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Brendan Hodges

@brendanhodges.bsky.social
5.9K followers 351 following 756 posts

Writer: @LAReviewofBooks @BWDR @Ebertvoices @inversedotcom @InReviewOnline @Polygon @Vaguevisages, @NextBestPicture, I'm prone to ramble about aspect ratios at parties. Writing: brendanhodges.contently.com Inquiries: brendan.hodges815@gmail.com

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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I wish I loved RESIDENT EVIL, a horror comedy where the stakes are eaten alive by Cregger's desire to turn everything into a bit
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
the thing about Shyamalan is that he's one of the few major filmmakers who consistently composes for the full frame, can't wait for this
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
people are mad LANTERNS did the "flashback episode" thing when Lindelof popularized it with LOST, THE LEFTOVERS and WATCHMEN. Terrific episode, especially as it deepened the central rift: Hal is a loose canon, but John's "fearless" rule-following might make him easy to control.
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I had a blast writing about TROY for @inverse.com, and how Wolfgang Petersen's gloriously Hollywoodized adaptation of The Iliad is darker, richer and better than its reputation suggests: www.inverse.com/entertainmen...
inverse.com
22 Years Later, A Misunderstood Epic Just Got A Huge Upgrade
More than two decades later, it's time to revisit 'Troy.'
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I had a blast writing about TROY for @inverse.com, and how Wolfgang Petersen's gloriously Hollywoodized adaptation of The Iliad is darker, richer and better than its reputation suggests: www.inverse.com/entertainmen...
inverse.com
22 Years Later, A Misunderstood Epic Just Got A Huge Upgrade
More than two decades later, it's time to revisit 'Troy.'
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
man really sucks how sick I’m going to be the week of November 19th, 2026
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I wrote about the 35-year legacy of TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY for @ebertvoices.bsky.social, a cautionary masterpiece where Cameron's iconic "NO FATE" has become a bitter warning against an A.I. revolution that risks making us all less human: www.rogerebert.com/features/we-...
rogerebert.com
We Were Warned: On “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” at 35
A reappraisal of an action masterpiece on the eve of its re-release.
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RogerEbert.com @ebertvoices.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
“The most powerful legacy [of the film] is to fight the fatalism of tomorrow, and to remember its refrain, 'no fate.'" @brendanhodges.bsky.social offers a reappraisal of TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY on the eve of its re-release:
rogerebert.com
We Were Warned: On “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” at 35
A reappraisal of an action masterpiece on the eve of its re-release.
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Corey Atad @coreyatad.com · 21/08/2026
the best piece of positive writing i've read on The Odyssey
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Daniella @daniellamazzio.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Some news :) and in great company!
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
big news! very excited to share I’m a new member of the Chicago Film Critics Association
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
this is horrific, the ones you grew up watching almost hurt most. May she rest in peace
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
LANTERNS fucking rules
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I went long on THE ODYSSEY for @brightwalldarkroom.com, writing how Nolan's genocidal epic makes us complicit in an apocalypse of eternal return. Very proud of this one: www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2026/08/14/s...
brightwalldarkroom.com
The Odyssey: Songs for the Newly Dead
The futility of nostalgia crashes over The Odyssey like an Aegean tempest, giving way to the lapping cycles of eternal return.
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Willa Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Brendan is extraordinary at digging into artists's inspirations and intentions, an ability superbly expressed in this piece, which in part argues that the grief-ridden apocalypticism of THE ODYSSEY forms a coherent thematic trilogy with OPPENHEIMER + TENET. www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2026/08/14/s...
brightwalldarkroom.com
The Odyssey: Songs for the Newly Dead
The futility of nostalgia crashes over The Odyssey like an Aegean tempest, giving way to the lapping cycles of eternal return.
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Tim Pelan @johnneyred.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
A really great piece on the themes of Nolan's The Odyssey:
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Bright Wall/Dark Room @brightwalldarkroom.com · 14/08/2026
New today on the site: “With Zeus's Law under threat, THE ODYSSEY completes Christopher Nolan’s run of films about the end of the world, with each reflecting the way that each generation—perhaps his own most of all—has doomed our future.” - @brendanhodges.bsky.social
brightwalldarkroom.com
The Odyssey: Songs for the Newly Dead
The futility of nostalgia crashes over The Odyssey like an Aegean tempest, giving way to the lapping cycles of eternal return.
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I went long on THE ODYSSEY for @brightwalldarkroom.com, writing how Nolan's genocidal epic makes us complicit in an apocalypse of eternal return. Very proud of this one: www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2026/08/14/s...
brightwalldarkroom.com
The Odyssey: Songs for the Newly Dead
The futility of nostalgia crashes over The Odyssey like an Aegean tempest, giving way to the lapping cycles of eternal return.
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I really did not like THE END OF OAK STREET
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
for my debut piece @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, I wrote about how Spielberg's DISCLOSURE DAY isn't a naive paean to journalism or even the classic alien, but a cinematic prompt by a conflicted filmmaker praying empathy, hope and the image to regain their power: lareviewofbooks.org/article/disc...
lareviewofbooks.org
Lights in the Sky | Los Angeles Review of Books
Considering Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ and his magic-of-movies persona.
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
no surprise I loved this
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I loved RETRIBUTION, Kurosawa's supernatural thriller where the post-war urbanization of Japan manifests as a ghostyard of liminal landfills and inevitable violence. one of his best and saddest movies. the composition is especially incredible:
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
caught up with THE DRAMA, a movie less about the big incendiary political "topic" than the sad way we can only ever love the fictive, imaginary version of our partners in our minds, and the narratives around them. it doesn't do all it can with those tricky ideas, but I liked it!
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I pretty much loved SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY, the first of these in forever that feels like it was made by human hands
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Corey Atad @coreyatad.com · 28/07/2026
"A film effectively unstuck in time, in which all events occur simultaneously, gaining shape in a storytelling style akin to recollected memory." for @filmmakermagazine.com, i wrote about Christopher Nolan's editing style and his collaboration with editor Jennifer Lame
filmmaker.substack.com
Weaving “The Odyssey”
Editor Jennifer Lame’s third collaboration with Christopher Nolan is an epic of emotional immediacy.
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
others have said it but the way this is clearly influenced by TENET is making me lost my mind. so incredibly happy to have Bradford Young back. it looks so slick
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Wilson gave a (brilliant) lecture where she nearly called the host misogynistic for calling her "the first woman who translated...." since it genders her work, even if meant in a progressive and laudatory way. Fair, but maybe harsh to say in that context! similar energy here lol
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Bright Wall/Dark Room @brightwalldarkroom.com · 26/07/2026
Almost a year later, we've been able to make up over half of this loss — thanks *entirely* to new subscriptions 🙏— but we still need some help to make up the rest. All it takes to support BWDR is a $29 annual subscription, and in exchange you get full access to everything we've published since 2013!
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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
"Positioning a trans actor as the moral voice of reason, an unwavering advocate for Zeus’s law, and a man whose ultimate betrayal symbolizes the destruction of civilized Greek society for the sake of the 'victory' at Troy, is especially pertinent to where we are currently."
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
finally watched THE SHEEP DETECTIVES and what do you mean it's a TWILIGHT ZONE-esque cottagenoir about a community of sheep that keeps wiping their collective memory of all emotional pain, showing the danger of living a life of personal and cultural ignorance
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Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Excellent piece on the Steven Spielberg approach, which is to smuggle complexities and unanswerable questions into the middle of pop confections. By @brendanhodges.bsky.social. And thanks for linking to our Steven Spielberg video series from so long ago. lareviewofbooks.org/article/disc...
lareviewofbooks.org
Lights in the Sky | Los Angeles Review of Books
Considering Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ and his magic-of-movies persona.
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
for my debut piece @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, I wrote about how Spielberg's DISCLOSURE DAY isn't a naive paean to journalism or even the classic alien, but a cinematic prompt by a conflicted filmmaker praying empathy, hope and the image to regain their power: lareviewofbooks.org/article/disc...
lareviewofbooks.org
Lights in the Sky | Los Angeles Review of Books
Considering Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ and his magic-of-movies persona.
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I ranked every Chris Nolan movie for @nextbestpicture.bsky.social. Yes, TENET is very high. Yes, I love THE DARK KNIGHT RISES. THE ODYSSEY will probably move up with time. Shamelessly, I pretty much love them all: nextbestpicture.com/ranking-chri...
nextbestpicture.com
Ranking Christopher Nolan's Filmography Following "The Odyssey"
After thirteen films, writer and director Christopher Nolan has become the prolific director of our time. It’s extraordinary to think he’s long escaped the bat-shaped shadow of his “The Dark Knight” T...
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Los Angeles Review of Books @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"People have called the ending ridiculous, beautiful, stupid, amazing, emotional, cheesy, naive, too far and not far enough. They’re all right." @brendanhodges.bsky.social on "Disclosure Day": lareviewofbooks.org/article/disclos…
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
No surprise I loved THE ODYSSEY, an apocalyptic epic obsessed with societal collapse and the cost of violence; dreamily elusive and crowd-pleasing at once, Nolan blends the poetry of Homer with a moral reckoning entirely his own. Flawed but deeply emotional, a major achievement
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lindsey romain @lindseyromain.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
i wrote about disclosure day, steven spielberg, and human compassion as sci-fi for @brightwalldarkroom.com
brightwalldarkroom.com
The Speculative Empathy & Radical Hope of Disclosure Day
For most of Spielberg’s career, science fiction has been the mechanism through which he learns and teaches empathy. But in Disclosure Day, empathy itself is the speculative leap
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
For me, DUNKIRK is still Nolan’s best and most total film — it’s as mythically heroic as THE DARK KNIGHT, as dreamy as INCEPTION, as morally uneasy as MEMENTO, and as much a Borgesian labyrinth as INTERSTELLAR. Every shot a perfect study of movement and behavior. A masterpiece
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
when you turn on WAGON MASTER only to discover John Ford is a god damn fraud
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
watched Anthony Mann's RAW DEAL expecting a nifty little noir before he became a god of westerns, only to get a wilderness crime caper full of some of the most stunning deep focused Wellesian compositions i've ever seen
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
people keep saying how good the visuals looks but it's obvious they just spiked the contrast with some warm tones after the backlash. it's overcooked to the point there's tons of crushed shadows so you can barely see Holland's eyes at times. it's better but still doesn't look great imo!
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
my favorites of the decade so far:
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
not to question the marketing of DISCLOSURE DAY when it opened higher than expected, but in retrospect it was a bad choice to center the wonky CGI animals and little girl so much –– and drawing intense scrutiny all over –– when those are pretty small parts of the movie
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
I loved THE FURIOUS, a walloping greek tragedy of a martial arts movie with each fight is propelled by a character's passions. some of the wildest hits, kicks and throws in years, with a tilting wide-lensed camera that lets you follow every hit. I have no idea how they made this
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
I ranked Spielberg's sci-fi movies for @nextbestpicture.bsky.social, writing about how many of them –– CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, E.T., and yes even READY PLAYER ONE –– are allegories for Spielberg himself nextbestpicture.com/ranking-the-...
nextbestpicture.com
Ranking The Sci-Fi Films Of Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is a genre unto himself. It’s to the point it’s easy to forget he’s one of the great masters of science fiction on film, having redefined the genre multiple times over his half-centur...
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lindsey romain @lindseyromain.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
i will simply never understand when people talk about spielberg like he’s held back by sentimentalism. i would argue he’s one of our most repeatedly cynical directors.
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
if THE FABELMANS is Spielberg processing the traumas of his childhood and the way art shapes our lives, then DISCLOSURE DAY is about Spielberg processing the autobiographical turmoil of making THE FABELMANS
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I never do this, but editors please let me write about the ending of DISCLOSURE DAY and what it says about the film, Spielberg, and his career as a whole. very eager!
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Jesse Hawken @jessehawken.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Oh my god just realized this moment from SECRET AGENT was a callback to the lovely silent father/son scene from JAWS… the levels to this
Fernando and Armando driving home in The Secret Agent
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
happy to see PRESSURE has reached its target audience
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Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE is a fascinating object, a celebration of 80s fantasy camp that also wants to be BARBIE for boys; it constantly questions how to "be a man," yet mostly resorts to talk about "having feelings" and "talking things out" that never impact story or character.
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