The Week in Culture (August 28th)
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Hot Ticket: Caught Stealing Darren Aronofsky returns after the Oscar-winning The Whale with an adaptation of the acerbic Charlie Huston crime novel series about a former baseball player (Austin Butler) caught up in 90s New York City’s criminal underworld. Reviews indicate it's much less polarizing than the director’s recent efforts like Noah and Mother!. Now playing in theaters.
Pamphleteers’s Pick: The Toxic Avenger Deemed unreleasable after its Fantastic Fest premiere two years ago thanks to its no-holds-barred approach, this remake of the Troma cult classic finds Peter Dinklage as the nerd janitor accidentally made radioactive by a corrupt company’s unseemly practices. With Southern genre royalty Macon Blair at the helm, it’s a shockingly affecting tribute to the resilience of local community. Now playing in theaters.
For a complete list of upcoming titles, check out the 2025 Film Guide.
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Thunderbolts* (Disney+) Marvel’s kickoff to the summer movie season fell a bit short of box-office expectations. Regardless, this yarn about a group of second-string comic characters searching for redemption masterfully balances action, humor, and dense character study that should resonate with even the most casual of superhero movie fans. Our pick for the best blockbuster of the last four months.
Downton Abbey (Peacock) Before the final big screen outing of England’s most recognizable country house next month, relive the 2010-2015 series that brought upstairs/downstairs stories into the mainstream. Probably the last decent argument to keep PBS going.
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The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb. Garrett M. Graff forged his reputation as America’s preeminent oral history practitioner with his previous books on 9/11 and D-Day. Now, he turns his attention to the world of Oppenheimer and the hills of Tennessee, which were so vital to the Atomic Age.
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I quit Haim Indie pop’s most famous family act will bring the tour in support of their fourth studio album to Nashville September 30th for what promises to be one of the fall concert calendar’s highlights. Older and wiser yet as full of optimism as ever, the trio have crafted some career-best tracks from the 80s throwback “Spinning” and stripped down “Try to feel pain” to the lead single, “Relationships,” which dominated the summer thanks to its hit video helmed by Paul Thomas Anderson.