August-a Wind Must Have Blown In These Media Reccs!
It's not my best work
This summer has been so wild — I’m tired, I’m confused, I am desperately trying to catch up on Widow’s Bay after all your suggestions, my basement has flooded like three times (not a euphemism) and I realized I must be a real adult woman now, because no one is hotter to me than William Petersen in the 80’s (see more below). Okay, onward into the haze!
SOMETHING OLD SOMETHING NEW AUGUST 2026
Movies
Summer is almost over, we’ve all Odyssey’d, so what better way to spend the hottest days of the year than locked in a movie theater dreaming it’s the now-scheduled-to-open-2028 Arclight Dome 🙏
There are a ton of movies I want to touch on this month, so I thought I’d do something different and give you a rapid fire round of a TON of stuff to check out. More pictures, fewer jokes, ~six~ films:
Something New:
Samurai and the Prisoner — July 31st
Okay I know this came out technically in July, but I simply must tell you about this. From director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (of Cure, not Akira) Samurai and the Prisoner is a 16th century locked-door murder mystery with a samurai detective. Could better nouns exist together??? No!
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma — August 7th
I absolutely loved Jane Schoenbrun’s previous movie I Saw the TV Glow — a neon-soaked tribute to the pain and nostalgia of youth, a queer coming-of-age movie, and most importantly an ode to the second most important show of all time: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Well, Jane is back at it again with a meta-horror movie about…a filmmaker making a horror movie AND an ode to the FIRST most important show of all time: The X-Files. Blood, sex, needle drops, THEE Gillian Anderson. Heaven!!
The End of Oak Street — August 14th
I am just kind of obsessed that when given his blank checks, the director of It Follows first made a movie about how weird everyone in Silver Lake is, and then moved right on to dinosaurs. Follow (lol) your dreams, David!
The Wrong Girls — August 14th
We must not lose the stoner comedy genre as an institution; we must wake up and demand zooted K-Stew or risk losing her forever.
~Six~: the Musical Live — August 14th
Um I just saw this like eight years late, and you’re never going to believe this take, but, it was a blast! Girls6Ever!
Coyote V. Acme — August 28th
WB tried to keep this from the people, infamously shelving it in 2023 for a tax write-off, but the people demanded the Coyote!! They demanded masochism!
Something Old:
To Live and Die in LA (1985)
It is in a lady’s purview to have a William Petersen summer if she so chooses, and that is the choice that I have made for this year of our Grissom2026. This movie is nuts, William Petersen is a total babe, Willem Dafoe is a terrifying child, and there is a car chase in here that is SO rip roaring that it is said to have inspired the Grand Theft Auto Franchise. Also it’s about the toxic cycle of masculinity!!!
TV
Something New:
Lanterns — August 16th HBO Max
Okay I don’t usually care about anything billing itself as the ‘first chapter’ of anything related to an extended cinematic universe, nor do I understand what a Lantern is and why there are so many, HOWEVER, Damon Lindelof is co-showrunning this AND it stars Coach Taylor. Can the creator of the greatest subversive superhero drama (Watchman) translate to the DCEU? How much screentime will Nathan Fillion have? Is a Green Lantern an alien? These are the questions.
Monsters of God — August 6th HBO Max
~Six~ years ago, Netflix’s Tiger King was watercooler television for the trapped inside of the pandemic. Well, the team behind that series is back, but instead of tigers….lizard smuggling. The blackmarket world of exotic reptile sales is just as filled with danger and characters, like these are guys going through TSA with a briefcase full of coke and ten thousand dollar snakes in their pants. That’s good television.
The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only — Sunday August 23rd on AMC+
It wouldn’t be an update from me if there weren’t vampires. To promote the release of The Vampire Lestat (née season 3 of Interview with the Vampire), AMC did a live concert with Sam Reid performing in the titular role. It’s exactly what the Vampire Lestat would have done. I can’t be the only one of you all who loves these books. C’mon guys.
Adults S2 — August 27th on FX
Every Gen Z I talk to (more than you would assume from knowing me) has been really hyping this up. Into every generation, a Broad City is born I guess! If the Haus of Mamdani are truly elite, he will guest star as Young Cardamom in the season finale.
Something Old:
Watchmen (2019)
Who’s watching the Watchmen? You, hopefully! I know this was a big deal very recently, but some of us only watched it this year. And if YOU, like ME, were like “it can’t be as good as they say,” well, it is! Both a thematic tribute and a modern remix of the original graphic novel, Watchmen cuts through the big budget superhero noise with a mystery story that investigates the heart of America, and looks and sounds like a comic book. I’m expecting no less from Lanterns, Damon!
Books
Something New:
Sunrise by Téa Obreht - August 11th
A multi-generational survival Western novel spanning time and circumstance and teeming with twists and secrets? Don’t mind if I do! Sunrise takes place in an old West town (Sunrise!) in three different time periods following three different heroes with their own mysteries to solve, once can only hope the threads of these mysteries weave together into a satisfying thematically cohesive twist ending!
Life of M by Rachel Cusk - August 25th
The only thing better than books is book drama. Life of M is a novel about a famous actress and the writer who is striving to memorialize her in print, it discusses themes such as fame, power, art, etc etc. We love meta, we love Hollywood. However, word on the literary streets is that Cusk is basing her out-of-touch starlet on her friend (well, her people say they’re just “acquaintances”) Natalie Portman. How can you resist a novel giving a perhaps not so flattering behind the psyche view of an A lister??
Something Old:
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (2001)
The Eyre Affair is one of my very favorite books, and the first entry in the Thursday Next series. Thursday is a literary crimes detective in a world where books and authors are revered, and an invention allows people to travel inside their favorite novels. When Jane Eyre is kidnapped out of the original text of Jane Eyre, Thursday teams up with Mr Rochester to rescue her and return her to the pages of her novel. This is a book for people who love books, love books so much they want their books to be only about books. The final novel in this series comes out this October so start reading now to catch up!
Bullets:
William Petersen summer really started with my rewatch of Hannibal, and then that led to watching Red Dragon (bad) which led to going to the 4k restoration Manhunter screening (good), and then all I wanted to do was live in the 80’s, listen to synth, and gaze at William Petersen in his little purple shorts. It can happen to any of us.
X-Files update corner! Speaking of the most important show of all time! In addition to Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler, Ryan Coogler’s X-Files reboot has added Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, and Ben Foster! I hope Amy Madigan is the Skinner.
I have been really struggling to come up with TikTok ideas, and then I had this great idea to feature British actors who I thought were going to pop, actors like David Jonsson! But then it was announced at Comic Con that he’s the new Black Panther. So. Happy for him, not for me.
Against all odds, Benny Safdie is currently the highest grossing actor of 2026.
