Steven D. Greydanus
@decentfilms.bsky.social
Film critic, Catholic deacon, theology teacher, father of 7. Not in that order. NYFCC member. Please follow/subscribe at greydanus.substack.com! Also at decentfilms.com
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
After a couple of months of experimenting, I’m officially in on monthly digests of all my work, so here’s November—plus a popular post from last year. I hope this makes Dailies & Sundays more user-friendly!
November 2025 in Dailies & Sundays
[lucid dreaming, sacred architecture, Pope Leo XIV, suffering, ‘Peanuts,’ and food tribalism]
greydanus.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:14 PM
After a couple of months of experimenting, I’m officially in on monthly digests of all my work, so here’s November—plus a popular post from last year. I hope this makes Dailies & Sundays more user-friendly!
So much depends on the courts, and the wild capriciousness of recent SCOTUS actions is the single most alarming feature of U.S. government right now
The dripping contempt the right wing SCOTUS majority holds for district judges is truly a sight to behold every time. When they deign to give actual reasons for their shadow docket holdings, it’s “look at the absolute idiots who keep getting everything wrong!”
December 5, 2025 at 3:06 AM
So much depends on the courts, and the wild capriciousness of recent SCOTUS actions is the single most alarming feature of U.S. government right now
My approach to lighting a ten-foot Christmas tree won’t work for everyone, but something here may be helpful to anyone lighting any tree. Also, a word about biannual Catholic “rose vs. pink” discourse…
How to light a Christmas tree
[and a note about biannual Catholic “rose” vs. “pink” discourse]
greydanus.substack.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:29 PM
My approach to lighting a ten-foot Christmas tree won’t work for everyone, but something here may be helpful to anyone lighting any tree. Also, a word about biannual Catholic “rose vs. pink” discourse…
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
Yikes. This may be the most obviously confused and incoherent I can recall President Trump ever being. Like, I can’t imagine any reasonable explanation of what he might have been trying to say.
Not at first. At first he seems mostly coherent, if seemingly weirdly contemptuous of his vice president…
Not at first. At first he seems mostly coherent, if seemingly weirdly contemptuous of his vice president…
Trump Accidentally Lets Slip Just How Much He Hates JD Vance
Donald Trump’s latest rant was barely intelligible—but it still made clear he doesn’t like his second in command.
newrepublic.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Yikes. This may be the most obviously confused and incoherent I can recall President Trump ever being. Like, I can’t imagine any reasonable explanation of what he might have been trying to say.
Not at first. At first he seems mostly coherent, if seemingly weirdly contemptuous of his vice president…
Not at first. At first he seems mostly coherent, if seemingly weirdly contemptuous of his vice president…
Converging agreement. Cameron is putting unprecedented, breathtaking images on big screens. What is even competing with him? The latest superhero or video-game movie? The latest “live-action” animated remake?
I don’t begrudge anyone for finding Avatar too corny but when people are just like “yeah it’s good spectacle but that’s it” I am so bewildered because we are STARVED for spectacle. I’d rather see a $350 million movie where every red cent went on the screen than one where $250M went to actor salaries
December 2, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Converging agreement. Cameron is putting unprecedented, breathtaking images on big screens. What is even competing with him? The latest superhero or video-game movie? The latest “live-action” animated remake?
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS was shot in location in Egypt and Palestine. It was written by Gene Gauntier, who also played the Virgin Mary, and possibly co-directed.
The role of women in getting epics onto the American screen has been erased, so let's elevate them again.
The role of women in getting epics onto the American screen has been erased, so let's elevate them again.
December 2, 2025 at 2:50 AM
FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS was shot in location in Egypt and Palestine. It was written by Gene Gauntier, who also played the Virgin Mary, and possibly co-directed.
The role of women in getting epics onto the American screen has been erased, so let's elevate them again.
The role of women in getting epics onto the American screen has been erased, so let's elevate them again.
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
Helen Gardiner in CLEOPATRA (1912), which she produced through her own company, starred in and served as costumer. It was one of the very first American narrative features and, along with FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS, one of the first American epics.
December 2, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Helen Gardiner in CLEOPATRA (1912), which she produced through her own company, starred in and served as costumer. It was one of the very first American narrative features and, along with FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS, one of the first American epics.
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
The New York Film Critics Circle will be announcing the winners of its annual awards on this account tomorrow morning starting at approximately 9 a.m. E.T. #NYFCC
December 2, 2025 at 1:37 AM
The New York Film Critics Circle will be announcing the winners of its annual awards on this account tomorrow morning starting at approximately 9 a.m. E.T. #NYFCC
After a couple of months of experimenting, I’m officially in on monthly digests of all my work, so here’s November—plus a popular post from last year. I hope this makes Dailies & Sundays more user-friendly!
November 2025 in Dailies & Sundays
[lucid dreaming, sacred architecture, Pope Leo XIV, suffering, ‘Peanuts,’ and food tribalism]
greydanus.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 2:14 PM
After a couple of months of experimenting, I’m officially in on monthly digests of all my work, so here’s November—plus a popular post from last year. I hope this makes Dailies & Sundays more user-friendly!
Not to detract from the inspired animation technique, which is astonishing, but the sound design here is also brilliant
From: Tchou-Tchou (1972), dir. Co Hoedeman, National Film Board of Canada
December 2, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Not to detract from the inspired animation technique, which is astonishing, but the sound design here is also brilliant
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
Editor: You add those smell squiggles to the iStock photo?
Illustrator: Sure did boss, real fuckin stinky just like you asked.
Editor: excellent
Illustrator: Sure did boss, real fuckin stinky just like you asked.
Editor: excellent
Imagine posing for a photographer friend who sells your image to iStock and a year later, you see this is what The Washington Post has done with the image of you walking on a beautiful fall day
November 30, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Editor: You add those smell squiggles to the iStock photo?
Illustrator: Sure did boss, real fuckin stinky just like you asked.
Editor: excellent
Illustrator: Sure did boss, real fuckin stinky just like you asked.
Editor: excellent
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
This AP news story is incredible from front to back but I wanted to flag something super serious and wildly illegal that may have flown under the radar. It’s called parallel construction and it’s when intel is washed from spy agencies and used by local cops. apnews.com/article/immi...
1/
1/
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.
apnews.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:00 PM
This AP news story is incredible from front to back but I wanted to flag something super serious and wildly illegal that may have flown under the radar. It’s called parallel construction and it’s when intel is washed from spy agencies and used by local cops. apnews.com/article/immi...
1/
1/
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
(also of course check out the actual piece, which had already become one of the most popular things I’ve ever written)
‘Peanuts’: Suffering, baseball, and religion
[comics and the problem of evil]
greydanus.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 7:16 PM
HEEEY! The editors of Substack selected my latest “Peanuts” piece for their “Weekender” feature in the Substack Post! Check it out!
“This is my corner of the world; I am free to do what I want”
In this edition of the Weekender: the homey language of smartphones, theology in comic strips, and the ultimate rom-com antiheroine
post.substack.com
November 29, 2025 at 2:50 PM
HEEEY! The editors of Substack selected my latest “Peanuts” piece for their “Weekender” feature in the Substack Post! Check it out!
I did not know the Nazi and racist origins of this stupid, ugly word. Learn more: bit.ly/4rqZ0G9
A reminder for those who are not aware: "remigration" is the process of deporting all non-white people from a country. It includes citizens and is, by definition, ethnic cleansing.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
And to be clear: this is not fake. I just screenshot it myself.
November 29, 2025 at 1:51 PM
I did not know the Nazi and racist origins of this stupid, ugly word. Learn more: bit.ly/4rqZ0G9
The United States is not the only country with a modern democratic heritage carrying out unjust summary executions of people under non-combat conditions and justifying it by calling them “terrorists.”
UN says Israeli forces' killing of two West Bank Palestinians looks like 'summary execution'
The United Nations said on Friday that the killing of two Palestinian men in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security forces the previous day appeared to be a "summary execution."
www.reuters.com
November 29, 2025 at 1:11 PM
The United States is not the only country with a modern democratic heritage carrying out unjust summary executions of people under non-combat conditions and justifying it by calling them “terrorists.”
release the Epstein files
The heart and soul of Trumpism in one tweet
November 29, 2025 at 4:00 AM
release the Epstein files
and not just the end…
“Mr. Gower, you don’t know what you’re doing!”
“Is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms…? Anyway, my father didn’t think so!”
“How much do you need?”
“Hey! I got $2000!”
“But it’s your own money, George!”
crying just typing this
“Mr. Gower, you don’t know what you’re doing!”
“Is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms…? Anyway, my father didn’t think so!”
“How much do you need?”
“Hey! I got $2000!”
“But it’s your own money, George!”
crying just typing this
If you don’t cry at the end of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, you’re empty somewhere important.
November 29, 2025 at 2:53 AM
and not just the end…
“Mr. Gower, you don’t know what you’re doing!”
“Is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms…? Anyway, my father didn’t think so!”
“How much do you need?”
“Hey! I got $2000!”
“But it’s your own money, George!”
crying just typing this
“Mr. Gower, you don’t know what you’re doing!”
“Is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms…? Anyway, my father didn’t think so!”
“How much do you need?”
“Hey! I got $2000!”
“But it’s your own money, George!”
crying just typing this
While Aardman has stumbled a bit lately—Shawn the Sheep: Farmageddon was decent enough, but the Chicken Run sequel was a big step down from the original, and Early Man was deeply uninspired—Vengeance Most Fowl is a delightful return to form.
Watching Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl with @mzspress.bsky.social. This is the one where the sociopath penguin commands an army of robot gnomes from a Nautilus-like submersible, which of course has a giant pipe organ upon which he plays
Toccata and Fugue in D minor. My kind of humor.
Toccata and Fugue in D minor. My kind of humor.
November 29, 2025 at 2:20 AM
While Aardman has stumbled a bit lately—Shawn the Sheep: Farmageddon was decent enough, but the Chicken Run sequel was a big step down from the original, and Early Man was deeply uninspired—Vengeance Most Fowl is a delightful return to form.
Very confident the courts won’t allow this. If Trump tries to prosecute a Biden pardonee, a lower court will block it, and SCOTUS will decline the appeal. It is, of course, outrageous that the White House functions fundamentally by testing the courts’ commitment to defending the law…but here we are.
It should go without saying, but the president has no authority to do this, and anyone reporting the story needs to say as such.
November 28, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Very confident the courts won’t allow this. If Trump tries to prosecute a Biden pardonee, a lower court will block it, and SCOTUS will decline the appeal. It is, of course, outrageous that the White House functions fundamentally by testing the courts’ commitment to defending the law…but here we are.
We in the United States are, at this hour of the clock, governed by bullies and trolls.
November 28, 2025 at 8:25 PM
We in the United States are, at this hour of the clock, governed by bullies and trolls.
Reposted by Steven D. Greydanus
David Glosser, Stephen Miller’s uncle, told CNN his nephew is an “immigration hypocrite”:
“Had we not been able to enter America when we did, Stephen Miller would never exist” (2018)
“Had we not been able to enter America when we did, Stephen Miller would never exist” (2018)
November 28, 2025 at 4:26 PM
David Glosser, Stephen Miller’s uncle, told CNN his nephew is an “immigration hypocrite”:
“Had we not been able to enter America when we did, Stephen Miller would never exist” (2018)
“Had we not been able to enter America when we did, Stephen Miller would never exist” (2018)
Within just a few days, my second Peanuts piece is near the top of my “Most Popular” list (just a couple of clicks below my first Peanuts piece, on the Great Pumpkin, currently at no. 1)
I wrote about one of my favorite Peanuts comic strips of all time—and a whole bunch of other ones—and why this one might be the richest single expression of Charles Schulz’s interests and imaginative world.
“Peanuts”: Suffering, baseball, and religion
[comics and the problem of evil]
greydanus.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Within just a few days, my second Peanuts piece is near the top of my “Most Popular” list (just a couple of clicks below my first Peanuts piece, on the Great Pumpkin, currently at no. 1)