Media Diet on Sunday (#73)
The Newsletter That Exists In A Perpetual Protein Deficit
Shownotes
There’s a lot of fragile masculinity on screen today. It’s in Adolescence, it’s a recurring and tragic motive in The Pitt, and definitely in every male character of The White Lotus. Not to mention the real world as performed by protein podcasters such as Ashton Hall, who has all but proved that American Psycho1 is back.
The Man and his toxic behavior are treated with criticism and introspection right now, but I can’t help but feel like we’re watching the afterglow of stars that went out eons ago. In a tariff war, post-diversity world, I expect writer’s rooms to adapt to the cultural zag: towards more Landman, trad-wive characters, and rom-coms that endorse full body shaves.
Black Bag (2025)
Steven Soderbergh - ★★★★
Very chic in a Uniqlo sort of way - affordable, neat and with a variety of black turtlenecks. When his wife (Cate Blanchett mommy) is suspected of betraying the country, British intelligence agent George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender daddy) is forced to choose between national duty and personal loyalty. Soderbergh’s restrained direction turns a talky spy drama into a masterclass in tension. The script is perfectly cut - no excess fat, no indulgent plot twists, just a clean, crisp 90-minute burner. It’s also a movie about matching someone else’s freak by doing gourmet date nights, being unafraid of keeping secrets from each other, and ordering drone strikes.
From the category “Bad News: You Have To Put Your Phone Away For This One :(((”
Warfare (2025)
Alex Garland & Ray Mendoza - ★★★★
Ironically, Warfare features the least amount of male toxicity among today’s picks. There’s not much dialogue, so perhaps that’s why. Garland and Mendoza deliver a brutal and painfully grounded depiction of a U.S. Special Operations mission in Iraq gone wrong - essentially a 90 minute movie showing us the aftermath of an IED. Pure tension and excellent film-making. No political commentary2, no melodrama. Just men, sand, “dust and blood”. An agonizing showcase of the pointless grind of war and a great reminder to why it sucks. Has incredible sound design and needs to be seen on the biggest screen you can find, also I am deaf now.
From the category “Movies Without Women”
Bring Them Down (2024)
Dir. Christopher Andrews - ★★½
I rarely waste energy on movies I didn’t enjoy, but this one burrowed into my brain like a fucking Amazonian parasite. The problem is that the movie is pretty good, but I hated every second of the viewing experience. If you thought Warfare was hard to watch, let me tell you.. actually, I can’t specifically talk about why I hated it without spoiling an essential part of the plot. Let’s just say there’s an escalation of violence between two rivaling farmers that has dire consequences. IF you’ve seen this dreadful, dreadful movie, please let me know so we can discuss in private why it’s the most awful watch of the year. And Barry Keoghan is still playing teens even though he’s pushing 50, DOES IRELAND NOT HAVE ONE (1!) ACTOR UNDER 30
From the category “Some Beef Over Lamb”
À Plein Temps (2022)
Éric Gravel - ★★★★
Julie, a single mother of two, races through job interviews, childcare, and errands as a transit strike turns her daily routine into a gauntlet. This movie could have been a domestic drama about the heroic sacrifices of mothers, but Gravel chose to film this as a nerve-wracking thriller with a warrior protagonist. This is my Superwoman.
From the category “Your Mother From A Safdie Brother”
🍿 More Movies
The Accountant (2016 — Gavin O’Connor, ★★★½) Big dad energy / competence porn genre crossover. Can’t believe I hadn’t seen this before. An autistic military jiu-jitsu hitman? Very entertaining.
Sliding Doors (1998 — Peter Howitt, ★★½) Time travel for basic bitches. Rewatch was long overdue, does exactly what it said on the tin.
Coherence (2013 — James Ward Byrkit, ★★★★) High-concept, low-budget time-travel mind-bender that ACTUALLY REFERENCES SLIDING DOORS!!!
A Most Wanted Man (2014 — Anton Corbijn, ★★★★) PSH is a legend and an icon. Very well done slow-burn spy romp based in Germany.
Mickey 17 (2025 — Bong Joon-ho, ★★★) Tonally chaotic but fun, Mickey 17 makes Robert Pattinson stand out in every way. Don’t go in expecting Parasite though. I was very upset at the torture of the rodent baby creatures :(
📺 TV
Adolescence was quite the surprise hit for a few weeks, and rightly so. I won’t reveal too much, but I was extremely pleased with the often discussed one take filming style that leaves the audience trapped in rooms full of panic and pain in the aftermath of a tragedy. Outstanding performances and a gut-punch for any parent hoping to raise kids not brainrotted by the manosphere. An easy top 10 of 2025 for me, though The Pitt is still my number one — especially after the grandiose last act of the first season3.
The Last of Us returns to ruin our Sunday nights. Sigh. I do love my prestige drama dipped in spores and grief. Although there’s no universe where the hot straight best friend falls for the awkward lesbian like that.
Have also been watching The Studio. I have complicated feelings. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Hollywood satire is sharp, smart, and packed references for people who listen to The Town. Insane production value. But the whole series dissects the industry - so far - without mentioning streamers and AI gutting Hollywood’s business? Hard to criticize when your paycheck says AppleTV+. Also, it’s not that funny.
You know what’s funny? Hacks!!! Way better references to showbiz, anyway.
As for my late review of the White Lotus finale: I’d say all the season’s flaws were worth it if just for Saxon and the Chekov’s Handjob plot. A perfect character study with a very satisfying arc. Unfortunately, I didn’t care for much of the rest.
📖 Reading
Two picks about Berlin. Start with Vincenzo Latronico’s „Perfection“, a very short observational novella about a Southern European couple that moves to Berlin and lives there as gentrifying expats. It’s giving La Maison memes for people who read the feuilleton.
For those more interested in the coming of age genre, I highly recommend Aria Aber’s story „Good Girl“. While I found her prose (she’s a native German with Afghan heritage who wrote her novel in English) somewhat annoying, the richly detailed world of Berlin and the historical backdrop of living in a Germany haunted by right-wing terror, micro-aggressions and racism really pulled me in. But it’s worth picking up even if you’re just curious about what it’s like to party with a middle aged artist / loser boyfriend who likes to hear himself talk.
There were other Afghans—more-modern ones—whose houses we sometimes went to after weddings or funerals, in cities like Wuppertal or Hamburg, and the girls spoke about having boyfriends in front of their fathers. I left those meetings confused and hurt by my circumstances, and my wounds were infected further and further, and out came a riotous feeling of anger.
🎧 Hearing
I’ve been dabbling in some Lorde since she came out as masc at Coachella. There’s a weird dissonance between how she performs and what she sounds like - I might like the former more than the latter.
Apart from that, I’m still firmly stuck with Sleep Token, who are as orchestral and dramatic as Imaging Dragons but for the metal genre4.
Plus: the rare German gem, Junge Arbeiter rap brooding verses over atmospheric electronic beats. I find their style extremely gentle and vulnerable without the usual corniness of (South) German rap.
🦑 Post-Script
Recession Indicator Memes; Say One More Thing, an email that could or could not be sent; The thing about Europe: it’s the actual land of the free now (is it?); Dark Mode Shift (recession vibes, but also broader social trends like nihilism, hustle culture and grief in the face of systemic regression). Stop doomscrolling - go touch some grass. Antinote, which is just a note app for Mac. Parker’s Obsessed With This Movie, But She Cannot Find It.
Who are the victims of hustle culture? When you’re so busy building your brand and chiseling your body, who’s taking care of your friends? Who’s showing up for your community? Are all those men with their performance plans and their drop-shipping advice not just… the evolution of the Incel? Voluntary celebate, but from society. A horror that wakes up at 4 AM with mouth tape and dressed in athleisure… More politically troubling though might be the bootstrap mentality baked into the manosphere, this ascetic dogma of “only you can make it happen through hard work”, a straight shot down the Wellness-To-MAGA pipeline.
While any war movie is inherently political, the critique here is outside of the text. I’ve read some reviews that describe Warfare as military propaganda. I honestly don’t see how you could come to that conclusion. Iraq was a mad, tragic and absolutely pointless chapter of American interventionism, and Warfare treats it exactly as such by focusing on the agony rather than any Homerian acts of soldiers. This is why the ensemble cast and the procedural first act are so important. What is war if not young men sitting around, waiting to die?
Adolescence was a great binge indeed, but an exception: I’m a network model girlie 💅. Weekly episodes, long seasons, returns every year like God intended.
That’s almost more embarrassing than actually listening to Imagine Dragons.