This will be a short issue, as I’ve been working on a few longform essay projects I’ll be able to share relatively soon. In the meantime, I interviewed Jenny Odell about her new book and wrote two little movie diaries for In the Mood Magazine about the criminally underseen cannibal western Ravenous and the movie I hoped would win best picture, Tár.
65, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (in theaters)
Brought to you by the folks who made The Quiet Place, Adam Driver’s dinosaur chase flick has all the shushing and reverence for waterfalls you would expect. Miserable from the first title card, 65 has zero sense of dread or suspense. I was surprisingly disappointed by its utter lack of curiosity for both Driver’s ancient alien civilization (yup) and the Mesozoic land he encounters. Have a few thoughts on action movies where the white movie star lead has a biracial child—perhaps more on that later.
Creed III, Michael B. Jordan (in theaters)
I saw this in a uniquely pugnacious theater—a white man became annoyed by a group of Black women cheering every time Jordan took his shirt off, and their argument dissolved into literal playground nyah-nyah-nyahs—and for the first hour, I could use the distractions. After the training montage, the film really picks up, even waking up the gentleman who had been snoring next to me since minute 6. Jonathan Majors is by far one of the best antagonists in the Rocky universe, and I wish we got more of him and more fighting in general, and less of the entirely soporific Tessa Thompson kitchen sink drama.
I wanted Tar to win too, was shocked when it didn't!! Loved your piece on it. I can't wait for the Creed III training montage, they are 90% of the reason for the season. My 5 year old looked over my shoulder and saw the 65 image and yelled WHAT IS THAT! I NEED TO SEE THAT!!!!! so maybe that's the target audience.
“65” kinda sounded like “After Earth” meets any of the Pratt “Jurassic” films, so I feel validated after reading this 😂 Maybe a feathered dinosaur will appear one day. Or one of those giant prehistoric penguins 😬