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Amy Nicholson

@theamynicholson.bsky.social
51K followers 629 following 664 posts

Film critic of the LA Times and host of the podcast Unspooled. Say hello with your favorite movie and why -- or a picture of a standard poodle. IG/Letterboxd: @theamynicholson

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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 2h
The movie’s problems go beyond arriving simultaneously too slowly and too soon for Zuckerberg’s endgame, where his emptying social media empire has him gambling his fortunes (and ours) on AI. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: Aaron Sorkin's 'The Social Reckoning' is engineered to be a slog
Jeremy Strong's Mark Zuckerberg is sidelined and stiff in a follow-up to 'The Social Network' that focuses on the foul Facebook choices we already know.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
🙏🙏🙏🙏 www.latimes.com/food/story/2...
latimes.com
Souplantation will return to Orange County in 2027. 'There is a god'
The buffet chain with a cult following will return to Orange County after nearly seven years of closure. More locations could follow.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Spooky season starts *now* talking HEREDITARY with A24 scholar @davidehrlich.bsky.social on a special episode of Unspooled
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Chris Rock’s compelling tragicomedy opens with a montage of LA that’s as intimate as an X-ray of a tumor. The city is sick, but we’re seeing it through the lens of someone who respects it anyway. It's JACKIE BROWN-lite, but like Tarantino, he anoints a great star www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: A star falls in Chris Rock's 'Misty Green' — but the movie itself launches one
Rock's brutally honest Hollywood dramedy is a 'Jackie Brown'-style showcase for its ferocious lead Rosalind Eleazar as a down-and-out Emmy winner hounded by bad habits.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Justice for DIGGER. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Tom Cruise is the best movie star of his generation — so why can't he win an Oscar?
"Digger" is Tom Cruise's greatest role in decades. Now that it's flopped, will academy voters just see him as Slim Pickens riding the bomb that buried Warner Bros.?
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Tom Cruise has dangled from cliffs, skyscrapers and planes, but oil magnate Digger Rockwell is his riskiest role in eons. He opens DIGGER lounging in a bed soaked with cat pee, tempting an elderly feline named Maggie to lick wet chow from his gnarled pinkie nail. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: Tom Cruise destroys Earth in 'Digger,' a messy climate satire that occasionally strikes gold
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu teams up with a prosthetics-swaddled Cruise for a bleak comedy about a Texan oil driller who triggers the end of the world.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It's all happening. Uncool people getting to talk ALMOST FAMOUS. Ok, ok @sepinwall.bsky.social is part of the uncool in the coolest way
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Shot in grainy pixels and fuzzy pastels with a full-tilt Pattinson lurching around, face powdered to look like WEAPONS' Aunt Gladys, PRIMETIME is TO CATCH A PREDATOR through a fun house mirror — or maybe a mirror in the carnival’s port-a-potty behind the fun house www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: Even the film grain feels filthy in Robert Pattinson's skin-crawling 'Primetime'
Everyone's a creep in Lance Oppenheim's nightmarish take on NBC's pedophile-hunting 'To Catch a Predator.' The film’s a mess but you can't look away.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
😻😻😻
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Peter Farrelly has a fighting chance of getting nominated for an Oscar again. And you've gotta see Julianne Moore play the worst actress in New Jersey. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Underdogs are a film festival's best friend — especially when it's Toronto
Stories about actors risking life and limb to succeed became the thematic rallying call at this year's TIFF. Some of them may be rewarded during awards season.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
You should! We befriended each other on Facebook back in the day -- a fellow Gemini
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
(I own it too!)
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Reposted by Amy Nicholson
Will Harris @willharrisinva.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Extremely recommended: this week's episode of UNSPOOLED, in which @theamynicholson.bsky.social and past Letting Them Talk guest @julieklausner.bsky.social discuss one of my all-time favorite bizarro flicks, BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS...and, yes, of *course* I own the Criterion edition Blu-ray!
podcasts.apple.com
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (with Julie Klausner)
Podcast Episode · Unspooled · September 17 · 1h 20m
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is Unspooled's special guest episode with Julie Klausner and it freaks me out!
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
😭🤩😭🤩😭🤩😭🤩
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
So far at TIFF, I've liked a taxidermy tragi-musical, a '60s Detroit soul scene thriller, a microbudget time travel romance, a period piece kinda about The Onion, and Jay Baruchel as a stunt driver who yells at Evel Knievel that "Canadians are God’s chosen people." www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
At Toronto, hunting for the next 'Obsession' on the banks of Lake Whatever
Fewer big Hollywood movies seem to have been invited to the film festival this year, but there are still interesting and ambitious indies worth toasting.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
IF I GO WILL THEY MISS ME is part of that burgeoning school that’s neither neo-realist nor magical-realist, but passionate-realist — finding wonder where others see only poverty and despair. (See also Sean Baker’s THE FLORIDA PROJECT and RaMell Ross’ NICKEL BOYS.) www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: A gorgeous must-see, the Watts-shot 'If I Go Will They Miss Me' is aglow with fantasy
Journalist-turned-filmmaker Walter Thompson-Hernandez won Sundance with a short that transplanted Greek mythology to Watts. Now it's a lyrical feature.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I love the Lucas Museum as a tour of how to think like a filmmaker. From Egyptian sculptures to samurai helmets, Norman Rockwell to Diego Rivera, his inspirations are everywhere. And upclose, the original Star Wars costumes are so simple, they're inspiring, too. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: What can a 'Star Wars' fan expect at the Lucas Museum? Vehicles, costumes and maybe some inspiration
'Star Wars' fans will find much to love, including costumes, props--and inspiration--at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Isn't it something!
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This off-kilter rom-com about exes doesn’t judge Dakota Fanning for going out with half of Anchorage. She’s enacting the No. 1 piece of advice I give all my straight, single female pals suffering from go-nowhere serial monogamy: Date a minimum of three men. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: In 'The Sun Never Sets,' dating in Alaska is messy but the views are gorgeous
Former mumblecore auteur Joe Swanberg makes a welcome return in a shaggy, realistic rom-com about jealousy and poor judgment starring Dakota Fanning.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
PROPELLER ONE WAY NIGHT COACH at Hollywood Forever Introduced by John Travolta in a red beret. Perfect Sunday.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Personal favorite ridiculous Unspooledpodcast promo art of @paulscheer.com? Paul de Pointe du Lac is a contender.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Best Tom Cruise performance? Impossible choice. Personal favorite most enjoyable Tom Cruise performance? Don't bite my head off but it's gotta be Lestat.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Ridley Scott's THE DOG STARS is an uncomplicated yarn about a post-apocalyptic survivor man prying open his heart and nudging other hard nuts to do the same. Jacob Elordi's Hig may be the most perfect guy alive -- not that he’s got much competition. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: Familiar to a fault, Ridley Scott's postapocalyptic 'The Dog Stars' finds the genre in need of new tricks
A likable Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin and Guy Pearce star in Ridley Scott's lax adaptation of Peter Heller's poetic pandemic thriller.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
(You should if you can!)
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
“Coyote vs. Acme” speaks volumes without saying a word. Next to the opening Warner Bros. logo, there’s an asterisk that reads, “A wholly owned subsidiary of the Acme Corporation.” As in, the bad guys of the film. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: Fanged and funny, 'Coyote vs. Acme' gives audiences the last — and loudest — laugh
Dave Green's tone-perfect Looney Tunes resurrection combines classic cartoon stars with humans Will Forte and John Cena as combative lawyers in a case against Amazon — er, Acme.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I’ve been wrestling with Jason Statham for a decade and I’m finally conceding defeat. The superb screen star doesn’t respect his own strengths. I used to think I was rooting on his side for better material. MUTINY convinced me that he’s content to be a dull brute. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: All aboard 'Mutiny' for an ocean of carnage and a puddle of originality
Jason Statham's charm is lost at sea in this rote and lazy action-thriller from the director of Gerard Butler's 'Plane' about a bodyguard on a cargo ship.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Ben, my goodness! You've made my day -- and I'm so glad you went to check out IT ENDS for yourself!
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Fair enough! I'll definitely be keeping up with them myself.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
It is!
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
🤜💥🤛 Truly!
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
IT ENDS, a microbudget marvel by 20-something writer-director Alexander Ullom, has a straightforward premise that expands in your imagination. This has been a phenomenal year for discovering fresh talent. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: Inventive and inspiring, 'It Ends' brings 'Backrooms' into the backwoods
It's been a standout summer for young directors and fresh ensembles. Make way for Alexander Ullom’s otherworldly debut about the longest roadtrip ever.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
🥂🥂🥂🥂
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
We'll pour out a Papa John's for you!
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
To fellow fans of Ben Stiller's THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY: You are not alone. It flopped. But it's now #134 on the Letterboxd films with the most fans. Join us on 8/25 at the Los Feliz 3 for the big screen celebration it deserved. www.americancinematheque.com/now-showing/...
americancinematheque.com
Unspooled Presents THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY - American Cinematheque
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
“The Wrong Girls” is the right comedy if you want to unplug your brain and laugh. The jokes are as tailored to Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat as Chanel couture, be they zany schemes, spacey freak-outs or a sly middle finger flashed with 818-tatted knuckles www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: 'The Wrong Girls' is the summer's most gloriously stupid stoner comedy
The slacker comedy stars Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat as baked roommates in trouble. Directed by Dylan Meyer, it doesn't blaze new trails — but who cares?
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
A suburb blips into the Cretaceous period and the movie theater teleports four decades to 1982. If only this type of four-quadrant filmmaking didn’t have to cosplay as a begotten relic — if it could take courage from these dinosaurs and thrive in our modern times. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: Wife finds a way in the Spielberg-poached dino-mayhem of 'The End of Oak Street'
Indie auteur David Robert Mitchell of "It Follows" drops his own signature for an ’80s-style family adventure, zapping dinosaurs into a idyllic suburb.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
(Minions and One Night Only might be a pleasant surprise)
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
(ooooooooh good tip)
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Don't get me started on the extinction of second-run houses with cheap tickets for two-month-old movies
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
(It's fun!)
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
It is a VERY good weekend to see a movie. Heck, it's good enough to go old school and just show up and buy a ticket to whatever's playing next.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
A strange thing about Jane Schoenbrun is that even when I haven’t liked their work, I’ve left the theater certain that I just watched what will be someone else’s favorite film of all time. Now they’ve essentially sliced out their soul and smeared it onscreen. Bravo. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: A bravura slasher with heart and guts, 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma' cuts deep
Horror becomes a doorway to sexual liberation in Jane Schoenbrun's meta-thriller starring Hannah Einbinder and an emboldened Gillian Anderson.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
It's his most normal movie! Ideally, a gateway for folks to discover the others.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
This affectionately sleazy biopic is a portrait of Anthony Bourdain as a snotty 19-year-old Vassar student who doesn’t know an oyster knife from his ego. Miraculously, it’s the most heartwarming comedy of the year. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Review: In 'Tony,' a surly, snobby teenaged Anthony Bourdain learns the recipe for becoming a man
Matt Johnson's funny, biting biopic of the future star chef is stuffed with the teen wastrel's blood and vomit. It still goes down like a smooth treat.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Mentally swapping in Benicio del Toro in THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME as Odysseus and I love it.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Emily, hi! Nice to share the banquet of discourse over here 🥂 I'm so curious what you think of the '90s ODYSSEY with Armand Assante?!
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
In the spirit of Zeus’ law, I’m honored to welcome Emily Wilson to the land of film criticism. As she’s learned, it’s an adventure that sails smack into islands of musky internet trolls and clashes with cinematic and literary titans. I'm here to broker a truce. www.latimes.com/entertainmen...
latimes.com
Yes, Emily Wilson, Odysseus has been changed for the movie. Deal with it
Critical swords are clashing, but there's a way to cut through the debate and really talk about how we review art.
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Appreciate the hello!
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Amy Nicholson @theamynicholson.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
We should definitely put it on our list for a future episode later this year <3
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