The Newsletter Advertising Great Movies (But Then They Actually Live Up To The Hype)
Media Diet #75
Shownotes
I bought one of those monthly flatrates to the biggest, glossiest cinema complex near me and started going a lot more. Mostly alone. Just one of those hobbies people classify as weird things adults without kids do. Depending on how it’s brought up, the reactions range from that’s sad to omg you’re so badass. I’ve started recognizing the other regulars, same faces at different screenings. I see you, weird alone-cinema people. Depending on the day, the mood, and the movie, we all are either heartbreakingly cool (Aw yeah, Weapons, baby) or unspeakably tragic (A House of Dynamite).
Strap yourself in, this is going to be a long one.
Movies
One Battle After Another (2025, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Utterly rewarding. Humorous, laugh-out-loud funny action thrillride about a washed out revolutionary who has to save his daughter from a right-wing conspiracy cult. You can dive so deep into the form and text of PTA, but I promise this is a great watch even if you’re not „into movies“. There are critics who think this is a masterpiece and the best movie of the decade, which is debatable, sure. But I’ve yet to meet one single person who didn’t think One Battle After Another isn’t at minimum a great fucking film. ★★★★★
And not to be too self-serious and indulgent, but I also find One Battle to be in conversation with my other two favorites of the year, Weapons (2025, Zack Cregger) & Eddington (2025, Ari Aster). I’d love to get paid to dive deeper into my theory, but this is my free time, so here’s a high-level draft: All three films are at once serious and unserious, contemporary and timeless, and stretch the boundaries of what we generally define as a movie genre. A Fincher-esque detective mystery seamlessly transforms into a B-horror movie in Weapons; a talky, paranoid and anxious neo-Western / comedy about how we spent our time on screens during Covid suddenly becomes a grotesque and apocalyptical farce about conspiracy theories and Antifa charter jets in Eddington. One Battle has the tonality and style of a 70s adventure movie but throws in an absurdist, elite proto-Nazi plotline just to see if anyone will blink. And we don’t — because we do actually live in a timeline where everything that happens seems to bend reality. An implausible president! Social Media propaganda! Trump’s ballroom! Bitcoin surging! Charlie Kirk! The roaring twenties!!! Nothing, whether bizarre, ironic or truly, unfathomably unhinged, is actually impossible anymore. Baby we’re living in a time where people genuinely thought the Louvre heist was marketing promotion for the movie Now You See Me!
Phantom Thread (2017, Paul Thomas Anderson)
Made with God’s finest silk. I’m over half a decade too late to review Phantom Thread, but I need you to know that this is my favorite movie of the decade. ★★★★★❤️
Splitsville (2025, Michael Angelo Covino)
The two hottest women on the planet crashing out over the middest men I’ve ever seen. Splitsville is like a story about couples that go on Feeld. This is a compliment! It’s very funny. ★★★★
Babo (2025, Sinan Sevinç, Juan Moreno)
German documentary about the iconic rapper Haftbefehl that promised intimacy but delivered exploitation. Yes, it’s raw and personal about his cocaine addiction and the toll it’s taken on his body, mind, and career are all laid bare, but the filmmaking is so bad. Sensationalist (the editing is vile), shallow, and with zero respect for the music, for the impact he’s had on culture as a whole. There’s no attempt to interrogate how the industry, the hangers-on, and the money machine enabled his mental and physical collapse. The most heartbreaking moment comes when Hafti, clearly in crisis, drags himself to his own tribute show, muttering backstage “Zugabe, mehr Gage” (“Encore, more money for me”). The film offers no commentary on the ethics of gambling on the state of his health, of documenting a man this vulnerable, probably broke, visibly spiraling and suicidal. I wish only the best for him and his family, but this film failed him completely. ★★
Materialists (2025, Celine Song)
My love for Dakota Johnson knows no limits and I will watch every movie she’s in. Materialists isn’t as good as Past Lives (well, what movie is? Anyway Past Lives is also the best movie of the decade), and it has received lukewarm reviews and lots of criticism, but honestly? Kinda truthful depiction of a modern woman weighing her options in romance. We get taught not to settle for someone who can’t provide but then when we consider that, we get blamed for being too calculating. It was all very migrant-coded to me (the feminism has left my body 🕊️)1.
28 Years Later (2025, Danny Boyle)
I have a fundamental issue with people who “don’t watch horror.” As if good films can be neatly quarantined into one genre. As if you should be proud of limiting yourself. There are categories, gradients, whole worlds within horror, it’s not all bleak trauma porn. Saying “I don’t watch horror” is like saying “I don’t eat aubergine.” Fine, I respect that. But would you really deny yourself a Parmigiana? Where hundreds of years of flavor and culture meld into something bigger than the aubergine itself? I just think it’s funny??? how self-proclaimed foodies or design snobs turn into fussy children when it comes to movies. 28 Days Later and 28 Years Later are the Parmigiana of horror. Danny Boyle is cooking. Grow the fuck up. ★★★★ ❤️
Roman Holiday (1953, William Wyler)
I didn’t know Audrey Hepburn was the mother of tiny lesbian Berlin bangs!!! What a laugh out loud funny, very well aged blueprint for the romcom. Leaves you empty and aching, just like Rome. ★★★★★ ❤️
A House Of Dynamite (2025, Kathryn Bigelow)
After the first 30 minutes, I thought Bigelow’s newest military thriller would be an immediate top 2025 contender; after the last, I was actually ready to stomp someone’s grandmother into the ground. I hope Bigelow goes to prison for wasting Rebecca Ferguson in one of the best first acts I’ve ever seen.2 ★★★
Strange Days (1995, Kathryn Bigelow)
Kathryn Bigelow is (was?) a grand master of movie making, it just wasn’t A House of Dynamite. In order to redeem some of my respect for her, I threw in Strange Days: a grimy, electric cyberpunk thriller about racism, police violence, and the end of the world. It’s very grimy and sweaty, and I was reminded once again how sexy and unrestrained movies in the 90s used to be. It’s so Y2K, I can’t believe this isn’t in the current canon of Gen Z obsessions. ★★★★
Caught Stealing (2025, Darren Aronofsky)
My favorite genre: the nonstop, anxiety-inducing running around movie. I might be the only person who actually enjoyed Caught Stealing, mostly for its immaculate portrayal of 1998 New York. It’s got that Uncut Gems / Guy Ritchie energy, all chaos and cigarette breath, but I get why it didn’t catch on: it’s not about anything. A bleak, stylish romp where even an impeccable Austin Butler can’t quite elevate it past pure panic. ★★★
Good Boy (2025, Ben Leonberg)
I don’t care if this is a spoiler, I found the trailer very upsetting and need to tell you that the dog comes out unscathed!! That was some of the best dog acting I’ve ever seen! Give him the Palm Dog NOW (film is ok, compelling and unique concept, very low budget execution) ★★
The First Wives Club (1996, Hugh Wilson)
✨ The feminism has re-entered my body✨ . I had no idea how many memes and references stem from First Wives Club! What a stupid funny silly feel good screwball white people movie. Rest in peace, Diane Keaton. ★★★★
Lurker (2025, Alex Russell)
Can’t say it’s an enjoyable movie per se, but there were some truly skin-tingling moments in Lurker. Set in contemporary LA, about a relationship between a star and his entourage, and how far people are willing to go to stay in „in“. Now this should be classified as a horror movie. ★★★★
Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)
Much like Roman Holiday, I was very pleasantly surprised at how well Rear Window holds up - and how entertaining it is. I mean, we literally live in an era of constant surveillance. You’ve got something to say, Karen? Say it to my Tiktok audience! Lol at horny Grace Kelly doing EVERYTHING to get James Stewart to bone her while he’s trying to solve an actual murder. 3 ★★★★★
The Sting (1973, George Roy Hill)
If you enjoyed Ocean’s 11 and always thought it had a homoerotic touch, well… Robert Redford (very red lips) wakes up drunk Paul Newman (very blue eyes) by putting him in a cold shower. RIP boys ★★★★
The Shrouds (2024, David Cronenberg)
“How are you dealing with grief?” Personally, I’m suffering. I found that Cronenbergs technophobic, dystopian vision about burial, grief and loss articulated ideas about mourning that I’ve never seen or heard before. I was awed by how deep The Shrouds goes. What is loss if not a lack of touch? I know first-hand what it’s like to obsess over someone’s dead body; to think, over and over again, about the decay. About the illusion, first, that there might be foul play and conspiracy involved in their passing; then followed by disillusion, by the simple fact that no, obsessing won’t bring them back. It’s a Cronenberg movie. It will make you very uncomfortable4. ★★★★❤️
Sorry Baby (2025, Eva Victor)
A “bad thing” happened to Agnes, and life hasn’t rebooted since. Sounds like a boring indie drama. It’s not (it kinda is). Perfect tone control, real empathy, a sweet cat, lesbians, makes you laugh right when you want to cry. ★★★★❤️
The Intern (2015, Nancy Meyers)
Simultaneously a 1 star and a 5 star movie. ★★★★★❤️
YI YI (2000, Edward Yang)
Three hours of regular people in Taipei doing regular things, weddings, work, small heartbreaks, and somehow it ends up feeling cosmic. You keep waiting for something to happen, and then you clock it: This is the happening. By the end, I felt cracked open in a way I still can’t explain. It’s true what they say - YI YI is a profound experience. ★★★★
Dangerous Animals (2025, Sean Byrne)
Ok guys I’m legit crying over the fact that this is one of my favorite movies in 2025 😭 like why is this stupid shark horror film so good?? (Did not have the balls to give it 5 stars) ★★★★
The Life of Chuck (2025, Mike Flanagan)
It’s not for everyone; too earnest, too woo-woo, too willing to believe the world isn’t entirely doomed. But it got me. It’s soft, sentimental, and stupidly sincere, which feels like the most rebellious thing a film can be right now. ★★★★❤️
F1 (2025, Joseph Kosinski)
Can’t wait for everyone to hate on F1 while watching on their crusty iPhone 11s 🙄. Get outta here ★★★★
Friendship (2024, Andrew DeYoung)
This movie and its characters are all on the spectrum of social disaster. There’s like fiftyseven degrees of embarrassment stuffed into this. Too painfully and relateably awkward, and I know Craig is so inappropriate and the victim of his own weirdness, you have to hate him, but also… protect that insufferable man at all cost. Spiritually Nathan for You x I Love You, Man. ★★★★
Television
The Diplomat (Season 3) - I’m a little tired of American political dramas, but The Diplomat hits. I like a good geopolitical house fire. For a Netflix soap, it’s astoundingly addicting, even if you have to really suspend all disbelief.
What It Feels Like For A Girl - A very emotional, very real coming-of-age story about a trans girl growing up in early-2000s nowhere-England. Full of heart, sass, and nostalgia. British Y2K Euphoria.
Task - Mark Ruffalo in a miniseries that wants to be Mare of Easttown so bad. Faux-prestige all the way down, though the finale is surprisingly satisfying. I’m craving something like this, but like, actually great.
Nobody Wants This, Season 2 - Yasi Salek said it best: for a show so steeped in Jewish traditions, no one ever talks about God. I’m liking this season more; it’s finally found its comedic rhythm.
Eastern Gate - A Polish thriller that came out of nowhere and absolutely ripped.
The Hunting Wives - If Landman hinted at a right-wing tonal shift in TV, The Hunting Wives kicks the door right open. It’s the conservative fever dream of the season — and I loved every trashy, saphhic, botoxed, gun fighting minute of it.
Morning Show, Season 4 - How are they still producing the most expensive bad TV? 😭 It’s honestly like a bad crack addiction.
Slow Horses — Season 5 We’re back! A solid recovery after a disappointing fourth season. I love when Slough House gets darker, but starting with a massacre and pivoting to comedy? Weird tonal whiplash.
Reading
Guys it’s so embarrassing but I’ve only read books about running in the past couple of months, and just recently found my footing again with actual literature. For what it’s worth, I can wholeheartedly recommend Endure, which is a fascinating introduction to the capabilities of the human body (not my capabilities for sure); some accompanying literature about the state of protein bars (I’m going niche on sports I guess).
Meanwhile I’ve started reading Endling by Maria Reva, its got girl-rat lit vibe but set in contemporary Ukraine. I’m not done yet, but it’s fascinating — a sharp look at what it means to watch a war from afar when you’re the child of emigrants. That mix of guilt and distance feels painfully familiar.
I love Yasi Salek, she’s my one true idol in this world. She’s the host of Bandsplain, arguably the best podcast in the world. Here’s a portrait about her.
Music
Crushed have finally released their first album „no scope“. I don’t love when the boy sings but the rest is great.
Headache’s „Thank You For Almost Everything“, the successor to „The Heart Knows But The Head Knows The Truth“, is just as brilliant. The latter currently sits at no. 1 album of the decade for me (I change my opinion on a daily basis though, who cares).
My marathon playlist was full of really bad pop rock songs, but if you’re not running 5:45 pace to Nickelback’s Animals, then I don’t know why you’d even leave the house.
The Strange Days soundtrack and the One Battle After Another score are at the top of my discoveries.
I’m seeing Slater (random) and Turnstile (I’m in it for the merch 💅) next week.
Other
In love with Corner app, which is like Instagram, Google Maps and Pinterest all rolled into one.
Watchlistpicker for people who can’t decide what to watch. Requires a watchlist.
I’m here for Celine Song’s ongoing public processing of the throuple trauma. Between this and her upcoming My Best Friend’s Wedding remake, she’s building an entire oeuvre around “three people trying to fuck each other“. Speak your truth. ★★★★
I know a lot of people saw AHOD because it’s been trending on Netflix, so here is why I hated it: After the first act ends and the story repeats from different perspectives, we learn nothing new. Nothing of value is added. I don’t even know why the structure was necessary at all to tell the story of how powerless everyone is in such a situation. What a deflating ending.
Enjoying old movies because the setup is usually much simpler than today’s ambitious film projects. Man, woman, a couple of sidekicks. No ten timelines, no Marvel-level cast sprawl, just tight scripting, single-location suspense, and pure movie magic. Extremely healing for my attention span.
(Reception of The Shrouds was very controversial. I admit it’s a sardonic film and its style neither satisfactory to horror fans nor fans of drama, but the way it just sits on the edges of everything I find very compelling, also I laughed a lot?)