David Shoenthal
@snarkenthal.bsky.social
Movies, puzzles, and math. Committee consigliere.
My favorite films I first saw this year, in the order I saw them (2024 unless otherwise noted):
A Complete Unknown
Instruments of a Beating Heart
Green Border
All We Imagine as Light
The Breaking Point (1950)
I’m Still Here
One Battle After Another (2025)
Good One
A Complete Unknown
Instruments of a Beating Heart
Green Border
All We Imagine as Light
The Breaking Point (1950)
I’m Still Here
One Battle After Another (2025)
Good One
December 31, 2025 at 11:39 PM
My favorite films I first saw this year, in the order I saw them (2024 unless otherwise noted):
A Complete Unknown
Instruments of a Beating Heart
Green Border
All We Imagine as Light
The Breaking Point (1950)
I’m Still Here
One Battle After Another (2025)
Good One
A Complete Unknown
Instruments of a Beating Heart
Green Border
All We Imagine as Light
The Breaking Point (1950)
I’m Still Here
One Battle After Another (2025)
Good One
My favorite books of the 84 (!, for me) this year — alphabetically, only the ones I hadn’t read, and audiobooks marked (*) when appropriate.
All Fours (July)*
Another Country (Baldwin)
Cloud Cuckoo Land (Doerr)
Couples (Updike)
Dawn (Butler)
The Days of Abandonment (Ferrante)
1/2
All Fours (July)*
Another Country (Baldwin)
Cloud Cuckoo Land (Doerr)
Couples (Updike)
Dawn (Butler)
The Days of Abandonment (Ferrante)
1/2
December 31, 2025 at 2:00 AM
My favorite books of the 84 (!, for me) this year — alphabetically, only the ones I hadn’t read, and audiobooks marked (*) when appropriate.
All Fours (July)*
Another Country (Baldwin)
Cloud Cuckoo Land (Doerr)
Couples (Updike)
Dawn (Butler)
The Days of Abandonment (Ferrante)
1/2
All Fours (July)*
Another Country (Baldwin)
Cloud Cuckoo Land (Doerr)
Couples (Updike)
Dawn (Butler)
The Days of Abandonment (Ferrante)
1/2
Seated for Kimberly Akimbo.
November 8, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Seated for Kimberly Akimbo.
Reposted by David Shoenthal
FFC review: SUPERMAN (2025), by Walter Chaw (@mangiotto.bsky.social). filmfreakcentral.net/2025/07/supe...
Superman (2025) - FILM FREAK CENTRAL
****/****starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegiwritten and directed by James Gunn by Walter Chaw I’m in the bag for Superman, I admit it. I grew up in a small town, Go...
filmfreakcentral.net
July 10, 2025 at 1:46 AM
FFC review: SUPERMAN (2025), by Walter Chaw (@mangiotto.bsky.social). filmfreakcentral.net/2025/07/supe...
Infinite sums are cool.
How a Puzzle About Fractions Got Brain Scans Rolling (Gift Article)
A story of bowling pins, patterns and medical miracles.
www.nytimes.com
June 30, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Infinite sums are cool.
Aimee Mann soon.
June 19, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Aimee Mann soon.
Truth.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) - FILM FREAK CENTRAL
****/****starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Angela Bassettwritten by Christopher McQuarrie & Erik Jendresendirected by Christopher McQuarrie by Walter Chaw SPOILER WARNING IN EFFECT. The...
filmfreakcentral.net
May 27, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Truth.
Just caught up with this today. Well worth it.
The Breaking Point: All at Sea
This underappreciated highlight of Michael Curtiz’s filmography grapples with postwar disillusionment and marital strife through the prism of a daylight noir.
www.criterion.com
May 26, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Just caught up with this today. Well worth it.
The sentiment I needed today.
April 25, 2025 at 8:12 PM
The sentiment I needed today.
Second day of spring at Longwood.
March 22, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Second day of spring at Longwood.
Although I miss his writing about film, I’m glad to read these pieces.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Life Isn’t Perfect. But This Adrienne Rich Poem Might Be. (Gift Article)
“Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers,” by Adrienne Rich, is a blazing portrait of an artist and her work. Our critic A.O. Scott admires its craft — and its wildness.
www.nytimes.com
March 21, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Although I miss his writing about film, I’m glad to read these pieces.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
The Power and Paradox of a Sonnet by Gwendolyn Brooks (Gift Article)
Our critic A.O. Scott marvels at the power and paradox of a sonnet by Gwendolyn Brooks.
www.nytimes.com
February 21, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
One of my favorite Lynch movies, written about by one of my favorite current film writers on one of my favorite film sites.
The Long Goodbye of David Lynch's 'The Straight Story' open.substack.com/pub/therevea...
The Long Goodbye of David Lynch's 'The Straight Story' open.substack.com/pub/therevea...
The Long Goodbye of David Lynch's 'The Straight Story'
In 1999, Lynch defied expectations with a G-rated Disney movie based on a true story. It wasn't the departure it seemed to be.
open.substack.com
January 22, 2025 at 11:35 PM
One of my favorite Lynch movies, written about by one of my favorite current film writers on one of my favorite film sites.
The Long Goodbye of David Lynch's 'The Straight Story' open.substack.com/pub/therevea...
The Long Goodbye of David Lynch's 'The Straight Story' open.substack.com/pub/therevea...
One of my closest mentors in college, Donna Weimer, passed away yesterday. She introduced me to @clsreads.bsky.social almost 25 years ago and gave us a heartfelt wedding toast less than two years later. She had an uncanny power to make you feel present and to want to be better. She was a blessing.
January 10, 2025 at 1:18 AM
One of my closest mentors in college, Donna Weimer, passed away yesterday. She introduced me to @clsreads.bsky.social almost 25 years ago and gave us a heartfelt wedding toast less than two years later. She had an uncanny power to make you feel present and to want to be better. She was a blessing.
1/2
Favorite films I saw this year (released in 2023 unless otherwise noted), in order of when I saw them:
Past Lives
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Holdovers
20 Days in Mariupol
No Bears
Floating Clouds (1955)
Perfect Days
Afire
The Executioner (1963)
Favorite films I saw this year (released in 2023 unless otherwise noted), in order of when I saw them:
Past Lives
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Holdovers
20 Days in Mariupol
No Bears
Floating Clouds (1955)
Perfect Days
Afire
The Executioner (1963)
January 1, 2025 at 2:58 AM
1/2
Favorite films I saw this year (released in 2023 unless otherwise noted), in order of when I saw them:
Past Lives
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Holdovers
20 Days in Mariupol
No Bears
Floating Clouds (1955)
Perfect Days
Afire
The Executioner (1963)
Favorite films I saw this year (released in 2023 unless otherwise noted), in order of when I saw them:
Past Lives
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Holdovers
20 Days in Mariupol
No Bears
Floating Clouds (1955)
Perfect Days
Afire
The Executioner (1963)
1/2
Audiobooks let me read more this year than typical — 54 books. My favorites, alphabetically:
The Big Sleep (Chandler)
The Bluest Eye (Morrison)
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Cather)
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (LeGuin)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (McCullers)
Audiobooks let me read more this year than typical — 54 books. My favorites, alphabetically:
The Big Sleep (Chandler)
The Bluest Eye (Morrison)
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Cather)
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (LeGuin)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (McCullers)
December 31, 2024 at 1:28 AM
1/2
Audiobooks let me read more this year than typical — 54 books. My favorites, alphabetically:
The Big Sleep (Chandler)
The Bluest Eye (Morrison)
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Cather)
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (LeGuin)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (McCullers)
Audiobooks let me read more this year than typical — 54 books. My favorites, alphabetically:
The Big Sleep (Chandler)
The Bluest Eye (Morrison)
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Cather)
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea (LeGuin)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (McCullers)
Reposted by David Shoenthal
Lucille Clifton, always.
December 30, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Lucille Clifton, always.
Co-presenting for the first time. Accuracy is important.
December 9, 2024 at 3:55 PM
Co-presenting for the first time. Accuracy is important.
