I assign Stand By Me nearly every semester to teach film narrative. I don't primarily assign films for the purpose of students liking them, but let me tell you, that movie works on people. What a sensitive, honest depiction of kids coming to realize an indifferent world around them. RIP Rob Reiner

getting people back into theatres requires two things: a greater diversity of well-produced and marketed films, along with exhibitors working to build community around the idea of moviegoing

It’s official. Megalopolis is now an annual winter holiday tradition. First day of the year, it’s time for black eyed peas and some megalopoling

Sundance you have my attention

Our students are raising money to keep their magazines going after the University of Alabama suspended them for foregrounding the voices of women and African Americans. If you've got the means, please support them. givebutter.com/F0LNOA

It's never made sense to me why the first weekend after Thanksgiving has been for so many years a self-made dead zone at the box office, especially given the crowded release calendar this time of year. Hopefully this overturns some conventional wisdom. deadline.com/2025/12/box-...

The use of "unites" and "together" has me especially concerned, like we're in for a reboot of Squid Game that takes place in Rick's Café Américain

Warner Bros. caps off a year in which it has enjoyed the most promising and fascinating theatrical winning streak of any studio since COVID by selling to a company that wants to dismantle the theatrical experience

The Supremes wishing you a lovely holiday season!

me pushing out of the way the rest of my 2025 watchlist to see this first

i’m not normcore i’m midmaxxing

Gonna be a fun roundtable

Tony’s the fun one. Anthony is the serious one.

If you're around the American Studies Association conference and are looking for a Friday afternoon presentation on Motown's film and television production company, I've got you covered

the labor market isn't sleeping it's just resting its eyes a bit

"Reichardt uses the [heist] genre...to allegorize a distinct moment in postwar American history, in which individuals could less reliably organize against economic interests, and the biggest cons were being run not by private citizens but by state entities." lareviewofbooks.org/article/rebe...

When I think about how exquisitely careful NEH staff were to be fair, impartial, and rigorous, and how much work people put into grants so small they’re pocket change…I just want to scream.

One thing I will say about the AI-ification of student work is that it has made me appreciate students' actual writing that much more. Errors, clichés, or digressions that used to annoy me in aggregate are now evidence of a human mind. It's allowed me to care less about orthodoxies in composition.

There is a world of unlicensed Disney-themed art out there that has no AI touch but I'm gonna guess there are some reasons why that's not the "content from users" they're interested in

This is a galaxy away from the most important thing, but imagine receiving an e-mail from one of these rich and powerful men that was written like that? You'd rightfully assume it was a phishing scam

Cool project!

The DVD special feature peaked with the audio commentary on Wet Hot American Summer that was just well-timed fart noises

My two cents on A House of Dynamite’s President Elba problem boxd.it/bDOIbB

"If discovery tools return hallucinated results, the credibility of the library itself could be undermined. Students may come to see the library’s systems as just another unreliable search engine." BINGO

New York, New York, the city so nice they beat Cuomo twice

Do you pine for the dreadful sense of time ticking away as the shadows lengthen at 2pm? Would you prefer your seasonal depression to have a start date? Then ask your doctor about Standard Time™

This about sums it up

‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science www.ru.nl/en/research/...

me on my last evening walk of daylight saving time

tfw you’re a hungover ex-revolutionary but you gotta take the kid trick or treating

Lotta stuff ain’t great rn but at least this timeline has Kelly Reichardt movies

50 years of uber wealthy outside investors thinking they can make Hollywood more profitable and efficient

There’s a lot to say, and unpack, regarding the unsanctioned demolition of the east wing of the White House this week. A big part of that, for me at least, is the legacy of presidents watching films in its movie theater and documenting it, including Carter watching AUTUMN SONATA with 50 staff.

The pod guys have always been pretty bad interviewers but man this is next level

AI being associated with what we saw the past few days is good for the anti-AI crowd in the long run imo

I saw this goat at the zoo yesterday and I hope everyone is having as good of a day as this goat

Over the years I’ve come to believe that Reds is one of the finest films to have been made in this country. A major reason why it works is Diane Keaton, the audience surrogate. Watch how the camera relies completely on her facial expression throughout this scene. RIP m.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Mt...

Signed!

In a recent ep of a certain movie biz podcast, the hosts started off w/"how could they greenlight this??" but ended w/acknowledging that reputational benefits + awards were probably worth it & any $ lost could be justified by WB's hits. Even if you care about this stuff, value ain't always monetary!

"How many fingers does Jay Gatsby have?"

Timothée Chalamet, the king of christmas

*American guy who makes sure to pronounce The Babadook in the original Australian*

Now seemed like a good time to join

#ComingUpOnTCM MORE DANGEROUS THAN DYNAMITE (1941) 6:45 PM PT Describes how idiots wash their clothes in gasoline, leave hot appliances plugged in, and wear flammable clothing. 10m | Short | TV-G #TCM #TCMParty

I love that VistaVision is now considered a format that signifies prestige because I first learned about it via this Elvis movie

Today must be a clarifying day for Steven Seagal

Me to the other six people there