You couldn’t make “One Battle After Another” today. PTA's zany, explosive Pynchon riff elides political metaphors and grabs the zeitgeist by the throat. A riveting, hilarious revolutionary saga that makes for ecstatic blockbuster cinema. Out now: www.truthdig.com/articles/pau...

After reading that statement earlier in the week, I STILL was not prepared for how bold of a movie it is. So glad it was made when it was, and I loved every minute of it.

You couldn’t make “One Battle After Another” today. PTA's zany, explosive Pynchon riff elides political metaphors and grabs the zeitgeist by the throat. A riveting, hilarious revolutionary saga that makes for ecstatic blockbuster cinema. Out now: www.truthdig.com/articles/pau...

“One Battle After Another” arrives as a sorely needed outlier in a mainstream cinematic culture where politics is smuggled — if it’s present at all — inside stories about wizards, aliens and young adult dystopias. Film review by @siddhantadlakha.bsky.social

Really sorry to hear about the sudden passing of Kaleb Horton, a fantastic writer. Only seems fitting to share what he wrote for David Lynch kalebhorton.ghost.io/death-is-jus...

It’s #NYFF63 As always, say hi if you want a pin!🇵🇸

In Poland's Oscar entry "Franz," Agnieszka Holland takes an unexpected, kaleidoscopic approach, turning out elliptical biopic that's as much about unknowable Czech surrealist Franz Kakfa as it is about commercialization and the film's own making. #TIFF50 observer.com/2025/09/scre...

One Recommendation After Another

16 years since I moved here for college, after over a decade of sleepless nights filled with immigration anxiety, I finally have a Green Card

Having now seen it again, this time in Vista Vision: run, don’t walk, once it’s playing near you.

10 years since I first saw him as Aaron Burr, I got to be in the room where Leslie Odom Jr. returned to “Hamilton” for a stage-shattering performance. Side note: history has its eyes on Tamar Greene (second from right) as an enormous, enrapturing Washington. Bravo.

let's fuckin gooooo “But thankfully, ‘One Battle After Another’ was approved two years ago, and it arrives as a sorely needed outlier in a mainstream cinematic culture where politics is smuggled — if it’s present at all — inside stories about wizards, aliens and young adult dystopias.”

In theatres this week: the Matthew McConaughey-led forest fire rescue film that wrings tension from the fabric of community. Paul Greengrass doesn’t miss. #TIFF50 decider.com/2025/09/19/t...

Siyou Tan’s Singaporean high school drama "Amoeba" is one of the best, most naturalistic coming-of-age films you'll ever see, a story about youthful punk rebellion against a world you can't fully articulate as you try to find your place in it. #BIFF25 joysauce.com/siyou-tans-a...

New York: come watch Peter Sellers as a bumbling Indian film extra in "The Party" (1968) this Friday night at @filmforumnyc.bsky.social—with an intro by me beforehand to discuss the elephant in the room. Tickets available: filmforum.org/events/event...

We join our colleagues in @lafilmcritics.bsky.social and @nsfc.bsky.social in condemning the actions taken by Nexstar and Disney-ABC to pull "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" off the air.

New York: come watch Peter Sellers as a bumbling Indian film extra in "The Party" (1968) this Friday night at @filmforumnyc.bsky.social—with an intro by me beforehand to discuss the elephant in the room. Tickets available: filmforum.org/events/event...

“Him” is real bad www.ign.com/articles/him...

“Him” is real bad www.ign.com/articles/him...

Unfortunately, Nia DaCosta's Ibsen update "Hedda" is a total bust. #TIFF50 observer.com/2025/09/film...

Really love Kogonada's "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey," an uncanny film in conversation with how cinema molds our understanding of romance. Won't be for everyone—plays like the death dream of someone looking back at a life filled with movies and heartbreak joysauce.com/open-your-he...

Joel Edgerton is fantastic in "Train Dreams," a mournful period drama that, on occasion, carries great dramatic weight as it wrestles with America’s past. #TIFF50 decider.com/2025/09/16/t...

The Party with Siddhant Adlakha (critic) 🎬 The Party Friday, September 19 Film Forum In Person: Siddhant Adlakha (critic)

New York: come join me this Friday (9/19) at @filmforumnyc.bsky.social as I introduce Blake Edward’s’ 1968 comedy classic “The Party,” in celebration of Peter Sellers’ centennial. Tickets available: filmforum.org/events/event...

The queer coming-of-age drama “Dreams” captures the rush of young, forbidden love.

Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire”—about a real-life hostage situation from the 1970s—seems to mark the director’s waning interest in gun violence by the aggrieved. Not altogether uninteresting, but rarely riveting. #Venezia82 observer.com/2025/09/revi...

#Venezia82 Best Actress winner "The Sun Rises On Us All" features great performances and languid drama joysauce.com/the-sun-rise...

At times intriguing, "Megalopolis" making-of documentary "Megadoc" never quite probes deep enough into its subjects, their debates, or their controversies. There's a movie in there somewhere. #Venezia82 observer.com/2025/09/revi...

Have to admit weighing leaving here. Left twitter ASAP when the owner became someone openly anti-trans. Been here since the early invites & love a lot of you but when factually stating someone’s own rhetoric can lead to nutso content moderation or people targeted to lose their jobs, why contribute?

"The Long Walk" doesn't reach the melodramatic highs for which it aims, but it remains a tightly-wound dystopian thriller steeped in doomed camaraderie. The cast is excellent all around, especially Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson. Out now: variety.com/2025/film/ne...

Anuparna Roy’s Orizzonti Best Director winner “Songs of Forgotten Trees” traces the growing friendship of young Mumbaikar roommates—a sex worker and an IT caller—making for an accomplished debut drama. #Venezia82 observer.com/2025/09/revi...

Anuparna Roy’s Orizzonti Best Director winner “Songs of Forgotten Trees” traces the growing friendship of young Mumbaikar roommates—a sex worker and an IT caller—making for an accomplished debut drama. #Venezia82 observer.com/2025/09/revi...

100 years of Peter Sellers. @filmforumnyc.bsky.social September 19th. Come party. filmforum.org/events/event...

Golden Bear winner "Dreams," the third entry in Dag Johan Haugerud's informal Olso trilogy, centers a queer high schooler in love with her teacher, in one of the more thoughtful and rapturous films about teenage love in recent memory. Out this week: www.truthdig.com/articles/hot...

With the thrilling, jet-black abduction saga "Bugonia," Yorgos Lanthimos streamlines Jang Joon-hwan's "Save the Green Planet!" for the age of conspiracist-as-median-voter. Twisty, paranoid, hilarious, deeply sad. A really fantastic film. #Venezia82 observer.com/2025/09/movi...

An impossible adaptation of a Japanese walking simulator, "Exit 8" projects an anxious tale of young adulthood onto recursive video game mechanics, transforming the circular premise of traversing identical subway halls into a nightmarish thriller. #TIFF50 joysauce.com/exit-8-turns...

100 years of Peter Sellers. @filmforumnyc.bsky.social September 19th. Come party. filmforum.org/events/event...

After the one-two punch of "Challengers" and "Queer," Luca Guadagnino's finger slips off the cultural pulse and hits the self-destruct button with a didactic, dramatically dull, aesthetically scattershot campus allegation drama, "After the Hunt" #Venezia82 observer.com/2025/09/movi...

“Why does ‘Superman’ look like that?” Figured I’d go straight to the source and chat with cinematographer Henry Braham: filmfreeway.com/articles/sup...

‘The Man in My Basement’ Review: Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe Lead a Lethargic Psychological Thriller That Only Gestures at Big Ideas #TIFF50 variety.com/2025/film/re...

A primer on one of cinema’s greatest composers, and notes on his recent tour: A.R. Rahman Brings “Wonderment” (and A.I.) to North America joysauce.com/a-r-rahman-b...

"Downton Abbey" ends for the umpteenth time— supposedly for good—with "The Grand Finale," a surprisingly gloomy theatrical threequel that nonetheless delivers what long-time fans have grown accustomed to: the illusion of change. Farewell! mashable.com/article/down...

After a long absence, the Brothers Quay return to reassert their mastery of the animated macabre. A film review of “Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass” by @siddhantadlakha.bsky.social

Their first feature in 20 years, stop-motion maestros the Brothers Quay return with the Christopher Nolan-produced "Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass," a macabre Polish odyssey confronting death. Now playing at @filmforumnyc.bsky.social www.truthdig.com/articles/dre...

Bing Liu’s doc “Minding the Gap” was a masterclass in emotional detail. Unfortunately, his narrative debut “Preparation for the Next Life”—a New York romance between a former soldier and an undocumented Uyghur migrant—is too stilted to follow suit. Out 9/5 joysauce.com/preparation-...

New York: On Sept 19, @filmforumnyc.bsky.social kicks of its 100 Years of Peter Sellers program with Blake Edwards's comedy classic "The Party," which I'll be introducing at 9:00pm. Come celebrate.

While it's eventually subsumed by its style, Alex Russell's "Luker" remains, for the most part, a fantastic debut that cuts right to the heart of parasocial needs. A film of electric intention, where subtext sings and every note is unnerving. Out now. joysauce.com/lurker-captu...

“Shin Godzilla” is back in cinemas, a film that returns the classic monster to both his full political potential and terrifying cinematic power, while also presenting a biting government satire. One of the best kaiju movies ever made. joysauce.com/shin-godzill...

Now in theatres, Kate Beecroft’s “East of Wall” joins the slowly-growing tradition of the docu-fiction modern western—à la Chloé Zhao—to capture a resilient single mother using her ranch to re-forge community. www.truthdig.com/articles/som...