Sticks and Stones and "Webster's BItch"

Fabiolla Da Silva plays an underappreciated lexicographer.

I'm not here to, um, gripe about the fact the Paper of Record kept my repetitions of the contested word in my review of Keegan’s Webster's BItch to a mere half-dozen. Intriguing play about the protean nature of language, managerial gaslighting, and the versatility of the b-word.

Monsters Ball: "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," reviewed.

Kong is the more expressive of the two stars of Godzilla x Kong, despite being second-billed.

“So Godzilla x Kong does the reluctant-allies thing for the second time in two movies, and it can’t quite hide that, despite their palpable love-hate chemistry on-screen, G and K probably don’t get along any better in real life than Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.

Reviewed for the Washington City Paper.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Road House"

Look at what you can learn to do from watching Road House. (Laura Radford)

This week, I interviewed Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur “Genius” grantee playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and chopped up the new Doug Liman-directed, Gyllenhaal-headlined Road House with pals Linda Holmes and Aisha Harris. Like itinerant philosophy grad Dalton from Road House ‘89 , I contain multitudes. Or at least severalitudes.

Humping Iron: "Love Lies Bleeding," reviewed.

Katy O’Brian and Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding (A24).

Writer-director Rose Glass’ sophomore feature is the lurid, horny hybrid of Blood Simple, Thelma & Louise, Bound, and Pumping Iron you didn’t know you needed. Reviewed for WCP.

The Gull-Man Cometh

Comedian Gary Gulman (Deborah Feingold)

I wrote about comedian Gary Gulman, an artist I deeply admire, for the Paper of Record.

The Desert of the Real, in the Real Desert: "Dune Part Two," reviewed.

Timothée Chalamet and Denis Villeneuve on location on Arrakis. (Niko Tavernise)

I feel better about my headline than I do about “the sandworm has turned.” Reviewed for WCP.

"Outlaw Posse" and the Endurance of the Black Western

Melvin Van Peebles’ son can shoot in two directions at once.

For the day job, I wrote about Black westerns on the occasion of Mario Van Peebles’ new one, Outlaw Posse. No relation to his prior western, 1993’s Posse, except for the familial kind.

Signature's "Private Jones," reviewed.

Johnny Link and the company of Private Jones. (Christopher Mueller)

Signature's world-premiere musical Private Jones had me pondering (again) François Truffaut's claim that a war film can't be antiwar. Reviewed for the Washington Post.