Blake Simons

a still image from LONGLEGS

A still image from SLEEPAWAY CAMP

A still image from THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

I am very excited to announce that I'm going to be hosting a Miskatonic Institute lecture on March 16th, and I'll be talking about the Trans Feminine Grotesque. Full details below:

miskatonicinstitute.com/events/gazin...

It's official. Anime Ltd are releasing AKIRA, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES and ANGEL'S EGG in the UK this year!

Dates to come!

Clara Law's Immigrant Songs Films from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Beyond

New for subscribers only, I watched four of the films in the @metrographnyc.bsky.social's on-going Clara Law retrospective and wrote about them. They're really good!

www.thechinesecinema.com/clara-laws-i...

My local Odeon is dropping H IS FOR HAWK and THE HISTORY OF SOUND after one week to show this twice a day.

A screenshot of WhatsApp: Ash: Sebastián, I have one very pressing question. Sebastián Di Martino: Let me know Ash: Are jaguar soft? Sebastián Di Martino: They are very soft (two hearts on the answer)

Being a journalist is sick: I just contacted a pre-eminent jaguar conservationist in Argentine with a question that has been weighing on me for ages and he wrote back right away with an informed answer.

‘Burn’ Review: This Shinjuku Odyssey Is Oppressively Nihilistic but Stylistically Undeniable Sundance: “We Are Little Zombies” writer/director Makoto Nagahisa shines an uncompromising light on a district’s overlooked denizens.

For @indiewire.com, I reviewed Makoto Nagahisa's BURN, a film that I found oppressively nihilistic but stylistically undeniable #Sundance2026

www.indiewire.com/criticism/mo...

Statement from Michael and Susan Pretti Parents of Alex Jeffrey Pretti “We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the ‘hero’ term lightly. However, his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He had his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down, all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man. Thank you.

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti.

"Please get the truth out about our son."

‘Everybody to Kenmure Street’ Review: A Vital and Inspiring Portrait of Spontaneous Collective Action Felipe Bustos Sierra’s energizing documentary tells the story of ordinary Scots resisting a hostile immigration raid.

For @indiewire.com’s Sundance coverage, I reviewed EVERYBODY TO KENMURE STREET, a thrilling, witty doc about ordinary, unrelated Glaswegians spontaneously organising to fight an immigration raid… and winning

www.indiewire.com/criticism/mo...

A timely Sundance doc is an ICE-breaker around community action Everybody To Kenmure Street shows what's possible when immigration officials aren't allowed to murder at will.

the feel-good film of Sundance is a documentary where a community stands up to immigration officials, tells them to fuck off, and wins www.avclub.com/everybody-to...

Want to see your writing in glorious print? In ON3 we are going to mentor and showcase new voices. Email info@on.games with an example of your work and any relevant experience by 8th Feb. on.games

#GamesJournalism #GamesWriting

I'm available throughout the Winter/Spring festival season for interview coverage, so please do reach out if you'd be interested in having me!

Let it be known that this interview was conducted less than four hours ago and it's already in published feature form :)

BTS Of 'TheyDream': Miniatures, Rotoscoping, Memory Caballero discusses hybrid animation, miniature sets, and rotoscoped performance in a deeply personal documentary shaped by family memory and grief.

Ahead of the film's Sundance premiere, I spoke to THEYDREAM director William David Caballero for
@cartoonbrew.bsky.social about what it means to recreate, reconstruct, and rotoscope your family. A fascinating conversation about an intrinsically personal feature.

www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film...

They didn’t like them when they were Ann Lee

The classic Godzilla shriek: UMGYAA.

The A.V. Club subscriptions are here, along with our 2026 reader survey The A.V. Club subscriptions are here, along with our 2026 reader survey

Do you want to help support independent media in a way that will absolutely not allow random users to dole out ratings OR involve paywalling all the things we've already been publishing www.avclub.com/av-club-subs...

I just saw an article where the headline reads, in part, "Mamoru Oshii has been doing nothing for 15 years".

I'm not even giving that a curiosity click.

new reaction meme to add to the arsenal just dropped

Outside Gracie Mansion. This is his job. But dare I day it he seems genuinely affected and happy to be there. There’s potentially immense power in that.

A threat. A curse. A burden.

I'd love to do a booklet essay this year

Has anyone made an Obayashi edit set to Charli xcx I Think I'm Gonna Die In This House

Kiyotaka Oshiyama (re)animating in VR the scene where Fujino runs in the rain ♡ (@ "Look Back" exhibition)

"Eternal Family" by Koji Morimoto & Studio 4°C available for free on Youtube.
An obscure mini-series (52 episodes of 30 seconds) commissioned in 1997 by NTT Infosphere.
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5w8...

Adding my voice to the chorus recommending Gus Van Sant’s DEAD MAN’S WIRE as it expands to more theaters as it's quite good and boasts interesting editing choices which led to one of my favorite exchanges I've ever had in an interview. As the kids say, Van Sant knows ball*

*TETSUO: THE IRON MAN 📽️

Just ask Janet to come back good lord.

Jack O'Connell in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)

Jack O'Connell in Eden Lake (2008)

Jack O'Connell in Starred Up (2013)

Jack O'Connell in Sinners (2025)

Ahead of 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE, I looked at how nearly 20 years of Jack O'Connell antagonists on the big screen led to 'Sir Jimmy Crystal' for @curzon.com
www.curzon.com/journal/jack...

"Elan" is a love sim released for PS1 by Visco in 1999 where you can choose between a male & female player but romance from the same pool of characters regardless of your gender. The game features 74 endings & a unique conversation system where you choose emotions with responses.

just saw a photo of someone dressed as Jimmy Crystal for a Bone Temple screening and, like, I get it that there's probably zero context for this for a lot of people outside the UK, but, y'know, you've basically gone to the cinema dressed as Jimmy Savile

a still of pierce looking through the camera on a comfy chair with a planet in the foreground. from the 4K restoration of charles burnett’s “my brother’s wedding” (1983) ❤️‍🔥

charles burnett’s sophomore feature “my brother’s wedding” (1983) is having its world restoration premiere at berlinale.

burnett’s follow up to “killer of sheep” is tender and enduring. i am grateful to have served as co-restoration supervisor for this 4K release.

@milestonefilms.bsky.social

Rodney Dangerfield on stage

"My wife and I once visited the Bone Temple. 28 years later, we've never been back."