David Chen

podcasts.apple.comEp. 133 - Are We Ready To Get Down with ‘The Lowdown’ Again? (Plus: Reviews of ‘VisionQuest’ Eps 3-4 and ‘Dark Matter’ S2E08)Podcast Episode · Decoding TV · October 23 · 1h 34m

This week on Decoding TV: @patrickklepek.bsky.social and I discuss the season premiere of THE LOWDOWN (we loved it!) plus the most recent episodes of VISIONQUEST (solid) and DARK MATTER (bad). Plus: Can Netflix pull itself out of its talespin? Listen/subscribe: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

youtube.comKEN RUSSELL'S THE DEVILS - Official Trailer - In Theaters October 16YouTube video by Warner Bros. Clockwork

I had a chance to see Ken Russell's THE DEVILS and it was worth the hype. Also the trailer goes so hard. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImeX...

David Chen reposted

decodingeverything.comYou Can See Everything Ending Explained: Uncharted WatersDigging into the film’s second half and the ethical questions it purposefully creates.

YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING has a secret weapon that's not anywhere in the trailers. Today at Decoding Everything, @mattgoldberg.bsky.social delves into the [REDACTED] of it all. www.decodingeverything.com/you-can-see-...

decodingeverything.comYou Can See Everything Ending Explained: Uncharted WatersDigging into the film’s second half and the ethical questions it purposefully creates.

I am blown away by Hoon Lee and the Asian American representation in Netflix’s EAST OF EDEN. I have become so inured to Chinese folks being sidelined in histories of America that to see a depiction done with so much depth and sensitivity was staggering.

LOVE IS BLIND season 11 (so far): They’ve tried having nice people on the show. They’ve tried having boring people on the show. This season they finally tried having the most off-putting people humanly possible on the show.

The new STREET FIGHTER movie is one of the silliest and most incoherently-edited films I've seen this year. The script is a threadbare excuse for a bunch of people (some of them incredibly hot) to get together and perform hand-to-hand combat in increasingly elaborate action scenes. I loved it.

Imagine showing this headline to someone from ten years ago and telling them “this actually represents a positive news day for us here in the future.”

Went on a real emotional roller coaster with Flanagan’s CARRIE. This is a show that sands off the fundamental meanness and nastiness of its predecessors. In its place is still something interesting…

…A fascinating exploration of online bullying in the modern era and how parents/students/teachers play into that. The story of CARRIE is also reimagined as one of…empowerment?? I think the show is worth checking out. I just wish it wasn’t called CARRIE, as it departs SO heavily from its origins.

David Chen reposted

decodingeverything.comYou Can See Everything Review: An All-Time Great DocumentaryFar more than a story about Elizabeth Holmes, the movie sets us inside a room of funhouse mirrors and sends the audience on a dizzying ride.

"YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING [hits] Holmes with a spotlight that diffuses outwards, turning a look at Holmes and our fabulist, parasocial moment into one where she becomes both architect and material." @mattgoldberg.bsky.social's review: www.decodingeverything.com/lance-oppenh...

YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING is one of the greatest documentaries ever made. A stunning examination of a master manipulator BY a master manipulator. What starts as a fairly standard biographical portrait expands outwards like a fractal…

…engulfing so many people and ideas that by the time it reaches its conclusion, the results are breathtaking. Above all else, this is a film that will force you to question everything you believe. A staggering work of art.

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In the Terminator films we learn that Skynet becomes self-aware and decides to exterminate all of mankind. What those films missed is the far more likely outcome: AI will kill us completely by accident while trying to accomplish some other random goal that was set for it, or that it set for itself

Just rolled credits on BIG WALK with a group of friends and wow. What started as a silly puzzle game becomes something else completely by the end. A profound and kind of emotional journey. One of my favorite gaming experiences ever.

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

Julia Carrie Wong@joolia.bsky.social

Is there a work of art that was created well before the current era that you feel explains Trump and MAGA and everything better than anything contemporary? For me it’s Assassins (1990) but I’m curious if other people have one.

decodingeverything.com‘The Social Reckoning’ Confronts the Chaos of the 2020s in Chilling FashionThough no match for David Fincher’s original, even mid-tier Aaron Sorkin is still watchable

"Where [THE SOCIAL NETWORK] is one of the masterpieces of the 2010s, THE SOCIAL RECKONING is more like a dad movie for dads who don’t quite understand how algorithms work." Today at Decoding Everything: @carolinesiede.bsky.social reviews Sorkin's latest www.decodingeverything.com/the-social-r...

David Chen reposted

youtu.beWas ‘Lanterns’ Season Finale Great? Or a Disaster?YouTube video by Decoding TV

Was the LANTERNS finale a sublime and subtle ending for a great season of TV? Or was it a disaster? Watch/listen to @patrickklepek.bsky.social and I debate it on Decoding TV: youtu.be/XqP1i3MGcM4

youtu.beWas ‘Lanterns’ Season Finale Great? Or a Disaster?YouTube video by Decoding TV

Was the LANTERNS finale a sublime and subtle ending for a great season of TV? Or was it a disaster? Watch/listen to @patrickklepek.bsky.social and I debate it on Decoding TV: youtu.be/XqP1i3MGcM4

LANTERNS finale: This show started strong and I love the chemistry between Chandler and Pierre but otherwise, this has sadly been a slog for me. Virtually every “reveal” in the show has come out of nowhere with no buildup (making every mystery totally unsatisfying)…

…and the show has been the definition of showing not telling (despite having copious flashbacks). It just tried to do too much with not enough time/budget. The finale was no different. The way it tries to make us invested in [character’s] arc is a complete non-starter. Huge bummer.

I think I’m officially pro-DIGGER. Movie definitely has a lot of problems but it’s a rich text. My guess is it’ll stand the test of time.

BIRDMAN is a great film but it kinda sucks that it takes two cheap shots at East Asians: Once right at the beginning of the film when Emma Stone is trying to buy flowers but says everything smells "like Kimchi" (huh??) and then later when a Japanese guy says "BIRDMAN 4!" with a funny accent.

David Chen reposted

youtube.comThe Top 100 TV Shows of the 21st Century - What Did The NYTimes Get Right/WrongYouTube video by Decoding TV

The New York Times recently published a list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st Century. For Decoding TV, @patrickklepek.bsky.social I break down what we thought of their choices, some stuff they missed, and just some of the weird-ass stuff that made it www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_7Y...

youtube.comThe Top 100 TV Shows of the 21st Century - What Did The NYTimes Get Right/WrongYouTube video by Decoding TV

@patrickklepek.bsky.social

Not a great day to be online today gotta say

David Chen reposted

Patrick Klepek

You do not have to know much of anything about Dark Matter beyond its basic premise to enjoy this sublime episode of TV.

David Chen@davechen.bsky.social

Is the most recent episode of Dark Matter one of the greatest hours of sci-fi TV ever? @patrickklepek.bsky.social and I discuss on Decoding TV youtu.be/PEGQbcXqt-8

youtu.be‘Dark Matter’ S2E05 Was a Masterpiece of Sci-Fi TelevisionYouTube video by Decoding TV

David Chen reposted

youtu.be‘Dark Matter’ S2E05 Was a Masterpiece of Sci-Fi TelevisionYouTube video by Decoding TV

Is the most recent episode of Dark Matter one of the greatest hours of sci-fi TV ever? @patrickklepek.bsky.social and I discuss on Decoding TV youtu.be/PEGQbcXqt-8

youtu.be‘Dark Matter’ S2E05 Was a Masterpiece of Sci-Fi TelevisionYouTube video by Decoding TV

Is the most recent episode of Dark Matter one of the greatest hours of sci-fi TV ever? @patrickklepek.bsky.social and I discuss on Decoding TV youtu.be/PEGQbcXqt-8

decodingeverything.comDigger Review: Smug, Sanctimonious SatireTom Cruise’s broad caricature of an oilman feels like his latest stunt in Alejandro’s G. Iñárritu’s pedantic mess of a movie.

"Iñárritu’s new movie Digger wants to be a satire about the dangers of global warming while lacking the specificity and vocabulary to articulate those concerns in a thoughtful way." Today on Decoding Everything, @mattgoldberg.bsky.social tackles DIGGER: www.decodingeverything.com/tom-cruise-d...

DIGGER

For the first 30-40 mins of DIGGER, I thought I was watching one of the worst films of the year. Then the dynamic of the film shifts in ways I can't talk about (yet). There are still parts of the film that are excruciating. But there are also parts that are wildly ambitious & visually spectacular.

And I found the ending to be intensely moving and thought-provoking. Tom Cruise is great but Riz Ahmed steals the show. (The way they are marketing this is wild. People are not prepared)

Season 2 of DARK MATTER has been a pretty mixed bag so far but episode 5 was beautiful and moving. It’s about how even when you think you’ve lost everything important to you, life can still go on. And there are always more opportunities to give love and to receive it.

decodingeverything.com‘Primetime’ Is Sleazy, Surreal, and Strangely HollowRobert Pattinson stars as Chris Hansen in A24’s garish examination of the 'To Catch a Predator' phenomenon

PRIMETIME comes out in theaters this weekend. I loved it! But do check out @carolinesiede.bsky.social's review for Decoding Everything, in which she finds it a bit of a hollow exercise that doesn't quite live up to its potential www.decodingeverything.com/lance-oppenh...

nytimes.comIn Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?

20 Sept

I read NHJ’s essay about the choices she made for her daughter’s education. It’s super compelling to watch someone grapple with their own shortcomings and what happens when ideology collides with the well being of your kin. But there are portions that are baffling. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/m...

20 Sept

Specifically: she’s spent her career writing about how challenging it is to get an education at these schools, but seemingly is oblivious to the fact that her daughter doesn’t know long division or fractions until she’s in high school? Speaks to an extremely high level of disengagement or naïveté.

20 Sept

THE WEIGHT (in theaters now) is great. A pulse-pounding thriller with solid character work and spectacular outdoor set pieces. One of the most gorgeously photographed films I’ve seen this year. A compelling Man vs. Man vs. Nature story. And you get to see Russell Crowe square off with Ethan Hawke!

SLOW HORSES season 6 (Apple TV, I’ve seen all eps) was a bummer (by design). Really well-made and with great one-liners. But the central plot is a huge downer and is not as fun as that of other seasons.

It’s much more about chickens coming home to roost and paying off some long-running threads. Dark but satisfying stuff. That said, there’s also greatness here including: -Syril Karn as a badass assassin -A bunch of truly shocking moments and reveals. I screamed a couple times!

David Chen reposted

decodingeverything.comTIFF 2026 Dispatch #2: Ink, Elsinore, and Wild Horse NineStephen David Miller continues his coverage of the 51st annual Toronto International Film Festival.

Always love it when @sdavidmiller.bsky.social goes long on the Toronto International Film Festival. Today at Decoding Everything, Stephen breaks down some much anticipated films, including INK and WILD HORSE NINE. Read/susbcribe www.decodingeverything.com/tiff-2026-di...

decodingeverything.comTIFF 2026 Dispatch #2: Ink, Elsinore, and Wild Horse NineStephen David Miller continues his coverage of the 51st annual Toronto International Film Festival.

18 Sept

In retrospect, POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING was too hard on Macklemore

decodingeverything.comResident Evil Review: 2026 Movie Makes the Game Come AliveRather than get hung up on lore, Zach Cregger’s adaptation leans into the thrill of playing the long-running survival horror series.

16 Sept

Zach Cregger's Resident Evil: Finally a videogame movie for people who suck at videogames! Check out @mattgoldberg.bsky.social's review today at Decoding Everything: www.decodingeverything.com/resident-evi...

16 Sept

Cregger’s RESIDENT EVIL is one of the most fun times I’ve had in a theater all year. A non-stop barrage of frequently hilarious set pieces that pay loving tribute to the games. The audience I was with screamed and cackled throughout. And I’m so impressed by how much they kept out of the marketing!

16 Sept

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