News What to Watch What to Watch and Read This Weekend: A Football Horror Movie You Might Hate and a Brian Eno Movie You’ll Watch (At Least) Twice Plus pictures of beautiful bookshelves! By Molly Templeton | Published on September 18, 2025 Photo: Universal Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Universal Pictures The first day of fall is Monday. I’m really sorry to bring this up—unless, of course, you’re one of the people for whom this is very welcome news. (How about both? Can I be both?) In Portland, we’re in that stretch of time where leaves might fall into your drinks when you’re sitting outside enjoying the high-70s perfect weather. It’s crossover season. Unintentionally, this week’s recommendations are a little crossover-y, too: sports and horror, books and architecture, satisfying and unsatisfying versions of a similar plot. And Brian Eno, who crosses over most things, come to think of it. Settle in with your beverage of choice, and don’t forget to call your reps. Football Is Horrifying, Though: Him Okay, so, the reviews for Justin Tipping’s football horror movie Him are far from glowing. “Style to burn and not much else,” says Vulture’s headline. But I still want to watch it. Honestly, this movie deserves my time just for the gory beauty of its first teaser. It’s 10,000 percent a sports ad (“If you want to transcend the game, you have to dig deep”)—one that goes absolutely haywire. And the effectiveness of that trailer choice made me think about bodies, and sports, and all the ways that a body, put through great physical stress, can go haywire in all kinds of “normal” ways. Bodies are weird, no? At least, if you think about them too much. Anyway. I grew up in the kind of small American town where there is so little to do that everyone goes to the high school football game, even if they—like me—have zero interest in football. I’ve seen the clichés. I want to see the actually-making-it-weird version. But it might not be great. Is it worth it? You can only do that math for yourself. Just Look at the Pretty Books as a Palate Cleanser I don’t even remember where this link came from, because it erased all the thoughts in my mind when I clicked it. (Bliss, for a half a second.) “57 brilliant bookshelf ideas for every type of space,” a post from the UK’s House & Garden, requires nothing of you. You can just scroll and admire bookcases. Bookshelves. Beautifully arranged books in tasteful houses. There is, I admit, a preponderance of beige and white walls, and not as much artful chaos as some may wish for. (There is some, though, like the shelves with art hanging on the front of them.) There is a green book nook that I would very much like to read in. There’s a gorgeous cat on a red sofa in a room with red shelves and colorful rugs. There’s so much. I am only halfway through and saving the rest for later. Which Older Fantasy Books Meet Modern Expectations? My favorite online discussion this week was definitely the conversation Eddie Clark started when he asked, “what 80s & 90s epic fantasy holds up best to modern eyes and why?” I am constantly wishing I had more time to go back and read my old favorites—partly because I want to see what does hold up, and partly because I want to see how differently I might feel or think about those books now. The answers to Clark’s question vary, though there is a lot of agreement on Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series (serieses?) and quite a few mentions of Kate Elliott, Melanie Rawn (specifically her Exiles series), and Janny Wurts. We can nitpick about whether Tamora Pierce’s books are epic fantasy or not—and there are several similar arguments in the thread!—but I just read Alanna: The First Adventure this week and it was such a joy that I got mad at myself for not having the next three books to hand. There are a few things to quibble with, but Alanna’s fear and frustration and determination are just perfectly depicted. What holds up for you? What do you want to reread? Is fall the perfect time to do just that? I’m Going to Go Have a Good Cry with The Magicians I was not alone in finding the just-ended season of Strange New Worlds underwhelming. The humor wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be; the characters didn’t get enough focus or time to develop; and the finale asked us to be deeply invested in a relationship that’s never quite clicked (and I’m still not over all the unfortunate bioessentialism). But a certain part of the season finale—if you’ve seen it, you know—reminded me of one of my favorite episodes of television of all time: The Magicians’ “A Life in the Day.” In the midst of a quest for some magic keys, Quentin and Eliot wind up living out a whole life while trying to solve a mosaic puzzle. That’s the meat of it. And just thinking about that episode makes me a little teary. It’s beautiful, and in the big picture of the show, it’s meaningful. It also comes at a point when we know these characters, their flaws and foibles and big cracked hearts. It makes sense; it builds things, and it undoes things. And if you would like a good cathartic cry, it will probably give you that.  Wanna Watch a Movie You Can Never See the Same Way Twice? Please forgive me, because I’m about to talk about a movie you probably can’t actually watch right now (though it is coming to streaming eventually!). But the thing is, you should know about this movie so that you can watch it when it is available to you—and then maybe watch it again, because the odds of it appearing the same way twice are infinitesimal. I’m talking about Eno, the documentary about Brian Eno, for which director Gary Hustwit “and creative technologist Brendan Dawes have developed bespoke generative software designed to sequence scenes and create transitions out of Hustwit’s original interviews with Eno, and Eno’s rich archive of hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage, and unreleased music.” (You can read more about the creation of the film at The Verge.) Listen: Maybe you think you don’t care about Brian Eno. Fair enough. But if you care about art, and creativity, and the creation of some of the last century’s most enduring music; if you care about how people move through the world and make art and keep being curious; if you could use a straight shot of hope—well, then you should watch this movie when you can. The critic Carl Wilson watched it (almost) five times in a row, and wrote, “It was replenishing because while it lasted, Brian Eno made it seem possible to be hopeful without being oblivious or gullible.” If you would like to watch a music documentary now, though, may I also suggest the wonderfully chaotic Pavements, which also takes a variety of approaches to its material (though not quite as many as Eno). I cannot emphasize strongly enough the excellence of 20 Feet from Stardom, a documentary that gives backup singers like Darlene Love and Merry Clayton their due (seriously, you will never listen to “Gimme Shelter” the same way again). On Sunday, Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery—The Untold Story hits Hulu, and I can’t wait. (This oral history of the Fair can tide you over until the premiere.) One of the producers on Lilith Fair is critic Jessica Hopper, who also directed the excellent series Women Who Rock. You should watch that, too. If you like good things.[end-mark] The post What to Watch and Read This Weekend: A Football Horror Movie You Might Hate and a Brian Eno Movie You’ll Watch (At Least) Twice appeared first on Reactor.