Year In Review

April was literally a sensory overload. My screen time is up 400%, but I'm nourished. We had engagements, weddings, feuds, a branded credit card that gave me a capitalism-induced headache, and Pedro Pascal in Chanel. Let me tell you about it.

In Film

• The Napa Boys!
  I watched while doing my 12-step skincare routine, and I really felt the terroir. I’m obsessed with how this movie is the fourth installment of a made-up franchise. It’s giving gaslighting. And I could totally see myself in Jack Jr., because I also feel like I’m on a wine-soaked journey led by a mysterious figure (my psychic, Roger). 9/10 for Armen Weitzman and Nick Corirossi being so committed. Also, Sarah Ramos plays a podcaster named Puck, and that's foreshadowing, right? Like, I’m literally starting my own podcast now. It’s a calling, you know? Some people are born to be heard.
  
  It premiered at TIFF Midnight Madness which means it is technically a festival film and I will be citing that whenever anyone questions my taste, but you can stream it now.

• Mother Mary!
  This A24 film about a fictional pop star who is plainly Taylor Swift as a metaphor, with songs by Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX... it was just so obviously going to be for me. It’s a film about a fashion designer and a musician, which is basically my entire social circle, and at some point someone pulls like a literal ghost out of Anne Hathaway's chest. The spoiler-free synopsis is that Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel are locked in a psychological power struggle that feels exactly like when my Reiki healer tells me my chakras are "cluttered" but won't tell me who cluttered them.
  
  Is it a masterpiece? I think so. Did I fully understand it? I think so.

• The Drama!
  If you thought your last breakup was bad because he wouldn't stop talking about Sydney Sweeney, please watch this and feel blessed. This film is Kristoffer Borgli making you want to crawl out of your own skin and into a mountain cave. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson play a couple who are "happily engaged," until their wedding week, when they play a game of "What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done?" and everyone loses their goddamn minds. Emma (Zendaya) tells a secret that gives pause to Robert Pattinson, a man who has spent twenty years running from a franchise about not being able to love someone correctly, and yet. It’s a romantic black comedy that basically asks How much of a monster can you be before I willingly lose our catering deposit?
  
  It’s the most messy, uncomfortable possible version of a completely normal situation. Five stars.

• Noah Kahan: Out of Body!
  So, I literally didn’t stop crying for ninety minutes, not even to sip my lemon water, and all the ice melted. This is a documemtary on Netflix, so it's basically educational and it’s about folk singer Noah Kahan going back to Vermont, a place that looks so cold but also very cottagecore. He bravely talks about his body dysmorphia, and how fame is scary but being 'nobody at all' is scary too. It’s just so real to see a famous person admit they get sad sometimes. A must-watch for anyone who has ever battled imposter syndrome.

On TV

• Big Mistakes!
  Dan Levy, who co-created this show with my personal idol Rachel Sennott, plays a pastor named Nicky. I once wore a cross necklace to an audition and it felt like a huge responsibility - like you really need to be careful when it comes to religion, some people are so sensitive about that stuff. Anyway he and his sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega) steal a necklace for their dying grandma and accidentally join the mob. Also, Laurie Metcalf is their mom and she’s running for mayor. It’s about family, it’s about mistakes, and it’s about how shoplifting is never worth it unless the piece is truly vintage. 9/10.

• The Boys Season 5!
  I am currently five episodes in and stressed. The season picks up with Homelander having essentially won. It's his world, his rules, his terrible emotional regulation, while Hughie, Mother's Milk and Frenchie are imprisoned in something called a "Freedom Camp," which tbh does not look that free. Annie is attempting a resistance, The Deep has a manosphere podcast, and Jensen Ackles is still a problematic father figure. Also, Butcher has a virus that could wipe every supe off the face of the earth, which, honestly, I would do it. Three episodes left. I'm thinking of a finale watch party?

• Margo's Got Money Troubles!
  Okay so this show is based on a novel that came out in 2024 and was adapted in 22 months, which is faster than I have ever done anything in my life. Elle Fanning plays 20-year-old Margo, an aspiring writer and college dropout. Margo has an affair with her married English professor, gets pregnant, gets abandoned, loses her shitty job, and starts an OnlyFans. She finds a good schtick with a character she creates called HungryGhost, who is a green alien, and I was charmed. Her father is Nick Offerman, a retired professional wrestler who moves in to provide childcare and life wisdom. Her mother is Michelle Pfeiffer, who is married in real life to the showrunner David E. Kelley, and Good. For. Him. This premiered at SXSW, and the reviews are mixed but mostly great. Five stars. Call your father. Actually, it's 2026 - have him call you.

• Hacks Season 5!
  Another final season, I'm sobbing. The showrunners said they've always known what the very last scene will be and that it's "very full circle," but I'll be the Judge of that. So starting off, Deborah Vance, fresh off false reports of her death and back in Las Vegas, is banned from performing online or on TV by this guy Bob Lipka, played by Tony Goldwyn. Very rationally, she's like "Ok I want an EGOT now" and from there the season has largely been about Deborah trying to get to Madison Square Garden with Ava by her side. They are fighting, but like, they're a team this time. It's a commentary on the industry, on AI, on how to navigate a non-compete clause, and it's so satisfying to see them get along after seasons of watching them be terrible to each other. Plus I can relate because I once signed a contract for an almond-based yogurt commercial that said I couldn't eat dairy in public for three years. Christopher Briney is new this season as Harry Styles, so I guess next he'll play a hot pope or a hot founding father and I'll watch all of it, unfortunately. Jean Smart has won the Emmy all four times she's been eligible and if she doesn't win a fifth I will be writing a correspondence. Five episodes left, don't talk to me.

Music

Moments

• EUPHORIA SEASON 3! It finally premiered and based on podcast commentary it's pimp or be pimped, which is Sam Levinson's cinematic comfort zone. I was really in it for Petra Collins' original vision, and once she left the project I was kinda over it.
• COACHELLA! Sabrina Carpenter made an accidentally insensitive comment, then apoligised, Justin Bieber got called "lazy" then delivered on weekend two, Karol G celebrated her heritage and looked phenomenal. Also, there were some incredible smaller sets this year which I covered extensively and you can find that in my previous posts.
• CHAPPELL ROAN! Chappell Roan allegedly sent her security guard to tell Jude Law's eleven-year-old daughter off for walking past her table menacingly at a hotel, denied it, and the internet spent a week deciding if this was an indictment of fame, class, parasociality, feminism, or Jude Law specifically.
• HARRY STYLES IS ENGAGED! Harry Styles and Zoë Kravitz got engaged after eight months, the ring is estimated at half a million dollars, Channing Tatum read a sad poem about divorce and then posted it to his story, and everything is perfect.
• THE BACHELORETTE IS CANCELLED! ABC pulled Taylor Frankie Paul’s season before it even started airing because of leaked footage that showed her abusing on-again-off-again partner Dakota (what's his surname? I'm not looking it up). This was honestly so tragic and not a laughing matter. I had already bought a 'Momtok' themed viewing-party cake. But the children come first.
• CHARLI XCX RELEASES A BRAT CARD! The Moment satirised a fictional bank releasing a Brat-green credit card as shameless IP exploitation, Cash App and A24 then released the actual card for five dollars, and it sold out. I’ve never wanted to go into debt more in my entire life, it’s the only way to pay for things ironically.
• ZAYN’S ALBUM (Konnakol)! Zayn released his fifth album Konnakol - named after South Indian Carnatic vocal percussion. It’s so profound it made me realise I’ve been doing breathwork wrong for fifteen years. It also coincided with reports of a feud between him and former bandmate Louis Tomlinson. I identify with Zayn's music more, but I just like Louis better as a person? So this has been really hard for me.
• PEDRO PASCAL FOR CHANEL! Pedro Pascal became a Chanel house ambassador, wore a giant silk camellia brooch to the Oscars, and I'm calling it now, the next big trend will be "Daddy needs his designer frames to read the menu."
• JACK QUAID GETS MARRIED! Jack Quaid married his Boys co-star Claudia Doumit in a tiny, gorgeous farming town in Australia. Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid both attended, Tom Hanks was on the guestlist, and allegedly they danced to Donovan's "Atlantis." This is not the last you'll hear from me on this.

Parting Thoughts

That's April! We did it, and as a reward I'm giving myself something new to focus on next month - my first ever themed issue. See you in May!

💛 N