Brian Raftery

For @nytimes.com, I wrote about music-biz veteran George Drakoulias, who went from producing records for Tom Petty and the Jayhawks to being the music supervisor on such hits as "Severance" and "Barbie." Gift link here: shorturl.at/nLc8j

The final episode of MISSION ACCOMPLISHED goes behind the scenes of THE HURT LOCKER and IRON MAN--two films that, together, close out the George W. Bush years with a bang: shorturl.at/60sR6

In episode five of MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, we go behind the scenes of the Coen brothers' NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and Oliver Stone's W--two movies that capture the grim mood of George W. Bush's final years in office: shorturl.at/0RzQf

4. ‘Michael Clayton’ and ‘Chop Shop’ | Mission Accomplished The Big Picture · Episode

In episode four of MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, we look at the making of MICHAEL CLAYTON and CHOP SHOP--two great films about the various economic, emotional and ethical recessions of the George W. Bush years: shorturl.at/RHX2k

3: ‘Anchorman’ and ‘Zodiac’ | Mission Accomplished The Big Picture · Episode

Episode three of MISSION ACCOMPLISHED goes behind the scenes of ANCHORMAN and ZODIAC--a pair of Bush-era films about living in a glass case of emotion: shorturl.at/rmMh5

2. ‘25th Hour’ and ‘The Manchurian Candidate’ | Mission Accomplished The Big Picture · Episode

Episode two of MISSION ACCOMPLISHED looks at the the making of Spike Lee's 25TH HOUR and Jonathan Demme's remake of THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE--two films that captured the confusion and anger of post-9/11 America: shorturl.at/nk7L7

1. ‘Bring It On’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ | Mission Accomplished The Big Picture · Episode

The first episode of MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, my new Ringer podcast about how the George W. Bush era changed Hollywood, is out today! Episode one looks at the making of two very different films about early-2000s teen life: BRING IT ON and DONNIE DARKO: shorturl.at/FSXhE

My next podcast for The Ringer launches Aug. 12th! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED examines the making of 12 great 2000s movies, and chronicles how Hollywood and America changed during the Bush years. Expect new filmmaker interviews + fun behind-the-scenes tales + plenty of early-21st century lunacy.

(Also: It's wild to me that this wound up running in the NYTimes--as a kid, I used to monitor the sales charts for these collections in the Book Review every Sunday)

Remembering When ‘the World Really Made Sense’ on the Comics Pages (Gift Article) Wildly popular strips like “Bloom County,” “Calvin and Hobbes,” “Cathy,” “The Far Side” “and “Doonesbury” peaked in the 1980s, but they left their mark.

For @nytimes, I wrote about the peak era of the daily comic strip--a time when newspapers were bursting with blockbusters like 'Bloom County, 'Cathy,' 'Calvin & Hobbes,' 'The Far Side,' and other beloved hits (gift link below): www.nytimes.com/2024/12/23/b...

1. The World Will Be Full of Fear | The Hollywood Hack The Big Picture · Episode

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the Sony Hack--a seismic event that impacted showbiz, politics, the media, and the tech world. I spoke with many key players for THE HOLLYWOOD HACK, a podcast produced earlier this year by The Ringer and Spotify. Here's episode one: tinyurl.com/4e858hty