The Frontier

Maya Salam defines a good-bad movie as an infectious, highly watchable film featuring absurdly over-the-top elements, which endures in pop culture despite obvious cinematic flaws.

The release of Practical Magic 2 prompted a broader cultural examination of films that are beloved despite being poorly reviewed. The sequel follows a generational curse passed down to a new generation of witches.

Maya Salam points to the 1997 disaster movie Volcano as a classic good-bad film because its absurd action beats clash with a heavy-handed, cringey metaphor about 1990s racial tension in Los Angeles.

Maya Salam argues that good-bad movies serve as a modern substitute for the lost monoculture. These films offer low-stakes water cooler debates in an era where media consumption is highly fragmented.

Gilbert Cruz argues that personal affection for good-bad movies is deeply tied to nostalgia. Audiences associate these films with specific formative moments, freezing their emotional reactions in amber.

Maya Salam champions the 1982 sequel Grease 2 as a camp classic. Despite competing with blockbusters like E.T. on its release day, the film gained a cult following for its raunchy musical numbers and over-the-top earnestness.

Gilbert Cruz highlights the 1995 film Hackers as a vibes-forward time capsule of the early internet era. Its cyberpunk fashion and unrealistic, stylized depictions of cyber warfare define its enduring appeal.

Taffy Brodesser-Ackner defends the 1997 action film Face/Off as a great-bad masterpiece of operatic, slow-motion excess. The film features Nicolas Cage and John Travolta physically swapping faces in a highly committed, absurd premise.

Taffy Brodesser-Ackner laments that Hollywood no longer produces bonkers high-concept movies designed to appeal broadly to everyone. She views the extinction of this mid-budget audacity as a tragedy for modern cinema.

Rachel Abrams watched Face/Off following her colleagues' recommendations and concluded the film is simply bad, demonstrating that the appeal of good-bad cinema remains highly subjective.

Naomi Klein defines end times fascism as a modern political movement that accepts planetary collapse and focuses on securing survival for a select elite. It differs from historical fascism because its leaders wield advanced technologies and planetary-scale weapons.

Naomi Klein argues that Donald Trump has unified a coalition of tech billionaires, Christian Zionists, and ethno-nationalists. This alliance is exemplified by political appointments like Christian Zionist Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel.

Naomi Klein claims Silicon Valley elites pivoted toward Donald Trump because of artificial intelligence's massive energy requirements. Tech leaders realize that powering AI requires fossil fuels like coal and liquefied natural gas, which Trump champions.

Astra Taylor highlights a long history of far-right ideology in Silicon Valley. She points to Peter Thiel's 2009 declaration that democracy and capitalism are incompatible, which laid the philosophical groundwork for modern tech authoritarianism.

Naomi Klein notes that a substantial portion of the American public holds apocalyptic beliefs. She cites data showing that half of all American Christians believe the world is currently experiencing the end of times.

Astra Taylor reports that local opposition to massive, fossil-fuel-powered data centers is driving citizens to town halls. In Memphis, residents are actively fighting Elon Musk's three supercomputers, which rely on polluting gas turbines.

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor advocate for the political left to build its own mythic, inclusive narratives of the future. They argue that policy lists like universal healthcare are insufficient without a shared sense of wonder and ecological stewardship.

Astra Taylor asserts that constructing a functioning multiracial democracy is inherently more difficult than building authoritarian systems. This difficulty arises because democratic projects require sharing power rather than merely seizing and centralizing control.

Naomi Klein supports international accountability mechanisms like the International Criminal Court. She argues that applying war crimes standards equally to Western and Israeli leaders, including Benjamin Netanyahu, is crucial for combating widespread public political disillusionment.

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor describe tech and political elites as traitors to creation rather than to nations or flags. They argue that unlike historical fascists, modern end times fascists offer their base no shared future, relying instead on sadism.

Dana Nelson developed chronic rhinosinusitis and stage two triple-negative breast cancer at age 33 after returning to high school near Ground Zero three weeks after the attacks. Her father also died from cancer linked to the same exposure.

The New York City government released over 170,000 documents from 68 newly discovered boxes revealing that the air around Ground Zero remained highly toxic for weeks. The files include air quality reports, internal memos, and handwritten inspector notes.

Internal reports confirm elevated levels of asbestos and benzene around Ground Zero, including multiple positive asbestos samples on building facades and roofs a half-mile away. This contradicted official public assurances that the air was safe to breathe.

Sally Goldenberg highlights a late 2001 mayoral memo warning Deputy Mayor Robert Harding of immense legal risks from advising residents to return too soon. The memo estimated that the city faced up to 35,000 potential plaintiffs.

Sally Goldenberg argues that Mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg minimized environmental risks to project national strength and quickly revive the Wall Street economy. This priority led them to withhold critical toxicological details from the public.

The Victims' Compensation Fund has paid out nearly 9,000 deceased claims, roughly triple the number of people who died on September 11. The federal government has extended the fund's filing deadline to the year 2090.

Former mayors Michael Bloomberg, Rudolph Giuliani, Bill de Blasio, and Eric Adams have deflected responsibility for the hidden toxic reports. Giuliani's representative blamed the EPA, while de Blasio and Adams claimed no prior knowledge of the boxes.

The Supreme Court blocked Missouri from using a Republican-drawn congressional map, attempting to resolve confusion from conflicting lower court rulings. However, the disputed map was already used in August primaries, forcing some nominees to change districts.

Erin Millinder and Adam Rubin underwent IVF treatments that yielded only two viable remaining embryos before their relationship collapsed. Adam Rubin revoked his consent for further transfers, prompting Erin Millinder to sue for custody of the embryos in a New York court.

Standard IVF clinic contracts fail to prevent litigation when couples sign contradictory forms. Caroline Kitchener explains that Erin Millinder and Adam Rubin signed one contract to donate embryos to research, then a second giving embryos to one unspecified party.