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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

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Defector

Buy a Defector Gift Subscription, Get A (Different) Gift Subscription

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2025 gift subs

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Kathryn Xu

Daniel Craig as the detective Benoit Blanc in a still from 'Wake Up Dead Man'

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Defector At The Movies

‘Wake Up Dead Man’ Defines Justice Differently

Visual Editor. Runs <a href="http://defectorstore.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">defectorstore.com</a>. Philadelphia-based, if you couldn’t tell.

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Dan McQuade

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The Bills’ Hallmark Christmas Movie Is An Infomercial For A Health Insurer

August Prum is a writer and filmmaker based in Queens.

August Prum

Martin Donovan, Elina Lowensohn, and Bill Sage, left to right, dance in an empty restaurant in a scene from Hal Hartley's film "Simple Men."

SimpleMen

Arts And Culture

Hal Hartley Is Still Figuring It All Out Onscreen

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Typing

Sabrina Imbler

Dave McKenna

a still from the movie Jingle Bell Heist, with Lucy Punch in a fascinator looking at Connor Swindells

Screenshot 2025-12-04 at 12.17.06 PM

Defector Watches A Christmas Movie: ‘Jingle Bell Heist’

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Israel Daramola

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In ‘Die My Love,’ Motherhood Is A Mad Mad Mad World

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Jason England

Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another.

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‘One Battle After Another’ Isn’t Up For The Fight

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Kelsey McKinney

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What Even Is ‘After The Hunt’?

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Lauren Theisen

A movie theater, closed for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, advertises its reopening on March 12, 2021, in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York

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Movie Theater Popcorn In New York City, Ranked

American actress Diane Keaton during the filming of 'Love and Death', November 1974. The film was written and directed with Woody Allen, who also co-starred in it.

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Diane Keaton’s Face Told The Story

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Patrick Redford

‘HIM’ Is A Non-Starter

Gulf Coast Braces For Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina Showed How Quickly It Can All Fall Apart

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David Roth

A grimacing Terence Stamp, with some blood splashed across his face, in Stephen Soderbergh's 1999 film "The Limey"

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Seek And Destroy

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

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Chris Thompson

Ice Cube makes an angry face while lost in an emptied WeWork.

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Twelve Minutes Of Ice Cube Stumbling Around An Empty Office In An Escalating Panic Almost Redeems The Rest Of ‘War Of The Worlds’

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Luis Paez-Pumar

L t r Greg Gates, Melb. Glenn Ford, Willoughby, Syd. and Joe Italiano, of Mitchum Vic, study Copy of Fantastic Four

L t r Greg Gates, Melb. Glenn Ford, Willoughby, Syd. and Joe Italiano, of Mitchum Vic, study Copy of Fantastic Four valued *****.The 1981 Australian Comic Convention, Comicon III, will last three days, starting Saturday at 10 am at the New Crest Hotel, Ki

Four Thoughts About ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

Director Bill Paxton behind the set of the Lions Gate Films movie "Frailty", circa 2001. The Bills Week logo is on there.

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Bills Week

In Bill Paxton’s ‘Frailty,’ Certainty Is The Scariest Thing There Is

Brad Pitt, star of the upcoming Formula One based movie, Apex, and Damson Idris, co-star of the upcoming Formula One based movie, Apex, stand for thr national anthem on the grid during the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain.

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‘F1: The Movie’ Is Great If Your Favorite Part Of Racing Is All The Corporate Logos

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A Good Marriage Plot Needs Real Stakes

Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including Point B. Handsomest man in the world.

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Drew Magary

Tom Cruise arrives at the US Premiere of "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" at Lincoln Center Plaza in New York, New York on May 18, 2025.

US Premiere of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Red Carpet)

If Tom Cruise REALLY Loved Movies, He Would Let Me Watch Him Die

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

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Nicholas Russell

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‘Mission: Impossible’ Must Finally Reckon With Tom Cruise’s Ego

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Spike Lee’s Malcolm X Still Lives

Violet Lucca is the author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/david-cronenberg-clinical-trials-violet-lucca/21170132">David Cronenberg: Clinical Trials</a>. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Art in America, Sight and Sound, the Village Voice, and elsewhere. She was the VP of Digital at Harper’s Magazine and Digital Producer at Film Comment, and was the host of their respective podcasts.

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Violet Lucca

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‘The Shrouds’ Is David Cronenberg’s Typically Prescient Epitaph For Our Present And His Career

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Soraya Roberts

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‘Friendship’ Can’t Sustain The Relationship

Meghann Fahy as Violet in Drop, directed by Christopher Landon.

Drop

‘Drop’ Is Not A ’90s Thriller Because The ’90s Are Unfortunately Over

Normal Gossip: portraits

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Michael Townsend descends the stairs from the space where the secret mall apartment used to be.

Artist who was banned for life from Providence Place Mall returns to his secret mall apartment

Watching ‘Secret Mall Apartment’ In The Secret Apartment Mall

Photo of Val Kilmer signing a movie poster.

Val Kilmer

Remembering Val Kilmer In Five Movies