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Coleman Spilde

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Coleman Spilde is a senior staff culture writer and critic at Salon, specializing in film, television and music. He was previously a staff critic at The Daily Beast, and in addition to Salon, his work has appeared in Vulture, Slate, and his newsletter Top Shelf, Low Brow. He can be found at the movies.

Ocean Ramsey in "Shark Whisperer" (Netflix)

The “Shark Whisperer” doc is cold-blooded

Coleman Spilde
Allison Williams at the "M3GAN 2.0" New York Premiere on June 24, 2025 in New York, New York. (Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images)

Everyone in America is a Marnie now

Coleman Spilde
Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes in "F1" (Scott Garfield/Warner Bros. Pictures /Apple Original Films)

Brad Pitt’s hollow race to redemption

Coleman Spilde
Natasha Lyonne (Araya Doheny/Getty Images)

Natasha Lyonne’s big AI problem

Coleman Spilde
A collection of some of our staff picks. (Photo illustration by Salon / Courtesy of Netflix, Apple TV+, Darren Vargas, Penguin Random House)

The best of 2025 . . . so far

Kelly McClure, Natalie Moore, Coleman Spilde, Melanie McFarland, Hanh Nguyen, Erin Keane, Andi Zeisler, Amanda Marcotte, Bennett Taren, Alex Galbraith, Ashlie D. Stevens
Mariska Hargitay as seen in "My Mom Jayne" (Courtesy of HBO)

Mariska Hargitay unravels the truth of her famous mother’s legacy

Coleman Spilde
Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist and Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain" (Kimberly French/Focus Features)

“Brokeback Mountain” broke hearts on the big screen, and it’s back to do it again

Coleman Spilde
Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his son Spike (Alfie Williams) in "28 Years Later" (Miya Mizuno/Sony Pictures)

We all have a rage virus now

Coleman Spilde
Dakota Johnson in "Materialists" (Atsushi Nishijima)

Dakota Johnson isn’t a bad actor, she just knows how to play the game

Coleman Spilde
Tom Hiddleston as Charles "Chuck" Krantz in "The Life of Chuck" (Courtesy of Neon)

“The Life of Chuck” forces twee positivity in a time when we need it the least

Coleman Spilde
Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in "Materialists" (Atsushi Nishijima)

Don’t call it a rom-com: With wit and heart, “Materialists” transcends the tired form

Coleman Spilde
Parker Posey attends the "Party Girl" movie re-release party on April 27, 2023, in New York City. (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)

“Party Girl” spoke its own language, and made Parker Posey fluent in cool

Coleman Spilde
Cole Escola poses with their award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for "Oh, Mary!" during The 78th Annual Tony Awards on June 08, 2025. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

“Oh, Mary!” star Cole Escola manifested their Tony win the old-fashioned way

Coleman Spilde
Hassie Harrison in "Dangerous Animals" (IFC/Shudder)

Bait and switch: The long hunt for a great shark movie

Coleman Spilde
Callie Hernandez as Carrie in "Invention" (Courtesy of Courtney Stephens/Mubi)

In “Invention,” conspiracy is the glue that holds a family together

Coleman Spilde
(L to R) Mia Threapleton as Liesl, Benicio Del Toro as Zsa-Zsa Korda and Michael Cera as Bjorn in director Wes Anderson's "The Phoenician Scheme" (Courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features)

With “The Phoenician Scheme,” Wes Anderson perfects his product to cold, shiny results

Coleman Spilde
Sally Hawkins in "Bring Her Back" (Ingvar Kenne/A24)

In “Bring Her Back,” Danny and Michael Philippou work through the horror of loving too much

Coleman Spilde
Tom Cruise on the set of "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" (Paramount Pictures/Skydance)

Tom Cruise’s real “Mission: Impossible”: Save the movies, save the world

Coleman Spilde
Various old televisions play modern shows and movies (Photo Illustration by Salon / Getty Images/xavierarnau / Netflix / Elizabeth Morris/Netflix / AppleTV+ / Focus Features / Kenny Laubbaucher/Max)

There’s more film and television for you to watch than ever before — good luck finding it

Coleman Spilde
Kelly Killoren Bensimon, Luann de Lesseps, Jill Zarin, Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer and Alex McCord attend "The Real Housewives of New York City" season 2 premiere party (Gary Gershoff/Getty Images)

15 years later, “Scary Island” still sets the standard for “Housewives” chaos

Coleman Spilde
Barry Keoghan as Lee and Abel Tesfaye as a fictionalized version of himself in "Hurry Up Tomorrow" (Andrew Cooper )

“Hurry Up Tomorrow” is The Weeknd’s egomaniacal cinematic disaster

Coleman Spilde
"Overcompensating" (Jackie Brown/Prime)

In “Overcompensating,” millennial memory is made meaningful

Coleman Spilde
Couple with popcorn on the floor at the movie theater. (EVOK/R.Lauren/Getty)

Trump’s latest tariff agenda: Make movies crap again

Coleman Spilde
Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd in "Friendship" (Courtesy of A24/Spencer Pazer)

“Friendship” shouldn’t be this stressful

Coleman Spilde
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