Andrew J. Eisenman
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andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
Andrew J. Eisenman
@andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
480 followers 1.2K following 830 posts
Writer not a Poster // Filmmaker and Film Critic // Member @ncfilmcritics.bsky.social //
Contributor @elmntsofmadness.bsky.social
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andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
Oh Trump did something in 2008
November 12, 2025 at 6:39 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
JAY KELLY: God I love george Clooney. This is going to be overshadowed by it’s overlap with SENTIMENTAL VALUE and BABYLON, but the inciting incident and what it reveals makes Jay Kelly one of my favorite protagonists of the year.
November 12, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
ncfilmcritics.bsky.social
READ: Member Andrew J. Eisenman (@andrewjeisenman.bsky.social) reviews #christy for Elements of Madness (@elmntsofmadness.bsky.social):

elementsofmadness.com/2025/11/06/c...
Boxing movie “Christy” polishes everything about Christy Martin’s story to a bland finish.
Christy, David Michôd, Mirrah Foulkes, Katherine Fugate, Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, Katy O'Brian, Ethan Embry, drama, adaptation, Black Bear, Anonymous Content, Christy Martin
elementsofmadness.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
Bumping for the morning crew
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social Andrew J. Eisenman @andrewjeisenman.bsky.social · 23h
Softlaunching my own newsletter on @beehiiv.com — PONTIFICATOR! with my review of Edgar Wright’s THE RUNNING MAN, a film that’s really fun but not quite great.

Subscribe and such.

www.pontificator.org/p/the-runnin...
“THE RUNNING MAN” RUNS AWAY AT THE END Has Edgar Wright ever truly suffered? One must assume that he has, but it remains the thought I woke with after last night's screening of The Running Man. It's a real movie-star thrill ride from Glen Powell (Hit Man, Twisters) and a solid double from Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Hot Fuzz), but its laudable anti-facist, anti-capitalist politics are undercut by a lifeless production design and third act that runs out of breath. The Running Man follows Powell as Ben Richards, a good, angry man. He's been blacklisted from working because he stood up for his coworkers' safety. Now, his daughter is dying of the flu, and his wife is starting to compromise her boundaries as a waitress just to buy pain meds.. The only way to a better life is to compete in dangerous reality TV shows, including The Running Man, where 3 contestants are hunted for lethal sport. ...critics say that The Running Man signals a return to the barbarism of the Roman Colosseum." Maybe Wright is entering a new phase of his style that started with Last Night in Soho 2022) — a third film will make a trend - but the frantic camera that made him famous is now balletic, and not quite painterly. Graphic novel-y? The colors and compositions are pop art, even when the story calls instead for pulp; the plastic sheen of eshitification retards attempts at critique. There is a moment where the masked men hunting Powell charge towards the camera in front of a Patton-esque American flag. What should be a moment of horrific triumph is instead an empty splash page. What's not empty is Glen Powell's performance, which sits next to Hit Man (2023) as one of his best. There is a marked difference in this life between the anger of a rich man and a poor man when they are insulted, and Powell's seething anger is brilliantly accurate and entertaining. It's his reactions to the insults of Josh Brolin's (Hail Caesar, No Country for Old Men) billionaire character and the various indignities of his life that make this film a fun time at the movies. It's refreshing to say that a film is worth your time just to watch a fun performance, but that's what being a movie star is really all about. Jayme Lawson (Sinners, How to Blow Up a Pipeline) is hitting homers every time the film remembers to let her act in her small role as the wife, and Emilia Jones (Task, Coda) is also very good in her too-limited screen time. In general, all of the performances are up is onan here, but as the movie races towards the end, you can feel
November 12, 2025 at 12:29 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
Now Seated for Jelly Kelly
George Clooney poster for Jay Kelly
November 11, 2025 at 11:48 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
Softlaunching my own newsletter on @beehiiv.com — PONTIFICATOR! with my review of Edgar Wright’s THE RUNNING MAN, a film that’s really fun but not quite great.

Subscribe and such.

www.pontificator.org/p/the-runnin...
“THE RUNNING MAN” RUNS AWAY AT THE END Has Edgar Wright ever truly suffered? One must assume that he has, but it remains the thought I woke with after last night's screening of The Running Man. It's a real movie-star thrill ride from Glen Powell (Hit Man, Twisters) and a solid double from Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Hot Fuzz), but its laudable anti-facist, anti-capitalist politics are undercut by a lifeless production design and third act that runs out of breath. The Running Man follows Powell as Ben Richards, a good, angry man. He's been blacklisted from working because he stood up for his coworkers' safety. Now, his daughter is dying of the flu, and his wife is starting to compromise her boundaries as a waitress just to buy pain meds.. The only way to a better life is to compete in dangerous reality TV shows, including The Running Man, where 3 contestants are hunted for lethal sport. ...critics say that The Running Man signals a return to the barbarism of the Roman Colosseum." Maybe Wright is entering a new phase of his style that started with Last Night in Soho 2022) — a third film will make a trend - but the frantic camera that made him famous is now balletic, and not quite painterly. Graphic novel-y? The colors and compositions are pop art, even when the story calls instead for pulp; the plastic sheen of eshitification retards attempts at critique. There is a moment where the masked men hunting Powell charge towards the camera in front of a Patton-esque American flag. What should be a moment of horrific triumph is instead an empty splash page. What's not empty is Glen Powell's performance, which sits next to Hit Man (2023) as one of his best. There is a marked difference in this life between the anger of a rich man and a poor man when they are insulted, and Powell's seething anger is brilliantly accurate and entertaining. It's his reactions to the insults of Josh Brolin's (Hail Caesar, No Country for Old Men) billionaire character and the various indignities of his life that make this film a fun time at the movies. It's refreshing to say that a film is worth your time just to watch a fun performance, but that's what being a movie star is really all about. Jayme Lawson (Sinners, How to Blow Up a Pipeline) is hitting homers every time the film remembers to let her act in her small role as the wife, and Emilia Jones (Task, Coda) is also very good in her too-limited screen time. In general, all of the performances are up is onan here, but as the movie races towards the end, you can feel
November 11, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
surcomplicated.bsky.social
"What's the point of standards?" is the question our era is destined to answer. Thoroughly.

From Dear Leader all the way down to beat cops and schoolteachers; from internet-poisoned billionaires' Very Online pet hack journos, down to rando shitpoasters.
justinbaragona.bsky.social Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 1d
“I’ve been hearing that standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She also asked openly, ‘What’s the point of standards?’” one CBS source said.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Bari Weiss wants to take down ‘too much power’ CBS News Standards unit: sources
EXCLUSIVE: Internal rumblings within the newsroom come after the S&P head resigned and the network disbanded its vaunted Race and Culture unit.
www.independent.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
gideondefoe.bsky.social
Obvious solution to the But Bond Died problem: what if Bond is now also Tron from the computer and now he's played by beloved beloved character actor Jared Leto
November 11, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
ncfilmcritics.bsky.social
READ: Member Andrew J. Eisenman (@andrewjeisenman.bsky.social) reviews #31candles for Elements of Madness (@elmntsofmadness.bsky.social)

elementsofmadness.com/2025/11/05/3...
“31 Candles” illuminates male loneliness.
31 Candles, Jonah Feingold, JSarah Coffey, Jackie Sandler, Judy Gold, Megan Bitchell, comedy, romance, Level 33 Entertainment,
elementsofmadness.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
emilystjams.bsky.social
If you have a book lover in your life, Woodworking by Emily St. James would make a wonderful holiday gift. The hardcover edition is quite handsome. There are desks on the cover!

bookshop.org/p/books/wood...
Woodworking
Check out Woodworking - <b>LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE 2025<br><br>&ldquo;Writing a funny book is hard. Writing a convincing takedown of one of America&rsquo;s most popular...
bookshop.org
November 10, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
marisakabas.bsky.social
so much suffering and sacrifice only to to agree to terms that will beget more suffering and sacrifice.
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 AM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
I would like Dek from PREDATOR: BADLANDS to meet Jake Sully please and thank you. I know that this film was all about Alien and Predator stuff, but I would prefer he met Jake Sully. I think they’d be friends.
November 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
Plugging for the Saturday readers, CHRISTY is a frustrating failure of a film, and Katy O’Brien and Merritt Wever are the only performances that really work. In theaters now. My full review:

elementsofmadness.com/2025/11/06/c...
Boxing movie “Christy” polishes everything about Christy Martin’s story to a bland finish.
Christy, David Michôd, Mirrah Foulkes, Katherine Fugate, Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, Katy O'Brian, Ethan Embry, drama, adaptation, Black Bear, Anonymous Content, Christy Martin
elementsofmadness.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
timmarchman.bsky.social
Look, it will be a tough pill for many to swallow, but for the good of the country Democrats must work in a spirit of bipartisanship to advance the president’s policy priorities of making private insurance illegal and eliminating the filibuster.
paleofuture.bsky.social Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 4d
“In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, ObamaCare.”
Trump: I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over. In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, ObamaCare. Unrelated, we must still terminate the Filibuster! 2 ReTruths 4 Likes 11/8/25, 6:04 AM
November 8, 2025 at 2:13 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
CHRISTY is an unfortunate huge miss for me. Boxing films are my weakness but it’s clear that Sweeney was the only person who had an angle on the material.
November 7, 2025 at 2:42 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
BAGONIA: Yorgos made his TARGETS and I am aaaaallll about that.
November 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
Ok when’s the John Denver movie and will it include his appearance on The Muppet Show
November 6, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
elmntsofmadness.bsky.social
This Friday, a new Jonah Feingold project releases in select NYC theaters: 31 CANDLES.

EoM Contributor @andrewjeisenman.bsky.social says, "In an era where dating is commodified by corporations, 31 Candles is a rom-com for our time, breaking down the men who expect love to arrive customized."
“31 Candles” illuminates male loneliness.
31 Candles, Jonah Feingold, JSarah Coffey, Jackie Sandler, Judy Gold, Megan Bitchell, comedy, romance, Level 33 Entertainment,
elementsofmadness.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM
andrewjeisenman.bsky.social
Wake up New York City, something actually important is happening:

Jonah Feingold’s very good rom-com 31 CANDLES arrives this weekend!

Read the full review 👇🗽🕎🎄❤️
"31 Candles" illuminates male loneliness. BY ANDREW J. EISENMAN on NOVEMBER 5, 2025 • 9 (0) "Have you talked to [Redacted] lately" is a question that many mothers love to haunt their single children with. "What about [Redacted]," "I just ran into [Redacted] at the grocery store," "[Redacted] was at urch today," or, as kicks off the plot of 31 Candles, "Ava Shapiro's going to be there." Jonah Feingold's (EXmas; Good to See You) lates, entry in his crusade to revive the "big city rom-com" follows a parody of himself, Leo, as he hatches a hairbrained scheme to seduce his childhood crush, Eva, played by Sara Coffey (Queens of the Dead; Devil's Workshop). Many summers ago, she may or may not have given him an over-the-pants handjob at "Jew Camp" before ghosting him in an AOL chatroom. Now, she's an actress trying to break onto Broadway while teaching bar mitzvah classes; lessons that lovesick Leo never learned. "People do crazy things when they have a crush" Many are the early directing careers hampered by immature self-insert work, but Feingold has in his arsenal one of the fine comedic tools: the ability to nail himself to the wall. Where he once directed EXmas (2023) for Amazon, he finds plenty of great jokes in a Jewish bachelor directing The Christmas Kiss for an online retailer. In front of his camera, an actress character played hilariously by NYC Comedian Megan Bitchell (Rent Free) gives her all to make a bad scene work. Afterwards, Leo returns to his unhappy situationship, where he and his lover Molly, played by Djouliet Amara (Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between; Seance), finally label their relationship as "undefined". He's belittled by his parents for not having a real job or a real girlfriend. His grandmother teases him for his not-so-secret-romanticism, and he wears lifts in his shoes to seem taller on his bad app dates. In fact, the biggest belly-laugh the film gave was the first wide shot of Leo and Eva standing next to each other, Eva patiently towering over Leo as he looks up at her with puppy dog eyes; an obvious mismatch that lays out just how much scheming Leo will have to hatch in order to fulfill his bar mitzvah mission and find "real love". "You are not in the way of finding real love because real love is not what I'm looking for." While most rom-coms are two-handers, 31 Candles deconstructs the one-sided objectification central to the unrequited crush. It doesn't seek to explore this the way its contemporary films, I Like Movies (2023) or The Threesome (2023) would by letting us see the burden of idealization from the woman's perspective. Instead, 31 Candles remains critical in and of the man's point of view as he works through his feelings. Instructive but not liberating. Some will find the knowing perspective compellin realized, and others will, fairly so, find it alienating. What holds it all together is the depth of Sarah Coffey's performance. Ava Shapiro feels fully formed as a person, even when we don't get to see her full agency. In hiding her pain from us, the absurdity of Leo's incumosity becomes painfully transparent. The schemes that we hatch in order to get closer to crushes are rooted in insecurity, not desire. Real love waits behind doors never opened and flees from doors forced open. In an era where dating is commodified by corporations, 31 Candles is a rom-com for our time, breaking down the men who expect love to arrive customized. There is no male loneliness epidemic, there's a male expectation epidemic. So, to set a
November 5, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
marisakabas.bsky.social
why is this mayoral election different than all other mayoral elections?

in all other mayoral elections, we get to see andrew cuomo lose but once. but in this mayoral elections, we get to see him lose *twice*.
July 14, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
bencollins.bsky.social
theonion.com/dick-cheney-...
Dick Cheney Vice Presidential Library Opens In Pitch-Dark, Sulfurous Underground Cave
SUMNER, NE—The Richard B. Cheney Vice Presidential Library and Museum officially opened to the public on Wednesday, housing a variety of exhibits honoring the legacy of the former vice president on di...
theonion.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
coreyatad.com
watching the Mamdani campaign from afar during the primary, so many things were impressive, among them the incredible work his online video team was doing to spread the message in fun, creative, educational, invigorating ways that spoke to people

this is my story about how they did it
Selling Zohran | Defector
On a cool Sunday in November, a few days after Donald Trump’s re-election, Zohran Mamdani stood on a street corner in Jamaica, Queens, holding up a hastily drawn cardboard sign that read “DID YOU VOTE...
defector.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
katharinehayhoe.com
For any unfamiliar with the quality of journalism at Teen Vogue, it's well known for hard-hitting stories on "politically sensitive" topics including climate.

Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
leximcmenamin.com Lex McMenamin (they/them) @leximcmenamin.com · 9d
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.

certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by Andrew J. Eisenman
costasamaras.com
People on here will post anything. 'Baseball games have 9 innings.' No they don’t. That isn’t true.
November 2, 2025 at 4:10 AM