How to make risotto

The cis recipe blogger version of Emily St. James from another timeline greets another year.

Episodes Monday Rundown December 15–21

This week: Wicked's unsolvable second act, Train Dreams' hallucinatory magic, and a whole bunch of Christmas stuff.

December mailbag!

This month: Rob Reiner favorites, new Oscar categories, and holiday stories crying out for the Rankin-Bass treatment.

Always winter, never Christmas: 21 snowy entertainments without a Santa in sight

Celebrate winter - and NOTHING ELSE - with our list of recommendations.

Episodes Monday Rundown December 8–14 2025

This week: Pluribus and the trauma plot, Disney and the YA-ification of everything, and 1985's strangest Christmas movie.

Submit your December mailbag questions!

It's that time again!

It takes an ex-believer to make a film as holy as Wake Up Dead Man (preview)

A preview of Emily St. James's essay on the third Benoit Blanc film

It takes an ex-believer to make a film as holy as Wake Up Dead Man

The latest Benoit Blanc mystery offers a bracing look at what makes faith so necessary and so dangerous, writes Emily St. James.

Episodes Monday Rundown December 1–7 2025

This week: a somewhat lopsided Joachim Trier fan club meeting, a messy and interesting novel, and a nice helping of Christmas melancholy.

Will Byers, queer power fantasies, and me

If it really wants to pull off its latest twist, Stranger Things needs to remember what keeps its characters grounded, writes Lily Osler.

Episodes Monday Rundown November 24–30 2025

This week: holiday classics, webs of lies, and a game designed to irritate your friends and loved ones.

What's the best movie from the year you were born?

Discuss amongst yourselves! (And/or, read our answers below.)