Ask Not What Your Robot Can Do for You, but What You Can Do for Your RobotJerrine Tan visits a LOVOT robotics lab and is unexpectedly enchanted....JERRINE TANNONFICTIONFILMSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Work and the New Wave: On My Capricious Summer with Jiří MenzelEmily Tamkin documents her Jiří Menzel binge and explains how and why his films hold up so well today....EMILY TAMKINFILMGENDER & SEXUALITY
The Quarterback at Twilight: On Matthew Barney’s “Secondary”Samuel Fury Childs Daly reviews artist Matthew Barney’s new film “Secondary.”...SAMUEL FURY CHILDS DALYSPORTSFILMART & ARCHITECTURE
An Excuse to Make Noise: On Todd Decker’s “Astaire by Numbers” and Matthew Frye Jacobson’s “Dancing Down the Barricades”Brynn Shiovitz reviews two new books on screen dance, Todd Decker’s “Astaire by Numbers: Time & the Straight White Male Dancer” and Matthew Frye Jacobson’s “Dancing Down the Barricades: Sammy Davis Jr. and the Long Civil Rights Era.”...BRYNN SHIOVITZFILMGENDER & SEXUALITY
What Drove Popeye to the Picket Line: The Story of “Fleischer’s Animated News”“Fleischer’s Animated News,” an animation industry comic from the 1930s, satirized working conditions similar to those motivating the Hollywood strikes today, as Paul Morton discusses....PAUL MORTONFILMCOMICS
dude I’m not dead!!! On Alissa Bennett’s “Taxidermist’s Handbook”Ariella Garmaise reviews Alissa Bennett’s compilation of celebrity-themed zines, collectively titled “Taxidermist’s Handbook.”...ARIELLA GARMAISETELEVISIONFILMMUSICGENDER & SEXUALITY
You Can Always Get What You Want: On “The Big Chill” and American PoliticsHenry M. J. Tonks explains how Lawrence Kasdan’s “The Big Chill” gets generational politics all wrong—and why we still need to watch it....HENRY M. J. TONKSECONOMICS AND FINANCETELEVISIONFILMGENDER & SEXUALITY
How to Destroy a Creative Industry (And How to Save It)Alessandro Camon discusses the WGA/SAG strike as a turning point for Hollywood....ALESSANDRO CAMONECONOMICS AND FINANCEFILMPOLITICS
Still Meets Moving Image: The 54th Annual Les Rencontres d’Arles Photography Festival [VIDEO]Michael Kurcfeld reviews the 54th annual Les Rencontres d’Arles festival....MICHAEL KURCFELD
Fact, Fiction, and the Father of the Bomb: On Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”Alex Wellerstein assesses the depiction of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film....ALEX WELLERSTEINFILMSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYHISTORY
Quietly Dangerous: A Conversation Between Aura Rosenberg and Veronica Gonzalez PeñaVeronica Gonzalez Peña and Aura Rosenberg have a conversation about their forthcoming film....VERONICA GONZALEZ PEÑAFILMART & ARCHITECTURE
Mobsters, Union Leaders, and Studio Moguls: The Infamous 1945–46 Warner Brothers StrikesIn an excerpt from his forthcoming book “The Warner Brothers,” Chris Yogerst elucidates the history of the big Hollywood strikes of the 1940s....CHRIS YOGERSTFILMHISTORY
Feeling Like a Barbie: On Greta Gerwig and Chantal AkermanLori Marso explores feeling plastic in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and the works of Chantal Akerman....LORI MARSOFILMGENDER & SEXUALITY
When Mise-En-Scène Is Metaphor: On Celine Song’s “Past Lives”Asher Luberto examines Celine Song’s new film “Past Lives.”...ASHER LUBERTOFILMART & ARCHITECTURE
Art, Accidents, and Sex On-screen: A Conversation with Christian PetzoldEileen G’Sell interviews German art film director Christian Petzold about his latest, “Afire.”...EILEEN G’SELLFILM
Buried in the Sand: On John Sturges’s “Bad Day at Black Rock” and Japanese AmericaJonathan van Harmelen offers a historical account of the undersung, at times controversial, anti-racist western, John Sturges’s “Bad Day at Black Rock.”...JONATHAN VAN HARMELENFILMHISTORY
Deep Is the Well: On Mark Jenkin’s “Enys Men” and a Cinema of AbsenceThomas M. Puhr discusses absence in cinema, specifically art horror, through a philosophical lens and Mark Jenkin’s film “Enys Men.”...THOMAS M. PUHRFILM
There’s Always Tomorrow: On Ursula Parrott and Marsha Gordon’s “Becoming the Ex-Wife”Adam Sobsey reviews Marsha Gordon’s “Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life & Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott,” a biography of the writer and celebrity....ADAM SOBSEYFILMHISTORYGENDER & SEXUALITY
On “Mission: Impossible” and Unaccountable GovernmentWith its seventh installment looming, Pat Cassels details the way the “Mission: Impossible” franchise became an unlikely chronicler of American intelligence sprawl....PAT CASSELSFILMPOLITICS
In the Mouth of Sadness: On the Erotic BummerSean T. Collins and Julia Gfrörer lay out the generic terms of the erotic thriller’s morose relation, the erotic bummer....JULIA GFRÖRER, SEAN T. COLLINSTELEVISIONFILMGENDER & SEXUALITY
Contraction: When Hollywood Gets SmallerJ. D. Connor writes about the writers’ demands in the WGA strike in Hollywood, and about how movies about contracts relate to a downturn in production. Are we entering an era of contraction?...J. D. CONNORECONOMICS AND FINANCEFILM
Pier Paolo the Anti-Fascist: On Criterion’s “Pasolini 101” CollectionConor Williams reviews “Pasolini 101,” the new Criterion Collection box set on Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini....CONOR WILLIAMSFILM
Out from the Shadow of the Vampire: On Chris McKay’s “Renfield”Olivia Rutigliano follows the figure of Renfield from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel ‘Dracula’ through various adaptations, culminating in Chris McKay’s 2023 film “Renfield.”...OLIVIA RUTIGLIANOFILMSF