Phil Hoad
@phlode.bsky.social
Reporter, features writer and critic based in Montpellier, France.
Pinned
Phil Hoad
@phlode.bsky.social
· Oct 8
Beef: Schwarzenegger v Stallone: chapter breakdown
The guts of my anatomy of a rivalry.
www.schwarzeneggervstallone.com
From an exchange of floral fire at the 1977 Golden Globes to burger'n'fries detente at Planet Hollywood in 1991: the chapter breakdown of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE. bit.ly/4nB21Bn
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
Can't believe how good the Fassbender-Cotillard-Kurzel MACBETH is. Flew by like a 90-minute thriller – even though some of the speaking is hard to make out
November 9, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Can't believe how good the Fassbender-Cotillard-Kurzel MACBETH is. Flew by like a 90-minute thriller – even though some of the speaking is hard to make out
I wish I'd known this when I did my Netflix investigation
This is because Netflix has a specific list of approved digital cameras and a specific production pipeline that ends up making everything look extremely same-y. Nothing else looks like a Netflix show, but every Netflix show looks like a Netflix show.
www.vice.com/en/article/w...
www.vice.com/en/article/w...
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 AM
I wish I'd known this when I did my Netflix investigation
Not to knock his performance, but Idris Elba's casting was a false step for A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE. Felt over-familiar and unhelpfully reassuring for a drama supposedly dragging us into the unknown
November 4, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Not to knock his performance, but Idris Elba's casting was a false step for A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE. Felt over-familiar and unhelpfully reassuring for a drama supposedly dragging us into the unknown
My second five-starrer in a year – getting soft in my old age (but anything uniting pitchfork murders and the Teletubbies stands a good chance with me) www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
The Last Sacrifice review – how a gruesome rural murder embedded folk-horror in the British psyche
Rupert Russell’s fascinating documentary is a sophisticated analysis of how real life and fiction merged in post-empire Britain in the 1960s and 70s
www.theguardian.com
October 23, 2025 at 12:24 PM
My second five-starrer in a year – getting soft in my old age (but anything uniting pitchfork murders and the Teletubbies stands a good chance with me) www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Reposted by Phil Hoad
Netflix has 12 pre-1980 films in October. They had as many as 21 in July.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is now their oldest American film.
List in alt text. #FilmSky #Streaming
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is now their oldest American film.
List in alt text. #FilmSky #Streaming
October 10, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Netflix has 12 pre-1980 films in October. They had as many as 21 in July.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is now their oldest American film.
List in alt text. #FilmSky #Streaming
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is now their oldest American film.
List in alt text. #FilmSky #Streaming
From an exchange of floral fire at the 1977 Golden Globes to burger'n'fries detente at Planet Hollywood in 1991: the chapter breakdown of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE. bit.ly/4nB21Bn
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
Beef: Schwarzenegger v Stallone: chapter breakdown
The guts of my anatomy of a rivalry.
www.schwarzeneggervstallone.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
From an exchange of floral fire at the 1977 Golden Globes to burger'n'fries detente at Planet Hollywood in 1991: the chapter breakdown of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE. bit.ly/4nB21Bn
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
Caught a bit of EASY RIDER, which I've not seen in years, on TV last night. For a movie from the smoked-out depths of Dennis Hopper's mind, the first 15 minutes are incredibly bold, lucid and largely non-verbal storytelling www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvI...
Easy Rider - Airport dealer
YouTube video by Diablo GAGA
www.youtube.com
October 8, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Caught a bit of EASY RIDER, which I've not seen in years, on TV last night. For a movie from the smoked-out depths of Dennis Hopper's mind, the first 15 minutes are incredibly bold, lucid and largely non-verbal storytelling www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvI...
Reposted by Phil Hoad
We tend to think we have advanced and that progress is ever upward but the fact is, in the 1910s, the westerns were gritty, women wrote half the movies (and were the predominant action-adventure stars) and American films were extremely anti-aristocracy/kinda socialist.
October 3, 2025 at 12:13 AM
We tend to think we have advanced and that progress is ever upward but the fact is, in the 1910s, the westerns were gritty, women wrote half the movies (and were the predominant action-adventure stars) and American films were extremely anti-aristocracy/kinda socialist.
Excellent piece
Rory Kiberd looks back at an implacable and unforgiving film that has only become more relevant over the last two decades... plus The Act Of Killing, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and The Zone Of Interest
The Impossibility of Forgetting: Haneke’s Caché at 20
buff.ly/n39DY3H
The Impossibility of Forgetting: Haneke’s Caché at 20
buff.ly/n39DY3H
October 3, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Excellent piece
Spent some time ranking Mme Cotillard. The more real she gets, the more I like her www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Marion Cotillard at 50: the actor’s 20 best films – ranked!
We rate her most impressive performances, from Lady Macbeth to Edith Piaf to a Batman baddie
www.theguardian.com
October 3, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Spent some time ranking Mme Cotillard. The more real she gets, the more I like her www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Reposted by Phil Hoad
Just taking the opportunity, since I haven’t seen it on here this press cycle, to share the most wholesome PTA interview youtu.be/lSqRJLh6vv4
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON, Director "Phantom Thread" & Award Recipient
YouTube video by SBMSTeenPress
youtu.be
October 2, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Just taking the opportunity, since I haven’t seen it on here this press cycle, to share the most wholesome PTA interview youtu.be/lSqRJLh6vv4
If nothing else, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER confirms Leo as the great dressing-gown actor of our times
September 29, 2025 at 8:18 AM
If nothing else, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER confirms Leo as the great dressing-gown actor of our times
Stallone goes country'n'western, while Schwarzenegger channels his inner robot. The first FREE chapter of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE.
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.) bit.ly/4826qIL
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.) bit.ly/4826qIL
Beef: Schwarzenegger v Stallone: Chapter I
“It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it will absolutely not stop ever.”
bit.ly
September 26, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Stallone goes country'n'western, while Schwarzenegger channels his inner robot. The first FREE chapter of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE.
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.) bit.ly/4826qIL
(Pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.) bit.ly/4826qIL
This obit – of John Francis Lane, who wrote Claudia Cardinale's obit for the Guardian – is a life and a half itself www.theguardian.com/film/2019/ju...
John Francis Lane obituary
Actor, journalist, film writer and critic who was an expert on Italian cinema
www.theguardian.com
September 25, 2025 at 8:32 AM
This obit – of John Francis Lane, who wrote Claudia Cardinale's obit for the Guardian – is a life and a half itself www.theguardian.com/film/2019/ju...
How Arnie ushered in the Age of Quips.
(Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
bit.ly/4nDV16m
(Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
bit.ly/4nDV16m
The quip supremacy
Why Mr Schwarzenegger was never in want of a bon mot before an act of casual murder
bit.ly
September 19, 2025 at 9:20 AM
How Arnie ushered in the Age of Quips.
(Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
bit.ly/4nDV16m
(Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing.)
bit.ly/4nDV16m
Couldn't help wondering what Tarantino might've done with CAUGHT STEALING. So monotonously paced that it evaporated most of the humour QT would have worked into the violence Aronofsky kept resorting to
September 1, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Couldn't help wondering what Tarantino might've done with CAUGHT STEALING. So monotonously paced that it evaporated most of the humour QT would have worked into the violence Aronofsky kept resorting to
Great to see this sensational film get a good critical shine-up
I wrote about 28 Years Later
28 Years Later | Priscilla Page
Get more from Priscilla Page on Patreon
www.patreon.com
September 1, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Great to see this sensational film get a good critical shine-up
Celebrating publishing this by watching HEADS OF STATE, which apparently is quite a good streaming original
I watched more Netflix Originals than is strictly healthy to bring you this exposé www.theguardian.com/media/2025/a...
Bland, easy to follow, for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films?
When the streaming giant began making films guided by data that aimed to please a vast audience, the results were often generic, forgettable, artless affairs. But is there a happy ending?
www.theguardian.com
August 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Celebrating publishing this by watching HEADS OF STATE, which apparently is quite a good streaming original
I watched more Netflix Originals than is strictly healthy to bring you this exposé www.theguardian.com/media/2025/a...
Bland, easy to follow, for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films?
When the streaming giant began making films guided by data that aimed to please a vast audience, the results were often generic, forgettable, artless affairs. But is there a happy ending?
www.theguardian.com
August 28, 2025 at 5:57 AM
I watched more Netflix Originals than is strictly healthy to bring you this exposé www.theguardian.com/media/2025/a...
Reposted by Phil Hoad
If Tarantino was working now, Reservoir Dogs would have been bought by a streamer at Sundance and put on Netflix or Disney+ with tiny fanfare then perhaps gone viral for a few weeks before disappearing into the archive with no physical release. Pulp Fiction would never have happened.
August 24, 2025 at 5:46 PM
If Tarantino was working now, Reservoir Dogs would have been bought by a streamer at Sundance and put on Netflix or Disney+ with tiny fanfare then perhaps gone viral for a few weeks before disappearing into the archive with no physical release. Pulp Fiction would never have happened.
Why am I writing about Arnie and Sly?
My latest post, in which a 49 y/o film writer begs his 14 y/o nerd self for an alibi.
(Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing) bit.ly/4mCQGjo
My latest post, in which a 49 y/o film writer begs his 14 y/o nerd self for an alibi.
(Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing) bit.ly/4mCQGjo
Why am I writing about Schwarzenegger and Stallone?
This time it's personal
bit.ly
August 15, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Why am I writing about Arnie and Sly?
My latest post, in which a 49 y/o film writer begs his 14 y/o nerd self for an alibi.
(Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing) bit.ly/4mCQGjo
My latest post, in which a 49 y/o film writer begs his 14 y/o nerd self for an alibi.
(Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing) bit.ly/4mCQGjo
Very satisfying interview in covering all nooks and crannies, eras and regimes, of Hollywood
I interviewed Ron Howard, about his new movie, about his old movies, about the worst note he’s gotten, about his disappointments, about Bette Davis and Wilford Brimley and Andy Griffith and J.D. Vance and George Lucas and also about that time he shaved his mustache. www.vulture.com/article/ron-...
‘You’re Only As Good As Your Last Film’
Ron Howard has worked with everyone from Bette Davis to J.D. Vance. He has stories about all of them.
www.vulture.com
August 13, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Very satisfying interview in covering all nooks and crannies, eras and regimes, of Hollywood
My fourth five-star review - though it won't be news to anime fans bit.ly/4mEA2Qr
Wolf Children review – Mamoru Hosoda’s tender werewolf fable is a minor masterpiece
Childhood, single motherhood and the call of the wild converge in Hosoda’s most emotionally resonant film – a beautifully drawn tale of love, loss and letting go
bit.ly
August 12, 2025 at 8:13 AM
My fourth five-star review - though it won't be news to anime fans bit.ly/4mEA2Qr
Why is there no decent biog of Stallone? My latest blogpost delving into a problem for the would-be Italian Stallion chronicler. (Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing) bit.ly/4mvW3Ri
Pitfalls for the Slyologist
Why are there so few Stallone biographies?
bit.ly
August 11, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Why is there no decent biog of Stallone? My latest blogpost delving into a problem for the would-be Italian Stallion chronicler. (Part of my book project BEEF: SCHWARZENEGGER V STALLONE - pls subscribe if you have any interest in either man, the 80s, or longform feuding or writing) bit.ly/4mvW3Ri
I dug EDDINGTON. The big American canvas was a more fertile fit for Ari Aster's occultism than literal occultism, as in MIDSOMMAR. It was like a giant SOUTH PARK episode threatening to turn into SOUTHLAND TALES folly, with faint MOTHER!-type allegorical leanings
August 11, 2025 at 9:12 AM
I dug EDDINGTON. The big American canvas was a more fertile fit for Ari Aster's occultism than literal occultism, as in MIDSOMMAR. It was like a giant SOUTH PARK episode threatening to turn into SOUTHLAND TALES folly, with faint MOTHER!-type allegorical leanings