Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 19/09/2026I wish I loved RESIDENT EVIL, a horror comedy where the stakes are eaten alive by Cregger's desire to turn everything into a bit 1100
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 08/09/2026the 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 0223
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 31/08/2026people 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. 4261
Reposted by Brendan HodgesBrendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 27/08/2026I 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.com22 Years Later, A Misunderstood Epic Just Got A Huge UpgradeMore than two decades later, it's time to revisit 'Troy.' 1202
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 27/08/2026I 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.com22 Years Later, A Misunderstood Epic Just Got A Huge UpgradeMore than two decades later, it's time to revisit 'Troy.' 1202
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 27/08/2026man really sucks how sick I’m going to be the week of November 19th, 2026 060
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 24/08/2026I 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.comWe Were Warned: On “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” at 35A reappraisal of an action masterpiece on the eve of its re-release. 1419
Reposted by Brendan HodgesRogerEbert.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.comWe Were Warned: On “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” at 35A reappraisal of an action masterpiece on the eve of its re-release. 1255
Reposted by Brendan HodgesCorey Atad @coreyatad.com · 21/08/2026the best piece of positive writing i've read on The Odyssey 1182
Reposted by Brendan HodgesDaniella @daniellamazzio.bsky.social · 20/08/2026Some news :) and in great company! 072
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 20/08/2026big news! very excited to share I’m a new member of the Chicago Film Critics Association 2120
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 17/08/2026this is horrific, the ones you grew up watching almost hurt most. May she rest in peace 1120
Reposted by Brendan HodgesBrendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/08/2026I 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.comThe Odyssey: Songs for the Newly DeadThe futility of nostalgia crashes over The Odyssey like an Aegean tempest, giving way to the lapping cycles of eternal return. 49929
Reposted by Brendan HodgesWilla Harlow Ross @willaharlowross.bsky.social · 15/08/2026Brendan 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.comThe Odyssey: Songs for the Newly DeadThe futility of nostalgia crashes over The Odyssey like an Aegean tempest, giving way to the lapping cycles of eternal return. 2204
Reposted by Brendan HodgesTim Pelan @johnneyred.bsky.social · 15/08/2026A really great piece on the themes of Nolan's The Odyssey: 1136
Reposted by Brendan HodgesBright Wall/Dark Room @brightwalldarkroom.com · 14/08/2026New 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.socialbrightwalldarkroom.comThe Odyssey: Songs for the Newly DeadThe futility of nostalgia crashes over The Odyssey like an Aegean tempest, giving way to the lapping cycles of eternal return. 1268
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/08/2026I 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.comThe Odyssey: Songs for the Newly DeadThe futility of nostalgia crashes over The Odyssey like an Aegean tempest, giving way to the lapping cycles of eternal return. 49929
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/08/2026I really did not like THE END OF OAK STREET 7211
Reposted by Brendan HodgesBrendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 24/07/2026for 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.orgLights in the Sky | Los Angeles Review of BooksConsidering Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ and his magic-of-movies persona. 1308
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 06/08/2026I 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: 2295
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 05/08/2026caught 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! 1150
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 31/07/2026I pretty much loved SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY, the first of these in forever that feels like it was made by human hands 0150
Reposted by Brendan HodgesCorey 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 Lamefilmmaker.substack.comWeaving “The Odyssey”Editor Jennifer Lame’s third collaboration with Christopher Nolan is an epic of emotional immediacy. 35817
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 29/07/2026others 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 3173
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 27/07/2026Wilson 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 5102
Reposted by Brendan HodgesBright Wall/Dark Room @brightwalldarkroom.com · 26/07/2026Almost 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! 07454
Reposted by Brendan HodgesMatt 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." 529579
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 25/07/2026finally 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 4283
Reposted by Brendan HodgesMatt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 25/07/2026Excellent 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.orgLights in the Sky | Los Angeles Review of BooksConsidering Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ and his magic-of-movies persona. 05614
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 24/07/2026for 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.orgLights in the Sky | Los Angeles Review of BooksConsidering Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’ and his magic-of-movies persona. 1308
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 23/07/2026I 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.comRanking 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... 0120
Reposted by Brendan HodgesLos 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… 1103
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 15/07/2026No 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 1230
Reposted by Brendan Hodgeslindsey romain @lindseyromain.bsky.social · 10/07/2026i wrote about disclosure day, steven spielberg, and human compassion as sci-fi for @brightwalldarkroom.combrightwalldarkroom.comThe Speculative Empathy & Radical Hope of Disclosure DayFor 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 919153
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 12/07/2026For 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 3402
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 02/07/2026when you turn on WAGON MASTER only to discover John Ford is a god damn fraud 090
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 28/06/2026watched 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 1131
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 18/06/2026people 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! 1101
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/06/2026not 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 3160
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 14/06/2026I 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 1161
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 13/06/2026I 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.comRanking The Sci-Fi Films Of Steven SpielbergSteven 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... 040
Reposted by Brendan Hodgeslindsey romain @lindseyromain.bsky.social · 12/06/2026i 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. 58612
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 12/06/2026if 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 2428
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 12/06/2026I 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! 2162
Reposted by Brendan HodgesJesse Hawken @jessehawken.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Oh 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 2515
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 05/06/2026happy to see PRESSURE has reached its target audience 0352
Brendan Hodges @brendanhodges.bsky.social · 03/06/2026MASTERS 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. 1120