Sublime Welles!

Some of the best (I think) material in Five Came Back is there because a librarian saw what I was working on over 3 days and asked me if I'd like to take a look at a box of old George Stevens papers that had not been catalogued yet. So no, for a ton of reasons, AI cannot "do the research for you."

12/20/63: Godard's Contempt [DP Raoul Coutard] w/Michel Piccoli, Bardot, Palance, Fritz Lang Peak JLG More @tnyfrontrow.bsky.social: www.newyorker.com/culture/rich... @szacharek.bsky.social: www.villagevoice.com/contempt-and... @mrbeaks.bsky.social: www.slashfilm.com/1007193/jean...

IT'S SO GREAT!

Need a laugh today? You can't do better than @david-rooney.bsky.social's review of AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Loved this guy. Circa 1990 I'd just started a new job as a copy editor on a business magazine. We were all at a conference in Albuquerque, and I noticed he was playing at a club there. I suggested we go, and to my surprise, everyone wanted to. We had a blast! A remarkable songwriter and performer.

Rob Reiner: “Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity. Speaking out is a patriotic act. Democracy doesn’t defend itself. It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people."

Rob Reiner either made your favorite movie, or made somebody you know’s favorite movie. If you’re a Californian, he’s also part of the reason you or your friends can get married. He has changed more lives for the better than this asshole commenting on him ever did.

Sometimes it's only after someone is gone, and taken suddenly, that you can fully take stock of all they gave us. We were so lucky to have Rob Reiner. time.com/7340905/rob-...

“Generated by AI, which can make mistakes” LIKE CONFUSING TOM WAITS FOR NEIL YOUNG?

It was hard to choose—it always is!—but here are 10 of my favorite movie performances of 2025: time.com/7333830/best...

Brilliantly articulated.

Leonardo DiCaprio is sharing his thoughts on artificial intelligence, and while he admitted it could be an “enhancement tool,” he said it could never be considered art.

Leonardo DiCaprio is @time.com's Entertainer of the Year, and I had the pleasure of interviewing him in Los Angeles. He was charming, smart, funny—all the things you hope an interview subject will be. And he loves Blind Willie McTell and Johnny Mercer. time.com/7338653/ente...

From ONE OF THEM DAYS to PETER HUJAR'S DAY to...well, you'll see: the 10 movies I loved best in 2025 time.com/7333791/best...

1. Channing and Kirsten are right, and 2. ROOFMAN is great, and I wish more people had seen it in theaters.

Year-end critics’ lists exist for people to fight over, so I’m happy when people complain about them. But the complaint I will never get is, “I’ve never heard of most of these movies/albums/shows.” Yes, and? Why be mad about learning about stuff you didn’t know before from the news?

I'm sorry, but this movie looks like it was dropped in a mud puddle.

Being accused of using ChatGPT because I liked a movie someone else didn't. These are truly f**ed-up times we're living in.

BEST ACTOR: Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Sinners

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Madigan, Weapons

BEST NON-FICTION FILM: My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow

BEST ANIMATED FILM: KPop Demon Hunters

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: The Secret Agent

BEST FIRST FILM: Eephus

PETER HUJAR'S DAY opens this Fri, Dec 5 at the Belcourt > bit.ly/PETER-HUJARS-DAY

A supreme disappointment: I did not love MARTY SUPREME. time.com/7337705/mart...

Imagine being so far gone into Trumpism/Republicanism that you would say this to someone who was shot in the head in an act of political violence.

Greatest. Thanksgiving Movie. Ever. Desplechin's A Christmas Tale Stellar cast incl Deneuve, Amalric, Devos, Mastroianni Our Take: midcenturycinema.org/node/92 More: @szacharek.bsky.social: www.salon.com/2008/11/14/c... Lopate: www.criterion.com/current/post... Sarris: observer.com/2008/11/dazz...

The WICKED people are coming to my (private) Facebook page too. I can see they're having as much trouble parsing the scrambled messages of these movies as I am.

Heartened to see others (like a writer at the Cut) are guffawing over the horrid droopy pegnoir crocheted from drab gray mohair during the "sex" scene in WICKED: FOR GOOD. So some good will come from this total eyeball-assault. time.com/7335066/wick...

The WICKED bullies are out and about, beware! Pissed-off flying monkeys are nicer.

Fashion model.

Watched Peter Hujar's Day and I thought I would share this self portrait he took in his studio.

Pope Leo Criterion Closet video WHEN

All four living Hitchcock blondes should sue. And then the dead ones should come back from the grave and sue some more.

Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:

This just in, from the Water Is Wet Dept.

BOTD Jean Seberg!! MCCT5: 5)Bonjour Tristesse (Premenger) 4)Fine Madness (Kershner) 4)Lilith (Rossen) 2)Breathless (Godard) 1)Line of Demarcation (Chabrol) More @jhoberman.bsky.social: nytimes.com/2020/02/19/m... v fine Kristen Stewart biopic - @szacharek.bsky.social rev: time.com/5665387/sebe...

Me, writing an email: I better craft three full paragraphs, with proper grammar and a few concluding bullet points, to make sure that my meaning is entirely clear. Rich people writing emails: "good to be.. well connect on that. ,, none can tell.try to say what and we know."

Took the opportunity of book-list season to write about some of my favorites of the year, from Oyinkan Braithwaite, Melissa Febos, Naomi Xu Elegant, Sophie Gilbert, Aria Aber, Lily King, and Omar El Akkad

New York as a city of talkers, of artists, of ghosts: On Ira Sachs' intimate yet expansive PETER HUJAR'S DAY time.com/7331201/pete...

November Movie Preview: www.metacritic.com/pictures/nov... Thursday - Die, My Love [74] - "What Lawrence does in Die, My Love is so delicately textured, even within its bold expressiveness, and its fiery anger, that it leaves you scrambling for adjectives." - Stephanie Zacharek, TIME

One thing the NYC mayoral race underscored for me is how easily the phrase "I don't feel safe" can be weaponized. It's an argument I would hesitate ever to use again, even for a good cause. I hope we can all agree that we have the right to BE safe. Maybe we should leave it at that.

The beauty of the un-perfect family: On Joachim Trier's SENTIMENTAL VALUE, Jim Jarmusch's FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER, and Ben Stiller's STILLER & MEARA: NOTHING IS LOST time.com/7328905/sent...

Career highlight! This summer I went to Fraunces Tavern with Ken Burns to talk about American history. That interview is now live at @vanityfair.com www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/st...

Even those who love movies may feel that they can't always handle the emotions that a film heats up. They need to talk to friends, to read critics, in order to understand why they're reacting as they are, and whether it's an aberration or others feel the same way. (1976)