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# Delayed Responses

A Film Blog by Leah Carlson-Downie

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.delayedresponses.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- ["Does anybody see what I see?": Some thoughts on 1776 at the Semiquincentennial](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/thoughts-on-1776-at-the-semiquincentennial/) - 1776 offers a surprisingly ambivalent perspective on the value of compromise by valorizing a character who is almost constitutionally incapable of accepting it.
- [Yes all men, even you: On the didactic aims of Obsession](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/yes-all-men-obsession-2025/) - As I watched Obsession, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that this film wasn’t for me. I am resoundingly not the target audience for its didacticism.
- [Leah's Favorite Films of 2025](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/leahs-favorite-films-of-2025/) - In an effort to make myself write more, have resolved in this new year to resurrect the old blog. So here I am with a list of my favorite films of 2025.
- [Review: Companion](https://www.delayedresponses.com/punctual-responses/companion/) - Apart from Sophie Thatcher's virtuosic performance, there's not much to recommend Drew Hancock's Companion.
- [Exploring Embodied Empathy Through Coronavirus Personal Essays, Bisbee ‘17, and Hannibal](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/embodied-empathy-bisbee-17-hannibal/) - Over the past several months, a peculiar category of personal essay cropped up all over the media landscape: the first-hand narrative of what it feels like to be ill with COVID-19. Although reported pieces about those suffering from COVID-19 and its long term effects also proliferate, the essays I’m thinking of are works of
- [Sundance Film Festival 2021 Diary: Day 4](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-2021-day-4/) - Day 4: January 31, 2021 I stayed busy on day four with six movies, a new record made possible by the increased scheduling flexibility of the on-demand second screenings. By the final movie, I had surrendered and decided to watch on my laptop in bed. (I did not fall asleep during the film, though,
- [Sundance Film Festival 2021 Diary: Day 3](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-2021-day-3/) - Day 3: January 30, 2021 Day three, and we’re still going strong. I’ve managed to increase the number of movies I can fit into my schedule day over day; today I watched five, and tomorrow I’ll be attempting six. I think my brain said, “Eight hours of sleep? During Sundance? Get outta here, watch
- [Sundance Film Festival 2021 Diary: Day 2](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-2021-day-2/) - Day 2: January 29, 2021 Welcome back! I had a successful first full day of screenings; I enjoyed three out of the four films I watched, which is a pretty good average. In the morning, I watched President (World Documentary Competition), Camilla Nielsson’s documentary about the 2018 presidential election in Zimbabwe. Nielsson follows Nelson
- [Sundance Film Festival 2021 Diary: Intro Post](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-2021-intro-post/) - We’re doing Sundance 2021 at home this year, baby! It’s going to be a little weird, and my butt will probably meld with my couch cushions by the end of the week. But I bought a pass, and I’m ready to watch as many films as I can from January 28 to February 3.
- [Your Dad Is Right: A Paean to Master and Commander (2003)](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/master-and-commander/) - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World released in the fall of 2003, at the height of Russell Crowe’s stardom. The film, based on a long-running series of novels by Patrick O’Brian, had franchise potential and a subtitle that promised sequels. Despite a strongly positive critical reception, the movie famously could not
- [Where The Fuck Are Mona Lisa's Eyebrows](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/mona-lisa-popstar-soundtrack/) - Where The Fuck Are Mona Lisa’s Eyebrows: In Conversation with Keith About the Dumbest Song on the Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Soundtrack If you’ve met either me or my husband Keith, you likely know that we’re obsessed with The Lonely Island mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016). The film spoofs the
- ["For in this world I'm bound to ramble": O Brother, Where Art Thou? at 20](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/o-brother-where-art-thou-at-20/) - I don’t remember precisely the first time I watched O Brother, Where Art Thou?. I may have caught some of it as a kid one afternoon, as my mom watched it, thinking my sister and I were busy. My mom may have let me watch the whole thing when I was still too juvenile
- [Leah's Favorite Films of 2020](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/leahs-favorite-films-of-2020/) - First things first: If you didn’t watch a single new film in 2020, I wouldn’t blame you. Last year, I had entire months where I found it very difficult to focus on anything new, let alone anything challenging. The allure of the Comfort Watch pulled strongly at all of us, and I was certainly
- [Sundance Film Festival 2021 Diary: Day 1](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-2021-day-1/) - Day 1: January 28, 2021 The festival has officially started! I kicked off my 2021 schedule with a documentary shorts program, and then in the evening I joined the premiere stream of CODA, one of the opening night selections. For context, the festival organizers have set up two types of screenings. Each movie gets
- [EXTRA: Best of 2020 Honorable Mentions and Miscellaneous Items](https://www.delayedresponses.com/extra/leahs-favorite-movies-of-2020-extra/) - If you’re interested, I’ve put together a little bonus post with my 2020 honorable mentions and other miscellaneous items. Think of it as a sort of “P.S.” to my favorites list. HONORABLE MENTIONS: While Lover’s Rock proved the standout for me, I appreciated all of the films in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology (available
- [Review: Watcher](https://www.delayedresponses.com/punctual-responses/watcher-chloe-okuno-maika-monroe/) - Watcher Directed by Chloe Okuno Starring Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman Released June 03, 2022, now playing in theaters A young woman moves to a foreign country with her husband. They arrive together, a unit, but their daily lives quickly take divergent paths. He goes to his job at a marketing firm.
- [Sundance Film Festival 2021 Diary: Day 5](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-film-festival-2021-diary-day-5/) - Day 5: February 1, 2021 On day 5, I got to play catch up with a few films I had heard excellent things about over the past few days. I started with Fran Kranz’s Mass (Premieres), one of the best-received films of the festival so far. This chamber piece features knock-out performances by Jason
- [Sundance Film Film Festival 2021 Diary: Day 6](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-2021-day-6/) - Day 6: February 2, 2021 I made it to my final full day of screenings! I’ll be catching up on a few awards winners on the official last day of the festival, and I’m also working on a short wrap up post; so keep your eye out for one more dispatch after this one.
- [I believe in softcore pornography… but isn’t that for straight dudes?](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/softcore-for-ladies-part-one/) - I believe in softcore pornography... but isn't that for straight dudes? Part One: The Discourse, erotic thriller nostalgia, and the feminist angles For the past two years, give or take, I’ve been formulating and untangling a whole mess of interrelated thoughts on the State of the Sex Scene in mainstream film and television.
- [Review: The Sea Beast](https://www.delayedresponses.com/punctual-responses/the-sea-beast-netflix-animation/) - The Sea Beast Directed by Chris Williams Starring Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator, Jared Harris Released June 08, 2022, streaming exclusively on Netflix Netflix Animation, the streaming behemoth’s in-house animation studio, has only produced a handful of films since launching in 2019 with the Christmas film Klaus. The studio’s output prior to this year
- [Review: The Princess](https://www.delayedresponses.com/punctual-responses/review-the-princess-hulu/) - The Princess Directed by Le-Van Kiet Starring Joey King, Dominic Cooper, Olga Kurylenko Released July 01, 2022, streaming exclusively on Hulu (U.S.) The Princess lays its cards on the table from the first scene. The film opens with a swooping exterior shot of a castle tower; the camera zooms through a window at
- [Review: Spiderhead](https://www.delayedresponses.com/punctual-responses/spiderhead-netflix-chris-hemsworth/) - Spiderhead Directed by Joseph Kosinski Starring Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett Released June 17, 2022, streaming exclusively on Netflix Chris Hemsworth may be one of Hollywood’s most underutilized, underappreciated stars. As Thor, Hemsworth became a household name, but the MCU is never where he’s done his best work. One doesn’t have to
- ["I'm a slave to rock and roll": Tom Cruise in Rock of Ages (2012)](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/tom-cruise-rock-of-ages-stacee-jaxx/) - It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of an electric guitar must be in want of a groupie. Or something like that. Starting a band to get a girlfriend is a time-honored tactic employed by teenaged film protagonists, after all. Even today, with rock and roll reportedly dead, the
- [Sundance Film Festival 2021 Diary: Final Day and Wrap Up](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-2021-day-7-and-wrap-up/) - Day 7: February 3, 2021 / Wrap Up Well, friends, we finally made it to the end of the festival! Before I get into my wrap up, I want to mention the three awards winners that I made time to catch up with on day seven. Animated documentary Flee (World Documentary Competition Grand Jury
- [Guest Post: Unconventional Soulmates in Sean Baker's "Starlet" (2012)](https://www.delayedresponses.com/guest-post/unconventional-soulmates-in-starlet/) - EDITOR’S NOTE: In case you didn’t catch the byline, this is a guest post! Please enjoy this piece from a writer whose work I am thrilled to feature (because I love reading her work elsewhere): Veronica Phillips. For Starlet’s twenty-something year old protagonist Jane (Dree Hemingway), conventional understandings of intimacy regarding sex, love,
- [Sundance Film Festival 2022 Diary: Days 1 & 2](https://www.delayedresponses.com/diaries/sundance-film-festival-2022-diary-days-1-2/) - It’s the last week of January, so you know what that means. I’m back with dispatches from the front of Virtual Sundance, Round 2 (aka the Sundance Film Festival 2022)! This year’s coverage of the festival won’t be quite as extensive as last year’s. I have just moved across the country–seriously, we’ve been in
- [Tra La La, Oom Pah Pah: Let's Get Drunk with the Ghost of Christmas Present](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/scrooge-ghost-of-christmas-present/) - I grew up in a movie musical-loving household, so, naturally, our yearly dose of A Christmas Carol came in the form of Scrooge, the 1970 musical interpretation of Dickens’ holiday classic. While this version is my sentimental favorite, I concede that this adaptation makes a number of baffling decisions. For one, Scrooge was an
- [Guest Post: Is Cats (2019) a Christmas Movie?](https://www.delayedresponses.com/guest-post/is-cats-2019-a-christmas-movie/) - EDITOR'S NOTE: In case you didn't catch the byline, this is the very first guest post published on Delayed Responses! Please enjoy this piece from the biggest Cats enthusiast I know, Gina Elbert. Move over, Die Hard: there’s a new controversial Christmas movie in town. That’s right, I bring to you: Cats (2019). Not your
- [A short post on laser eyes](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/laser-eyes-homelander-ikaris/) - [I rarely write about new releases, so I’m not in the habit of doing spoiler alerts at the top of my posts. BUT this post includes spoilers for Eternals. *Taylor Swift voice* Don’t say I didn’t, say I didn’t, warn ya.] Every so often, a satire or parody comes along that is so
- [I Guess I’m the Heterosexual Dream Man: On being a woman who identifies with Roy Kent](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/roy-kent-ted-lasso/) - [SPOILER WARNING: This piece discusses plot points from seasons one and two of Ted Lasso, so if you’re not totally caught up and don’t want spoilers, wait to read this until later! Also, I refer to “soccer” as “football” throughout the piece because the show's British characters do so, and calling the sport “soccer”
- [Welcome to the FANG CLUB](https://www.delayedresponses.com/extra/welcome-to-the-fang-club/) - Hello! It's my pleasure to announce that this week marks the release of the first episode of Fang Club, a new podcast dedicated to discussing vampire movies of the 21st century. My friend and co-host Bri Martin and I are so excited to share our new project with you! We've had so much fun creating
- [Not a Frog, but a Vampire: On finally understanding the sex appeal of Dominic Cooper](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-dominic-cooper/) - I don’t make it a point of pride to hate actors. If I don’t like someone’s acting, I generally keep it to myself. I much prefer to talk about things I love, and I always want to be surprised by things I thought I didn’t or wouldn’t like. But, until a few weeks ago,
- [A girl walks into a movie theater...](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/a-girl-walks-into-a-movie-theater/) - After I booked my first COVID-19 vaccination appointment, I started to let myself look forward to exactly two things. These activities, while certainly not equivalent in importance, were the two most discrete things I had been missing since last March, when the pandemic struck New York. The first thing, of course, was being able to
- [The Danton Case: Reframing History in Wajda's "Danton" (1983)](https://www.delayedresponses.com/blog/reframing-history-in-wajdas-danton-1983/) - About half an hour into Danton, Andrzej Wajda’s 1983 film about the period of the French Revolution known as the Reign of Terror, the movie’s two main players finally come face to face. Georges Danton (Gérard Depardieu) has invited Maximilien Robespierre (Wojciech Pszoniak) to a private meeting over dinner. Danton, the latest target of
- [Guest Post: "Do You Never Get Lonely?" (The Banshees of Inisherin, 2022)](https://www.delayedresponses.com/guest-post/do-you-never-get-lonely-banshees-of-inisherin/) - On April 1, 1923, Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) rejects the invitation of a 2 o’clock trip to the pub from his friend Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell). This afternoon pint is a daily ritual for the best friends. Upon hearing the surprising news, Pádraic’s sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon) jokes that “maybe he [Colm] just doesn’t

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.delayedresponses.com/)
- [About Us](https://www.delayedresponses.com/about-us/) - About The Blog Delayed Responses is Leah Carlson-Downie’s film blog. Leah enjoys watching films with other people, but she secretly dreads the moment after the film ends—the moment when her viewing companion will inevitably turn to her and ask, “So, what did you think of the movie?” She can never come up with a
- [Reviews](https://www.delayedresponses.com/punctual-responses/) - Punctual Responses Introducing Punctual Responses, a spot for film reviews! Here you'll find reviews of new releases, published in a timely manner. The main blog remains a place for longer form essays and looser musings, which is why I've dedicated a separate section of the site to reviews. We'll see how it goes.
- [Blog](https://www.delayedresponses.com/classic-blog/) - Delayed Responses The classic blog has a new, dedicated page! Here you can find my monthly posts, longer form essays, and looser musings. The Delayed Responses you know and love, in other words. This page features the most recent blog posts, but all posts are cataloged on the "Archives" page if you want to dig a
- [Contact Us](https://www.delayedresponses.com/contact-us/) - Want to subscribe? If you would like to subscribe to the blog, please fill out the Contact Form below. Include the word "subscribe" in your message! If you subscribe, you'll receive an email notification every time Delayed Responses publishes a new post as well as other relevant updates. Call For Guest Posts Do you have
- [Archives](https://www.delayedresponses.com/archives/)

## Posts

- [Attribution](https://www.delayedresponses.com/attribution/) - This site has been created with the help of many different people and companies.This site was built on a powerful, Inspirations based web builder called BoldGrid. It is running on WordPress, the most popular content management software online today. Web hosting support is provided by DreamHost. Additional functionality provided by: WP Canvas - Gallery

## Categories

- [Blog](https://www.delayedresponses.com/./blog/)
- [Guest Post](https://www.delayedresponses.com/./guest-post/) - Guest posts
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- [Diaries](https://www.delayedresponses.com/./diaries/) - Festival diaries and other time-based records
- [Reviews](https://www.delayedresponses.com/./punctual-responses/) - Timely reviews of new releases

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- [Spiderhead](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/spiderhead/)
- [The Princess](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/the-princess/)
- [The Sea Beast](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/the-sea-beast/)
- [The Banshees of Inisherin](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/the-banshees-of-inisherin/)
- [Companion](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/companion/)
- [The Ballad of Wallis Island](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/the-ballad-of-wallis-island/)
- [Black Bag](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/black-bag/)
- [Die My Love](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/die-my-love/)
- [Father Mother Sister Brother](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/father-mother-sister-brother/)
- [Frankenstein](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/frankenstein/)
- [Mickey 17](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/mickey-17/)
- [Oh Hi!](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/oh-hi/)
- [One Battle After Another](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/one-battle-after-another/)
- [Twinless](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/twinless/)
- [Wake Up Dead Man](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/wake-up-dead-man/)
- [Obsession (2025)](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/obsession-2025/)
- [1776](https://www.delayedresponses.com/tag/1776/)