Trump wants you to believe he was under the impression this was representing him as a doctor. He either is stupid, thinks you are stupid, or both.

So here's the play:
-Christian Nationalists start to see enough daylight to separate themselves from Trump. After all, he can't be elected again.
-They start to shift their focus on the next guy to prop up, probably JD.
-The framing becomes JD cleans up the mess "demon possessed" Trump left behind.

An old dream project of mine was to record people playing Fiasco, then edit it with music and sound effects to play like one of the old time radio thriller anthologies like Suspense or Lights Out.

It's even more personal and petty than that. Look up Donald Trump and the USFL.

For the record, this is exactly what happened in Venezuela too. We removed one Communist authoritarian, but are fine with the other Communist authoritarian because they are nice and bribed us.

Hey, in case you have been looking for our great content over at Cinapse, you may have noticed we moved. Check us out, update those bookmarks, and keep up with our goal of cinematic discovery! Cinapse.net

Happy Liar's Day everyone. Approach every announcement with optimal skepticism, which shouldn't be hard because that's kind of how we all live now anyway.

I am not a one issue voter becaue I recognize the broad complexity of social and pragmatic issues that face a political state the size of ours, but if I was, it would be "We have to fix dental insurance."

Every once in a while I remember Glenn Beck loved Bo Burnham's Inside and am so curious what he got out of it.

Two months, not two weeks, but still seems significant that both Disney and OpenAI determined this wasn't sustainable to keep going.

So Sora, OpenAI's video creation software, is shutting down, a mere two weeks after announcing a rights deal with Disney that never materialized. Suspect that means the AI generated content platform on Disney+ is also dead. Is the world healing?

I have absolute trust in Akiva Schaffer at this point, but a live action Cinderella spin-off feels like a dramatically unexciting project for him to take up.

I can't speak for anyone else, but personally I think a government run on the ethos of "What can we do to make sure the markets stays happy?" is probably bad?

Apparently I am already friends with @davideo.bsky.social but couldn't find his handle. But now you have it!

Top down view of what the @cinapse.bsky.social crew loved at #SXSW2026. I stamp all the ones that I saw on this list, and trust the opinions of @juliansingleton.bsky.social, @edtravis.bsky.social and David Delgado for the ones I didn't. And you can find my reviews for both Chili Finger and Buddy.

That said, it does strike me as a bit disingenuous that both Weir's book and the movie make the ecological disaster a result of a celestial lifeform, essentially a phenomenon outside of our control, rather than any sort of human-made disaster.

For the record, since I am burned out from SXSW and probably won't write a review for it: I really liked Project Hail Mary as a triumphant work of both optimism and fearlessness.

The fact those factors don't immediately form the basis a general opinion that this movie is probably going to do well mostly says a lot about the cynicism people see about American moviegoing. If Project Hail Mary had failed financially, it would have led to major existential crisis.

I don't know precisely how I would demarcate why the Project Hail Mary success feels different, but using the word "non-franchise" film doesn't cut it for me. These are known directors of quality, making a movie based on a beloved novel, with a real movie star at the center. And it's good!

It is incredible normal and profitable to make a movie based on a book. For decades it was the safest model for making box office friendly pictures. But because the source materials Hollywood mines these days (comic books, video games,etc.) are seen as more juvenile, this seems novel today.

PHM was heavily sold on being based on a popular book, by the same author as the Martian, which on paper has a very similar premise (I think the differences between the two are significant, but "stranded guy has to figure things out in space" is a common genre between them.)

I hate that the word "franchise" is having to be used to describe the Project Hail Mary success. That is a corporate word that crept into our film discourse lexicon, and in this particular case is not even that helpful.

THE LAST CRITIC is a delightful portrait of Robert Christgau, legendary rock critic, whose approach to both criticism and the written word are admirable. The documentary is a little shaggy, but Christgau is so charming it is hard to be mad at. #SXSW2026

Casper Kelly's Buddy tackles the question, can a TV show love you? Should it?

BEAST RACE: A blistering dystopian footrace film out of Brazil. Blends the style of half a dozen other things, but blends them distinctly new ways. If you ever wondered if Mad Max and Running Man had a baby and then borrowed the sun soaked visuals of early Fast movies, check out ASAP. #SXSW2026

BUDDY has some dementedly beautiful production design, fully fleshing out a bizarre long-lost kids show like an elaborate fucking Saw trap. So thrilled that Casper Kelly’s signature madness from Too Many Cooks and Adult Swim Yule Log is given such free rein in a theatrical feature format #SXSW

BUDDY: For fans of Casper Kelly's Too Many Cooks or Yule Log, Buddy has the same wild, creative, anarchic energy but creates a much more lucid, but still mysterious, set of circumstances. Demented and wonderful. #SXSW2026

DEAD EYES: First person headache, heavily indebted to horror video games and escape rooms. Hits every expected beat and takes FOREVER to do so. Disappointing. #SXSW2026

General observation: lots of movies at #SXSW2026 focused on interpersonal conflicts amongst romantic partners, typically married couples, that reach hyperbolic, violent ends. Seems to be a common theme of working on domestic differences can feel apocalyptic and extraordinarily vulnerable.