In the latest installment of Tokusatsu Now, @ericfrancisco24.bsky.social, @mhwilliams.bsky.social and I chat about Project R.E.D and the other tokusatsu to expect in 2026, but also discuss Kill Bill and Quentin Tarantino’s connection to the genre. Watch the full episode: youtu.be/Dsy0ut7AHwk?...

lol. lmao. deadline.com/2025/10/netf...

It’s hard to not see the Netflix/WB news as a sort of doomsday scenario. The constant mergers and large scale absorptions of brands might be good for business, in theory, but they are bad for art; they are bad for creators; they are bad for preservation. Which makes it bad for us.

I’m going to miss movie theaters.

Okay but will the Call of Duty movie have a Zombies DLC?

At New York Comic Con, seated for a panel moderated by Martin Scorsese.

Dave Gibbons contribution to the 1988 anthology AARGH!

For the second time in my career, I've interviewed Justin Lin. Excited to premiere the trailer for Last Days, his first independent movie in almost 20 years, at Esquire. www.esquire.com/entertainmen...

I tracked down an entomologist and, ahem, bugged them with questions about Alien: Earth. I've done a lot of cool interviews in the past but this is easily the most fun I've had in a long time. www.esquire.com/entertainmen...

Who’s your favorite Jedi? (wrong answers only)

This would kill as an Act 1 needledrop

I don't think a lot of younger folks realize what a bfd #MeToo was, and the deep resentment and anger felt by a certain segment of powerful men at the very idea that they shouldn't have the privilege of abusing and taking advantage of women that they'd always felt entitled to.

That was the most Disney+ ass trailer, you can't tell me that's for a theatrical movie

Calling all Guild members, labor allies and anyone who believes in a free country — Join us outside the entrance to ABC's offices at 7 Hudson Square (310 Hudson Street, Manhattan) TOMORROW at 12 PM ET to demand that ABC bring back Jimmy Kimmel Live! RSVP: wgaea.st/kimmel-rally

Cowards.

I wrote about the firing of Alan Sepinwall, which is awful. And I tied it into what's happening all over in the media, why it's scary & what we can do to help. I used my words, but it's definitely Hulk Mo dialed up to 11, if that's a thing you would like to experience: www.moryan.com/on-the-firin...

Everytime it feels like this industry must surely have hit bottom, oh no here’s a lower place.

A Black man and a homeless man were found hanging from trees in Mississippi yesterday, for those who haven’t seen yet because it’s barely made it out of local news.

My colleagues say All the President's Men and The Candidate, my bros say Captain America: The Winter Soldier, my mom says The Way We Were. But for me, my all-time favorite Robert Redford movie is Barefoot in the Park. Silly, sexy, lovely. Him and Jane Fonda together, nuclear grade chemistry.

Some news: yesterday was my last at Rolling Stone. For now, I'm going solo, doing all my TV reviewing, recapping, etc., at my newsletter. I hope you'll consider subscribing. Many more details here:

It just feels kinda cruel how that counter pops up while people are trying to find the words to thank people

"I just want to say, go birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine," "Hacks" star Hannah Einbinder at the #Emmys

When I grow up I want to be like Tramell Tillman

Feel like I’m going insane with the revisionist history that Charlie Kirk fostered open debate. He chilled speech and his targeting of professors for wrongthink led to threats, harassment, and being forced out of their jobs. His legacy is chilling speech right now, about him

This man will not be fired for calling for the murder of American citizens, yet multiple journalists/reporters/teachers lost their job for accurately reporting things Charlie Kirk actually said and stood for. But it’s the “violent left” that’s the problem

Here’s I wrote about gamergate 11 years ago. Almost nobody major in the media got what this was or why it mattered. “Eh, it’s just nerdy Online Drama.” The difference now? The cluelessness remains, fewer publications & reporters—& gamergate took over the country. www.huffpost.com/entry/anita-...

When you publish a website that posts the names and photos of scholars who have written or said things you disagree with and encourage people to surveil and harass them, you are not, in fact, a “free speech” organization.

How do young men see the world? For #TheLongWalk, I had the thrill of talking to Garrett Wareing and Charlie Plummer about their collection of photos they snapped during production. I'm proud to help share them with the world. Now on Esquire. www.esquire.com/entertainmen...

This is also the exact vibe of Charlie Kirk obituaries. Nary a mention of how he said he’d hypothetically force his daughter to deliver her rapist’s baby at age 10

Here’s why Power Rangers fell apart relatively quickly into its existence. For the full episode with myself, @ericfrancisco24.bsky.social, @agreenriver.bsky.social and @mhwilliams.bsky.social, talking about the Rise and Fall of #PowerRangers, click here: youtu.be/NX-MeRpvg0A?...

Went to see Oasis earlier this week in my home state. It was a religious experience. My latest for Esquire: www.esquire.com/entertainmen...

Morning

The delay on [REDACTED] is wild because it's honestly pretty fuckin' awesome

LAPD choppers are a malignant nuisance. They're harbingers of surveillance, operated *continuously*—yet the city's own data show they raise stress, impair cognition and burn 100,000s of gallons of gas. The best part? there's no evidence they deter or reduce crime at all. It's time to ground them.

As a massive fan of Shane Black, I jumped at the chance to talk to him about his latest film Play Dirty, which breaks a long dry spell from directing after seven long years. My interview with Black, plus the exclusive trailer debut for Play Dirty, now on Esquire. www.esquire.com/entertainmen...

🚨TOKUSATSU NOW🚨 On the inaugural episode of the show, @ericfrancisco24.bsky.social blows the minds of me, @agreenriver.bsky.social, and @mhwilliams.bsky.social by revealing the true origins of Marvel's America Chavez. Check the replies for details! Full video: youtu.be/FC3aobcCXAc?...

As a metaphor for the relationship between Fox News and the Trump administration this is a little too on the nose

Writing about Alien: Earth, an explainer about The Five, bribing my editor to use this photo

For a long time when I met people and told them what I do for a living, I used to frame it as, "What you do for fun, I do for work!" I'm stopping that. Work is work period, and what we do demands skill and scholarship. If everyone could do it, they would and not have AI do it for them.

The missing piece of the equation explaining why so many critic positions are being eliminated is the little AI summaries at the top of Google results, which reduced click-throughs drastically. Once again, a tech company has stolen human labor and monetized it and doesn't care about the impact.

I genuinely do think a realignment in how we produce film criticism and get people to engage with it is going to have to happen. I just don't know what that looks like, especially as an overall interest in arts and culture, much less expertise, seems in steep decline in this country.

Maybe it’s because I’m a state legislator, but I’m worried about the under reaction here. She didn’t spend the night on the House floor. She’s being DETAINED AGAINST HER WILL BY REPUBLICANS UNTIL SHE FOLLOWS THEIR ORDERS. This is 🦇 💩

Unreal to say this but, I interviewed Tony Hawk about the endurance of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater—the highs, lows, and whatever the future holds. Childhood fulfilled, full circle moment, etc. Ironic that words fail to explain what this means to me, but I've got 2400+ of them anyway. Now on Esquire.

jesus christ

A bucket list dream interview of mine publishes tomorrow. Beyond thrilled.

There are seven types of people on social media.

Reading this @gqmagazine.bsky.social profile of Hasan Piker and oh my god this paragraph just made me feel like the cryptkeeper www.gq.com/story/hasan-...

It’s genuinely insane that this technology is even legal, let alone that it’s being shoved down our throats from every possible angle

The only remotely wise thing I can say is to directly support outlets that are still writing thoughtful, eloquent criticism. Shell out a few $ for a subscription to those who offer it, hit the free sites with your traffic, share good pieces here and elsewhere. It's a tiny thing, but it's something.