A great day for azilbz: -had a good bagel -went grocery shopping -watched 3 Sundance movies -had a solid burger -went to an excellent local post-rock show Now I am watching more movies because I am a sicko.

I will probably be writing on Melania, but what really strikes me is what an abject failure it is even as propaganda. You can hear Brett Ratner practically begging his subject for humanizing details that she seems unable to disclose; the inevitable conclusion is that she has no humanity to reveal.

Fuck

Sundance thread! Union County: a low-key drama about recovering addicts in rural Ohio. It unfolds like a procedural of people in the system, a mix of understated acting and quasi-nonfiction confessionals. Its pursuit of emotional accuracy, ironically, may stop it from reaching a larger audience.

I know enough to know I am no expert on the intricacies of congressional appropriations and what actual victory conditions look like, which puts me at a disadvantage on Bluesky. It means I can’t get cheap thrills from posts that shit all over each new detail in a fluid, complex negotiation.

Rest in power BYT. Before COVID shut us down, we had the most comprehensive, independent film coverage of any outlet in our nation’s capital, bolstered by a deep bench of impressive writers. Our Melania review would have been ruthless.

Photo of the FBI impersonator suspect.

Ok, maybe I exaggerated the two-way influence a little, but I am sure Bruce wouldn't mind. He's about to have another new fan!

Like Noel, I am Sundancing this weekend. I got tickets to Union County, Josephine, Zi, Soul Patrol, Run Amok, Night Nurse, Hanging by a Wire, Rock Springs, Carousel, plus some shorts. Not so fresh takes imminent!

The Alamo Drafthouse in Crystal City sold 14 tickets to Melania for all of Friday, with ZERO tickets sold on Saturday or Sunday. Some context: a lot of rank and file federal employees live in this area.

Last night I caught up with the documentary Secret Mall Apartment. Somehow I missed the talking heads include the drummer for Lightning Bolt, and the whole thing is an extremely punk rock (complementary) look at street art. Think Banksy, but more inclusive. Anyway, it's on Netflix.

The lyrics to maybe the best-known Napalm Death song are "You suffer, but why?"

This is HUGE. Screenings of My Undesirable Friends have been *extremely* limited, and now you'll be able to watch it at home, along with its anticipated sequel!

Cinema sickos are eating well this year. Not only do we have the Iron Maiden sequence from 28 Years Later, there is also the mouth to mouth resuscitation scene from Send Help, maybe the funniest of its kind ever put on film (depending on your queasiness level).

LB does a lot of things wrong, but getting rid of review-bombing is one of its better practices.

Sam Raimi's Send Help is a splatter-filled delight! Rachel McAdams has never been better, and more importantly, Raimi goes back into full-on sicko mode. Assuming the country thaws by Friday, you will want to see this with a crowd.

The upcoming Melania documentary opens in DC this Friday, and it looks like the evening showtimes at the AMC Georgetown are close to being sold out. I am genuinely curious about the ratio of MAGA to media bloggers.

-Kevin Williamson -Noah Berlatsky -David Mamet -The reanimated body of Norman Podhoretz -NSFWish Olivia Nuzzi AI Chatbot -Matt Stoller

DC had its worst snowstorm in a decade and I haven’t seen a single guardsman with a shovel despite an ongoing, obvious need. I have seen scores continuing to stand around and waste taxpayer dollars.

Two of the other doc short nominees, The Devil Is Busy and Armed with Only a Camera, are superior to this misguided drivel because they give tough subjects the rigor and bracing honesty they merit, while All the Empty Rooms is the cinematic equivalent of a “thoughts and prayers” social media post.

It seems like The Washington Post now sees The Free Press, not The New York Times, as its primary competition. A real shame, given the talent/depth in its newsroom, and what this means for local reporting in the DC area.

You better believe I had this on my bingo card.

I spent half an hour shoveling, and now I never want to move again. Never experienced snow/sleet so heavy.

Maybe the elder abuse can finally stop. “Her campaign also raised just $7.50 from Jan. 1 to Jan. 25.” Fucking LOL.

This shitty fucking documentary made me so fucking mad. I bet it wins the Oscar.

Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen Diarrhea Planet Beyoncé Lou Reed Q and Not U METZ

My last four watched will probably contain shorts for the indefinite future. When I get home from work, I find watching a short film is a good palette cleanser before getting on with dinner/chores/whatever.

Distributed by Amazon, the pro-AI thriller Mercy has awful special effects and the worst performance of Chris Pratt's career. It is is not an ad for Alexa, just a feature-length assurance that relinquishing your fundamental rights is good, actually. My @spectrumculture.bsky.social review.

Lowkey this is one of the most enduring Onion headlines.

Best Picture nominees as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a thread: Bugonia

It's Always Sunny is my lane, and dril is Ben's lane. Enjoy!

An incredible thing to post after Sinners, a commercial and critical success, just set a record for the most Oscar nomiations for any movie. By every conceivable metric, your movie has won. What more could you possibly want?!?!?!

Best Picture nominees as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a thread: Bugonia

Get watching, y'all! Funnily enough, I have only seen one of these (Retirement Plan), and it was aggressively FINE.

A preview for tomorrow’s shitposts.

I think Civil War will go down as Garland's masterpiece for the same reason it made folks recoil: it reveals something uncomfortable and true about Americans that does not fit neatly into the political spectrum. Here's what I wrote about it in late 2024.

I do not have any Oscar predictions for tomorrow, except for one: I bet many of the nominated short films are already streaming for free online! Watch this space to see where you can find them, and I'll give recommendations based on what I've seen so far.

Related to Joshua's point, this is always why I get annoyed with "DC is a swamp" memes. Motherfucker, these disgraceful swampy assholes are here because *YOU* sent them to represent *YOUR* interests. Folks in DC just want to live their lives, plus Statehood so the National Guard will fuck off.

Evan is talking about Pitchfork's new pay to play audience rating system. I suspect it will not build community, but will be weaponized by a stan army any time the Pitchfork *editorial* review is not sufficiently high enough.

I know Ned isn't looking for advice, but his post is a good reminder of when art comes in handy. Listen to an album, read a poem, watch a short film. It won't make these massive problems beyond our control go away, but they will provide a reprieve and maybe even a reset.

I hesitate to say the DC bus kidnapping story is a metaphor for what's happening in this country because, while undoubtedly harrowing to deal with a madman who puts people in danger seemingly with impunity, at least @musicologyduck.bsky.social and the other passengers survived.

I love when one of my older letterboxd reviews gets some likes, especially when it’s a movie I didn’t like that has a positive consensus. I have the same impulse: it can be lonely to be that asshole, and even they sometimes need friends.

Scott is one of my dearest friends, and I am immensely proud to see his kindness and compassion in response to this, that a whole city gets to have him in their corner. Read his words and get ready to do the same in your community

This app is ill-equipped for saber rattling. Even when there are no new updates, everyone reacts to the latest because it is new to them, which creates an illusion of escalation and inevitability. It makes things seem worse than they are. I am mostly saying this because y’all are freaking me out.

Today is a good day to read Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Seeing this in a theater full of leather daddies, including at least one guy in assless chaps, was a delight. Good movie, and astute about boundaries in relationships.

Greetings from Mid-Atlantic Leather weekend.

Not mine though. Mine are justified.

Jon Stewart directed the worst movie of the 2020s, and he’s lucky the pandemic memory-holed it.

Attention elder millennials of DC: there are still tickets to see Bishop Allen and Mates of State tonight at The Atlantis.