Last week, there was a New York Times headline that read, How I Found Out I knew a Serial Killer. The author, Gina Bellafante, recounts the moment in which she found out she knew the Gilgo Beach serial killer. She found out when Amy Ryan called her to tell her
reviews
It's somehow been 30 years since Nora Ephron's charming tale of a whimsical angel, played by John Travolta. At long last we have a remake, only now the main character sings "Beat It." This is all a lie, except for the "Beat It&
mailbag
Thank you again for reading The Hard Pass. Last week I offered two items to new yearly subscribing members. One was a Criterion Blu-ray of Barry Lyndon. That has been claimed. The other was a Furbacca. [Update: the Furbacca has been claimed.] Now, you may be surprised to learn,
may the bridges I burn light the way
Jonah Hill didn’t do a traditional press tour for his new film, Outcome, because he gave up "media appearances and public facing events" a few years ago because they caused him anxiety. Fair enough. Though he did let Martin Scorsese interview him in support of this film.
Of everything I've ever written, this particular piece holds the record for being the one I hear about the most that I personally don't think of that fondly. And it's actually been brought up quite a few times recently as a piece I should
mailbag
Thank you, once again, for being a reader of The Hard Pass. This newsletter launched two months ago and things have been encouraging enough that I am floating around the idea of getting a logo made. If you are someone who does such a thing please let me know at
Star Wars
A few days ago I was asked if I'd write a post on "how to fix Star Wars," which is, at the same time, both a fair request for a low stakes newsletter and an inherently frustrating topic to even try to broach. It's
True story: A few years ago I saw a screenshot of some viral Chris Evans quotes going around on Twitter (which is what that website was called at that time), which I read, not having any idea where or when they were from. The quote getting the most attention was
reviews
Maul, formerly known as Darth Maul, is The Great Gazoo of Star Wars villains. It's at this point it hits me that you may not know who The Great Gazoo even is, though it does appear he still makes appearances in modern media from time to time. The
may the bridges I burn light the way
I've been thinking about that day a lot recently, December 16, 2019 ... now, somehow, over six years ago. Obviously a lot happened in the coming months right after that day that would overshadow just "seeing a bad movie." There was something both innocent and sad about
Although this is being sent out on April Fool’s Day, pay no heed, the only fool in this whole endeavor was me. This has been, by far, the most requested “post that had been deleted from the internet” request since The Hard Pass was launched in February. Well, here
This piece is literally 15 years in the making. I've been obsessed with one particular plot point of Steven Soderbergh's Ocean’s Twelve since I first saw it 22 years ago (wait, what?) and anytime I've interviewed someone who was involved in the making