The Spool
@thespool.bsky.social
Great acting can't save HIS & HERS from an ending that spikes all the interesting moral questions the series wrestles with until that point, argues @UnGajje.bsky.social.
His & Hers? More like wild & unbelievable
It may not be fair, but endings often ruin an otherwise sound film or television series. Perhaps more than any other act, it is the final one that sends an audience out into the world happy, excited,…
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January 13, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Great acting can't save HIS & HERS from an ending that spikes all the interesting moral questions the series wrestles with until that point, argues @UnGajje.bsky.social.
PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION leaves @UnGajje.bsky.social feeling like he'd prefer a staycation.
Don’t bother getting to know People We Meet on Vacation
People We Meet on Vacation has one of those deliciously perfect romantic comedy premises. Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) are mismatched strangers thrown together by the coincidence of both…
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January 9, 2026 at 4:27 PM
PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION leaves @UnGajje.bsky.social feeling like he'd prefer a staycation.
While not without its problems, MAGELLAN successfully captures the scale of the explorer's life without elevating the man to a legend, says @sgorr.bsky.social.
Magellan is an historical epic that eliminates the epic
If you walk into Magellan expecting a Filipino Master and Commander, you will walk out disappointed. The story of the famed explorer has all the makings of an historical epic. Years on the high seas.…
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January 9, 2026 at 2:44 PM
While not without its problems, MAGELLAN successfully captures the scale of the explorer's life without elevating the man to a legend, says @sgorr.bsky.social.
While the internet is obsessing over secret episodes, @UnGajje.bsky.social keeps his eye fixed on the #StrangerThings finale (so far), pointing out its visual shortcomings and emotional triumphs.
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 3 takes a messy, heartfelt bow
Not to open a review by making it all about me, but I love me an epilogue. Much like Rob Gordon, I can’t fully say if I have a propensity for wistfulness because of epilogues or a love of epilogues...
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January 7, 2026 at 7:32 PM
While the internet is obsessing over secret episodes, @UnGajje.bsky.social keeps his eye fixed on the #StrangerThings finale (so far), pointing out its visual shortcomings and emotional triumphs.
On the eve of #StrangerThings finale, check out @UnGajje.bsky.social's take on its Christmas Day penultimate set of episodes, a trifecta of installments that spun the show's wheels but nailed its emotional beats.
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 get tangled
There’s a lot satisfying about Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2. Unfortunately, it happens alongside a lot of table setting and running in place. Part of what’s to blame lies with how (Netflix? The…
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December 31, 2025 at 3:20 PM
On the eve of #StrangerThings finale, check out @UnGajje.bsky.social's take on its Christmas Day penultimate set of episodes, a trifecta of installments that spun the show's wheels but nailed its emotional beats.
COUNTING CROWS: HAVE YOU SEEN ME LATELY? is a music doc made with skill, but @UnGajje.bsky.social can only mildly recommend it as it never finds the sweet spot where diehards and newbies can enjoy it in equal measure.
Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? reveals a piece of the band but it’s just a little piece
In the spirit of the band chronicled by director Amy Scott’s new documentary Counting Crows: Have You Seen Me Lately? here’s a bit of naked vulnerability. I’m a massive Crows fan. Their first album,…
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December 23, 2025 at 3:10 PM
COUNTING CROWS: HAVE YOU SEEN ME LATELY? is a music doc made with skill, but @UnGajje.bsky.social can only mildly recommend it as it never finds the sweet spot where diehards and newbies can enjoy it in equal measure.
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social sees DUST BUNNY as a unique gift to the next generation of film nerds, courtesy of two of the geniuses behind HANNIBAL.
Dust Bunny a hopped up visual feast from Hannibal crew
Aurora (Sophie Sloan) has a monster of a problem. And it is living under her bed. This isn’t a metaphor. Nor is it some friendly critter that hangs with James P. Sullivan and Mike Wazowski. In…
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December 19, 2025 at 9:54 PM
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social sees DUST BUNNY as a unique gift to the next generation of film nerds, courtesy of two of the geniuses behind HANNIBAL.
Amanda Seyfried's all-in performance isn't enough to make all-too-predictable THE HOUSEMAID worth hiring, concludes @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.
Amanda Seyfried’s the hand that rocks too familiar The Housemaid
The job market’s tough for everyone, especially for The Housemaid protagonist Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney). Recently out on parole after a lengthy prison sentence, she needs a job and a place to…
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December 19, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Amanda Seyfried's all-in performance isn't enough to make all-too-predictable THE HOUSEMAID worth hiring, concludes @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.
@sgorr.bsyk.social knows the premise of THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB sounds daunting. She urges everyone to see it anyway.
The Voice of Hind Rajab is an essential awards season watch
I can’t pretend The Voice of Hind Rajab is easy viewing. It’s a daunting story of a five-year-old Palestinian girl trapped inside a car as Israeli forces close in while Red Crescent humanitarian aid…
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December 17, 2025 at 4:11 PM
@sgorr.bsyk.social knows the premise of THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB sounds daunting. She urges everyone to see it anyway.
@UnGajje.bsky.social doesn't think LITTLE DISASTERS is a big enough deal to earn the title "disaster," but he wants to be very clear that he thinks it is bad.
Melodramatic Little Disasters frequently commits plot malpractice
Did you know everyone is just awful? That’s the de facto message of Little Disasters, the latest of what is an increasingly cookie-cutter subgenre that boasts all the trappings of prestigious…
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December 12, 2025 at 10:25 PM
@UnGajje.bsky.social doesn't think LITTLE DISASTERS is a big enough deal to earn the title "disaster," but he wants to be very clear that he thinks it is bad.
WAKE UP DEAD MAN, the latest #KnivesOut film, hits Netflix today. Look back at @UnGajje.bsky.social's review during its theatrical run to encourage you to schedule your weekend around seeing it.
Wake Up Dead Man is worth resurrecting for
When you are winning, most will frown on changing the game plan. Talk to an expert, though, and they’ll tell you the best coaches are the ones who do exactly. They recognize when a winning formula is…
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December 12, 2025 at 5:30 PM
WAKE UP DEAD MAN, the latest #KnivesOut film, hits Netflix today. Look back at @UnGajje.bsky.social's review during its theatrical run to encourage you to schedule your weekend around seeing it.
#Hamnet opens wide today. Check out @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social's emotionally rich response to the film on The Spool now.
Hamnet an emotionally aching achievement from Chloé Zhao
Anything can wield importance. An empty room? The setting of a child’s first steps. An old country song? The score for a first kiss. It is all a matter of perspective, emotion, and memory. For…
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December 12, 2025 at 2:59 PM
#Hamnet opens wide today. Check out @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social's emotionally rich response to the film on The Spool now.
@UnGajje.bsky.social wrestles with JAY KELLY before ultimately concluding that its ambiguity is an advantage.
Jay Kelly and the ambiguity of redemption
Hollywood loves a story about itself. Hollywood also loves a tale of a guy who’s successful but miserable because of that success. Jay Kelly, Netflix’s newest offering from director Noah Baumbach,…
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December 10, 2025 at 8:34 PM
@UnGajje.bsky.social wrestles with JAY KELLY before ultimately concluding that its ambiguity is an advantage.
After last night's Tonight Show special on #StrangerThings, why not revisit @ungajje.bsky.social's review of Season 5's first part.
thespool.net/reviews/tv-r...
thespool.net/reviews/tv-r...
Now familiar Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 still generates sparks
While there is more to television than openings and endings, one can get a long way by doing them well. Stranger Things Season 5 Part 1 effectively reminds audiences that those are two of the things t...
thespool.net
December 8, 2025 at 9:45 PM
After last night's Tonight Show special on #StrangerThings, why not revisit @ungajje.bsky.social's review of Season 5's first part.
thespool.net/reviews/tv-r...
thespool.net/reviews/tv-r...
Rian Johnson breaks with his #KnivesOut formula some in #WakeUpDeadMan, delivering a film that balances its humor and twisty mystery with an earnest evaluation of faith and religion, says @ungajje.bsky.social.
thespool.net/reviews/film...
thespool.net/reviews/film...
December 3, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Rian Johnson breaks with his #KnivesOut formula some in #WakeUpDeadMan, delivering a film that balances its humor and twisty mystery with an earnest evaluation of faith and religion, says @ungajje.bsky.social.
thespool.net/reviews/film...
thespool.net/reviews/film...
Looking for a film to keep the entire family happy this post-Thanksgiving weekend? @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social says you can do worse than WICKED: FOR GOOD. Of course, you can also do better, namely with the franchise's first installment.
Wicked: For Good is too slow, somber for own good
Typically, two-part movies are the opposite of the Beach Boys’ discography: better in the back half. The first parts of multi-installment movies shot back-to-back, like The Deathly Hallows or…
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November 28, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Looking for a film to keep the entire family happy this post-Thanksgiving weekend? @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social says you can do worse than WICKED: FOR GOOD. Of course, you can also do better, namely with the franchise's first installment.
@sgorr declares Park Chan-wook's latest, NO OTHER CHOICE, a gift and one of the year's best. (See link in bio)
No Other Choice but to love this darkly comic tale
The Ax, the American novel No Other Choice adapts, was written in 1997. It came on the tail-end of a period marred by corporate downsizing, with 6 million jobs slashed between 1987 and 1993. The…
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November 26, 2025 at 4:56 PM
@sgorr declares Park Chan-wook's latest, NO OTHER CHOICE, a gift and one of the year's best. (See link in bio)
@UnGajje.bsky.social praises A MAN ON THE INSIDE Season 2 for empathetically embracing another group too quickly shoved aside as being "outdated": liberal arts institutions. Not to get too punny, but there's no Sophomore slump here.
A Man on the Inside Season 2 empathetically embeds in academia
Times are hard in higher ed. Well, times are tough all over, if we’re honest. But higher ed is in the midst of a decades-long struggle. People who happily attended colleges and universities and…
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November 26, 2025 at 3:21 PM
@UnGajje.bsky.social praises A MAN ON THE INSIDE Season 2 for empathetically embracing another group too quickly shoved aside as being "outdated": liberal arts institutions. Not to get too punny, but there's no Sophomore slump here.
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT is a masterpiece, declares @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.
Nothing accidental about the masterful It Was Just an Accident
OOne of the last interviews in Jafar Panahi’s 2015 feature Taxi centers on Nasrin Sotoudeh. In her brief screentime, the human rights lawyer talks about the psychological experiences of those…
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November 18, 2025 at 3:37 PM
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT is a masterpiece, declares @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social admires THE RUNNING MAN's rebel heart, but can't deny its leading man derails the whole thing.
The Running Man has rebellious dreams, no drive
In his 2025 book One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This, author Omar El Akkad references a 2016 Roy Scranton essay. In it, El Akkad writes that the veteran “[confronts] the reality that…
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November 14, 2025 at 7:26 PM
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social admires THE RUNNING MAN's rebel heart, but can't deny its leading man derails the whole thing.
@UnGajje.bsky.social admits he's too old for BAT-FAM, but that doesn't mean the series doesn't have its charms.
Bat-Fam is for the kiddos
We age in stages when it comes to television. Or at least that’s this writer’s theory. First, TV is just a collection of colors, shapes, and noises. Hopefully, your parents have selected pleasant…
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November 13, 2025 at 5:20 PM
@UnGajje.bsky.social admits he's too old for BAT-FAM, but that doesn't mean the series doesn't have its charms.
@UnGajje.bsky.social is here for the cheesy thrills of a NOW YOU SEE ME NOW YOU DON'T, a film that's short on logic but long on charm.
Now You See Me Now You Don’t isn’t quite magical
One can imagine an incredible film about magicians that plays it entirely straight. A picture that relys entirely on the performers’ talents for sleight of hand and stagecraft. The magicians as con…
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November 11, 2025 at 9:33 PM
@UnGajje.bsky.social is here for the cheesy thrills of a NOW YOU SEE ME NOW YOU DON'T, a film that's short on logic but long on charm.
There are so many things @UnGajje.bsky.social wants to tell you about #Pluribus. But, unfortunately, he can't. So he'll just tell you it's great.
Many reasons to match Pluribus
In many ways, it is a familiar tale. Something has come to Earth and changed the population. Everyone still looks like people, but they no longer sound or act quite right. Think Invasion of the Body…
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November 11, 2025 at 3:58 PM
There are so many things @UnGajje.bsky.social wants to tell you about #Pluribus. But, unfortunately, he can't. So he'll just tell you it's great.
@UnGajje.bsky.social finds plenty to love in DOWN CEMETERY ROAD's lead performances but can't quite get over the failure to be the show it starts as.
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buff.ly/Do3ZYQD
Down Cemetery Road, not a bad thing to watch
Like so many massive conspiracies, the one at the heart of Down Cemetery Road unravels for the smallest of reasons. A museum conservationist, Sarah Trafford (Ruth Wilson), wants to bring a girl a…
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November 6, 2025 at 6:51 PM
@UnGajje.bsky.social finds plenty to love in DOWN CEMETERY ROAD's lead performances but can't quite get over the failure to be the show it starts as.
buff.ly/Do3ZYQD
buff.ly/Do3ZYQD