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Reposted by Miriam Balanescu

Empire Magazine @empiremagazine.bsky.social · 20d

A rallying, railing portrayal of a broken education system."

Cillian Murphy is a headteacher pushed to the brink in emotion-fuelled drama Steve – available on Netflix 19 September.

Read the Empire review: www.empireonline.com/movies/revie...

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · 25d

Spinal Tap is back and to mark their return I rounded up 10 of the best mockumentaries for the BFI site

www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-gre...

10 great mockumentary films

As the ultimate mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap gets a new sequel, here’s a list that should really go up to 11.

www.bfi.org.uk

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · 25d

Spinal Tap is back and to mark their return I rounded up 10 of the best mockumentaries for the BFI site

www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-gre...

10 great mockumentary films

As the ultimate mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap gets a new sequel, here’s a list that should really go up to 11.

www.bfi.org.uk

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Reposted by Miriam Balanescu

Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · 26d

The second instalment of Asta Olivia Nordenhof’s pithy and experimental treatise on capitalism is out now from @vintagebooks.bsky.social

I reviewed it for tomorrow’s @ftweekend.com

www.ft.com/cms/f1019020...

The Devil Book — Asta Olivia Nordenhof rages at a decrepit system

The latest instalment of the Scandinavian Star septology features a reckless sex worker who makes a Faustian pact with a tycoon

www.ft.com

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · 26d

The second instalment of Asta Olivia Nordenhof’s pithy and experimental treatise on capitalism is out now from @vintagebooks.bsky.social

I reviewed it for tomorrow’s @ftweekend.com

www.ft.com/cms/f1019020...

The Devil Book — Asta Olivia Nordenhof rages at a decrepit system

The latest instalment of the Scandinavian Star septology features a reckless sex worker who makes a Faustian pact with a tycoon

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Miriam Balanescu

Final Girlboss @scarletteharris.bsky.social · 29d

In my first for @wired.com, I interviewed Laura Bates about her new book The New Age of Sexism about how AI is harming women and girls www.wired.com/story/is-ai-...

Is AI the New Frontier of Women’s Oppression?

In her new book, feminist author Laura Bates explores how sexbots, AI assistants, and deepfakes are reinventing misogyny and harming women.

www.wired.com

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Sep 7

With Honey Don’t! out now, I wrote about this year’s coterie of onscreen cult leaders for @curzon.com

www.curzon.com/journal/why-...

Thanks to @yasminomar.bsky.social for the commission and astute edits

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Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · Aug 31

In sci-fi’s soft-centred new turn, the threat traditionally posed by technology is neutralised—the implication being that people are the problem, writes @balanescumiriam.bsky.social.

Sci-fi has suddenly turned sappy

The genre usually warns of the dangers of technology. But Hollywood is now more concerned about the dangers of breaking up with your soulmate

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 29

I wrote a guide to Darren Aronofsky’s work for @anothermag.com

www.anothermag.com/design-livin...

A Guide to the Discomfort Cinema of Darren Aronofsky

As Caught Stealing arrives in UK cinemas, we examine one of contemporary Hollywood’s most disturbing and divisive oeuvres

www.anothermag.com

Reposted by Miriam Balanescu

Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · Aug 29

A feel-good spin on the apocalypse? A string of sci-fi films are taking premises that once would have been dystopian and slathering on the sappiness, writes @balanescumiriam.bsky.social.

Sci-fi has suddenly turned sappy

The genre usually warns of the dangers of technology. But Hollywood is now more concerned about the dangers of breaking up with your soulmate

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 27

for @wallpapermag.bsky.social, I wrote about Caught Stealing in the context of the immigrant gangster genre. My feeling was that it doesn’t really have anything to add to it

www.wallpaper.com/art/film/cau...

Gangster films were cinema’s first immigrant stories. Did Darren Aronofsky forget that?

In Caught Stealing, Austin Butler plays a hapless white lead in a film that nods to the genre’s roots but loses its immigrant heart

www.wallpaper.com

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 26

You get sparkling weekly cultural insight and recs from some of the best critics around (not myself included), well worth signing up

Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 26

on another note, all of Prospect’s culture newsletters are online in honour of their 100th edition. It’s been brilliant to write for it esp as the number of places running cultural essays shrinks. Pls do think about subscribing if you can!

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/6210...

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 26

A little late, but with Life of Chuck now out in cinemas i wrote for @prospectmagazine.co.uk about the concerning, queasy new sentimental sci-fi trend

Also can I just say I hate Life of Chuck with a passion

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/the-...

Sci-fi has suddenly turned sappy

The genre usually warns of the dangers of technology. But Hollywood is now more concerned about the dangers of breaking up with your soulmate

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 22

In cinemas today! Go and see this film!

Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 20

my thoughts on Sorry, Baby have changed quite a bit since first seeing it but I love it just as much (if not more)

absolutely essential viewing - don’t miss it when it’s out on Friday!

here’s my review for @empiremagazine.bsky.social

www.empireonline.com/movies/revie...

Sorry, Baby review: Eva Victor's first feature is a 'tenderly funny' debut movie

Eva Victor's directorial debut Sorry, Baby hits UK cinemas on Friday — and you can read the Empire review now.

www.empireonline.com

Reposted by Miriam Balanescu

Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 21

For the second of my Sorry, Baby pieces, I spoke to the wonderful Eva Victor for @anothermag.com about Kate Winslet in The Holiday, the film’s trans themes and diva cat actors who had to be surrounded by walls and fed chicken goop at all times

www.anothermag.com/design-livin...

Sorry, Baby: The Ultimate Comfort Movie About Trauma

Out in UK cinemas now, Eva Victor’s breakout film is a tender-hearted and fragile expression of hope for the future

www.anothermag.com

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 21

For the second of my Sorry, Baby pieces, I spoke to the wonderful Eva Victor for @anothermag.com about Kate Winslet in The Holiday, the film’s trans themes and diva cat actors who had to be surrounded by walls and fed chicken goop at all times

www.anothermag.com/design-livin...

Sorry, Baby: The Ultimate Comfort Movie About Trauma

Out in UK cinemas now, Eva Victor’s breakout film is a tender-hearted and fragile expression of hope for the future

www.anothermag.com

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Reposted by Miriam Balanescu

New Humanist @newhumanist.bsky.social · Aug 21

All of that plus book reviews from @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com, @balanescumiriam.bsky.social and others, original poetry, and our regular cryptic crossword and brainteaser!

Subscribe now from just £10 or find your nearest retailer to buy a copy: newhumanist.org.uk/articles/644...

Look up! New Humanist's Autumn 2025 issue on the battle for space is out now

How the battle over space affects all of us

newhumanist.org.uk

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Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 20

my thoughts on Sorry, Baby have changed quite a bit since first seeing it but I love it just as much (if not more)

absolutely essential viewing - don’t miss it when it’s out on Friday!

here’s my review for @empiremagazine.bsky.social

www.empireonline.com/movies/revie...

Sorry, Baby review: Eva Victor's first feature is a 'tenderly funny' debut movie

Eva Victor's directorial debut Sorry, Baby hits UK cinemas on Friday — and you can read the Empire review now.

www.empireonline.com

Miriam Balanescu @balanescumiriam.bsky.social · Aug 10

I reviewed Ben Pester’s brilliant debut - a mind-bending, satirical workplace dystopia - for today’s @observeruk.bsky.social

observer.co.uk/culture/book...

Ben Pester’s dark satire on the world of work | The Observer

In his surreal and unsettling debut novel The Expansion Project, Pester makes a dystopia of the modern office

observer.co.uk

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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · Aug 6

Israel is using Microsoft Azure to store recordings of every phone call made by Palestinians in the occupied territories, then using AI to analyze the contents and select targets. Microsoft is (dubiously) claiming ignorance.

‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians

Revealed: The Israeli military undertook an ambitious project to store a giant trove of Palestinians’ phone calls on Microsoft’s servers in Europe

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Miriam Balanescu

Curzon Cinemas @curzon.com · Jul 26

⚡ New on the Curzon Journal: BRING HER BACK subverts the tired genre trope that orphans are sinister interlopers seeking to destroy their adopted families, writes Miriam Balanescu. Read the article here:

Curzon