Sonny Bunch
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Culture editor at The Bulwark. Words: WaPo, Atlantic, WFB, Commentary, etc. Pods: @SubBeacon; Bulwark Goes to Hollywood; Across the Movie Aisle. "Deranged."
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Articles by Sonny Bunch
Blue Texas Is a Mirage—Until It Isn’t
(Photo illustration by Bill Kuchman/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty, Shutterstock) Weatherford, Texas “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” When used to describe the outdoors, this phrase is scary enough. It conjures up visions of stagnant, swampy air, sweat that won’t evaporate. But I had never really considered what it meant when applied indoors. I’d find out in Weatherford, as hundreds crowded into an un-air-conditioned warehouse area at the recently erected JRJ Construction building.
Patrick Stewart, R.I.P.
Patrick Stewart at the premiere of Star Trek: Picard at ArcLight Cinerama Dome on January 13, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images) PATRICK STEWART WAS A KEY PART of my childhood and young adulthood, first as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation and then as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men series.
‘Wild Horse Nine’ and ‘Fatherland’ Reviewed Original
John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell in Wild Horse Nine. (Courtesy Searchlight Pictures) FOR A MOVIE ABOUT a cancer-riddled hitman for the CIA who holds the secret to the Kennedy assassination but can’t remember if he asked his coworker to kill him among the big stone heads of Easter Island, Wild Horse Nine has a surprising number of laugh-out-loud lines.
The Must-Watch Awards-Season Films
(Photo illustration by Bill Kuchman/The Bulwark | Photos: Festival de Cannes, Oscars, A24, Warner Bros. Pictures) LOOK, THE NEWS IS ALL BAD. Wars, plagues, vice presidents completely lacking a moral compass . . . and that’s just the bad news generated by Russia. The one bright spot, at least for your humble narrator, is that there’s a whole mess of good movies on the horizon as we head into awards season.
The Tao of Norm Macdonald
On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Geoff Edgers of the Washington Post to discuss The Tale of Norm Macdonald and prod Geoff about his forthcoming1 book on the great comedian who sadly died in 2021. Geoff wrote one of the defining profiles of Macdonald in 2016 for the Post and appears, briefly, in the new Netflix documentary.
‘Fjord’ Review
Sebastian Stan in Fjord. (Courtesy Neon) FJORD IS A PROVOCATION in the best sense of the word, a probing examination into self-conceptions of tolerance and the limits therein, brought to life with a keen naturalism that pulls the neat trick of both obfuscating the facts and clarifying the reality on the ground. Writer-director Cristian Mungiu opens with the obfuscation. We see Elia Gheorghiu (Vanessa Ceban), a teenage girl, wiping away a tear.
Brendan Carr, the Hackiest Hack in Hackville
(Photo illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty, Shutterstock) AT A CAMPAIGN RALLY in Alaska earlier this week, Donald Trump, chuckling, introduced Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to the MAGA faithful in this way: “And we have the FCC head, the most-feared man in government here, Brendan.
Brendan Carr, the Hackiest Hack in Hackville
(Photo illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty, Shutterstock) AT A CAMPAIGN RALLY in Alaska earlier this week, Donald Trump, chuckling, introduced Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to the MAGA faithful in this way: “And we have the FCC head, the most-feared man in government here, Brendan.
Book a Room at the ‘Haunted Hotel’
Netflix’s ‘Haunted Hotel.’ I’m rejoined this week by Matt Roller, the showrunner of Netflix’s Haunted Hotel, to discuss the second season of his hit animated show. We talked about the difficulties of getting a new season done in just one year, how the fandom has reacted to the show (and why he tries to avoid letting the fanfic influence his work), and whether or not season three is on the way.
‘Whalefall’ Review
Austin Abrams in Whalefall. (Courtesy 20th Century Studios) IT’S BEEN A ROUGH COUPLE of weeks for Austin Abrams. First, he goes off to Raccoon City to make a medical delivery, only to get attacked by an undead woman, terrorized by zombie dogs, chased by mutant babies, and then forced to try to survive a T-Virus infection long enough to develop and ingest the antidote. And now we find him trapped in the belly of a whale, a modern-day Jonah (or maybe Pinocchio).
How Facebook Broke America
Jeremy Strong and Bill Burr in The Social Reckoning. (Courtesy Sony Pictures) IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP to the release of The Odyssey, and then in the weeks after, I noticed a weird thing. Whenever I tweeted something about Christopher Nolan’s film, it would rack up huge numbers. Big engagement, tons of likes, lots of views. It was getting sucked into the algorithm like few topics I regularly tweeted about.
Let the Oscar Race Begin!
Photo illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Bulwark | Photos A24, Focus Features, Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, Shutterstock On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Katey Rich and Christopher Rosen, the Prestige Junkies over at The Ankler, to talk about the early days of the Oscar campaign. It’s finally heating up now that we’re hitting awards season and the prestige pictures are making their debuts; you can find our early preferred nominees at the Ankler Pundits landing page.
The Knifeman and the Apparatchik Original
(Photo illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty, Shutterstock) Behind the Castle Walls My Thirty Years at the Happiest Place on Earth by Bob Chapek Gallery Books, 272 pp., $30 Roll the Calls A Memoir by Ari Emanuel Knopf, 432 pp., $35 IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE TWO MEMOIRS more different in tone, style, or substance than Bob Chapek’s Behind the Castle Walls and Ari Emanuel’s Roll the Calls. There are superficial similarities.
The Age of Antiheroes
(Photo illustration by Bill Kuchman/The Bulwark | Photos: HBO, AMC, FX, Shutterstock) IF AN ALIEN CAME TO EARTH and took a gander at what we considered to be the highest of artistic achievement, as measured by the New York Times’s recent list of the 100 greatest television shows of the twentieth century, he’d likely throw his ship in reverse and hightail it out of here at Warp 10. Just look at the top of the charts, as judged by the luminaries who voted in the Times poll.
Paramount’s Done Deal, Federal Tax Credits, and More
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by Sean McNulty of The Ankler’s excellent morning newsletter, The Wakeup, to discuss some of the big stories in the news. We start with the Paramount-Skydance/Warner Bros. deal going through its final phases before approval, before heading into some discussion of the federal film tax credits (17:10), and then wrapping up with a discussion of the state of sports rights and plateauing audience numbers there (29:30).
‘Digger’ Review
Tom Cruise in Digger. (Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures) CRITICS, AT LEAST IN THE DALLAS AREA where I live, were asked to promise not to reveal plot points about Digger on social media or in their reviews.
A Bipartisan Bet on Bringing Movies Back to America
(Photo illustration by Bill Kuchman/The Bulwark | Photos: Shutterstock) A BIPARTISAN GROUP of senators and representatives unveiled a federal tax credit for the film industry on Thursday—part of a two-pronged plan to bring a majority of filmmaking back to the United States from overseas. First, the details. The bill would offer a 20 percent tax credit on compensation for individuals employed by film productions.
How ‘V for Vendetta’ Perfectly Explains Our Age
‘V for Vendetta’ (Warner Bros.) On this week’s episode, I’m joined by V for Vendetta director James McTeigue, whose film is returning to theaters on the first and fifth of November (“Remember, remember!”) via Saga Arts and Fathom Entertainment. We had a really interesting discussion both about the making of the film (I had no idea Hugo Weaving replaced another actor you may well know several weeks into production) and its continued relevance.
Letterboxd — Your life in film
If I can ramble pretentiously for a minute, I think it's worth looking at how the two RESIDENT EVIL movies are in conversation with each other and also how they reflect the evolution of the video game movie as an art form? I am reminded a bit of the history of painting.
‘Primetime’ Review
Robert Pattinson in Primetime. (Courtesy A24) THE OBVIOUS REFERENCE POINT for Primetime—Lance Oppenheim’s new film about the rise and fall of Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) and his NBC series To Catch a Predator—is Nightcrawler, Dan Gilroy’s chilling portrait of a new form of soulless news media chasing thrills and chills for cold hard cash. But as Oppenheim’s jarring feature crashes to its climax, my mind was drawn back to another, entirely different film: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
MAGA Mondays: MAGA Turns on Itself in a Spectacular Weekend Meltdown
Will Sommer and Sonny Bunch (filling in for Sam) take on Trump’s escalating war on the press, the TV networks pushing back on his White House ban, and the growing signs that even some longtime allies are getting sick of the chaos. Plus: Trump’s plan to put snipers in his giant D.C. arch, the bizarre MAGA fight over Indian Americans, Turning Point’s James Fishback problem, and the very questionable Lauren Boebert allegations. Leave a comment
From ‘The Odyssey’ to ‘Spider-Man,’ a Summer for Everyone
(Photo illustration by Bill Kuchman/The Bulwark | Photos: Sony, Universal Pictures, A24, Blumhouse, Lucasfilm, Disney) I WANT TO BRIEFLY HIGHLIGHT two podcasts here at The Bulwark that demonstrate the breadth of the summer. First up was Mona’s book club, which she was kind enough to invite me on to discuss the Odyssey, both the film by Christopher Nolan and the epic poem by Homer (as translated by Emily Wilson).
Breaking Down ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ With Its Co-writer
Tom Holland as Spider-Man in ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’ (Columbia Pictures) On this week’s episode, I’m rejoined by the one and only Chris McKenna who, alongside writing partner Erik Sommers, co-wrote the highest-grossing film of all time, domestically: Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
September Book Club: The Odyssey (w/ Sonny Bunch)
Join Bulwark+ to unlock the rest🔓 Become a paying member of The Bulwark to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. A subscription gets you: Unlimited access to articles and newsletters including The Triad by JVL and Receipts by Catherine Rampell. Ad-free editions of our shows (with transcripts) and member-only shows like The Secret Podcast. Plus community chats and commenting features.
‘Resident Evil’ Review
Austin Abrams (right) and friend in Resident Evil. (Courtesy Sony Pictures Releasing) I’VE ALWAYS HAD A SOFT SPOT for the Resident Evil movie series anchored by Milla Jovovich and (often) directed by her husband, Paul W.S. Anderson, even while recognizing that it’s not particularly good. These movies are silly and they have some amusing performances and Anderson has always had a way around a good fight scene or shoot-’em-up sequence, but no one would ever confuse them for high art.
Fear and Loathing Among the Fearful and Self-Loathing
(Photo illustration by Bill Kuchman/The Bulwark | Photos: Getty, AP, Shutterstock) NEVER BEFORE HAVE I BEEN a bigger fan of retired NBA star Dirk Nowitzki. It’s edging up toward 100 degrees, the sun is near its zenith, and several hundred of us lucky enough to attend the Republican midterm convention have been penned outside the entrance in a line snaking through a courtyard lined by shops that includes, surreally, a Tom Brady-branded outlet selling Pokémon cards.
The RNC Convention Was Basically a Trump Cult Meeting
Sam Stein and Sonny Bunch unpack Sonny’s experience covering the Republican Party’s bizarre midterm convention in Dallas where they almost didn’t let him in the arena. Sonny walks through the convention’s strange credentialing saga, the overwhelming focus on Donald Trump, and an event that seemed less like a traditional party convention and more like a celebration of Trump himself.
Tim Miller and Co: Live Coverage of Vance's Midterm Convention Speech
Join Bulwark+ to unlock the rest🔓 Become a paying member of The Bulwark to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. A subscription gets you: Unlimited access to articles and newsletters including The Triad by JVL and Receipts by Catherine Rampell. Ad-free editions of our shows (with transcripts) and member-only shows like The Secret Podcast. Plus community chats and commenting features.
Dying Inside In Dallas
One day of midterm convention down, one to go! You might have thought he got it all out of his system in his nearly two-hour ramble last night, but Donald Trump still intends to follow his vice president’s keynote with yet another speech tonight. If you don’t want to tune it out completely—and we certainly understand if you do—we’ll be live again on Substack and YouTube with convention coverage tonight. Happy Thursday.
Live Coverage of Trump's Midterm Convention Speech
This is a long one, folks! If you’re not strong enough to enduring Trump’s speech, skip to 2:07:00 for post-ordeal commentary. Join Sam Stein, Catherine Rampell, Will Sommer and Sonny Bunch for live coverage of Donald Trump's keynote address to the RNC's midterm convention. If you think Sam, Sonny, Catherine and Will deserve a little bit of compensation for their suffering, consider becoming a Bulwark+ member.
‘Hope’ Review
Hwang Jung-min (left) and Jung Ho-yeon in Hope. (Courtesy Neon) HOPE IS A MOVIE THAT’S VERY COMFORTABLE with tossing audiences into the deep end and letting them sink or swim on their own. Writer-director Na Hong-jin never feels the need to stop and explain what’s going on; this is an admirable quality in a filmmaker, albeit one that leads to some real whiplash in this particular movie.
Will Republicans Save the Film Industry?
Before we get started, a reminder that Mona and I will be talking all things Odyssey for the next book club on Wednesday, September 16, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. Here’s my prep: Reading Emily Wilson’s translation, as well as Christopher Nolan’s script, and maybe just, you know, sneaking away to see it in 70mm. That counts as work, right? I’ll run it by Sam Stein, see what he says.
A Witness to Film History
Godfrey Cheshire in August 2017. (Photo by Krista Kennell/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) This week I’m joined by Godfrey Cheshire to discuss his new book, Cheshire on Film: Life & Writings.
Trump Is BEGGING Ken Paxton to Fix His Look
Donald Trump wants Ken Paxton in the Senate, but he really wishes Paxton would do something about those ugly outfits. Trump has repeatedly praised Paxton as a loyal ally while taking bizarrely personal shots at his clothes, his appearance, and his interviews. Joe Perticone and Sonny Bunch give their takes on Trump’s obsession with how people look, the president’s apparent role as America’s new fashion police, and the truly questionable Ken Paxton fit that started it all.
Dolly Parton’s Literacy Miracle
Before we get to Dolly (RIP, Queen), I just want to highlight this week’s Bulwark Goes to Hollywood. I talked to Eriq Gardner from Puck about a pretty crazy story involving companies using spurious copyright claims to try and squelch speech. It’s . . . bad! A bad thing. And something we should definitely be wary of as challenges to free speech proliferate. I hope you’ll give it a listen.
How Copyright Law Is Being Used to Squelch Speech
This week I’m joined by Puck’s Eriq Gardner to discuss his fascinating piece on Warner Bros. efforts to keep a lid on spoilers for their new show, Lanterns, including some potential abuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s ability to remove infringing content from the Internet. We discussed what’s happening and how it could reflect a broader effort to stifle speech in contexts other than spoiler warnings. You can read Eriq’s reporting on the topic here.
‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ at 35
Edward Furlong and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. (Courtesy TriStar Pictures) Terminator 2 opens with a series of dissonant shots. The first sequence, backed by a down-tuned techno drone, is a shot of Los Angeles rush hour traffic. The present, or at least close to the present of 1991, when the film was released. Heat lines bake off the pavement. People scurry across the street.
Tim Curry, 1946-2026
Tim Curry in September 1975. (Photo by Wood/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) IN HER REVIEW of the (underseen and now practically lost through official channels1) Pass the Ammo, Pauline Kael wrote, “There has never been enough of Tim Curry onscreen.” I can barely remember the film—it was not, sadly, a basic cable classic and has never even gotten a DVD release—but I do remember Tim Curry’s wolfish grin.
‘Tony’ Review
I’m rejoining Mona for her book club to discuss the Odyssey in all its forms. From Emily Wilson’s translation to Christopher Nolan’s adaptation, there’s much to go over! We’re livestreaming it Wednesday, September 16; hope to see you there. For more details, click here. If you want to leave us a question, you can do so in the comments. And to comment, you’ll need to be a Bulwark+ member! Do that now if you haven’t already, okay? As a personal favor to me? Thanks, I really appreciate it.
Life Is a Highway: The Terror of ‘It Ends’
This week’s episode is a real treat: I’m joined by Alex Ullom, the 28-year-old writer/director of It Ends, and he provided a real window into the process of getting a low-budget indie movie made.
Disney Says No to the Lyin’ King
On a certain level, you’ve got to feel for Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.). If her brother Lindsey hadn’t died unexpectedly this year, she wouldn’t be in the Senate at all—much less running in her own right. And man, has the learning curve been brutal. In last night’s GOP primary debate, she was asked whether Taiwan and the South China Sea are national security issues for the United States. “I’m just going to be honest here.
How the FCC Is Trying to Silence Trump Critics
Brendan Carr (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) This week, I’m joined by Robert Corn-Revere. Currently the chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Corn-Revere also served as the chief counsel to the Federal Communications Commission chair in 1993 and as a counsel on important First Amendment cases that have made their way all the way to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s Kennedy Center Obsession Is Getting Embarrassing
Andrew Egger and Sonny Bunch take on Trump’s latest attempt to get his name back on the Kennedy Center, his refusal to let go of fights he’s already lost, and what his obsession with credit, legacy, and scapegoats says about a president who increasingly seems stuck doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over...
‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Review
Wile E. Coyote and Will Forte in Coyote vs. Acme. (Courtesy Ketchup Entertainment) DAVID ZASLAV AND THE REST of the bean counters at Warner Bros. tried to drop an anvil on Coyote vs. Acme in 2023 in hopes of squashing it to obtain a quick tax writeoff. But, like the Acme products featured in this live-action/animation hybrid, it missed the target, rebounded, and smacked the suits right in the face. I won’t torture this metaphor any further, but it’s worth highlighting if only because Coyote vs.
The Government Shouldn’t Pick Winners and Losers in Media
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) WHEN NEWS BROKE YESTERDAY that the Federal Communications Commission voted to allow further consolidation of local broadcast networks, few were surprised. After all, putting the brakes on ownership of the media by conservative-leaning companies like Sinclair was never in the cards for the Trump-aligned FCC or his lapdog its chair, Brendan Carr. But I do think the focus of the coverage has been ever so slightly misplaced.
Why Are Noirs Making a Comeback?
(Photo by Hou Yu/VCG via Getty Images) SEVERAL HOURS AFTER I BIT THE BULLET and bought third-row tickets for a 7:30 a.m. screening of The Odyssey in 70mm IMAX,1 the powers that be extended that film’s run in the format for another month or so, into the middle of September. So good news for those of you, like me, who had been lax in picking up tickets in the system.
‘Sugar’ Examines a Different Side of Los Angeles
Colin Farrell in Sugar. (Courtesy Apple TV) This week, I’m joined by Sugar showrunner Sam Catlin to discuss the second season of Apple TV’s underappreciated gem. If you haven’t watched the show, you should; season one is available in full and the penultimate episode of season two airs today. It’s a neo-noir with a sci-fi twist, a show about how media can shape us as people, and one of the best-acted programs on television.
‘Spider-Noir’ Review
Nicolas Cage in Spider-Noir. (Courtesy Prime Video) Spider-Man: Brand New Day is about to blow the roof off the box office, proving once again that there’s nothing quite as valuable as the goofy webslinger from Queens.
Letterboxd — Your life in film
The writers on these MCU/MCU-adjacent movies never really get the credit they're due, but over the course of four movies (and, importantly, two very different directors), screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have pretty perfectly balanced the three needs of this series: the internal Peter Parker vs. Spider-Man push-pull; the general mechanics of comic-action storytelling; and the overall worldbuilding inherent to any MCU-adjacent picture.
Trump Wanted to Kill. Then He Bombed.
By all appearances, the war in Iran is back on hold. After nearly two weeks of nightly bombing, the United States abruptly paused further strikes on Iran on Friday, ostensibly in order to create space for further peace talks. The pause reportedly came after Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine raised concerns Friday about America’s dwindling munitions stockpile. It’s all going great! Happy Monday.
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