“Mattel wanted a summer blockbuster to kick off its new wave of brand-extension movies. She wanted it to be a work of art.”
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Posted inEditor's Pick
Fear as a Game
“What can the philosophy of games tell us about our odd impulse to scare ourselves?”
Posted inEditor's Pick
I Never Called Her Momma
“I always saw crack as the source of my family’s problems. But I learned that addiction went back in our family long before the crack epidemic—as did poverty and neglect.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Welcome to the No-Budget Era
“Film’s unlikely hope? A quirky, brilliant wave of directors churning out microbudget features that are pushing what’s possible with minuscule funding.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
How Sandra Hüller Approached Playing a Nazi
“The German actress probes characters with unusual depth. But to portray a Fascist wife, in ‘The Zone of Interest,’ she reversed her usual approach—and withheld her empathy.”
Posted inUncategorized
Wrapping Up 2024 and the Week’s Top 5
Well, folks, this is it. The last Top 5 newsletter of the year! Whether or not you’re observing any holidays, we hope you enjoy a restorative end to 2024. At the very least, you’ll have the full run of our Best of 2024 package at your disposal—between the stories we discussed in our year-end essays […]
Posted inFeature
A Year in Reading: Inward Journeys
Navigating a world in flux demands some understanding of who you really are, and some of my favorite pieces from this year speak to that need.
Posted inFeature
’Tis the Season to Kill the Dead-Mom Holiday Movie Trope
How many more women will festive filmmakers dispatch?
Posted inEditor's Pick
“Does anyone here have the number one Netflix movie in the world? I do”: A Q&A with the writer behind Lindsay Lohan’s blockbuster Falling for Christmas
“Ron Oliver, who has made more than 20 holiday movies, explains the Christmas movie industrial complex.”
Posted inCuration
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending stories from Yasmin Tayag, Elliott Woods, David Ramsey, Larissa Diakiw, and A.S. Hamrah.
