A deeply troubled and troublesome movie in the vein of Taxi Driver and Joker, this bodybuilding drama has—off-screen controversy notwithstanding—an undeniably brutal, committed central performance.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 4, 2025

Jonathan Majors' performance is amazing. He manages to pull off a character who is ill and knows it.

| Mar 31, 2025

The "fallen" star is terrific in this otherwise small-scale drama which saw its value as a likely Oscar nominee undercut by skewed "real life imitates art" circumstances.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 28, 2025

I'm watching it thinking "any one of these [storylines] is a movie, but all of these things together is a mess."

| Mar 28, 2025

[Jonathan Majors] is great in it, but it is very tough to watch.

| Mar 28, 2025

There is no character here, but a walking time bomb that only acts when compelled to by outside influences.

| Original Score: D | Mar 24, 2025

Jonathan Majors delivers a truly brilliant performance, making you care about a character you simultaneously fear. MAGAZINE DREAMS is intense, dark, and artfully executed, showcasing a talented writer-director in Elijah Bynum.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 24, 2025

Magazine Dreams is a something’s-wrong-with-men movie that doesn’t actually want to delve deeply into the pain its protagonist is experiencing, because it finds the external manifestations of his alienation more compelling.

| Mar 24, 2025

This is a dynamic performance where the actor truly knows the character in every pore.

| Mar 24, 2025

And while Magazine Dreams is carried by Majors and his performance, he doesn’t make up for a story that feels very one-sided, about a character who is difficult to invest in.

| Original Score: C+ | Mar 24, 2025

“Magazine Dreams” is an unremitting, depressing movie with value, but will anyone stay long enough to make it to the end? It is a hard story to watch

| Original Score: B | Mar 23, 2025

It has a certain raw conviction, not least from Majors himself... But unsettlingly vivid as his character Killian Maddox is, he also remains an unsympathetic cipher that the film seems more willing to exploit than explore.

| Mar 22, 2025

Time to separate the art from the real-life artist. Jonathan Majors has one of the best performances you'll see onscreen as a mental-health-challenged bodybuilder. And the dissolution of his character mashes TAXI DRIVER and Muscle&Fitness. Chilling.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 22, 2025

While the story itself bottoms out long before the film’s finale arrives, there is no question that Majors delivers a magnificently unsettling performance.

| Mar 21, 2025

...an engrossing showcase for Majors’ awe-inspiring performance.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 21, 2025

Jonathan Majors plays a volatile bodybuilder named Killian Maddox, presumably because the writer and director Elijah Bynum thought calling the character Murderguy Sulkface was too on the nose.

| Mar 21, 2025

And yet a film with this much emotional and visual ambition is to be applauded. I suspect that we will hear from Bynum again soon.

| Mar 21, 2025

“Magazine Dreams” is Bynum’s calling card, and one that signals well for the future.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 21, 2025

Jonathan Majors is simply the best. His performance was terrifyingly good, and will be remembered for all of time. Not what I expected being an uncomfortable watch at times, but his range in this role is next level.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Mar 21, 2025

This intense and deeply introspective character study is galvanized by an audacious performance of monumental conviction and commitment by Jonathan Majors.

| Mar 21, 2025