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.)
Great stuff from @bilgeebiri.bsky.social - though I believe Wes Anderson is just as influential
"What distinguishes Malick’s work," Bilge Ebiri writes, "emerges from the harmony between a film’s images and its sensibility." yalereview.org/article/bilg...
Bilge Ebiri: “Why Terrence Malick Is the Most Influential Director”
Bilge Ebiri explores filmmaker Terrence Malick’s vision of grace and his far-ranging influence on American cinema.
yalereview.org
December 28, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Great stuff from @bilgeebiri.bsky.social - though I believe Wes Anderson is just as influential
More than ever, I'm struck by how varying this year's Best Of film lists are. The consensus is gone, our tastes are completely fractured.
So many disparate small films, a lot of which I haven't seen (though I'm often distracted by covering the streaming tier)
So many disparate small films, a lot of which I haven't seen (though I'm often distracted by covering the streaming tier)
December 17, 2025 at 9:55 AM
More than ever, I'm struck by how varying this year's Best Of film lists are. The consensus is gone, our tastes are completely fractured.
So many disparate small films, a lot of which I haven't seen (though I'm often distracted by covering the streaming tier)
So many disparate small films, a lot of which I haven't seen (though I'm often distracted by covering the streaming tier)
I was beguiled when I saw Lucile Hadžihalilović’s INNOCENCE back in 2004, and she had me enthralled with this year's THE ICE TOWER www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
Best films of 2025 in the UK: No 4 – The Ice Tower
Lucile Hadžihalilović’s kaleidoscopic fable, starring Marion Cotillard as a haughty, damaged diva, is a cautionary tale about the perils of fantasy
www.theguardian.com
December 16, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I was beguiled when I saw Lucile Hadžihalilović’s INNOCENCE back in 2004, and she had me enthralled with this year's THE ICE TOWER www.theguardian.com/film/2025/de...
Reposted by Phil Hoad
One hundred percent here for Josh O'Connor in a new Spielberg aliens joint. You know in your bones he's right for this. You know it.
December 16, 2025 at 5:26 PM
One hundred percent here for Josh O'Connor in a new Spielberg aliens joint. You know in your bones he's right for this. You know it.
It's been a year filled for me with so much arbitrary deterioration and death that I found SIRAT's notching up of casualties did a number on my head. And I definitely identify with its metaphysical urge to reach the other side
December 3, 2025 at 1:53 PM
It's been a year filled for me with so much arbitrary deterioration and death that I found SIRAT's notching up of casualties did a number on my head. And I definitely identify with its metaphysical urge to reach the other side
Reposted by Phil Hoad
"There was a period, in the decade after World War II, when British films achieved without fanfare a broad viewership among Americans." Geoffrey O'Brien on the terrific Locarno retrospective of postwar British cinema in @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Magic from Elsewhere | Geoffrey O’Brien
The best of British postwar cinema portrays a country in the aftermath of catastrophe and uncertain about its future.
www.nybooks.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:29 AM
"There was a period, in the decade after World War II, when British films achieved without fanfare a broad viewership among Americans." Geoffrey O'Brien on the terrific Locarno retrospective of postwar British cinema in @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
One enduring modern mystery is movies not from the 1990s appearing in both Netflix and Amazon's 90s categories. I assume this is deliberate - but why? Or is that some process of algorithmic divination has sniffed out ineffable 90s qualities in them?
November 25, 2025 at 3:21 PM
One enduring modern mystery is movies not from the 1990s appearing in both Netflix and Amazon's 90s categories. I assume this is deliberate - but why? Or is that some process of algorithmic divination has sniffed out ineffable 90s qualities in them?
My obituary of Tatsuya Nakadai, who started off dirt-poor in the postwar wreckage of Tokyo, but became the country's deputy head movie samurai (behind Toshiro Mifune) bit.ly/4ricZOC
Tatsuya Nakadai obituary
One of the greatest actors of Japanese cinema best known for Ran, the 1985 film adaptation of King Lear
bit.ly
November 21, 2025 at 10:00 AM
My obituary of Tatsuya Nakadai, who started off dirt-poor in the postwar wreckage of Tokyo, but became the country's deputy head movie samurai (behind Toshiro Mifune) bit.ly/4ricZOC
I'm not sure about post-Booker attempts to zeitgeist FLESH as "about" masculinity. Seems to me that, if it is, it's only inadvertently so - because the protagonist is a man. Materiality, the physical world, feels more like its principal theme
November 17, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I'm not sure about post-Booker attempts to zeitgeist FLESH as "about" masculinity. Seems to me that, if it is, it's only inadvertently so - because the protagonist is a man. Materiality, the physical world, feels more like its principal theme
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