Magazine Dreams

Killian Maddox dedicated himself to bodybuilding and dreams of one day leaving his mark on the sport and the world. With a traumatic childhood and struggling to connect with others, Killian forges forward toward his goal with reckless abandonment.

This movie takes a very artistic approach to bodybuilding. The story has many different things occurring quickly, with little backstory given to the protagonist, making it a challenge to follow. The two-hour and four-minute runtime is wild, from intense lifting to posing to twists and unexpected turns. This movie is not for everyone but might be worth a stream for someone looking for something different and artistic.

Hear me out-Jonathan Majors might just be the best thing to happen to Black Hollywood since Denzel Washington. The man is seriously gifted. He can act, he has the physical presence, he's versatile, and most importantly-he's never boring. I honestly can't think of another Black American actor right now who can command the screen the way he does.

In this movie, Majors took a relatively simple script and turned it into a gripping, edge-of-your-seat experience. Every scene was hauntingly captivating. The director did a great job maintaining suspense, constantly shifting the tone and direction. What started off as a bodybuilding tale of grit and determination turned into a revenge drama-and then escalated into something way darker. It was intense.

I genuinely don't understand why Jonathan isn't landing all the top-tier Black roles. Compared to some of his peers like Anthony Mackie or Michael B. Jordan, he brings a different level of depth and complexity. He deserves way more recognition.

The only thing that held back this incredible performance was the script itself. After building so much tension and anticipation, the climax completely fell flat. All that buildup, all that powerful acting-only for it to lead nowhere. It felt like a major disservice to both Jonathan Majors and the audience.

I had been wanting to see Magazine Dreams for a very long time, ever since hearing it described by my favorite movie podcasters who caught it on the festival circuit a couple years ago. I had no idea it had been picked up for theatrical distribution, so its seemingly sudden appearance completely took me by surprise.

Jonathan Majors's performance as Killian Maddox, an aspiring yet struggling bodybuilder, is truly next level here. Killian is a fractured man, at moments childlike and charming, at others he's like a pot of water boiling over. This can make him unpredictable scene to scene. Easily the most effective scene was his dinner date with the girl from the supermarket. Talk about a cringe moment!

My feelings are most mixed about the script, with my main complaint being it that it doesn't seem to know when to quit. There are multiple moments where I was certain the story was close to conclusion, that it was building to a moment, yet only to further continue in layering misery on thick. I found this exhausting. When the movie finally does conclude I don't know if I find the resolution entirely believable for Killian's character.

I like the movie enough to recommend, but keep in mind this can be a dark, dark film.

What can I say , movies to me are meant to take me out of reality and transport me into other worlds as I escape my own issues and problems , not to mention battles with reality.

That being the case this movie does just that although it specifically took me into a place that mad me very uncomfortable not in a bad way just in a way that I wanted a lil more payoff that I feel I didn't get .

Majors does a great job carrying this weight around and giving ,I believe an honest and compelling performance. It just needed a tiny bit more action at certain spots that could have taken this movie to the next level . Again a worth while movie theater experience.

Initially, Magazine Dreams (2023) drew my attention as a bodybuilding film. Little did I realize that bodybuilding is not what this movie is about. Instead, it is a grim narrative on the dangers of loneliness. Killian Maddox (Jonathan Majors) is a bodybuilder with intense aspirations of becoming a revered "Mr. Olympia", willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve this goal. Unfortunately, his troubled youth and his declining mental state hinder his progress and send him on a path to utter madness. Maddox only has one person in his life that he truly loves: his grandfather. Other than that, he has no friends, and no (successful) love interests either. Due to his growing loneliness, he tries to write to his hero, Brad Vanderhorn, but is ignored by him too. This film begs a necessary question: How much can a person truly tolerate being alone before they get consumed by their obsessions and thoughts? The answer that the film provides is quite dark, but also representative of what it means to be human.