Since this is getting floated again: "A “Passion of the Christ 5” filmed in Italy with 10% American crew would get an exemption. Something filmed in the U.S. with 90% American crew but with VFX work done in India might face a massive tariff...it’ll be based on pay-offs and political views."

Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut, Italian action-comedy, French romance, and who wouldn't let Willem Dafoe live in their basement, what could go wrong?

Congratulations on getting through this week.

New K-dramas and British dramas lead the way... ...and I wrestle with whether the art and artists outweigh the hideousness of the corporation that hosts their work...and how the critical industry is failing to have this larger conversation.

This whole experiment - parodies of sports previews - is different from what I normally write, but I badly needed to stretch my joke muscles. That's been hard to do this year and I know enough about this to make fun of it under any circumstances. This one's mostly about Chicago vs. New York pizza.

The horrible people who own the Broncos, the horrible people who play for the Chiefs, and the perfect time for Yellowstone to erupt.

First some jokes. Then: every other awful thing I've talked about team owners doing pales in comparison to what the Saints did.

I continue my football preview that barely talks about football, such as: Good Morning Football introducing an A.I. co-host on...Labor Day. That timing sure isn't a mistake.

The one time I'll say something nice about an NFL owner, why do we keep forgetting how organizationally creepy the Texans are, and the city that's everything you've ever dreamed of.

Sorry to be an SEO-chaser and lead with a picture of Aaron Rodgers.

Weird that so many NFL owners are linked back to a Florida town known for its palms and beaches an hour north of Miami, sometimes for very creepy shit. Must be a coincidence.

An experiment, to be weird and funny and sad about something I love and hate.

Tackling a Jackie Chan fight this week, and trying something difficult at the end: breaking down the body mechanics of a complex move in a way that may (or may not) help you understand how it's done.

Celine Sciamma co-writes Noemie Merlant's horror comedy, an Amanda Knox bio-series, and a host of new thrillers.

I know the assignment. If Pedro Pascal's in something new, I put him in the feature image.

"I haven’t seen anything this year that so deftly permits and complexly joys in the legitimacy of anger, that in a year where I think what’s the fucking use of writing about art when the world’s falling apart tells me, 'Here’s the fucking use, don’t ever forget it again.'"

Michelle Yeoh and Hiroyuki Sanada kicking ass together 40 years ago.

A nice, long update on everything I've written the past two months.

A lighter week, so let's also mention some of the standout titles from the past month or so.

I just can't get into Netflix's flagship original anime this year.

Fight scenes are my momentary escape, like a great song or dance clip. They help me get my head on straight. They can also give me an opportunity to talk about the vast gulf in priorities between Eastern and Western fight choreo for women. Also also: what having a shattered instep is like.

I go long in the intro, on how Netflix tests international work, MUBI having an excellent recent history backing women filmmakers, and on who's bringing what British fare over. Read the open if that interests you, or skip ahead to get straight to the new shows + movies women make.

Might seem odd, but fight choreo is one of the mediums of art that helps me get through things. Maybe breaking down how can share some of that, so let's start with the 2023 Korean "Ballerina", one of the most clear-eyed pieces of social anger in the past few years.

Some captivating-looking indie films, Eric Bana & Sam Neill chase a mystery, and why Jennifer Kaytin Robinson ("Do Revenge") gets me curious about the new "I Know What You Did Last Summer".

Covering the last 2 weeks, with new Old Guard, A24, anime, Dracula, and tiara thieves.

Looking at the 10 best series of the year so far, and what some of them teach us about this moment.

A new MCU show and a phenomenal week for indie cinema.

I don't quite know what I've written here. It's hard and ugly, but I think it helped.

This is complex and Valenti does an edifying job of breaking down what exactly this means - but it is under-the-radar and folks should keep an eye on how and where their rights are being changed.

Pixar and Sony Pictures Animation each deliver new films, and Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun play a buoy and satellite who fall in love.

Celine Song follows up her Oscar-nominated debut, Miley Cyrus directs a concept film, people in British manors have mysterious accidents, and more.

"Hope is a dream moving through a nightmare. Keep alive every hope you know. Protect and cherish every hope you know. It’s the only way through."

Covering the last two months of reviews and features I've written.

The "Lost in Starlight" trailer already has me tearing up.

If someone has "left the government" but still has tens of billions of dollars in contracts that make entire government agencies dependent on him, installed countless cronies in those agencies who report directly to him... /1

Josh Holloway's still playing Sawyer from Lost but age has made him feel more honest, Rachel Hilson is the best actor you don't know, and the rest of the ensemble goes wild playing against type.

The writers and filmmakers this week might have the most absurdly high quality of work behind them in all these articles that I've written - and this is the 235th I've written.

A $265 million film has a poster that shares an awful lot of commonalities with sloppy A.I. output.

Our Biden "declining" conversation is based on a book by Tapper and Johnson, who we're trusting after years of distrusting them, several of whose anecdotes have been directly refuted by the people involved in them - including by sitting congresspeople.

In the Josh Holloway vs. Keith David show, I'm...supposed to root for Holloway? That can't be right.

This would ban states from regulating A.I. We have experienced nothing that would compare to how awfully this would destroy people's privacy, medical records, financial information, property rights, safety, every creative industry, many many non-creative industries, tens of millions of jobs.

Bjork, Judy Blume, royal romance, Indie films, and more.

I'm thankful I grew up before every movie had to be plugged into a cinematic universe...but I also lament the Mercutio trilogy that could have been. Prequels, of course. Necessarily. "Mercutio in Retrograde" would've set records.

International films and TV seen in the U.S. often hire from multiple U.S. industries, and the TV industry accounts for countless U.S. jobs when it comes to any show that travels or shoots elsewhere.

If a 100% tariff on goods is effectively the same as an embargo, then a 100% tariff on film/TV is effectively the same as a ban, but without having to muddle into the controversy of words like "censorship". Let them, and bans on video games, music, publishing, podcasting, and live streaming follow.

I deeply appreciate Star Rail's storytelling bc one moment it'll be a heartbreaking story about everyone dying as the very best version of themselves, and the next moment it'll have a Space Witch doing Terry Pratchett things while the hero holds a rap battle against sentient garbage cans.

Call your rep and at least one rep from House Leadership: Dem. Leader Hakeem Jeffries Dem. Whip Katherine Clark Dem. Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar Dem. Caucus VP Ted Lieu Dem. Asst. Joe Neguse Trump's strongest polling issue has eroded bc of these trips. Why give up a fight you're winning?

"It’s not just homework to remember how all the tie-ins criss-cross and impact each other, it’s now homework to remember which ones I needed to know so I can be aware I need to forget them because they don’t matter anymore."

When they test a line to see what they can get away with, they're testing how big your reaction to it is. How many will call? How many will raise their voices? Will Dems hear enough about it to oppose? Will Republicans hear enough for a few to tell the admin to back off? Make the calls.

The FBI just arrested a sitting judge.