iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Eric LaRue is sweaty, but I think there's something noble about taking a swing at something so unwieldy. I wrote about it for In Review: inreviewonline.com/2025/04/25/e...

inreviewonline.com

Eric Larue — Michael Shannon [Review] | In Review Online

A new film review of Eric Larue, directed by Michael Shannon & released by Magnolia Pictures, for film review site In Review Online.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

I'm about halfway through a read of Bleeding Edge and my biggest takeaway so far is that it's a tragedy Pynchon never wrote a video game

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

I was blown away by MAD BILLS TO PAY! There's something about the current wave of low-budge filmmaking that recalls New Hollywood, and I think Vargas could be this iteration's Cassavetes. My review for In Review: inreviewonline.com/2025/04/12/m...

inreviewonline.com

Mad Bills to Pay — Joel Alfonso Vargas [ND/NF '25 Review] | In Review Online

A new film review of Mad Bills to Pay, directed by Joel Alfonso Vargas, for film review site In Review Online.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

Very stoked and honored to be among CFCA’s writers to watch this year!

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Secret Mall Apartment is compelling, but it traces the limits of its subject (and its own ambitions) in moves that often feel like accidents. I wrote about it for In Review. inreviewonline.com/2025/03/21/s...

inreviewonline.com

Secret Mall Apartment — Jeremy Workman [Review] | In Review Online

A new film review of Secret Mall Apartment, directed by Jeremy Workman, for film review site In Review Online.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

THE ACTOR has been flying under the radar, but I thought it was profoundly affecting—you can feel Kaufman in the fabric of the work, but this is Duke Johnson's own thing. I wrote about it for In Review Online. inreviewonline.com/2025/03/14/t...

inreviewonline.com

The Actor — Duke Johnson [Review] | In Review Online

A new film review of The Actor, directed by Duke Johnson & released by NEON, for film review site In Review Online.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

This essay was a joy to write, even if it meant watching Disaster Movie

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Tomris Laffly @tomilaffly.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

One of the co-directors of NO OTHER LAND, Hamdan Ballal was beaten by Israeli settlers and seized by Israeli soldiers from the ambulance Ballal called, per co-director Yuval Abraham. No one knows where Ballal is. (Ballal is second from right in the below photo.)

Post by Yuval Abraham, announcing what has been done to Hamdan Ballal.

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Broad Sound @broadsoundmag.com · 24/03/2025

"Entertainment lets us down all the time, but it’s rare to consume something rank enough to break out the soapbox. CinemaScore is there when that need arises." - @christch.bsky.social broadsoundmag.com/2024/07/31/t...

broadsoundmag.com

The Failing Class (Christian Craig)

In the year 2000, a male gynecologist at the end of his rope is sucked into the sky by a tornado; he lands across the border, in Mexico, in the home of a woman giving birth and in need of an OBGYN.…

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Wrote about VIRTUOSITY and Francine Jamison-Tanchuck’s fantastic costuming for @bwdr.bsky.social Big thanks to Frank Falisi and @eccantwell.bsky.social for their edits and to @studioralston.bsky.social for the incredible artwork! www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2025/03/10/s...

brightwalldarkroom.com

Virtuosity's Fashion of a Failed Future

'Virtuosity' may be uneven, but its style is decidedly assured; it quietly endures by the strength of the clothes on its back.

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Broad Sound @broadsoundmag.com · 10/03/2025

There have been essays on... The F cinemascore (by @christch.bsky.social) The Indiana Pacers (by @danklain.bsky.social) Twilight and nostalgia rewatches (by @tashajagger.bsky.social) And a defense of teaching The Catcher in the Rye (by @roninonempty.bsky.social)

The poster for Darren Aronofsky's mother!

Tyrese Haliburton in his Indiana Pacers jersey

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Music Box Theatre @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Rest In Peace, David Lynch🌹

Artwork for DAVID LYNCH: A COMPLETE RETROSPECTIVE at the Music Box

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Haven’t stopped thinking about Red Rooms since watching it a few days ago. Also loved @judysquirrels.bsky.social‘s essay for the blu-ray—speaks so precisely to how the lead’s poker-face draws you in like a whirlpool. “A person can only watch pain for so long before the pain looks back at them.”

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Wrote about some good stuff from this year! (No Kr*sinski). Miranda July, Kim Gordon, Radu Jude, etc etc bloodjump.substack.com/p/blood-jump...

bloodjump.substack.com

Blood Jump #27: Best of the Rest

Covering some good stuff from 2024 we haven't yet featured.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Third-quarter report: This was a great idea. I’m extremely draculapilled. Love the guy, great hang all things considered.

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Bright Wall/Dark Room @brightwalldarkroom.com · 15/12/2024

"Jonathan Demme's SOMETHING WILD differentiates itself with the curiosity it extends toward its characters, toward art, toward America; Lulu is a case study for the care & attention the film applies to its characters and the lives they run toward and from." - @christch.bsky.social

brightwalldarkroom.com

Something Wild (1986): The Other Half of You

Jonathan Demme’s 'Something Wild' is a lot of things—Renoirian screwball, Gen-X Odd Couple, defense for the reggae mixtape—but it’s a road movie first.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Saw A TRAVELER’S NEEDS over the weekend and it’s stuck with me to the point that it’s becoming one of my favorites of the year. I’m enamored by the way Hong Sangsoo approaches parallel structure and ritual, as if they can back their way into a life by their own volition.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

All things Drac are a blindspot for me, so I threw together a lil syllabus for December leading up to Eggers’s new flick. Please let me know what I’m missing!!

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

And with HERE on the brain, @brofromanother.bsky.social's reverse shot review is likely my favorite bit of criticism this year. I'm a bit more in on the movie than he might be, but he writes so eloquently toward its tendency to stick in your teeth. reverseshot.org/reviews/entr...

reverseshot.org

Here

It is the very aridity of its emotional content, parched to desert-of-the-real levels by de-aging effects that render Hanks and Wright (and several of their co-stars) as weirdly artificial and subject...

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

I wrote about THE ROOM NEXT DOOR and HERE, two movies that wrestle with memory and struggle with time passing: bloodjump.substack.com/p/blood-jump...

bloodjump.substack.com

Blood Jump #26: CIFF, pt. 3

Wrapping up coverage of the 2024 Chicago International Film Festival with notes on The Room Next Door and Here.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Watched (a PRISTINE 35mm print of) Phantom of the Paradise at @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social last night; sits comfortably with Brewster McCloud in the Guys Who Look Like That canon.

Phantom of the paradise marquee at music box theatre

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Starting a thread for a few things I've written over the past couple years now that I'm getting my bluesky sea legs :-) Starting off with a piece on Jonathan Demme's SOMETHING WILD, my personal favorite rom com, for rogerebert.com / bright wall/darkroom www.rogerebert.com/features/bri...

rogerebert.com

Bright Wall/Dark Room March 2023: Something Wild: The Other Half of You by Christian Craig | Features | Roger Ebert

An essay by Christian Craig about Jonathan Demme's Something Wild, as excerpted from the latest issue of Bright Wall/Dark Room.

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Bright Wall/Dark Room @brightwalldarkroom.com · 25/11/2024

Since they capped our first one at 150, and many more film people have joined Bluesky the past two weeks, we just created a second Starter Pack for everybody! This one includes illustrators/artists & podcasts too! There’s still a little room in this one, so if you’d like to be added let us know :)

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

I’m sorry but I HAD to record the final scene of wicked

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🏳️‍🌈 Ms. Marya E. Gates 🦩 @oldfilmsflicker.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

I’ve written about 69 Palestinian films directed by women in my newsletter over the last year. This list collects them all with links where you can watch most of them. 🔗 boxd.it/xlziu/detail

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B.C. Wallin @bcwallin.com · 17/11/2024

If you don’t know @ethanwarren.bsky.social’s arts & culture journal, Broad Sound, you should really check it out (I might have a couple essays to go around there). If you don’t know the contributors, you should follow them now go.bsky.app/ThzJeoA

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

The cormac vanity fair piece is like babe.net for guys who have OD’d on bluechew

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

I have an essay in this journal about the 22 movies that got an F from CinemaScore. It’s a WILD canon that pairs Altman, Friedkin, and Campion with Disaster Movie and FearDotCom. Very cool to share a physical book with so many great writers!

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

I wrote about THE BRUTALIST, which for my money stands with TÁR as one of the best American movies of the decade. bloodjump.substack.com/p/blood-jump...

bloodjump.substack.com

Blood Jump #25: CIFF, pt. 2

Coverage of the 2024 Chicago International Film Festival continues with The Brutalist and The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

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Christian Craig @christch.bsky.social · 22/10/2023

Covering a handful of movies from the Chicago International Film Festival on my Substack, Blood Jump. It's free! bloodjump.substack.com/p/blood-jump...

bloodjump.substack.com

Blood Jump #9.1: Chicago International Film Festival pt.1

The Hypnosis. La chimera. The Zone of Interest.

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