Sam Adams

Sam Adams

@samadams.bsky.social

Culture writer at Slate, published in LA Times, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, THR, and points south. Member: New York Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics, WGA East

135.2K followers1K following9.6K posts

Sam Adams reposted

Laurie Voss
@seldo.com

And now back to my full time job, texting the word "stop" to every living Democrat.

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

I will vote for any candidate who pledges to bring back shame

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

RFK: "There's five hundred million Arabs in the world. And yet they don't produce science. They don't win the Nobel Prize. They don't win the Fields Prize. They don't win the Wolf Prize. They don't produce literature."

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

I choose to see the upside of this as a great moment for people to learn what a documentary is (hint: this is wrong)

STAT@statnews.com

“'You Can See Everything' is a hilarious, thrilling, fascinating, beautiful piece of art. What it certainly is not is a documentary, and it’s dangerous to pretend that it is,” writes Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz. https://bit.ly/4Bk2nDJ

statnews.comI was a Theranos whistleblower. In ‘You Can See Everything,’ Elizabeth Holmes is still lyingA more accurate name would be “You Can See Everything That We Chose To Point The Camera At,”Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz writes.
Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

I don’t expect a Theranos whistleblower to be an expert in nonfiction cinema any more than I am in medical testing, but John Grierson defined documentary a century ago as “the creative treatment of actuality” and that’s still a good place to start

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

one thing that genuinely thrills me about YCSE (while also beguiling me somewhat) is how many viewers with no grounding in the slipperier edges of nonfiction seem to be intuitively grasping what it’s doing

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

I genuinely need someone to explain why a single person on earth listens to this guy

Dan Mauler 🎃@meelar.bsky.social

I just think Matt's wrong about this. We're at a point in our technological development where a ton of problems spill over national borders--if Flavio Bolsonaro burns down the Amazon, that will flood houses in Miami.

Sam Adams reposted

Kirsten Bladh
@kerstanley.bsky.social

Over 2,000 alumni from Vivek’s all-boys catholic high school in Cincinnati have signed and circulated a petition demanding that he pull the ad and issue a public apology for “ignoring the moral responsibilities” of his Jesuit education. I think he’s pretty cooked.

Micah@rincewind.run

chat I don’t think doubling down on this ad is working out real well for vivek

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

stray thoughts (there are more): – SNL US might do something like this; they would never attempt it live. The camerawork alone! – the SNL UK performer is Annabel Barlow, sister of Toby Marlow (Six) – “Be more constructive with your feedback, please”

Sam Adams reposted

Rafa Sales Ross
@rafiews.com

Another interesting thing that happened in Brazil and might be worth considering in the U.S.: a triumph of the liberal field was to detach Bolsonarism from the right. It wasn’t about left or right anymore; it was both left and right, liberals and centrists, fighting against far-right extremism.

Sam Adams reposted

Adam Bonica
@adambonica.bsky.social

One benefit of holding leaders accountable for crimes is that if Flávio Bolsonaro tries to overturn this election, he knows exactly where he’d end up. In prison, next to his father.

Sam Adams reposted

Taniel
@taniel.bsky.social

Lula has been reelected president, Brazilian media has now called. An extraordinary comeback for the left-wing politician who trailed by 2 points in round 1 but managed to hold off Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son.

Sam Adams reposted

Laura Bassett
@lebassett.bsky.social

Replying to @lebassett.bsky.social

Despite the transportation (and other kinds of) election sabotage by the right today, it is very much looking like Lula is going to pull this off anyway and win

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

this is like in a movie where astronauts are stuck in space and NASA scientists have to sprint to a storage room to find the blueprints for some piece of equipment they haven’t used since 1956

Scott Lemieux@lemieuxlgm.bsky.social

"The party left me. I used to be a Democrat, but know that Obama has made fun of Trump for making the White House look like a dictator designed an over-the-top chain restaurant I favor starving African children and bringing measles back"

Sam Adams reposted

Robert King
@robertking.bsky.social

YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING is just a stunning movie. The best of the year. So much to say about it, so probably best to say nothing. Incredible to release the best movie and tv show in a two year period. There must be some kind of EGOT acronym for that.

Sam Adams reposted

Josh Marshall
@joshtpm.bsky.social

A lot of dictatorships try to make these kind of arrangements when things go south. Important to remember there are other kinds of criminal, civil and reputational accountability pardons can’t touch. And if you’re pardoned you have no 5th amendment rights.

Holly Brewer@earlymodjustice.bsky.social

“Several conservative organizations …— including the Heritage Foundation and American Moment — have pressed White House counsel to either prepare pardons or put in place funding for the legal fees necessary to defend junior staffers from criminal and congressional probes or potential lawsuits.”

washingtonsun.comWhite House Is Weighing Mass Pardons for Junior StaffConservative groups influential with the Trump administration have pressed for the preemptive acts of clemency.
Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

boy, Close Encounters (seen via @filmadelphia.org’s new 70mm projector) still plays like a gem. The women in front of me not only did the Leo point when Devil’s Tower showed up on Richard Dreyfus’ TV but was vigorously gesturing for him to turn around and look at it

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

(Not to quarrel with the subhead on my own piece, but I have argued with people who come away thinking the shot of two figures in the ocean is the last shot of YCSE, and it’s not. It’s turkey jerky.)

Sam Adams reposted

Stephen R Bissette
@stephenrbissette.bsky.social

Well, the swamp-cat's outta the swamp-bag, so reckon it's OK to talk about this now. We've been secretly chipping away at this project behind-the-scenes this year, cool to see it announced the very same week the two TYRANT® collected-edition hardcovers are on the printing presses, too!

Comicsbeat@comicsbeat.bsky.social

Act 4 and Skybound announce BISSETTE AND TOTLEBEN’S SWAMP THING ARTIST’S EDITION

comicsbeat.comAct 4 and Skybound announce BISSETTE AND TOTLEBEN’S SWAMP THING ARTIST’S EDITIONAct 4 and Skybound announce BISSETTE AND TOTLEBEN’S SWAMP THING ARTIST’S EDITION featuring 170 pieces of original art from the series.
Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

when I think back on the world I grew up, the fact that there are out gay kids in high school blows my mind

Michael Druker 🇨🇦@mdruker.app

Social media loves talking about how everything is getting worse. But what’s something that you’ve seen get _better_ in your lifetime?

Sam Adams reposted

Don Moynihan
@donmoyn.bsky.social

This would be the most any person has donated in any election cycle. And #2 is also Musk, in 2024.

David Gura@davidgura.bsky.social

NEW, from Bloomberg News: “Elon Musk has now given more than $445 million in the current election cycle.”

bloomberg.comMusk Giving Tops $445 Million in Midterm Election Push for GOPWith a fresh infusion of cash to his super political action committee in the first two weeks of October, Elon Musk has now given more than $445 million in the current election cycle and become one of ...
Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

Okay, this is starting to drive me nuts the fact that there is no recording of Elizabeth Holmes saying the challenged quote does not mean there is “no proof” [article/author redacted because this is just the example that pushed me over the edge]

View full thread
Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

Elizabeth Holmes is a convicted liar, and it’s pretty clear Billy Evans takes after her. I know no one likes reporters now, but it makes me queasy to see even journalists going “well, she should have kept her notebooks.” Let’s be real.

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

someone should make a popular three-hour documentary about how even closely scrutinizing video footage is no guarantee of discovering the truth

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

Okay, this is starting to drive me nuts the fact that there is no recording of Elizabeth Holmes saying the challenged quote does not mean there is “no proof” [article/author redacted because this is just the example that pushed me over the edge]

View full thread
Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

You Can See Everything happens to capture the moment Holmes first hears the quote, and she’s not the one who challenges it. Billy Evans is, and he doesn’t even ask if she said it; he just assumes she never would, and effectively informs Holmes that she was misquoted.

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

The rant comes because we are in a real bad place if we decide that people’s own experience doesn’t matter, and the only thing that counts as “proof” is a recording—especially when we have so much evidence they can be manipulated or misread.

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

Okay, this is starting to drive me nuts the fact that there is no recording of Elizabeth Holmes saying the challenged quote does not mean there is “no proof” [article/author redacted because this is just the example that pushed me over the edge]

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

First, Notes Are Proof. As @patrickhealynyt.bsky.social points out here, the NYT’s reporter wrote Holmes’ words in her notebook and confirmed it with her editors in 2023. “They were playing a character I created” gibes with plenty of Holmes’ uncontested quotes, in the article and elsewhere.

nytimes.comElizabeth Holmes Quote DramaIn today’s Backstory, the new Holmes film takes issue with our profile, Nikole Hannah-Jones unpacks her viral essay and a professor shares why he thinks we apply “conservative” and “liberal” labels in...
Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

The fact that the writer, who has since left journalism, didn’t keep the notebook from a three-year-old story is a red herring. (They’d just claim she wrote it down wrong.) This is like when people say court cases have “no evidence,” as if oral testimony doesn’t count.

Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

lfg

The Playlist@theplaylist.bsky.social

Todd Haynes Says He May Reunite With Cate Blanchett For ‘The Maids,’ A Jean Genet Adaptation

dlvr.itTodd Haynes Says He May Reunite With Cate Blanchett For ‘The Maids,’ A Jean Genet AdaptationTodd Haynes and Cate Blanchett may be getting the band back together. While the filmmaker is busy putting the finishing touches on his next film, the writer/director has revealed that he’s planning an adaptation of Jean Genet’s play “The Maids,” and he hopes to reunite with Blanchett for what would be their third collaboration, following “I’m Not There” and “Carol.” In a new interview with French publication Le Point, Haynes revealed that “The Maids” will be his next project after “De Noche,” his upcoming romantic drama starring Pedro Pascal and Danny Ramirez. Continue reading Todd Haynes Says He May Reunite With Cate Blanchett For ‘The Maids,’ A Jean Genet Adaptation at The Playlist.
Sam Adams
@samadams.bsky.social

my favorite You Can See Everything reaction thus far belongs to the woman who walked out of my screening while telling her friend, "I don't think I can go to work tomorrow"