a frame from the movie total recall where a character keeps repeating "two weeks"

Just got a press release about a new movie starring Jon Voight and directed by Bryan Singer, two men who’re both more employable than I am, evidently.

Chuck Norris Played Too Good a Bad Guy to Stay One Before he became an avatar of manly hyperbole, he held his own against Bruce Lee.

I wrote about The Life of Chuck (Norris) — the karate champ turned Bruce Lee heel turned VHS king turned immortal meme turned MAGA clown who counted to infinity, twice — for @the Atlantic.

www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Chuck Norris Played Too Good a Bad Guy to Stay One Before he became an avatar of manly hyperbole, he held his own against Bruce Lee.

In The Atlantic, a Chuck Norris appreciation that will PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE from @ctklimek.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

Had to pause the Chuck Norris piece I was working on to go see (stage) HAMNET @shakespeareindc.bsky.social. Haven’t felt like such a voracious goddamn cultural omnivore since the day I recorded the ROAD HOUSE episode of PCHH… immediately after interviewing Suzan-Lori Parks.

We were just kids trying on words, but a big part of my career, such as it is, has been an attempt to expand that dramaturgical vocabulary.

Was just reminded of the preteen era when my VHS-renting pals and I would diss movies we disliked by saying they “had no plot” and/or were “unrealistic,” as though everything should foreground narrative and be written, designed, and performed in a realistic style.

Project Hail Mary Boldly Goes… …where Interstellar, The Martian, and others have gone before. But a knockoff that can hold its own in such company is a major achievement.

On the Drew Goddard-adapts-a-1st-person-Andy Weir tip, THE MARTIAN is the obvious comparison, but PROJECT HAIL MARY felt more like a cuddlier version of Danny Boyle’s terrific, underseen SUNSHINE to me. Or maybe the INTERSTELLAR that Spielberg would’ve made.

washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7813...

I’m choosing to infer from some of these dumb takes that SINNERS has activated a whole new cohort of cinephiles… which is a great thing that only adds to Coogler’s historic achievement! And God willing, the man has another 40-plus years of great movies in him. Everybody wins.

I just keep thinking about how insufferable the JAY KELLY Oscars might’ve been. A ONE BATTLE v. SINNERS horse race is a great Oscar year. Even better than the ANORA v. THE BRUTALIST horse race.

I loved SINNERS too but I’m seeing some folks acting like ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is DRIVING MISS DAIRY or THE KING’S SPEECH or GREEN BOOK or FORREST GUMP, instead of the most 2026-feeling movie of 2025.

PTA said it best himself about the nominees of 1975: “There is no ‘best’ among them.”

Col. Lockjaw’s no-show makes the tag scene of Conan getting gassed at Christmas Adventurers HQ funnier, I think.

If I were one to pick nits I’d point out that the kids chasing Conan in that great opening bit were not, im fact, doing the arms-out WEAPONS run. Look, I’m a runner! And that extremely inefficient style of running is distinct and memorable! Nightmarish, even!

ONE BATTLE was my pick this year but I’m glad SINNERS got major recognition in addition to being a huge hit. Ryan Coogler is 39 years old. He’ll be back.

I’m pleased with how the major awards were shared tonight. I’m glad the academy didn’t wait for PTA to make his DEPARTED (or even his THE SHAPE OF WATER) to honor him, though they sure did wait!

I’ve told this story a few places but Comrade Josh, the phone voice in OBAA who won’t give Leo the rendezvous point b/c Pat is too fried to recall the password is Dan Chariton, who was Ricky Jay’s assistant before me. I spoke w/ him by phone many times. Knew his voice the 1st time I saw the movie.

Starting to worry we won’t get a return appearance by the sandworm from DUNE

Nikki really be jerkin’ now

I know the world is watching and listening but as we arrive at the most consequential awards I need Matt Berry to turn it way up. More wack-ass inflections like Sigour-Nay Huh-Weaver, please.

Just felt a shudder of guilt at the memory of having posted a one percent on Cinematrix this morning because I remembered Delroy Lindo was in a sacrilegious remake of PONT BREAK. Not as bad a snub as him not getting a nom for DA FIVE BLOODS, but not great, and I’m sorry.

Supporting Actor was one of those murderer’s row categories this year. Lindo and Skarsgård both overdue; I was rooting for Del Toro but against no one; and still I said “oh shit” when Culkin read Penn’s name.

Project Hail Mary Boldly Goes… …where Interstellar, The Martian, and others have gone before. But a knockoff that can hold its own in such company is a major achievement.

On the Drew Goddard-adapts-a-1st-person-Andy Weir tip, THE MARTIAN is the obvious comparison, but PROJECT HAIL MARY felt more like a cuddlier version of Danny Boyle’s terrific, underseen SUNSHINE to me. Or maybe the INTERSTELLAR that Spielberg would’ve made.

washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7813...

Busy night for me at the DC Alamo. I’m introducing John Woo’s A BETTER TOMORROW, the 1986 crime flick that saw him flower fully into the auteur we know, at 7:30, then moderating a post-screening Q&A with SIRAT director Oliver Laxe. Tix still available for A BETTER TOMORROW!

The second-best DIE HARD came out in 1995 and contains both a Trump joke and a Hillary Clinton joke, not to mention some juicy presidential history about Chester A. Arthur.

It’s U2’s first set of new songs in more than eight years. Each of their last four records has been a multi-year effort involving multiple producers, many false starts, and endless second-guessing. A half-dozen new tracks that barely sound finished is exciting to me, at least for a day.

I didn’t know it was possible to post a zero-percent pick on, but today is the day faithful A DEGREE ABSOLUTE! listeners get rewarded. We covered this so-so Max Von Sydow and Patty McG-starring thriller with @kphipps3000.bsky.social in 2022.

Tough Talk with Boxing Gym director Frederick Wiseman Documentarian Frederick Wiseman has made a film almost every year since 1967, when his Titicut Follies gave viewers a harrowing look inside an institution for the criminally insane. His latest film, w...

Back in 2010, I had the honor of discussing boxing gyms and BOXING GYM with the great documentarian Frederick Wiseman for @wcp. RIP.

washingtoncitypaper.com/article/4297...

I’ve effectively been in the fetal position since the Post’s self-immolation eight days ago, but tonight I was one seat in from of Bob Woodward at the theatre. Unless he’s got a doppelgänger walking around.

Thx, I do need the money.

Don’t worry, if someone made me an offer to throw it that’d be only the second WaPo assignment I’ve ever refused. Doing what’s asked of you, faithfully and efficiently over a double-digit number of years, doesn’t count for much over there.

I’m just a 20-year amateur boxer & WaPo permalancer who had about 30 bylines in 2025 & was never invited to join the Guild BUT as an aging fake-manly man myself, I’m willing to fight Jeff Bezos, Will Lewis, or Matt Murray in Franklin Park in front of Post HQ if it’ll help.

Queensbury rules, jerks.