I honestly don't care THAT much if comedians want to perform in Saudi Arabia, but I do take issue with them being useful idiots for medieval barbarism in an active way. www.thebulwark.com/p/saudi-arab...

Remember TRL? The MTV show where you voted for boy bands? What if I told you that Yourgo Artsitas's documentary on the time the show got hijacked to include a New Kids on the Block video will forever change how you look at the late-90s music scene? www.thebulwark.com/p/how-an-mtv...

"Not to wear my philistine badge too proudly, but my problem with 'The Smashing Machine' may be that it needed to be a bit more formulaic. Formulas are good; formulas work; that’s why they’re formulas." @sonnybunch.bsky.social reviews: www.thebulwark.com/p/the-smashi...

A thing I don’t know that I’ve ever written before: I wish THE SMASHING MACHINE were slightly *more* formulaic rather than less? www.thebulwark.com/p/the-smashi...

I broke down the Kimmel cancellation data with Julia Alexander from Puck. Turns out there was a huge spike (around 6x the normal churn rate) that couldn't really be attributed to anything else. Needless to say, that likely played some part in Kimmel's hasty return. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB-L...

Had a fun time talking ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN with @jvl.bsky.social and @citizencohn.bsky.social on the movie club. It's streaming on the Criterion Channel and it really is insanely riveting for a movie that's often just dudes talking on phones. Movie stars, baby! www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQC7...

I'm kind of mixed on ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, but one thing I absolutely believe is that Teyana Taylor should be in the awards season mix. The first 40 minutes are relentless in large part because of her vibrancy. www.thebulwark.com/p/one-battle...

I don't mean to be alarmist, but: AI is going to kill us all. (Accidentally. Maybe.) Anyway, I talked to Nate Soares aboout his and Eliezer Yudkowsky's new book, "If Anyone Builds it, Everyone Dies" and how storytellers could better prepare us for this. www.thebulwark.com/p/how-movies...

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER: not the *best* Jack Ryan adaptation but probably my favorite. Discussed why here with @jvl.bsky.social and @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social : youtu.be/h7MTqQ3gvmw?...

On Across the Movie Aisle this week, Alyssa, Peter, and I looked at the struggle between Jimmy Kimmel, Disney, ABC affiliates, and the FCC. Then we said goodbye to Robert Redford, one of the greats. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-fcc-v-...

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is worth watching because it's Paul Thomas Anderson and everything he makes is arrestingly propulsive, if nothing else. But it's definitely lower-tier PTA. www.thebulwark.com/p/one-battle...

"It was as if Robert Redford looked at the cinematic landscape, sighed, and said, 'You don’t need all this makeup, all this CGI crap to tell a story. You just need my face.' Would that we could all be so fortunate." ICYMI @sonnybunch.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/robert-red...

Good news! Hypocrisy is no longer the only modern sin. Bad news: whatever replaces it will probably be worse. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-post-h...

There’s a fun new show on Netflix, “Haunted Hotel.” I talked to the creator/showrunner Matt Roller about making an animated show (it takes a long time), how his work on “Community” and “Rick and Morty” influenced it, and why he’s reading the comments. www.thebulwark.com/p/why-haunte...

When asked for comment, White House Spokesman Lionel Hutz said, "Oh, they got this all screwed up." www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

I had fairly low expectations for HIM, the new football-horror movie produced by Jordan Peele. But it's pleasingly bonkers! www.thebulwark.com/p/him-review

Robert Redford was both a mainstream movie star, and a lover of independent film. He made the world of film better and more open. And, of course, he always looked the part. @sonnybunch.bsky.social remembers him:

Against Ostriching. www.thebulwark.com/p/confrontin...

"The masses will remember Robert Redford jumping off that cliff with Paul Newman, but it’s the work in Park City that may have had the greatest effect." @sonnybunch.bsky.social on the actor, star, and indie entrepreneur: www.thebulwark.com/p/robert-red...

"He saw the state of the industry as it evolved out of the auteur-driven New Hollywood of the 1960s and 1970s and into the bombs, brawn, and boobs of the 1980s." He "envisioned a better cinematic world," and he set out to build it. The great @sonnybunch.bsky.social on Redford's legacy.

We talked THE LONG WALK and Comedy Central pulling a South Park rerun on Across the Movie Aisle this week. Kind of a depressing episode! www.thebulwark.com/p/the-degrad...

RIP, Robert Redford. Hollywood star, indie icon. www.thebulwark.com/p/robert-red...

Algorithms and social media? Depressing. "The Long Walk"? Depressing. Not every edition of @sonnybunch.bsky.social's Bulwark Goes To Hollywood newsletter is like that!

A lot of wisdom about the pernicious effects of social media here from @sonnybunch.bsky.social Plus a really thoughtful, somewhat related movie review www.thebulwark.com/p/the-long-w...

I saw THE LONG WALK last night. It's pretty good! It also filled me with near-existential despair about the state of things! So, you know. Mixed bag! www.thebulwark.com/p/the-long-w...

I talked to Tony Gilroy, the showrunner of "Andor," on Sunday and had a good chat about the show, the state of things, etc. And I asked him who wrote that "Who ARE you" line from the eighth episode ... he had a great response. (Full episode here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaqn...)

We were horrified to hear about the murder of Charlie Kirk. Political violence is never acceptable in any context, and should never be condoned. We are thinking of his family and loved ones at this terrible time.

On the one hand, I'm shocked Activision would say no to a Steven Spielberg-directed Call of Duty movie. On the other, though ... I kinda get it? Plus, Alyssa, Peter, and I talk HIGHEST 2 LOWEST. Spoiler: we love the soundtrack. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-deligh...

By popular demand, we did IDIOCRACY on the movie club show this week. It got real dark real quick! www.thebulwark.com/p/idiocracy-...

This was a very fun one (she's a good guest!) for a slightly dry (but hopefully interesting!) topic and I hope to get her back on the show so we can do a full hour on Highlander: The Series, which was a seminal television show for me.

I talked to Rep. Laura Friedman this week about the potential of a national film tax credit to compete with those offered in Canada, Great Britain, and elsewhere. Given production jobs being lost in red and blue states, it's a potentially bipartisan issue. www.thebulwark.com/p/does-ameri...

This is Blueskyism. (Censoring a still from a movie of two people kissing, one of whom is in a bra.)

I agree 100% with @sonnybunch.bsky.social's (almost entirely positive) assessment of the movie Honey, Don't!: "funny, clever, well-acted, and genuinely subverts the expectations of audiences"

THE CONJURING: LAST RITES is pretty good if you're into that sort of thing—the whole mechanically programmed jump scare *thing*—but that's not really my thing? Effective, just, not for me. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-conjur...

On Across the Movie Aisle this week, Alyssa, Peter, and I discussed line-inequality at the Disney Parks (I have mixed, slightly hypocritical feelings!) and reviewed CAUGHT STEALING (which I liked more than they did). www.thebulwark.com/p/disneys-ec...

So all week, @jvl.bsky.social, @sarahlongwell25.bsky.social, and I had planned on doing a podcast/video about THE DEATH OF STALIN. We taped it Friday morning and then things got ... weird ... Friday night. I thought we might have to spike this. Fortunately we did not! www.youtube.com/watch?v=sElH...

I think the superhero movie boom is finally over. These movies will still be made; some will be good, some will make a lot of money. But studios and theaters have to stop counting on them in any real way. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-end-of...

I got Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse fame on the pod this week to discuss the evolution of theatrical and his new fine-dining-and-a-movie concept, Metro Private Cinema, opening in NYC soonish. Sounds like an amazingly fun idea, I want to check it out. www.thebulwark.com/p/how-an-ala...

CAUGHT STEALING is being marketed like a Guy Ritchie crime caper, and it is that (kind of) in the sense that it's an ensemble full of crazy characters. But it's very much a Darren Aronofsky film about compulsion and addiction. I liked it! www.thebulwark.com/p/caught-ste...

Kind of a mixed response to "Alien: Earth"—Peter and I are fans; Alyssa, not so much—on ATMA this week. Takes all sorts to do a movie podcast! (Also discussed KPOP DEMON HUNTERS' theatrical run and what Netflix might take away from it.) www.thebulwark.com/p/the-lost-b...

If the western is the story America tells about itself, "Americana" depicts a moment in which we hunger for connection, sometimes from the wrong people and wrong places. @sonnybunch.bsky.social reviews: www.thebulwark.com/p/americana-...

my concern with this graphic is that I thought it *might* be a PS4 controller and this is a piece about PS5s, but apparently things are even worse than I imagined

"JVL hit on the little things—you know, food, energy, stuff that like—earlier in the week. But let’s get to what matters. Yesterday, Sony announced that PlayStations would cost $50 more per system." New from @sonnybunch.bsky.social: www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-tru...

PlayStations are about to get more expensive and the reason why will shock you! (lt will not shock you.) www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-tru...

Toby Huss is currently in the biggest movie in America, WEAPONS, as well as AMERICANA and the hit "King of the Hill" sequel series. I talked with him about those, some other movies/shows, and his fantastic photography book, "American Sugargristle." www.thebulwark.com/p/the-wild-c...

Lionsgate is burying the new Sydney Sweeney movie, AMERICANA, and that’s understandable (tough movie to market: complicated structure, unusual tone, and, ugh, for adults) but unfortunate. It’s an amusing and interesting flick with some great performances. www.thebulwark.com/p/americana-...

@avecruth.bsky.social: "Given our current political climate, you'd think that, like, *here's our history, and we're proud of it...*" JVL: So did Cracker Barrel go woke? Hannah, @jvl.bsky.social, and @sonnybunch.bsky.social, talk the Cracker Barrel logo backlash:

I don’t care about the Cracker Barrel logo or, frankly, the Cracker Barrel itself. (Garbage restaurant, IHOP crushes it.) Trying to spin this as a woke/non-woke thing is asinine. But the redesign of the restaurants themselves is a complete abomination. youtu.be/3TSFPPvNmiA?...

NOBODY 2 is one of those movies that feels perfect on paper and just didn't work on the screen. The rare movie that could have maybe been 10 minutes longer? Still, had fun discussing it (and film subsidies!) with Peter and Alyssa. www.thebulwark.com/p/nobody-2-i...

This was a terrific episode, which gives some love to my favorite Ron Howard movie, Rush.