David Sims: The Atlantic’s Culture Critic Who Shapes How America Watches Movies

David Sims has spent the last twelve years at The Atlantic writing about culture in a way that refuses easy answers. As a staff writer covering film, television, comedy, video games, and broader pop culture trends, he has established himself as a critic willing to interrogate not just what Hollywood makes, but what those choices reveal about the moment we're living through.

Before joining The Atlantic in 2014, Sims worked as a critic at The A.V. Club and as a staff reporter covering education and local politics for The Chief-Leader, a New York City newspaper. That background in journalism outside the entertainment bubble informs his approach to criticism—he treats cultural products as artifacts worthy of serious analysis rather than simple consumer recommendations.

At The Atlantic, Sims has developed a critical lens that moves beyond plot summary or star ratings. In recent reviews, he has examined how blockbuster success reflects cultural anxieties: analyzing Christopher Nolan's IMAX ambitions, dissecting the failures of corporate franchise filmmaking, and exploring what contemporary horror cinema says about collective consciousness. When he reviewed Kane Parsons's Backrooms, for instance, he framed it not as a standard film review but as an investigation into how internet culture materializes on screen.

Beyond his byline at The Atlantic, Sims co-hosts the Blank Check podcast, a long-form conversation series about cinema that has developed a substantial following among film enthusiasts and industry insiders. The podcast format allows him space to think through ideas about filmmaking, directorial vision, and cultural impact in ways that traditional criticism sometimes cannot.

What distinguishes Sims's work is a resistance to both cynicism and hype. He does not dismiss entertainment as unworthy of serious thought, nor does he elevate mediocrity because it arrives with studio backing. Instead, he examines the relationship between what gets made, what gets promoted, and what audiences actually want—a gap that has widened considerably in recent years as theatrical cinema competes with streaming platforms and algorithm-driven content.

His criticism also reflects awareness of who controls cultural production. When reviewing recent DC Universe installments or Pixar sequels, Sims does not treat these as isolated creative choices but as products of institutional decision-making. This perspective—viewing culture through both artistic and structural lenses—has made him a reference point for readers trying to understand why Hollywood is making what it makes.

For a publication founded in 1857, The Atlantic's culture section has always mattered. But in an era when entertainment criticism has fragmented across platforms and algorithms, having a single writer who commands attention through sustained analytical work offers something increasingly rare: a coherent critical voice that readers can trust to think rather than simply react.