CULTURE

Footer Column 2

Footer Legal

Footer Main

Nav Bar

OTHER

SPORTS

Subscribe, at any level, to play

Thanks for your interest in Defector Crosswords!

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Plans start at $8/month.

Subscribers enjoy unlimited, ad-free browsing.

Register to continue

Or click here to subscribe for unlimited, ad-free access!

Our gift to you: This year's post is unlocked. Register your email to get even more free articles.

Welcome to the 2025 Hater's Guide!

Just register your email:

This blog is free to read.

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.

Defector

Defector Staff

Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931) experimenting with the first motion picture machine. B/W photo,1905.

Year In Review

The Best Things We Saw In 2025

Kelsey McKinney

a woman with brown hair wearing a jacket leans forward in the back of a car

Defector At The Movies

Everything I Remember About ‘Ella McCay’

<div class="PostFooter_wrapper__Msc__">
<div class="Container_contentWidthWrapper__RL4A5">
<div class="PostFooter_inner__ikvxo">
<div class="PostBylineRiver_wrapper__2QH_p">
<div class="PostBylineRiver_authorWrapper__6ThRc">
<div class="PostBylineRiver_bio__xKPxl">
<p>Robert Rubsam writes fiction and nonfiction. His work has appeared in the NYT Magazine, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Baffler, and Liberties. He is a contributing writer for Commonweal Magazine.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="Container_contentWidthWrapper__RL4A5">
<div id="coral_thread" class="Embed_wrapper__vD_40">
<div>
<div id="coral" class="coral-width-gt-xs coral-width-gte-xs coral-width-gt-mobile coral-width-gte-mobile coral-width-gt-mobileMax coral-width-gte-mobileMax coral-width-gt-sm coral-width-gte-sm coral-width-lt-md coral-width-lte-md coral-width-lt-lg coral-width-lte-lg coral-width-lt-xl coral-width-lte-xl" data-nosnippet="true">
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


Robert Rubsam

Arts And Culture

‘Train Dreams’ Is Afraid Of Its Own Shadow

Mark Asch

‘Bugonia’ Makes A Crash Landing

<p><a href="http://www.ddavisla.com"><span style="font-weight: 400">David Davis </span></a>is the author of <i>Wheels of Courage: How Paralyzed Veterans From World War II Invented Wheelchair Sports, Fought for Disability Rights, and Inspired a Nation</i> and <i>Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku</i>. He lives in Los Angeles.</p>
<div></div>


David Davis

Marty Reisman, holder of 18 International and US National table tennis titles, and author of the 1974 book "The Money Player" in which he described his life traveling the world, playing high-stakes matches. Reisman won the 1997 United States National Hardbat championship. Now at age 77, he is probably the oldest person ever to win an open US national title in a racquet sport. (Photo by Neville Elder/Corbis via Getty Images)

Table Tennis

The Real Marty Supreme

oscar isaac as frankenstein gazes up at his creature on a cross

Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’ Is Flawed Because His Creature Is Not

Israel Daramola

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

Kelly Reichardt’s Labors Of Love

Vikram Murthi

Jafar Panahi Returns With The Masterful Revenge Drama ‘It Was Just An Accident’

Soraya Roberts

Diane Keaton’s Solo Act

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

Movie Theater Popcorn In New York City, Ranked

Patrick Redford

‘HIM’ Is A Non-Starter

<p>Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.</p>


Nicholas Russell

Sphere lights up with an advertisement for "The Wizard of Oz at Sphere" ahead of the show's premiere

No Courage, No Heart, No Brain

Food

I Apologize For The Behavior Of Barry “The Popcorn Moron” Petchesky

Barry Petchesky

Woman holding giant sized popcorn and drink

I Submit To You That Popcorn Is A Bad Movie Snack

Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in Eddington

Ari Aster Wants You To Take The Bait

Annie Berke

‘Ugh! As If!’ Takes On The Enduring Appeal Of ‘Clueless’

Kathryn Xu

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.

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

Promo still from the 1961 Film The Children's Hour

Interviews

Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back: Michael Koresky On Hollywood’s Queer History

dakota johnson and pedro pascal slow dance at a wedding in materialists

A Good Marriage Plot Needs Real Stakes

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

Rafaela Bassili

Nicolas Cage on a beach holding a surfboard.

‘The Surfer’ Mostly Sputters And Flails

<p>Jake Romm is a New York City-based writer and the Associate Editor of Protean Magazine.</p>


Jake Romm

Politics

The Paranoid Fantasies Of ‘October 8’

‘Eephus’ Director Carson Lund On Baseball As A Way Of Being

<p>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 <em>Point B</em>. Handsomest man in the world.</p>


Drew Magary

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