Mark Harris

Give me a bag of fries and five minutes alone with this guy, and I could have him babbling publicly about how the honorary Oscars need to be restored to the main telecast.

For those who are complaining: a Democrat challenging an incumbent Democrat because he doesn't think the incumbent is doing a good job, and voters getting the chance to decide if they agree, is exactly how the system is supposed to work. If you give up on that, I don't know what you're rooting for.

Brad Lander vs. Daniel Goldman is going to be a fascinating NYC race which I fear is going to suck up an ungodly amount of money. Can't wait to see polling on it.

Aviles is out (as of a minute ago).

[deep, concerned sigh]

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that there is something physically wrong and cognitively wrong with Trump, he knows it, and he's angry and frightened.

I read this and thought, this can't be right because it would mean that only about 40,000 people vote in Miami mayoral races. Then I looked at the last two elections and...yup. Live and learn!

An impressively high laughgasps-per-minute rate from Zach Woods.

Isn't this Mr. "I'm leaving New York if Mamdani wins"?

The Norman Rockwell guy standing up meme.

I would like to make the point you were making, but louder and in the form of yelling it at you.

Fascinated by the Golden Globe nomination for "Cinematic and Box Office Achievement" for Avatar: Fire and Ash, a movie that has made zero dollars at the box office, and was not considered a strong enough cinematic achievement to get a best picture nomination. Globes gonna Globe, but come on.

Also important to understand that Trump, in full senile-emperor mode, will spend the next 12-18 months treating this as the idiot-showbiz version of Russia/Ukraine, playing both sides and twirling in the spotlight. Today he's semi-OK with Netflix and newly-repissed at Paramount. Tomorrow he'll flip.

I hope that @warren.senate.gov, the @wgawest.bsky.social, the @wgaeast.bsky.social, and others who have rung alarm bells at the proposed Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. will treat this hostile takeover bid from Paramount as at least as much of a threat.

Paramount Promises To Release 30+ Films Annually If It Acquires Warner Bros: “We’re Going To Satisfy The Needs Of The Moviegoing Public” Should Paramount succeed in acquiring Warner Bros, the combined studio will release more than 30 theatrical titles a year. This was Paramount CEO David Ellison’s promise during a phone presser followi...

30+ movies a year. Wow. That's very impressive. This year Paramount released a grand total of 7, exactly one of which made the year's top 25 (while losing $), so there is zero reason to believe that the company has the means to more than quadruple its output. deadline.com/2025/12/para...

Yeah, I agree with this. Writers need to get paid; people subscribing to publications and websites is how that happens. And writers need to get work, so we share what we do in an attempt to try interest people. No apologies for that.

Paramount Makes Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery

To sum up:
1. This will not "save" WB as a theatrical entity.
2. This would amount to handing over two studios to a right-wing tech billionaire.
3. The argument that this won't monopolize market share is true only bc Paramount does so badly it has no market share! www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/b...

I love both One Battle After Another and Sinners, but if you don't think they're doing at least as much to work you over and get you to a certain emotional place as Hamnet is, I don't know what to tell you. There's no rule that it's okay to go for your adrenaline but cheating to go for your tears.

Hamnet is a superb film that shouldn't need defending, but apparently it does, so I'll just say that I can't count the number of Oscar seasons in which a movie labeled as "soft" or "manipulative" is attacked bc it putatively threatens the chances of a NOT-soft film that is at least as manipulative.

Yes, it's not Pacino/Scent of a Woman, which was "It's time, but jfc, for THIS?"

I wrote this for NY Mag back in 2009, but there is no Oscar narrative more powerful than "It's his/her time" when it strikes voters as true. When it works, a campaign doesn't need to say it out loud (and, in fact, shouldn't).

It does feel like if there are interesting showdowns/dark horse faves/late bloomers, they'll prob. be in the acting categories, not picture/director.

Sometimes when a sense of inevitability sets in during this early phase of awards season, Oscar voters get bored/irritated and go their own way. And sometimes, when a sense of inevitability sets in, it's exactly what it looks like. For me, a little too soon to tell which this is.

Hey, look at that! I feel taller already.

I can't believe Kiss and Stallone showed up for their Kennedy Center honors wearing rubber masks. Welcome to the resistance!

"He complained of having persistent earwax. Three days later, he lay in a hospital bed near death. Doctors couldn't figure out why until one of them noticed the small cut on his thumb."

--the thing I will always read and always hate myself for reading

I'm just sending this wish up into the universe:

Chotiner and Sarandos.

One complicated thing about Netflix/WB is that Ted Sarandos, although he is the public face of antipathy to the theatrical experience, is not especially high on the list of those who've undermined and damaged it. I'd rank him 4th, after studios, theater owners, and people who quit going to movies.

Someone please find and interview his son about that experience.

To everyone who is pointing out that some states are already doing that: yes, thank you, I am aware, and while it is certainly better than nothing, it is also off the subject. A vacuum of national leadership is what we're discussing here.

I absolutely blame the Democrats for the Democrats not doing enough on a national level--who else should I blame?--and of course there's enough money to create a panel of experts, designate a couple of senators or representatives to run point, and hold regular press briefings.