SENTIMENTAL VALUE in select theaters now and will expand throughout this month. At @tiffnet.bsky.social, @zacharylee.bsky.social spoke w/ dir. Joachim Trier & stars Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, & Elle Fanning about movies that have been empathy machines for them.

Grateful I could go to various red carpets on behalf of @ebertvoices.bsky.social to ask folks, in the spirit of Roger, “What’s a movie that’s been an empathy machine for you?” The teaser shows a snapshot of the fine folks I was able to interview:

ROOFMAN is now available on digital. For @sojo.net, I had the privilege to speak w/ Derek Cianfrance & the real life Leigh Moore abt the film’s peculiar inclusion of Christmas songs & the ways our capitalist society instills harmful expectations around provision. sojo.net/articles/cul...

Elated that ALIEN: EARTH is coming back for s2. Back when the season finale aired, I spoke with Sydney Chandler & Babou Ceesay abt where they’d like to see their characters go. Full interview at @ebertvoices.bsky.social (spoilers: will the partnership between hybrid & Xeno last?) Link below:

**** for Predator: Badlands, "an exceptional sci-fi action thriller with memorable characters, beautiful and terrifying animals (and plants), a structurally airtight script, and lead performances that deserve to be included in discussions of the year’s best." www.rogerebert.com/reviews/pred...

NEW EPISODE: Horror Subgenre Movie Draft (w/ @zacharylee.bsky.social) The horror genre is a beloved one, and it is teeming with multitudes of subgenres. We explore all of these subgenres in this week’s movie draft. From slashers to paranormal to monster… www.establishingshotpod.com/horror-subge...

What better way to spend spooky day than to listen to this spooky movie draft episode w/ the great @zacharylee.bsky.social?? Enjoy!

“I think the best thing you can do for a friend is do what you need to do for yourself too.” Resharing my convo w/ Eva Victor. For @ebertvoices.bsky.social we spoke abt their trenchant & miraculous debut, SORRY, BABY, the influence of BURNING, & stunt driving. www.rogerebert.com/interviews/e...

Loved Radu Jude’s DRACULA, which suggests that a holistic embrace of humanity’s most debased and colorful tendencies can be the wooden stake that’s plunged into the soulless heart of work made using generative AI. Review for @movie-web.bsky.social: movieweb.com/dracula-2025...

For @ebertvoices.bsky.social, had the privilege to review COEXISTENCE, MY ASS!, which uses humor as a cathartic, light-hearted vehicle to entertain what a plausible reconciliation might look like. One of the best docs you’ll see this year: www.rogerebert.com/reviews/coex...

Spooky season movie draft w/ @zacharylee.bsky.social coming soon!

The horror genre contains multitudes of subgenres! In this movie draft, we draft films in various subgenres of horror, highlighting various ways we want to be spooked! Full episode releases Friday!

"The gift of Eliassi’s work is that it invites people to look inward and ask questions about what they champion, rather than go with the tide of ease and the loudest voice,” writes @zacharylee.bsky.social about COEXISTENCE, MY ASS!

"The structure I’ve created has allowed the audience to bring their own baggage into the film.” @zacharylee.bsky.social spoke w/ Yorgos Lanthimos & screenwriter Will Tracy abt BUGONIA, formative Korean films, and stewarding the vocation of storytelling.

"So long as mothers continue to live in a world that doesn’t value their work, stories like THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE will be prescient necessities,” writes @zacharylee.bsky.social. Streaming now on Hulu:

“Even now, in Iran, you can’t ignore the films from the underground.” It was a gift to talk w/ Jafar Panahi for @ebertvoices.bsky.social abt his Palme d’Or winning film, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, using screen time as a tool of justice, & the gift of working with family.

I reviewed Kelly Reichardt's The Mastermind, which contains a sharp performance by Josh O'Connor, who is "great at playing one of those old friends you might still let stay overnight at your house, even though the last time he did, a couple of things went missing." www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-...

“I never forget all the people who paid the price for this cinema.” @zacharylee.bsky.social w/ with dir. Jafar Panahi abt his Palme d’Or-winning film, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, working with family on-screen and off, & using screen time as a tool of justice.

would really love if folks read my recent interview with Lecrae, where we talk about deconstruction and the way he frames it, plus the existence of demons, support for Israel, and more. probably my best work as an interviewer. sojo.net/articles/new...

"This is a project for and by those who have experienced inhumanity firsthand yet refuse to have their voices snuffed out by a corrupt institution,” writes @zacharylee.bsky.social about THE ALABAMA SOLUTION.

With the first season of ALIEN: EARTH having wrapped, @zacharylee.bsky.social speaks w/ stars Babou Ceesay & Sydney Chandler about the arc of their cyborg and hybrid characters. They discuss the importance of practical effects and their characters inverted journeys.

“It's a horrifying job to see humanity’s worst right before your very eyes and then go home at the end of the day." @zacharylee.bsky.social speaks with Lili Reinhart about AMERICAN SWEATSHOP, how to stop doomscrolling, & the film’s surprising connection to WALL-E. www.rogerebert.com/interviews/a...

In his latest dispatch from TIFF, @zacharylee.bsky.social reviews three films, ETERNAL RETURN, NUREMBERG, & CAROLINA CAROLINE, that all tackled how our pasts, if not properly reckoned with, can return to bedevil in pugnacious ways. www.rogerebert.com/festivals/ti...

In my convo w/ Timo Tjahjanto for Joy Sauce, he name drops NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION, LE SAMOURAÏ, HANA-BI, & PARIS, TEXAS; man’s a cinephile! Was fun to talk to him abt how all those connected w/ NOBODY 2 (& y his TRAIN TO BUSAN remake will “definitely” be R-rated): joysauce.com/not-nobody-d...

“Everything, even geopolitically, is about power, proximity, alliances." Love, obsession, power, & attention collide in Alex Russell’s LURKER. @zacharylee.bsky.social speaks w/ him abt whether celebrity can be redeemed & how ignorance separates fans from friends: www.rogerebert.com/interviews/a...

That's a wrap for #CinemaInterruptus - THE PLAYER. Finished the movie with enough time to share final reflections as the credits rolled. Thanks to the Gene Siskel Film Center for hosting us, to @zacharylee.bsky.social for driving the DVD, and to everyone who played along.

wow it was so fun getting time with @abbyolcese.bsky.social @zacharylee.bsky.social @dodgyboffin.com and @larsenonfilm.bsky.social (and Robert whose @ IDK!) we all deeply agreed on which of the movies are good and also the ones that are bad. and which ones best represent the Christian message.

All these plus @scotttobias.bsky.social, @alissawilkinson.bsky.social, @larsenonfilm.bsky.social and @zacharylee.bsky.social (the latter two of whom I'm excited to hang with this afternoon). Also @thatwitchmia.bsky.social and @donatobomb.bsky.social duh.

Happy to have @zacharylee.bsky.social back behind the DVD for #CinemaInterruptus, Aug. 11-14. Tickets: www.siskelfilmcenter.org/interruptus

"There’s something about being in front of the camera where we want to just give everything we can to make it look as realistic as possible." @zacharylee.bsky.social interviews Alison Brie, Dave Franco, and Michael Shanks about their body horror film, TOGETHER: www.rogerebert.com/interviews/t...

"It’s a deeply human experience to long for someone who’s unavailable and to treasure a love that’s true but can’t last. OH, HI! ruminates on this to somber yet entertaining effect,” @zacharylee.bsky.social writes: www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oh-h...

"UNICORNS reminds that the ability to transform and cross borders, whether physical, mental, or spiritual, is always proximate, oppressive systems, antiquated thinking, and insecurity be damned." @zacharylee.bsky.social reviews: www.rogerebert.com/reviews/unic...

"I think any film that’s trying to achieve any sort of modern realism has to contend with our division and how those voids are only getting wider." EDDINGTON director Ari Aster talks to @zacharylee.bsky.social about doomscrolling & landing on that Katy Perry song: www.rogerebert.com/interviews/a...

Interruptus is on!! Come hang out and watch The Player with Josh, and also @dodgyboffin.com, @zacharylee.bsky.social and me!

"Creating this film was a journey of understanding how to shoot in a way that allows me to make the film I want to make." @zacharylee.bsky.social talks to writer-director Eva Victor about the messy process of making her @a24movies.bsky.social hit SORRY, BABY: www.rogerebert.com/interviews/e...

BEST WISHES TO ALL is "a modern parable for our capitalistic society, where our only hope for achieving contentment is to exploit before we’re exploited." @zacharylee.bsky.social reviews @shudder.com's latest thriller: www.rogerebert.com/reviews/best...

Earlier this month, @chicagocritics.bsky.social welcomed a host of actors and filmmakers to hit the red carpet at @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social for their twelfth annual festival; @zacharylee.bsky.social was there with them to ask them questions. Read his dispatch: www.rogerebert.com/festivals/th...

In his first dispatch from @cannesfilmfestival.bsky.social, @zacharylee.bsky.social highlights Shia LaBeouf doc SLAUSON REC, Momoko Seto's animated epic DANDELION'S ODYSSEY, and the Chang Chen-starring LUCKY LU. www.rogerebert.com/festivals/ca...

"The fun was deducing how its live concert and seven programmed films explored different facets of being adrift, from being “lost in the sauce” to being “lost in the machine." @zacharylee.bsky.social recaps this year's #MubiFest Chicago

A familiar face offers some long answers to some easy questions as he toots his own horn with some Boricua flair. Thanks to @isaacfeldberg.bsky.social and Nathaniel Lee for the opportunity! @chicagocritics.bsky.social starts this Friday at the holiest of hollies, the @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social.

"As for poetry, especially with something like THE LEGEND OF OCHI, it’s about inviting yourself into that wonder you mentioned and moving away from a particular kind of practicality." @zacharylee.bsky.social speaks with Willem Dafoe:

"I always try to find something that I can personally relate to and then exaggerate it, making it more operatic and larger in theme, within the film itself." @zacharylee.bsky.social speaks with HAVOC director Gareth Evans

“When you say ‘wonder,’ I’m thinking abt challenging & inviting people into a different way of seeing.” For @ebertvoices.bsky.social, I had a quick chat w/ Willem Dafoe abt THE LEGEND OF OCHI, the limits of empathy, & the role of wonder in his creative process: www.rogerebert.com/interviews/w...

"There’s also this metaphor for artistic sacrifice, for how an oppressive system can dehumanize people and how people experiencing that dehumanization can rage against it through art." @zacharylee.bsky.social speaks with filmmaker Ryan Coolger about SINNERS

QUEENS OF DRAMA is "a dizzying, life-affirming anthem about how it’s never too late to find your way home in the arms of your lover, even if you may have lost your way." Read @zacharylee.bsky.social's review:

For @letterboxd.social , I wrote abt A NORMAL FAMILY, out in select US theaters on April 25. Dir. Hur Jin-ho imbues an acute cultural specificity around the film’s themes of family loyalty and hierarchy. Chilling, thought-provoking delusions abound: letterboxd.com/journal/watc...

Fascism & hatred should not be things we’re afraid to disavow.” Ji-young Yoo is booked & busy this month w/ FREAKY TALES & UNTIL DAWN. Spoke w/ her for Joy Sauce about how fighting is like dancing, Asians in punk, & Ryan Coogler’s influence on her Oakland accent: joysauce.com/ji-young-yoo...

This is an incredible opportunity that has amplified critics in the past few years to prominent roles, including membership in the CFCA. You should apply. And tell your friends. chicagofilmcritics.org/grant

"There’s something about trust that’s essential to making art." @zacharylee.bsky.social speaks with André Holland about THE ACTOR, DUTCHMAN, and his creative life goals

In this #SXSW dispatch @zacharylee.bsky.social writes about 42ND STREET, THE SPIES AMONG US, and MAKE IT LOOK REAL