Marshall Shaffer
@marshallshaffer.bsky.social
Freelance writer frequently seen on The Playlist, Decider, Slant Magazine, Slashfilm, and Crooked Marquee. We'll get along. (he/him)
https://marshallandthemovies.substack.com/
https://marshallandthemovies.substack.com/
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Marshall and the Movies | Marshall Shaffer | Substack
Marshall Shaffer talks you through the movies you should watch, twice a week. Click to read Marshall and the Movies, by Marshall Shaffer, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
Welcome, new friends. marshallandthemovies.substack.com
Happy SIRÂT qualifying week! NYC and LA, don't miss this brief window starting Friday to see THE theatrical moviegoing experience of the year. Great to dig into this film, body and soul, with director Óliver Laxe and actor Sergi López for @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/oliver-...
Oliver Laxe and Sergi López on 'Sirât' and the Memory of the Body
Laxe and López discuss trance, religious pilgrimage, and what each of them took away from grappling with the imminence of death.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Happy SIRÂT qualifying week! NYC and LA, don't miss this brief window starting Friday to see THE theatrical moviegoing experience of the year. Great to dig into this film, body and soul, with director Óliver Laxe and actor Sergi López for @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/oliver-...
Dear fellow journalists,
If you are in a roundtable interview setting with talent who has limited time, please do not eat up the clock by rambling about how you like them/the film. Get to your question.
Concision, concision, concision.
If you are in a roundtable interview setting with talent who has limited time, please do not eat up the clock by rambling about how you like them/the film. Get to your question.
Concision, concision, concision.
November 9, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Dear fellow journalists,
If you are in a roundtable interview setting with talent who has limited time, please do not eat up the clock by rambling about how you like them/the film. Get to your question.
Concision, concision, concision.
If you are in a roundtable interview setting with talent who has limited time, please do not eat up the clock by rambling about how you like them/the film. Get to your question.
Concision, concision, concision.
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
November 7, 2025 at 9:36 PM
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
Thrilled to write even more about BUGONIA, this time over at @lwlies.com where I look at the film as a synthesis of the various strains of Stanley Kubrick running through the work of Yorgos Lanthimos. (Many thnaks to @daveyjenkins.bsky.social for helping focus the idea!) lwlies.com/this-just-in...
Yorgos Lanthimos, Bugonia, and the Long Shadow of Stanley Kubrick
Kubrickian echoes reverberate throughout the Greek filmmaker's oeuvre. With Bugonia, those connections are shaped into a singular package that transcends…
lwlies.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Thrilled to write even more about BUGONIA, this time over at @lwlies.com where I look at the film as a synthesis of the various strains of Stanley Kubrick running through the work of Yorgos Lanthimos. (Many thnaks to @daveyjenkins.bsky.social for helping focus the idea!) lwlies.com/this-just-in...
In a somewhat meta twist, it was me asking the questions of Linda Rosenkrantz - and the filmmaker, Ira Sachs, who brought her text PETER HUJAR'S DAY to life - earlier this week. See this unique portrait of affection and artistry starting Friday 11/7! www.slantmagazine.com/film/ira-sac...
Ira Sachs and Linda Rosenkrantz on 'Peter Hujar's Day'
Ira Sachs and Linda Rosenkrantz, who's played in the film by Rebecca Hall, discuss whether Hujar would enjoy the spotlight the film shines on him.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:27 PM
In a somewhat meta twist, it was me asking the questions of Linda Rosenkrantz - and the filmmaker, Ira Sachs, who brought her text PETER HUJAR'S DAY to life - earlier this week. See this unique portrait of affection and artistry starting Friday 11/7! www.slantmagazine.com/film/ira-sac...
*LAST DANCE by Donna Summer intensifies*
A decade after making Sundance the first festival I truly covered for an outlet (RIP Movie Mezzanine), I’m looking forward to being at the final Park City edition next January!
A decade after making Sundance the first festival I truly covered for an outlet (RIP Movie Mezzanine), I’m looking forward to being at the final Park City edition next January!
November 5, 2025 at 4:49 PM
*LAST DANCE by Donna Summer intensifies*
A decade after making Sundance the first festival I truly covered for an outlet (RIP Movie Mezzanine), I’m looking forward to being at the final Park City edition next January!
A decade after making Sundance the first festival I truly covered for an outlet (RIP Movie Mezzanine), I’m looking forward to being at the final Park City edition next January!
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
Zohran has a big road ahead of him with many obstacles, but this old video suggests he may have already faced down folks like the NYC Movie Guru and Scott 'Movie' Mantz!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_6...
Zohran Mamdani of Queen of Katwe on Kaya FM
YouTube video by Kaya 959
www.youtube.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Zohran has a big road ahead of him with many obstacles, but this old video suggests he may have already faced down folks like the NYC Movie Guru and Scott 'Movie' Mantz!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_6...
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
Turns out the Koch-Cuomo parallels that @jasondashbailey.com highlighted in our conversation this summer got EVEN stronger. Happy Mamdani mayoralty, New York City! marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/fun-city-v...
Fun City vs. Fear City
Digging into the New York movie with Jason Bailey
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Turns out the Koch-Cuomo parallels that @jasondashbailey.com highlighted in our conversation this summer got EVEN stronger. Happy Mamdani mayoralty, New York City! marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/fun-city-v...
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
The scrappiness that animates Sydney Sweeney as an actor finds natural expression through Christy Martin. Read @marshallshaffer.bsky.social on David Michôd’s CHRISTY.
'Christy' Review: Sydney Sweeney's Defining Star Text
'Christy' lulls us into complacency by deviating little from the standard inspirational sports-movie playbook.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM
The scrappiness that animates Sydney Sweeney as an actor finds natural expression through Christy Martin. Read @marshallshaffer.bsky.social on David Michôd’s CHRISTY.
For anyone doing the Criterion flash sale today, allow me to point you in the direction of my Substack's masterpiece: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/cooking-an...
Cooking and Criterions
A flash sale special
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
For anyone doing the Criterion flash sale today, allow me to point you in the direction of my Substack's masterpiece: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/cooking-an...
Unsurprisingly, I adored DIE MY LOVE. No one commits to their visions of image and montage like Lynne Ramsay, and she's found one hell of a partner in Jennifer Lawrence. (Robert Pattinson, too, is a dynamite force in his own right.)
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/die-my-...
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/die-my-...
'Die My Love' Review: An Expressionistic Portrait of a Mental Breakdown
To dismantle the mythologies of maternity, Lynne Ramsay's tool of choice is the sledgehammer rather than the scalpel.
www.slantmagazine.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Unsurprisingly, I adored DIE MY LOVE. No one commits to their visions of image and montage like Lynne Ramsay, and she's found one hell of a partner in Jennifer Lawrence. (Robert Pattinson, too, is a dynamite force in his own right.)
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/die-my-...
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/die-my-...
Proud of this piece!
“With two decades of distance from ‘Elizabethtown,’ it’s now pretty clear Orlando Bloom is the key element holding the film back,” @marshallshaffer.bsky.social writes. “He’s a vacuum of charisma.”
crookedmarquee.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Proud of this piece!
"But there were two films that I was referencing a lot when making this movie…which Kelly would kill me if she found out that I looked at these."
Can you keep Josh O'Connor's secret? Read on in our interview about THE MASTERMIND on @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/jos...
Can you keep Josh O'Connor's secret? Read on in our interview about THE MASTERMIND on @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/jos...
Josh O’Connor on 'The Mastermind' and Calibrating Chaos
Josh O'Connor discusses building his character's backstory, understanding America by immersing himself in an era, and more.
www.slantmagazine.com
October 16, 2025 at 7:23 PM
"But there were two films that I was referencing a lot when making this movie…which Kelly would kill me if she found out that I looked at these."
Can you keep Josh O'Connor's secret? Read on in our interview about THE MASTERMIND on @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/jos...
Can you keep Josh O'Connor's secret? Read on in our interview about THE MASTERMIND on @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/jos...
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
“With two decades of distance from ‘Elizabethtown,’ it’s now pretty clear Orlando Bloom is the key element holding the film back,” @marshallshaffer.bsky.social writes. “He’s a vacuum of charisma.”
crookedmarquee.com
October 15, 2025 at 11:15 PM
“With two decades of distance from ‘Elizabethtown,’ it’s now pretty clear Orlando Bloom is the key element holding the film back,” @marshallshaffer.bsky.social writes. “He’s a vacuum of charisma.”
"I couldn’t be less interested in presenting myself! I’m interested in discovering other things that aren’t familiar to me."
Kelly Reichardt becomes my first three-time interviewee for THE MASTERMIND, which is out starting Friday.
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/kelly-r...
Kelly Reichardt becomes my first three-time interviewee for THE MASTERMIND, which is out starting Friday.
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/kelly-r...
Kelly Reichardt on 'The Mastermind' and the Art of the Aftermath
Kelly Reichardt discusses her collaboration process with her actors, the political climate of an era, and more.
www.slantmagazine.com
October 16, 2025 at 3:44 PM
"I couldn’t be less interested in presenting myself! I’m interested in discovering other things that aren’t familiar to me."
Kelly Reichardt becomes my first three-time interviewee for THE MASTERMIND, which is out starting Friday.
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/kelly-r...
Kelly Reichardt becomes my first three-time interviewee for THE MASTERMIND, which is out starting Friday.
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/kelly-r...
Wrote this as well!
‘Elizabethtown’ may be best remembered for inspiring the term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl," but its legacy should also include being the first of 20 years of failed launches for a generation of leading men like Orlando Bloom: crookedmarquee.com/20-years-of-...
October 15, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Wrote this as well!
An honor doesn't even begin to encompass my experience of getting to interview Jafar Panahi, a true compass pointing toward the light of free expression in these dark times, about his Palme d'Or-winning IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT.
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/jafar-p...
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/jafar-p...
Jafar Panahi on 'It Was Just an Accident' and the Sound of Violence
Jafar Panahi discusses the role of sound in 'It Was Just an Accident,' what the word "accident" means to him, and more.
www.slantmagazine.com
October 15, 2025 at 5:05 PM
An honor doesn't even begin to encompass my experience of getting to interview Jafar Panahi, a true compass pointing toward the light of free expression in these dark times, about his Palme d'Or-winning IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT.
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/jafar-p...
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/jafar-p...
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
BLUE MOON, writes @marshallshaffer.bsky.social, captures the death of an artist as only Richard Linklater could by fixating on a moment perpendicular to Lorenz Hart’s passing. In NY/LA theaters this Friday.
'Blue Moon' Review: Richard Linklater's Biopic Waxes Lyrical
'Blue Moon' proves the immortal genius of Rodgers by embodying both the Hart and Hammerstein models of artistic engagement within the film.
www.slantmagazine.com
October 14, 2025 at 4:46 PM
BLUE MOON, writes @marshallshaffer.bsky.social, captures the death of an artist as only Richard Linklater could by fixating on a moment perpendicular to Lorenz Hart’s passing. In NY/LA theaters this Friday.
Columbus is in the Bad Place.
Happy Indigenous People’s Day: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/indigenous...
Happy Indigenous People’s Day: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/indigenous...
Indigenous Cinemas
An alternative celebration to today's holiday
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Columbus is in the Bad Place.
Happy Indigenous People’s Day: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/indigenous...
Happy Indigenous People’s Day: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/indigenous...
A supposedly fun thing I … told myself I wouldn’t do again after 2019/20 but here we are again.
On being an NYFF main slate completist: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/i-watched-...
On being an NYFF main slate completist: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/i-watched-...
I Watched the Entire 2025 NYFF Main Slate
Lessons from this year's festival
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
October 12, 2025 at 6:22 PM
A supposedly fun thing I … told myself I wouldn’t do again after 2019/20 but here we are again.
On being an NYFF main slate completist: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/i-watched-...
On being an NYFF main slate completist: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/i-watched-...
It's been my performance of the year all year long, so it was a true honor to talk with Rose Byrne about her career-best work in IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU (out starting tomorrow). For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/ros...
Rose Byrne on 'If I Had Legs I'd Kick You' and Building Her Mother of All Roles
Rose Byrne discusses working with Mary Bronstein, where she sees similarities between performing comedy and horror, and more.
www.slantmagazine.com
October 9, 2025 at 6:36 PM
It's been my performance of the year all year long, so it was a true honor to talk with Rose Byrne about her career-best work in IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU (out starting tomorrow). For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/ros...
Still the defining film of the 21st century (even without sound, as I report back in today's anniversary newsletter) marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/the-social...
THE SOCIAL NETWORK: Mute Challenge
Appreciating Fincher's visuals for the 15th anniversary
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
October 1, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Still the defining film of the 21st century (even without sound, as I report back in today's anniversary newsletter) marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/the-social...
Today's Substack newsletter, inspired by PTA: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/the-gearsh...
PTA's Favorite Kind of Movie
Notes on the Gearshift Movie ⚙️
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
September 26, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Today's Substack newsletter, inspired by PTA: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/the-gearsh...
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
9/23/63: Imgmar Bergman's The Silence
w/Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten
More:
@marshallshaffer.bsky.social / @vaguevisages.bsky.social: vaguevisages.com/2018/02/26/v...
Leo Braudy: www.criterion.com/current/post...
Ebert: rogerebert.com/reviews/the-...
w/Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten
More:
@marshallshaffer.bsky.social / @vaguevisages.bsky.social: vaguevisages.com/2018/02/26/v...
Leo Braudy: www.criterion.com/current/post...
Ebert: rogerebert.com/reviews/the-...
The last in the Bergman trilogy about the silence of God movie review (1963) | Roger Ebert
Two women and a boy share a compartment on a train. It is an unhappy journey, and we sense tension and dislike between the women. The boy wanders out into the
rogerebert.com
September 23, 2025 at 6:18 PM
9/23/63: Imgmar Bergman's The Silence
w/Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten
More:
@marshallshaffer.bsky.social / @vaguevisages.bsky.social: vaguevisages.com/2018/02/26/v...
Leo Braudy: www.criterion.com/current/post...
Ebert: rogerebert.com/reviews/the-...
w/Ingrid Thulin, Gunnel Lindblom, Birger Malmsten
More:
@marshallshaffer.bsky.social / @vaguevisages.bsky.social: vaguevisages.com/2018/02/26/v...
Leo Braudy: www.criterion.com/current/post...
Ebert: rogerebert.com/reviews/the-...