit of local folklore and tradition that domestic viewers probably accept without thinking about it.” – Fiction Machine Mar 6, 2026 Full Review Ani imôto (Older Brother, Younger Sister) (1953) 8/10 EDIT “In many respects it fits neatly into his broader oeuvre in the way that his female protagonists navigate their patriarchal environments. In other ways it is a genuine surprise.” – Fiction Machine Mar 5, 2026 Full Review Tora-San's Cherished Mother (1969) 8/10 EDIT “The first Tora-San was a wonderful and hugely enjoyable comedy. What is remarkable about the sequel Tora-San‘s Cherished Mother is that despite its truncated production and rushed release, it is actually the stronger film of the two.” – Fiction Machine Mar 4, 2026 Full Review The Good Guys and the Bad Guys (1969) 29% 6/10 EDIT “While no forgotten classic, it is nonetheless an appealing caper with a lot more to recommend than to criticise.” – Fiction Machine Mar 3, 2026 Full Review V/H/S Halloween (2025) 90% 7/10 EDIT “A mostly wonderful collection of short works ranging from the effective to the ludicrous. ” – Fiction Machine Mar 1, 2026 Full Review Scream 7 (2026) 31% 7/10 EDIT “Neve Campbell is at a franchise-best here – as she should be, with 30 years of screen experience between the first Scream and the seventh. She represents the single-best reason to experience this latest sequel.” – Fiction Machine Feb 25, 2026 Full Review Fist Fight (2017) 25% 3/10 EDIT “If I ever hear Charlie Day ask "I’m sorry, what?" again in my lifetime, it will be too soon.” – Fiction Machine Feb 24, 2026 Full Review No Blood Relation (1932) 7/10 EDIT “A vibrant, emotional melodrama with surprisingly active camera work and a modest sense of social commentary on early 1930s Japan.” – Fiction Machine Feb 23, 2026 Full Review The Testament of Ann Lee (2025) 86% 7/10 EDIT “I am happily filing this one under "not for me". There is a genuine chance that it may absolutely be a film for you.” – Fiction Machine Feb 22, 2026 Full Review Otoko Wa Tsurai Yo (1969) 8/10 EDIT “Part of the appeal of the film is how it brightly represents late-1960s Japan, vivid in colour and brimming with a sort of breezy optimism.” – Fiction Machine Feb 18, 2026 Full Review Blue Giant (2023) 100% 10/10 EDIT “This film reflects, interprets, and celebrates jazz like nobody’s business.” – Fiction Machine Feb 18, 2026 Full Review Killer Whale (2026) 20% 5/10 EDIT “One knows what they are getting with Killer Whale, and what the film promises is precisely what it delivers – no more, no less.” – Fiction Machine Feb 17, 2026 Full Review Little Nikita (1988) 50% 5/10 EDIT “Phoenix is generally pretty decent with what he has been given, but truth be told if he was excised from the plot completely nothing else would change. He is a spectator of the story, and not ever an active participant in it.” – Fiction Machine Feb 14, 2026 Full Review The Only Son (1936) 8/10 EDIT “Ozu Yasujiro’s The Only Son – his first talking picture – is an efficiently composed, modest gem.” – Fiction Machine Feb 12, 2026 Full Review Nuremberg (2025) 72% 8/10 EDIT “It is in the smaller, more intimate moments that Nuremberg excels, and which drag it from competent-but-common courtroom drama to something a little more complex and insightful.” – Fiction Machine Feb 11, 2026 Full Review
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