James Poniewozik
@poniewozik.bsky.social
One of these days I’m gonna wriggle up on dry land
Pinned
What ‘The American Revolution’ Says About Our Cultural Battles
www.nytimes.com
Ken Burns made a documentary about Americans who declared "No kings!" and rose up against the military occupation of their cities. What could possibly be polarizing about that? [giftie] www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/a...
How far am I willing to scroll down to figure out why everybody decided to argue about Star Warses today? Not very, it turns out
November 24, 2025 at 9:46 PM
How far am I willing to scroll down to figure out why everybody decided to argue about Star Warses today? Not very, it turns out
Trump is a creature of media before anything else and I suspect one thing we're seeing in this (wild!) Mamdani meeting is that nothing impresses/intimidates him like someone capable of generating a competing media phenomenon
November 21, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Trump is a creature of media before anything else and I suspect one thing we're seeing in this (wild!) Mamdani meeting is that nothing impresses/intimidates him like someone capable of generating a competing media phenomenon
This is where I am with ranking my year-end list. I used to do it bc I had to, now I don't have to so I don't do it. The simple reason is that the rankings are arbitrary BS, and one of my few jobs as a critic is not to bullshit my reader!
When I started my criticism career, I _loved_ making annual top ten lists. By the end, I realized the process was inherently flawed and biased toward whatever thing I liked that I had watched most recently, and I resented having to do it. I had a similar relationship to star ratings!
November 21, 2025 at 6:28 PM
This is where I am with ranking my year-end list. I used to do it bc I had to, now I don't have to so I don't do it. The simple reason is that the rankings are arbitrary BS, and one of my few jobs as a critic is not to bullshit my reader!
Hard Fork needs to do an emergency podcast
November 21, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Hard Fork needs to do an emergency podcast
“Who’s taller, LeBron James or Elon Musk?”
“True height is standing up for the colonization of Mars and against the Woke Mind Virus so—“
“True height is standing up for the colonization of Mars and against the Woke Mind Virus so—“
November 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
“Who’s taller, LeBron James or Elon Musk?”
“True height is standing up for the colonization of Mars and against the Woke Mind Virus so—“
“True height is standing up for the colonization of Mars and against the Woke Mind Virus so—“
Her first film will be g rated
United Talent Agency has signed literal type of cheese Parmigiano Reggiano to its roster with the goal of finding product-placement opportunities for the brand in film and TV
www.vulture.com/article/parm...?
www.vulture.com/article/parm...?
Beloved Cheese Parmigiano Reggiano Signs With UTA
The blonde Italian bombshell is about to be all over film and TV.
www.vulture.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Her first film will be g rated
Recently added a home-office electric standing desk and it has probably been great for my health and posture, but every time I raise and lower it has become an anxious inspection to make sure I don't accidentally crush something
November 19, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Recently added a home-office electric standing desk and it has probably been great for my health and posture, but every time I raise and lower it has become an anxious inspection to make sure I don't accidentally crush something
Reposted by James Poniewozik
I've been watching a bunch of AI slop nostalgia videos recently for... reasons, and none of it looks like reality, either present-day or past, but it looks EXACTLY like advertising
this is a fucking advertising agency. the threat is not "tilly norwood" "acting" in movies, it's advertisers going "eh good enough" and shoving this shit into all the ads that are everywhere all the time www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO5w...
AI "actors" are a threat, just not to Hollywood
YouTube video by Sparkhurst
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:00 PM
I've been watching a bunch of AI slop nostalgia videos recently for... reasons, and none of it looks like reality, either present-day or past, but it looks EXACTLY like advertising
Not the most important thing right now, but the one instance I can remember of hearing a human being use that phrase was Eddie Murphy in an SNL Gumby sktech
I don’t give a hell, that common expression we all normally say
November 18, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Not the most important thing right now, but the one instance I can remember of hearing a human being use that phrase was Eddie Murphy in an SNL Gumby sktech
As bleak as this situation is--and hoo boy is it--it's heartening that brilliant people like Alissa are at least thinking about the problem
As basically anyone who’s talked to me since the summer knows, I’ve been working on this for months. Thanks to everyone who shared their insights. (I’ve got a lot more to say in the future, too.)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/m...
Can You Believe the Documentary You’re Watching?
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:12 PM
As bleak as this situation is--and hoo boy is it--it's heartening that brilliant people like Alissa are at least thinking about the problem
So glad EV mentioned this in particular. One of my biggest Broadway pet peeves is the pandering joke/reference, and the RFK Jr one wouldn't have survived the worst late-night show's writers room
November 18, 2025 at 2:06 PM
So glad EV mentioned this in particular. One of my biggest Broadway pet peeves is the pandering joke/reference, and the RFK Jr one wouldn't have survived the worst late-night show's writers room
Mentally casting Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Nuzzi/Lizza
November 18, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Mentally casting Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Nuzzi/Lizza
Reposted by James Poniewozik
these are all the names of weird virility drinks sold at the gas station
OPERATION EIGHTEEN NAKED COWBOYS IN THE SHOWERS AT RAM RANCH
November 17, 2025 at 2:07 AM
these are all the names of weird virility drinks sold at the gas station
Reposted by James Poniewozik
I’m on The Daily’s Sunday Special episode with @poniewozik.bsky.social and Gilbert Cruz talking about a thing I never talk about (docs). Come for the Ken Burns, stay for a real nail biter of a trivia showdown:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Sunday Special: A Sea of Streaming Docs
Podcast Episode · The Daily · 11/16/2025 · 50m
podcasts.apple.com
November 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM
I’m on The Daily’s Sunday Special episode with @poniewozik.bsky.social and Gilbert Cruz talking about a thing I never talk about (docs). Come for the Ken Burns, stay for a real nail biter of a trivia showdown:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Reposted by James Poniewozik
Obviously, you can think whatever you want about any book, but to me, Nabokov's two masterworks (Lolita, Pale Fire) are about horrible people possessed of deep delusions of grandeur who aim to get the reader on their side by appearing to be smart. And a lot of people fall for it!
November 14, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Obviously, you can think whatever you want about any book, but to me, Nabokov's two masterworks (Lolita, Pale Fire) are about horrible people possessed of deep delusions of grandeur who aim to get the reader on their side by appearing to be smart. And a lot of people fall for it!
Writing the first third of several pieces, then closing the files, like the cobbler hoping the elves will finish the shoes for him overnight
November 14, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Writing the first third of several pieces, then closing the files, like the cobbler hoping the elves will finish the shoes for him overnight
Ken Burns made a documentary about Americans who declared "No kings!" and rose up against the military occupation of their cities. What could possibly be polarizing about that? [giftie] www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/a...
What ‘The American Revolution’ Says About Our Cultural Battles
www.nytimes.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Ken Burns made a documentary about Americans who declared "No kings!" and rose up against the military occupation of their cities. What could possibly be polarizing about that? [giftie] www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/a...
To balance this rant by saying something nice: You CAN, however, elevate an already-good show with great casting, and Exhibit A right now is The Lowdown. Absolutely stacked cast, not just in terms of talent but dead-on appropriateness for the specific role
I didn't review this show, but my personal hobbyhorse is "You cannot make a bad show into a good one just through casting" and this here is Exhibit A
on paper, THE BEAST IN ME is a hybrid of THE JINX and THE JOURNALIST AND THE MURDERER with claire danes and matthew rhys in the titular roles. unfortunately the actual show isn't as good as that logline: variety.com/2025/tv/revi...
November 13, 2025 at 5:57 PM
To balance this rant by saying something nice: You CAN, however, elevate an already-good show with great casting, and Exhibit A right now is The Lowdown. Absolutely stacked cast, not just in terms of talent but dead-on appropriateness for the specific role
I didn't review this show, but my personal hobbyhorse is "You cannot make a bad show into a good one just through casting" and this here is Exhibit A
on paper, THE BEAST IN ME is a hybrid of THE JINX and THE JOURNALIST AND THE MURDERER with claire danes and matthew rhys in the titular roles. unfortunately the actual show isn't as good as that logline: variety.com/2025/tv/revi...
Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys Thriller ‘The Beast in Me’ Is a Lopsided Take on ‘The Jinx’ With a Less Compelling Killer: TV Review
Netflix limited series 'The Beast in Me' stars Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys in a thriller obviously inspired by 'The Jinx'.
variety.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I didn't review this show, but my personal hobbyhorse is "You cannot make a bad show into a good one just through casting" and this here is Exhibit A
Probably my most cancellable belief, on Old Twitter or here, is that I am a prescriptivist about a lot of things. It is good, actually, for words to have specific meanings, and bad, actually, when those meanings are so diluted that you can no longer unambiguously express them!
I am still mad at @merriam-webster.com for letting the descriptivists defeat the prescriptivists here. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/l...
November 13, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Probably my most cancellable belief, on Old Twitter or here, is that I am a prescriptivist about a lot of things. It is good, actually, for words to have specific meanings, and bad, actually, when those meanings are so diluted that you can no longer unambiguously express them!
Inspired by a convo here about the ideas in Pluribus, re-upping my review--which, like probably most of my "spoiler-free" advance reviews, is really written in code so you can read it after you've watched the thing and know the spoilers
"Pluribus" reminded me a bit of a lot of other things. And also, it is like absolutely nothing else you've ever seen. [giftie] www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/a...
‘Pluribus’ Review: From Many, What?
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Inspired by a convo here about the ideas in Pluribus, re-upping my review--which, like probably most of my "spoiler-free" advance reviews, is really written in code so you can read it after you've watched the thing and know the spoilers
I was told that the unspooling of the elite sex-trafficking conspiracy would have much more reference to the work of HP Lovecraft
November 12, 2025 at 10:26 PM
I was told that the unspooling of the elite sex-trafficking conspiracy would have much more reference to the work of HP Lovecraft
Reposted by James Poniewozik
please, tv writers, i beg you
stop making the penultimate episode a flashback that answers all my questions about how we got here
i don't care! i already AM here. these are not questions i want answered! i don't care about these flashback people! i don't want to care about these flashback people!
stop making the penultimate episode a flashback that answers all my questions about how we got here
i don't care! i already AM here. these are not questions i want answered! i don't care about these flashback people! i don't want to care about these flashback people!
November 12, 2025 at 6:20 PM
please, tv writers, i beg you
stop making the penultimate episode a flashback that answers all my questions about how we got here
i don't care! i already AM here. these are not questions i want answered! i don't care about these flashback people! i don't want to care about these flashback people!
stop making the penultimate episode a flashback that answers all my questions about how we got here
i don't care! i already AM here. these are not questions i want answered! i don't care about these flashback people! i don't want to care about these flashback people!
We are all going to be Henry Hill, it’s noodles and ketchup from here on out
OK I don't mean to be hyperbolic but this might affect conservatively 65% of my diet
Italian pasta exports to the U.S. could be 'virtually wiped out' by proposed 107% tariffs
The U.S. has hit 13 Italian pasta exporters with an anti-dumping tariff of 92%, which would be added to the Trump administration's 15% blanket E.U. levies.
www.nbcnews.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:11 PM
We are all going to be Henry Hill, it’s noodles and ketchup from here on out