Arachnophiliac
@arachnophiliac.bsky.social
RT-Approved Film Critic / Co-Founder and Managing Editor of The Take-Up / Former Bylines: The Lens, Riverfront Times, St. Louis Magazine, Alive Magazine, The Common Reader, The Curator, Temporary Art Review
Pinned
cemeteries grow larger the number of defenders is smaller
yet the defense continues it will continue to the end
and if the City falls but a single man escapes
he will carry the City within himself on the roads of exile
he will be the City
yet the defense continues it will continue to the end
and if the City falls but a single man escapes
he will carry the City within himself on the roads of exile
he will be the City
I sat out this week on The Take-Up Podcast, so Josh could pull in an A-list of St. Louis critics, filmmakers, and programmers to talk the Best Films of 2025. An improvement, if you ask me!
open.spotify.com/episode/6SZd...
open.spotify.com/episode/6SZd...
The Films of 2025 (with Friends of The Take-Up)
open.spotify.com
January 9, 2026 at 8:48 PM
I sat out this week on The Take-Up Podcast, so Josh could pull in an A-list of St. Louis critics, filmmakers, and programmers to talk the Best Films of 2025. An improvement, if you ask me!
open.spotify.com/episode/6SZd...
open.spotify.com/episode/6SZd...
Might fuck around develop a taste for Mogen-David extra-heavy malaga wine with soda water and lime juice.
letterboxd.com/awyatt76/fil...
letterboxd.com/awyatt76/fil...
A ★★★½ diary entry for A New Leaf (1971)
letterboxd.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:03 AM
Might fuck around develop a taste for Mogen-David extra-heavy malaga wine with soda water and lime juice.
letterboxd.com/awyatt76/fil...
letterboxd.com/awyatt76/fil...
"Are the hills going to march off?
Will heaven fall upon us?
Will the Earth open under us?
We don't know."
R.I.P., Béla Tarr.
letterboxd.com/film/werckme...
Will heaven fall upon us?
Will the Earth open under us?
We don't know."
R.I.P., Béla Tarr.
letterboxd.com/film/werckme...
Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
A naive young man witnesses an escalation of violence in his small hometown following the arrival of a mysterious circus attraction.
letterboxd.com
January 7, 2026 at 2:23 AM
"Are the hills going to march off?
Will heaven fall upon us?
Will the Earth open under us?
We don't know."
R.I.P., Béla Tarr.
letterboxd.com/film/werckme...
Will heaven fall upon us?
Will the Earth open under us?
We don't know."
R.I.P., Béla Tarr.
letterboxd.com/film/werckme...
I really face-planted on keeping up w/ movies in 2025 for reasons not worth getting into. But I was determined to do better in 2026. Then I saw a bunch of fellow filmsky geeks talking about "only" watching like 30 movies in the last five days and man why do I even fucking bother.
January 6, 2026 at 3:14 PM
I really face-planted on keeping up w/ movies in 2025 for reasons not worth getting into. But I was determined to do better in 2026. Then I saw a bunch of fellow filmsky geeks talking about "only" watching like 30 movies in the last five days and man why do I even fucking bother.
Buggery aside, a weekend in the Lake District with Uncle Monty seems like it would be delightful.
letterboxd.com/film/withnai...
letterboxd.com/film/withnai...
Withnail & I (1987)
Two out-of-work actors -- the anxious, luckless Marwood and his acerbic, alcoholic friend, Withnail -- spend their days drifting between their squalid flat, the unemployment office and the pub. When t...
letterboxd.com
January 6, 2026 at 2:44 AM
Buggery aside, a weekend in the Lake District with Uncle Monty seems like it would be delightful.
letterboxd.com/film/withnai...
letterboxd.com/film/withnai...
Bi Gan's RESURRECTION is, as I hope/expected, a mesmerizing and inspired work of filmmaking -- a 160-minute birth *and* death announcement for cinema itself. I've only just scratched the surface of understanding it.
Movies, man. They're pretty great.
letterboxd.com/film/resurre...
Movies, man. They're pretty great.
letterboxd.com/film/resurre...
Resurrection (2025)
In a future where humanity has surrendered its ability to dream in exchange for immortality, an outcast finds illusion, nightmarish visions, and beauty in an intoxicating world of his own making.
letterboxd.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:06 AM
Bi Gan's RESURRECTION is, as I hope/expected, a mesmerizing and inspired work of filmmaking -- a 160-minute birth *and* death announcement for cinema itself. I've only just scratched the surface of understanding it.
Movies, man. They're pretty great.
letterboxd.com/film/resurre...
Movies, man. They're pretty great.
letterboxd.com/film/resurre...
Finally caught up with Stephen Frears' THE HIT (1984) starring Terence Stamp (RIP) and it rules. A gritty, explicitly existential criminal fiasco / road movie. Stamp, John Hurt, & a young Tim Roth, w/ Laura del Sol as the secret sauce. Maybe my new fav Frears.
letterboxd.com/film/the-hit...
letterboxd.com/film/the-hit...
The Hit (1984)
Ten years after ratting on his old mobster friends in exchange for personal immunity, two hit men drive a hardened criminal to Paris for his execution. However, while on the way, whatever can go wrong...
letterboxd.com
January 4, 2026 at 12:49 AM
Finally caught up with Stephen Frears' THE HIT (1984) starring Terence Stamp (RIP) and it rules. A gritty, explicitly existential criminal fiasco / road movie. Stamp, John Hurt, & a young Tim Roth, w/ Laura del Sol as the secret sauce. Maybe my new fav Frears.
letterboxd.com/film/the-hit...
letterboxd.com/film/the-hit...
It's a second half of a surprise double feature on The Take-Up Podcast this week, as Josh and I are joined by critic (and Take-Up contributor / producer) Ethan Tarantella to discuss Luca Guadagnino's audacious 2018 re-imagining of 'Suspiria'. More witchy goodness!
open.spotify.com/episode/2wMc...
open.spotify.com/episode/2wMc...
Suspiria (2018) (with Ethan Tarantella)
open.spotify.com
January 2, 2026 at 4:10 PM
It's a second half of a surprise double feature on The Take-Up Podcast this week, as Josh and I are joined by critic (and Take-Up contributor / producer) Ethan Tarantella to discuss Luca Guadagnino's audacious 2018 re-imagining of 'Suspiria'. More witchy goodness!
open.spotify.com/episode/2wMc...
open.spotify.com/episode/2wMc...
This week on The Take-Up Podcast, Josh and I are joined by Keith Watson and Sarah Barabas, owners of the Arkadin Cinema and Bar, to talk their "Permanent Cinema" pick: Dario Argento's 1977 masterwork SUSPIRIA. A twitchy, witchy good time was had by all.
open.spotify.com/episode/1740...
open.spotify.com/episode/1740...
Suspiria (1977) (with Sarah Baraba and Keith Watson)
open.spotify.com
December 28, 2025 at 2:49 PM
This week on The Take-Up Podcast, Josh and I are joined by Keith Watson and Sarah Barabas, owners of the Arkadin Cinema and Bar, to talk their "Permanent Cinema" pick: Dario Argento's 1977 masterwork SUSPIRIA. A twitchy, witchy good time was had by all.
open.spotify.com/episode/1740...
open.spotify.com/episode/1740...
I vividly recall being forced to watch an anti-pop music propaganda doc that declared that not only would listening to Ozzy Osbourne damn you to hell (duh), so would the Beatles and Whitney Houston. The abject terror over the corrupting influence of even benign, mainstream secular culture is real.
One thing that’s pretty wild is looking back at my time in evangelicalism when they were like, “fear nothing! trust in God!” and then showed us videos saying we should be afraid of Hell’s Angels, Insane Clown Posse, and paleontologists
December 23, 2025 at 8:53 PM
I vividly recall being forced to watch an anti-pop music propaganda doc that declared that not only would listening to Ozzy Osbourne damn you to hell (duh), so would the Beatles and Whitney Houston. The abject terror over the corrupting influence of even benign, mainstream secular culture is real.
The Del Toro HELLBOYs are fantastic films. The OG is an invigorating medley of supehero, Lovecraftian, and steampunk elements with characteristic GDT heart. GOLDEN ARMY, meanwhile, is simply one of the best urban fantasy films of all time.
I can’t remember why people turned against the Del Toro Hellboy movies but those are still the good ones. The first one, primarily.
December 23, 2025 at 7:15 PM
The Del Toro HELLBOYs are fantastic films. The OG is an invigorating medley of supehero, Lovecraftian, and steampunk elements with characteristic GDT heart. GOLDEN ARMY, meanwhile, is simply one of the best urban fantasy films of all time.
TIL that Panos Cosmatos, director of MANDY, is making a 1980s-set vampire film called FLESH OF THE GODS starring Oscar Isaac, Kristen Stewart, and Elizabeth Olsen and I have a new reason to keeping living now.
December 19, 2025 at 7:45 PM
TIL that Panos Cosmatos, director of MANDY, is making a 1980s-set vampire film called FLESH OF THE GODS starring Oscar Isaac, Kristen Stewart, and Elizabeth Olsen and I have a new reason to keeping living now.
Ditched original Firefox. Installed the Waterfox fork. Because screw AI. A bunch of nonsense no one asked for.
December 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Ditched original Firefox. Installed the Waterfox fork. Because screw AI. A bunch of nonsense no one asked for.
The final scene of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... is the best romcom ending bc Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron both understood intuitively what Greta Gerwig articulated more explicitly almost 30 yrs later: "Don't you think maybe they are the same thing? Love and attention?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovki...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovki...
When Harry Met Sally... (11/11) Movie CLIP - Harry Loves Sally (1989) HD
YouTube video by Movieclips
www.youtube.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:16 PM
The final scene of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... is the best romcom ending bc Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron both understood intuitively what Greta Gerwig articulated more explicitly almost 30 yrs later: "Don't you think maybe they are the same thing? Love and attention?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovki...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovki...
What's the hardest line from any video game and why is it "What is man? A miserable little pile of secrets."
December 16, 2025 at 2:16 PM
What's the hardest line from any video game and why is it "What is man? A miserable little pile of secrets."
Seeing lots of love for Rob Reiner's directorial career today, but just wanna shout-out how much I've always loved him as Meathead. A genuinely great sitcom character that Reiner played with a delicate blend of idealism, passion, wit, frustration, and gentleness.
a man with a mustache says yeah that 's right ..
ALT: a man with a mustache says yeah that 's right ..
media.tenor.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Seeing lots of love for Rob Reiner's directorial career today, but just wanna shout-out how much I've always loved him as Meathead. A genuinely great sitcom character that Reiner played with a delicate blend of idealism, passion, wit, frustration, and gentleness.
One of my favorite BBs eps of all time. (Maybe *the* favorite?) The Platonic ideal of BB's great sitcom writing: A low-stakes domestic farce -- Three kid Xmas events in one night! Oh no! -- that slowly reveals an enormous heart.
Just openly sobbing watching the Plight Before Christmas episode of Bob's Burgers. I will do it 12 more times before the season is up
December 13, 2025 at 1:17 AM
One of my favorite BBs eps of all time. (Maybe *the* favorite?) The Platonic ideal of BB's great sitcom writing: A low-stakes domestic farce -- Three kid Xmas events in one night! Oh no! -- that slowly reveals an enormous heart.
My hot take about CLAIRE OBSCUR is that I can understand why people like it, but it's not for me. I tried it for a few hours, found it impressively pretty and emotionally poignant, but I wasn't compelled to keep playing. I think my taste for J-style RPGs has evaporated as I've aged.
December 12, 2025 at 3:20 PM
My hot take about CLAIRE OBSCUR is that I can understand why people like it, but it's not for me. I tried it for a few hours, found it impressively pretty and emotionally poignant, but I wasn't compelled to keep playing. I think my taste for J-style RPGs has evaporated as I've aged.
Update: Second play-through, I have *ONE* seance guest left to save, I've got less than two hours until the seance, I've looked everywhere, done everything, I have no idea what I missed. [sobbing]
I amend my statement. BLAKE MANOR is destroying me. I am an idiot blundering in the darkness and I’m going to get all of these people killed.
SEANCE OF BLAKE MANOR delivers the COLONEL’S BEQUEST high I’ve been chasing for 35 years. Very much in this old gamer’s lane.
December 11, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Update: Second play-through, I have *ONE* seance guest left to save, I've got less than two hours until the seance, I've looked everywhere, done everything, I have no idea what I missed. [sobbing]
This week on The Take-UP Podcast, Josh and I are joined by Dr. Diane Carson to discuss one of our favs of 2025, Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho's THE SECRET AGENT. Politics, paranoia, autocracy, THE OMEN, and a hairy leg.
open.spotify.com/episode/0vIV...
open.spotify.com/episode/0vIV...
The Secret Agent (with Diane Carson)
open.spotify.com
December 11, 2025 at 10:16 PM
This week on The Take-UP Podcast, Josh and I are joined by Dr. Diane Carson to discuss one of our favs of 2025, Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho's THE SECRET AGENT. Politics, paranoia, autocracy, THE OMEN, and a hairy leg.
open.spotify.com/episode/0vIV...
open.spotify.com/episode/0vIV...
ALPS (2011, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
Would you have some actor show up, in a wig and your dead grandmother’s clothes, and pretend to be your dead grandmother having a conversation with you? I’m guessing no. So why would you want a machine to do just that?
December 11, 2025 at 4:40 PM
ALPS (2011, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)