FOLLOWING FILMS

Richie Ramone’s memoir, I Know Better Now: My Life Before, During, and After the Ramones (Backbeat Books, 2018), is a punchy, heartfelt chronicle of a life lived onstage, backstage, and far from the spotlight. Known offstage as Richard Reinhardt, Richie is best remembered for his stint as the drummer who helped pull the Ramones out of a creative nosedive in the early 1980s. But what sets this memoir apart from many rock autobiographies is its deep affection for—and vivid recounting of—the years before fame. Far from just a build-up to punk glory, Richie’s childhood and teenage years are rendered with warmth, humor, and sincerity, offering a rare glimpse into the makings of a musician long before the leather jacket and fast beats. The book opens with Richie’s early life in New Jersey, and these sections are among the most compelling. Whether he’s describing his Catholic school upbringing, his early obsessions with drumming, or the highs and lows of playing funk and pop covers in Jerse...

Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag arrives like a breath of fresh, espionage-laced air in a cinematic landscape dominated by superhero showdowns and CGI spectacle. Tense, cerebral, and exquisitely acted, this modern-day spy thriller plays like a classy throwback to an era when intrigue, dialogue, and adult complexities carried more weight than explosions. “They don’t make them like this anymore,” is a sentiment that rings especially true here. Black Bag is proof that you can deliver a gripping, edge-of-your-seat experience not with gunfights and gadgets, but with wine glasses, cold stares, and the eerie quiet of a dinner party where every guest might be a traitor. Michael Fassbender leads the film as George Woodhouse, a composed yet quietly intense British intelligence officer tasked with uncovering the source of a devastating security leak. He has just seven days to unearth the mole—or face the deaths of tens of thousands. The suspects form a claustrophobic circle: his own wife and fell...

Stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze is often celebrated for his deadpan delivery, Southern charm, and clean comedy that somehow makes the mundane feel hilarious. With BIG DUMB EYES , Bargatze trades the stage mic for the printed page, bringing his signature humor to a book that reads like sitting across from your funniest friend at a diner booth, swapping ridiculous stories and offbeat opinions for hours. It’s not a deep book, and it doesn’t try to be. But it is heartfelt, honest, and, most importantly, funny. The premise of BIG DUMB EYES is as disarmingly silly as its title. Bargatze opens with the tale of how he used to be a genius —a self-proclaimed child prodigy dreaming of becoming a brain surgeon or world-class mathematician—until a head injury derailed his academic potential. Whether or not this is true (his family apparently disputes it), the story sets the tone for the rest of the book: tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation, exaggerated yet endearing anecdotes, and a gentle skewering...

Look, I’m going to be honest: I have absolutely no idea what Gabby’s Dollhouse is. I couldn’t tell you the difference between DJ Catnip and CatRat, and if you asked me what the show is about, I’d guess “a dollhouse that comes to life or something?” Which, surprisingly, isn’t far off. What I do know is this: DreamWorks Animation just announced that Gabby’s Dollhouse is going from streaming series to full-blown cinematic experience with Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie. And judging by the press release—and the fact that it’s apparently the Netflix preschool sensation—this is a really big deal. Since its 2021 debut, Gabby’s Dollhouse has been quietly (or not so quietly, if you have kids) dominating screens across the globe. Created by Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey (names I’m assured are very respected in this space), the show blends live action and animation, following a girl named Gabby who shrinks down and enters her dollhouse to hang out with a bunch of whimsical, animated cat ch...

  In one of the most unexpected turns in recent entertainment news, President Donald Trump has proposed a 100% tariff on all films produced outside the United States. In this episode, host Chris Maynard unpacks the potential consequences of this controversial proposal and what it could mean for the future of Hollywood and global filmmaking. Later in the episode, Chris sits down with Sonnet Daymont, a therapist and horror film consultant, to discuss her work on the film THE WOMAN IN THE YARD, her unique approach to trauma recovery, and her upcoming memoir, When Dangerous Feels Like Home.

The Film Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator is a cult horror film that expertly blends grotesque body horror with dark comedy, reviving the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft’s early 20th-century pulp fiction through a gory, neon-tinged 1980s lens. While only loosely adapted from Lovecraft’s serialized short story Herbert West—Reanimator , the film forges its own path, transforming a bleak tale of hubristic science into a technicolor fever dream of excess, eccentricity, and headless terror. At its core, Re-Animator follows the story of Herbert West (played with manic brilliance by Jeffrey Combs), a brilliant but unhinged medical student who has discovered a serum capable of reanimating the dead. Driven by an obsessive pursuit of scientific mastery, West transfers to Miskatonic University, where he quickly becomes entangled with fellow student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) and his girlfriend Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton). As West’s experiments escalate, so too does the chaos—culminating in a visceral sho...