Marshall Shaffer
@marshallshaffer.bsky.social
Freelance writer frequently seen on The Playlist, Decider, Slant Magazine, Slashfilm, and Crooked Marquee. We'll get along. (he/him)
https://marshallandthemovies.substack.com/
https://marshallandthemovies.substack.com/
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Marshall and the Movies | Marshall Shaffer | Substack
Marshall Shaffer talks you through the movies you should watch, twice a week. Click to read Marshall and the Movies, by Marshall Shaffer, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
Welcome, new friends. marshallandthemovies.substack.com
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
“Cattet and Forzani create a total cinema within REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND—not because they manage to replicate reality but because they manage to eradicate it.” @marshallshaffer.bsky.social, Slant
See it Dec. 3 at the @siffnews.bsky.social Film Center!
grandillusioncinema.org/film/reflect...
See it Dec. 3 at the @siffnews.bsky.social Film Center!
grandillusioncinema.org/film/reflect...
November 26, 2025 at 8:59 PM
“Cattet and Forzani create a total cinema within REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND—not because they manage to replicate reality but because they manage to eradicate it.” @marshallshaffer.bsky.social, Slant
See it Dec. 3 at the @siffnews.bsky.social Film Center!
grandillusioncinema.org/film/reflect...
See it Dec. 3 at the @siffnews.bsky.social Film Center!
grandillusioncinema.org/film/reflect...
Holiday week streaming recs! marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/the-downst...
The Downstream: November 2025
10 great movies to watch before they leave streaming this month.
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Holiday week streaming recs! marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/the-downst...
"Yes, I do believe that cinemas are life-giving organisms."
On history, memory, Udo Kier, and more in my conversation about THE SECRET AGENT (opening 11/26) writer/director/producer Kleber Mendonça Filho and star Wagner Moura for @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/wag...
On history, memory, Udo Kier, and more in my conversation about THE SECRET AGENT (opening 11/26) writer/director/producer Kleber Mendonça Filho and star Wagner Moura for @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/wag...
Wagner Moura and Kleber Mendonça Filho on 'The Secret Agent'
Moura and Mendonça Filho discuss the role of cinema in making social change, the nature of Moura's multiple roles in the film, and more.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:34 PM
"Yes, I do believe that cinemas are life-giving organisms."
On history, memory, Udo Kier, and more in my conversation about THE SECRET AGENT (opening 11/26) writer/director/producer Kleber Mendonça Filho and star Wagner Moura for @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/wag...
On history, memory, Udo Kier, and more in my conversation about THE SECRET AGENT (opening 11/26) writer/director/producer Kleber Mendonça Filho and star Wagner Moura for @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/features/wag...
I’m assuming this is because I’m an early adopter of Substack’s new “Film & TV” category, but … it’d be a lot cooler if it stayed this way 😎
Come join the fun at marshallandthemovies.substack.com
Come join the fun at marshallandthemovies.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 2:07 AM
I’m assuming this is because I’m an early adopter of Substack’s new “Film & TV” category, but … it’d be a lot cooler if it stayed this way 😎
Come join the fun at marshallandthemovies.substack.com
Come join the fun at marshallandthemovies.substack.com
I was lucky enough to be at the first screening of TRAIN DREAMS at Sundance, and something in Joel Edgerton's performance struck a nerve inside me. Now that it's on Netflix, I'm honored to share my profile of the actor - my first for Men's Health: www.menshealth.com/entertainmen...
Joel Edgerton Has Been Acting for 30 years. In 'Train Dreams,' He's Finally Found Himself.
In his latest (and most personal) role, the actor goes through the full life of a logger in the first half of the 20th century—and wrestles with the idea of what a man should be.
www.menshealth.com
November 21, 2025 at 8:17 PM
I was lucky enough to be at the first screening of TRAIN DREAMS at Sundance, and something in Joel Edgerton's performance struck a nerve inside me. Now that it's on Netflix, I'm honored to share my profile of the actor - my first for Men's Health: www.menshealth.com/entertainmen...
AARP Movies for Grownups Award nominee Lucy Liu in ROSEMEAD just makes so much sense to me
November 19, 2025 at 5:20 PM
AARP Movies for Grownups Award nominee Lucy Liu in ROSEMEAD just makes so much sense to me
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
I'll boost anything that will get more people to watch The Kid Detective, but this is also just a really good piece
For @deciderdotcom.bsky.social, I wrote about the talents of Adam Brody, the long shadow of Seth Cohen, and how actors can still be great when locating variations and shadings within their most familiar archetype: decider.com/2025/11/11/a...
Proud of this piece, give it a read!
Proud of this piece, give it a read!
November 19, 2025 at 5:11 AM
I'll boost anything that will get more people to watch The Kid Detective, but this is also just a really good piece
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
“Musician biopics have become something like intellectual property in their own right – just for people who grew up poring over the pages of ‘Rolling Stone’ rather than a comic book,” writes @marshallshaffer.bsky.social:
crookedmarquee.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:26 AM
“Musician biopics have become something like intellectual property in their own right – just for people who grew up poring over the pages of ‘Rolling Stone’ rather than a comic book,” writes @marshallshaffer.bsky.social:
"You have to surprise even yourself."
A joy to unpack all the meta-elements of acting within SENTIMENTAL VALUE alongside two of its stars, Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård. The film expands this weekend, catch it when you can!
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/elle-fa...
A joy to unpack all the meta-elements of acting within SENTIMENTAL VALUE alongside two of its stars, Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård. The film expands this weekend, catch it when you can!
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/elle-fa...
Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård on 'Sentimental Value'
Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård discuss how they approached the lightly satirical elements of Joachim Trier's ensemble drama.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:10 PM
"You have to surprise even yourself."
A joy to unpack all the meta-elements of acting within SENTIMENTAL VALUE alongside two of its stars, Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård. The film expands this weekend, catch it when you can!
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/elle-fa...
A joy to unpack all the meta-elements of acting within SENTIMENTAL VALUE alongside two of its stars, Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård. The film expands this weekend, catch it when you can!
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/elle-fa...
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
Shih-Ching Tsou’s LEFT-HANDED GIRL, co-written by Sean Baker, delicately teases out its characters’ intersecting ambitions and intertwined fates. Read @marshallshaffer.bsky.social's review.
'Left-Handed Girl' Review: An Intimately Detailed Melodrama
Shih-Ching Tsou's 'The Left-Handed Girl' delicately teases out its characters' intersecting ambitions and intertwined fates.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Shih-Ching Tsou’s LEFT-HANDED GIRL, co-written by Sean Baker, delicately teases out its characters’ intersecting ambitions and intertwined fates. Read @marshallshaffer.bsky.social's review.
For @deciderdotcom.bsky.social, I wrote about the talents of Adam Brody, the long shadow of Seth Cohen, and how actors can still be great when locating variations and shadings within their most familiar archetype: decider.com/2025/11/11/a...
Proud of this piece, give it a read!
Proud of this piece, give it a read!
November 12, 2025 at 3:37 PM
For @deciderdotcom.bsky.social, I wrote about the talents of Adam Brody, the long shadow of Seth Cohen, and how actors can still be great when locating variations and shadings within their most familiar archetype: decider.com/2025/11/11/a...
Proud of this piece, give it a read!
Proud of this piece, give it a read!
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
JAY KELLY represents the moment when Baumbach has gone fully soft. Read @marshallshaffer.bsky.social's review. tinyurl.com/4xwc36rf
November 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
JAY KELLY represents the moment when Baumbach has gone fully soft. Read @marshallshaffer.bsky.social's review. tinyurl.com/4xwc36rf
Happy SIRÂT qualifying week! NYC and LA, don't miss this brief window starting Friday to see THE theatrical moviegoing experience of the year. Great to dig into this film, body and soul, with director Óliver Laxe and actor Sergi López for @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/oliver-...
Oliver Laxe and Sergi López on 'Sirât' and the Memory of the Body
Laxe and López discuss trance, religious pilgrimage, and what each of them took away from grappling with the imminence of death.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Happy SIRÂT qualifying week! NYC and LA, don't miss this brief window starting Friday to see THE theatrical moviegoing experience of the year. Great to dig into this film, body and soul, with director Óliver Laxe and actor Sergi López for @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/oliver-...
Dear fellow journalists,
If you are in a roundtable interview setting with talent who has limited time, please do not eat up the clock by rambling about how you like them/the film. Get to your question.
Concision, concision, concision.
If you are in a roundtable interview setting with talent who has limited time, please do not eat up the clock by rambling about how you like them/the film. Get to your question.
Concision, concision, concision.
November 9, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Dear fellow journalists,
If you are in a roundtable interview setting with talent who has limited time, please do not eat up the clock by rambling about how you like them/the film. Get to your question.
Concision, concision, concision.
If you are in a roundtable interview setting with talent who has limited time, please do not eat up the clock by rambling about how you like them/the film. Get to your question.
Concision, concision, concision.
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
November 7, 2025 at 9:36 PM
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
Thrilled to write even more about BUGONIA, this time over at @lwlies.com where I look at the film as a synthesis of the various strains of Stanley Kubrick running through the work of Yorgos Lanthimos. (Many thnaks to @daveyjenkins.bsky.social for helping focus the idea!) lwlies.com/this-just-in...
Yorgos Lanthimos, Bugonia, and the Long Shadow of Stanley Kubrick
Kubrickian echoes reverberate throughout the Greek filmmaker's oeuvre. With Bugonia, those connections are shaped into a singular package that transcends…
lwlies.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Thrilled to write even more about BUGONIA, this time over at @lwlies.com where I look at the film as a synthesis of the various strains of Stanley Kubrick running through the work of Yorgos Lanthimos. (Many thnaks to @daveyjenkins.bsky.social for helping focus the idea!) lwlies.com/this-just-in...
In a somewhat meta twist, it was me asking the questions of Linda Rosenkrantz - and the filmmaker, Ira Sachs, who brought her text PETER HUJAR'S DAY to life - earlier this week. See this unique portrait of affection and artistry starting Friday 11/7! www.slantmagazine.com/film/ira-sac...
Ira Sachs and Linda Rosenkrantz on 'Peter Hujar's Day'
Ira Sachs and Linda Rosenkrantz, who's played in the film by Rebecca Hall, discuss whether Hujar would enjoy the spotlight the film shines on him.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:27 PM
In a somewhat meta twist, it was me asking the questions of Linda Rosenkrantz - and the filmmaker, Ira Sachs, who brought her text PETER HUJAR'S DAY to life - earlier this week. See this unique portrait of affection and artistry starting Friday 11/7! www.slantmagazine.com/film/ira-sac...
*LAST DANCE by Donna Summer intensifies*
A decade after making Sundance the first festival I truly covered for an outlet (RIP Movie Mezzanine), I’m looking forward to being at the final Park City edition next January!
A decade after making Sundance the first festival I truly covered for an outlet (RIP Movie Mezzanine), I’m looking forward to being at the final Park City edition next January!
November 5, 2025 at 4:49 PM
*LAST DANCE by Donna Summer intensifies*
A decade after making Sundance the first festival I truly covered for an outlet (RIP Movie Mezzanine), I’m looking forward to being at the final Park City edition next January!
A decade after making Sundance the first festival I truly covered for an outlet (RIP Movie Mezzanine), I’m looking forward to being at the final Park City edition next January!
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
Zohran has a big road ahead of him with many obstacles, but this old video suggests he may have already faced down folks like the NYC Movie Guru and Scott 'Movie' Mantz!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_6...
Zohran Mamdani of Queen of Katwe on Kaya FM
YouTube video by Kaya 959
www.youtube.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Zohran has a big road ahead of him with many obstacles, but this old video suggests he may have already faced down folks like the NYC Movie Guru and Scott 'Movie' Mantz!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_6...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u_6...
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
Turns out the Koch-Cuomo parallels that @jasondashbailey.com highlighted in our conversation this summer got EVEN stronger. Happy Mamdani mayoralty, New York City! marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/fun-city-v...
Fun City vs. Fear City
Digging into the New York movie with Jason Bailey
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:37 AM
Turns out the Koch-Cuomo parallels that @jasondashbailey.com highlighted in our conversation this summer got EVEN stronger. Happy Mamdani mayoralty, New York City! marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/fun-city-v...
Reposted by Marshall Shaffer
The scrappiness that animates Sydney Sweeney as an actor finds natural expression through Christy Martin. Read @marshallshaffer.bsky.social on David Michôd’s CHRISTY.
'Christy' Review: Sydney Sweeney's Defining Star Text
'Christy' lulls us into complacency by deviating little from the standard inspirational sports-movie playbook.
www.slantmagazine.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM
The scrappiness that animates Sydney Sweeney as an actor finds natural expression through Christy Martin. Read @marshallshaffer.bsky.social on David Michôd’s CHRISTY.
For anyone doing the Criterion flash sale today, allow me to point you in the direction of my Substack's masterpiece: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/cooking-an...
Cooking and Criterions
A flash sale special
marshallandthemovies.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
For anyone doing the Criterion flash sale today, allow me to point you in the direction of my Substack's masterpiece: marshallandthemovies.substack.com/p/cooking-an...
Unsurprisingly, I adored DIE MY LOVE. No one commits to their visions of image and montage like Lynne Ramsay, and she's found one hell of a partner in Jennifer Lawrence. (Robert Pattinson, too, is a dynamite force in his own right.)
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/die-my-...
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/die-my-...
'Die My Love' Review: An Expressionistic Portrait of a Mental Breakdown
To dismantle the mythologies of maternity, Lynne Ramsay's tool of choice is the sledgehammer rather than the scalpel.
www.slantmagazine.com
October 19, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Unsurprisingly, I adored DIE MY LOVE. No one commits to their visions of image and montage like Lynne Ramsay, and she's found one hell of a partner in Jennifer Lawrence. (Robert Pattinson, too, is a dynamite force in his own right.)
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/die-my-...
For @slantmagazine.com: www.slantmagazine.com/film/die-my-...
Proud of this piece!
“With two decades of distance from ‘Elizabethtown,’ it’s now pretty clear Orlando Bloom is the key element holding the film back,” @marshallshaffer.bsky.social writes. “He’s a vacuum of charisma.”
crookedmarquee.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Proud of this piece!