Boots Riley’s long-awaited second feature I LOVE BOOSTERS is a marvelously chaotic collage of color, animation, music, practical effects, and anti-capitalist rhetoric, but I found the character work severely underwhelming. My review: bit.ly/4dLESZg

On this THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU release day, I’m here to remind everyone that Din Djarin’s primary suit actor is Brendan Wayne— John Wayne’s grandson. 🤠

Screening locally at @arkadincinema.bsky.social this Saturday (and kicking off a nationwide roadshow this week), I reviewed STOLEN KINGDOM, a bonkers if frustratingly light documentary about urban explorers and Disney Parks: bit.ly/4tK9wIs

Covered some premieres out of Cannes this weekend, including SHANA, THE STATION, FLESH AND FUEL, and BLAISE. Reviews here: bit.ly/3POMyC3

On the Substack, I recapped the 8 films I watched at Chicago Film Society’s Pre-Code Picture Party last weekend: bit.ly/4dwLICS

I will return to #TCMFF when they screen Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy special at Grauman’s Chinese.

Some words on David Lowery’s MOTHER MARY and red strings of fate, even though I’m not entirely sure I “got” it— but also I think I did? bit.ly/4cG3O59

I’m a big fan of Grace Glowicki’s hysterical and grotesque Frankenstein riff DEAD LOVER, which screens tonight and tomorrow at @arkadincinema.bsky.social. My review from last year: bit.ly/4o1ipvK

This sweet girl is my current foster cat, Minni, if anyone in or around STL is looking to adopt (or even take over fostering, because I won’t be able to long-term). She’s adjusted to being home so well! More info: bit.ly/41ftfUI

Meredith Alloway’s witchy horror comedy FORBIDDEN FRUITS never really coheres into anything substantial, but its catty script and bursts of gore still make it a blast to watch. My review: bit.ly/4lU6ZZX

Published this almost 2 weeks ago and forgot to post (🙃) but I broke down many of the (mostly pre-Code) references in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s THE BRIDE! I *think* we’re supposed to read Jessie Buckley’s lead as a typical pre-Code heroine. I don’t think it works: bit.ly/4t5o2uh

Jean Harlow sighting in WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR? Very reflective of the sensationalized “biographies” of her that seemed prevalent around this time. #NoirAlley #TCMParty

In honor of 314 Day, I spotlighted the St. Louis shot-and-set 1990 drama (rom-com?) WHITE PALACE starring James Spader and Susan Sarandon, and some of its many local filming locations, on my Substack: bit.ly/4bJNks5

Purchased this old issue of Screenland because the misogynist Kirk Douglas cover story made me laugh, was rewarded with a very neat spread inside of Ida Lupino directing. Happy International Women’s Day?

I was so endeared to Iga Lis’ entertaining and beautifully shot THE QUEEN AND THE SMOKEHOUSE, a character study of the proprietor of a popular fish stand in the seaside town of Łeba, Poland, even if it struggles to find its aim. My review from True/False: bit.ly/3N215Jk

From True/False, I wrote about Carolina González Valencia’s playful (if overly-stylized) documentary about her mom and their immigrant story, HOW TO CLEAN A HOUSE IN 10 EASY STEPS, which also received this year’s True/Life Fund: bit.ly/4lgOX3M

It’s my fifth consecutive year at True/False 🎥🍿🎬🎞️

I reviewed 10 premieres from this year’s Berlinale, including the Golden Bear winner, Ilker Çatak’s engaging (if more safe than subversive) drama YELLOW LETTERS: bit.ly/4qW7rrB

Robert Duvall and Frederick Wiseman in one day is too much.

Of course I have thoughts about Emerald Fennell’s extravagant WUTHERING HEIGHTS, a straight-up bodice ripper that’s a welcome reprieve from mainstream Hollywood’s current celibate state, but also dispenses with any of the novel’s dense themes. My review: bit.ly/4qGvrPd

Happy Super Bowl to Debbie Reynolds playing a human football in the 1953 musical I LOVE MELVIN only.

Really digging the just-divorced-from-reality color scheme and minimalist sets (like the police station interiors) in this film. Incredibly striking. #InvadersfromMars #TCMParty

Ahhhaha did anyone else know that Nancy and Ronald Reagan met because she had been placed on the Hollywood blacklist for reportedly being a communist??? I feel like I should have known this? #NoirAlley #TCMParty

Sam Raimi’s new film SEND HELP is an absolute BLAST and certainly the most fun I’ve had in a movie theater in a good long minute. Can’t emphasize enough how magnificent Rachel McAdams’ tricky performance is. My review: bit.ly/4a0Pxxm

“Girl business, or business business?” (Love this mirror shot) #NoirAlley #TCMParty

“Go home and beat your wife.” 😬 Admittedly, I’m enjoying Edmond O’Brien much more as a baddie than the hero. The jarring relevancy of watching a noir from over 70 years ago that so forthrightly tackles corrupt cops. #NoirAlley #TCMParty

Last year I learned that David Lynch had passed away while sitting in a Maid-Rite in the middle of Illinois so I got coffee and cherry pie in his honor, and today I realized it had been exactly 1 year while sitting in the same Maid-Rite, so I am once again pouring one out for David Lynch (pie-wise).

I dug Albert Birney’s OBEX, a weird, lo-fi odyssey that exhibits a deep understanding of how nostalgia informs our conscious and subconscious lives and the isolating impact of technology. Playing in select theaters today and locally at @arkadincinema.bsky.social on Jan. 24– my review: bit.ly/49RZq0r

Screening one of my all-time favorite movies next month at @arkadincinema.bsky.social: the Busby Berkeley-choreographed, James Cagney-starring pre-Code musical FOOTLIGHT PARADE! Feb. 2 at 7 pm— tickets here: bit.ly/49otEYB

Delivering the content I know you all want to see from me: recapping the 13 new Hallmark Channel Christmas movies I watched this year. Read: bit.ly/4botkeK

I watched a lot of movies this year. These are some good ones. My best of 2025: bit.ly/4aFtle7 Pictured: THE SECRET AGENT dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HANDS AND WALK dir. Sepideh Farsi SORRY, BABY dir. Eva Victor SENTIMENTAL VALUE dir. Joachim Trier

Unpacking my thoughts on Josh Safdie’s MARTY SUPREME, which is a wild time but often feels like UNCUT GEMS leftovers, with frustratingly thin female characters and an overly tidy ending: bit.ly/4pdp8lx

For my final Holiday Classics article of the season, I wrote about a new-to-me-this-year film I loved, 1942’s ALIAS BOSTON BLACKIE. This third entry in Columbia’s 14-film B series starring Chester Morris reminds you that it’s set over Christmas Eve/Christmas in almost every frame: bit.ly/4b41G6K

For today’s holiday classic, I wrote about the imaginative 1934, Laurel-and-Hardy-headlined BABES IN TOYLAND, aka MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS, which has such a complicated ownership/copyright history it makes my head spin every time I try to dissect it: bit.ly/3Y77eG8

Here is the complete list of nominees for the 2025 OAFFC Awards. Winners will be announced Friday, December 19.

Got home today and remembered that I keep a copy of the WHEN HARRY MET SALLY script on my desk at all times and it made me sad.

I don’t know that I have anything to say about THE APARTMENT that hasn’t already been said a million times, but I wrote a tiny bit about why Billy Wilder’s 1960 masterpiece is a great bleak Christmas movie for today’s holiday classic: bit.ly/48FYM6P

💔

For today’s holiday classic, I’m spotlighting the equally lovely and brutal 1945 drama OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES, starring Edward G. Robinson and Margaret O’Brien as a Norwegian farm family eking out an existence in rural Wisconsin: bit.ly/3Ys0Jxq

For today’s holiday classic, I wrote a bit about the dark and twisty Christmas-set 1950 noir BACKFIRE, which stars future musical star Gordon MacRae, genre staple Edmond O’Brien, and STL native Virginia Mayo: bit.ly/44i50qP

For my Substack, I recapped my 13 new-to-me #Noirvember watches, from 1944’s THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW to 1977’s THE LATE SHOW: bit.ly/4rHoY8e

This is now happening on Jan. 5 because of the ❄️🌨️☃️— tickets still available at the link below!

“The next person that says ‘Merry Christmas’ to me, I’ll kill him.” For today’s holiday classic, I wrote about the snappy, incredibly drunk 1934 pre-Code whodunit THE THIN MAN: bit.ly/4rRCeaK

Astonishing, incendiary, and eerily prescient, Ian Bell’s WTO/99 is a searing account of the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle depicted entirely through archival footage. Screens this Friday and Saturday at @arkadincinema.bsky.social — my review: bit.ly/3Y6RvXe

Happy December! Today I’m bringing back my annual Holiday Classics segment with NEVER SAY GOODBYE (1946), a charming screwball comedy featuring double-Santa shenanigans and starring Errol Flynn in a departure from his swashbuckling roles: bit.ly/4oLb6rf

For my Substack, I wrote a bit about Wim Wenders’ 2023 documentary ANSELM, and the Anselm Keifer: Becoming the Sea exhibition that’s currently on view at the Saint Louis Art Museum: bit.ly/48HYegw

This December, I’m reviving my annual Holiday Classics series on my blog. Yes, there are somehow still movies I haven’t written about yet! You can find the previous entries on my site here bit.ly/44zDIw0 and a list on Letterboxd here boxd.it/elGcC

November is almost over, but on the Substack I’m recapping what I watched and reviewed in October, including the Pordenone Silent Film Festival and a couple of horror movie marathons: bit.ly/4pqqWIl

If I was surprised last year to find that WICKED had some merit, I’m shocked to see how WICKED: FOR GOOD struggles to even justify its existence. Flat, dull, poorly blocked musical numbers, confusing shot compositions, no handle on its politics. My review: bit.ly/3JYg7yg

It’s hard to find words for Sepideh Farsi’s PUT YOUR SOUL ON YOUR HAND AND WALK, a document of the ongoing genocide in Gaza that sent chills right through me. It’s essential viewing, and local screenings begin at @wufilmseries.bsky.social this Saturday. My review: bit.ly/4oMblTp