Latest news with #MagazineDreams
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meagan Good Says Married Life with Husband Jonathan Majors Is ‘Amazing': ‘It's Me and Him Against the World' (Exclusive)
Meagan Good and Jonathan Majors are blissfully in love. While speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the NBCU Emmy Kick-Off Luncheon at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills on Friday, April 11, the Harlem actress, 43, gave an update on how life has been since marrying the Magazine Dreams star, 35. Good says that newlywed life is 'amazing,' but admits things do 'feel different' after taking their relationship to the next level. 'It's immense what it already is. When two people come together, they make the same choice and the same commitment,' she tells PEOPLE, adding that the other person is 'making the same decision as you.' 'And there's just something really beautiful about [it].' While promoting Magazine Dreams on Sherri in March, Majors confirmed that he and Good secretly tied the knot after being first linked in May 2023. Related: Jonathan Majors Says Wife Meagan Good Lost Jobs and 'Got Uninvited to Stuff' Because of Their Relationship Speaking to PEOPLE about their relationship on Friday, Good says, 'I already felt like I had my person, I know it's me and him against the world, whatever it may be.' The Divorce in the Black star also calls Majors her 'best friend.' 'And I enjoy him so much,' she adds. Good tells PEOPLE, 'I learned so much from him. But I think being husband and wife, you take on a different kind of partnership. And I think that while the commitment might already be there, it's a different type of commitment because it's lifelong, no matter what I'm riding with you [until] the wheels fall off.' Additionally, the Think Like a Man actress says she feels like marriage is 'also a commitment to being our best selves.' She notes that there can always be challenges associated with relationships, whether 'it's your children or your parents or your siblings,' and that in 'some way, shape or form, you're a part of each other, you grew up somewhere within the same atmosphere or experience.' 'But when you choose someone who has grown up in a different place, has different siblings, a different life experience, you guys may be very similar, but you also might be very different,' Good says. "The choice to love that person in all seasons, which as most of us know, it goes up and down and all around. But the choice to love that person is learning what is [as] close to how God loves us as possible. It's an unconditional love where there are no conditions.' Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. She clarifies that she won't deal with 'something crazy,' telling PEOPLE, 'but beyond that, what is challenging you to understand is how loved you are, what you deserve, and how much God loves you.' 'There's a reflection of that love in marriage because of the level of commitment,' Good says. Good was previously married to pastor DeVon Franklin, whom she finalized her divorce from in June 2022. Majors was found guilty of two counts of misdemeanor assault and harassment in December 2023 and sentenced to complete one year of an "in person batterers" intervention program in April 2024. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New movies streaming this weekend: 'Novocaine' and 'Magazine Dreams' are now available on digital and on-demand
It's an exciting weekend of new releases to watch at home, including a few on streaming services you might already be paying for. Action-comedy Novocaine starring Jack Quaid, which is as gory as it is funny, is now available at home, as is Magazine Dreams, a buzzy movie that earned praise out of 2023's Sundance Film Festival before it was delayed following its leading man's arrest on domestic violence-related charges. There's also In The Lost Lands, the latest action film from husband-and-wife duo director Paul W.S. Anderson and star Milla Jovovich, adapted from a short story by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin. On Hulu, a pair of underrated and under-seen flicks are now streaming: the darkly twisted Magpie, starring Daisy Ridley, and Small Things Like These, an adaptation of the book of the same name starring Cillian Murphy, in a performance that may best his award-winning turn as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Here's what to know about the movies newly available to stream as of this week and where you can find them. Click on the links below to jump straight to a specific movie:You may recognize Jack Quaid, the son of actors Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, from the hit Prime Video series The Boys. Maybe you know him from Scream 5 or Companion, but either way, the actor is having a moment. Novocaine is an action-comedy star vehicle for Quaid, with a high-concept premise that the movie thankfully lives up to: Nathan Caine is incapable of feeling physical pain. When Sherry (Amber Midthunder), the girl of his dreams, is kidnapped, he turns this rare physical condition into an unexpected advantage to rescue her. The movie is at its most charming and effective in its setup as we watch Nathan fall for Sherry. The two have terrific chemistry, and the romantic elements work far better than you'd expect for a movie that also features people getting killed in some of the most disgusting ways imaginable. It's an exciting blend of action, comedy and gross-out gore that also gets a laugh with the sheer audacity of the violence. Ray Nicholson, son of Jack Nicholson, is appropriately scary as the villain. It's worth a watch for anyone who's not too squeamish — but take that warning seriously, as things do get pretty nasty! Novocaine is now available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and other video-on-demand platforms. Rent or buy Magpie is 'based on an original idea by Daisy Ridley.' By the end of the film, you're likely to be tickled that she's the one that dreamed up this surprising and twisty piece of pulp entertainment. A father chaperones his daughter, who is co-starring in a film with a popular actress, to the set of the movie while his wife is at home with their newborn baby. He soon finds himself falling in love with the actress. It's a tongue-in-cheek psychological thriller of sorts, full of tension brewing between its characters. It's an unexpectedly salacious piece of work that has fun toying with the audience's expectations if only so they can pull the rug, so to speak, and make everyone gasp with a reveal. It works! Magpie is now streaming on Hulu. Stream on Hulu Jonathan Majors is undeniably very good in Magazine Dreams, a movie that isn't quite as strong as its central performance. It's about an aspiring bodybuilder struggling to find human connection in the world. Nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of superstardom, not even the doctors who warn him of the permanent damage he causes to himself with his quest to achieve greatness. It would be easy to compare the movie to something akin to Taxi Driver or The King of Comedy (or Joker, which itself was heavily inspired by those two Martin Scorsese pictures), but where it lands is more like a feature-length version of Eminem's music video for 'Stan,' a work so well known that the song title is now a slang term. It's a fascinating exploration of celebrity worship and how average people, or especially people who may have mental issues, can get caught up in that world. Majors really sinks into the role, which is sadly rendered a bit uncomfortable by real-life allegations that hew closely to the aggression exhibited by his character. It's a terrific performance in a movie that has its moments but ultimately doesn't feel true to its central character by the end. Magazine Dreams is now available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and other video-on-demand platforms. Rent or buy Small Things Like These is about as quiet as movies can be; it's a film entirely focused on an internal struggle its lead character is facing. It stars Cillian Murphy, who's able to convey worlds of meaning with simply a look, as his character doesn't say much. In 1985, while working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill Furlong (Murphy) discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers truths of his own, forcing him to confront his past and the silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church. It's a simple movie about a good man trying to do his best, and Murphy is able to bring that depth of feeling to a mostly interior performance in such a captivating way; it's a shock he didn't get back-to-back nominations. Small Things Like These is a masterclass in small-scale drama, underplaying nearly every moment to the point where it somehow coalesces into an impactful emotional wallop. Small Things Like These is now streaming on Hulu. Stream on Hulu In the Lost Lands is, in a word, insane. Using more words, it's a post-apocalyptic Western in which Milla Jovovich stars as an omniscient witch, and Dave Bautista plays a bounty hunter she teams up with to journey into dangerous territories on a job hunting down a shape-shifting werewolf for a power-hungry queen. It's got the palace intrigue of Game of Thrones, the wackiness of something like the Wachowskis' 2015 movie Jupiter Ascending and the pure genre expressionism that action fans and director Paul W.S. Anderson enthusiasts have come to appreciate in his work. It also features digital backgrounds like any number of major action blockbusters these days, but they're rendered using Unreal Engine, which is typically for video games. It gives the movie a strikingly uncanny feel that looks more compelling than, say, the computerized landscapes in Marvel fare. If you read any of this and go, 'That sounds awesome,' you must check it out. If you rolled your eyes, stay far away; this wild ride is not for you! In the Lost Lands is now available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and other video-on-demand platforms. Rent or buy
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New movies streaming this weekend: 'Novocaine' and 'Magazine Dreams' are now available on digital and on-demand
It's an exciting weekend of new releases to watch at home, including a few on streaming services you might already be paying for. Action-comedy Novocaine starring Jack Quaid, which is as gory as it is funny, is now available at home, as is Magazine Dreams, a buzzy movie that earned praise out of 2023's Sundance Film Festival before it was delayed following its leading man's arrest on domestic violence-related charges. There's also In The Lost Lands, the latest action film from husband-and-wife duo director Paul W.S. Anderson and star Milla Jovovich, adapted from a short story by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin. On Hulu, a pair of underrated and under-seen flicks are now streaming: the darkly twisted Magpie, starring Daisy Ridley, and Small Things Like These, an adaptation of the book of the same name starring Cillian Murphy, in a performance that may best his award-winning turn as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Here's what to know about the movies newly available to stream as of this week and where you can find them. Click on the links below to jump straight to a specific movie:You may recognize Jack Quaid, the son of actors Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, from the hit Prime Video series The Boys. Maybe you know him from Scream 5 or Companion, but either way, the actor is having a moment. Novocaine is an action-comedy star vehicle for Quaid, with a high-concept premise that the movie thankfully lives up to: Nathan Caine is incapable of feeling physical pain. When Sherry (Amber Midthunder), the girl of his dreams, is kidnapped, he turns this rare physical condition into an unexpected advantage to rescue her. The movie is at its most charming and effective in its setup as we watch Nathan fall for Sherry. The two have terrific chemistry, and the romantic elements work far better than you'd expect for a movie that also features people getting killed in some of the most disgusting ways imaginable. It's an exciting blend of action, comedy and gross-out gore that also gets a laugh with the sheer audacity of the violence. Ray Nicholson, son of Jack Nicholson, is appropriately scary as the villain. It's worth a watch for anyone who's not too squeamish — but take that warning seriously, as things do get pretty nasty! Novocaine is now available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and other video-on-demand platforms. Rent or buy Magpie is 'based on an original idea by Daisy Ridley.' By the end of the film, you're likely to be tickled that she's the one that dreamed up this surprising and twisty piece of pulp entertainment. A father chaperones his daughter, who is co-starring in a film with a popular actress, to the set of the movie while his wife is at home with their newborn baby. He soon finds himself falling in love with the actress. It's a tongue-in-cheek psychological thriller of sorts, full of tension brewing between its characters. It's an unexpectedly salacious piece of work that has fun toying with the audience's expectations if only so they can pull the rug, so to speak, and make everyone gasp with a reveal. It works! Magpie is now streaming on Hulu. Stream on Hulu Jonathan Majors is undeniably very good in Magazine Dreams, a movie that isn't quite as strong as its central performance. It's about an aspiring bodybuilder struggling to find human connection in the world. Nothing deters him from his fiercely protected dream of superstardom, not even the doctors who warn him of the permanent damage he causes to himself with his quest to achieve greatness. It would be easy to compare the movie to something akin to Taxi Driver or The King of Comedy (or Joker, which itself was heavily inspired by those two Martin Scorsese pictures), but where it lands is more like a feature-length version of Eminem's music video for 'Stan,' a work so well known that the song title is now a slang term. It's a fascinating exploration of celebrity worship and how average people, or especially people who may have mental issues, can get caught up in that world. Majors really sinks into the role, which is sadly rendered a bit uncomfortable by real-life allegations that hew closely to the aggression exhibited by his character. It's a terrific performance in a movie that has its moments but ultimately doesn't feel true to its central character by the end. Magazine Dreams is now available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and other video-on-demand platforms. Rent or buy Small Things Like These is about as quiet as movies can be; it's a film entirely focused on an internal struggle its lead character is facing. It stars Cillian Murphy, who's able to convey worlds of meaning with simply a look, as his character doesn't say much. In 1985, while working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill Furlong (Murphy) discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers truths of his own, forcing him to confront his past and the silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church. It's a simple movie about a good man trying to do his best, and Murphy is able to bring that depth of feeling to a mostly interior performance in such a captivating way; it's a shock he didn't get back-to-back nominations. Small Things Like These is a masterclass in small-scale drama, underplaying nearly every moment to the point where it somehow coalesces into an impactful emotional wallop. Small Things Like These is now streaming on Hulu. Stream on Hulu In the Lost Lands is, in a word, insane. Using more words, it's a post-apocalyptic Western in which Milla Jovovich stars as an omniscient witch, and Dave Bautista plays a bounty hunter she teams up with to journey into dangerous territories on a job hunting down a shape-shifting werewolf for a power-hungry queen. It's got the palace intrigue of Game of Thrones, the wackiness of something like the Wachowskis' 2015 movie Jupiter Ascending and the pure genre expressionism that action fans and director Paul W.S. Anderson enthusiasts have come to appreciate in his work. It also features digital backgrounds like any number of major action blockbusters these days, but they're rendered using Unreal Engine, which is typically for video games. It gives the movie a strikingly uncanny feel that looks more compelling than, say, the computerized landscapes in Marvel fare. If you read any of this and go, 'That sounds awesome,' you must check it out. If you rolled your eyes, stay far away; this wild ride is not for you! In the Lost Lands is now available to rent or purchase on Prime Video and other video-on-demand platforms. Rent or buy
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jonathan Majors Is Looking for Redemption. Will He Find It?
The athlete's physique is both a marvel and a weapon. Witness Killian Maddox, a bodybuilder whose formidable muscles gleam under golden light. He is a violent man—some might even say 'disturbed'—whose chosen profession leads him to use performance-enhancing drugs that further amplify his aggression. Maddox does not make vague threats toward people who run afoul of him. Instead, he specifically tells them that he will split their skull apart and drink their brains like soup—a promise he makes twice over the run of Magazine Dreams, a new movie by the writer-director Elijah Bynum. For much of the film, Maddox, who is played by Jonathan Majors, does not seem capable of acknowledging his capacity for violence. This dismissive attitude would be unnerving in any dramatic character study, but unlike earlier cult classics about angry men in search of belonging, Magazine Dreams comes with a different context. The movie has been mired in controversy since shortly after it first debuted to a standing ovation and positive reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023, when Majors was a rapidly rising star. Two months later, he was arrested and charged with assault and harassment following a dispute with his then-girlfriend, the actor Grace Jabbari. Majors denied the allegations, but Magazine Dreams was dropped by its original distributor amid the fallout. And within the year, a jury had found him guilty on two of four charges—one harassment violation and one misdemeanor assault charge. The Magazine Dreams release seemed uncertain until last October, when it was acquired by Briarcliff Entertainment, the distributor behind the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice. Ahead of the movie's delayed release, Majors has attempted to re-ingratiate himself with Hollywood decision makers and the viewing public, dominating the Magazine Dreams press run with interviews that emphasize his personal growth. The PR blitz draws attention to an uncanny parallel with his character. Magazine Dreams is a film about a man who constantly puts himself on display for others to judge: All Maddox wants is to be the best bodybuilder alive. But sheer athleticism won't turn him into a celebrity, and his demeanor doesn't endear him to people—Majors plays Maddox as a sullen and tightly wound outcast whose environment shapes his isolation. The athlete is not just socially inept; in several scenes, he either deliberately misleads or aggresses people who do attempt to engage him. Whereas the character fails to earn the admiration of those around him, the embattled actor is trying to prove that he can do it successfully in real life. The Magazine Dreams press run has seen Majors portraying himself as a flawed but fundamentally good man who can transcend his past misbehavior. Several high-profile celebrities have come forward to say that they have faith in him as an actor and a man; in interviews, Majors has spoken about leaning on religion, and he sports a new tattoo that reads rebirth. And a week before the film's theatrical release, The Hollywood Reporter published a cover story in which Majors was asked what he would say to entertainment-industry figures now, as he looks to rebuild a once-promising career. 'I would tell them I'm still learning,' the actor said, 'and I would thank them for participating in my growth.' [Read: Tár has an answer to art's toughest question] Although some of these features do quote dissenting voices, the stories have largely positioned Majors as a fallen man who just might deserve to reclaim his mantle—someone who, perhaps, has suffered enough already. If this redemptive rhetoric feels familiar, it's because several other men have tried to stage industry comebacks using similar language. 'They're using all the hot-button words,' one crisis-communications consultant said of Majors's team in an interview with New York magazine. A supporting cast of women has also helped burnish Majors's image, in part by reinforcing the actor's view of himself as an important pillar of the Black community—the kind of charismatic male leader we all need. Majors has repeatedly denied any allegations of violence against women, but last month, Rolling Stone reported on an audio recording in which Majors appears to admit to strangling Jabbari. When asked by Complex how he felt about the audio emerging so close to the film's release, Majors defaulted to platitudes: 'There were vibrations, reverberations, same as everything before,' he said. 'But I was happy I'd done my work. I was happy I'd done my work.' The spectacle of Majors's redemption tour has certainly overshadowed the work of the Magazine Dreams creative team and crew, as well as that of the rest of the cast. Ironically, the film is at its most compelling when it explores the deadly implications of male entitlement. The question that hangs over the screenplay is not if Maddox's desolation will metastasize into violence, but when. Maddox struggles to connect with nearly everyone around him, especially women: When other characters ask him about himself, he either becomes tongue-tied, deflects the questions, or responds with an overwhelming barrage of information. A date with his grocery-store co-worker, a cheerful young white woman who seems genuinely interested in him, ends on a sour note after he scares her off with an eerily matter-of-fact description of his parents' deaths. (Maddox's father killed his mother, and then himself.) Two uneasy sexual encounters leave him even more adrift: In one of them, a Black sex worker chastises Maddox for kissing her; the woman's contempt, coupled with his own steroid-induced erectile dysfunction, induces palpable shame. Before the scene abruptly ends, it feels fraught with the clichéd possibility of Maddox unleashing his rage on the woman. As the story progresses, we watch as rejection or perceived disrespect plunges Maddox further into a spiral that seems destined to end with bloodshed, whether realized or simply threatened. Magazine Dreams is not always deft or subtle in its approach, but it does attempt to seriously dig into weighty, complicated material. And yet, Majors's press run suggests a distance between the actor and some of the film's core elements—a blind spot that distracts from the work itself. In an interview with Variety, Majors responded to a comment about Maddox's crushing solitude and the on-screen violence by asking where the reporter sees violence in the film. (There are several such scenes in Magazine Dreams, and some involve Majors's face and body being covered with blood; after the journalist cited some, Majors clarified that he believes audiences have the right to perceive art as they see fit.) As Magazine Dreams progresses, Maddox descends further into his antisocial tendencies and grows more destructive. Majors has argued that this kind of behavior stems primarily from loneliness: In the Variety interview, he said that society uses 'positive-sounding attributes' such as 'lone wolf' and 'Alpha male' to describe toxic masculinity, making it difficult for men—once they are on their own—to 'get back without help.' But Magazine Dreams doesn't revolve around a character who's simply been abandoned by nearly everyone. The film depicts a man whose ego isolates him and prevents him from forging genuine bonds—who pushes people away with his obfuscation, lies, and single-minded pursuit of fame through physical strength. Even before he commits any violence, Maddox conveys an inability to see himself as more than his body, or to accept any response from the outside world but praise. In that sense, the question of separating Majors, or his conviction, from the movie he headlines feels like a moot one. For some viewers with knowledge of his off-screen reputation, watching Majors radiate quiet hostility in Magazine Dreams may already make the all-consuming performance difficult to evaluate in a vacuum. And even for those who might be able to separate art from artist, the actor's seeming lack of introspection about how violence is threaded through his film is an artistic failing. No training regimen can compensate for that. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
Jonathan Majors Is Looking for Redemption. Will He Find It?
The actor wants back in the industry's good graces, but his new movie, Magazine Dreams— and the surrounding press tour—isn't enough. Illustration by Paul Spella / The Atlantic; Source: Unique Nicole / Getty. April 4, 2025, 10:01 AM ET The athlete's physique is both a marvel and a weapon. Witness Killian Maddox, a bodybuilder whose formidable muscles gleam under golden light. He is a violent man—some might even say 'disturbed'—whose chosen profession leads him to use performance-enhancing drugs that further amplify his aggression. Maddox does not make vague threats toward people who run afoul of him. Instead, he specifically tells them that he will split their skull apart and drink their brains like soup—a promise he makes twice over the run of Magazine Dreams , a new movie by the writer-director Elijah Bynum. For much of the film, Maddox, who is played by Jonathan Majors, does not seem capable of acknowledging his capacity for violence. This dismissive attitude would be unnerving in any dramatic character study, but unlike earlier cult classics about angry men in search of belonging, Magazine Dreams comes with a different context. The movie has been mired in controversy since shortly after it first debuted to a standing ovation and positive reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023, when Majors was a rapidly rising star. Two months later, he was arrested and charged with assault and harassment following a dispute with his then-girlfriend, the actor Grace Jabbari. Majors denied the allegations, but Magazine Dreams was dropped by its original distributor amid the fallout. And within the year, a jury had found him guilty on two of four charges—one harassment violation and one misdemeanor assault charge. The Magazine Dreams release seemed uncertain until last October, when it was acquired by Briarcliff Entertainment, the distributor behind the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice . Ahead of the movie's delayed release, Majors has attempted to re-ingratiate himself with Hollywood decision makers and the viewing public, dominating the Magazine Dreams press run with interviews that emphasize his personal growth. The PR blitz draws attention to an uncanny parallel with his character. Magazine Dreams is a film about a man who constantly puts himself on display for others to judge: All Maddox wants is to be the best bodybuilder alive. But sheer athleticism won't turn him into a celebrity, and his demeanor doesn't endear him to people—Majors plays Maddox as a sullen and tightly wound outcast whose environment shapes his isolation. The athlete is not just socially inept; in several scenes, he either deliberately misleads or aggresses people who do attempt to engage him. Whereas the character fails to earn the admiration of those around him, the embattled actor is trying to prove that he can do it successfully in real life. The Magazine Dreams press run has seen Majors portraying himself as a flawed but fundamentally good man who can transcend his past misbehavior. Several high-profile celebrities have come forward to say that they have faith in him as an actor and a man; in interviews, Majors has spoken about leaning on religion, and he sports a new tattoo that reads rebirth . And a week before the film's theatrical release, The Hollywood Reporter published a cover story in which Majors was asked what he would say to entertainment-industry figures now, as he looks to rebuild a once-promising career. 'I would tell them I'm still learning,' the actor said, 'and I would thank them for participating in my growth.' Read: Tár has an answer to art's toughest question Although some of these features do quote dissenting voices, the stories have largely positioned Majors as a fallen man who just might deserve to reclaim his mantle—someone who, perhaps, has suffered enough already. If this redemptive rhetoric feels familiar, it's because several other men have tried to stage industry comebacks using similar language. 'They're using all the hot-button words,' one crisis-communications consultant said of Majors's team in an interview with New York magazine. A supporting cast of women has also helped burnish Majors's image, in part by reinforcing the actor's view of himself as an important pillar of the Black community—the kind of charismatic male leader we all need. Majors has repeatedly denied any allegations of violence against women, but last month, Rolling Stone reported on an audio recording in which Majors appears to admit to strangling Jabbari. When asked by Complex how he felt about the audio emerging so close to the film's release, Majors defaulted to platitudes: 'There were vibrations, reverberations, same as everything before,' he said. 'But I was happy I'd done my work. I was happy I'd done my work.' The spectacle of Majors's redemption tour has certainly overshadowed the work of the Magazine Dreams creative team and crew, as well as that of the rest of the cast. Ironically, the film is at its most compelling when it explores the deadly implications of male entitlement. The question that hangs over the screenplay is not if Maddox's desolation will metastasize into violence, but when . Maddox struggles to connect with nearly everyone around him, especially women: When other characters ask him about himself, he either becomes tongue-tied, deflects the questions, or responds with an overwhelming barrage of information. A date with his grocery-store co-worker, a cheerful young white woman who seems genuinely interested in him, ends on a sour note after he scares her off with an eerily matter-of-fact description of his parents' deaths. (Maddox's father killed his mother, and then himself.) Two uneasy sexual encounters leave him even more adrift: In one of them, a Black sex worker chastises Maddox for kissing her; the woman's contempt, coupled with his own steroid-induced erectile dysfunction, induces palpable shame. Before the scene abruptly ends, it feels fraught with the clichéd possibility of Maddox unleashing his rage on the woman. As the story progresses, we watch as rejection or perceived disrespect plunges Maddox further into a spiral that seems destined to end with bloodshed, whether realized or simply threatened. Magazine Dreams is not always deft or subtle in its approach, but it does attempt to seriously dig into weighty, complicated material. And yet, Majors's press run suggests a distance between the actor and some of the film's core elements—a blind spot that distracts from the work itself. In an interview with Variety , Majors responded to a comment about Maddox's crushing solitude and the on-screen violence by asking where the reporter sees violence in the film. (There are several such scenes in Magazine Dreams , and some involve Majors's face and body being covered with blood; after the journalist cited some, Majors clarified that he believes audiences have the right to perceive art as they see fit.) As Magazine Dreams progresses, Maddox descends further into his antisocial tendencies and grows more destructive. Majors has argued that this kind of behavior stems primarily from loneliness: In the Variety interview, he said that society uses 'positive-sounding attributes' such as 'lone wolf' and 'Alpha male' to describe toxic masculinity, making it difficult for men—once they are on their own—to 'get back without help.' But Magazine Dreams doesn't revolve around a character who's simply been abandoned by nearly everyone. The film depicts a man whose ego isolates him and prevents him from forging genuine bonds—who pushes people away with his obfuscation, lies, and single-minded pursuit of fame through physical strength. Even before he commits any violence, Maddox conveys an inability to see himself as more than his body, or to accept any response from the outside world but praise. In that sense, the question of separating Majors, or his conviction, from the movie he headlines feels like a moot one. For some viewers with knowledge of his off-screen reputation, watching Majors radiate quiet hostility in Magazine Dreams may already make the all-consuming performance difficult to evaluate in a vacuum. And even for those who might be able to separate art from artist, the actor's seeming lack of introspection about how violence is threaded through his film is an artistic failing. No training regimen can compensate for that. Hannah Giorgis is a staff writer at The Atlantic .
