The Pamphleteer

2 weeks ago | pamphleteer.co | Jerod Ra'Del Hollyfield

Despite its cultural ascendancy, the American Right has long lacked its own Chistopher Hitchens–an elder polymath whose contrarian philosophical approach broaches questions that even the most daring of pundits wouldn’t touch. However, since his breakout book, The Benedict Option, in 2018, Rod Dreher appears primed to take up that mantle.

2 weeks ago | pamphleteer.co | Jerod Ra'Del Hollyfield

The most exhausting aspect of Art in the Age of Trump is the tendency to boil down complex works to vapid lefty platitudes. But, for the past two weeks, Ryan Coogler’s Southern Gothic period vampire epic, Sinners, has managed to escape the stigma of Good Liberal Groupthink, becoming a multi-demo sensation and allowing the movies to organically dominate the pop-culture conversation in ways unseen since peak Marvel.

2 weeks ago | pamphleteer.co | Jerod Ra'Del Hollyfield

Transformers One (Prime) While Hasbro’s alien robots don’t have the best cinematic legacy, this animated origin from last year manages some impressive character development and a treatise on deplorable populism that puts it on par with anything in the Pixar and Illumination roster. Andor (Disney+) If a terrible twenty-year-old Star Wars prequel can gross $25 million in one weekend upon its rerelease, then the ultimate Hollywood franchise still has some mojo.

3 weeks ago | pamphleteer.co | Jerod Ra'Del Hollyfield

Back in early March, we thought this Oscar also-ran would be going the way of many of its prestige predecessors after Anora and The Brutalist dominated Hollywood’s biggest night. But in the wake of Pope Francis’s shuffle off the mortal coil as images of JD Vance danced in his head, it’s finally become the movie of the moment.

3 weeks ago | pamphleteer.co | Jerod Ra'Del Hollyfield

Companion (Max) Warner Bros’s oversharing marketing campaign ruined the box-office potential of this smart and effective thriller starring Sophie Thatcher (Yellowjackets) and Jack Quaid (The Boys) upon its release in January. Watch it.