Criterion announced, finally, Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore will be getting a release this July. I think it's one of Scorsese's most unique films and one of his best. I suspect the new Criterion release will change this. And it&
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The Hard Pass turned three months old this week. It's weird, I've actually been enjoying the experience of newsletter writing so much more than I thought I would, I'm kind of kicking myself for not starting earlier. On the other hand, things have a
SNL
I used to write a weekly feature about Saturday Night Live called SNL Scorecard. In 2010, I initially pitched Vulture this idea when Mark Graham, who did their SNL recaps at the time, left for (I think?) VH-1. For its final season, I was doing weekly Lost interviews for Vulture
Today is Star Wars Day, because it is May the fourth and "fourth" sounds a little bit like "force." It is also the day before Cinco de Mayo, a day celebrating the 1862 Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla, in which a
Here's some life advice: never find yourself in a position where you have to tell Jeff Bridges, "no." Actually, that's not quite what happened, as I didn't exactly tell Jeff Bridges, "no," but it was more I wasn't
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The Devil Wears Prada was released in theaters 20 years ago and has, since, been played on a never ending loop on every cable television channel that exists. There's a good chance I've seen at least parts of The Devil Wears Prada more times than any
I first pondered this question on July 2, 2015 with a post that published at Uproxx right before 4th of July weekend. What that actually means is I was finally allowed to write about a TV show that had been off the air for almost 50 years (at that point)
This was a piece that published at Uproxx on August 17, 2018, which has been deleted from the internet. So here it is again. There are two things I remember distinctly about putting this piece together. First, that it took a surprisingly long time, which is a big reason I
A version of this post published on September 3, 2021 on Uproxx, but is no longer on the internet. With this one I did, let's say, tidy it up a little bit. In 2021, we were still very much feeling the affects of the pandemic and I edited
This was a piece that published on February 28, 2018 when I worked at Uproxx. I would just link to it, but Uproxx has removed its archives before 2022, so this piece has been lost to the internet. But, today, I am here to save it. The funny thing about
A couple of Sundays ago, I was sitting at a bar during the NFC Championship game when a longtime friend asked if she could tell me something that might upset me. Now, there's really no good way to answer this question. No matter what I say, the chances
This is a website you can read, written by Mike Ryan.
Last June, my girlfriend Kate and I were at a premiere party for a movie you probably don't know, but it was directed by and starred a famous person who has a lot of famous friends and they were all there. At one point, Kate pointed at a
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
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&
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, not
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
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
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
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
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