Kyle Stevens

I wrote about The White Lotus! I start with Parker Posey’s sneer and end up talking about why we need more farces. (Hint: Class anger.) lareviewofbooks.org/article/snee...

Sacrifice (on Netflix) seems so broad, which I don’t mind (think The Menu vibes), but it takes on a whole new dimension when you realize the director is Costa-Gravas’s son. It would be fascinating to watch it after Z.

Accidentally subscribed to a week of MGM+, and I'm glad I did! American Classic is a treat. Kevin Kline is a cancelled Shakespearean ham, Laura Linney a great actress who never got her shot. We're about halfway through and gobbling it up!

Grindr is training its AI on your photos, your age, and your taps by default, without asking. This video shows where the app buried the off switch. The stakes are high on an app like Grindr. Numerous countries criminalize same-sex relations, so being outed through your data can be dangerous.

I can’t explain it, but I know if people just went back to being sane and saying “gave” instead of “gifted” he’d finally have a heart attack.

You Oughta Noël

Disclosure Day. Ok, I’m enjoying it. BUT would it be 1,000% improved by Melissa McCarthy in the Colin Firth role? Yes.

The Phantom Tollbooth — Chuck Jones (producer & co-director), 1970

Never forget that David Ellison's Skydance Media was originally created so he could be an actor. Skydance's first film was 'Flyboys' starring James Franco and... David Ellison. David and his daddy invested $60m to make Flyboys. It grossed $17m Here's a bit of David's acting:

Mf gonna turn me catholic

Criterion Channel is running a Madonna collection. Can someone please get Patti LuPone one the horn?

Here you go.

Naked Faces, tonight at 9 on ABC.

I miss 80s television, because by now, on Sunday night, we would have Morgan Fairchild playing a lesbian nightclub owner attending clown school as her bar implodes.

Another day of rain? Am I in a Richard Greenberg play? (yuk yuk)

My new book, MATTERS OF SEX: KATHARINE BEMENT DAVIS AND AMERICA'S FIRST SEXUAL REVOLUTION, is forthcoming from NYU Press in November and available for pre-order now! Get a sneak peek here (link to pre-order in comments).

All these AI apps with names like Cutesie McSwizzle and Pupper Smooches really give it away, huh?

Over six months, we tracked the appearance of child sexual abuse material on X. We found images from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's database, which is considered one of the most highly vetted and which many tech companies block on upload. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/11/t...

I’m so late to Andrew Haigh’s The North Water, but dang, what a show!

To Kill a Mockingbird, a new play written by Aaron Sorkin, is opening soon in Boston. I shouldn't pre-judge, but c'mon. This Atticus Finch is gonna be the smuggest bastard ever imagined.

I managed to quote the copy Zizek wrote for an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.

Link: www.bostonglobe.com/2026/09/06/o...

*incredibly ugly wheezing sound* Jee-sus christ theplaylist.net/paul-schrade...

1950s gender politics, nutshelled in Executive Suite.

We are not letting those men ruin sauerkraut. That's what we're not gonna do.

I love the dedication in My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinhem

Every day a major death.

On a Jean Arthur kick and just started The Devil and Miss Jones. More movies should start with sarcastic disclaimers to rich men.

This is pretty fucking wild. I had assumed in a worst case scenario he would target blue zip codes and toss ballots based on technicalities but this is even worse than I imagined.

Felicitous typo just led to my new pickle company: Brining Up Baby.

I always liked Jean Arthur, but a rewatch of The Talk of the Town takes me to task. She is GREAT.

Crime 101 is well paced, directed, and an interesting Robin Hood take? And Halle Berry has never been better? Ok!

Keep up the Dolly tributes, maybe he'll get jealous.

“Not even to dinner with the Kushners?”

Let's smash the curve on using "odyssey" in the descriptions of forthcoming movies, yes? I've seen it three times in the last week.

FDOC: discussing Adorno's Free Time (naturally) and what sort of activities in their lives get "downgraded" as hobbies. One student said musical theater, so I said I used to do musical theater, too, to which one dude in the front row goes "YOU?" in the most arch, sarcastic way. Perfect. 10/10.

PSA for those of us with semesters starting soon, if you need a good cry Melanie Lynskey's Don't Say Good Luck on Netflix is a real tearjerker. (No, she didn't direct it, but it's her film.) Plus Bebe Neuwirth and Steve Buscemi!!

As if the gold standard weren’t already fucked.

FYI for those who may have agreed to review ACLS applications (and perhaps might want to now...not).

Maddie's Secret: John Early is a certified fool (complimentary), and the film is a real vision of a particular fantasy. Just not sure there's much there beyond a pastiche of films that don't exactly treat women with respect.

Had a brain frying day so we caved and started the new Ted Lasso. Increasingly aware of just how much my enjoyment of the earlier iteration was just seeing Phil Dunster’s ass.