DANA STEVENS

Remember the story about the young female national parks employee who voted for him on this single issue & then weeks into his administration was laid off by DOGE?

and other poems

If you do, report back with the results, because the idea of paying $$$$ to see this is mystifying to me. I wouldn't see it for free & if asked to write on it would, I think, turn the assignment down, because I don't want those images interfering with my future thoughts about the movie.

Already saw this one & loved!

It’s just democracy!

Martin Scorsese said that "cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out," but counterpoint: stock photos of the sky exist.

The problem with classic movies is that too few of them frame the actors as tiny figures dwarfed by a Mac OS screensaver.

📌

Lol

Respect, but I think even if I had a free ticket plus airfare to Vegas I wouldn't watch this. I don't want those images in my head for the rest of my life when I see or think about The Wizard of Oz.

My lack of shelf space can attest that I do!

But why, if you think it looks terrible?

The problem with classic movies is that too few of them frame the actors as tiny figures dwarfed by a Mac OS screensaver.

Right--there was that one and then Blood Christmas, with rows of perfectly conical trees decorated only in red tinsel.

I'm sure it would be an added benefit! No idea what this design is supposed to convey. It's just featureless & boring.

A weird commitment to ugly lifelessness. They hate...flowers?

Never going to unsee this now (but thankfully I still have an old SE phone with a classic headphone jack)

I like Molly's Game too, but I always suspected that was because I saw it on a plane and found it better than I had expected. Later I recommended it to a friend & they were all "wtf"? & yes, the ending gets sappy, but Jessica Chastain playing a hot mess is good stuff.

Not too basic to admit that I'm psyched to watch The Social Network II with Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg & Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White in supporting roles. Aaron Sorkin as a director is not my favorite, but still: would watch.

It's Spinal Tap Stonehenge, but in reverse!

Sick! (both in the slang sense of "awesome" & in the sense that this movie is truly the work of sick minds, in a good way)

Katie Johnson/Jane Doe's testimony sounds utterly consistent to who we know Trump to be, but what do I know, I'm just a woman, a kind of person who, as he's established, has no value.

Imagine that your sister, daughter, friend--someone who survived horrible sexual abuse--had just died by suicide three months ago and you had to see the president, on camera, talk about her like a piece of his personal property that was "stolen" by the man who orchestrated her abuse. So sickening.

Jesus Christ, who does something like this? After reading your last Sword & Sandwich post about how awful you've (understandably) been feeling, this really hurts. But if it helps at all, for those of us who love your work no one can take your true sword. ⚔️

Thanks so much! The thing that surprised me most researching that chapter was that the animal rights movement preceded the movement for children's rights and served as the explicit model for it.

Fantastic Four: First Steps resuscitates one of Marvel’s most doomed IPs. Is it clobbering time for Marvel again? Fantastic Four: First Steps attempts to breathe new life into the super quartet.

always a pleasure and honor to join Steve and @thehighsign.bsky.social on the Culture Gabfest, this time to talk the new Fantastic Four, Netflix's K-Pop Demon Hunters (w/ an assist from @euny.bsky.social!), and *that* South Park episode:

If you want me to sit around typing out opinions you're going to have to fork over at least a standard freelance fee!

same dog starred Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) as Pink Poodle • The 'Burbs (1989) as Queenie • The Silence of the Lambs (1991) as Precious • Batman Returns (1992) as Ratty Poodle

John Cazale mid-70's type run

One click on each review I write, one fully elaborated movie opinion. That's the High Sign Promise™.

When I was a buyer at a large indie, my rule of thumb was:

1 preorder: huh, let me take a closer look at this one
2 preorders: we need to stock this book
3 preorders: we should order enough to face this out
4+ preorders: this should be on front-of-store display