Wrote about THE DRAMA, Sandy Hook, and my feelings about on-screen violence and cinematic red lines for @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/arch...

Latest Kurt Vile is a fascinating example of “late-ish style.” New peak of inane, hyper-literal lyrical style, i.e., a ten-minute track about his looping pedal. Familiar melodies and guitar tone circle pet themes with varied purpose. As a fan, it’s fun and cool, but it’s also funny as all hell.

Lemme ask you something. When you go online, does anyone ever say to you, “Boards of Canada sucks”? …No. No, man. Shit no, man. I believe you get your ass kicked saying something like that, man.

Wrote about roast history, LARRY SANDERS, Norm Macdonald, and why the jokes designed to shock feel boring and prescribed. Gift link below. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

LA MAISON DES BOIS (Pialat, ’71): The effortless accumulation of people, spaces, and details in service of illustrating the only life lesson worth learning: you will come to miss everything and everyone, often just as they start to fade away. “No one gets punished for being sad.”

CHRONOVISOR (Cosmic Salon, 2026): All the semi-structuralist stuff is max fun, i.e., What if you read over the shoulder of your philosophy prof who accidentally stumbled upon the existence of the Ark of the Covrnant at the library? Couldn’t stop grinning during the last 15 mins.

The entire prologue—everything through the car exploding—is some of the best, near-perfect mainstream Hollywood filmmaking to exist in my lifetime. The rest is also quite good.

Snorted at the stolen SCHIZOPOLIS joke in PROJECT HAIL MARY.

[Sweating after missing the discourse moment, adjusts tie] Has no one considered that Punch might not be properly humble? You’re a stranger and you carry this Linus blanket around! Lay lie, pay your dues, let them come to you…

I’m a guy of a certain age, so the first few notes of “Clint Eastwood” are transportive by design, but seeing Del on stage was a real “Oh! How nice” moment.

On THE SECRET AGENT and SIRĀT, the ways that both films capture the atmosphere of fascism, and how they embrace helplessness without indulging in hopelessness. For @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/cult...

On THE SECRET AGENT and SIRĀT, the ways that both films capture the atmosphere of fascism, and how they embrace helplessness without indulging in hopelessness. For @thenation.com www.thenation.com/article/cult...

any time i complain about the degredation of our ability to express ourselves through language people go "language always changes, it wasn't the same 200 years ago either" but have u read letters from 200 years ago? they actually were better at expressing themselves through language than we are lol

NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE (Johnson, 2026): “You think this is funny? My whole life is riding on this.”

PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER (Tykwer, 2006): You can’t be smelling like that White Baby

Wrote a brief obituary for Frederick Wiseman, largely about ASPEN and IN JACKSON HEIGHTS, two films whose points of view shine through in editing and focus. Gift link below. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

For the @reverseshot.bsky.social symposium, I wrote about THE TARGET SHOOTS FIRST and the Hi-8 camera, selling out vs. buying in, the shadow of the ’90s on our current moment, and my tenure managing Downtime Magazine. A more personal piece than usual! Check it out! reverseshot.org/symposiums/e...

If you haven’t already seen it, please seek out Tom Noonan’s debut feature WHAT HAPPENED WAS… One of the great American independent films of the ’90s directed by one of the very best American character actors ever.

I’ve had Duvall’s delivery of “big, fat, BIG-TITTED HIT” burned into my brain since I was 14 years old.

Been listening to APOLOGIES TO THE QUEEN MARY on repeat for the first time since high school, which basically means strangers sometimes have to hear me mutter stuff like, “I got water and I got holes” like a fool.

F1 is *fine*. The cars go zoom and the guys are mad. What’s the problem?

He’s gonna live until he’s like 95 yrs old, and when it finally happens it will be profoundly unsatisfying.

A year ago, I had the opportunity to write some thoughts about my personal history with David Lynch, a sui generis filmmaker who, like so many others, meant the world to me. For @thenation.com. www.thenation.com/article/cult...

For the ~12 people who care, Sammy's DEBUT ALBUM is back on Spotify after being removed. Notable for being the only Pavement rip-off record, to the point where legal action might have been warranted, feat. a guitarist who went on to become a billionaire. open.spotify.com/album/5CwHg3...

Did Mary Bronstein go an entire press cycle without being asked about Guided by Voices?

The run of Filmmaker Magazine under Scott & Vadim produced some of the most fascinating and important work on understanding indie film in terms of economics, technology, and the actual stakes of art. I was honored to write for Vadim, easily one of the best editors I've worked with. Hire Vadim!

If you enjoy my writing, much of that is because I was edited by, and worked alongside, Vadim, who made me a stronger, more perceptive critic, thinker, and viewer. Words can hardly express how much of a blow this is to “the culture.” Hire him.

My first taste of Béla Tarr was THE TURIN HORSE and I was hooked from the masterful opening shot. His work is still essential and awe-inspiring. The best way to honor his legacy is to watch his films. The second-best way is to watch this mashup. youtu.be/ZZ3-7C6RYOE?...

Not the first time I've said it, but I do think we should sit with the fact that the folks likeliest to have predicted we'd elect a reality TV president who'd create a fascist police state where people would be put into unmarked vans for criticizing Israel have been widely ridiculed my entire life.

Well, this is specific.

It’s been a bad year for myriad reasons, but as always, a sincere thanks to the lovely editors who commissioned work from me. Business is bad all around, so if you saw my byline and chose to engage with the writing, I appreciate it. May it continue. Good tidings. Here’s a photo.

Here's 30 of my favorite first viewings from 2025 in (autobiographically) chronological order.

Don’t really know how to contain my rage after a guy at the cinema took my coat off my chair and gave it to lost and found because he “thought someone had just forgot it.” Stared at this idiot for like five seconds before realizing I can’t blow him up with my mind.

MEGADOC (Figgis, 2025): “All I’m saying is: What’s on the screen? Is it real or is it flickering light?” “It’s real!” “Okay, it’s not real.”

One of my favorite actors period. A true ringer, someone who elevated material just by showing up. His funny, unaffected delivery was unparalleled. There’s like half a dozen GENERATION KILL scenes that ran through my head after hearing the news. I found this one the quickest.

Definitive version. Have gotten a ton of mileage out of “You say that you’re a pervert, you’re a vulture / Don’t you wanna be popular culture?” youtu.be/i8yehVUF8h0?...

Last month, I spent four days in Knoxville attending FILM FEST KNOX where I watched cool regional cinema and basked in the sights. Wrote about it at length for @filmmakermagazine.com.web.brid.gy. Please check it out. filmmakermagazine.com/132553-revie...

Last month, I spent four days in Knoxville attending FILM FEST KNOX where I watched cool regional cinema and basked in the sights. Wrote about it at length for @filmmakermagazine.com.web.brid.gy. Please check it out. filmmakermagazine.com/132553-revie...

Some insufficient, drive-by thoughts on MARTY SUPREME, one of the funnest and funniest movies of the year. Was happy with it not being “about” much, but then it reveals its hand at the last minute and everything snaps into place…

am kinda over the damn moon about this review of ANOTHER WORLD ISN'T POSSIBLE in The Whitney Review (but you'll have to buy it to see it)

Sorta in awe of this talk show appearance. Eight mins are spent discussing now-niche late ’70s, early ’80s TV character actors and LOVE BOAT storylines. Vic Tayback gets name checked thrice. Hanks mentions STALAG 17. Exclusively for nerds and anyone 65+. m.youtube.com/watch?v=0SKa...

Only for the heads: if you have the chance to see Kyle Kinane in the next few months, take the chance. As a fan from the beginning, he has his best hour in maybe a decade.

Spoke with Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar about TRAIN DREAMS, shooting the logging scenes, working with animals, and, um, my *very* different interpretation of the source text. For the most recent @filmmakermagazine.com.web.brid.gy issue now online. filmmakermagazine.com/131835-inter...

Kinda funny that a pop star has a Substack at all, but I suppose it’s nice that every generation receives their own MEETING PEOPLE IS EASY (1998) in the form (blog post) they deserve.

The Bar, which lines a wall with bawdy political paintings, once featured a portrait of a nude Mark Sanford in a loving embrace with a woman on the Appalachian. Since the public quickly forgot that particular sex scandal, I often explained its origins to curious tourists. Anyway.

mayor zohran sir please immediately dispatch the boppers, gramercy riffs, turnbull ac's, hi-hats, electric eliminators, rogues, lizzies, orphans, punks and warriors to chicago to join the fight against ice

I’ll say I’m a cynical pessimist by nature, but the last time I felt this hopeful was when I canvassed and phone banked for Obama in 08 when I wasn’t old enough to vote for him. “I’m running outta heroes man. Guys like you are in short supply,” etc. etc.

You know, he lit up the world with his beautiful smirk.

At least twice during tonight’s performance, The Beta Band transcended the ’90s—white guys into rap, “sampledelica,” the legacy of Beck—to become the Scottish rebirth of Can (if every member was a percussionist). I wanna tell my stoner 16-yr-old self: You backed the right horse.