Happy Halloween!
Friday, Nov. 1 — Happy almost Halloween, folks! I shared some movie recommendations in our Sunday newsletter a couple of weeks ago, but if you’re looking for something to watch tomorrow night, here’s a list of all the horror movies I’ve seen this spooky season. Hit me up with your thoughts, if you’re so inclined.
Without further ado … Action!
🎞️ Applications for Visionary Justice StoryLab’s 2027 Resisting Narratives of Erasure fellowship open on Nov. 10.
🍻 Monday Night Brewing is hosting the premiere of “Dream Recklessly,” three original short films featuring local artists, on Nov. 16 as a part of its new initiative, Monday Night Films.
🎥 The Athens African American Film Festival is now accepting film submissions for its 2027 festival. The deadline to submit is Jan. 1 by 11:59 p.m.
🇫🇷 A new exhibit featuring costumes from the hit show “Emily in Paris” opens at the SCAD FASH museum on Nov. 11.
📱 Instagram has started testing a new features called … well, “Features,” which allows creators to make horizontal videos up to 90 minutes long. The move aims to position Instagram as a bigger competitor to YouTube.
🚲 The Oscar-nominated actress Barbara Barrie, best known for roles in films like “Breaking Away” and “Private Benjamin,” died with medical assistance Wednesday at the age of 95.
🛸 The icon Patrick Stewart, known widely for his roles in “Star Trek” and “X-Men,” passed away this week at the age of 86.
This week’s newsletter includes an interview with a local voice actor, an interview with filmmaker Peter Berg and some of the cast of “The Mosquito Bowl,” and reviews of three movies releasing this week. Plus, a new edition of Spotlight, what’s playing at theaters this week, and some reading and listening recommendations for your lunch break.
Thanks for reading!
Sammie
❤️ MomTalks Summit 2026 | Nov. 13–14 at Emory University. Two heartfelt days of panels and sessions on motherhood, teenagers, internet safety, taboo health topics, neurodivergence, and so much more. Leave supported and energized. Learn more. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Bringing ‘The Mosquito Bowl’ to life
🏈 Director Peter Berg is well known for his films about football (“Friday Night Lights”) and war (“Lone Survivor”). With his newest project, he’s combining those two interests.
“The Mosquito Bowl,” based on a book by Buzz Bissinger, follows four American football players who enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps to fight in World War II after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. While preparing to fight in the Battle of Okinawa, the players participate in a football game, nicknamed the Mosquito Bowl, that took place on Christmas Eve on Guadalcanal.
I recently got to briefly chat with Berg and actors Ray Nicholson and Tom Francis about making the film – in particular, Berg’s immersive filmmaking style and what drew Nicholson and Francis to the project.
🪖 Check out that conversation here.
Discover the timeless style of C.Z. Guest
SPONSORED BY SCAD
👗 Step into the world of an American style icon at SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Midtown!
C.Z. Guest: Portrait of an American Style Icon spotlights the socialite, equestrian, and businesswoman whose impeccable taste captivated generations. Explore her personal wardrobe and portraits by renowned artists, including Andy Warhol, Cecil Beaton, and Slim Aarons. Featuring designs by Chanel, Valentino, and Oscar de la Renta, this exhibition is now on view through Feb. 21, 2027.
Rebecca Lee to headline 2027 VO Atlanta
🎧 Just off the heels of winning big at the One Voice Awards, Rebecca Lee is set to serve as the Keynote Speaker for next year’s VO Atlanta.
VO Atlanta is billed as the world’s largest and longest-running conference for voiceover artists, and will run next year from March 18-21 at the Hilton Atlanta Airport. Lee was announced as the keynote speaker back in September, just after winning the Commercials Best Performance – Female Award and the Voiceover Artist of the Year – Female Award at the 2026 One Voice Awards.
Lee said VO Atlanta was the first big networking event that attended when she first made the switch to voiceover work. She’s done work for companies like Progressive and Nike, and also voiced characters in games like “World of Warcraft” and “Raid: Shadow Legends.”
🎙️ I recently spoke with Lee about her work. You can find our conversation here.
❤️ MomTalks Summit 2026 | Nov. 13–14 at Emory University. Two heartfelt days of panels and sessions on motherhood, teenagers, internet safety, taboo health topics, neurodivergence, and so much more. Leave supported and energized. Learn more SPONSOR MESSAGE
‘Fatherland’ and belonging to a country divided
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
🇩🇪 At the opening of “Fatherland,” Klaus Mann (August Diehl) sits on a dirty floor, drugs strewn about, his lover still asleep as he talks to his sister, Ericka (Sandra Hüller) on the phone. It’s summer, 1949, and Ericka is trying to persuade Klaus to return to Germany, just for a little while – their father, the celebrated German novelist Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler), is receiving a Goethe Prize.
But Klaus has no desire to return home. There’s been a question that’s needling him lately, one he feels other people are trying to force him to confront in the wake of World War II. He left Germany because of his hatred of Nazis, but is German nonetheless – and now, Germany has been divided in half by the Americans and the Soviets, and all anyone wants to know is: which side are you on?
This question is one that the other two members of the Mann family will have to confront as well over the course of “Fatherland,” Pawel Pawlikowski’s final entry into his trilogy of historical films (“Ida,” “Cold War”). “Fatherland” runs taut as a wire, wrapped up in questions about the relationship between politics and art – namely, the former’s desire to control the latter. But its heart lives in the spaces between, following two people on a road trip through a country divided – an aching examination of identity and family.
✍️ Read my full review here.
‘The Only Living Pickpocket in New York’ and finding peace at the end of the world
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
🪙 “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” starts off with bang – the plaintive tones of James Murphy crooning out LCD Soundsystem’s “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down.” It’s an apt sentiment for writer/director Noah Segan’s new film, but he wrongfoots us in those first few moments. We watch as a businessman (played by John Gallagher Jr.) – your typical ill-fitting suit, martinis-at-lunch type of guy – readies himself for work.
And maybe, for a second, we think the song is about this man as he zombie-walks his way through his sad little money-making life. But then, we catch a glimpse of the guy behind him on the subway – the pickpocket, Harry (John Turturro), who will slip the businessman’s wallet out of his jacket pocket, making it impossible for him to pay for those martinis at lunch. The song is not about the businessman, but rather he is the cause of the singer’s malaise. The businessman is the guy bringing guys like Harry down – changing the New York he once loved to something else entirely.
That sense of nostalgia for a world long past permeates Segan’s film, imbues it with an aching sort of melancholy that’s wrapped up in Turturro’s quietly staggering performance of a guy watching the world move on without him. It’s a staple of the aging actor’s career to take on a role that reckons with their age and with their place in the world – and this feels like Turturro’s “The Old Man and the Gun.” Segan’s script offers him a rich, thrilling world in which to play with themes of regret and the ever-changing tapestry of New York City.
📱 Read my full review here.
‘Everest: The Other Side’
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW
⛰️ One of the very first things you see in “Everest: The Other Side,” is a shot of the titular mountain. And in Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s film, every shot of Everest is as majestic as you might expect. It’s an incredible sight – something most people won’t ever get to see up close and personal.
Jim Morrison, a mountaineer and backcountry skier, is one of the people who has gotten the chance to experience Everest. He, along with his partner and fellow adventurer Hilaree Nelson, are the subjects of “Everest: The Other Side,” which documents the couple’s attempt to climb and then ski down the north side of the mountain – something that had never been done before.
It’s a little impossible to talk in depth about “Everest: The Other Side” without talking about its inciting incident: a tragedy that occurs early in the film and shifts “Everest: The Other Side” from a film about trying to achieve the impossible to one about grief – and still, trying to achieve the impossible. It’s a remarkably emotional and riveting experience, but one that doesn’t always reckon with the ethical quandaries that it raises.
⛷️ 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:
🇩🇪 “Fatherland”
👛 “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York”
🎿 “Everest: The Other Side”
🇪🇸 “La Bola Negra” (pictured)
🚨 “Gentle Monster”
🏈 “The Mosquito Bowl”
🐦⬛ “Lady”
✊ “Cycle”
Special Events:
🇯🇵 “Onibaba” @ The Plaza (Friday-Thursday)
🔪 “Halloween” @ The Plaza (Friday-Saturday)
🎃 “Halloween” @ Springs Cinema & Taphouse (Saturday)
✝️ “The Devils” in 4K @ The Plaza (Friday-Thursday)
🧟 “Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein” @ The Tara (Saturday-Tuesday)
Spotlight: Aleshea Harris, ‘Is God Is’
🔥 As we get closer to the end of the year, I’m starting the never-ending journey of catching up on all the films that I’ve missed throughout the year (I’m basically glued to a television screen these days). “Is God Is” came out in May and didn’t do very well at the box office. But I’m telling you right now – if you have the ability, give this film a watch.
“Is God Is” comes from filmmaker Aleshea Harris, her feature film debut based on her 2018 play. Usually, when a play becomes a film, you can tell for bad reasons – it feels static, or doesn’t have that many locations, or feels a little dialogue-heavy. But Harris makes “Is God Is” a deeply cinematic experience, transferring over the theatrical aspects of her work that promote visual flair and style.
“Is God Is” follows two sisters, twins Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson), who set on a quest to kill their father (Sterling K. Brown) who left them and their mother (Vivica A. Fox) severely burned. The film is stepped in the Southern Gothic tradition – a sweltering, visceral exploration of cycles of violence underpinned by racism and sexism. But in addition to those genre trappings, one of the things that feels so novel about Harris’ approach is how mythological the whole thing feels.
An overbearing, all-powerful father who burns his wife and daughters out of a sense of entitlement. Two daughters, one covered in burns all over her face and the other relatively unscathed, ready to enact revenge – one of them blood thirsty, the other unwilling to let herself go that far. On their way, they meet power hungry sons, religious zealots, a man with his tongue cut out – this is stuff straight out of a Greek myth!
Harris is taking from a theatrical tradition that requires her actors – and her visuals – to go big. She favors long, grandiose shots, particularly of her main actresses, communicating so much about them through their posture, and how they’re positioned within her frame. In Harris’ eyes, they’re larger than life, worthy of mythological storytelling in the same way as Odysseus, Heracles, or any other number of Greek heroes. Their’s is a story that not only can be passed down through generations, but should be.
Lights, Camera, Action!
🎧 One of my favorite podcasts, “You Must Remember This,” is in the middle of its new series called “The Bisexuals,” covering the life of popular and scandalous singer Libby Holman. Check out the first episode here, and you can learn more about host Karina Longworth and the season from this interview she did with Griffin Dunne.
🎃 Continuing with our Halloween theme this week, The Big Picture podcast has a great rundown of some great horror movies from this year that you can check out as we wrap up spooky season. Check out Chris and Sean’s recommendations here.
🇪🇸 I – like everyone else, I’m sure – have a huge crush on Penélope Cruz. And 2026 is really turning into her year, with roles in films like “La Bola Negra” and “The Invite.” I really enjoyed this New York Times Magazine profile of Cruz, which covers the entirety of her versatile, magnetic career.
🖋️ Today’s Scene was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
