Jon O’Brien
staticsilent.bsky.social
Jon O’Brien
@staticsilent.bsky.social
Freelance entertainment writer. Bylines in Indiewire, The Daily Beast, The i, Vulture, Billboard, Grammy Awards, Classic Pop, New Scientist, Radio Times. jonobrien81@gmail.com
Into the Groove
Bedtime Story
Ray of Light
Drowned World/Substitute for Love
What It Feels Like for a Girl
Gimme your top 3-5 Madonna songs! No order, no ties, don't think too hard, we know it's your top picks for today and that might change: just go!

Mine:
- Vogue
- Cherish
- Express Yourself
- Live to Tell
- Take a Bow
Why yes, I was primarily listening to Top 40 radio from 1989-1996. Why do you ask?
February 6, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Thought Companion was a lot of fun and one of the better Black Mirror-esque movies of late. Glad I went in blind though as have just seen the trailer and can’t remember seeing another which spoils (most of) its twists so explicitly.
February 2, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Liked but didn't love Better Man. Some great set pieces and admire how it took a big creative swing. But was all a bit too self-flagellating and the pop pedantic in me was irked by the timeline-fudging. Think there's a more interesting film to be made about how such a niche biopic was bankrolled.
January 28, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Woke up and yep, still fuming at how such an otherwise incredible series produced that result #traitorsuk
January 25, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Wrote about The Couple Next Door which is now premiering in the US 15 months after the UK. It’s not got any better with time.

www.indiewire.com/features/com...
‘The Couple Next Door’ Is Steamy but Silly
The Starz series starring 'Outlander' favorite Sam Heughan is fun but runs out of steam.
www.indiewire.com
January 20, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Finally catching up with third series of Industry. Still don’t understand 80 percent of what’s going on. But does that matter when you have a soft play fight scene in which Kit Harington is nearly suffocated by a squeaky sunflower? #industry
January 13, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Absolutely loved A Real Pain. Brutally relatable at times and Culkin and Eisenberg bounce off each other brilliantly. One of the extremely rare occasions I actually wanted a film to last longer than 90 mins.
January 12, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Macy Gray giving one word answers while the panel desperately overcompensate for binning her off might already be most awkward tv moment of the year. #themaskedsinger
January 11, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Linda’s self-sabotaging amateur dramatics. The Midsommar cosplay (the challenges are so much more watchable this year). Alexander’s hilariously shifty eyes. Tonight’s #TheTraitors was easily the best of s3.
January 11, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Admired American Primeval’s authenticity. But god, it’s overwhelmingly bleak.
www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/ame...
Why American Primeval is the anti-Yellowstone
Netflix's latest original paints a much grubbier picture of Western life than Taylor Sheridan's Dallas-esque saga.
www.radiotimes.com
January 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Wrote about how the Harlan Coben universe is only getting more ridiculous.
inews.co.uk/culture/tele...
Critics loathe him, but Harlan Coben is the king of Netflix
'Fool Me Once' was Netflix's most-watched original series of 2024, and 'Missing You' looks set to be similarly huge. So what is the appeal of the 'greasy takeaway of TV'?
inews.co.uk
January 10, 2025 at 3:29 PM