This College Activity Can Determine Your Future Happiness

Must-Read New Books Coming In April 2024

Old Flames and New Fortunesby Sarah Hogle

Romina Tempest has been using her magical gift to create beauty and romantic love around her, even if said love is evading her. It's been like this for the past decade, but she's learned to live with the decision that ended her chance at romance.

Creating magic in her floral shop, Romina can't help but get excited when she learns about a dream angel investor's upcoming (and very prestigious) wedding. Cooking up an elaborate scheme to help her business, she and her co-worker Trevor decide to pretend they're in a relationship.

Things go fairly well until she realizes Trevor knows the man responsible for her love deficit: Alex King. It's a recipe for disaster, but maybe a bit of magic can help.

Just For the Summerby Abby Jimenez

Justin and Emma are in the same predicament: every person they date seems to end up in a successful relationship after dating them. Unfortunately for Justin, everyone knows. However, they hope that dating each other will undo whatever omen is hovering over their chance at love.

Over the summer, they spend time together on Lake Minnetonka and become wrapped up in each other's lives. From an overbearing mother to a sudden change in family dynamics, Emma and Justin begin to suspect their mutual bad luck in love may not have been so bad after all.

An Inconvenient Wife by Karen E. Olson

The Husbandsby Holly Gramazio

Lauren feels like she'd remember whether she was married or not, but the people around her are convinced she's always had a husband: Michael. Sadly, she's having trouble proving she doesn't know who he is because there are too many signs that they've been together.

In the midst of her confusion, Michael disappears into the attic and a new husband appears for Lauren. She watches in fascination as life slowly tweaks to accommodate this new marriage, and she wonders how many lives she's able to live. The more husbands Lauren sees, the more she realizes that jumping from one marriage to the next may not be worth it. That finding one version of happy is enough.

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

Hazel Sharp has a complicated relationship with Mirror Lake. It's the place she grew up, but she's got conflicted feelings about her mother's sudden disappearance and the unshakable feeling that one of her brothers really doesn't like her. When she's forced to come back after her father dies, Hazel has to deal with suddenly inheriting his house — and wondering why a car was discovered in their backyard lake.

She knows she should probably leave it alone, but Hazel can't help but feel like it's time to uncover what happened to her mother. What'll she discover is far worse than anything she could've imagined.

The Age of Magical Overthinkingby Amanda Montell

Have you noticed you have a tendency to overthink? Join the party because we've all been living in an analytical bubble, but there may be hope! In The Age of Magical Overthinking, author Amanda Montell breaks down the things we tend to overthink and why they occupy our brain so much.

From celebrity worship to a hilarious chapter about Mercury Retrograde, she talks about the way we relate to pop culture and life around us in a way that's easy to understand. And, she makes it clear that she's still an optimist who believes there's a method to our supposed irrationality.

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

Deep Is the Fen by Lili Wilkinson (April 16)

Merry has her own version of paradise in her small village despite losing her mother. She still has her father and two best friends without the need for the magic that's been banned. But, her perfect slice of heaven is threatened when she learns one of her best friends is joining the secret society of Toadmen. Although she doesn't consider herself a witch, she can see the dark magic that covers the Toadmen — including her dad.

To help save her best friend, she begrudgingly teams up with her rival Caraway. Together they form an uneasy bond that's consistently tested by things the latter hides from her. She eventually learns he isn't her real enemy and that something much sinister lurks behind the legacy of the Toadmen. It'll take more than her knowing eyes and Caraway's advanced magic to stop an ancient horror.

Funny Storyby Emily Henry (April 23)

Funny Story is the latest Emily Henry book that's been on my radar for a while! Daphne feels like she has the perfect love story with her fiancé Peter, but he decides his love story should actually involve his best friend Petra — and then leaves Daphne before their wedding. Facing this unfortunate news, Daphne decides there's no use in wallowing and moves forward with her life in Waning Bay, Michigan.

Faced with the reality she's back to a single income, she moves in with Miles Nowak...Petra's ex. Sparks don't immediately fly until one fateful day convinces them to play a long game of pretend. After receiving invites to their exes' wedding, Daphne and Miles decide to find "love" in each other, and to put everything on display for the world to see. After all, it's the best way to rub something in Peter and Petra's faces. But, feelings don't always know when people are pretending and this duo quickly forms a bond, whether that was a part of the plan or not.

The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl (April 23)

Stella isn't the first person you'd call to go on a spontaneous trip, but life — and her deceased mother's inheritance — nudge her to explore life beyond what she knows. Reluctantly traveling to Paris, Stella doesn't enjoy the city at first. She'd rather find a comfortable rhythm she's used to until she crosses paths with a gorgeous vintage Dior dress she can't bring herself to walk away from.

Intrigued by the way it makes her feel (and the confidence it gives her), Stella decides she's ready to see what life has to offer, and the people and experiences she encounter encourage her to grab life by the horns. At the center of her renewed sense for living is the discovery that she truly feels alive when indulging in delicious food, art, and literature.

The more she allows herself to live, the more Stella is able to understand who she is and how her identity is connected to the past.

What is special about A24 movies?

There are many things that make A24 movies stand out: stunning visual composition, original style, bold plot lines, mind-bending themes, and their support of indie talent (both directorial and for actors), but most of all, A24 movies are special because they stray from the status quo. The studio has built up a passionate fan base of film-lovers, which also contributes to their reputation.

Does HBO have A24 films?

Yes, HBO has over 100 A24 movies available for streaming. The studio struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery in December 2023 to bring its entire collection of new releases to HBO, Max, and Cinemax. Any new A24 movies that come out will also be added to the platforms for a set period of time.

Are there any upcoming A24 movies?

Yes, A24 has a lot of movies slated for the future. These are the upcoming A24 movies we know of:

• MaXXXine (July 2024) – Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Lily Collins, Halsey, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon
• Sing Sing (July 2024) – Colman Domingo
• Eddington(no release date) – Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Austin Butler, and Pedro Pascal
• Janet Planet (no release date) – Julianne Nicholson and Zoe Ziegler
• Civil War (no release date) – Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Karl Glusman, and Sonoya Mizuno
• We Live In Time(no release date) – Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield
• Y2K (no release date) – Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Rachel Zegler, Lachlan Watson, Mason Gooding, The Kid Laroi, Eduardo Franco, Miles Robbins, Fred Hechinger, Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, and Daniel Zolghadri
• Death of a Unicorn (no release date) – Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega
• A Different Man (no release date) – Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson, and Renate Reinsve
• The Front Room (no release date) – Brandy, Kathryn Hunter, Andrew Burnap, and Neal Huff
• I Saw the TV Glow (no release date) – Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Phoebe Bridgers, Danielle Deadwyler, Amber Benson, Conner O’Malley, and Fred Durst
• The Legend of Ochi (no release date) – Helena Zengel, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Finn Wolfhard
• Mother Mary (no release date) – Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, and Hunter Schafer
• Opus (no release date) – Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Murray Bartlett, Amber Midthunder, Stephanie Suganami, Young Mazino, and Tatanka Means
• Talk 2 Me (no release date) – sequel to A24's Talk to Me
• Wizards! (no release date) – Pete Davidson, Naomi Scott, Sean Harris, Orlando Bloom, and Franz Rogowski.
• The Backrooms (no release date)

Which A24 movies have won awards?

A24 has been nominated for 55 Academy Awards with 16 wins total thus far.

• 2016: Best Actress for Brie Larson’s performance in Room, Best Documentary Feature Film for Amy, and Best Visual Effects for Ex Machina.
• 2017: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Moonlight.
• 2021: Best Supporting Actress for Yuh-jung Youn’s performance in Minari.

In 2023, A24 gathered more critical acclaim than ever before, being nominated for 18 Oscars. Everything Everywhere All at Once won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. The Whale won Best Actor and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Has A24 made TV shows?

Yes, A24 has made a handful of TV shows since founding the studio in 2012. The shows include: The Curse, At Home with Amy Sedaris, Beef, The Carmichael Show, Euphoria, I'm Sorry, Irma Vep, Mo, Mr. Corman, Ramy, and Ziwe.

My Top 5 A24 Movies You Need To See To Believe The Hype

The Whale (2022)

This A24 movie is a total tearjerker, but it's 1000% worth the box of tissues, IMO. The plot introduces Charlie, a morbidly obese English teacher who’s grown to be extremely reclusive and self-destructive due to his appearance and overall mental health.

In the movie, Charlie aims to reconnect with his abandoned daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink), and we watch their tense relationship develop as Ellie primarily consults Charlie for help on her English homework.

Despite efforts to help Charlie turn his life around – by Liz (his primary caretaker), Thomas (a local missionary), and Ellie – he spirals.

The Whale is an absolute emotional roller coaster of a movie and one of Brendan Fraser’s best works I’ve ever seen. It can be grotesque at times, but no detail, either plot-wise or visually, is in there for fluffing up the timeline.

It’s a must-watch considering its positive critical acclaim with over 20 awards won.

Beau is Afraid (2023)

Beau Is Afraid follows Beau (Joaquin Phoenix), a severely anxious man, and his journey to get back to his mother. He embarks on an unusual odyssey through everything from crime, injury, love, and most of all, grief.

The general tone of the movie is very surreal, and the beautiful visuals and wonky plot line work together to create a sense of wonder.

I really enjoyed Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in this wacky, very A24-esque film, and probably felt every emotion ever while watching it. It ranges from violent to tender, and it’s very intriguing because due to Beau’s anxiety, you can’t clearly tell what’s real and what’s not.

Phoenix was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work with Beau Is Afraid.

Midsommar (2019)

A lot of A24 movies follow an explicitly surreal vibe, and Midsommar starring Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor is definitely no exception. Ari Aster steps in as director for this film, giving it his own twist of horror and dark comedy.

Midsommar centers around dysfunctional couple Dani (Florence Pugh) and Christian (Jack Reynor) who are invited to rural Sweden to celebrate the midsummer festival with some friends with family ties there.

What they don’t know is that they’re essentially staying there with a cult. Aaand things get even more complicated when their friend group gets dosed with psychedelic mushrooms in the midst of the midsummer ceremonies.

The Bling Ring (2013)

Written and directed by Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, Priscilla), The Bling Ring is one of my favorite A24 movies. I had a phase of pure obsession once, where I probably watched it 5 times in a month.

The Bling Ring is based on a real story, and it’s just such a period piece, encapsulating the culture of fame and celebrity in early 2010’s Los Angeles with pretty spot-on accuracy. It’s packed with tons of visual details from the zebra-print clothing to the flip phones that speak to the trends of the time. Not to mention, the soundtrack is bomb.

Following a squad of bored, fame-obsessed teens who keep tabs on LA-based celebs from the likes of Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge to break into their homes while they’re away, The Bling Ring shines a light on the real-life group’s tactics as well as each teens’ obsession with money and fame (and the problems it ultimately causes).

The cast features a stacked ensemble: Emma Watson, Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Taissa Farmiga, Claire Julien, Georgia Rock and Leslie Mann.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (who also directed Poor Things with Emma Stone), The Killing of a Sacred Deer is an absurd tale of a family who begins to fall mysteriously ill after they connect with Martin (Barry Keoghan), a boy whom Steven (Colin Farrell) the father of the family had been friendly with since Martin’s father died.

All A24 Movies To Watch Now

• 20th Century Women
• Aftersun
• After Yang
• A Ghost Story
• All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
• American Honey
• Amy
• Beau Is Afraid
• Barely Lethal
• Backstabbing for Beginners
• Bodies Bodies Bodies
• The Ballad of Lefty Brown
• The Blackcoat's Daughter
• The Bling Ring
• The Captive
• Causeway
• The Children Act
• Climax
• Close
• C'mon C'mon
• The Death of Dick Long
• De Palma
• Dicks: The Musical
• The Disaster Artist
• Dream Scenario
• Earth Mama
• The Elephant Queen
• Eighth Grade
• Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts
• The End of the Tour
• Enemy
• Equals
• The Eternal Daughter
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• Ex Machina
• The Exception
• False Positive
• The Farewell
• First Cow
• The Florida Project
• First Reformed
• Free Fire
• Funny Pages
• Ginger & Rosa
• Gloria Bell
• God's Creatures
• Good Time
• The Green Knight
• Green Room
• High Life
• Hereditary
• Hot Summer Nights
• How to Talk to Girls at Parties
• Instinct
• In Fabric
• The Inspection
• The Iron Claw
• Into the Forest
• It Comes at Night
• Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind
• The Kill Team
• The Killing of a Sacred Deer
• Krisha
• Lady Bird
• Laggies
• Lamb
• The Last Black Man in San Francisco
• The Last Movie Star
• Lean on Pete
• The Lighthouse
• Locke
• The Lobster
• The Lovers
• Low Tide
• Love Lies Bleeding
• Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
• The Monster
• Men
• Menashe
• Midsommar
• Mid90s
• Mississippi Grind
• Mojave
• Moonlight
• Morris from America
• My Mercury
• Native Son
• Never Goin' Back
• Oasis: Supersonic
• Obvious Child
• Occupied City
• On the Rocks
• Open Wide
• Outlaws
• The Rover
• Pearl
• Past Lives
• Pi
• A Prayer Before Dawn
• Problemista
• Red Rocket
• The Sea of Trees
• Share
• Showing Up
• The Sky Is Everywhere
• The Slice
• Slow West
• Son of a Gun
• The Souvenir
• The Souvenir Part II
• The Spectacular Now
• Star at Noon
• Stars at Noon
• Stephen Curry: Underrated
• Stop Making Sense
• Swiss Army Man
• Trespass Against Us
• The Tragedy of Macbeth
• Tusk
• The Vanishing of Sidney Hall
• Val
• The Whale
• When You Finish Saving the World
• While We're Young
• White Noise
• Woman Walks Ahead
• Woodshock
• X
• You Hurt My Feelings
• Zola
• The Zone of Interest

B+C: Why do you think so many of us are overthinking things, especially in the age of modern social media?

Amanda Montell: I decided to title the book The Age of Magical Overthinking because I couldn't help but notice that there just seems to be an inexplicable, excessive [amount of] delulu in the culture despite the fact we're living in the so-called information age. Everything from people with Master's degrees basing their genuine decisions on astrology to, you know, my neighbors opting not to get the Covid vaccine because a TikToker — a like, white girlie with a Bindi — told them it would downgrade their DNA.

Stuff like that didn't seem to check out for me, especially since we're ostensibly living in a time when you can fact check anything with the click of a button. I was like, 'What is going on here,' and as it turns out, what is going on is this innate clash between our innate decision-making shortcuts — the processes by which we always jump to conclusions in order to make quick decisions to make sense of the world enough to survive it. There's a clash between those age old decision-making methods called cognitive biases and the information age in a way that is ending up pretty explosive for society at large...and is causing us a great deal of existential pain.

So, magical thinking — or the idea that our internal thoughts can affect external events — is a human quirk that has been around since the dawn of our species. But I think overthinking is really a product of the modern age or result of this capitalistic pressure to be right about everything under the sun...

B+C: How do you think this is impacting the way we interact with each other?

Amanda Montell: There's a lot going on. We need to interact in person in order to have empathy...to establish the social glue that keeps us from getting into extremely fraud and sometimes violent ideological conflict. I think there's the idea that the internet is causing ideological rifts to widen and I think in a way that's true, but what's more problematic is the fact we are engaging in social discourse in a medium that prevents that empathy from holding us together.

I think almost everyone can relate to the experience of receiving a curt email from a boss or receiving a salty Instagram comment that sends us into fight or flight. We're responding to non-threats — these sort of abstract disagreements or fake problems — that we're projecting panic onto.

B+C: Can you break down the halo effect for our readers?

Amanda Montell: It was so much fun to explore this particular cognitive bias early in the book because I felt like it really would set up the whole thesis of it quite well. Basically the halo effect is this penchant admire one quality in a person — their fashion sense, their intelligence, the way they blend an oat milk latte — and then assume they must be perfect overall. This halo effect connects to the ways ancient humans used to find role models for survival purposes in our communities.

Ages ago, you used to clock someone in your small village with big muscles...and figure, 'Oh they must be a skilled hunter or they've avoided disfigurement from battle. I would love to align myself with this person for survival,' even though you're jumping to conclusions about them. Their big muscles might not necessarily indicate that they're skilled in battle or they're a good hunter, but it's an efficient enough decision to make.

We're not mapping that conclusion jumping onto modern parasocial relationships. We see a pop star whose music we really connect to and assume they must be educated, worldly, nurturing, they're political beliefs align with ours in this particular time when we're losing so much trust in the government...Basically since the Regan era — our first celebrity President — celebrities have really started swerving into other aspects of life (spiritual, political, etc.,)...

Rapid Fire Q&A

B+C: What are some some of the things you're currently obsessing over?

Amanda Montell: That's so funny you asked that because on this new podcast — The Magical Overthinkers — I also am opening every episode by asking 'What's an irrational thought spiral that's living rent-free in your head?'

I am totally overthinking my book tour outfits right now. Speaking of consumerism as like a distracting or numbing exercise, launching a book is very stressful and the one thing that made me feel some sense of relief is just shopping for cute outfits. I've been buying a lot of plaid skirt suits. The vibe is definitely 90s nostalgic, a little dark academia meets cochette.

B+C: If you were to give yourself five days to unplug from social media, how would you spend your time?

Amanda Montell: Great question. You know what? I'm setting up a week like this for myself in May after the book tour stuff dies down. After my last book Cultish came out, I was unwell in the mind. I felt so exposed and so fragile. I was like, 'I need to send myself on some kind of retreat,' so I sent myself on this little solo excursion to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina and it was so healing...I went and lived in an Airstream for a couple of days. I was doing nature walks and lying in a hammock journaling...

The Age of Magical Overthinking

Watch the Full Interview with Amanda Montell: