Jan
24
New Year, New Newsletter
“If I could just request that you refrain from killing each other. And don't kill the actors, either."
12 min read
Latest
Jan
16
Queer: A Man Apart
"I'm not queer. I'm disembodied."
14 min read
Dec
18
The End: Tried So Hard and Got So Far
Joshua Oppenheimer's Tilda Swinton climate apocalypse musical isn't nearly as much fun as it should be, nor as arresting as his previous work.
11 min read
Dec
03
Tongues Untied: LGBTQ+ People Aren't Going Back
"End the silence, baby. We can make a serious revolution, together."
8 min read
Nov
20
Intercepted: Speak, Know Evil
A documentary of Russian soldiers' candid phone calls, premiering at a crucial turning point, prompts the question: when does news become history?
7 min read
Nov
12
Virginia Film Festival, Part 1: Day of Future Past
My first of two days at the Virginia Film Festival, on the eve of the 2024 election, was full of movies grappling with historical trauma.
8 min read
Oct
30
Gone Girl at 10: Fifteen Minutes of Shame
A decade since its release, the date movie from hell is a post-breakup classic and a prophetic preview of the always-online life yet to come
8 min read
Oct
12
Jimmy Carter: Rock and Roll President: He's History's Greatest Rock Star
The story of Jimmy Carter's friendships with musical royalty illuminates, even as it hints at the limits of his approach.
5 min read
Sep
07
Alien: Romulus: The Cinemorph
The first Disney-produced Alien film cares more about referencing the original movies than it does actual originality.
12 min read
Aug
24
Alien³: Scar Beast
The maligned threequel comes together often enough, and in such striking ways, that even its failures inspire fascination.
11 min read