I started getting followed by some "film festivals" and "writing festivals" and thought "oh, these are cool!" Then I looked a little closer. They're all part of a network that preys on writers, charging us for reviews, and feeding our stuff into slop generators. So I made a list.👋🏻🖕🏻😠

Just now I was curious about soundtracks that have used Fleetwood Mac's "I Don't Want to Know." I Googled "i don't want to know fleetwood mac which movie soundtracks?" and AI responded with sarcasm of the first rank. Well-played, robot. Well-played.

BREAKING: Christopher Nolan announces his next film for Universal will be an adaptation of James Joyce's "Ulysses." The tentative release date is Bloomsday, 2029.

It is genuinely bizarre that we’ve become acclimatized to right wingers throwing a tantrum every time a black person (particularly a black woman) is cast in something, but are also supposed to pretend that this is not racism but related to some other substantive concern.

Sometimes when I'm scurrying about my brain presses play on "Fletch Theme" to score my movement and it's both comforting and hilarious.

“Triumphalist history, which is exactly what the Trump White House demands, cannot tolerate nuance, ambiguity, complexity. These elements of real history — dare we say truths about human experience — always spoil the party and the military flyovers” David Blight 🔥

Opinion | Why Trump Can’t Leave the Smithsonian Alone

The Trump White House and its history police want us all to live in their chosen bubble, immune from instability or perceived disorder.

nytimes.com

I'll summarize this: Mamdani asked NYers to keep air conditioning at 78 degrees. A wave criticism hit online. A MSNBC broadcast pointed out the US Department of Energy recommends that 78 degree figure. Immediately after, the US Department of Energy deleted 6,000 web pages related to energy saving.

We went to see a movie and this annoying couple just continued to have a full blown, normal volume conversation through the first 5 minutes of the film until I said, loud enough for them to hear, “Jesus Christ, shut the fuck up.” And they promptly shut up.

If the "takeaway" of a film is widely misunderstood, who is to blame, the filmmakers or the audience? For instance, if Marines watch Apocalypse Now and cheer the destruction and come away thinking Kilgore and Kurtz are awesome, are they media-illiterate, or did the movie fail in some basic way?

I wrote about DISCLOSURE DAY, and I found myself sympathetic to it. It's desperate, and that is not a word I usually use with Spielberg. It's a film about faith from someone whose belief in images has been shaken. www.patreon.com/willowcately...

Since we're ranking Spielberg films, here's my incomplete ranking, using the Key & Peele format

I am a strict “shut up and dribble” guy about exactly one subject: Tom & Jerry. Tom and Jerry should be chasing each other around a kitchen and that’s it. They should not be friends. They should not have a supporting cast. They should not be in French Revolution times.

Stoked for this PERSONA reboot.

Saw someone being offended because they are young and they shouldn’t have been expected to see RAIDERS because “it’s old.” Man, when I was 19 I had seen so many old movies, and I had to work for it. There could not be an easier time in history to pick up on seeing an “old”movie.

"83% of LLM users could not quote a single line from essays they had written minutes earlier. When the LLM group was forced to write without AI in a follow-up session, their brain activity did not bounce back to baseline; the researchers coined the term 'cognitive debt' for the lingering deficit."

Will Bunch@willbunch.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The biggest story of our time that we're not talking about nearly enough www.chronicle.com/article/my-s...

For me, I think Inde Navarrette will and should be a star. I think the things that are good and interesting about this bottom-heavy, exhausted masterplot are entirely due to the wisdom of her performance. Entirely. She's the moral rudder. The ship isn't seaworthy, but the rudder is unerring & true.

The people who have spent centuries depicting Jesus Christ, a real brown Palestinian Jew, as a blond haired blue eyed white guy, are upset that a film depicts Helen of Troy—a fictional person—as a Black woman They are upset that another film depicts Snape—also a fictional being—as a Black man 1/2

Oh so this is the "I will spot you some early wildness before I harvest your souls" Misiorowski.

When you realize you HAVE danced with the devil in the pale moonlight.

All the developers 404 Media talked to were excited to try using LLMs at work at first, or were at least curious about them. Their feelings about the tools, based on their personal experience, are now overwhelmingly negative. AI is rotting their brains www.404media.co/software-dev...

Software Developers Say AI Is Rotting Their Brains

“It's making me dumber for sure.”

404media.co

Who was that guy having too much fun at that midnight screening of the 2026 Milwaukee Film Festival? Here's the answer, along with my top five of the festival. @mkefilm.bsky.social

Most days my son, who attends school where I teach, uses my car in the middle of the day. On Thursday, I found my returned car oddly angled in the parking lot. Then I looked at my texts.

The 2026 Milwaukee Film Festival @mkefilm.bsky.social is at its midpoint but hardly slowing down. Check out these under-the-radar picks for the remaining days. This year you can find my fest pieces in area Conley Media newspapers, and online at Greater Milwaukee Today. Link in comments.

The 2026 Milwaukee Film Festival @mkefilm.bsky.social started today. Check out the retro program! This year you can find my fest pieces in area Conley Media newspapers, and online at Greater Milwaukee Today. Link in comments.

I'm sure it's because I was a film critic for 21 years and went to a movie theater 2-5 times a week and getting treats every time was untenable, but I do not understand people who think $20 in concessions is "part of the cost of moviegoing." You can bring your own! Or not eat! You don't have to eat!

Some thoughts about the 2026 @mkefilm.bsky.social Festival, which kicks off April 16. This year you can find my fest pieces in four local Conley Media newspapers and online at Greater Milwaukee Today. Link in comments.

The NYT calls it like it is

Trump Revels in Threats to Commit War Crimes in Iran

nytimes.com

I think one of the reasons so many films today don’t hit emotionally like they should is so many films shot digitally just do NOT use film grammar well anymore. Film is a dying language. This is a close-up in a 1922 Elvira Notari film. She cuts in close so we feel this woman’s sadness viscerally.

I can't recall a time when more talented reporters and writers on movies and culture who have real skill and knowledge are struggling to find a foothold. We live in an "Everyone's an expert" era. But everyone isn't. Editors: Please take a chance on folks you haven't tried before. Read their clips!