Thomas Benton
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Thomas Benton
@thomasbenton.bsky.social
11 followers 22 following 9 posts
Son of machinists. Writer/director/producer: LEATHER CLAD (2025). Founder, Benton + Crew.
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Reposted by Thomas Benton
rxgau.bsky.social
In an early-second-Wednesday month also beset by shitty weather and more than the usual 80-something medical details, none grave, the April Consumer Guide finally pokes its head through the damp, cold earth. robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-g...
Consumer Guide: April, 2025
Flawlessly executed down-and-out Americana tales, a gentler approach to a veteran speed soukous master, Pepto-Bismol and other troths explored, and hilarious noises that may make your eardrums bleed.
robertchristgau.substack.com
April 13, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Thomas Benton
kpsinging.bsky.social
This is such a lovely tribute to Val Kilmer from Hilarie Burton ❤️
hilarieburton The sweetest man. I played @valkilmerofficial 's girlfriend in a movie back in 2009. The script called for us to have a fairly rowdy love scene that got interrupted by a phone call. I'd just come off of OTH where I was always put in some kind of compromising position....so it was just work as usual. But then I got to set the day we were going to be shooting that scene and there was a scramble happening. "Val wants to change the scene." Huh? "It's not interesting," he said. A gratuitous sex scene with a younger woman didn't service the story or the character. It said nothing about the relationship and why either of our characters were in it. Instead, Val sent someone out to a local restaurant to pick up a huge tub of ribs. And so, as the camera panned up from the floor, our moans were those of two people, comfortable and indulgent, tangled up in bed and unfettered by the mess, elbows deep in North Carolina's finest bbq It was infinitely more interesting and I felt so safe and cared for by that man. It would have been easy to phone it in and just go with the stereotypical way women have been seen in film. Rather than the scene playing on my naked back, he turned me toward the camera. He made the scene about us instead of using me as a prop. That one day at work rewired my brain. Val was kind to me. A thoughtful artist. I bought some of his paintings a few years back. I hope every young actor has a Val in their life. That movie was a magical experience. #bloodworth
April 2, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Thomas Benton
requiemarm.bsky.social
RIP to one of the greats
April 2, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Proud to share the teaser for my first feature, LEATHER CLAD, only in theaters this summer.
Leather Clad | Official Trailer | Coming Summer 2025
YouTube video by Benton + Crew
youtu.be
April 1, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Thomas Benton
mangiotto.bsky.social
Guys, I don't think I know much about anything, really, but at least do me the solid of not presuming I can't understand a Jason Statham movie. Jesus.
April 1, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Reposted by Thomas Benton
nitratediva.bsky.social
It's Lawrence Tierney's birthday and, while he was a trainwreck in many ways, he did throw a Nazi sympathizer down the length of a bar on VE Day, so you gotta hand it to him for that.

As recounted by Shelley Winters:
When I got back to the bar, I interrupted a drunken political discussion and asked Mr. Baker why ha had chosen this particular restaurant. He replied, "Food's good here, and I know the owners." Tierney said to him, "I thought you lived in Bishop, California." "I do," Baker replied. "I don't want my children contaminated by the Hollywood Jews and n******." With that I was sober instantly. So was Tierney. But Baker continued, drunk and loud, "You know why this is such a lousy celebration today? We fought on the wrong side. We should have been fighting with the Germans agains the Russians." Lawrence Tierney saidm "And then today you could have had Louis B. Mayer's job, right?" Tierney took one look at my anguished face; then he casually picked up Mr. Baker and threw him down the length of the bar, crashing into all the glasses and beer bottles, just like in a western. Then he grabbed me, and we got out fast, into the parking lot, and got into the car and drove away. (I never entered the restaurant again until it had new owners.)
March 15, 2025 at 5:19 PM
First stills published from my debut feature LEATHER CLAD, coming soon from Benton+Crew:
Leather Clad | Crime
Leather Clad: Directed by Tom Benton. With Jamison Jones, Matt Munroe, Jeff Elam, Anne Clark. An ex-con and a game warden's daughter defend a house in the woods against bloodthirsty rednecks.
m.imdb.com
February 7, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Longing for escape in these turbulent times? Then you might find a friend in Ichiro. But be forewarned: he’s a bit of a weirdo.
Ichiro the Loser
Godzilla's Revenge (1971)
independentjones.substack.com
January 8, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Will be digging for this now…
moviessilently.bsky.social Movies Silently @moviessilently.bsky.social · Dec 14
I believe this is also my opportunity to stump for the equally thrifty but spectacularly well-written and well-acted 1977 BBC Dracula miniseries with Louis Jourdan.
December 14, 2024 at 1:37 PM
Nothing could have knocked this movie down for me, but Chaw saying it’s Miller’s best might be the only thing that could make me MORE excited.
May 22, 2024 at 5:44 PM
I think this is Walter’s most fun piece in a while, not least of all because my soul often left my body watching this and he puts a lotta life back into writing about it.
May 4, 2024 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Thomas Benton
mattzollerseitz.bsky.social
At mzs.press arts bookstore, we're selling the hardcover 1st edition Duras-Godard Dialogues (new, pristine) for $20. That's 36% cheaper than the same book on Amazon. mzs.press/Duras-Godard...
April 29, 2024 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by Thomas Benton
mattzollerseitz.bsky.social
I am intrigued by this new strategy of having writers and people who actually like writing being in charge of publications
bencollins.bsky.social Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · Apr 25
NEWS: My friends and I now own and run The Onion. I’ll be the CEO.

We’re keeping the entire staff, bringing back The Onion News Network, and will share the wealth with staff. Basically, we’re going to let them do whatever they want.

Get excited.
The Onion Is Sold by G/O Media
The satirical news website was bought by a new firm in Chicago that took inspiration for its name, Global Tetrahedron, from a book written by The Onion’s staff.
www.nytimes.com
April 26, 2024 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Thomas Benton
thehighsign.bsky.social
RIP Jeff Mattox, projectionist & programmer at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater, a Pennsylvania institution that has been screening movies continuously since 1949 & since 2014 has become a destination for repertory and cult movies, often in 35mm. Worth a pilgrimage whenever they start their new season.
April 17, 2024 at 7:03 PM
I bumped into Walsh on the street and was more starstruck than I’ve ever been. He lived a town away. I’ll always be haunted that I never got a movie off the ground in time to use him. Beyond that, Walter says it best.
March 30, 2024 at 10:13 PM
Insightful conversation between my favorite working critic and one of my screenwriting inspirations.
mangiotto.bsky.social Walter Chaw @mangiotto.bsky.social · Jan 17
I talked to John Sayles upon the Criterion release of
www.rogerebert.com/interviews/w...
February 11, 2024 at 4:37 PM