50 years of ‘The Great Santini’
Friday, Oct. 23 — Happy Friday, friends! There’s a lot going on in movie land, but make sure you don’t miss out on next week’s screening of “The Great Santini” at the Tara, celebrating 50 years since the publication of Pat Conroy’s novel, which in turn inspired the film. I recently got the chance to speak with Robert Gwaltney, executive director of the Pat Conroy Literary Center, about why Conroy’s work persists all these years later. Check it out here!
Without further ado … Action!
🚜 Ansley Kelly recently wrote about a UGA screening of the documentary “Groundswell,” which explores regenerative agriculture and the relationship between farming and the environment. Take a read here.
🏕️ Jim Farmer spoke to showrunner Brad Caleb Kane about his new show “Crystal Lake” at a recent SCAD event. Check out their conversation here.
🍿 The Rome International Film Festival will be here in just a couple of weeks, running in Downtown Rome, GA, from Nov. 5-8.
💼 Over the past week, Netflix has laid off roughly 1,000 people, and both content chief Bela Bajaria and film chief Dan Lin were fired. Peter Rice has replaced Bajaria, and rumor has it Netflix is courting recently ousted WB chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy (they of “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another”) to run the film side of things. The Dailies newsletter has more on the story here (free subscription).
🇵🇸 Neon has picked up distribution for “Naza,” Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s documentary about the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza.
💸 The mergers just don’t stop, do they? Legendary Entertainment, the studio behind movies like “Dune” and “A Minecraft Movie,” has reportedly put in a formal bid to buy Lionsgate Studios.
✍️ The Writers Guild of America East has unveiled a new partnership aimed at preventing AI models from training off its members’ work.
💔 Tom Skerritt, known for his roles in films like “Alien,” “Top Gun,” and “A River Runs Through It,” has died. He was 93 years old.
This week includes an interview with the directors of “Cycle,” a documentary about the 2019 killing of 18-year-old Ty’Rese West, as well as an interview with Atlanta-born comedian Mandal. We also take a closer look at the film “Wicker,” specifically what it took to bring Alexander Skarsgård’s Wicker Husband character to life. Plus, what’s playing at movie theaters this week, and some reading and listening recommendations for your lunch break. We’re skipping Spotlight again this week because we’ve got THREE movies to dive into, but don’t worry – I finally caught up with “Is God Is,” and I’ll share my thoughts on the talents of Aleshea Harris next week.
Thanks for reading!
Sammie
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Killer Mike to host Atlanta screening of documentary ‘Cycle’ tonight
📽️ In 2019, 18-year-old Ty’Rese West was shot and killed by a Mount Pleasant, WI police officer named Eric Giese. Seven years later, his family is still looking for justice. A new documentary called “Cycle” tracks their journey.
But “Cycle” isn’t just about Ty’Rese’s death. It’s about unpacking cycles of police violence that permeate this country, taking to task the very legal system that’s supposed to protect us. “It’s not just a film about Ty’Rese West,” said co-director Laura Dyan Kezman. “It puts the entire system on trial for how it’s built in a way that is very hard to fight against.”
Kezman co-directed the film with William Howell. Both Racine natives, the pair met just after Ty’Rese’s death in 2019 and embarked on a six-year project to bring “Cycle” to the world. A special screening of the film will take place at the Plaza Theatre tonight, hosted by rapper Killer Mike. Ty’Rese’s mother, Monique West, and the filmmakers will also be in attendance, according to a press release. The film is scheduled to begin an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run at the Tara Theatre on Oct. 30.
🗣️ Check out my conversation with Kezman and Howell about the film here.
Emily’s Trick or Treat to Cure Crohn’s & Colitis celebrates 10 years of Halloween fun
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CROHN’S & COLITIS FOUNDATION
💜 For ten years, Emily’s Trick or Treat to Cure Crohn’s & Colitis has turned love, friendship, and community into meaningful impact. Together, we are on track to raise more than $1 million for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, expanding resources and driving meaningful change for people living with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Join the Halloween fun! Trick-or-treating, games, arts & crafts, tailgating, face painting, music, a silent auction, and more!
🎃 Sandy Springs tomorrow, Sat., Oct. 24, from 2-4 p.m. Use Code RoughDraft for $5 off.
Atlanta-born stand-up comedian Mandal’s debut comedy special to premiere Oct. 25
💵 From Southwest Atlanta to Los Angeles, Tevin Williams – known as Mandal – is taking the comedy world by storm. His debut comedy release, “$$$$$$” (pronounced “dollar sign”) is set to premiere on YouTube on Oct. 25.
Co-produced by Donald Glover’s media company Gilga and Bay Area comedy power house Blonde Medicine, the special will begin streaming at 9 p.m. on YouTube.
“$$$$$$” feels like a throwback, evoking golden-age comedy specials with a retro look. In keeping with that vibe, “$$$$$$” will be available not only digitally but also on a limited-edition gold vinyl, as well as a VHS version released via Gilga. The comedy album will be available for streaming on Nov. 20.
📺 Ahead of the premiere, I spoke with Mandal about how he got where he is today. Check out our conversation here.
Alexander Skarsgård talks bringing the Wicker Husband to life in ‘Wicker’
🧺 Written and directed by real-life married couple Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, “Wicker” feels like a proper fairy tale – which is a dying art, these days.
Based on a short story by Ursula Wills, “Wicker” immediately feels whimsical and magical in equal measure. We meet the Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman), the village recluse who bucks at the town’s patriarchal bent (this is a village where women get collars when they wed in lieu of rings). But, stalwart in her oddity as she is, she can’t help but feel lonely. One day, she asks the Basket Weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make her a husband. And make her a husband (Alexander Skarsgård) he does – the perfect specimen, handsome, kind and true. And made entirely out of wicker.
Ahead of the film’s release this weekend, entertainment journalist Lauren Veneziani hosted a press conference featuring Colman, Skarsgård, and Elizabeth Debicki, who plays the imperious Tailor’s Wife (no one has real names in “Wicker”). During that press conference, Skarsgård touched on the peculiarities of bringing the Wicker Husband to life.
🐟 Learn more about the Wicker Husband here.
🏀 Atlanta Hawks basketball is back! Our first home game of the 2026-27 season is tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. as the Hawks take on the Rockets for Opening Night, presented by State Farm. All fans will receive a Harry the Hawk T-shirt. Get tickets today. SPONSOR MESSAGE
‘Fjord’: Effectively frustrating, but one-dimensional
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
🇷🇴 Punishment – and who gets to dole it out – is a huge part of “Fjord,” written and directed by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu.
The film is loosely inspired by a real Romanian immigrant family’s experiences with Norwegian Child Welfare Services (I’ll let you Google them and their slew of controversies on your own time). Over the course of the film, we watch as teenage Elia Gheorghiu (Vanessa Ceban) and her four siblings are taken away from their parents, Mihai (Sebastian Stan) and Lisbet (Renate Reinsve) while the state investigates them for child abuse. “Fjord” starts as a family drama, but becomes a legal thriller, and Mungiu wants us to question what, exactly, is on trial – child abuse, or cultural differences?
“Fjord” attempts to hold well-meaning liberalism to the fire – if you thought that a parent was harming their child, of course you would say something, and you might not stop to consider your biases before doing so. But while there are complex ideas to explore within “Fjord,” and while it’s certainly purposefully frustrating, the film feels so obvious in its sympathies that it effectively flattens the other side of the aisle into one dimension. And because of that, despite strong performances all around, what the film has to say doesn’t feel all that interesting or nuanced.
🇳🇴 Read my full review here.
‘Possible Love’ on exploitation and the class divide on camera
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
✊ In 2009, workers at SsangYong Motor, a Korean carmaker, staged a strike after the company announced it would lay off a number of workers at a factory in the city of Pyeongtaek. Workers occupied the plant in a strike that lasted 77 days, by the end of which the plant was effectively a “war zone,” according to a New York Times 2009 report. In a series of raids throughout that time, police officers swarmed into the plant from helicopters, attempting to beat the strikers into submission in a whirl of chaos.
A version of this scene plays out in Lee Chang-dong’s new film “Possible Love,” which follows a married couple in the wake of a labor dispute based on the 2009 incident. After being laid off from his job at the fictional SP Heavy Industries, Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu) and his wife, Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon), are lost in economic and personal upheaval. In the midst of that strife, a documentarian (Cho Yeo-jeong) takes the couple on as her new subjects.
The film that “Possible Love” might share the most DNA with is, oddly enough, the newly released “You Can See Everything.” Both films wrestle with the pursuit of truth (and whether that’s even possible), and how documentaries and media manipulate said truth. But, “Possible Love” is less interested in process than subject, and far more interested in exploitation and what happens when the manipulation breaks down. The film unfolds at a slow, deliberate pace, each piece of information, each visual cue, each character beat unfolding with precision until its ending hits you like a wallop straight to the chest.
🎥 Read my full review here.
‘A Talent for Murder’ is a deliciously fun meta take on Patricia Highsmith’s most famous creation
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
⛰️ “A Talent for Murder” opens up on one of the scariest things of all – a blank page. At least, the scariest thing for a naive publishing assistant. Especially when dealing with a client as notorious as Patricia Highsmith.
Directed by Anton Corbijn and written by Joanna Murray-Smith (adapted from her play “Switzerland”), “A Talent for Murder” imagines said publishing assistant, Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich), on a trip to Switzerland in 1995 to try and persuade Highsmith (Helen Mirren) to write one more installment of her famous Tom Ripley series – something she is determined not to do. What ensues is a battle of wits between an ornery, cunning, and bitter old broad and a neurotic, anxious young man – or is he?
“A Talent for Murder” is a delightful meta take on the Highsmith oeuvre, exploring the relationship between an author and her creation, and pinpointing the aspects of her work – and specifically the Tom Ripley character – that are so utterly beguiling.
📕 Read my full review here.
At the Movies!
If you’re looking for a movie to see in theaters this week, here’s what you’ve got to look forward to!
Movies releasing this weekend:
🎥 “Possible Love”
🇷🇴 “Fjord”
🗡️ “A Talent for Murder”
🧱 “Clayface” (pictured)
🧺 “Wicker”
🌅 “Klara and the Sun”
🐦⬛ “Wildwood”
Special Events:
✝️ “The Devils” in 4K @ The Plaza (Friday-Thursday)
😾 “House” @ The Plaza (Saturday-Thursday)
🥩 “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” @ The Plaza (Saturday-Thursday), and also at Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Sunday-Wednesday)
🗑️ “WALL-E” feat. WALL-E Live @ The Plaza (Saturday)
🚨 “We Need to Talk About Kevin” @ The Plaza (Sunday)
Stay in Your Lane: “Car Wash” 50th Anniversary @ The Tara (Friday)
🌆 “Megalopolis” w/ Francis Ford Coppola Live Stream Q&A @ The Tara (Saturday)
🧟 “Frankenstein” @ The Tara (Sunday-Wednesday)
👰 “Beetlejuice” @ Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Saturday-Sunday)
Lights, Camera, Action!
📺 A new organization called the American Entertainment Alliance is pushing to bring back the glory days of independent television production, lobbying Congress to bring back a version of the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules – or Fin-Syn – for the streaming age. The rule kept TV networks from owning the shows they aired, allowing more room for independent producers. Read more about the push here.
🚁 We’ve made it to the big one, folks. On last week’s episode of “Blank Check,” the boys covered Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.” Take a listen here.
🚇 For Vulture, Hershal Pandya recently interviewed the most recent breakout star of the viral series “SubwayTakes” – Debbie Shields. Debbie spontaneously went toe-to-toe with none other than Conan O’Brien on a recent episode of the show, and the result was magnificent. Learn how Debbie feels about the whole endeavor here.
🖊️ Today’s Scene was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
