Janet Maslin
janetmaslin.bsky.social
Janet Maslin
@janetmaslin.bsky.social
Board President, Jacob Burns Film Center. Longtime NYT critic.
Netflix has renamed this “Death by Lightning” and drops its 4-part adaptation tomorrow. It’s b/o Candice Millard’s 2011 “Destiny of the Republic,” the best history book I covered in nearly 20 years as a daily NYT book critic. Her title was better. Can’t wait.

www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/b...
Never Seeking the Presidency, Yet Swept Into Office Nonetheless (Published 2011)
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Pleasantville isn’t a ritzy suburb. But it’s got a really good movie theater. @burnsfilmcenter.bsky.social
Wait, this is an attack on Mamdani? I figured it was telling Cuomo to go back to the suburbs (Pleasantville being a ritzy Westchester suburb) and using a smiling Mamdani to do it.
November 3, 2025 at 10:31 PM
The Times’ having fired Peter Keepnews over a joke he made after his decades’ worth of service is outrageous. Didn’t know him, don’t know what the joke was. But I know this is excessive. He’s a second-generation jazz aficionado and the writer of some of the best NYT arts obits. He’s irreplaceable.
Just want to say that Peter Keepnews is a hilarious name for a New York Times editor who specializes in obituaries.

Here’s his co-byline on the Alan Arkin obit: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/30/movies/alan-arkin-dead.htm https://x.com/ShortFormErnie/status/1674823828919271429/photo/1
October 31, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Happy 50th to all who celebrate.
October 30, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Goddess. Cutup. Role model. Fashion original. And a fine filmmaker too. She directed “Unstrung Heroes” 30 years ago. R.I.P. 💔

www.nytimes.com/1995/09/15/m...
FILM REVIEW; Nuttiness As Solace In a Son's Moment Of Grief (Published 1995)
www.nytimes.com
October 11, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Also How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and Beach Blanket Bingo. Respect.
I was yesterday days old when I learned that David Crosby of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash fame, is the son of Floyd Crosby, who shot High Noon and Roger Corman's wonderful The Pit and the Pendulum.
October 7, 2025 at 8:51 PM
The TV/advertising model doesn’t work if no one’s watching. You’re welcome.
September 18, 2025 at 9:53 PM
The most-read story in today’s Washington Post is a 3-day-old ranked list of 5700 holidays. Today is, among many other things, National Little Black Dress Day. Fine. Celebrate if you must.

But don’t click on this junk if you want newspapers to cover real news.
September 1, 2025 at 8:01 PM
NYT today has a gerrymandering game that you can play for fun while real legislators play for keeps. It’s adorable. Like Wordle! Like Connections! I’m not making this up.
August 13, 2025 at 6:58 PM
It ranks just behind One Love and way behind Bohemian Rhapsody. But two of the top 7 were directed by James Mangold. Not bad.
August 8, 2025 at 12:55 PM
This isn’t about movies. It’s about the Dome, a trippy spectacle joint in Las Vegas. What did you expect?
August 1, 2025 at 10:25 PM
If Ron Howard’s “Eden” opens on schedule later this month, you’re about to start having very different conversations about Sydney Sweeney. She hasn’t done anything like this before. Neither has he.
August 1, 2025 at 5:15 PM
He’s still alive as of 7/30/25. Just wish him well.
July 31, 2025 at 1:18 AM
About Whit Stillman and “Barcelona” in 1994:

“He makes odd, tender, uncategorizable films that must utterly confound the market researchers whose opinions shape Hollywood.
Good.”
July 29, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Goodbye to one of my first heroes. I hope he passed peacefully. He lived a good long life.

Tom Lehrer was I-went-to-summer-camp-with-Stephen Sondheim years old. They must have stayed in touch. Sondheim had a little book of Lehrer rhymes or riddles or whatever in a guest bathroom at his NY home.
July 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
No! Not today! Please not today!
💔💔💔
R.I.P., Tom Lehrer. There are so many songs that I could share in his honor, but better I should stick with the one that I know better than any other as a result of having heard it at such an early age...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB2F...
Tom Lehrer - "L-Y"
YouTube video by Edgar Aldrett
www.youtube.com
July 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
It did.
July 22, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I doubt it too. But I’m not a bot trying to tamp down the news by turning it into soulless AI. Go block yourself, okay?
I doubt the Epstein uproar will hurt Trump. Trump’s supporters will find some flimsy excuse for his refusal to not releasing the files. Democrats should not spend serious time trying to hold him accountable. His Achilles Heel will be the economy. The average cost of living is higher than in 2024.
July 22, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Colbert’s regulars won’t go to Gutfeld, Daily Mail. They’ll just stop watching.
July 20, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Well it isn’t about the truth, if that’s what you mean.

CBS Says It’s Canceling Colbert Over Money, Not Politics. Is That Truthiness? www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/a...
CBS Says It’s Canceling Colbert Over Money, Not Politics. Is That Truthiness?
www.nytimes.com
July 19, 2025 at 8:24 AM
I was getting CBS and Comedy Central via a Paramount+ subscription. Adios to that.
July 18, 2025 at 1:23 PM
“And the weatherman lied.”🎶
July 17, 2025 at 12:23 AM
The Shrouds is now watchable at home. It plays better than it did in theaters. Definitely not for everyone—but it works for me and it’s gotten better with every viewing. He’s onto something, just as he was with Crimes of the Future. Prophetic, mournful, bizarre, exquisitely macabre. Funny too.
July 11, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Say it again.
Basic fact checking is now a skill every single person needs.
July 7, 2025 at 10:21 PM