Los Angeles Film Critics Association

Dave and I, we got thoughts. #filmsky 📽️ apple.co/4o5Eqsr @dlelandwhite.bsky.social

‘The Perfect Neighbor’: Sundance Review No-frills documentary recounts the shocking 2023 murder of a Black American woman through police bodycam footage

The best film I saw at Sundance comes to theaters this Friday. It's the documentary THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR, which tells the story of Ajike Owens' 2023 murder almost exclusively through police bodycam footage. The movie condenses everything wrong with America in 97 gripping minutes.

The Smashing Machine - The Film Verdict Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt grapple with barely-there characters in a sports biopic that leaves out nearly all of the “bio.”

Reviewing The Smashing Machine for The Film Verdict #filmsky 📽️

This Ain't No Game #1 | Trivial Pursuit: Silver Screen Edition (1983) Listen to Critically Acclaimed Network on RedCircle

We're trying something new at The Critically Acclaimed Network!

THIS AIN'T NO GAME is a podcast where @witneyseibold.bsky.social and I play retro movie-themed games.

We're starting with TRIVIAL PURSUIT: SILVER SCREEN EDITION! It's from 1983, so are the answers still accurate? Let's find out!

‘The Alabama Solution’: Sundance Review Smuggled smartphones provide a shocking insider's perspective on Alabama's prison system

THE ALABAMA SOLUTION was the final film I saw at Sundance this year. Directed by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman, the documentary incorporates smuggled footage shot by incarcerated men in an Alabama prison wanting to tell the world about the mistreatment they were facing. The film is out today.

All the movies of Paul Thomas Anderson, ranked from worst to best The director's latest, 'One Battle After Another,' is now in theaters, but the career of the Valley's No. 1 filmmaker stretches over three decades. What's his best?

PTA finds his own beautiful way into Thomas Pynchon with ONE BATTLE — part of that is the needle drop of the year ("Dirty Work"), part is an even funnier phone argument than the one in PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE. But it's all him. @indiefocus.bsky.social ranks the 10 features. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

‘The Smashing Machine’ review: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt clash in Benny Safdie’s UFC drama Benny Safdie's first solo directorial work is based on real life wrestler Mark Kerr. It premieres in Venice competition

Benny Safdie's THE SMASHING MACHINE isn't so much a sports film as it is a complicated, unhappy love story.

‘Play Dirty’ Review: Mark Wahlberg Misses the Mark in Prime Video's Otherwise Solid ‘Parker’ Flick Shane Black adapts Donald E. Westlake’s classic antihero into a slick, enjoyable caper — with a miscast lead actor.

Shane Black's PLAY DIRTY is a decent riff on Donald E. Westlake's PARKER novels, but the problem is Mark Wahlberg.

It's a textbook example of miscasting: Wahlberg's easygoing vibe undercuts the film's explicitly stated, and repeated claims that he's a taciturn hardass.

My review is at TheWrap!

cover of Criterion's The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years

cover of Shout Factory's Peking Opera Blues 4K

My monthly 4K/Blu/DVD column is up at Leonard Maltin dot com: leonardmaltin.com/new-on-4k-bl... #filmsky #tvsky 📽️ 📺

The Dreamer's Path: Twin Peaks and David Lynch the Actor The Dreamer's Path: Twin Peaks and David Lynch the Actor [Simon, Brent] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Dreamer's Path: Twin Peaks and David Lynch the Actor

National Coffee Day seems like a great time to announce my book THE DREAMER’S PATH, the first comprehensive look at David Lynch’s surprisingly lengthy list of credits as an actor. Featuring 70+ interviews, it covers TWIN PEAKS, LOUIE, THE CLEVELAND SHOW and much more. www.amazon.com/Dreamers-Pat...

Alonso Duralde standing in Vroman’s in front of a display for Stephen Rebello’s exceptional new book Criss Cross

The cover of the revised and updated edition of Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas

Should anyone be looking for an autographed copy of the newly released second edition of Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas, I signed a bunch yesterday at Vroman’s in Pasadena. #filmsky #booksky 📽 📚

‘The Strangers: Chapter 2’ Review: Renny Harlin’s Trilogy of Errors Trudges On “Chapter 1” of Renny Harlin's horror reboot was dull as dishwater and the sequel isn’t much better.

Renny Harlin's THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 isn't as annoying as the first one.

But like Norm said when they opened a second Cheers! location in the lost, underwater city of Atlantis... that's a low bar.

My review of this thing that keeps happening because they already filmed them all is at TheWrap.

Review: 'Predators' examines the tactics of a reality TV phenomenon that may have gone too far Dateline NBC's 'To Catch a Predator' and host Chris Hansen were cheered for taking down sexual abusers of children. But this powerful doc has some follow-up questions.

"To Catch a Predator" was a TV phenomenon. Now it faces its turn in the hot seat.

www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Richard Linklater’s Uncompromising Artists In two new historical films, “Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague,” the director explores the challenges of staying true to a creative vision.

I profiled Richard Linklater on the occasion of his remarkable 2025 double bill, BLUE MOON and NOUVELLE VAGUE. We talked Austin, Cannes, Paris, OKLAHOMA!, beginnings (and ends) of beautiful friendships, and how to pursue a singular vision in a collaborative medium. www.newyorker.com/culture/pers...

Tonight! Come say hi to me and @aduralde.bsky.social before the 6pm showing of #OneBattleAfterAnother at CinemaWest Beach Cities. Details and tickets below ⬇️

Weekend film reviews: 'One Battle After Another,' 'Eleanor the Great'

I was on KCRW's "Press Play" today to review this weekend's biggest movies opening in Los Angeles. The highlights: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER and PREDATORS.

“One Battle After Another” Is a Powerhouse of Tenderness and Fury In Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” the fight against American fascism is a family affair.

There Willa be blood: Paul Thomas Anderson’s exhilarating ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, reviewed. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Review: The revolution gets energized in Paul Thomas Anderson's dynamite 'One Battle After Another' Paul Thomas Anderson's brutally hilarious political thriller brings together Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and newcomer Chase Infiniti.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s fun and fizzy adaptation views its Molotov cocktail as half-full. Yes, it says, the struggle for liberation continues. But isn’t it inspiring that there are still people willing to fight?

www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

YouTube video by Breakfast All Day movie reviews ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Movie Review (NO Spoilers!) | Paul Thomas Anderson

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is finally here! We posted an early, spoiler-free review of Paul Thomas Anderson's new epic last week. Check back with us Tuesday at Noon Pacific for our LIVE spoiler chat. ⬇️
youtu.be/NfIJuIu_Ma0
#OneBattleAfterAnother
#PaulThomasAnderson
@bfastallday.bsky.social

Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with the insultingly syrupy Eleanor The Great Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with the insultingly syrupy Eleanor The Great

For the A.V. Club, I wrote about my great dislike of ELEANOR THE GREAT.

I joined @jasondashbailey.com and Mike on GUIDE FOR THE FILM FANATIC to unpack CHRISTIANE F. (traumatizing movie that I love!). Listen in wherever you get your pods.

[Interview] Leonardo DiCaprio and Chase Infiniti Forge a Creative Bond in ‘ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER’ Courtney Howard // Film Critic At the heart of filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson’s ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER lies a funny, captivating and poignant tale about a bathrobe-bedecked burn-out and his respo…

Monumental chat: I asked Leonardo DiCaprio (a once newcomer who blew everyone away in his feature debut) about collaborating with Chase Infiniti (a newcomer who blows everyone away in her debut) on PTA’s #OneBattleAfterAnother.

freshfiction.tv/interview-le...

‘Kokuho’ Review: A Hit in Its Home Country, Three-Hour Japanese Epic Illuminates the Highs and Lows of Kabuki Theater Director Lee Sang-il crafts a historical drama starring Ryo Yoshizawa as an orphan aspiring to become the rigorous artform’s greatest performer.

Reviewed Lee Sang-il’s KOKUHO, a vivid and well-paced portrait with a strong devotion to the complicated relationships within its central artform and a surprising but deserved forthcoming GKIDS release, for Variety. variety.com/2025/film/re...

Marvel Zombies Review: Sometahms Undead Is Bettah Plus: All the ways the buildup to Avengers Doomsday has been screwed up

#MarvelZombies is a decent #Avengers animated movie, with a better buildup than Doomsday has been getting.

Doing some Oscar punditry for @theankler.com so if you want to watch me fiddle with my predix in real time👇 anklerpundits.com/pundit/katie...

Nighttime shot of beautiful CinemaWest Beach Cities in El Segundo.

Join us at this beautiful theater on Friday night! Alonso & I will be at CinemaWest Beach Cities before the 6pm showing of #OneBattleAfterAnother. Say hi at the lobby bar around 530, then watch PTA's new epic on their GIANT screen. Details & tickets here: web.cinemawest.com/films/One-Ba...

Alonso Duralde Wishes You A Merry Movie Christmas - The Sounds of Christmas Ken from the Sounds of Christmas talks to writer, film critic and podcaster Alonso Duralde about his new book Have Yourself A Movie Little Christmas (Revised and Updated) and lots of movies (including...

Had a lovely book chat with Ken at The Sounds of Christmas #booksky 📚

Ep. 350: Tim Grierson on One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Wake Up Dead Man: Knives Out 3, The Lost Bus, Hedda Podcast Episode · The Last Thing I Saw · 09/22/2025 · 58m

It was a pleasure to be a guest on Nicolas Rapold's great podcast THE LAST THING I SAW. We talked about Venice and Toronto, and went long on the new Paul Thomas Anderson film.

NYFF25 Grid of critic ratings for NYFF25 on MOIRÉE

Unfortunately have already left New York, but feel so honored to still be a part of the inaugural Moirée critics' grid for this year's NYFF, featuring ratings from a truly estimable panel of critics and myself: moir.ee/editions/nyf...

Nuyorican filmmaker Elaine Del Valle took her autobiographical work BROWNSVILLE BRED, about her relationship with her Boricua father, from the stage to the page to the screen. The feature film opens in theaters today. I interviewed her for De Los at @latimes.com: www.latimes.com/delos/story/...