Alan Zilberman
@alanzilberman.bsky.social
One of the last idiots to write about film for an alt-weekly
Edgar Wright’s The Running Man has the roughest third act rewrites I’ve seen in years, to say nothing of the egregious product placement. I keep hoping his films without Simon Pegg will be good… not anymore.
November 11, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Edgar Wright’s The Running Man has the roughest third act rewrites I’ve seen in years, to say nothing of the egregious product placement. I keep hoping his films without Simon Pegg will be good… not anymore.
Die My Love is an intense drama anchored by an unforgettable Jennifer Lawrence performance. Since it got a big release this weekend, I hope a bunch of normies saw it and had their minds blown.
My @spectrumculture.bsky.social review.
My @spectrumculture.bsky.social review.
Die My Love - Spectrum Culture
Through her observational and fractured approach, Lynne Ramsay imbues a straightforward story of a troubled young mother with ferocious honesty.
spectrumculture.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Die My Love is an intense drama anchored by an unforgettable Jennifer Lawrence performance. Since it got a big release this weekend, I hope a bunch of normies saw it and had their minds blown.
My @spectrumculture.bsky.social review.
My @spectrumculture.bsky.social review.
My mom got me the 4K of De Palma’s Blow Out for my birthday because she is a woman with refined taste (and knows what I like).
November 8, 2025 at 8:15 PM
My mom got me the 4K of De Palma’s Blow Out for my birthday because she is a woman with refined taste (and knows what I like).
Truly a great indie pop album. Every song is a banger.
November 8, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Truly a great indie pop album. Every song is a banger.
Sunday is my birthday, and to celebrate my wife was going to take me to dinner at a nice restaurant. We just found out our reservation, which was made MONTHS ago, was canceled due to an unforeseen plumbing issue.
How fitting, given how shitty this year has been. I cannot help but laugh.
How fitting, given how shitty this year has been. I cannot help but laugh.
November 7, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Sunday is my birthday, and to celebrate my wife was going to take me to dinner at a nice restaurant. We just found out our reservation, which was made MONTHS ago, was canceled due to an unforeseen plumbing issue.
How fitting, given how shitty this year has been. I cannot help but laugh.
How fitting, given how shitty this year has been. I cannot help but laugh.
Train Dreams is a remarkable drama, one that will languish on Netflix because its inexorable, meditative power is not suited to streaming. Go see it in theaters while you can.
Train Dreams Is About the Kind of Man Who Rarely Gets the Epic Treatment
In this moving adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella, the filmmakers never strike a false note in a logger’s quiet search for meaning and joy.
washingtoncitypaper.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Train Dreams is a remarkable drama, one that will languish on Netflix because its inexorable, meditative power is not suited to streaming. Go see it in theaters while you can.
Frankenstein is available to stream on Netflix today, so expect a bunch of “I don’t get the big deal” takes from people uninterested in the movie who half-watched it on their phones.
November 7, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Frankenstein is available to stream on Netflix today, so expect a bunch of “I don’t get the big deal” takes from people uninterested in the movie who half-watched it on their phones.
I went a little long on Nuremberg, a legal thriller I liked more than my critic colleagues. Yes, it's didactic and blunt, but I would argue that is an appropriate response to our current times. Terrific ensemble, too.
Nuremberg - Spectrum Culture
James Vanderbilt’s latest is a richly satisfying legal thriller, complete with parallels to our current moment that are impossible to shake.
spectrumculture.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:21 PM
I went a little long on Nuremberg, a legal thriller I liked more than my critic colleagues. Yes, it's didactic and blunt, but I would argue that is an appropriate response to our current times. Terrific ensemble, too.
Letterboxd is down because my latest review was so incisive the network crashed. My bad, everyone.
November 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Letterboxd is down because my latest review was so incisive the network crashed. My bad, everyone.
Not surprisingly, @attackerman.bsky.social has the essential Cheney obituary. A few good zingers in here, too.
November 4, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Not surprisingly, @attackerman.bsky.social has the essential Cheney obituary. A few good zingers in here, too.
Vice is worse than Crash. Vice is so bad that Crash is the *funnier* movie.
Crash is woefully misguided, but unlike Vice, it does not drip with contempt for its audience.
Crash is woefully misguided, but unlike Vice, it does not drip with contempt for its audience.
Hey now, let’s not forget that Crash actually won best picture.
November 4, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Vice is worse than Crash. Vice is so bad that Crash is the *funnier* movie.
Crash is woefully misguided, but unlike Vice, it does not drip with contempt for its audience.
Crash is woefully misguided, but unlike Vice, it does not drip with contempt for its audience.
If you want to understand Cheney's legacy, maybe the last place you should look is Adam McKay's VICE - the worst Best Picture nominee this century. In the days ahead, there will be funnier obits with more history and moral clarity than McKay - an idiot's idea of a smart man - could ever muster.
November 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM
If you want to understand Cheney's legacy, maybe the last place you should look is Adam McKay's VICE - the worst Best Picture nominee this century. In the days ahead, there will be funnier obits with more history and moral clarity than McKay - an idiot's idea of a smart man - could ever muster.
Now is a race against time to tell friends Cheney died via emoji-pasta because that’s the *best* way to share/learn about his demise.
November 4, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Now is a race against time to tell friends Cheney died via emoji-pasta because that’s the *best* way to share/learn about his demise.
This is DELICIOUS:
1. Cook half a pound of spaghetti in boiling water.
2. Whisk a sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, fresh pepper, and Parmesan until smooth.
3. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce, then toss with fresh basil leaves.
4. Add extra cheese/pepper/oil to taste.
1. Cook half a pound of spaghetti in boiling water.
2. Whisk a sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, fresh pepper, and Parmesan until smooth.
3. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce, then toss with fresh basil leaves.
4. Add extra cheese/pepper/oil to taste.
IT IS TIME FOR BLUESKY RECIPE POSTING
do you have a cheap, healthy, low-cost recipe? post it here! or quote tweet this post. or dunk on me for something I don't care just post easy meals that people can make right now.
do you have a cheap, healthy, low-cost recipe? post it here! or quote tweet this post. or dunk on me for something I don't care just post easy meals that people can make right now.
November 4, 2025 at 2:34 AM
This is DELICIOUS:
1. Cook half a pound of spaghetti in boiling water.
2. Whisk a sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, fresh pepper, and Parmesan until smooth.
3. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce, then toss with fresh basil leaves.
4. Add extra cheese/pepper/oil to taste.
1. Cook half a pound of spaghetti in boiling water.
2. Whisk a sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, fresh pepper, and Parmesan until smooth.
3. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce, then toss with fresh basil leaves.
4. Add extra cheese/pepper/oil to taste.
Violent Ends is a throwback to the talky Tarantino knockoffs of the 1990s… just not the good ones.
Violent Ends - Spectrum Culture
In his effort to recreate the indie crime thrillers of the 1990s, John-Michael Powell’s film is light on substance, subtext and suspense.
spectrumculture.com
November 3, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Violent Ends is a throwback to the talky Tarantino knockoffs of the 1990s… just not the good ones.
James Earl Jones, the old man from The Sandlot.
I think everybody has a “Wallace Shawn from Young Sheldon” — my first one would probably be “Vincent Price, the guy who did the voice of Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective”
November 3, 2025 at 3:12 AM
James Earl Jones, the old man from The Sandlot.
Me turning on the game: oh I bet this will be fun.
Me right now: no cocktail I make will be strong enough.
Me right now: no cocktail I make will be strong enough.
November 2, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Me turning on the game: oh I bet this will be fun.
Me right now: no cocktail I make will be strong enough.
Me right now: no cocktail I make will be strong enough.
Reposted by Alan Zilberman
Jafar Panahi’s latest is a masterpiece, and it opens in DC theaters this weekend. Go see it.
In Its Search for Justice, It Was Just an Accident Finds No Easy Answers
The latest masterpiece from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi will resonate with anyone wary of their country’s rightward shift.
washingtoncitypaper.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Jafar Panahi’s latest is a masterpiece, and it opens in DC theaters this weekend. Go see it.
Top first time viewings, October:
1. It Was Just an Accident (2025)
2. Train Dreams (2025)
3. Frankenstein (2025)
4. Penda’s Fen (1974)
5. From Beyond (1986)
More new releases than usual, but what can I say? It’s that time of year.
1. It Was Just an Accident (2025)
2. Train Dreams (2025)
3. Frankenstein (2025)
4. Penda’s Fen (1974)
5. From Beyond (1986)
More new releases than usual, but what can I say? It’s that time of year.
November 1, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Top first time viewings, October:
1. It Was Just an Accident (2025)
2. Train Dreams (2025)
3. Frankenstein (2025)
4. Penda’s Fen (1974)
5. From Beyond (1986)
More new releases than usual, but what can I say? It’s that time of year.
1. It Was Just an Accident (2025)
2. Train Dreams (2025)
3. Frankenstein (2025)
4. Penda’s Fen (1974)
5. From Beyond (1986)
More new releases than usual, but what can I say? It’s that time of year.
My last scary movie of the month is Benson and Moorehead’s Resolution, one of my favorites. It’s a slow burn, sure, but it is genuinely creepy and all the more effective because it never looks and acts like its preferred genre. It is also funny as hell.
November 1, 2025 at 3:59 AM
My last scary movie of the month is Benson and Moorehead’s Resolution, one of my favorites. It’s a slow burn, sure, but it is genuinely creepy and all the more effective because it never looks and acts like its preferred genre. It is also funny as hell.
Next level: strategically trading Halloween candy is a great way to teach the economic concept of comparative advantage.
November 1, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Next level: strategically trading Halloween candy is a great way to teach the economic concept of comparative advantage.
Buscemi!
November 1, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Buscemi!
Free idea for the residents of Elm Street: get blackout drunk every night! You won’t dream about a thing.
This Halloween, I am correcting a major cinematic oversight. That's right: I am watching Freddy vs. Jason.
a cartoon of jason voorhees and freddy krueger
Alt: a cartoon of jason voorhees and freddy krueger
media.tenor.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Free idea for the residents of Elm Street: get blackout drunk every night! You won’t dream about a thing.
This Halloween, I am correcting a major cinematic oversight. That's right: I am watching Freddy vs. Jason.
a cartoon of jason voorhees and freddy krueger
Alt: a cartoon of jason voorhees and freddy krueger
media.tenor.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:34 PM
This Halloween, I am correcting a major cinematic oversight. That's right: I am watching Freddy vs. Jason.