matt schimkowitz

It might take a bit of explaining, but we think the average citizen of Westeros would actually do pretty well on the internet. “Oh,” they’d say, after the week or two of screaming at the constant psychic damage of online overstimulation had started to subside. “It’s a highly tribal culture of people building an identity out of a vague connection to distant, unknowable forces that they nevertheless feel an unearned loyalty and affection for, interspersed with gratuitous nudity? Yeah, we’ve got that at home.”

lol www.avclub.com/breaking-bad... by @plumberduck.bsky.social

@schimkowitz.bsky.social got the jump on what will almost certainly become a (disturbing) bit of film trivia

Melania's budget could've paid the salaries of every fired Washington Post employee, three times over An incomplete breakdown of Jeff Bezos' financial priorities, weighing one piece of propaganda (Melania) against 300 journalists.

we crunched some numbers www.avclub.com/melania-budg...

I'm fact checking again

Wow! What sounded like the entire AEW Dynamite audience in Las Vegas tonight chanted "Fuck ICE! Fuck ICE!" in unison before the main event

If you want to understand Sam Raimi’s films better, @schimkowitz.bsky.social has you sorted out. Great piece.

The A.V. Club subscriptions are here, along with our 2026 reader survey The A.V. Club subscriptions are here, along with our 2026 reader survey

The A.V. Club is launching a subscription plan. Subscribers will enjoy all of the same great articles that will remain free to all to read, as well as subscriber-only perks. Learn more about our subscriber-only benefits and participate in a poll about what you want from a subscription here ⬇️

Spoiler Space: James Cameron keeps upending what Avatar means With Avatar: Fire And Ash, James Cameron puts humans back at the center of a story once tied together with technological advancement.

James Cameron's high-tech epic keeps getting further and further away from his technological obsessions.

The A.V. Club's 25 best films of 2025 The best films of 2025 are a last angry hurrah from a film industry consolidating and capitulating at a frightening pace.

We finally watched 'em all! Here is The A.V. Club's best 25 films of the year, unassailable and fully correct as always: www.avclub.com/best-films-2...

Online music peaked with the Myspace band page format 04-06. Just a few songs to sample before you decided whether or not to see a band or buy their record

Dropping Apple Music saved me from becoming a lean-back listener Dropping Apple Music saved me from becoming a lean-back listener

I think about this all the time. Selling my physical music collection—thousands of CD’s, carefully cultivated over almost three decades—is one of my biggest regrets as an adult. www.avclub.com/quit-streami...

Dropping Apple Music saved me from becoming a lean-back listener Dropping Apple Music saved me from becoming a lean-back listener

With Wrapped season in full swing, there's never been a better time to take yourself off streaming.

Dropping Apple Music saved me from becoming a lean-back listener Dropping Apple Music saved me from becoming a lean-back listener

I love this piece. Though I quit Spotify probably 12 years ago for different reason, I am very intentional about music. Playlists, bands, listen to albums as cohesive works.

I manage a huge library in iTunes, and I own everything.

www.avclub.com/quit-streami...

Dropping Apple Music saved me from becoming a lean-back listener Dropping Apple Music saved me from becoming a lean-back listener

@schimkowitz.bsky.social delivers a piece that mirrors my experience. I wasn’t a lean-back listener but I have too many musician friends getting screwed and dropping the streamers - especially Spotify (how’s running ICE recruitment ads working for ya,dipshits?) a has been easy-peasy.

Mighty fine:

Emma is such an incredible writer with elite taste & I am so bummed we are not coworkers anymore!!! a huge loss for us at AVC!

Last month, I was laid off from The A.V. Club. Still trying to figure out what comes next after officially becoming a #MediaLayoffVictim, but in the meantime feeling very thankful to have spent 3 years writing for a publication I grew up reading and loving <3

The A.V. Club descends into hell to discuss R.F. Kuang's Katabasis The A.V. Club descends into hell to discuss R.F. Kuang's Katabasis

More bookishness from @avclub.com : with Horrors Week ongoing, @salonig.bsky.social @schimkowitz.bsky.social & book clubbed the dark academia fantasy Katabasis www.avclub.com/katabasis-rf...

Stephen King's literary rock band remains a top-shelf celebrity side project The Rock Bottom Remainders, Stephen King's literary rock band, has been the gold standard for vanity projects by totally eschewing vanity.

I'd never heard of the Rock Bottom Remainders before reading this piece by @schimkowitz.bsky.social, but I've been poring over all the band photos in Getty Images ever since

www.avclub.com/rock-bottom-...

We keep building Frankenstein's monster to keep from being alone The movie monsters inspired by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein have recently embodied the modern terror of solitude.

We got the jump on Horrors Week last Friday with this astute feature by @schimkowitz.bsky.social on the many modern retellings of Frankenstein.

www.avclub.com/frankenstein...

fuck ice airing commercials during dynamite, let em know:

help.hbomax.com/us/Feedback/

tbsnetwork.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/req...

The True Horror Behind “The Conjuring” Way back before I was living under an actual authoritarian theocracy, I enjoyed making videos about, well, relatively inconsequential bullshit. For those who are new here, I do what I do today beca…

Taking a break from fascism today to talk about Ed and Lorraine Warren, the weird con artists behind "The Conjuring" film franchise. It turns out the real scary monsters were humans all along skepchick.org/2025/09/the-...

What's the greatest action franchise of all time? Round One: Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to follow along in our 32-combatant tournament to find the best action franchise.

32 action franchises have been summoned to a tournament of champions. One will win the title belt. This is the first round of The A.V. Club's action franchise bracket:

www.avclub.com/best-action-...

Very excited to launch this big ol' tournament, which I've been working on for a while and will feature folks like @brndnstrssng.bsky.social and @sinacolad.bsky.social. Stay tuned for daily features breaking down some killer series!

Get ready for a weeklong slugfest at The A.V. Club: Starting Monday, September 1, the biggest action film franchises will be battling it out in our bracket. You can have your say in the reader poll.

So sorry for your loss, Will. She looks beautiful in that picture

Never seen Raised By Wolves. It got kind of buried in one of the HBO rebrands. I'll have to check it out

Vidiots Launches Initiative to Preserve Rare VHS, with 1,500 Tapes Identified So Far Vidiots and BAVC are partnering to digitize rare VHS from Vidiots' legacy collection — starting with the first 100 of 1,500 titles.

Physical media forever 📼

G/O Media sells Kotaku and says it's "winding down" G/O Media sells Kotaku and says it's "winding down"

Love 2 write about The News Of The Day in a calm, sober, and impartial fashion www.avclub.com/g-o-media-se...

Feels insane to have to clarify this, but Jezebel does not use AI. So if you'd like to support journalism written and edited by humans, consider subscribing if you haven't already
www.jezebel.com/unprecedente...

hi just a reminder that we don't use AI at all at The A.V. Club and in fact we mock it every chance we get because it sucks