Here is the first new Filmspotting: SVU in eight years, with a review of Outcome, streaming recommendations on numerous platforms, a game I invented involving Letterboxd stats, and a surprisingly lengthy discussion of astronaut bathroom etiquette.

Apple TV’s Outcome: Testing the Limits of Keanu’s Likability

Podcast Episode · Filmspotting · April 14 · 1h 37m

podcasts.apple.com

After 8 years, Filmspotting SVU, the podcast about streaming movies, is back. Alison Willmore’s already doing Critical Darlings (which is great!) so I needed a new co-host. My wife told me the only person who could replace Alison was @jhoffman.bsky.social, so that’s who I got to do it. Tuesday!

Also there are still a few tickets left for the opening night screening of the funny, bittersweet indie FANTASY LIFE at the Angelika — I'll be doing a Q&A after with Amanda Peet and Matthew Shear angelikafilmcenter.com/nyc/sessions...

Critical Darlings, the podcast that @rilaws.bsky.social and I launched during award season, is going year-round and has its own feed and everything. Take a gander at our new episode, on PROJECT HAIL MARY, Ryan Gosling as movie star, and, FINE, award prospects podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

Critical Darlings

Film Reviews Podcast · Updated Weekly · Welcome to Critical Darlings: a podcast about the movies everyone is talking about, one new release after another. Every week, critics Richard Lawson and Aliso...

podcasts.apple.com

THREAD: I got laid off from NYMag/Vulture after 14 years. The family lost 75% of income + medical. Now mzs.press bookstore, once a side project. is do-or-die for Judith & I. I feel weird telling you this because others are doing much worse. But if you could like or share this, we'd be so grateful!

Matt Zoller Seitz@mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Greetings, new friends! You may know me as an author, a prolific Bluesky poster and 4th place finisher on So You Call That Dancing? But you might not know that my partner Judith (@mzpress) and I have an online arts bookstore that's growing every day. Full inventory here: mzs.press/EVERYTHING-W...

Extremely exciting news: We're hiring a full-time film critic to come work with me at The A.V. Club! You probably have an idea if you're qualified for this, but if there's something that's not in the job listing, I'm sure I can answer Qs www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

And one more Movie Club dispatch, on Rob Reiner and on the theme that I think is at the core of WEAPONS slate.com/culture/2025...

The Scariest Part of Weapons Is What It Refused to Explain

It’s easy to argue that Weapons is about school shootings. I think it’s about something else.

slate.com

Alison Willmore@alisonwillmore.bsky.social · 7mo ago

My second Slate Movie Club dispatch, in which I blather about my love of abrasive on-screen experiences and about Mary and Ronnie Bronstein

I had lunch with Mr. Wonderful www.vulture.com/article/how-...

Kevin O’Leary Wants to Be an Immortal Villain

The Marty Supreme star and reality-TV heel sees Mr. Wonderful as a means to a greater end.

vulture.com

He’s been issued stern spoiler warnings

My second Slate Movie Club dispatch, in which I blather about my love of abrasive on-screen experiences and about Mary and Ronnie Bronstein

Why We Love a Loathsome Protagonist

Sometimes, you just need to wallow in the discomfort.

slate.com

Alison Willmore@alisonwillmore.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Am joining @thehighsign.bsky.social, @justincchang.bsky.social, and @bilgeebiri.bsky.social to go deep on the year in movies as part of Slate Movie Club this year. Here's my first dispatch, on some of the smaller movies I loved alongside the much-discussed bigger ones

The first episode of Critical Darlings, the podcast @rilaws.bsky.social and I are hosting as part of the Blank Check Cinematic Universe, is live! JOIN US overcast.fm/+ABLIFo_rhLw

Been wrestling with JAY KELLY, and why I think George Clooney's actual relationship with his own celebrity is more interesting than the emptiness-of-the-A-lister angst he performs on screen www.vulture.com/article/is-g...

George Clooney’s Unconvincing Movie-Star Angst

He plays a famous actor in Jay Kelly — but Clooney’s own relationship with celebrity is far more interesting.

vulture.com

Man, I'm never going back to Twitter, but getting replies that are either "PAYWALL" or "I can't take you seriously because you used hyperbolic language, I have never 'lost my mind' over anything" is a great reminder of why I have so much trouble getting motivated to post on here

Am joining @thehighsign.bsky.social, @justincchang.bsky.social, and @bilgeebiri.bsky.social to go deep on the year in movies as part of Slate Movie Club this year. Here's my first dispatch, on some of the smaller movies I loved alongside the much-discussed bigger ones

The Underrated 2025 Movie That’s Going to Make People Lose Their Minds When It Hits Netflix

The Warner Bros. deal comes after it had an absolutely incredible year at the movies.

slate.com

Feels great to be coming out of podcast semi-retirement and to be getting an excuse to blather about movies on the regular with Richard, who will soon be filled with regret when I try to make "wrong kid died!" into some kind of regular bit about HAMNET

Richard Lawson@rilaws.bsky.social · 8mo ago

It’s true! The great @alisonwillmore.bsky.social and I are debuting our new show Critical Darlings on the Blank Check podcast feed on January 1st! Come listen to us talk about all the awards-season movies, won’t you?

The Times's reassignment of four critics is one thing, but its downgrading of the so-called traditional review is altogether another: www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

In Defense of the Traditional Review

Far from being a journalistic relic, as suggested by recent developments at the New York Times, arts criticism is inherently progressive, keeping art honest and pointing toward its future.

newyorker.com

Wrote about the German film SOUND OF FALLING, which just premiered at Cannes and kind of blew the top of my head off www.vulture.com/article/revi...

We May Have Already Seen the Best Film at Cannes This Year

The ambitious Sound of Falling kicks off the competition by setting a high water mark that will be hard for another film to reach.

vulture.com

bill de blasio in park slope, ordering his breakfast sandwich as “mi sandwich especial” and quoting the onion headline omg www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Man, at a time when we've gotten so resigned to commercial interests trampling art and community, reading this is just the coolest fucking thing www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/m...

At Milestone Films, Passing the Torch, but Keeping the Flame Alive

nytimes.com

Look at this massive lad, fresh from having rounded the talk show circuit, taking a break on the Angelika green room rug between Q&As

CINCINATTI ROBBED

This is such a prime weekend to go see BLACK BAG and take 94 minutes off from thinking about the state of the world to instead spend them thinking about how great it is that Steven Soderbergh has made a movie about how hot movie stars are again

🌴New in the Main Feed🌴 VACATION HORROR Drafted by @louispeitzman.bsky.social & @alisonwillmore.bsky.social Listen everywhere! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

Spoke with Bong Joon Ho about the ending of MICKEY 17, autocrats, internalized blame, and why he thinks that, to be an optimist, you need to be willing to get bleak about our current reality www.vulture.com/article/mick...

How Bong Joon Ho Crafted His First (Mostly) Happy Ending

The Parasite director talks about the Trump parallels and optimism of his new movie, Mickey 17.

vulture.com

Spoke with Bong Joon Ho about the ending of MICKEY 17, autocrats, internalized blame, and why he thinks that, to be an optimist, you need to be willing to get bleak about our current reality www.vulture.com/article/mick...

How Bong Joon Ho Crafted His First (Mostly) Happy Ending

The Parasite director talks about the Trump parallels and optimism of his new movie, Mickey 17.

vulture.com

Possible I've wildly overinvested in the opening of this supermarket in hopes of continuing to feel anything at all, but look! A pelmeni bar! ny.eater.com/2025/3/6/243...

Filmspotting Fest begins

We are recording the VACATION HORROR draft with @louispeitzman.bsky.social & @alisonwillmore.bsky.social NEXT WEEK! Which films about horrors befalling people while on holiday NEED to make the list?!

a woman wearing a hat stands on a beach

ALT: a woman wearing a hat stands on a beach

media.tenor.com

What if we kissed in the weird condos above B&H Photo Video