Dan Hassler-Forest

Dan Hassler-Forest

@danhf.bsky.social

Author, teacher, anti-authoritarian, media studies prof @ Utrecht Univ. New book – FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISING: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517921088/fast-and-furious-franchising/

9.7K followers3.1K following5.5K posts

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Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

My new book FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISING: HOW THE SERIALIZED BLOCKBUSTER REMADE HOLLYWOOD gets a nice write-up in The New Yorker.

The New Yorker@newyorker.com

The Marvel Cinematic Universe often gets the credit for revolutionizing the art of the Hollywood mega-franchise—but the “Fast and the Furious” canon is just as influential. www.newyorker.com/books/under-...

newyorker.com“The Fast and the Furious” Tells the Story of Hollywood The Marvel Cinematic Universe often gets the credit for revolutionizing the art of the Hollywood mega-franchise—but the “Fast and the Furious” canon is just as influential.
Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

Absolutely phenomenal to see this on the big screen again. That first alien attack simply unequalled as a horror/disaster movie set piece. 😵‍💫

Dan Hassler-Forest@danhf.bsky.social

This evening I will introduce a special screening of Spielberg's WAR OF THE WORLDS as part of the Amsterdam Public Library's "Literary Cinema" program — in collaboration with the Imagine Film Festival. oba.nl/nl/agenda/ci...

oba.nloba.nl
Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

Spielberg’s single most frightening sequence immediately followed by a perfect moment of comic relief: Robbie: What is it? Is it terrorists? Ray: These came from someplace else. Robbie: What do you mean, like, Europe? Ray: No, Robbie, NOT LIKE EUROPE!

Dan Hassler-Forest reposted

Aurelien Mondon
@aurelmondon.com

These elections really make clear the damage populist hype has done The idea that anything left of centre, mildly critical of the status quo and the capitalist elite could be equated to the far right is so ridiculous and yet this is what has been pushed in most of the media aided by many academics

Aurelien Mondon@aurelmondon.com

The news from Brazil and Serbia are great and show that you don't defeat the far right by copying it or trying to appeal to their supporters You do it by being uncompromising, showing the danger they pose and offering something different to the many crises people suffer from

Dan Hassler-Forest reposted

Garry
@thegmcconnachie.bsky.social

🎯

Adam Schwarz@adamjschwarz.bsky.social

Lula: "We had to overcome foreign interference through digital platforms, which we will have to regulate. A crime in the digital world must be treated the same as a crime in the real world. We cannot have monstrous companies earning millions... not paying taxes... wanting to steer elections."

Dan Hassler-Forest reposted

Anne Applebaum
@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu

In one day, two politicians - Bolsonaro in Brazil and Vucic in Serbia - with ties to Trump have lost surprise elections thanks to high turnout. The rise of the international far-right is not inevitable.

Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

“What was your biggest impact on the internet?" I wrote an article for the Washington Post about how fascist ideas are deeply embedded in our popular culture (including Disney movies) and everyone lost their shit. 😅

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Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

The man can TALK

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

“How much time do you think this defense secretary spends looking in the mirror in the morning? These are not serious people” — Obama’s audience in Ohio is hanging on every word as he skewers Trump and Hegseth

Dan Hassler-Forest reposted

TAHK0
@tahk0.bsky.social

Guillermo Del Toro dropping another one liner that’s exactly how I feel about AI slop, the “punishment” is built in

Dan Hassler-Forest reposted

Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

My latest book FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISING is now on sale! Use this code for a 30% discount direct from @uminnpress.bsky.social: MNAMST26. www.upress.umn.edu/amst/

upress.umn.eduBook sale: American Studies Association 2026 - University of Minnesota PressBooks on sale during the Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association in Chicago, Illinois on October 22-25, 2026. Books featured in this collection are 30% off when you order... READ MORE
Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

My list of 20s favorites: Do Not Expect Too Much… American Utopia Red Rooms Hundreds of Beavers West Side Story Decision to Leave TÁR Furiosa Asteroid City Sinners Barbie Wolfwalkers Mad God Close Your Eyes The Zone of Interest The Secret Agent Dinner in America Blue Heron It Was Just an Accident

Wilson@wilsonjettone.bsky.social

I've looked at my Letterboxd, and here is my best of 20s so far: Aftersun Drive My Car The Green Knight Return to Seoul Benediction Sylvie's Love The Last Duel Licorice Pizza Crimes of the Future TAR Thirteen Lives Zone of Interest Perfect Days The Taste of Things The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

Dan Hassler-Forest reposted

Adam Sternbergh
@sternbergh.bsky.social

just going to repost the best response I've seen about using generative AI to "make art," which comes from Kane Parsons, director of BACKROOMS and not exactly a luddite "art is a way of processing life... and I don't see the value of outsourcing any element of that" www.youtube.com/shorts/MwUnK...

youtube.com"Backrooms" director Kane Parsons explains why he's “absolutely not” going to embrace AI #shortsYouTube video by CBS Mornings
London Review of Books@lrb.co.uk

‘Sudowrite, the “best AI for novel writing”, promises to maintain your ‘unique voice’. Whether or not you have a unique voice, it will give you scene directions and alternative options for the plot, and act as your editor.’ Alfred Nunney on AI and books, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/oc...

lrb.co.ukAlfred Nunney | Write a Novel in Thirty DaysMy boss at the bookshop has said he would sell AI novels if there were clear demand and clear labelling. We almost...
Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

THE WEIGHT is an unexpected delight, with the great Ethan Hawke in a bona fide Movie Star Performance 🔥. An old-fashioned genre film with a modern sensibility, it's the very definition of A Good Time At The Movies.

Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

So glad I was primed to snap this up right away: I haven’t been so excited for a physical media box set in ages.

Michael Avolio@michaelavolio.bsky.social

Criterion temporarily sold out of copies of their Kubrick box set within something like two or three hours of their 50% sale starting. I remember their Ingmar Bergman box set, also released during a 50% off sale (a Barnes & Noble one), likewise sold out its first pressing almost immediately.

Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

Very stressful 15 minutes of site blinking on and off — but I got to spend the crazy cash I'd planned to throw at the Criterion Collection, finally breaking my three-month movie-buying hiatus (and celebrating my birthday, which was yesterday).

Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

For prehistoric epic QUEST FOR FIRE, Anthony Burgess was hired to create four separate languages for the various tribes of early humans we encounter in the film. They ran out of time and money before they created the fourth, so that last tribe ended up basically speaking Inuit instead.

Amy "Thunderjam" Chase@amythunderjam.bsky.social

We all know the "Viggo broke his toe" story but what's another movie fact you're personally compelled to bring up every time without prompting? For me, it's the fact that Robin Tunney is wearing a wig in The Craft because of having just shaved her head to save her job filming Empire Records.

Dan Hassler-Forest reposted

Charlotte Lydia Riley
@lottelydia.bsky.social

I didn’t know much about about Abdul El-Sayed before watching this but I knew as soon as I’d seen it that he’d worked as a teacher — and sure enough he was an assistant professor in epidemiology. This is how you walk a student through a dumb take.

Abdul El-Sayed@abdulelsayed.bsky.social

This is Tommy. Tommy had a question about my allegiances. Listen to the end to hear about his.

Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

Man, I don’t think I’ve *ever* laughed as hard in a movie theater as I did tonight, screening WALK HARD for a sold-out cinema crowd. A great reminder of how exhilarating it is to experience films socially – especially if they’re funny!... 😂🫶🏻🍿🎥

Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

Before the film, we gave a talk on the musical biopic, and the contemporary phenomenon of the jukebox movie – illustrated with scenes from WALK THE LINE, RAY, DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE, A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, ELVIS, and MICHAEL.

Dan Hassler-Forest
@danhf.bsky.social

So very excited to introduce a screening of WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY and watch it with a cinema audience tonight! Here’s the Celebrating Cinema podcast episode we recorded on the movie that should have ended the musical biopic for good: celebratingcinema.com/episodes/cin...

celebratingcinema.comCine Of The Times | Walk Hard Should Have Killed The Musical Biopic — Celebrating CinemaIn 2007, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story tore the music biopic apart so thoroughly that Hollywood should never have been able to make one with a straight