Radheyan Simonpillai
@justsayrad.bsky.social
Film Critic at CTV's Your Morning.
Pop Culture Columnist at CBC Radio.
Contributor: The Guardian, The Globe & Mail and more.
Pop Culture Columnist at CBC Radio.
Contributor: The Guardian, The Globe & Mail and more.
LA folks returning to Toronto for the World Series.
October 31, 2025 at 12:49 PM
LA folks returning to Toronto for the World Series.
Happy Halloween. I revisited The Shining for the @theguardian.com's round-up of scariest movies of all time. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
‘Extreme heebie-jeebies’: writers on their scariest movies of all time
For Halloween, Guardian writers pick their most terrifying films ever – from The Shining and The Descent to The Strangers
www.theguardian.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Happy Halloween. I revisited The Shining for the @theguardian.com's round-up of scariest movies of all time. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Trying out a daddy-daughter Halloween fit.
October 23, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Trying out a daddy-daughter Halloween fit.
Read up on disgraced Yale power couple, Jed Rubenfeld and Amy Chua, and consider how much more potent After The Hunt would have been were it just about them. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film...
Julia Roberts tries to avoid cancellation in sexual-politics drama After the Hunt
Director Luca Guadagnino’s film is sensual, despite the familiar debates
www.theglobeandmail.com
October 16, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Read up on disgraced Yale power couple, Jed Rubenfeld and Amy Chua, and consider how much more potent After The Hunt would have been were it just about them. www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film...
One Battle After Another will be fine down the line with awards & word of mouth. But as it stands, no one I talk to over the age of 30 (outside of media) heard of this movie. Maybe spending $70 mill to market a movie for grownups on Fortnite and TikTok was a stupid idea. variety.com/2025/film/bo...
‘One Battle After Another’ Projected to Lose $100 Million Theatrically as ‘Smashing Machine’ and Others Also Struggle Due to Oversized Budgets
Why "The Smashing Machine," "One Battle After Another" and other buzzy films are failing to make a profit at the box office.
variety.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:34 PM
One Battle After Another will be fine down the line with awards & word of mouth. But as it stands, no one I talk to over the age of 30 (outside of media) heard of this movie. Maybe spending $70 mill to market a movie for grownups on Fortnite and TikTok was a stupid idea. variety.com/2025/film/bo...
Reposted by Radheyan Simonpillai
What an absolute treasure Diane Keaton was. Her wit never tired, nor did her style.
October 11, 2025 at 8:30 PM
What an absolute treasure Diane Keaton was. Her wit never tired, nor did her style.
Because Mary Bronstein's excellent If I Had Legs I'd Kick You is hitting theatres, the @theguardian.com put together this round up of the most stressful movies. I wrote on a Safdie joint (no not that one). www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
‘Verging on unwatchable’: Guardian writers on their most stressful movies
With the US release of Rose Byrne’s anxiety-inducing motherhood spiral If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, writers relive their most uncomfortable movie watches
www.theguardian.com
October 11, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Because Mary Bronstein's excellent If I Had Legs I'd Kick You is hitting theatres, the @theguardian.com put together this round up of the most stressful movies. I wrote on a Safdie joint (no not that one). www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
So who told Derek Cianfrance to lighten up? www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/re...
Review: Channing Tatum hits a cinematic ceiling with charming but manipulative Roofman
The movie, based on a true story, has to play with the truth to keep its lead character likeable
www.theglobeandmail.com
October 7, 2025 at 5:48 PM
So who told Derek Cianfrance to lighten up? www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/re...
Talking the disappointment of The Life of a Showgirl (and Actually Romantic, especially) for the pop culture column. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.
www.cbc.ca
October 4, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Talking the disappointment of The Life of a Showgirl (and Actually Romantic, especially) for the pop culture column. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
A good read on The Life of a Showgirl. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
Taylor Swift’s Charli xcx hit job misses the point – and underscores her tedious obsession with conflict | Laura Snapes
Sixteen months after Charli used Brat to air her anxieties about Swift, the US star’s graceless response is a missed opportunity for growth – and betrays her vengeful side
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:08 PM
A good read on The Life of a Showgirl. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/o...
One more time on One Battle After Another: its beautifully messy politics, towering artistry, where it stands in PTA's work and how I hope it will be a gateway drug back to Inherent Vice. Listen here: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
September 28, 2025 at 8:17 PM
One more time on One Battle After Another: its beautifully messy politics, towering artistry, where it stands in PTA's work and how I hope it will be a gateway drug back to Inherent Vice. Listen here: www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
Went longer on One Battle After Another on my CBC pop culture column. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
a picture of a road with the word one written on it
ALT: a picture of a road with the word one written on it
media.tenor.com
September 27, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Went longer on One Battle After Another on my CBC pop culture column. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...
This was a really great conversation on One Battle After Another, digging into its radical and sexual politics, with @elamin.bsky.social, El Jones and @jacksonweaver.bsky.social. www.youtube.com/live/5_r2lj2...
One Battle After Another, and the release of the thriller series The Savant is delayed
YouTube video by Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud
www.youtube.com
September 26, 2025 at 3:50 PM
This was a really great conversation on One Battle After Another, digging into its radical and sexual politics, with @elamin.bsky.social, El Jones and @jacksonweaver.bsky.social. www.youtube.com/live/5_r2lj2...
Love that One Battle After Another stars Chase Infiniti.
Too fitting for a chase movie obsessed with time - how nothing changes over time, how its main character can't crack a secret password that revolves around time, how the only way to measure time passing is through her character!
Too fitting for a chase movie obsessed with time - how nothing changes over time, how its main character can't crack a secret password that revolves around time, how the only way to measure time passing is through her character!
a close up of a woman 's face with #one battle after another written below it
ALT: a close up of a woman 's face with #one battle after another written below it
media.tenor.com
September 25, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Love that One Battle After Another stars Chase Infiniti.
Too fitting for a chase movie obsessed with time - how nothing changes over time, how its main character can't crack a secret password that revolves around time, how the only way to measure time passing is through her character!
Too fitting for a chase movie obsessed with time - how nothing changes over time, how its main character can't crack a secret password that revolves around time, how the only way to measure time passing is through her character!
My two favourite movies of the year are in conversation with each other in interesting ways. That's a conversation for another day.
September 25, 2025 at 8:16 PM
My two favourite movies of the year are in conversation with each other in interesting ways. That's a conversation for another day.
Introduced my teen son to Inherent Vice this week and he gave it a 7/10, which I think is a perfectly fine first response.
Now to get him to watch it again, which is when he'll realize Inherent Vice is so sublime that it exists on a transcendent spectrum where rational numbers don't belong.
Now to get him to watch it again, which is when he'll realize Inherent Vice is so sublime that it exists on a transcendent spectrum where rational numbers don't belong.
Its Not Groovy To Be Insane Inherent Vice GIF
ALT: Its Not Groovy To Be Insane Inherent Vice GIF
media.tenor.com
September 25, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Introduced my teen son to Inherent Vice this week and he gave it a 7/10, which I think is a perfectly fine first response.
Now to get him to watch it again, which is when he'll realize Inherent Vice is so sublime that it exists on a transcendent spectrum where rational numbers don't belong.
Now to get him to watch it again, which is when he'll realize Inherent Vice is so sublime that it exists on a transcendent spectrum where rational numbers don't belong.
Reposted by Radheyan Simonpillai
I don't know that I ever gave anything five stars in The Guardian before. The Lowdown deserves. tinyurl.com/4kfxrdhp
The Lowdown review – Ethan Hawke is terrific in playful neo-noir series
Reservation Dogs creator Sterlin Harjo’s excellent crime caper has the actor on top form as a journalist taking down Tulsa’s bad guys
tinyurl.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM
I don't know that I ever gave anything five stars in The Guardian before. The Lowdown deserves. tinyurl.com/4kfxrdhp
I don't know that I ever gave anything five stars in The Guardian before. The Lowdown deserves. tinyurl.com/4kfxrdhp
The Lowdown review – Ethan Hawke is terrific in playful neo-noir series
Reservation Dogs creator Sterlin Harjo’s excellent crime caper has the actor on top form as a journalist taking down Tulsa’s bad guys
tinyurl.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:21 AM
I don't know that I ever gave anything five stars in The Guardian before. The Lowdown deserves. tinyurl.com/4kfxrdhp
5 years ago, I wrote about how PTA rankings get me in my feelings, because Inherent Vice rarely gets its due among Anderson's best. It's an achingly beautiful & melancholic tragedy, which I think is superior to One Battle After Another (which I also really love). www.gamesradar.com/inherent-vic...
Is it just me, or is Inherent Vice the most underrated film of the past 10 years?
A Total Film writer on why it's a mystery that PTA's movie doesn't get more love...
www.gamesradar.com
September 20, 2025 at 7:46 PM
5 years ago, I wrote about how PTA rankings get me in my feelings, because Inherent Vice rarely gets its due among Anderson's best. It's an achingly beautiful & melancholic tragedy, which I think is superior to One Battle After Another (which I also really love). www.gamesradar.com/inherent-vic...
Kogonada, Colon Farrell and Margot Robbie make it hard to completely dismiss what they're up to in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/re...
Review: Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell lead A Big Bold Beautiful Journey to nowhere in particular
Robbie’s and Farrell’s characters say and do things we rarely believe, but we go along with them anyway, because the stars make things so cozy
www.theglobeandmail.com
September 18, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Kogonada, Colon Farrell and Margot Robbie make it hard to completely dismiss what they're up to in A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/re...
Reposted by Radheyan Simonpillai
Hate to admit, but Warner Bros. was right not to take ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER to festivals. It would have thoroughly crushed any other film, instantly rendering the rest of the programming null and void. Rather considerate of PTA to let everyone else breathe for a moment or two.
September 17, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Hate to admit, but Warner Bros. was right not to take ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER to festivals. It would have thoroughly crushed any other film, instantly rendering the rest of the programming null and void. Rather considerate of PTA to let everyone else breathe for a moment or two.
Not like the world didn't already know but ... www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, says UN commission of inquiry
Report cites scale of killings and aid blockages and accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of inciting commission of genocide
www.theguardian.com
September 16, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Not like the world didn't already know but ... www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
One Battle After Another: Remember when people said this was gonna be a mess. 😅 (Also, updated PTA ranking) boxd.it/Fi4pK
September 15, 2025 at 5:30 PM
One Battle After Another: Remember when people said this was gonna be a mess. 😅 (Also, updated PTA ranking) boxd.it/Fi4pK
The Voice of Hind Rajab: As devastating as you'd expected. There's also really smart and heartfelt filmmaking (like moments when actors just listen and process the audio from real life) in a film mapping out the different ways people helplessly push back against calculated indifference. #TIFF50
September 14, 2025 at 1:16 PM
The Voice of Hind Rajab: As devastating as you'd expected. There's also really smart and heartfelt filmmaking (like moments when actors just listen and process the audio from real life) in a film mapping out the different ways people helplessly push back against calculated indifference. #TIFF50
There's a whole TIFF in 12 playlist helping you plan your final festival weekend y'all.
youtube.com/playlist?lis... #TIFF50
youtube.com/playlist?lis... #TIFF50
September 13, 2025 at 6:13 PM
There's a whole TIFF in 12 playlist helping you plan your final festival weekend y'all.
youtube.com/playlist?lis... #TIFF50
youtube.com/playlist?lis... #TIFF50