it’s a wicked world in all meridians

New, from me: The Trump administration isn’t just using social media to shape a narrative. They view the world through a social media lens in a way that is plausibly corrupting their judgment and undermining their performance. Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...

Next up, the wonderfully oddball and sincere UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. Such rich visual tableaus layered with jokes. So many hilarious lines delivered as dry and plain as the desert. It also contains the most disorienting shot/reverse shot construction I've ever witnessed (complimentary)

Here are my top ten films from 2025, along with some bonus highlighting of performances I loved. So many great films! Still so many more to see! www.micahrickard.com/film/top-ten...

You Never Have to Look at The Video

Really not cool of the first ten minutes of David Lynch's DUNE to have so many spoilers for Villeneuve's DUNE films. They really should have labelled it with a spoiler warning or something

I want to highlight a couple under-the-radar films that got a 2025 (wide US) release. First, Joel Potrykus's VULCANIZADORA, a startling and substantial movie that will haunt me for a long time. Maybe the feel-bad film of 2025? (I have not yet seen HAMNET)

I know A&M has a longstanding reputation for conservatism. But when I was there, I was assigned readings by Marx (in an engineering ethics course, no less!). That and other readings opened up a fascination with philosophy that has led me in so many fruitful directions. This, in conrast, is so dumb

If a university in a blue state advised removing Plato because he was pro-slavery it would be the top story on Fox for a year. Democratic elected officials would be expected to answer for it within hours

I hate living in an age with so many absolutely vile people who have so much destructive power. Not the first, won't be the last, but I hate it now just the same.

he should be impeached for this alone

A Jefferson quote I find myself thinking about very often these days: "Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."

One of my last remaining movies to catch up on from 2025 was one of the best. Also, I might just screw around and go write a very long essay about it and Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Space www.micahrickard.com/film/sentime...

Wow, I guess it's time to finally work through Béla Tarr's films. I mean he hasn't made all that many—how long could it possibly take?

One of my last remaining movies to catch up on from 2025 was one of the best. Also, I might just screw around and go write a very long essay about it and Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Space www.micahrickard.com/film/sentime...

A longstanding question for Trumpism: if the desire is to make America great again, when was “again”? Because it often sounds like leaders of Trumpism aren’t huge fans of the U.S. in the latter half of 20th century, when it was…arguably at the zenith of its power?

New review up for Josh Safdie's MARTY SUPREME "Marty’s never met a problem he can’t refract into five new problems. Meet your new American Narcissus."

New review up for Josh Safdie's MARTY SUPREME "Marty’s never met a problem he can’t refract into five new problems. Meet your new American Narcissus."

The wisdom of Mr. Rogers is eternal:

Trump in a single gaggle on Air Force One just threatened: -- a second strike against Venezuela -- Cuba -- Mexico -- Colombia -- Iran -- Greenland (which in turn would be an attack on the EU and Denmark)

It’s a good thing Congress isn’t alive to see this

Thomas Merton 1961

I really have to stop imagining there are any lines in the sand that these people won't cross

Today is yet another day that I'm reminded that one of the many ways I've changed (grown?) spiritually in the past 5-10 years is that I no longer wonder at the place or need for the imprecatory psalms

Full statement: internationalpolicy.org/publications...

Statement from CIP's @mattduss.bsky.social on Trump's illegal attempt at regime change in Vemezuela internationalpolicy.org/publications...

O Lord, arise, help us;

Man, Vienna really goes wild with the fireworks

Be projected, god willing

Tiny Tim to 60 Day IL (Leg Weakness). Mets do not expect him to be available for playoffs.

Everyone has their own holiday viewing traditions. Mine is Catch Me If You Can, one of the best movies ever about loneliness — on Christmas and the other 364 days of the year. Merry Christmas, Carl.

There’s a scene in “The Zone of Interest” where the designers of the new crematorium being built for Auschwitz use the word “packages” to describe to each individual murder victim when they’re showing Rudolf Höss how the new system will work.

Extremely funny to call the pope “holier-than-thou”

A hard read. A necessary read. In full.

BLUE MOON gets the slight edge, but I also had a great time with NOUVELLE VAGUE: "Godard’s troupe fits right in with the gadabout artists and habitual philosophizers that Linklater has always been interested in."

Here we go

Hear me out: Grand Theft Hamnet

Catching up on this year's movies, some appreciation for Linklater's BLUE MOON: "Come for Hawke’s performance, stay for Hawke’s performance. But that’s not to say he leaves the only strong impression." www.micahrickard.com/film/blue-moon

Also there's a reason the Jimmy Kimmel thing broke through, and this probably will too

Catching up on this year's movies, some appreciation for Linklater's BLUE MOON: "Come for Hawke’s performance, stay for Hawke’s performance. But that’s not to say he leaves the only strong impression." www.micahrickard.com/film/blue-moon

I watched THIS IS SPINAL TAP for the very first time earlier this year. Regardless of knowing almost every punchline from years of cultural references, it was unenendingly funny. There's something truly special when humor can overcome that level of familiarity

To lose an artist as warm and generous as Rob Reiner is heart breaking. But also the loss of these two people calls for a grief that takes privilege over my nostalgia. This is so awful

A Few Good Men. Best in Show. A Mighty Wind. Miss Congeniality. Barcelona. All three movies in Linklater's "Before" trilogy. Music & Lyrics. Michael Clayton. All films that were able to be made because of the production company Reiner co-founded in order to give talented filmmakers creative freedom.

With its release on Netflix, here's my review of the latest Knives Out: "Wake Up Dead Man doesn’t bring the same humor or the same intricate mystery as the earlier films, but it feels like the most substantial, most thought-provoking of the bunch."

With its release on Netflix, here's my review of the latest Knives Out: "Wake Up Dead Man doesn’t bring the same humor or the same intricate mystery as the earlier films, but it feels like the most substantial, most thought-provoking of the bunch."

Now that I'm finished writing term papers, I can turn my attention to writing with even more panic as I try to catch up with all the year's movies I haven't seen yet. (Yay!/?)

That's right... Harrison Ford

My latest piece just got published in a new and interesting spot for me—the film blog of the APA (the philosophy one)! I wrote about Orson Welles' adaptation of The Trial, with its wild production design and a brilliant performance from Anthony Perkins.

Reading Specters of Marx in the food court area of a Christmas market, just as Derrida intended.

My latest piece just got published in a new and interesting spot for me—the film blog of the APA (the philosophy one)! I wrote about Orson Welles' adaptation of The Trial, with its wild production design and a brilliant performance from Anthony Perkins.