Hey NYC: Tomorrow night at 7 at the Quad Cinema, I get to introduce two of my very favorite Buster Keaton movies, Sherlock Jr. & Steamboat Bill, Jr. Plus: Keaton-and silent film-themed trivia quiz (not for experts only)!

I reviewed Judith Butler's new book Who's Afraid of Gender?, their first from a non-academic press, & used it as a chance to recall having Judith as my thesis adviser at Berkeley in the 90s--the kind of born teacher who changes the way you think & write. slate.com/culture/2024/0…

Back here for the 1st time in months to post a movie review, mainly because we are talking about alternatives to Tw*tter on Slate Culture Gabfest this week & I want to see how a link posted on various platforms performs differently. Anyway: Dune 2 is really good! slate.com/culture/2024/0…

Napoleon is Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix’s first movie together since Gladiator in 2000. I regret to report that, despite a pair of great performances & an onslaught of dizzyingly ginormous battle sequences, this time around I was not entertained. slate.com/culture/2023/1…

On the new Slate Culture Gabfest, Isaac Butler (he/him) joins us to discuss the new Nic Cage film Dream Scenario & classics scholar Dr Emily Wilson comes on to talk abt (& read aloud in Ancient Greek from!) her Iliad translation. Plus: the saga of Zaslav vs. Coyote vs. Acme. slate.com/podcasts/cultu…

Think of all the 1000s of hours of collective labor that go into making a big part-animated, part-live action film like this: the music composition & performance, voice acting, animation, special effects, sound mixing. All shelved forever so the stockholders can get even richer.

Alexander Payne's new comedy The Holdovers unites the director w/ his sardonic muse Paul Giamatti for the first time since Sideways. As Payne films go, it's a minor if endearing entry in the catalog, but it may have a future as a miserable-holiday classic. slate.com/culture/2023/1…

Always a joy to join Slate Culture Gabfest but never so much as today—SteveM, Julia Turner & Dana Stevens (is on Bl**sky now under same handle) interview me about my book ‘Old Town Road.’ We discuss how I came to write it, the song’s many R&B/rap+country antecedents & why ☆ made such a banger. slate.com/podcasts/cultu…

This one snuck up on me: Somehow it's November 6th & tonight at 7pm I am interviewing Karen Tongson (Karen Tongson) at the Strand Book Store about her excellent new book Normporn: Queer Viewers & the TV That Soothes Us. Tickets still available! Come out! eventbrite.com/e/karen-tongso…

I wrote on the treatment of age-gap relationships in two new movies, Sofia Coppola's Priscilla & Todd Haynes' May December. Both films attempt to avoid either romanticizing or moralizing, but what are they trying to say? slate.com/culture/2023/1…

Tomorrow night at the Alamo Drafthouse in Lower Manhattan, I will be interviewing Matt Singer / mattsinger.bsky.social about his new book Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever. The accompanying screenings are sold out, but you can buy Matt's great book here: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710246/o…

reminder that scout from to kill a mockingbird had the best halloween costume of all time

This costume! 😍🎥📖🎃

On this week's Slate Culture Gabfest we talk about Scorsese's late-period masterwork Killers of the Flower Moon; bring in Dan Kois to discuss the Buffy-reboot podcast Slayers; & wonder, along w/ Kyle Chayka, whatever happened to the Internet where you could have fun.slate.com/podcasts/cultu…

i loved killers of the flower moon.

the excruciatingly beautiful film’s conclusion almost feels like a magic trick: euphorically floating above but grounded by its events to suggest what we watched continues into the urgent present as the consequences of evil always loom.

I had five months to think about Killers of the Flower Moon's stunning ending. If you're still wrestling with it, this might help. slate.com/culture/2023/1…

Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon is a cathedral of a movie, overpowering yet intimate. The octogenarian master is still challenging our ideas of what he--and movies, and art--can & should do. My review: slate.com/culture/2023/1…

Me peeking at the timeline before scurrying away