Sam Thielman
The Guardian
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Sam:
‘The history of fantasy is racialized’: Lord of the Rings series sparks debate over race
Introduction of characters of color into Tolkien’s fantasy world has some fans complaining but as others point out, it’s not less authentic to cast Black actors → Read More
'Death on the Nile' is a Marvel superhero murder mystery. It almost works.
Despite Kenneth Branagh’s best directorial efforts, large parts of the movie are watchable, and even pleasant, because he remains a delightful performer. → Read More
Peter Dinklage's 'Cyrano' star turn is easy to root for — and sing along with
Like Cyrano, many of us are still trying to escape ourselves long enough to find true love in a cruel world. → Read More
The new 'Dune' movie succeeds on its own weird terms
New 'Dune' movie reviews: Denis Villeneuve and Timothée Chalamet and Oscar Isaac have created a weird, bold world for Frank Herbert fans. → Read More
Marvel and DC face backlash over pay: ‘They sent a thank you note and $5,000 – the movie made $1bn’
As the comics giants make billions from their storylines and characters, writers and artists are speaking out about their struggles for fair payment → Read More
'Snake Eyes' is better than expected, thanks to a guy you've never heard of
The original premise of the "G.I. Joe" franchise ages pretty badly. But scripts written by the great Larry Hama breathed a different life into the adventures. → Read More
'Space Jam' 2 is a soulless, overlong HBO gimmick. (LeBron's OK in it, though.)
This is pretty clearly just an advertorial for the Warner Bros. streaming service. → Read More
'Mortal Kombat' is nostalgia bait for 90's kids, but doesn't have what we loved about the game
Anyone who played the pixelated gore-fest knows the creativity of its fights and its characters were what made it rad. Both are missing from the film. → Read More
'Bad Trip' makes its actors the butt of the joke instead of the civilians, and is funnier for it
Eric André, Lil Rel Howery and Tiffany Haddish prank people in a road trip movie that's just a set-up for audiences to see what Americans are made of. → Read More
Adbusters and the roots of the contemporary left
On November 15, 2011, just outside a boarded-up vacant lot in Lower Manhattan, several NYPD officers held down a protester and beat him with batons while a number of onlookers, including the actor Frances McDormand, chanted “Shame, shame, shame.” (It was the first time I’d seen such an assault; I was working for Variety and […] → Read More
This Graphic Novel Is the Moby-Dick of Tabloid Murders
“From Hell” is a masterpiece that asks how closely art can get to misogyny without becoming misogyny. → Read More
The Golden Globes snubbed so many good movies, shows and actors this year. Here's why.
The nominations are worse than usual this year, even for an organization well-known for the corruption inherent to its process. It's all about the money. → Read More
Movies like 'Wonder Woman 1984' get made because studios own all rights — and the profits
From "Wonder Woman 1984" to the expanding universe of Marvel sequels, everything is a superhero movie now not because we watch but because corporations profit. → Read More
Warner Bros. isn't just sending movies to HBO Max. AT&T is limiting its content to its platforms.
AT&T owns the movie studio, the streaming platform and, in many cases, the internet you'll watch them both on. That's on purpose — and probably not good. → Read More
Netflix's 'Mank' is an eerie look at how media can make a president — and unmask itself
Written nearly two decades ago, the story behind the movie "Citizen Kane" is a prescient skewering of the modern media climate and Fox's Rupert Murdoch. → Read More
Matt Furie on life after Pepe the Frog: 'You have to lead by example'
The gentle creator of a cartoon that became a far-right mascot talks about the years of litigation against the likes of Alex Jones, and his ambitious new book Mindviscosity → Read More
The 'Archer' Season 11 finale should've been its last. But we needed more of its valiant comedy.
The season finale of "Archer" was supposed to end the series. But a last minute switch — how very "Archer" of them — upended expectations. → Read More
Star Trek: Discovery season three review – its most thoughtful series yet
Opening on a broken world where hope seems to be the only thing left, the latest chapter in Trek lore is likely to strike a chord with viewers in 2020 → Read More
Catching on to Q
His tie red, his baggy suit blue, his face the familiar stained orange, President Trump approached a podium in the rotunda of the National Archives Museum and began to speak. It was September 17, and Trump looked bored. He was there for something called the White House Conference on American History. He mentioned Mount Rushmore—“which […] → Read More
‘Eventually something works, and then you just keep doing that’: An interview with Ken Klippenstein
Ken Klippenstein is not a meme. Well, he’s not just a meme. The DC correspondent for The Nation is probably best known to the general public for starting (and winning) a Twitter fight with billionaire Elon Musk. If you don’t know him from that, chances are you’ve heard about the time he fooled then-congressman Steve […] → Read More