Category: The Scoop
Personal essays on movie-related topics.
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‘I Want Your Sex’ Made Me Stop Taking Sex So Goddamn Seriously
Having grown up in a religious household, I’ve spent a lot of time unlearning insecurities around sex and intimacy. Which is why Gregg Araki’s hilariously chaotic new film felt like a zesty forbidden fruit I was enthralled to take a bite of.
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How ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Gave Hope to a New Generation
Released during the MCU’s Golden Age, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man debut blended both a sweet optimism and a loss of innocence that rings true for Gen Z.
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Why ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’ Remains a Treasure
To celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary, I’m raising my sword in honor of the meticulously constructed set pieces, memorable character moments, and masterful atmosphere-setting of Gore Verbinski’s seafaring epic.
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‘Sing Street’ is the High Note of the John Carney Canon
The Irish writer/director’s personal, heartfelt Dublin-set musical dramedy was the beginning of a cinematic journey that led to my conversion to the church of Carney.
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Coming of Age with the ‘Toy Story’ Movies
With the world’s most beloved toys making their return to the big screen in Toy Story 5, I decided to look back on how each Toy Story movie and my relationship to it has changed after all these years.
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‘Lincoln’ is the Better Angel of Biopics
As both an American history lover and a cinephile, I’ve seen so many ways a biopic can go wrong. Steven Spielberg’s 2012 masterpiece Lincoln avoids all of them.
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‘Eight Men Out’ is An All Too Timeless Tale of Sliding Into Catastrophe
John Sayles’ brilliant 1988 baseball film Eight Men Out absolutely aches with bad decisions that seem practical at the time.
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How ‘The Natural’ Brings Me Home
I’m not a sports person, but to me Barry Levinson’s The Natural perfectly encapsulates what baseball is about—and makes me believe that what happens on the diamond is magic.
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This Christmas, Give the Gift of ‘Millions’
Like every good Christmas classic, Danny Boyle’s 2004 film points to the humanity and giving nature this season ought to draw out of us, and reminds me what this season should be about.
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Letting Go of Heartache: 25 Years of ‘In the Mood for Love’
A favorite film feels like something that defines you. In that sense, Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 masterwork is mine because of how it defined part of my identity for much of my adult life.
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‘Yi Yi’ is a Quiet Masterpiece with a Simple Truth
Edward Yang’s 2000 drama is regarded as one of the great works of the last 25 years. How fitting, then, to start the millennium with a film that says everything by seeming to say nothing at all.
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Hear Me Out: ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ Are the Same Movie
Once upon a time in the year 2000, these two fantastic movies came out and accidentally explained 95% of the cis-het male population.
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How ‘Back to the Future’ Changed My Density
When I felt alone and invisible, Back to the Future became my way of accessing the world—and eventually connecting with others.
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I Found Religion in ‘Palm Springs’
The characters in Max Barbakow’s terrific 2020 time-loop comedy Palm Springs confront their existential crisis with denial, anger, and curiosity. As someone who left the religion of my youth, I found that very familiar.
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Farewell to David Lynch, A True North in an Unruly Universe
An ode to the inimitable director who died doing what he loved (ripping cigs) during the first lunar standstill of 2025—compelling testimony that he is, undeniably, connected to the moon.
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Visions of Bob Dylan: The Wide-Open Dream of ‘I’m Not There’
Each style and star in Todd Haynes’ kaleidoscopic 2007 Bob Dylan biopic bears some resemblance to the celebrated musician—or at least the personas Dylan allows us to see.
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Judd Apatow Uses Comedy to Say the Scary Things Out Loud
How one of the most underrated, influential, and Oscar-worthy auteurs of the 21st century helped me bridge my comedy gap.
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‘Children of Men’ Is A Miracle
Considering the state of the world, Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian masterpiece Children of Men remains uniquely and painfully resonant.