Rough Edges
When art, music, and games are repackaged and sold as polished products, the beautiful messiness of the human experience is lost by Gwen C. Katz A part of getting older that I didn’t anticipate is watching ad-hoc games be repackaged and sold
Can Andor Save Star Wars From Itself?
Andor succeeds as art by throwing corporate synergy to the wind by Josh McNamee Over the last decade a single concept has come to define popular cinema: the cinematic universe. Pioneered—or at least re-pioneered, since it cannot be said to be new—by
REVIEW: “Pipeline” Is A White-Knuckle Thriller With Revolutionary Politics
Daniel Goldhaber's climate-activism thriller deftly combines human drama with sincere political exploration by Josh Lewis Adapted from the 2021 nonfiction manifesto of the same name by human ecology lecturer and climate activist Andreas Malm, How to Blow Up a Pipeline is
REVIEW: Barbarian’s Subdued Exterior Hides A Gory Subterranean Freakout
Viewers expecting a typical Airbnb thriller will be in for a shock by Josh Lewis (NOTE: Mild spoilers after the fourth paragraph. You've been warned!) Much like last year’s big-swing genre shocker Malignant—a film that pretended to be yet another modern, polished haunted
They/Them stabs for the heart, but fails to draw blood
Queer horror is more essential than ever—which makes They/Them's fumbles all the more tragic by Lindsay Lee Wallace They/Them, a slasher film set at a queer conversion camp and written and directed by John Logan (Skyfall, Gladiator), could have been a
Jack Kirby and The Houdini of the Real
In attempting to pay homage to Jack Kirby's Mr. Miracle, Tom King and Mitch Gerards end up trapping themselves by Jean Brigid-Prehn In his later days, the illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini embarked on a crusade of debunking psychics and mediums,
Omelas, Je T’Aime
Le Guin’s timeless tale of cruelty and inaction poses a question that none of us can answer. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying. by Kurt Schiller // Illustration by J.R. Bolt [For more discussion of "The Ones Who Walk Away From
Does Batman Have To Be Copaganda?
Batman's complex relationship with law enforcement, on page and screen by Kevin Fox, Jr. // Illustration by Bhanu Pratap Batman, the billionaire vigilante, has been my favorite superhero since I was a toddler. His darkness—his typically black costumes, his tragic backstory and
Is It Imposter Syndrome? Or Are We All Imposters?
Insecurity in an age of phonies, hucksters, and nonsense jobs. by Raquel S. Benedict Imposter syndrome, we are told, is an epidemic among young professionals, especially those of marginalized backgrounds. Prestigious industries like academia, publishing, and medicine churn out advice columns and host seminars to help
The Troubling Persistence of the “Arab Sheikh”
How a tired—and offensive—cliche shines a light on the West's perception of Arabs by J.D. Harlock Dressed in a dishdasha, keffiyeh, and dark aviator sunglasses, a rotund man gyrates his way onto a scene of gross opulence. You need not know his