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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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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.

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.

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

Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.

Nicholas Russell

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

Israel Daramola

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.

Violet Lucca

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

Soraya Roberts

‘Friendship’ Can’t Sustain The Relationship

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

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

Alex Sujong Laughlin

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

Watching ‘Secret Mall Apartment’ In The Secret Apartment Mall

Photo of Val Kilmer signing a movie poster.

Remembering Val Kilmer In Five Movies

Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington being held at gun point in the control room in a scene from the film 'Crimson Tide', 1995.

A Small Gene Hackman Memory for You

Conan O'Brien on stage hosting the Oscars.

Society Can’t Quit The Oscars

Matene Toure

‘Nickel Boys’ Deserves Best Picture

Defector Staff

A camera operator stands by as director Rouben Mamoulian speaks with Greta Garbo.

Staff Chat

Lights, Camera, Staff Chat! Let’s Talk Movies.

‘Black Box Diaries’ Splits A Journalist In Two

Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson in 'A Different Man'

‘A Different Man’ Has Sebastian Stan At His Most Alluring

David Roth

Reed Hastings attends the Netflix and Mediaset Partnership Announcement in Rome, in 2019.

Podcasts

The Movie Studio At The End Of The World, With Will Tavlin

Staff Writer
Find me on Signal @DefectorChris.19

Chris Thompson

Two tennis guys get horny looking at Zendaya.

Is My Most Loathed Enemy A Song From The Score Of ‘Challengers’? Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah-Yeah-Yeah Yeah Yeah-Yeah-Yeah

David Lynch Was The Artist of Our Time

‘Nosferatu’ Keeps You Waiting And Waiting

John Saward

Clockwise from top: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Carol Coombs, Jimmy Hawkins, Larry Simms and Karolyn Grimes.

How Can A Life Be Wonderful?

charismatic megafauna (they/them)

Sabrina Imbler

Rachelle Hampton

Justin Ellis

chad michael murray and two other male revue dancers are shirtless in suspenders in front of a green fundraising chart

Defector Watches A Christmas Movie: ‘The Merry Gentlemen’

‘Babygirl’ Wants To Know Your Fantasy

Maitreyi Anantharaman

Barry Petchesky

Lacey Chabert and her ex-husband in the movie The Christmas Quest, in an attic-like space shining a flashlight on something

Defector Watches A Christmas Movie: ‘The Christmas Quest’

A bunch of Cardinals sit in their pointy white hats in a screengrab from Edward Berger's 2024 film Conclave.

The Ending Of ‘Conclave’ Was Cheap And Stupid

Alan Kluegel

Denzel Washington looking incredibly sinister and cool in Gladiator II.

II Decadent II Decrepit: The Politics Of ‘Gladiator II’

Luis Paez-Pumar

Lindsay Lohan sitting on a chair opening a book that reads "Construction Proposal Lifestyle Complex"