Matt is the reason I and so many others have careers. He deserves all the best in the world, and any way you can help will go to a truly good dude.

THREAD: I got laid off from NYMag/Vulture after 14 years. The family lost 75% of income + medical. Now mzs.press bookstore, once a side project. is do-or-die for Judith & I. I feel weird telling you this because others are doing much worse. But if you could like or share this, we'd be so grateful!

A World Forever in the Shadow of Apocalypse The award-winning new documentary ‘Pompei: Below the Clouds’ presents shimmering, gorgeous images of Naples, a city forever marked by destruction. But it also finds pockets of hope.

The award-winning new documentary ‘Pompei: Below the Clouds’ presents shimmering, gorgeous images of Naples, a city forever marked by destruction. But it also finds pockets of hope.

If anyone is up for boosting, Bandcamp is holding a fundraiser for the Trans Continental Pipeline to help trans people escape from Kansas!

A World Forever in the Shadow of Apocalypse The award-winning new documentary ‘Pompei: Below the Clouds’ presents shimmering, gorgeous images of Naples, a city forever marked by destruction. But it also finds pockets of hope.

The award-winning new documentary ‘Pompei: Below the Clouds’ presents shimmering, gorgeous images of Naples, a city forever marked by destruction. But it also finds pockets of hope.

Director Watch Ep. 142 ‘The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp’ (Powell and Pressburger, 1943) with Special Guest Bilge Ebiri On episode 142 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter are joined by film critic Bilge Ebiri discuss the latest film in their Powell and Pressburger series, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). Welcome back to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, the boys attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs.

Director Watch Ep. 142 ‘The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp’ (Powell and Pressburger, 1943) with Special Guest Bilge Ebiri

On episode 142 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter are joined by film critic Bilge Ebiri discuss the latest film in their Powell and…

A World Forever in the Shadow of Apocalypse In Gianfranco Rosi’s transfixing film Pompei: Below the Clouds, crisis and collapse are ever present, but so is hope.

Gianfranco Rosi’s mesmerizing and award-winning new film POMPEI: BELOW THE CLOUDS is very much worth your time. www.vulture.com/article/pomp...

Pixar Knows It’s Running Out of Ideas, and That’s Okay The mostly fun Hoppers is like Avatar with a bit of The Wild Robot thrown in. It can’t live up to Pixar’s greatest triumphs, but, really, what can?

HOPPERS is a fun, modest little movie with enough zip and charm to keep kids engaged. But the memory of what Pixar once was may still make us wonder where all that energy and originality and artistry went. www.vulture.com/article/hopp...

The last photo of third-grader Mikaeil Mirdoraghi, waving to his mom before he left for school. He was killed shortly after in the U.S./Israeli strike on a primary school in Minab.

Screened the first episode of Mussolini: Son of the Century in class today and I cannot speak highly enough of its gargantuan soundscape. I don't know that I have it in my to rewatch the series given the world, but it is a truly enormous piece of television. Luca is unbelievable.

Oh, oh! I've been waiting for this one.

Pixar Knows It’s Running Out of Ideas, and That’s Okay The once-mighty Pixar has not been generating culture-defining megahits like it used to. The modest and charming ‘Hoppers’ probably won’t change that trend, but your kids will have fun with it.

The once-mighty Pixar has not been generating culture-defining megahits like it used to. The modest and charming ‘Hoppers’ probably won’t change that trend, but your kids will have fun with it.

Pixar Knows It’s Running Out of Ideas, and That’s Okay The mostly fun Hoppers is like Avatar with a bit of The Wild Robot thrown in. It can’t live up to Pixar’s greatest triumphs, but, really, what can?

With the derivative but amiable HOPPERS, Pixar seems to admit it’s running out of ideas. www.vulture.com/article/hopp...

Airport hit too

Long before he was the chief film critic for “Rolling Stone,” David Fear discovered “Guide for the Film Fanatic” at the mall bookstore, and it became “my Bible, my Torah, my Quran.” We discuss the genius of Mel Brooks’s #YoungFrankenstein https://www.oneheatminute.com/guide-for-the-film-fanatic

(pounding on table with fork & knife) woke 2! woke 2! woke 2!

I appreciate that one of the only things nearly everyone who follows the league agrees upon is that Lu Dort is a chicken shit punk ass that everyone hates.

Somebody Turn the Lights On It is perhaps silly to expect anything resembling integrity or creativity from a movie called ‘Scream 7,’ but this one is more tiresome and cynical than most. Not to mention darker.

It is perhaps silly to expect anything resembling integrity or creativity from a movie called ‘Scream 7,’ but this one is more tiresome and cynical than most. Not to mention darker.

Somebody should turn on the lights, literally and figuratively. Williamson, as many know, came onboard after two sets of directors departed the project. Along the way, Scream 7 became a source of controversy when Melissa Barrera, who had starred in the two previous entries, was fired over social-media posts critical of Israel in the wake of its invasion of Gaza. Soon thereafter, her co-star Jenna Ortega also left, and some organizations are now boycotting the release. But through it all, one thing remained clear: Scream 7, for whatever reason, had to be made. Think about this for a second. It didn’t matter if the directors bailed, if the stars were fired, if the script had to be completely redone and new actors and plotlines brought on. The film had to happen. Not because someone had a story to tell, or characters to develop, or ideas to explore, or a new twist to throw out there. No, there was simply a franchise to maintain and a title with a number that needed a movie with a release date. The first Scream skewered Hollywood cynicism. The latest embodies it.

I love it when @bilgeebiri.bsky.social goes for the jugular.

www.vulture.com/article/scre...

Farihah Zaman Appointed Artistic Director Of Prestigious True/False Documentary Film Fest The True/False Film Fest's new artistic director will be Farihah Zaman, according to an announcement by the nonprofit Ragtag Film Society.

This is great, great news.
deadline.com/2026/02/true...

Somebody Turn the Lights On The first Scream skewered Hollywood cynicism. The latest, Scream 7, embodies it.

SCREAM 7. You’ll find more charm and creativity in the most middling FINAL DESTINATION set piece. www.vulture.com/article/scre...

Film Festivals Have Always Been Political Film festivals have always been political, no matter which officials pretend otherwise. Just look at the winners of the 2026 Berlin Film Festival.

Film festivals have always been political, no matter which officials pretend otherwise. Just look at the winners of the 2026 Berlin Film Festival.

Film Festivals Have Always Been Political No matter who pretends otherwise. Just look at the winners of this year’s Berlinale.

Some thoughts on the Berlinale, on film festivals as political spaces, and reviews of YELLOW LETTERS and SALVATION, the two films by Turkish directors that took Berlin's two top prizes. www.vulture.com/article/film...

The Answers Issue 2026 Your questions are our command.

I love the @wcp.bsky.social answers issue!

Lots of useful stuff here, like what's going on with the National Guard and the Georgetown gondola, plus a grab bag of other stuff like relationship advice and where to find underground sex clubs.

Ok, that last part is useful, too.

They beat a blind refugee who speaks no English for failing to obey police commands he could not understand. Then instead of apologizing, they charged him with possession of a “weapon”—HIS WALKING STICK. Then they dumped him miles from home without notifying anyone, after which he was found dead.

You're gonna be rich! RICH!

I interviewed Roblox's head of parental advocacy for Vulture about safety on the platform 👀

Anybody need anything from the bodega

This is a huge deal, and the number of people I see pooh-poohing this as just a loss to a supposedly elite group sucks. A) most of the jobs that disappeared were the working-class ones; B) bye bye not just to local coverage but to arts, sports, everything that’s not tech/biz/politics/opinion/advice