Jesse Hassenger
@rockmarooned.bsky.social
Writer & editor & stuff.
I also liked & wrote about GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE and its cathartically anti-A.I. (and in one subplot, pitch black) sensibility. decider.com/2026/02/13/g...
'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die' sprinkles its unambiguously anti-A.I. message with madcap Terry Gilliam vibes
A lot of recent sci-fi movies get a little shruggy when confronted with the dangers of A.I. Sam Rockwell’s latest goes a little harder.
decider.com
February 13, 2026 at 8:10 PM
I also liked & wrote about GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE and its cathartically anti-A.I. (and in one subplot, pitch black) sensibility. decider.com/2026/02/13/g...
100%. There's always been a certain number of people who feel totally affronted by the idea that they'd spend two hours watching something they didn't much like, which is understandable enough but I feel like it's widened to feeling affronted by stuff that's not like, Quality Maxxed
February 13, 2026 at 3:15 PM
100%. There's always been a certain number of people who feel totally affronted by the idea that they'd spend two hours watching something they didn't much like, which is understandable enough but I feel like it's widened to feeling affronted by stuff that's not like, Quality Maxxed
You know how TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is a scuzzier and dumber version of a Michael Mann movie? CRIME 101 is sort of a nerdier (and also dumber) version of a Michael Mann movie. I liked it. Wrote about it while quoting HEAT for GQ: www.gq.com/story/is-cri...
Is ‘Crime 101’ the New Heat?
Kind of! But it's also the new ‘Blackhat.’ And the new ‘Collateral.’ And the new ‘Thief.’ But (mostly!) in a good way!
www.gq.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:53 PM
You know how TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. is a scuzzier and dumber version of a Michael Mann movie? CRIME 101 is sort of a nerdier (and also dumber) version of a Michael Mann movie. I liked it. Wrote about it while quoting HEAT for GQ: www.gq.com/story/is-cri...
I've heard good things about BY DESIGN but I can't really bring myself to get excited, rather than confused, about a movie where a woman turns into a chair that's somehow *not* an adaptation of Aimee Bender's THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE??? How?????
February 12, 2026 at 5:03 PM
I've heard good things about BY DESIGN but I can't really bring myself to get excited, rather than confused, about a movie where a woman turns into a chair that's somehow *not* an adaptation of Aimee Bender's THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE??? How?????
They're just the slashers you haven't met.
February 11, 2026 at 9:50 PM
They're just the slashers you haven't met.
The STRANGERS trilogy has concluded, bringing the total STRANGERS movies to five (!) and lo, I have RUN THE SERIES! www.avclub.com/the-stranger...
Slasher anti-franchise The Strangers remains unknowable five films later
Renny Harlin's remake trilogy complicates the dour simplicity of The Strangers with additional genre anonymity.
www.avclub.com
February 11, 2026 at 8:16 PM
The STRANGERS trilogy has concluded, bringing the total STRANGERS movies to five (!) and lo, I have RUN THE SERIES! www.avclub.com/the-stranger...
Yeah, I liked it a lot and I'm lukewarm on several of his biggest movies!
February 10, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Yeah, I liked it a lot and I'm lukewarm on several of his biggest movies!
Reposted by Jesse Hassenger
I watched this because @feegrowsinbk.bsky.social told me to after she saw France skating to Daft Punk. This is WILD. Of all the songs to plagiarize!
wild AI story from the Olympics
ice dancers were told to use songs "in the style of the 1990s." One Czech pair tried using AI to pump out a song to skate to, but their AI bot fully plagiarized "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals and they had to change it
sports.beehiiv.com/p/olympics-d...
ice dancers were told to use songs "in the style of the 1990s." One Czech pair tried using AI to pump out a song to skate to, but their AI bot fully plagiarized "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals and they had to change it
sports.beehiiv.com/p/olympics-d...
February 10, 2026 at 2:42 PM
I watched this because @feegrowsinbk.bsky.social told me to after she saw France skating to Daft Punk. This is WILD. Of all the songs to plagiarize!
On average, I like Trier's movies a lot more than the other two, so it stuck out to me that this was on the weaker end of his spectrum. I know some obviously very much feel differently but I'm a bit baffled!
February 10, 2026 at 1:40 PM
On average, I like Trier's movies a lot more than the other two, so it stuck out to me that this was on the weaker end of his spectrum. I know some obviously very much feel differently but I'm a bit baffled!
In general this season I feel like Trier has largely gotten The Pass while Zhao and del Toro have gotten The Crackdown. Vaguely inexplicable how those are doled out but I guess probably once you win an Oscar you get The Crackdown.
February 10, 2026 at 1:32 PM
In general this season I feel like Trier has largely gotten The Pass while Zhao and del Toro have gotten The Crackdown. Vaguely inexplicable how those are doled out but I guess probably once you win an Oscar you get The Crackdown.
But what if:
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Bugonia
Sentimental Value
The Secret Agent
F1
I think I have Frankenstein higher than anyone I know and I'm not hardcore about Del Toro at all!
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Bugonia
Sentimental Value
The Secret Agent
F1
I think I have Frankenstein higher than anyone I know and I'm not hardcore about Del Toro at all!
This is where I'm at:
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Bugonia
The Secret Agent
Hamnet
Train Dreams
Frankenstein
F1
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Bugonia
The Secret Agent
Hamnet
Train Dreams
Frankenstein
F1
February 10, 2026 at 1:29 PM
But what if:
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Bugonia
Sentimental Value
The Secret Agent
F1
I think I have Frankenstein higher than anyone I know and I'm not hardcore about Del Toro at all!
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Bugonia
Sentimental Value
The Secret Agent
F1
I think I have Frankenstein higher than anyone I know and I'm not hardcore about Del Toro at all!
I interviewed John Linnell from They Might Be Giants about five years ago and to my great relief it was really fun. At one point he asked me if I'd seen the Wu Tang biographical series, which he'd been watching and enjoying. Now the new single from their forthcoming record is called "Wu Tang." <3
February 9, 2026 at 8:24 PM
I interviewed John Linnell from They Might Be Giants about five years ago and to my great relief it was really fun. At one point he asked me if I'd seen the Wu Tang biographical series, which he'd been watching and enjoying. Now the new single from their forthcoming record is called "Wu Tang." <3
I don't know how good of a friend I am overall but I am definitely good at taking my friends to see ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER in IMAX
February 9, 2026 at 3:41 AM
I don't know how good of a friend I am overall but I am definitely good at taking my friends to see ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER in IMAX
Of course! The Avatar movies basically prepped her for it.
February 8, 2026 at 11:07 PM
Of course! The Avatar movies basically prepped her for it.
Thought about trying to sell the kiddo on this today but ultimately felt like a stretch. Might try LA LA LAND a few weeks hence (my cancelation imminent)
February 8, 2026 at 11:00 PM
Thought about trying to sell the kiddo on this today but ultimately felt like a stretch. Might try LA LA LAND a few weeks hence (my cancelation imminent)
Reposted by Jesse Hassenger
Not ME the bell is tolling for.
February 8, 2026 at 3:05 PM
Not ME the bell is tolling for.
Tonight the 68th St AMC is showing the Super Bowl (ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER in 70mm IMAX)
February 8, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Tonight the 68th St AMC is showing the Super Bowl (ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER in 70mm IMAX)
hahaha fuck yeah Islands!!!
February 7, 2026 at 11:37 PM
hahaha fuck yeah Islands!!!
Here's me doing some writing
February 7, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Here's me doing some writing
The thing is they would probably both be fine, we just don't personally like them!
February 7, 2026 at 5:58 PM
The thing is they would probably both be fine, we just don't personally like them!
Reposted by Jesse Hassenger
ICYMI, one last time: My thoughts on a bittersweet year for Sundance. Topics grazed in passing include pushy fans, Charli xcx, Burger King value meals, the Egyptian, and that time I slept on a drug dealer's couch for the festival.
For @prospect.org, I went long (and historical and nostalgic and cautiously hopeful) on the final Sundance in Park City, Utah. prospect.org/2026/02/06/s...
Sundance Is Over. Long Live Sundance. - The American Prospect
Will there be life after Utah (and Robert Redford) for America’s biggest film festival?
prospect.org
February 6, 2026 at 11:19 PM
ICYMI, one last time: My thoughts on a bittersweet year for Sundance. Topics grazed in passing include pushy fans, Charli xcx, Burger King value meals, the Egyptian, and that time I slept on a drug dealer's couch for the festival.
And there aren't any fucking movies where it's all Muppets and there's just one human. You may think of MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL that way but it is not how the movie actually is! And if it were, it would be an extreme outlier! That's not what Muppet movies are like!!! Nor should they be!!!!
February 7, 2026 at 4:35 AM
And there aren't any fucking movies where it's all Muppets and there's just one human. You may think of MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL that way but it is not how the movie actually is! And if it were, it would be an extreme outlier! That's not what Muppet movies are like!!! Nor should they be!!!!
Literally almost anyone can host The Muppet Show, no one sorts old Muppet Show episodes by "oh this host was really bad, but then this one was really good," they all just come on and do Muppet segments and everyone for the most part is happy
February 7, 2026 at 4:35 AM
Literally almost anyone can host The Muppet Show, no one sorts old Muppet Show episodes by "oh this host was really bad, but then this one was really good," they all just come on and do Muppet segments and everyone for the most part is happy
Every single time your memes or discussions about who should host Muppet Show episodes or who should be the only human in a movie otherwise recast entirely with Muppets circulate, you got me like this, I'm sorry
February 7, 2026 at 4:34 AM
Every single time your memes or discussions about who should host Muppet Show episodes or who should be the only human in a movie otherwise recast entirely with Muppets circulate, you got me like this, I'm sorry
My choices for tonight's family video round: Wayne's World sketch; Gonzo singing "Dancing with Myself" on MUPPETS TONIGHT; Siskel & Ebert arguing about COP AND A HALF; Carly Rae Jepsen "Beach House" video; Phoebe Bridgers doing "I Know the End" on SNL
February 6, 2026 at 2:08 AM
My choices for tonight's family video round: Wayne's World sketch; Gonzo singing "Dancing with Myself" on MUPPETS TONIGHT; Siskel & Ebert arguing about COP AND A HALF; Carly Rae Jepsen "Beach House" video; Phoebe Bridgers doing "I Know the End" on SNL