The Spool
@thespool.bsky.social
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.
buff.ly/Do3ZYQD
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
DIE MY LOVE showcases a Jennifer Lawrence at her most free, writes @sgorr.bsky.social.
Jennifer Lawrence is edgy, raw in Die My Love
There’s something unflinching in the air these days when it comes to movies about mothers. If you found If I Had Legs I’d Kick You a rough ride, you’d better buckle up for Die My Love. Lynne Ramsay’s…
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November 3, 2025 at 6:45 PM
DIE MY LOVE showcases a Jennifer Lawrence at her most free, writes @sgorr.bsky.social.
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social appreciates GOOD FORTUNE's Keanu Reeves' performance, but its low-key vibes eventually become more of a weakness than an advantage.
Good Fortune has fleeting charms, pressing problems
Sometimes, a movie’s greatest asset is also a fatal drawback. Take the low-key, affable ambiance of writer/director Aziz Ansari’s new comedy Good Fortune. In this production, Ansari plays Arj, a man…
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November 1, 2025 at 3:48 PM
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social appreciates GOOD FORTUNE's Keanu Reeves' performance, but its low-key vibes eventually become more of a weakness than an advantage.
Skip the plane to Macau recommends @UnGajje.bsky.social as BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER isn't worth the trip.
Fold on Ballad of a Small Player
If one’s biggest compliment for a film belongs to a mid-credits dance sequence that doesn’t really have much to do with the plot, it doesn’t bode well for the overall work. Unfortunately, Ballad of a…
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October 31, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Skip the plane to Macau recommends @UnGajje.bsky.social as BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER isn't worth the trip.
Despite an excellent Jacob Elordi, @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social finds Guillermo del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN adaptation entirely too rote.
Frankenstein is a frighteningly familiar beast
Despite Aaron Eckhart’s definitive portrayal of Mary Shelley’s iconic beast in Yo, Frankenstein, filmmakers remain committed to realizing the gothic horror novel on-screen. The latest incarnation of…
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October 31, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Despite an excellent Jacob Elordi, @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social finds Guillermo del Toro's FRANKENSTEIN adaptation entirely too rote.
Admitted Kathryn Bigelow-enthusiast @UnGajje.bsky.social comes away from A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE disappointed, comparing it to an unfinished in-class essay.
A House of Dynamite fizzles when it most needs to explode
A House of Dynamite director Kathryn Bigelow has made her name essentially directing two very different kinds of films. Genre pictures like Near Dark and Strange Days mark the first half of her…
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October 31, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Admitted Kathryn Bigelow-enthusiast @UnGajje.bsky.social comes away from A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE disappointed, comparing it to an unfinished in-class essay.
Despite the challenges inherent in stretching a rom-com's appeal past the first blush, @UnGajje.bsky.social finds NOBODY WANTS THIS Season 2 still delivers, albeit with a few less jokes.
Nobody Wants This Season 2 once again proves its title ironic
Romantic comedies rarely have sequels and with good reason. The kind of energy that makes rom-coms so enjoyable isn’t generally reproducible without diminishing results. At best, you end up with some…
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October 31, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Despite the challenges inherent in stretching a rom-com's appeal past the first blush, @UnGajje.bsky.social finds NOBODY WANTS THIS Season 2 still delivers, albeit with a few less jokes.
Harlan Coben offers his first original to TV series with LAZARUS on Prime Video. @ungajje.bsky.social suggests the writer might've done better to keep it to himself.
Lazarus isn’t dead, not quiet lively
In the past decade, Harlan Coben has been adapted to television 19 times. With Lazarus (or Harlan Coben’s Lazarus as Prime Video stylizes it), he, along with Daniel Brocklehurst, has created his…
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October 21, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Harlan Coben offers his first original to TV series with LAZARUS on Prime Video. @ungajje.bsky.social suggests the writer might've done better to keep it to himself.
In anticipation of the final episode of SLOW HORSES Season 5's final episode tomorrow, revisit @ungajje.bsky.social's review in which he compares it to the 92-93 Chicago Bulls.
Slow Horses Season 5 stumbles for the first time
Last year, the team from Slough House went up against as close to a super villain as can exist in their universe, River Cartwright’s (Jack Lowden) biological father, Frank Harkness (Hugo Weaving). It…
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October 21, 2025 at 5:47 PM
In anticipation of the final episode of SLOW HORSES Season 5's final episode tomorrow, revisit @ungajje.bsky.social's review in which he compares it to the 92-93 Chicago Bulls.
Slick but too quick to abandon its mystery, THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 left @ungajje.bsky.social feeling soggy.
The Woman in Cabin 10 needs a life preserver
The Woman in Cabin 10 belongs to a subgenre that goes back to the Vanishing Hotel Room urban legend. In it, a daughter leaves her sick mother in a hotel room to get out and get her medicine. By the…
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October 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Slick but too quick to abandon its mystery, THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 left @ungajje.bsky.social feeling soggy.
THE LAST FRONTIER squanders any chance of being fun and instead gets bogged down in cliché, conspiracy, and melodrama, says @ungajje.bsky.social.
Don’t waste a journey to The Last Frontier
There is something dramatically irresistible about the idea of a prisoner transport plane. Just ask Con Air and people’s stubborn insistence that that film is any good. I’m sorry, your nostalgia for…
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October 17, 2025 at 9:10 PM
THE LAST FRONTIER squanders any chance of being fun and instead gets bogged down in cliché, conspiracy, and melodrama, says @ungajje.bsky.social.
@ungajje.bsky.social is a sucker for a Shane Black film and still thinks PLAY DIRTY could be dirtier and more playful.
Play Dirty could stand to be a bit filthier, friskier
Writer-Director Shane Black, The Predator notwithstanding, is always a must-check-out. From establishing the brand of top-dollar screenwriters to writing-directing delights like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,…
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October 10, 2025 at 5:06 PM
@ungajje.bsky.social is a sucker for a Shane Black film and still thinks PLAY DIRTY could be dirtier and more playful.
ROOFMAN frustrated @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social with its inability to use its plethora of tools to deliver a strong film.
Roofman teeters between entertaining and frustrating
Derek Cianfrance’s directorial career has centered on the grimmest personal stories imaginable. From Blue Valentine to The Place Beyond the Pines to his HBO miniseries I Know This Much Is True,…
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October 8, 2025 at 8:10 PM
ROOFMAN frustrated @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social with its inability to use its plethora of tools to deliver a strong film.
ARE WE GOOD? looks beyond Marc Maron's showbiz highs and lows to deliver an incredible film about life, grief, and how to balance the two, enthuses @sgorr.bsky.social.
Are We Good? is a meditation on loss, grief, and life itself
“You’re gonna destroy me with this stupid movie that I let you do, that I’m resisting because you’re annoying,” says Marc Maron in the opening minutes of Are We Good? Even if you don’t know Maron’s…
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October 2, 2025 at 7:59 PM
ARE WE GOOD? looks beyond Marc Maron's showbiz highs and lows to deliver an incredible film about life, grief, and how to balance the two, enthuses @sgorr.bsky.social.
@sgorr.bsky.social has ebullient praise IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU, a film bold enough to make a movie about motherhood about a hard-to-like mother, not her relationships, and still convinces the audience to understand her.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a tale of motherhood with serious teeth
In 2025, an unlikeable mother still feels a little risky. Certain types of female selfishness and honesty can be hard for audiences to stomach. Just take a look at the deeply polarized reactions to…
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September 26, 2025 at 6:35 PM
@sgorr.bsky.social has ebullient praise IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU, a film bold enough to make a movie about motherhood about a hard-to-like mother, not her relationships, and still convinces the audience to understand her.
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social praises every aspect of Paul Thomas Anderson's newest, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. Check out her review now.
PTA wins countless creative wars in One Battle After Another
Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies have never shied away from exposing that distinctly American decay. Anderson’s stories directly rebuke distinctly American visions of immaculate…
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September 26, 2025 at 4:12 PM
@lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social praises every aspect of Paul Thomas Anderson's newest, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. Check out her review now.
THE LOST BUS left @ungajje.bsky.social with white knuckles, but its intense action can't hide paper-thin characters.
The Lost Bus tensely careens with ciphers in the seats
Disaster, personified, proves The Lost Bus's best character. In a tick-tock of one harrowing aspect of California’s 2018 Camp Fire, Director Paul Greengrass and cinematographer Pål Ulvik Rokseth cast…
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September 24, 2025 at 4:52 PM
THE LOST BUS left @ungajje.bsky.social with white knuckles, but its intense action can't hide paper-thin characters.
Too often HIM defaults to bland cliché when the film is begging to let its freak flag fly, reports @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.
Shockingly hollow HIM fumbles
In July 2009, a philosopher by the name of Adam Young waxed poetic in the song “Fireflies” about the instability of reality. Specifically, he pontificated \“I’d like to make myself believe/That…
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September 19, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Too often HIM defaults to bland cliché when the film is begging to let its freak flag fly, reports @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.
A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY's self-consciousness repeatedly undermines its stars, attempts at romantic fantasy, says @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.
Snark interferes with taking A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
After helming a pair of quiet indies (Columbus and After Yang) focused on meditative conversations and complicated connections between people, director Kogonada leaps into the major studio cinema…
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September 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY's self-consciousness repeatedly undermines its stars, attempts at romantic fantasy, says @lisalamanfilmfan.bsky.social.
Lisa Laman recommends the "unexpectedly exceptional THE LONG WALK, in theatres today.
The Long Walk is a grueling tour de force
“Boots—boots—boots—boots—movin’ up an’ down again! There’s no discharge in the war!” Raymond Garraty (Cooper Hoffman) thinks he’s ready to go. A citizen in a (more) dystopian United States, Garraty,…
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September 12, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Lisa Laman recommends the "unexpectedly exceptional THE LONG WALK, in theatres today.