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Movie Review: MAGAZINE DREAMS (2023)
Star Jonathan Majors turns in an unforgettable performance
Jonathan Majors finds that life is still worthwhile if he’ll just smile.
MAGAZINE DREAMS (2023) Writer and Director: Elijah Bynum / Cinematographer: Adam Arkapaw (2.35: 1) / Editor: Jon Otazua / Designer: Freyja Bardell / Composer: Jason Hill / Chef & Nutritionist for Jonathan Majors: Donnell Stykes / Cast: Jonathan Majors, Harrison Page, Harriet Sansom Harris, Hayley Bennett, Michael O'Hearn, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Taylour Page / Distributor: Briarcliff Entertainment / Rated R / Length: 124 min.
Don't you love a film that opens in uncertainty, dropping the viewer like a pea into a roulette wheel and sending him bouncing and spinning about, producing a state of instant disorientation? Is the behemoth in the frame a boxer celebrating a win? Or is it a Chippendale dancer working up a roomful of domesticated suburban hausfrau? It can't be a bodybuilding “flex-off,” what with the lack of spectators in attendance and other musclemen on stage. Maybe it's in his head. Or mine. In the week since that man and I met, I haven’t been able to shake the film that follows him.
Video:
Trailer: Magazine Dreams
Killian Maddox (Jonathan Majors) is way past the point of being a walking time bomb. The explosion has already hit. He threatened a house painter, who, in his demented Paw Paw’s (Harrison Page) estimation, owed him another coat. Maybe it was the steroids doing the talking, but it was still Killian who swore, “I'm going to split your skull wide open and drink your brains like soup.” And maybe it isn't the steroids; maybe the boy comes by it honestly. Killian moved in with Paw Paw not long after his father killed his mother and then turned the gun on himself. An ugly scenario that he was powerless to prevent. His response is to turn his room is a shrine to powerful pulchritude: pinups of strapping athletic types adorn the walls and ceiling to form a beefy billet-doux to herculean flesh.
Other than Paw Paw, the only character who expresses any interest in Killian is co-worker Jessie (Haley Bennett), a cashier at the supermarket. When she returns his call, it makes for the one moment Killian’s armor cracks wide enough for a ray of fear to seep through. A good eater, Killian orders the right side of the menu, much to Jessie’s chagrin. The evening ends with our motor-mouth Mister rattling off a barrage of life experiences that ends with that guaranteed first date conversation killer: matricide and its effects on parental mortality.
Much has already been written about the debt that writer and director Elijah Bynum owes to Taxi Driver. Upon closer inspection, there are equal parts Bickle and Pupkin surging through Killian’s DNA. With a nod to Rupert, Killian records a promo in Paw Paw’s basement. (Internet reaction ranged from ”AHAHAHAHA” to “This guy should probably kill himself,“ with an emphasis on the latter.) Killian composes fan letters to his bodybuilding idol, king of sinew Brad Vanderhorn (Michael O'Hearn). My initial reaction after hearing the “I'm going to kill someone and then myself” voicemail Killian left his bodybuilding idol was, “Damn! No sequel.”
Majors’ performance is unlike any other, a real-life Incredible Hulk — he packs so much brawn his tri-ceps have bi-ceps — whose sheer physicality is a character in itself. It’s not a case of two months spent on the Catherine Scorsese total carbohydrate all-pasta diet to pack on 60 pounds to be shed as soon as production wraps. What Majors has done with his body takes a lifelong commitment.
Choosing Majors to star as Killian is a flagrant case of casting against type. Raise your hand if the mention of a 400 lb. incel, a shlub hate-posting from his mother’s basement, summons to mind images of a dark Adonis who, on the surface at least, is a woman’s dream. Majors is more than just a dumbbell-juggling mannequin whose performance consists of slowly peeling off his shirt. (I’m talking about you, Barbarian Brothers!) He turns in an unforgettable performance, his discomfort with living a flawed existence from within a perfect shell showing in every move. Never anything but convincing, this totally immersive turn deserves yards of praise and a mantel full of awards — and there’s the rub!
One of the few unpleasant tasks a critic undertakes is that of separating an artist from their art. Jean-Luc Godard famously observed that as much as he despised John Wayne’s right-leaning politics, at the end of The Searchers when Ethan lifts Little Debbie in his arms, he forgave him for everything. There's a reason Magazine Dreams has been sitting on the shelf for two years, not so much gathering dust but waiting for the dust to settle.
Found guilty in December 2023 of assault and harassment of ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, Majors was immediately booted from the MCU. In lieu of jail-time, he was sentenced to attend a 52-week domestic violence program. Is it any coincidence that the week Magazine Dreams is finally set to open, Rolling Stone leaks an audio tape alleged to be between Majors and Jabbari in which a male voice on the other end of the phone admits to “aggressing” her.
Whether or not this is worth your entertainment dollar is not for me to say. I’ve seen it twice and laughed a lot harder the second time around. Not everything clicks — a restaurant confrontation and subsequent re-staging of the Rodney King video play gratuitously. When it comes to controversy, I tend to adopt a “friends close, enemies closer” relationship, letting the art speak for itself. The awful truth is that this year, jagoffs appear to be leading the league in entertainment. Next to Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk, Magazine Dreams is the best time I’ve had at the movies so far in 2025. ****
Here's something you might be interested in.
Movie Review: MAGAZINE DREAMS (2023)
Star Jonathan Majors turns in an unforgettable performance
Movie Review: MAGAZINE DREAMS (2023)
Star Jonathan Majors turns in an unforgettable performance
Jonathan Majors finds that life is still worthwhile if he’ll just smile.
MAGAZINE DREAMS (2023) Writer and Director: Elijah Bynum / Cinematographer: Adam Arkapaw (2.35: 1) / Editor: Jon Otazua / Designer: Freyja Bardell / Composer: Jason Hill / Chef & Nutritionist for Jonathan Majors: Donnell Stykes / Cast: Jonathan Majors, Harrison Page, Harriet Sansom Harris, Hayley Bennett, Michael O'Hearn, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Taylour Page / Distributor: Briarcliff Entertainment / Rated R / Length: 124 min.
Don't you love a film that opens in uncertainty, dropping the viewer like a pea into a roulette wheel and sending him bouncing and spinning about, producing a state of instant disorientation? Is the behemoth in the frame a boxer celebrating a win? Or is it a Chippendale dancer working up a roomful of domesticated suburban hausfrau? It can't be a bodybuilding “flex-off,” what with the lack of spectators in attendance and other musclemen on stage. Maybe it's in his head. Or mine. In the week since that man and I met, I haven’t been able to shake the film that follows him.
Video:
Trailer: Magazine Dreams
Killian Maddox (Jonathan Majors) is way past the point of being a walking time bomb. The explosion has already hit. He threatened a house painter, who, in his demented Paw Paw’s (Harrison Page) estimation, owed him another coat. Maybe it was the steroids doing the talking, but it was still Killian who swore, “I'm going to split your skull wide open and drink your brains like soup.” And maybe it isn't the steroids; maybe the boy comes by it honestly. Killian moved in with Paw Paw not long after his father killed his mother and then turned the gun on himself. An ugly scenario that he was powerless to prevent. His response is to turn his room is a shrine to powerful pulchritude: pinups of strapping athletic types adorn the walls and ceiling to form a beefy billet-doux to herculean flesh.
Other than Paw Paw, the only character who expresses any interest in Killian is co-worker Jessie (Haley Bennett), a cashier at the supermarket. When she returns his call, it makes for the one moment Killian’s armor cracks wide enough for a ray of fear to seep through. A good eater, Killian orders the right side of the menu, much to Jessie’s chagrin. The evening ends with our motor-mouth Mister rattling off a barrage of life experiences that ends with that guaranteed first date conversation killer: matricide and its effects on parental mortality.
Much has already been written about the debt that writer and director Elijah Bynum owes to Taxi Driver. Upon closer inspection, there are equal parts Bickle and Pupkin surging through Killian’s DNA. With a nod to Rupert, Killian records a promo in Paw Paw’s basement. (Internet reaction ranged from ”AHAHAHAHA” to “This guy should probably kill himself,“ with an emphasis on the latter.) Killian composes fan letters to his bodybuilding idol, king of sinew Brad Vanderhorn (Michael O'Hearn). My initial reaction after hearing the “I'm going to kill someone and then myself” voicemail Killian left his bodybuilding idol was, “Damn! No sequel.”
Majors’ performance is unlike any other, a real-life Incredible Hulk — he packs so much brawn his tri-ceps have bi-ceps — whose sheer physicality is a character in itself. It’s not a case of two months spent on the Catherine Scorsese total carbohydrate all-pasta diet to pack on 60 pounds to be shed as soon as production wraps. What Majors has done with his body takes a lifelong commitment.
Choosing Majors to star as Killian is a flagrant case of casting against type. Raise your hand if the mention of a 400 lb. incel, a shlub hate-posting from his mother’s basement, summons to mind images of a dark Adonis who, on the surface at least, is a woman’s dream. Majors is more than just a dumbbell-juggling mannequin whose performance consists of slowly peeling off his shirt. (I’m talking about you, Barbarian Brothers!) He turns in an unforgettable performance, his discomfort with living a flawed existence from within a perfect shell showing in every move. Never anything but convincing, this totally immersive turn deserves yards of praise and a mantel full of awards — and there’s the rub!
One of the few unpleasant tasks a critic undertakes is that of separating an artist from their art. Jean-Luc Godard famously observed that as much as he despised John Wayne’s right-leaning politics, at the end of The Searchers when Ethan lifts Little Debbie in his arms, he forgave him for everything. There's a reason Magazine Dreams has been sitting on the shelf for two years, not so much gathering dust but waiting for the dust to settle.
Found guilty in December 2023 of assault and harassment of ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, Majors was immediately booted from the MCU. In lieu of jail-time, he was sentenced to attend a 52-week domestic violence program. Is it any coincidence that the week Magazine Dreams is finally set to open, Rolling Stone leaks an audio tape alleged to be between Majors and Jabbari in which a male voice on the other end of the phone admits to “aggressing” her.
Whether or not this is worth your entertainment dollar is not for me to say. I’ve seen it twice and laughed a lot harder the second time around. Not everything clicks — a restaurant confrontation and subsequent re-staging of the Rodney King video play gratuitously. When it comes to controversy, I tend to adopt a “friends close, enemies closer” relationship, letting the art speak for itself. The awful truth is that this year, jagoffs appear to be leading the league in entertainment. Next to Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk, Magazine Dreams is the best time I’ve had at the movies so far in 2025. ****