Christopher Smets
@cwsmets.bsky.social
Used bookstore peruser. Early morning movie watcher. Director of THE ASHGROVE EXPERIMENT. Other stuff.
https://vimeo.com/user13597261
https://vimeo.com/user13597261
Reposted by Christopher Smets
when Taxi Driver was new, a disturbed cypher like Travis was an outlier in society, a powerless person beyond his own capacity for violence. Now a guy like Travis is practically a demographic being marketed to. Scorsese called it
February 8, 2026 at 9:22 PM
when Taxi Driver was new, a disturbed cypher like Travis was an outlier in society, a powerless person beyond his own capacity for violence. Now a guy like Travis is practically a demographic being marketed to. Scorsese called it
The funny thing about this being a dad movie is that my mom was actually the one who was obsessed with it and made it a point that I sit down and watch it. (It also helped that a lot of her guys were in it, including McQueen, Garner, and this guy right here.)
LOTS but this one leaps to mind
February 4, 2026 at 3:47 AM
The funny thing about this being a dad movie is that my mom was actually the one who was obsessed with it and made it a point that I sit down and watch it. (It also helped that a lot of her guys were in it, including McQueen, Garner, and this guy right here.)
Went to see JFK on 35mm in the middle of the snowstorm on Sunday, and every time John Candy came onscreen, the delight in the audience was palpable. I wonder sometimes about what roles he might have played if he'd lived longer. He would have been terrific in FARGO, for example. What else?
January 28, 2026 at 12:51 AM
Went to see JFK on 35mm in the middle of the snowstorm on Sunday, and every time John Candy came onscreen, the delight in the audience was palpable. I wonder sometimes about what roles he might have played if he'd lived longer. He would have been terrific in FARGO, for example. What else?
Reposted by Christopher Smets
In addition to being a really good movie, it'll give you a break from the current misery. If it's streaming in your region, check it out!
I'm so happy Jeremy Workman's documentary SECRET MALL APARTMENT (2024) is on Netflix and people are watching it. (it's in the top 10 today.)
An inspiring and uplifting watch! #FilmSky
An inspiring and uplifting watch! #FilmSky
January 26, 2026 at 2:56 AM
In addition to being a really good movie, it'll give you a break from the current misery. If it's streaming in your region, check it out!
Reposted by Christopher Smets
Man this ad is hilarious. The ad for ChatGPT is that it’s a way to give you a vague way to not give up on running? This is why you assholes need $100 billion? This is why you owe Oracle $300 billion?
youtu.be/cjveRUfE7dc?...
youtu.be/cjveRUfE7dc?...
January 25, 2026 at 11:41 PM
Man this ad is hilarious. The ad for ChatGPT is that it’s a way to give you a vague way to not give up on running? This is why you assholes need $100 billion? This is why you owe Oracle $300 billion?
youtu.be/cjveRUfE7dc?...
youtu.be/cjveRUfE7dc?...
Reposted by Christopher Smets
This is from 2017, but it stands as tall as ever
January 26, 2026 at 12:57 AM
This is from 2017, but it stands as tall as ever
Reposted by Christopher Smets
agree with everyone saying dems need to press this advantage and oust noem, miller, and put the screws to vance. they all lied publicly about the killing and are vulnerable now that the administration is retreating. there’s blood in the water! could be a real turning point!
January 27, 2026 at 1:25 AM
agree with everyone saying dems need to press this advantage and oust noem, miller, and put the screws to vance. they all lied publicly about the killing and are vulnerable now that the administration is retreating. there’s blood in the water! could be a real turning point!
I'm about 90% sure that the VHS version of this my roommate showed me years ago was taped off Z Channel.
A special discovery while prepping the FABULOUS STAINS 4K UHD set: a draft of the film's never-before-issued "handbook of production information" @librarycongress.bsky.social. @scottsaslow.bsky.social wrapped it w/Par's '80s template for these publications. Part of our site-exclusive STAINS booklet.
January 27, 2026 at 2:07 AM
I'm about 90% sure that the VHS version of this my roommate showed me years ago was taped off Z Channel.
Reposted by Christopher Smets
True. Also there were two mass anti-ICE trainings tonight, multiple other mass anti-ICE trainings this week. We can acknowledge that the admin is flailing and celebrate that while we organize even harder. It's important to know that we CAN win, we ARE winning. We haven't won yet -- but we will.
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.”
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
January 27, 2026 at 1:25 AM
True. Also there were two mass anti-ICE trainings tonight, multiple other mass anti-ICE trainings this week. We can acknowledge that the admin is flailing and celebrate that while we organize even harder. It's important to know that we CAN win, we ARE winning. We haven't won yet -- but we will.
Reposted by Christopher Smets
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.”
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
January 26, 2026 at 11:35 PM
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.”
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
Reposted by Christopher Smets
Reposted by Christopher Smets
This hit so fucking hard today.
January 26, 2026 at 8:52 PM
This hit so fucking hard today.
Reposted by Christopher Smets
one of my favorite Parker books. "It was a new ball game. Parker had a gun," are the two most exciting sentences ever written in the English language
January 15, 2026 at 2:04 AM
one of my favorite Parker books. "It was a new ball game. Parker had a gun," are the two most exciting sentences ever written in the English language
Rewatched 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY on 70mm last night. One the greatest movies ever made, and extremely underrated as a deadpan comedy. This time, Leonard Rossiter KILLED me as Dr. Smyslov. He's doing Ralph Fiennes-level unctuous character work here (and even looks a bit like him).
January 15, 2026 at 1:35 AM
Rewatched 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY on 70mm last night. One the greatest movies ever made, and extremely underrated as a deadpan comedy. This time, Leonard Rossiter KILLED me as Dr. Smyslov. He's doing Ralph Fiennes-level unctuous character work here (and even looks a bit like him).
ALL NIGHT LONG is the kind of great little gem that really picks up steam and becomes more surprising as it goes along. At times, it feels like a Sundance movie that was made 20 years too early. (For what it's worth, Pauline Kael loved it.)
My comfort food lately has been late ‘70s, early ‘80s movies with stacked casts that no one talks about anymore and has probably never even heard of boxd.it/cBU6HV
A ★★★½ review of All Night Long (1981)
Dennis Quaid is pushing 30 in this, and looks 37, but somehow he’s playing Gene Hackman’s 18-year-old son who is sleeping with Barbra Streisand. The cast is stacked and everyone seems to be having fu...
boxd.it
January 15, 2026 at 1:21 AM
ALL NIGHT LONG is the kind of great little gem that really picks up steam and becomes more surprising as it goes along. At times, it feels like a Sundance movie that was made 20 years too early. (For what it's worth, Pauline Kael loved it.)
ROBOCOP (1987)
January 13, 2026 at 6:22 PM
ROBOCOP (1987)
Reposted by Christopher Smets
Some important new government policy that Native Americans might be interested in:
Trump talks about Denmark and Greenland just now: "The fact that they landed a boat there 500 years ago doesn't mean that they own the land."
January 9, 2026 at 10:02 PM
Some important new government policy that Native Americans might be interested in:
Reposted by Christopher Smets
another one for the ‘trump is terrified of death and will do everything in his power never to speak of it directly’ files
man, did the viziers in the WH not actually show him the actual video?
January 8, 2026 at 11:53 AM
another one for the ‘trump is terrified of death and will do everything in his power never to speak of it directly’ files
Reposted by Christopher Smets
The idea that a country's policing forces need to be kept secret, a secret police...
Never mind that this isn’t the definition of doxing in the first place, but you can’t dox a federal employee. If you’re a public servant, your identity isn’t “hidden.” It’s on public records. People can access those public records.
January 8, 2026 at 12:38 PM
The idea that a country's policing forces need to be kept secret, a secret police...
I don't know if I'd call One Battle escapist, but I know exactly what Jesse means. PTA leads with his heart, looking for the cracks where the light gets in; in Eddington, the darkness is closing over everyone. Both are very funny. But it's like the difference between Jonathan Demme and Kubrick.
One Battle After Another is entertainment and escapism. Eddington is the opposite. They’re both great movies doing different things as they comment on the modern age.
January 8, 2026 at 1:30 PM
I don't know if I'd call One Battle escapist, but I know exactly what Jesse means. PTA leads with his heart, looking for the cracks where the light gets in; in Eddington, the darkness is closing over everyone. Both are very funny. But it's like the difference between Jonathan Demme and Kubrick.
Just rewatched John Carpenter's STARMAN for the first time since...the '80s? It's the odd duck in his filmography for sure, but with a gorgeous, swelling synth theme by Jack Nitszche.
youtu.be/nip7k0m08PM?...
youtu.be/nip7k0m08PM?...
STARMAN MOVIE THEME SONG (ending ost)
YouTube video by ayemy
youtu.be
January 7, 2026 at 4:38 AM
Just rewatched John Carpenter's STARMAN for the first time since...the '80s? It's the odd duck in his filmography for sure, but with a gorgeous, swelling synth theme by Jack Nitszche.
youtu.be/nip7k0m08PM?...
youtu.be/nip7k0m08PM?...
Sometimes I think about how Christopher Lee and James Coburn are on the cover of Band on the Run.
January 7, 2026 at 2:44 AM
Sometimes I think about how Christopher Lee and James Coburn are on the cover of Band on the Run.
Reposted by Christopher Smets
This is a great story, and yet another reminder that -- for something that felt like a fun goofy feature when it launched -- as we lose more and more actors, the AV Club's "Random Roles" has turned out to be an amazing oral history project.
Terrible, always a total magnet. His story about getting cast in Goodfellas, basically his first movie, is so charming www.avclub.com/isiah-whitlo...
December 31, 2025 at 1:17 AM
This is a great story, and yet another reminder that -- for something that felt like a fun goofy feature when it launched -- as we lose more and more actors, the AV Club's "Random Roles" has turned out to be an amazing oral history project.
No better time to be at the movies than in the no-man's-land window between Christmas and New Year's.
December 30, 2025 at 11:53 PM
No better time to be at the movies than in the no-man's-land window between Christmas and New Year's.