Happy Saturday, and R.I.P. Robert Redford

Happy Saturday, all. These feel like uncertain times, but I’m choosing to embrace the positive. Helping where I can … helps, whether that’s volunteering with a local environmental group or hosting a livestream on our channel, where our community is awesome and engaged and thoughtful. Thank you for being you.

In that spirit, after I finish writing this newsletter today, I’m going to drive to Orange County to pick up this handsome gentleman that we’re going to foster. His name is Moseby, and he’s a Boston terrier mix.

The fine folks at the Boston Buddies rescue group, where we’ve adopted our last two Bostons from, posted on Instagram that Moseby needed an emergency foster home. We’d been toying with the idea of kinda-maybe-possibly getting another dog, because it’s been over a year since we said goodbye to Baxter. Moseby is 2, and came into one of the local shelters as a stray. We’re excited to meet him and get to know him, although Nic insists that he’s perfect already just from seeing him in photos. I’ll keep you posted on how he’s doing.

As for this week, here’s what we reviewed on our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel and podcast. (I am particularly proud of my intro music selection on Friday’s episode. Hope you enjoy it, too.)

• ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. This is a super-early, non-spoiler review of Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest epic. We’re planning to do a live spoiler chat on Tuesday, Sept. 30, after the film has been out for a few days, so keep an eye out for that. But for now, we hope you enjoy this discussion. And if you’re in the LA area, come see me and Alonso at CinemaWest Beach Cities before the 6pm showing on opening night — that’s Friday, Sept. 26 — on their GIANT screen. We’ll be hanging out in the lobby bar starting around 530pm. Details and tickets are available here.

• HIM. You’d be forgiven for thinking Jordan Peele wrote and/or directed this horror movie set in the world of pro football. He did not, but he did produce it. “Him” has a ton of visual style, so much so that it gets overwhelming and eventually kind of silly. But Julia Fox was ready for the assignment. In theaters.

• A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY. Extremely cringe, time-hopping, magical-realism, road-trip romance starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell. They revisit pivotal moments in their lives — and supposedly fall in love — in a rented 2004 Saturn. It’s beautiful and terrible. In theaters.

• THE BALTIMORONS. This is an unlikely romance that actually works. Jay Duplass directs this indie charmer about a improv comic with a broken tooth (co-writer Michael Strassner) and the emergency dentist who fixes it on Christmas Eve (the great Liz Larsen). Go find this. In theaters.

• MEGADOC. When Francis Ford Coppola made his long-gestating Roman Empire epic “Megalopolis,” he invited fellow filmmaker Mike Figgis to bring his camera and be a fly on the wall during production. This is that documentary. If you like process, you’ll love this. See it for the bickering between Coppola and Shia LaBeouf alone. In theaters.

• CHAIN REACTIONS. Here’s another movie about a movie: a documentary about the lasting cultural impact of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” Tobe Hooper’s 1974 horror classic. Director Alexandre O. Philippe (“Lynch/Oz”) explores the film’s influence from a variety of perspectives, from Patton Oswalt to Karyn Kusama. We enjoyed this one, too. In theaters.

• MOVIE NEWS LIVE! This was a much longer Friday livestream than usual, because there was so much to discuss: Jimmy Kimmel, Robert Redford, Taylor Swift’s latest theatrical experience, the “Anaconda” trailer and more. Join us here every Friday at Noon Pacific.

And while we’re on the subject of Kimmel — and ABC’s cowardly decision to pull his late-night talk show indefinitely under pressure from the FCC — Alonso and I are suspending our coverage of Disney and Hulu content until the corporation reinstates him. That means we’re putting our Patreon recaps of “Only Murders on the Building” on hold. And looking ahead to movies, that could include “Tron: Ares” and “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.” Allowing the government to dictate what qualifies as free speech is a dangerous precedent, and this is our small way of taking a stand against it.

Emmy-winning “Andor” writer Dan Gilroy wrote about this subject much more eloquently than I ever could. It is not lost on anyone that “Andor” — which aired on Disney+ — is literally about this exact kind of authoritarianism. Where’s Mon Mothma to deliver a rousing anti-fascist speech when we need her?

But! We are back with recaps of “The Morning Show,” now that season 4 has begun on Apple TV+. This show works best when it leans into its inherent soapiness, and this first episode definitely delivers on that front. We have several new exciting cast members in the mix this time, including Marion Cotillard, Aaron Pierre and Will Arnett, to add to the already great ensemble of Jenifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup, Greta Lee and more. Join us on Fridays for recaps all season long.

And as if this week weren’t enough, we lost an absolute legend in Robert Redford, who died at his Utah home at 89. Words like “icon” don’t feel like enough in describing Redford: He was THE movie star. Impossibly beautiful, of course, but he was telling us from his earliest days on screen that he was more serious and versatile than his looks would suggest. That became even more clear in the films he chose to direct, including “Ordinary People” and “Quiz Show,” in addition to his work in founding the Sundance Film Festival and his environmental activism. We sure could use his voice and his wisdom right about now.

We discussed Redford’s life and career here, and we’ll honor him with our October Off the Menu poll, where our Patreon subscribers will get to choose which film of his they’d like to see us review. I don’t even know how Alonso is going to narrow down the choices. There are way too many. Do we pick one film per decade? Just his work during the ‘70s? Among my favorites are “Barefoot in the Park” (1967), where he sparred wittily with Jane Fonda, “All the President’s Men” (1976), where he made the monotonous work of journalism compelling, and “All Is Lost” (2013), where it’s literally just him on a boat, wordless, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

What is your favorite Robert Redford performance? I’d love to know, and keep an eye out for our poll results.

That will do it for me this week. Thank you for being here, and for all you do to make this such a kindhearted community. If you’ve enjoyed my newsletter, I’d be honored if you’d share it with family and friends. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here (with Moseby) next Saturday.