A.A. Dowd
@aadowd.bsky.social
Writer/editor. Past lives: The A.V. Club, Chron, Time Out Chicago. He/him/his. https://letterboxd.com/AADowd/
https://authory.com/AADowd
https://authory.com/AADowd
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A.A. Dowd
@aadowd.bsky.social
· 12d
Excited to be heading back to Park City one last time for Sundance in January. I'll be doing some coverage for The Ringer, but should also have the capacity to pick up a few reviews if there's a need for them out there. Editors, let me know!
On HAMNET: letterboxd.com/aadowd/film/...
A ★★★ review of Hamnet (2025)
Moratorium, for the love of all that is good in this world, on "On the Nature of Daylight." It's cheating, and it's been done to death, emphasis on the death, somehow always in the context of the same...
letterboxd.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:07 PM
On HAMNET: letterboxd.com/aadowd/film/...
We're all smart, Charlie Brown
IS THAT MY DAUGHTER, CHARLIE BROWN?!
It’s the Medical Examiner, Charlie Brown
November 25, 2025 at 2:39 PM
We're all smart, Charlie Brown
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter
U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate.
www.cnbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:37 AM
All DOGE accomplished was purging critical government staff, handing private data to outsiders, and sentencing thousands in developing countries to death by gutting USAID.
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
I don’t say this lightly: if there were any justice in this world, the people responsible for this devastation would be in jail
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
Chloé Zhao's HAMNET, reviewed. Bring tissues; wet streams may come. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“Hamnet” Feels Elemental, but Is It Just Highly Effective Grief Porn?
In Chloé Zhao’s film, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, the death of a child gives rise to the creation of a literary masterpiece.
www.newyorker.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Chloé Zhao's HAMNET, reviewed. Bring tissues; wet streams may come. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
Seeing how much of the right-wing on Twitter is just bot farms, kinda lays bare how much hate and hatred is a project that needs to be constantly maintained, a fire that needs to be fed all the time lest it go out for a moment, so much time, effort, and resources to keep people angry and hateful.
November 24, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Seeing how much of the right-wing on Twitter is just bot farms, kinda lays bare how much hate and hatred is a project that needs to be constantly maintained, a fire that needs to be fed all the time lest it go out for a moment, so much time, effort, and resources to keep people angry and hateful.
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
seen on WT Harris in E Charlotte
November 23, 2025 at 3:35 AM
seen on WT Harris in E Charlotte
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
The remake opens very strong, then quickly deflates into a dumbed-down, caffeinated version of one of the best movies ever made. www.vulture.com/article/zack...
November 22, 2025 at 12:56 AM
The remake opens very strong, then quickly deflates into a dumbed-down, caffeinated version of one of the best movies ever made. www.vulture.com/article/zack...
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
private equity buys a company and immediately starts torturing their employees and the money
November 20, 2025 at 1:48 AM
private equity buys a company and immediately starts torturing their employees and the money
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
So he did exactly what he said in his confirmation hearing that he would not do.
Perhaps it’s time to haul his ass back in there.
Also congrats to everyone, including Olivia Nuzzi, who helped normalize this man.
So many people will die of preventable diseases as a result.
Perhaps it’s time to haul his ass back in there.
Also congrats to everyone, including Olivia Nuzzi, who helped normalize this man.
So many people will die of preventable diseases as a result.
Breaking News: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism. The move underscores his determination to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives — and bend the health department to his will.
RFK Jr. Says He Instructed CDC to Change Vaccines and Autism Language on Website
In an interview, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited gaps in vaccine safety research. His critics say he is ignoring a larger point: Vaccines save lives.
nyti.ms
November 21, 2025 at 7:28 PM
So he did exactly what he said in his confirmation hearing that he would not do.
Perhaps it’s time to haul his ass back in there.
Also congrats to everyone, including Olivia Nuzzi, who helped normalize this man.
So many people will die of preventable diseases as a result.
Perhaps it’s time to haul his ass back in there.
Also congrats to everyone, including Olivia Nuzzi, who helped normalize this man.
So many people will die of preventable diseases as a result.
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
Behind this important reversal is a member of the Coast Guard who saw what was happening and had the courage to leak it to the press. That person deserves serious praise.
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Behind this important reversal is a member of the Coast Guard who saw what was happening and had the courage to leak it to the press. That person deserves serious praise.
My thoughts on ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT, which is now in theaters: letterboxd.com/aadowd/film/...
A ★★★ review of Zodiac Killer Project (2025)
Lemonade from lemons? Maybe more like wine from sour grapes. On the one hand, it's pretty clever: Shackleton completes his uncompleted true crime documentary without all the necessary parts (a slyly a...
letterboxd.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:04 PM
My thoughts on ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT, which is now in theaters: letterboxd.com/aadowd/film/...
Why is Chicago getting neither the 70mm or 35mm print of THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR? Honestly rude.
November 21, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Why is Chicago getting neither the 70mm or 35mm print of THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR? Honestly rude.
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
Zohran Mamdani doesn’t make me, an American Jew, feel unsafe.
Having the Coast Guard, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, decide that a swastika isn’t really a symbol of hate? That makes me, an American Jew, feel pretty damn unsafe.
Having the Coast Guard, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, decide that a swastika isn’t really a symbol of hate? That makes me, an American Jew, feel pretty damn unsafe.
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Zohran Mamdani doesn’t make me, an American Jew, feel unsafe.
Having the Coast Guard, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, decide that a swastika isn’t really a symbol of hate? That makes me, an American Jew, feel pretty damn unsafe.
Having the Coast Guard, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, decide that a swastika isn’t really a symbol of hate? That makes me, an American Jew, feel pretty damn unsafe.
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
This is a man whose wife was SHOT IN THE HEAD having to act even-keeled when the President of the United States tries to incite violence against him. Trump has to go, right now.
I've had a missile blow up next to my airplane, been shot at dozens of times by anti-aircraft fire, and launched into orbit — all for my country. I never thought I'd see a President call for my execution.
Trump doesn’t understand the Constitution, and we're all less safe for it.
Trump doesn’t understand the Constitution, and we're all less safe for it.
November 20, 2025 at 11:10 PM
This is a man whose wife was SHOT IN THE HEAD having to act even-keeled when the President of the United States tries to incite violence against him. Trump has to go, right now.
Funny how the Coens cleaved their sensibility into identifiable halves, whereas the Safdies split and then each made a biopic about a victory-obsessed American star of an unconventional sport who goes to compete in Japan.
November 20, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Funny how the Coens cleaved their sensibility into identifiable halves, whereas the Safdies split and then each made a biopic about a victory-obsessed American star of an unconventional sport who goes to compete in Japan.
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
Trump is now calling for the executions of Democratic veterans who reminded the military of their duty to disobey “ILLEGAL” orders.
November 20, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Trump is now calling for the executions of Democratic veterans who reminded the military of their duty to disobey “ILLEGAL” orders.
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
Elon Musk’s anti-woke version of Wikipedia, Grokipedia, cites neo-Nazi forums in multiple places as source.
A great validation of the notion that when people say they’re anti-woke, they just mean they’re hyper racist.
A great validation of the notion that when people say they’re anti-woke, they just mean they’re hyper racist.
Elon Musk’s Grokipedia cites Stormfront — a neo-Nazi forum — dozens of times, study finds
An analysis by researchers at Cornell University is the first comprehensive look at Grokipedia since Musk launched his project last month.
www.nbcnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Elon Musk’s anti-woke version of Wikipedia, Grokipedia, cites neo-Nazi forums in multiple places as source.
A great validation of the notion that when people say they’re anti-woke, they just mean they’re hyper racist.
A great validation of the notion that when people say they’re anti-woke, they just mean they’re hyper racist.
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
I’ve been saying this for ages: These folks are doomed to be permanently angry because they’re angry about aspects of the culture that policy ultimately can’t change. They’re seeking political power as a consolation prize for lack of cultural power, and will always be dissatisfied.
I think this prediction is holding up pretty well, and maybe I should have noted the failure of the Turn Charlie Kirk Into A Martyr moment might have been the pinnacle of the phenomenon. In some deep way I think the New Right Loser Men fail to understand what state power can and can't do for them.
November 20, 2025 at 1:34 PM
I’ve been saying this for ages: These folks are doomed to be permanently angry because they’re angry about aspects of the culture that policy ultimately can’t change. They’re seeking political power as a consolation prize for lack of cultural power, and will always be dissatisfied.
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
Must we call it “skepticism?” If I say the sun revolves around the Earth, would you call me “skeptical” about heliocentrism?
A CDC website that previously said vaccines do not cause autism has walked back that statement. It now repeats the skepticism that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has voiced about the safety of vaccines.
C.D.C. Website No Longer Rejects Possible Link Between Autism and Vaccines
A previous version denied a link between vaccines and autism. It now echoes the doubts about that conclusion voiced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
nyti.ms
November 20, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Must we call it “skepticism?” If I say the sun revolves around the Earth, would you call me “skeptical” about heliocentrism?
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
the nuzzi story is fun and all but at the center of it is the elevation of a man who has dedicated his life to making children catch preventable diseases to a position where he can enact harm at enormous scale
CDC has overhauled its website to assert that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim”
November 20, 2025 at 3:19 AM
the nuzzi story is fun and all but at the center of it is the elevation of a man who has dedicated his life to making children catch preventable diseases to a position where he can enact harm at enormous scale
Probably won't land a top 10 list anywhere this year. Which is maybe okay, as there aren't many movies that have knocked me out in 2025. (Still have plenty left to see, though, so hoping for a revelation!)
November 19, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Probably won't land a top 10 list anywhere this year. Which is maybe okay, as there aren't many movies that have knocked me out in 2025. (Still have plenty left to see, though, so hoping for a revelation!)
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
I'm struck by this clip of former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz saying Holocaust education has backfired in part because people Palestinians as victims: "They think the lesson of the Holocaust is…you fight the big powerful people hurting the weak people."
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
From the JewsOfConscience community on Reddit: Former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz speaking to the Jewish Federation and lamenting that young people are learning the wrong lessons from Holocaust e...
Explore this post and more from the JewsOfConscience community
www.reddit.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I'm struck by this clip of former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz saying Holocaust education has backfired in part because people Palestinians as victims: "They think the lesson of the Holocaust is…you fight the big powerful people hurting the weak people."
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...
I heard Act 2 of WICKED was weak. But I wasn't prepared for how much it collapses into asinine OZ prequelitis. letterboxd.com/aadowd/film/...
A ★½ review of Wicked: For Good (2025)
Wow, people weren't kidding about this show being frontloaded. Barely a hummable bar in all of Act 2, just wall-to-wall drippy ballads you'd skip while listening to the soundtrack in your car. Faintes...
letterboxd.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:35 PM
I heard Act 2 of WICKED was weak. But I wasn't prepared for how much it collapses into asinine OZ prequelitis. letterboxd.com/aadowd/film/...
Reposted by A.A. Dowd
I’m sorry, the files are forever compromised
November 18, 2025 at 11:14 PM
I’m sorry, the files are forever compromised