Sean Burns
@splicedpersonality.bsky.social
Film Critic. Projectionalist.
www.splicedpersonality.com
www.splicedpersonality.com
Pinned
Introducing the Spliced Personality Substack
“Two reviews a week. Seven bucks a month. Cheap!”
splicedpersonality.substack.com
So I'm hanging out a shingle in newsletter land. Two reviews a week. Seven bucks a month. As Alfred E. Neuman would say, "Cheap!" Details below.
John Cassavetes’ THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE was (briefly) released in theaters 50 years ago this week. Here’s something I wrote when it played the Coolidge in 2019.
John Cassavetes' 'The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie' Was A Messy Maverick’s Stab At A Genre Film
The 1976 film, in a rare 35mm screening at Coolidge Corner Theatre, follows an LA strip club owner who gets strong-armed into performing a Mafia hit in order to square his gambling debts.
www.wbur.org
February 17, 2026 at 6:07 PM
John Cassavetes’ THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE was (briefly) released in theaters 50 years ago this week. Here’s something I wrote when it played the Coolidge in 2019.
Goddamnit, I really thought Fred Wiseman would live forever.
February 16, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Goddamnit, I really thought Fred Wiseman would live forever.
It’s such a small thing, but in A CIVIL ACTION, the contemptuous little pause Duvall employs to refer to an opposing lawyer named Cheeseman as “Mr. Cheese Man” has always stuck with me. Just a sublime bit of ball-busting.
February 16, 2026 at 8:38 PM
It’s such a small thing, but in A CIVIL ACTION, the contemptuous little pause Duvall employs to refer to an opposing lawyer named Cheeseman as “Mr. Cheese Man” has always stuck with me. Just a sublime bit of ball-busting.
“Someday this war’s gonna end.”
February 16, 2026 at 6:45 PM
“Someday this war’s gonna end.”
Over at the new Spliced Personality Substack this week I reviewed Gore Verbinski’s GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE.
Review - Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die
Starring Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Michael Peña, Haley Lu Richardson.
splicedpersonality.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Over at the new Spliced Personality Substack this week I reviewed Gore Verbinski’s GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON’T DIE.
Reposted by Sean Burns
Regardless of the merits of “WUTHERING HEIGHTS,” it’s worth noting that it could conceivably earn an Oscar nomination for John Cale.
February 15, 2026 at 3:15 AM
Regardless of the merits of “WUTHERING HEIGHTS,” it’s worth noting that it could conceivably earn an Oscar nomination for John Cale.
Reposted by Sean Burns
Final Jeopardy category today is…
[chime]
PEOPLE WHO DIED. Make your wagers and we’ll be right back.
[chime]
PEOPLE WHO DIED. Make your wagers and we’ll be right back.
February 14, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Final Jeopardy category today is…
[chime]
PEOPLE WHO DIED. Make your wagers and we’ll be right back.
[chime]
PEOPLE WHO DIED. Make your wagers and we’ll be right back.
Saw this going around and I hope Ken added that the next day Brian got offed by the very same bikers.
February 14, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Saw this going around and I hope Ken added that the next day Brian got offed by the very same bikers.
I was worried because it’s been like fifteen minutes since the last time this guy was publicly fellated. By all means, bring on another tribute!
February 13, 2026 at 7:02 PM
I was worried because it’s been like fifteen minutes since the last time this guy was publicly fellated. By all means, bring on another tribute!
February 13, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Over at the new Spliced Personality Substack this week I reviewed CRIME 101. I have no way of knowing if this movie was written by ChatGPT, but I certainly have my suspicions.
Review - Crime 101
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan.
splicedpersonality.substack.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Over at the new Spliced Personality Substack this week I reviewed CRIME 101. I have no way of knowing if this movie was written by ChatGPT, but I certainly have my suspicions.
THERE GOES THAT HONKYTONK KID
Tyler and The Names - Honky Tonk Kid (Live)
YouTube video by Brett Melican
youtu.be
February 12, 2026 at 4:10 PM
THERE GOES THAT HONKYTONK KID
At WBUR this week I talked to Coolidge Breakthrough Artist Harry Lighton about his delightful new “dom-com” PILLION.
With 'Pillion,' writer-director Harry Lighton made a film for himself
“I grew up comfort-watching romantic comedies,” Lighton said. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I could comfort-watch a romantic comedy that spoke more to my desires?’”
www.wbur.org
February 12, 2026 at 3:33 PM
At WBUR this week I talked to Coolidge Breakthrough Artist Harry Lighton about his delightful new “dom-com” PILLION.
Never been a big Baz Luhrmann fan but I am very much enjoying his late-career project of trying to make Elvis even gaudier.
February 12, 2026 at 2:39 AM
Never been a big Baz Luhrmann fan but I am very much enjoying his late-career project of trying to make Elvis even gaudier.
Reposted by Sean Burns
I vividly remember Bud Cort in M*A*S*H as the nurse Frank Burns blames for someone dying, Cort had one of those expressions of innocence shocked and then corrupted by that whole situation that helped emphasise the ethos of that picture so well.
February 11, 2026 at 7:57 PM
I vividly remember Bud Cort in M*A*S*H as the nurse Frank Burns blames for someone dying, Cort had one of those expressions of innocence shocked and then corrupted by that whole situation that helped emphasise the ethos of that picture so well.
At WBUR this week I reviewed Emerald Fennell’s thrillingly adolescent WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
Emerald Fennell's unsubtle 'Wuthering Heights' intertwines love and death
Starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, the baroquely stylized film doesn’t stick strictly to Emily Brontë's story, "but even its deviations feel true to the doomy spirit of the prose," reviews WBUR ...
www.wbur.org
February 11, 2026 at 11:39 AM
At WBUR this week I reviewed Emerald Fennell’s thrillingly adolescent WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
My commute this morning.
February 9, 2026 at 7:09 PM
My commute this morning.
New Tyler and the Names video by Brett and Ren. Love the GOODFELLAS title cards.
Tyler and The Names - North Star (Live)
YouTube video by Brett Melican
youtu.be
February 9, 2026 at 4:19 PM
New Tyler and the Names video by Brett and Ren. Love the GOODFELLAS title cards.
See Cliff Booth the way you’ve never seen him before… in GlaucomaVision!
February 9, 2026 at 3:13 PM
See Cliff Booth the way you’ve never seen him before… in GlaucomaVision!
I don’t follow football but I’m happy to hear that Robert Kraft is having a terrible day.
February 9, 2026 at 3:47 AM
I don’t follow football but I’m happy to hear that Robert Kraft is having a terrible day.
The Somerville Theatre has had this 70mm print of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER since September and there’s not a scratch or a speck of dirt on it. Flawless presentation.
February 9, 2026 at 3:44 AM
The Somerville Theatre has had this 70mm print of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER since September and there’s not a scratch or a speck of dirt on it. Flawless presentation.
Football-free SAFE space.
February 8, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Football-free SAFE space.
Reposted by Sean Burns
Every ad with a celebrity is actually an ad for Tom Cruise because I think about how he wouldn’t do that
December 6, 2025 at 1:54 AM
Every ad with a celebrity is actually an ad for Tom Cruise because I think about how he wouldn’t do that
Over at the new Spliced Personality Substack this week I reviewed Luc Besson's DRACULA.
Review - Dracula
Starring Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz, Zoë Bleu, Matilda De Angelis.
splicedpersonality.substack.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Over at the new Spliced Personality Substack this week I reviewed Luc Besson's DRACULA.