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 "The best video essay source on the web." (Roger Ebert) This web site is built on a mix of original video essays and critical, personal writing about film, TV, and their connection to broader cultural concerns. Co-founded by Matt Zoller Seitz, TV critic for New York Magazine, and Ken Cancelosi, it is overseen by Editor-in-Chief Max Winter.

Video Essays

  • Attention Red Wedding Crashers: Get a Grip, Sit Back, a...
  • BIG PRESS PLAY NEWS!
  • RAISED IN FEAR: Who Can Kill a Child?
  • RAISED IN FEAR: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and the Horrors of ...
  • CANNES 2013: Images, Part III

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Press Play

The Best Romantic Comedies of the Last Twenty Years

Blogs
In making this list of the best, or maybe just my favorite, romantic comedies of the last twenty years, editors Matt Zoller Seitz and Max Winter and I set out to make clear goalposts. The list would be as inclusive as our memories and subjective tastes would allow.
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • February 14, 2013 10:25 AM
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  • 22 Comments
More: Simon Abrams, Moonrise Kingdom, Extraterrestrial

The Technology, the Art, and the Ethics of Watching: Talking With Brian De Palma at Toronto

Festivals
"I suffer from the fact that people have so many preconceptions about the kinds of movies I make," Brian De Palma lamented, "that they don't really look at what's on the screen."
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • September 13, 2012 9:46 AM
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  • 0 Comments
More: Simon Abrams, Brian De Palma, Passion, Toronto International Film Festival, Festivals

SIMON SAYS: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON VIOLENCE, HUMOR, AND IDENTITY

Blogs
"Human nature is violent," William Friedkin tells me, going on to say that he also likes Immanuel Kant's phrase "the crooked timber of humanity." As an artist, Friedkin is as blunt, matter-of-fact and masterfully cynical as his initial statement suggests.
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • July 26, 2012 9:54 AM
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  • 0 Comments
More: Simon Abrams, SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams), Simon Says, William Friedkin, Killer Joe

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, But Not Quite High Enough

Blogs
"The Dark Knight Rises" is a half-baked success, a finale whose ambitions ultimately exceed the Nolan brothers' abilities.
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • July 20, 2012 9:39 AM
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  • 5 Comments
More: Simon Abrams, Simon Says, SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams), The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Morgan Freeman

SIMON SAYS: Could TRISHNA Really Be a Michael Winterbottom Film?

Blogs
If you sat down to watch "Trishna," a modern-day adaptation of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" reset in contemporary India, and didn't already know that it was directed by Michael Winterbottom, you probably couldn't tell.
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • July 12, 2012 9:16 AM
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  • 2 Comments
More: Simon Abrams, SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams), Simon Says, Michael Winterbottom, Trishna, Freida Pinto, Riz Ahmed

SIMON SAYS: Local Heroes: The New York Asian Film Festival Strikes Again (And Again, And Again)

Blogs
The New York Asian Film Festival, now a pop culture institution unto itself, started eleven years ago.
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • July 5, 2012 8:56 AM
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  • 0 Comments
More: Simon Abrams, Simon Says, SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams), New York Asian Film Festival, Festivals, Oldboy, Love in the Buff, The Sword Identity, Edmond Pang, Haofeng Xu

SIMON SAYS: MAGIC MIKE and the Camera

Blogs
Steven Soderbergh's recent use of digital photography in "Contagion" (2011) and "The Girlfriend Experience" (2009) has a painterly quality. In "Magic Mike," Soderbergh's visual flourishes establish concerns better than anything his characters say.
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • June 28, 2012 9:17 AM
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  • 0 Comments
More: Simon Says, Simon Abrams, Steven Soderbergh, Magic Mike, Channing Tatum, SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams)

SIMON SAYS: The Roberto Benigni Problem

Blogs
The imminent release of "To Rome with Love," the latest movie directed and written by Woody Allen, should have you wondering the following: what exactly do people see in Roberto Benigni, and why has his career sustained itself for as long as it has?
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • June 21, 2012 9:24 AM
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  • 2 Comments
More: Simon Abrams, Simon Says, Roberto Benigni, SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams)

SIMON SAYS: Pure Ideas: Dropping Science (Fiction) with EXTRATERRESTRIAL Filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo

Blogs
Nacho Vigalondo’s films are about ideas.
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • June 14, 2012 9:04 AM
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  • 1 Comment
More: Simon Abrams, Simon Says, Nacho Vigalondo, Extraterrestrial, SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams)

SIMON SAYS: Trying Harder: What PROMETHEUS Gets Right

Blogs
One character in Prometheus sums up why Ridley Scott's return to his 1979 science fiction milestone is as refreshing as it is, in just two words: "Try harder."
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  • By Simon Abrams
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  • June 7, 2012 8:55 AM
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  • 1 Comment
More: Simon Says, Simon Abrams, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Alien, Sigourney Weaver, Noomi Rapace, Winona Ryder, Ian Holm, SIMON SAYS (Simon Abrams)

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