In which I prove that BLACK PHONE 2 is Mötley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil to THE BLACK PHONE's Sabotage by Black Sabbath. www.austinchronicle.com/screens/film...

WOW... JUST WOW... In order to justify invoking the insurrection act in Portland, Oregon, trump faked a riot with professional videographers, the military and hired extras. Sen. Jeffrey Merkley tells us what happened :

For those of you outside of Texas, A&M is literally the training ground for the Texas GOP. The overwhelming bulk of Republican lawmakers are Aggies. This is unprecedented.

Stay safe today, folks #NoKings

Define your musical taste in eight artists: R.E.M Aimee Mann Nine Inch Nails Brand New Liz Phair Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy Say Anything Thursday

This moron Fellow Traveler is trying to get Alaska invaded by Russia.

Learned that an anonymous outside expert on submersibles did an interview with the OceanGate Titan investigation, and they released a transcript, with all the names redacted. The first line of his first answer? "I'm sure you're familiar with my film Titanic."

Review to come, but Blue Moon may be my favorite Linklater. A strange, beautiful, theatrical eulogy to an overlooked genius.

If you don't want to read my BLACK PHONE 2 on @ign.com, no worries, I'll read it to you in the video review. There's also a bonus post-review chat between me and @clintgage.bsky.social, too! As a treat.

In which I prove that BLACK PHONE 2 is Mötley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil to THE BLACK PHONE's Sabotage by Black Sabbath. www.austinchronicle.com/screens/film...

Anyone with no books is unlikely to buy a book. Someone with a book is likely to buy a second. And a person with ten unread books on their desk will end a friendship if you keep asking why they bought another twenty.

Just saw the trailer for the miniseries adaptation of Amadeus, and the idea that Peter Shaffer's text needs expanding feels like a literary and theatrical warcrime.

I can say, as a publicist, that basically every one of my clients doesn't consider a review to exist unless it counts toward their Rotten Tomatoes score. I need them to hire me so that I can feed my family, and that's all they care about - so I have to ask. It comes from the top down.

Ron Howard still owes us an apology. Clueless gonk.

The Donn of Tiki is the brilliant and innovative documentary that Tiki godfather and cocktail revolutionary Don the Beachcomber deserves - don't miss this great film in Austin this week. www.austinchronicle.com/screens/the-...

OK, time for this story again. 2011, I'm writing a story on Alex Jones' listeners convincing the Texas Film Commission to withhold incentives for Robert Rodriguez's Machete. I go to then-Gov. Rick Perry's office to pick up documents from an open records request ... (1/2)

Hey, if you're thinking about subscribing to my new efforts at Ghost, this is the week I need you to do it. The doors are open and the Ghost era is beginning. If you were reluctant because of Substack, please show me I made the right choice by moving. drewmcweeny.com

studio execs & major outlets claim AI is "inevitable" and poised to take over Hollywood. the reality is much different. i spoke with filmmakers, producers, and editors about how AI is actually showing up in productions – and what it still can't do:

Quick reminder that the closest we've come to a screen-accurate Gomez is Luis Guzmán.

Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says. n.pr/4q87Jwb

It’s really amazing to watch progressives hither and yon who are so blindered by their hatred of Biden and the Biden administration that they genuinely believe this should be a feather in Trump’s cap.

NEW: There’s a disaster unfolding in Alaska right now. And no major network is covering it. The remnants of Typhoon Halong battered western Alaska overnight. Homes, with people in them, have literally been swept into the Bering Strait. At least 20 are missing. No comment from any federal agency.

The Donn of Tiki is the brilliant and innovative documentary that Tiki godfather and cocktail revolutionary Don the Beachcomber deserves - don't miss this great film in Austin this week. www.austinchronicle.com/screens/the-...

Working as a stringer for NPR, I was encouraged to DROP my Youngstowner accent. Did you consider your role in my evolving dialect, NPR?

People wonder why I got out of political journalism. It's because I got tired of being surrounded by idiots in the press pool who didn't take Republicans seriously when they said they wanted to destroy the government.

I feel like I'm in the minority, but I loathed A House of Dynamite. A smugly sanctimonious slice of neoliberalism that feels like it was recited to Bigelow by CentCom and transcribed verbatim.

Where I come from, we call this an invasion.

Reverand Hangman Page

The longer I sit with A House of Dynamite, the more insufferable I find it.

Ten horrors movies by which to get to know me: 🥩 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 🐜 Quatermass and the Pit 🗼 The Keep 🐺 The Wolfman 🍨 The Blob 🧙‍♀️ The Lords of Salem 🗣️ Reanimator 🎵 A Dark Song 🐑 You're Next 🐕‍🦺 The Beyond

There's something inordinately depressing about the quality of some writers for major publications these days, and their lack of intellectual curiosity. Just read a piece at the Guardian of all places on method acting and I'm fairly sure the author thinks Stella Adler is a Belgian beer.

Or when people say "but you should go see this film because it's about something." Every film is about something, it's just that some have the good grace to actually be worth watching too.

"There are no answers, just a mix of cod philosophy and technobabble that will make you yearn for the intellectual rigor of The Matrix Revolutions." My argue for why TRON: ARES should be deleted. www.austinchronicle.com/screens/film...

In 2016 Geoffrey Hinton said “we should stop training radiologists now" since AI would soon be better at their jobs. He was right: models have outperformed radiologists on benchmarks for ~a decade. Yet radiology jobs are at record highs, with an average salary of $520k. Why?

Please stop putting J*ff Sn*id*r in my feed.

Well, Tron: Ares barely reminded me of a Tron movie. It did make me think about terrible The Fast and the Furious mockbuster Torque a lot, though.

Does someone else want Joe Rogan? Austin's had no choice in the matter, and we'd like our cinema back.

Since it's horror movie time, this is your reminder that "Jeepers Creepers" was made by an actual child molester, so maybe just leave that one off the schedule.

I’ve updated the Gofundme’s goal following Sandwiches’s last trip to the vet & this past weekend’s visit from a very helpful and kind at-home euthanasia specialist. At the moment we’ve raised $2,500 of our $3,500 goal. Thanks to everyone who’s helped so far; we appreciate your overwhelming support.

Dear @marcmaron.bsky.social - just saw your conversation about the Austin comedy scene, and just wanted to let you - and everyone - know that the Austin comedy scene and the Joe Rogan comedy scene are two completely different entities.

"Han did not shoot first."

This week for the first in my Spooky Season Monster Mash series, I watched a movie with the scariest monster I can think of: Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame in which the monster wraps himself in unjust laws and bible quotes to commit genocide and assault. blackwhiteandread.com/monster-mash...

I hate when people say, "Oh, you have to be stoned/tripping to really get that film." Dude(tte), I've seen you laugh at an apple when you're high, and voluntarily watch a Pauly Shore film straight. We're not letting you edit the Cahiers du Cinema after a bong rip.

Reminder that Vance should wake up every morning and thank Ron Howard, and Tim Duggan and Jonathan Jao (his editors at HarperCollins) for inflicting his 'biography' on us.

Every film critic in their heart: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYAi...

America is now run by the worst carnies.

I feel the purpose of THE SMASHING MACHINE is passing a lot of people by. It's not a complimentary, feelgood biopic of Mark Kerr. It's about real male fragility (not whiny reply guys) and discomfort in our own skins. www.austinchronicle.com/screens/film...

BONE LAKE gets marks for a great punny title and the positioning of the R rating box on the poster so it says Boner Lake. It's also great sexy-slasher fun. www.austinchronicle.com/screens/film...