One Battle After Another made me laugh a lot, but it goes on far too long & I couldn't help feeling uncomfortable laughing at white nationalists & anti-imperialist revolutionaries when one is more deadly than ever & the other more necessary than ever My review at @screenanarchy.bsky.social

got an email about Marvel Zombies so checked out the trailer and oh my god why does it look like that?

As Chicago continues to be used as a rhetorical device by the right, I want to highlight the abundance of Latin American and queer film screenings (starting this week through the end of Sept) between @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social's Crucemos Al Otro Lado programming & @reelingfilmfest.bsky.social!

Caught Stealing is a mess that stalls halfway through and never recovers its momentum or tone, but the performances from everyone involved and hot people being hot together make it worth seeking out My review at @screenanarchy.bsky.social

So excited to be joining some of my favorite critics in the CFCA!

yes I'm late again, but fave first watches of August huge shout out to @zackpaslay.bsky.social for programming and recommending the 3 films by Arthur J. Bressan Jr. here (Forbidden Letters, Passing Strangers, Gay USA)

happy bandcamp Friday! Picked up a bunch of new stuff, you can find all of it here, some highlights in the thread

I should have put this up here earlier, but I'll be introing the 4K restoration of In My Skin at @facetschicago.bsky.social in two days (Thursday the 24th) Come see me talk about & then join me in watching a masterpiece that means a lot to me

late but favorite music of 2025 so far:

Fave first watches of June

after the plane crashes “we are getting dangerously close to crashing this plane”

BIG NEWS: this fall i’m starting a PhD at McGill University 🎥 🎪 🎭 📹!but before i move to Montréal, i’m making my first narrative feature in Chicago, a psychological horror film about a group of theater actors beset by both an abusive director and a poltergeist: seedandspark.com/fund/quiet-i...

film director to wife producer:

The most vital thing you can do right now is spread this message offline to normies. There is no "unrest", there's a protest. It has 400 people. LA does worse when the Lakers come in 3rd in a season.

A bit late but fave first watches of May

I can see why people are laughing at this, but I can also see how another year of tinkering will make it possible for one of these things to kick a protester after they’ve been tear-gassed

Thread of Scream Kings 🧵😱👑 (Feel free to add your favorites)

Librarian here. Got an email from a patron about our "poor selection" of books on AI, w/ list of new books that we HAD to get so ppl could stay informed about this important subject. Title, author, synopsis. Of 11 titles on the list, 10 Did Not Exist. At all. "Yeah, I got it from Ch*tGPT, why?"

Not spending money on HP-related stuff is a very low bar to clear. You have no excuse for not clearing it, especially if you claim to be a trans ally.

tbh I'm confused about people saying Bloodlines is good, it's a tropey slog broken up with solid enough gore, but the only scene that really shines is Tony Todd's farewell My review for @chicagoreader.com

feeling so powerful/vindicated about never having changed and just continuing to use “hbo max”

somehow didn't realize that the new Mike Flanagan joint is a NEON release until now and this does not sit well with me

ok I had a nice time at Open Studios but we got rained out both days and I unfortunately sold a lot less than I have in past years, so if anyone is interested in a print, pin, zine, sticker, etc now would be awesome and I'll include some extra swag with your order! www.etsy.com/shop/panands...

Favorite first watches (from previous years) of April watched Lawman on a whim and it blew me away (so did the others but I kinda knew they'd be my shit)

I will never forgive Netflix for taking The OA away from us Left us on an absolutely brutal cliffhanger with 3 more seasons planned and I dream of a world where get to see those

It’s Alien Day and SIGNED copies of my book are on turbo sale at @mzspress.bsky.social!

Yes, go buy books elsewhere tomorrow (and every day you can).

I don't use words like "breathtaking" or "monumental" lightly, but there are moments in Sinners that warrant them It's not perfect but those moments make it transcend the few quibbles I have My review for @chicagoreader.com

I'm behind on sharing #PanicFest coverage, but I was genuinely fucked up (and formally thrilled) by Dooba Dooba which will hopefully have a distribution announcement coming soon My review at @screenanarchy.bsky.social

Favorite first watches (from previous years) of March

Had a lot of fun with "Cops gone found footage" movie The Lost Episode that's playing #PanicFest tonight My review at @screenanarchy.bsky.social

Black Bag is great I'm delighted by Soderbergh doing horny cat and mouse as if not a day's gone by since Out of Sight It's also hilarious, quippy, looks fantastic, and has an extremely Soderbergh score from regular collaborator David Holmes (Ocean'ses, Out of Sight, Logan Lucky, etc.)

Canceled my Amazon preorder for the SUMMER WARS exclusive 4K Steelbook. As an increasingly niche community of physical media collectors, we need to stand by and support mass boycotts of oligarchs and other retailers caving to the Trump administration. This includes Target exclusive vinyl too.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl blew me away, like literally whispered "holy shit" to myself when it ended Reviewed it for my still very under construction wordpress

Oscars schmoscars, here's where I'm at boxd.it/t6AMk Specific awards in thread

Wait I missed one!

Favorite first watches of February

this is so patently evil but also a great reminder that the lives of others will always be inconsequential to those who are comfortable with the status quo and those who benefit from the pain inflicted upon others

Since it’s going around the other place: top 10 directors, unranked (could change at any moment): Kubrick Ducournau Refn Coens Carpenter Cronenberg Soderbergh Borden Snyder Breillat

Wrote about 20 years of Filmspotting, Chicago's legacy of criticism, and next week's Filmspotting Fest for @chicagoreader.com Was kinda surreal to talk about movies with Adam Kempenaar & @larsenonfilm.bsky.social after years of listening to them talk about movies

The Gorge isn't amazing, but it's so much better than the streaming drop it's getting Was surprised by how much I fell for this thing overall but it looks great (both sick monsters and good cinematography wise) and the romance is cute and funny My review at @screenanarchy.bsky.social

Captain America: Brave New World engages interestingly with Blackness & moves along well enough But by the end it's full on pacifying propaganda (Israeli agents are our friends! All Americans have good in them!) loudly asking "doesn't this Black Captain America make you want to join the military?"

frantically watching 2024 movies still and can anyone at all help me find Hur Bum-wook's Pig that Survived Foot-and-Mouth Disease? Or does anyone know anything about distribution for it? really hoping it doesn't turn into a white whale

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Favorite first watches of January

Yes we're a month into 2025 but life has been hectic so here's my favorite music of 2024 gonna post the seven (7) albums that tied for AOTY for me (it's my favorite music list and I can do what I want!) and then a link to a google doc if you really wanna see what else is on there

Other screen anarchists and I wrote about how much David Lynch meant to us, have some tissues nearby when you read this

John Waters lover Immanuel Kant