Across the Movie Aisle

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss Woody Allen’s not-quite- retirement announcement . Or “ announcement .” What are we to do with his body of work? And then we discuss the hit series Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power . Is Middle Earth worth revisiting? Make sure to swing by Bulwark+ on Friday for a spec...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss the ways in which movie stars benefit from Netflix (huge paychecks!) and also how they’re ill-served by The Service (minimal promotion, which removes stars from the public eye). Is Netflix a boon or a secret curse for Hollywood’s biggest earners?  Then the gang reviews Bod...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss how the movie business fared this summer. It wasn’t terrible … and it could’ve been worse … but it certainly wasn’t great, either. And then the gang reviews Three Thousand Years of Longing , George Miller’s long-awaited follow-up to Mad Max: Fury Road . Make sure to swing...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss some old-fashioned Hollywood gossip. Why is so much drama swirling about Olivia Wilde and her new movie, Don’t Worry Darling ? And is it, weirdly or not-so-weirdly, helping the movie increase awareness and sell tickets to viewers? Is it tawdry prattle or classic Hollywood...

On this week’s show, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) break down the remarkably silly fight between NYT film critic Lena Wilson and Bodies Bodies Bodies star Amandla Stenberg, a tiff that feels like it could’ve been ripped from the movie Stenberg starred in and Wilson panned. And then the gang lets you know which new show is worth your...

This week, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss the shameful stance too many in the west took toward free expression and the ability of artists to do their work free of persecution or threat of violence from thuggish leaders like the Ayatollah of Iran. And then they review Prey , the latest entry in the Predator series now streaming...

On this week’s episode of Across the Movie Aisle, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) try to hash out the business reasons for, uh, throwing a whole movie into the trash can. Will WB ever #ReleaseTheBatgirl? We’ll see! And then they review Bullet Train , a movie that sounds like it should be awesome but is instead just … kind of flabby. Ma...

This week, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss the oncoming movie drought. We’re hitting a period when no big movies are hitting theaters over the next couple of months—but why? Then they review a movie designed to be watched at home while folding your socks: The Gray Man . If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend!

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) talk about Rolling Stone’s bombshell piece revealing that slightly more social media traffic around the so-called Snyder Cut was generated by bots than on the typical trending topic. And then the gang reviews N o pe , Jordan Peele’s sci-fi-western-horror extravaganza. Is it a mess...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) review Where the Crawdads Sing , a movie playing exclusively in theaters. But before they do that, they ask if the “exclusively in theaters” part is a little, well, elitist , as suggested by Joe Russo in a recent interview . Make sure to swing back to Bulwark+ on Friday for a spec...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) have a little bit of fun with the idea that the folx coding Netflix’s recommendation algo should have any say in what the algo actually delivers to people. (You can read the story they’re discussing here .) And then they review Thor: Love and Thunder . Did they love it or hate it?...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) try to figure out if the Gentleminion craze sweeping the nation—in which teens and tweens wear suits to see Minions: The Rise of Gru and get rowdy while doing so—is a controversy or nontroversy. Then they review Elvis ! Make sure to swing by Friday for the special bonus episode on...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss Netflix’s Spiderhead and the tumult at the world’s largest streamer. How is it that a film from the director of the biggest movie of the summer can release a movie starring a key part of the MCU and the star of one of Netflix’s biggest hits ever can just kind of … show up,...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) try to figure out why Lightyear dramatically underperformed projections. Is this a function of new customer behavior, the burgeoning culture war Disney finds itself embroiled in, or both? And then the gang reviews Lightyear , which is at best fine and at worst not fine. Very not f...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss the ways in which entertainment companies and the media inadvertently highlight and promote marginalized racists, a phenomenon noted by Kat Rosenfield in this essay for Unherd . And then the gang reviews Jurassic World Dominion , the latest big dumb movie in a series full...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason Magazine) discuss why Top Gun: Maverick is succeeding and whether or not it codes “conservative,” like American Sniper or The Passion of the Christ . And then they review We Own This City , David Simon and George Pelecanos’s angry look at a real-life police scandal in Baltimore str...

On this week’s Across the Movie Aisle, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) review the biggest hit of the summer (so far!), Top Gun: Maverick . Meanwhile, the gang discusses the pluses and minuses of “militainment,” entertainment in bed with the military-industrial complex. Make sure to head back to Bulwark+ on Friday for our discussion of...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) ask whether or not the firing of Frank Langella (background here and here ) was a controversy … or a nontroversy. Then they review Men , the new folk-horror flick from Alex Garland. What’s the matter with men—and Men ? Make sure to come back for Friday’s bonus episode, in which we...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) try to figure out why Netflix had to clarify to their employees that hosting a breadth of content may mean working on something they disagree with ideologically. Doesn’t everyone work at a journal of ideas that tolerates dissenting viewpoints? And then they discuss Moon Knight , t...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) consider the bubbling controversy (or nontroversy?) surrounding the PG-13 rating for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Then the gang reviews the new Sam Raimi-directed feature. Is this a bog-standard MCU movie or something more? Make sure to come back to Bulwark+ Friday...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason), discuss the dumbest cons and nons of all time. Then they review  The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent , the new meta-movie from Nicolas Cage. Make sure to check out the bonus episode at Bulwark+  on great movies about movies. And if you liked this episode, share it with a frie...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason), look at Netflix’s disastrous quarter and ask how they can right the ship. And they review The Northman , director Robert Eggers’s vision quest to the gates of Valhalla. Make sure to swing by Bulwark+ on Friday for our bonus episode on historical epics! And share this episode with...

Hey folks, just dropping in a quick episode to say we're off this week. But we'll be back next week! 

This week, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) talk about the best movie of the year (so far!): Everything Everywhere All at Once , the trippy new sci-fi action-comedy family-drama multiversal epic from the directing duo known as Daniels. Meanwhile, in cons and nons, the gang revisits “The Slap” for, hopefully, the last time. Make sure to...

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss the near-simultaneous Grammy win by Louis C.K. and delays of Will Smith movies following his attack on Chris Rock at the Oscars. Is cancel culture canceled? Or are these perfectly reasonable actions? Then the gang discusses Apollo 10 1/2 , which just showed up on Netflix o...