I am Jay Kelly’s #1 hater

Let’s call this awards week, and it is continuing with the AFI Awards honoring the ten best movies and TV shows of 2025, plus It Was Just An Accident received the AFI Special Award. You can see the full list of honorees here, but I have to say, including the thoroughly mediocre Jay Kelly is laughable. I’ll let you get away with Wicked and Avatar, I’m too lazy to die on those hills. But Jay Kelly? JAY KELLY? I will fight you. I will say you have bad taste. I will start rumors that you got a really good fruit basket from Netflix. Jay F-cking Kelly?????

The AFI Awards was held today in Los Angeles, a lunchtime event. Attendees include Train Dreams’ Joel Edgerton, Bugonia’s Emma Stone, Sinners’ Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Caton, Hamnet’s Jessie Buckley, Gwyneth Paltrow for Marty Supreme, looking so bored I wonder why she even bothers, George Clooney turned up for Jay Kelly (booo), Wicked brought out Ariana Grande and Jeff Goldblum, and Frankenstein’s Jacob Elordi.

On the TV side, Rhea Seehorn showed up for Pluribus, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, and Adam Scott were in attendance for Severance, Kathryn Hahn came out for The Studio, Rufus Sewell and Keri Russell turned up for The Diplomat, and Ethan Hawke wore a fun suit on behalf of The Lowdown.

Comedy guys Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler were also there. Adam Sandler’s Jay Kelly run is the least annoying part of that movie, because he was legitimately good in it. So good the movie should just have been about his character, and Jay Kelly should have been a supporting, or even cameo, part. The weird thing is that acting-wise, Adam Sandler is probably a better dramatic actor than Seth Rogen, but The Studio is leagues better than Jay Kelly, so Rogen is getting the benefit of the doubt while Sandler is still working to get people to take him seriously.

But never mind Jay Kelly, he’s embarrassing. Let’s talk about Keri Russell. She has been on a solid style run lately. I have never felt she really does too much in that arena—she always looks beautiful, but rarely am I citing her for fashion—but I think lately she’s really been killing it. Her black ensemble for AFI is appropriate for a daytime, non-televised event, but then she turned around and I upgraded the whole outfit. Back reveal!

You know who needs to star in something together? Keri Russell and Kathryn Hahn. It would be the opposite of Jay Kelly (read: good).

For more photos from the event, click here and here.

What else happened today…

Popsugar has a 2026 reading challenge, if you’re looking for some book-spiration. In my liminal space break, I read The Unfinished Palazzo by Judith Mackrell, about three women who owned the same Venetian palazzo through the 20^th century, and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, a cozy murder mystery by Alan Bradley, about a British girl with an interest in poison solving a murder on her family’s crumbling English estate. There are two more books in the series, I can’t wait to read them. (Popsugar)

Another awards week event, Chanel hosted a dinner. What is their company dinner budget! I might like work more if I got constant free, luxe meals. Also, another good turnout from Keri Russell. The glasses! (Go Fug Yourself)

People are wondering if Timothee Chalamet can break the Academy’s “curse” and become a Best Actor winner at 30, which would make the second-youngest Best Actor winner ever (Adrien Body is the youngest at 29 when he won for The Pianist). It’s not a curse, it’s the Academy being weird about handsome young men because there is a not insubstantial bloc of male voters who like to vote for women they want to f-ck and men they want to be. That’s why Best Actress is often a stunning ingenue, and Best Actor is a rugged, all-American man. Not a curse, just weird!

That said, in the mailbag I used Marty Supreme as a case study for what makes a hit movie in 2025/26. I do want to point out, though, that while the movie is not bombing, it’s also not doing as well as the headlines would have you believe. This is the opposite of the weird reporting about Sinners, which was a legit box office smash. Variety, the source of so much Sinners weirdness, is calling Timothee Chalamet the “king of Christmas box office” because Marty Supreme opened…in third place. Again, not bombing, but not a smash. It’s doing fine. Between acceptable box office, merch sales, and trophies, the film will come out ahead, but let’s not pretend like it blew the doors down, which Sinners actually did. Anyway! Much to think about! (Celebitchy) 

One year after the Eaton and Palisades fires began in Los Angeles, reflections from those in the restaurant industry devastated by the loss of locations, revenue, and community. I really hope these restaurateurs can come back. The food scene in LA was already challenging enough, and so many iconic restaurants were lost (RIP Reel Inn). Food is community, though, so hopefully as Altadena and Pacific Palisades rebound, so will their restaurants. (Eater)