Calvin Kemph
@calvinkemph.bsky.social
Editor-in-Chief of The Twin Geeks, Seattle Film Critics Society member.
thetwingeeks.com
thetwingeeks.com
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...
November 29, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...
Always this. Write like you’re curious, not like you know everything already.
I saw someone recently say that Christian rock sucks because it’s all answers, and the best art is always about questions.
What Robert is saying is what my recent belly aching about lazy film criticism has been trying to express. I try to get at what the best questions that spring from a story are
What Robert is saying is what my recent belly aching about lazy film criticism has been trying to express. I try to get at what the best questions that spring from a story are
I’ve said this before, but the best pieces aren’t the ones that ignore complications with the aim of making a neat and sweeping argument (which, in my opinion, many have about this movie). The best writing embraces and wrestles with those complications.
November 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Always this. Write like you’re curious, not like you know everything already.
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
I also highly recommend The Making of a Color Animation (Shigeji Ogino & Noburo Ofuji, 1937). It's an educational film about animation creation that also features some beautiful color work.
November 23, 2025 at 3:58 PM
I also highly recommend The Making of a Color Animation (Shigeji Ogino & Noburo Ofuji, 1937). It's an educational film about animation creation that also features some beautiful color work.
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Finally got around to watching this. A 1933 utopian film from Japan, A Day after a Hundred Years (Shigeji Ogino) has an amazing animation style that is simultaneously ornate, simple, and inventive. Think it'll go well with Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936) in my upcoming SF film class.
November 23, 2025 at 5:51 AM
Finally got around to watching this. A 1933 utopian film from Japan, A Day after a Hundred Years (Shigeji Ogino) has an amazing animation style that is simultaneously ornate, simple, and inventive. Think it'll go well with Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936) in my upcoming SF film class.
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
For @seattletimes.com, spoke with Lily Gladstone about lending her voice to the documentary BRING THEM HOME (which premieres Nov. 24 on PBS), recording her narration at her regular Seattle studio, and how history echoes with her upcoming film THE MEMORY POLICE 📽️
www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
November 19, 2025 at 2:06 AM
For @seattletimes.com, spoke with Lily Gladstone about lending her voice to the documentary BRING THEM HOME (which premieres Nov. 24 on PBS), recording her narration at her regular Seattle studio, and how history echoes with her upcoming film THE MEMORY POLICE 📽️
www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Thanks to what the kids say today, some of the dialogue in High Sierra “hits different” (as the kids say today).
November 17, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Thanks to what the kids say today, some of the dialogue in High Sierra “hits different” (as the kids say today).
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
I interviewed ferociously brilliant filmmaker Mira Nair, a.k.a Zohran Mamdani’s mother, about how her voice and vision have shaped a man who sees a better way forward for all of us. SPOILER ALERT: Love matters.
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/feat...
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/feat...
How Mira Nair Built the World That Made Zohran Mamdani
The legendary director talks with Harper's Bazaar about becoming an artist and a parent
www.harpersbazaar.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I interviewed ferociously brilliant filmmaker Mira Nair, a.k.a Zohran Mamdani’s mother, about how her voice and vision have shaped a man who sees a better way forward for all of us. SPOILER ALERT: Love matters.
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/feat...
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/feat...
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Capturing the beauty of TRAIN DREAMS in words was a challenge that took a few days to even draft out. There are films that surround you, breathe, whisper, & carry you someplace both familiar & lost. TRAIN DREAMS is one of those films. It’s breathtaking. #FilmSky www.peliplat.com/en/article/1...
'Train Dreams' Review: A Meditative Journey Through Love, Loss, and the Eternal Pulse of the Earth | Peliplat
There are films you watch, and then there are films that surround you. Films that breathe, whisper, and carry you someplace both familiar and lost. Clint Bentle
www.peliplat.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Capturing the beauty of TRAIN DREAMS in words was a challenge that took a few days to even draft out. There are films that surround you, breathe, whisper, & carry you someplace both familiar & lost. TRAIN DREAMS is one of those films. It’s breathtaking. #FilmSky www.peliplat.com/en/article/1...
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
lol
Why Isn’t Pennywise in The Running Man? It's more complicated than you might think... bit.ly/4a04Vvk
November 15, 2025 at 7:23 PM
lol
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Screenings of @seattlecritics.bsky.social' PNW nominees continue! Shorts w/filmmakers at @nwfilmforum.bsky.social Nov 19 and features w/filmmakers at @siffnews.bsky.social Film Center Nov 21-23: Twinless, Wolf Land, To Kill a Wolf, WTO/99, Not One Drop of Blood. We launched with Train Dreams Oct 29.
November 14, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Screenings of @seattlecritics.bsky.social' PNW nominees continue! Shorts w/filmmakers at @nwfilmforum.bsky.social Nov 19 and features w/filmmakers at @siffnews.bsky.social Film Center Nov 21-23: Twinless, Wolf Land, To Kill a Wolf, WTO/99, Not One Drop of Blood. We launched with Train Dreams Oct 29.
#Bugonia is a richly textured remake of a good South Korean movie that advances Yorgos Lanthimos’ credentials as one of our best working filmmakers. @seattlecritics.bsky.social
Bugonia: Do You Want to Believe?
Yorgos Lanthimos is working at the forefront of present cinematic expression. The work of the Greek auteur will not leave you indifferent. That art provokes response is so central to its value in t…
thetwingeeks.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:42 PM
#Bugonia is a richly textured remake of a good South Korean movie that advances Yorgos Lanthimos’ credentials as one of our best working filmmakers. @seattlecritics.bsky.social
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Reminder: If you use generative AI for *any of your writing tasks* you are a Slopper not a writer and should be ashamed of yourself. The end.
November 11, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reminder: If you use generative AI for *any of your writing tasks* you are a Slopper not a writer and should be ashamed of yourself. The end.
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
For Arc Raiders to ride the wave of human sociability all the way to the bank, while also being so contemptuous of the thing that makes us social animals in its own workflow demonstrates a lack of artistic integrity that I find impossible to ignore.
Our review: https://bit.ly/49bVn01
Our review: https://bit.ly/49bVn01
November 10, 2025 at 4:31 PM
For Arc Raiders to ride the wave of human sociability all the way to the bank, while also being so contemptuous of the thing that makes us social animals in its own workflow demonstrates a lack of artistic integrity that I find impossible to ignore.
Our review: https://bit.ly/49bVn01
Our review: https://bit.ly/49bVn01
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Watching Our of the Past. So much beauty, in the actors' faces & bodies as well as in the photography & staging (as in a fistfight that plays out partly in the shadows combatants cast on a wall). Very adult in its understanding of attraction and how one choice can trap you for life.
November 8, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Watching Our of the Past. So much beauty, in the actors' faces & bodies as well as in the photography & staging (as in a fistfight that plays out partly in the shadows combatants cast on a wall). Very adult in its understanding of attraction and how one choice can trap you for life.
Maybe the Mariners just need to spend more money, is the only lesson this year.
November 2, 2025 at 4:23 AM
Maybe the Mariners just need to spend more money, is the only lesson this year.
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
As someone who doesn't watch sports but does love human suffering, I'm having a great night
November 2, 2025 at 4:05 AM
As someone who doesn't watch sports but does love human suffering, I'm having a great night
Addiction is a hungry ghost, that consumes everything in its path and can never be satiated. Ballad of a Small Player explores this philosophy around addiction through sumptuous visuals and a magnetic lead performance. @seattlecritics.bsky.social
Ballad of a Small Player: Hungry Ghosts
The visual font of addiction is so often relegated to drugs and alcohol, but addiction is a spiritual malady, and its expression is equally valid in all forms of spiritual disintegration. Addiction…
thetwingeeks.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Addiction is a hungry ghost, that consumes everything in its path and can never be satiated. Ballad of a Small Player explores this philosophy around addiction through sumptuous visuals and a magnetic lead performance. @seattlecritics.bsky.social
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
I wrote a piece on the work of writer and director James Gunn, who is engaged in a pretty incredible ongoing enterprise that despises bigotry and authoritarianism and reaffirms patriotism for progressives. www.vulture.com/article/jame...
James Gunn’s American Project
He is few critics’ idea of a respectable auteur, but his work is more consistently progressive than any other comic-book material today.
www.vulture.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:59 PM
I wrote a piece on the work of writer and director James Gunn, who is engaged in a pretty incredible ongoing enterprise that despises bigotry and authoritarianism and reaffirms patriotism for progressives. www.vulture.com/article/jame...
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
"In Ballad of a Small Player, we are given the gift of Colin Farrell overdoing it. Nobody overdoes it like Colin Farrell, and to take this for granted is a disservice." -- very enjoyable piece by @djmecca.bsky.social
Edward Berger's Ballad of a Small Player, starring Colin Farrell, is now streaming on Netflix.
Read @djmecca.bsky.social's review:
Read @djmecca.bsky.social's review:
Ballad of a Small Player Review: A Delicious, Nasty Exuberance
Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2025 Telluride coverage. Ballad of a Small Player is now in theaters and arrives on Netflix on October 29. In Ballad of a Small Player, we are...
thefilmstage.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:02 PM
"In Ballad of a Small Player, we are given the gift of Colin Farrell overdoing it. Nobody overdoes it like Colin Farrell, and to take this for granted is a disservice." -- very enjoyable piece by @djmecca.bsky.social
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Making my @rollingstone.com debut writing about Monolith's incredible F.E.A.R. and how the story's meaning has kind of gotten lost over the years.
Alma isn't F.E.A.R.'s villain. Armacham and the people that made her are. She's as much a victim as anyone else, a spirit of vengeance made, not born.
Alma isn't F.E.A.R.'s villain. Armacham and the people that made her are. She's as much a victim as anyone else, a spirit of vengeance made, not born.
A @rollingstone.com Halloween special: writer @edgarallanbro.bsky.social looks back at #FEAR, the 2005 horror game whose famous monster has been totally misunderstood for 20 years. It's a great read.
www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-g...
www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-g...
'F.E.A.R.' at 20: Is the Game's Villain the Ghost -- Or the System That Killed Her?
Monolith's 2005 horror FPS shares a tragic monster story with films like 'The Ring' and 'The Grudge'
www.rollingstone.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Making my @rollingstone.com debut writing about Monolith's incredible F.E.A.R. and how the story's meaning has kind of gotten lost over the years.
Alma isn't F.E.A.R.'s villain. Armacham and the people that made her are. She's as much a victim as anyone else, a spirit of vengeance made, not born.
Alma isn't F.E.A.R.'s villain. Armacham and the people that made her are. She's as much a victim as anyone else, a spirit of vengeance made, not born.
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Still reeling from this, still need a whole lotta help to cover next year, if you feel so inclined, consider a subscription?
Real talk (reel talk?):
BWDR recently lost a partnership that covered nearly half our operating budget, so things are suddenly very tough. If what we do has ever meant something to you, or you’ve ever thought about subscribing, now’s the time—it *truly* makes a difference.
BWDR recently lost a partnership that covered nearly half our operating budget, so things are suddenly very tough. If what we do has ever meant something to you, or you’ve ever thought about subscribing, now’s the time—it *truly* makes a difference.
Subscribe - Bright Wall/Dark Room
Subscribe for $29 a year Subscribe now to receive immediate access to each new essay we publish, plus our entire 135+ issue archive. Bright Wall/Dark Room is 100% independent, runs no ads, and strongl...
brightwalldarkroom.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Still reeling from this, still need a whole lotta help to cover next year, if you feel so inclined, consider a subscription?
Not the best at Fantasy sports cause I just want a team of players with cool sounding names.
October 29, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Not the best at Fantasy sports cause I just want a team of players with cool sounding names.
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
I will forever be upset that James Horner invented a new kind of music for Avatar and Cameron was like "it doesn't test well can you destroy all recordings and only make sci fi action movie music please"
October 23, 2025 at 12:09 AM
I will forever be upset that James Horner invented a new kind of music for Avatar and Cameron was like "it doesn't test well can you destroy all recordings and only make sci fi action movie music please"
Reposted by Calvin Kemph
Forget Josh O'Connor fall as Brett W. Bachman, the Washington editor behind MANDY & PIG, cut not one, not two, but six 2025 movies. For @seattletimes.com, dove into his Spielbergian origin, working with Mike Flanagan on CARRIE, recutting SHELBY OAKS, and more 📽️
www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
October 22, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Forget Josh O'Connor fall as Brett W. Bachman, the Washington editor behind MANDY & PIG, cut not one, not two, but six 2025 movies. For @seattletimes.com, dove into his Spielbergian origin, working with Mike Flanagan on CARRIE, recutting SHELBY OAKS, and more 📽️
www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...