#NowWatching After the Hunt (Luca Guadagnino, 2025)

If your only exposure to Miss Rachel is her extremely laudable advocacy for Palestinian children, I’m here to tell you as a local baby parent that she is a benevolent sorceress with a mystical control of infants’ attention. It’s unreal.

Fincher’s Netflix period has been so strange. Part of me what’s to write it off as pure sell-out stuff, but then you get THE KILLER. Even MANK, which stinks, isn’t the work of someone cashing checks and coasting.

#NowWatching Harakiri (Masaki Kobayashi, 1962)

Baby’s new favorite bit is pulling my hoodie strings to pretend to choke me to death. The young one is learning the ancient ways of slapstick.

#NowWatching If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein, 2025)

Youth Pastor Voice:

In his defense, this was the reporter he was responding to

Feeling more confident than ever that the inevitable blockbuster sequel spot in this year’s Best Picture lineup will go to AVATAR, not WICKED

Just picked up a Switch 2 and Mario Kart, looking for potential online friends. Feel free to add me with friend code SW-0068-2034-8336

Just picked up a Switch 2 and Mario Kart, looking for potential online friends. Feel free to add me with friend code SW-0068-2034-8336

The Raimi in January and this in February, a weirdly loaded early 2026 for fans of genre stylists.

Benny Safdie may be the last actor to ever launch a successful movie career off of playing a mentally handicapped character

It will never happen, but it would be funny if this was just the most straightforward, true to the material adaptation, and it was a miniseries basically entirely in response to Thatcherism

Honking like a damn goose

New office decor

My baby has developed a joyous Pavlovian response to the Looney Tunes opening, which means I’m bringing her up right.

Technically started it yesterday, but #NowWatching Frankenstein (Guillermo Del Toro, 2025)

A perfect example of why VFX vs. practical is not a cut and dry case of bad vs. good. That ship may have been practical and on a real set, but that section of the film looks like absolute dogshit regardless.

One thing I'm gathering from my students this semester is that among young people, there is a pervasive belief that there is an ongoing mental health crisis. This is not to say that many of them don't struggle with mental health, but I'm curious where they all got this notion.

#NowWatching Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt, 2016)

Ok I had to go find the clip bc this is the energy I will be bringing when anyone ever asks me if I use this ugly nonsense x: www.instagram.com/reel/DQun5Qr...

Hot tip: the Barnes and Noble Criterion sale includes preorders of EYES WIDE SHUT.

PLURIBUS pilot is a real-ass must-see TV event.

New Vince Gilligan show is out, can’t wait to watch it, but it makes me think about how Apple has seemingly cornered the market on prestige sci-fi: PLURIBUS, SEVERANCE, FOR ALL MANKIND, FOUNDATION, THE SILO. I wonder if this somehow comes out of their tech company background.

#NowWatching The Smashing Machine (Benny Safdie, 2025)

Divas supporting divas

I hope everyone today thinks back on the life and legacy of Dick Cheney by revisiting Adam McKay’s VI—I’m just goofing, don’t do that.

Wife and I spent the entire first week of her new job stressed out and exhausted, new schedule on top of a sick baby. Week 2, things are finally settling into a groove.

I guess you could say the baby and I have big plans for tomorrow

A Roaring 20s theme as we teeter on the edge of economic calamity really is putting too fine a point on things.

What Peter Watkins should I start with if I’ve never seen one?

Free screen name for someone who loves both Hong Kong cinema and Arkansas sports: John Woo Pig Tsui Hark

Rewatching SCREAM for the first time since I was probably 15. Every teenager in this movie is 25 and TERRIBLE.

Baby’s first Halloween, going as her favorite toy, a stuffed octopus

If any of my mutuals are trivia freaks with a speciality in pop culture, I'm looking to put together a team of three for the Pop Culture Jeopardy test. Let me know if you're interested.

So we all hate the idea of Paramount buying Warner Brothers, and the idea of Netflix buying them may be even worse. So, assuming someone is going to buy at least part of the company, who is the least loathsome buyer? Apple? Comcast?

Now that I have a baby, Halloween is about making her cute, but throwback to the best costume I've ever put together as an adult, when I was the snowman himself, Col. Tom Parker

#NowWatching The Long Walk (Francis Lawrence, 2025)

For the UW-Cinematheque, I’ve written a short blog about the laborious production and multiple versions of Charlie Chaplin’s GOLD RUSH, just in time for its centennial and new 4K restoration. cinema.wisc.edu/2025/10/29/t...

Outbreak (Wolfgang Petersen, 1995)

Why is this guy pulling out a map? Just turn off the AI features on your phone and use GPS as normal, voila, no AI.

This interview is as damning and incoherent as anything coming out from Trump’s coterie of goons. This woman is genuinely an ignoramus.

"Quentin Tarantino..." Yes, I'm listening. "stars..." Aaaaaaaand I'm out.

Paramount+ is roughly 75% Taylor Sheridan shows and David Ellison’s Paramount lost him in a matter of months.

Watching the director’s cut of NIGHTMARE ALLEY (2021) and ready to declare this as part of the very small class of films improved by a black and white version.

Extraordinarily powerful cuteness