Didn't know this when I posted this earlier today, but just wanted to turn this into a post thanking my editor @ericnus.bsky.social who made this piece infinitely better and was great to work with over the last couple years. He's a thoughtful editor you should go hire ASAP bsky.app/profile/eric...

one of the things I treasure most about writing is it is one of the vanishingly few remaining pursuits that involves sitting quietly with your own thoughts—something the entire tech industry has mobilized to ensure we never do again

What a loss for Seattle! Eric is a fantastic editor who brings so much care and curiosity to a whole range of stories about our city

This afternoon's cinema

Eric was one of my favorite editors I worked with when I was freelancing. Smart, thoughtful, and collaborative. This is a big loss for the Seattle Met and Seattle.

Didn't know this when I posted this earlier today, but just wanted to turn this into a post thanking my editor @ericnus.bsky.social who made this piece infinitely better and was great to work with over the last couple years. He's a thoughtful editor you should go hire ASAP bsky.app/profile/eric...

For those like myself who still enjoy reading magazines you can hold in your hand, my piece on WTO/99, the essential & urgent archival documentary from director Ian Bell, is in the most recent issue of the Seattle Met. Pick one of those up for yourself/read here 📽️: www.seattlemet.com/arts-and-cul...

Yesterday was my last day as editor of Seattle Met. I'm very grateful for the talented people I got to work with and very proud of the magazines we made. Hoping the publication can thrive under its new ownership. Looking forward to writing more again soon. Hit me up: enusbaum at gmail dot com.

Admission is free tomorrow and the first Thursday of each month at several Seattle-area museums. The National Nordic Museum, Seattle Art Museum, and Burke Museum are all open until 8 p.m., MOHAI is free from 5 to 8 p.m., and the Museum of Flight from 5 to 9 p.m. Details below:

www.vulture.com/article/the-...

On Friday, MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS comes to Mubi. Last summer, I had a long conversation with director Julia Loktev about the film and the lessons she learned about authoritarianism. There are a couple quotes in here I think about all the time.

For those like myself who still enjoy reading magazines you can hold in your hand, my piece on WTO/99, the essential & urgent archival documentary from director Ian Bell, is in the most recent issue of the Seattle Met. Pick one of those up for yourself/read here 📽️: www.seattlemet.com/arts-and-cul...

I'm delighted to have @mcastimovies.bsky.social join The A.V. Club as our new film critic, and can't wait for our readers to see what we have in store. www.avclub.com/film-critic-...

The rumors are true! I have a new home at @avclub.com. So excited to join this incredible team. 💜

What other film newsletter is going to dig this deep into the latter-day BAD NEWS BEARS movies?

Today I delivered what you've long been asking for: 3,200 words on the original BAD NEWS BEARS trilogy. thereveal.film/the-bad-news...

I couldn’t be happier to feature into the gorgeous new edition of @lwlies.com with words on Jim Jarmusch’s chronically underrated THE DEAD DON’T DIE

Hell of a kicker on this article, which was actually written by a real writer.

No other film this year will make you feel as uncomfortable as THE DRAMA. Don’t miss out on it

At least fabulists like Stephen Glass had the imagination to make stuff up. This is just pitiful & anyone who writes criticism by putting their real thoughts into actual words should allow themselves a moment of pride that they're not this guy.

I find writing very stressful, I doubt pretty much everything I write, and if I feel like I need to write because of a self-imposed deadline and fail to write anything worthwhile I get mad at myself. Yet I couldn't do this and still look myself in the mirror. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...

Now available on Hulu, Mona Fastvold’s THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE remains one of those works that deserves your attention not because it was entirely and egregiously snubbed by the Oscars, but because it's a damn good film with a captivating performance by Amanda Seyfried that's one for the ages 📽️

"But the 'why,' I think, is the most important [...] It gives you another avatar for having big conversations that are a little bit more difficult when they’re lived experiences." Spoke to Lily Gladstone with KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON now out from Criterion: www.slantmagazine.com/film/lily-gl...

I lost my damn mind while watching the empty void that is THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film...

Yep, get this watched.

On Hulu in the US and Disney+ internationally, as of today. And: What he said.

Easily one of my faves from last year.

Now available on Hulu, Mona Fastvold’s THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE remains one of those works that deserves your attention not because it was entirely and egregiously snubbed by the Oscars, but because it's a damn good film with a captivating performance by Amanda Seyfried that's one for the ages 📽️

Tom Rona, a teacher at Lakeside School for 47 years, was the direct inspiration for a unique drawing early on in the film.

Sorry Ryan Gosling, but it's Seattle teacher Tom Rona who's the real deal who inspired #ProjectHailMary director Christopher Miller. Spoke to Rona about being referenced in the film via the now iconic Balloon Dog & making an impact on the world through teaching📽️ www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...

Jaysus Effin' Christ. I hope this leads to a better policy of scrutiny. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/b...

Hopefully Project Hail Mary does so well that we can get a sequel to The Nice Guys that does so well that we get a sequel to Master and Commander, two sequels that should have already happened imho

Ah, so Andy Weir is like... *dumb* dumb gizmodo.com/andy-weir-st...

Sorry Ryan Gosling, but it's Seattle teacher Tom Rona who's the real deal who inspired #ProjectHailMary director Christopher Miller. Spoke to Rona about being referenced in the film via the now iconic Balloon Dog & making an impact on the world through teaching📽️ www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...

HOT WATER: The great duo of Lubna Azabal & Daniel Zolghadri ensure this winning, if slightly familiar, road drama comes to life in the little details. Also glad for a movie to recognize how profoundly annoying it is to transport hockey gear 📽️ My #Sundance2026 review: www.thewrap.com/creative-con...

NEW: Trump pardoned nursing home owner Joseph Schwartz just 3 months into his sentence for a $39 million fraud scheme. Meanwhile, families who won multimillion-dollar wrongful death suits against Schwartz haven’t collected a cent.

Project Hail Mary continues its out-of-this-world box office performance.

SCOOP: The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, U.S. officials said, as thousands of American soldiers and Marines arrive in the Middle East for what could become a dangerous new phase of the war should President Trump escalate. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Y'know what, I'm still with it "War don't sex" that's right brother, peace fucks

john waters at a No Kings rally in Provincetown (not my pic, Peter Toto, x)

Resharing my piece on THEY WILL KILL YOU for my fellow INDUSTRY heads who are missing seeing new episodes every weekend as also spoke with Myha’la about Harper versus the characters here. She told me she sees much of a connection between herself and them than she does with Harper. Read that below 📽️

I talked to the legend Wallace Shawn about being radicalized by his own work, reviving The Fever in the middle of a "big war," and why it's harder for the outspoken socialist to make political art now.

Resharing my piece on THEY WILL KILL YOU for my fellow INDUSTRY heads who are missing seeing new episodes every weekend as also spoke with Myha’la about Harper versus the characters here. She told me she sees much of a connection between herself and them than she does with Harper. Read that below 📽️

For Filmmaker Magazine, spoke to Kirill Sokolov, Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, & more about making the action horror movie THEY WILL KILL YOU. We talked the long road to getting it made, the standout fire axe sequence, and its many influences📽️ Read about all that here: filmmakermagazine.com/133489-inter...

They Will Kill You is another winner from director Kirill Sokolov that shows Zazie Beetz has all the chops to be an action star in her own right. Our review: https://t.co/NrsAvfxO1C

Now playing in theaters, Kirill Sokolov’s THEY WILL KILL YOU is more than a little rough around the edges but boasts a towering action performance from Zazie Beetz. She grounds the film just as she leaps through the air to rain down death with a fiery axe on all who oppose her. Read my review below📽️

They Will Kill You hits theaters this weekend! Check out our review of the action horror film starring Zazie Beetz: bit.ly/4dvCpUv

Nadav Lapid's new film, Yes, is essential viewing—wild, angry, teeming with reckless energy and barbed details, and romantically melancholy—but its form isn't as free or open as its first-person fury and quasi-documentary substance demand: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Continuing with what is turning out to be a Friday where I am largely taken with films that have proven to be wildly polarizing, Julia Ducournau’s ALPHA is finally hitting theaters. Quite different than RAW or TITANE, it still grabbed me. See it @siffnews.bsky.social & @thegrandcinema.bsky.social 📽️

ALPHA is finally out in US theaters. Seems like most folks didn't care for it but I thought it was one of the most interesting things I saw last year. Certainly one of the saddest movies I've come across lately. I hope it finds an audience.