This week:
- My very important thoughts on Jurassic World Rebirth.
- My very important thoughts on Independence Day cinema.
- The article that blew my mind.
- Protect Dakota Johnson at all costs.
- Can’t unsee it.
Obviously the Best Part of Jurassic World Rebirth
There’s a moment early on in Jurassic World Rebirth that, in the great tradition of Steven Spielberg’s first film in the franchise three decades ago, takes your breath away.
It’s an involuntary physical response, almost like a choking in awe of the transcendent cinematic moment that you can’t believe you’re witnessing—the reason films are made and the wonder that they bring matters.
I am talking, of course, of the first time we see Jonathan Bailey’s “sl*tty little glasses.”
More than any impressive new dinosaur or CGI achievement that the latest entry in the paleoblockbuster franchise shows off, it’s the pair of Cubits spectacles with hexagonal titanium frames—sitting in all their Hot Nerd glory on the Wicked and Bridgerton star’s perfect face—that have garnered the lion’s share of the film’s pre-release attention.
For those whose entire algorithm hasn’t become one blasting firehose of fancam videos of Jonathan Bailey looking dashing and adorable (certainly not me…), culture commentator Blakely Thornton cheekily coined the term when first images of the actor in costume as Dr. Henry Loomis in the film were released.
Whatever the description means—Do the glasses make the wearer more alluring? Are the glasses themselves sexy? Are the little lenses merely an amplifier of Bailey’s already existing allure?—Bailey has leaned into it. Glasses and jokes about “sl*ty little” everythings became a part of every press stop.
“slutty little glasses? are you allowed to say the s word?” HELP pic.twitter.com/rGM2JBXqqe
— miah (@cupidhawk) June 17, 2025
So hyped were these specs that I reflexively clapped when I saw them during my Jurassic World Rebirth screening. (I have nothing to say to the woman who immediately turned to me and scowled.) In fact, I think they’re emblematic of what makes the movie so fun.
Gone is the notion that any Jurassic Park sequel will be the triumph of tension and terror that Spielberg created. Here is the era when they’re just plain goofy (complimentary).
Being as excited for a character’s viral eyewear as the introduction of the most supersized beast the franchise has introduced yet epitomizes the attitude that watching Jurassic World Rebirth is best served by.
Sure, you’re watching a mediocre movie that panders to the lowest common denominator: One of the “big scares” of the film takes place while a character is urinating; a precious baby dino stops by to give Baby Yoda a run for his toy merch money. But if you choose to unabashedly embrace all the silliness and the film’s broad nature, you’ll have a blast. Clap for the glasses!
Bailey plays Dr. Henry Loomis, a paleontologist who joins a group of glorified mercenaries that includes Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali on a mission to extract DNA from the most dangerous dinosaurs left in the world, which could be used for medicine that could eradicate heart disease. No more plot description is needed. Mayhem ensues. It’s a 2025 Jurassic Park movie: You know what you’re getting.
Dr. Henry Loomis is a very serious science nerd, with such an attachment to the creatures he’s studying that emotion frequently bubbles out of him, like his passion is boiling over. He’s also, in the spirit of Indiana Jones, not just a bookish wallflower but an adventurer in his own right. Bailey’s un-stiflable charisma serves the movie well, with his wily streak and mischievous grins splattering the film with the levity that is very much in the vein of the original Jurassic Park’s humorous streak.
Bailey has been on what seems like an endless two-year press tour, between his roles in Fellow Travelers, Bridgerton, Wicked, and now Jurassic World Rebirth. (Not that I’m complaining; may it never end.) In turn, he’s bowled over the public with his seemingly ceaseless charm and instant chemistry with just about everyone he encounters. When, so often, stars are wooden, rehearsed, and appear exhausted or disinterested during PR stops, he’s bounded through each one like a golden retriever everyone wants to adopt.
Actress Allison Williams, who co-starred with Bailey in Fellow Travelers, put it perfectly during a recent appearance on the podcast Las Culturistas: It’s like he’s perfect to the point of burden, waking up each morning needing to exude the perfection to the world in various ways so he can finally be unburdened enough to rest again. (If someone ever described me that way, I’d print it on a t-shirt that I never take off, or have it tattooed on my body.)
The other thing that makes Bailey’s star turn in Jurassic World Rebirth so exciting to me, beyond making me feel more confident about wearing my own glasses, is that he turns in his winning performance while being the first gay actor to play a lead in a blockbuster action franchise. Yes, in 2025 we are just now hitting that milestone.
And he’s also not running away from that significance as he reaches new levels of fame. To wit, he’s started selling “shameless little glasses” to support The Shameless Fund, which he started to raise money for organizations that support and champion the LGBT+ community.
Clap for those glasses, too.
Some Fourth of July Wisdom
As we navigate complicated feelings about what’s going on in the country this Fourth of July weekend, I turn to what I often go to for distraction or comfort: stupid movie nonsense.
As such, here are the two most important scenes about patriotism and what this July 4th holiday truly means—both equally profound, both equally meaningful.
First, of course, is Bill Pullman’s rousing speech from Independence Day.
“We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore,” Pullman’s character, President Whitmore, says at the beginning of the speech, as the human race faces the end of the world. “We will be united in our common interests.” Hmmmmmmm… Food for thought.
(Another choice resonant line: “We’re fighting for our right to live, to exist.)
And then there’s the line of dialogue that matters so deeply, speaking to the core of two things I am most passionate about in this world: Jennifer Coolidge, and hot dogs.
In Another Life…
I don’t believe in resentment or phrases like “born too late,” a wistfulness to exist in an early era where you’d ostensibly thrive.
Then I read about what it was like to be a magazine writer and editor—the equivalent of the job I do now online—in the ’90s and early 2000s, and I let out a sigh so heavy that my floorboards shook and my downstairs neighbor hit their ceiling with a broom to make me be quiet.
The reason for this bellow of “what could’ve been” despair was a fascinating, wildly entertaining, and deeply depressing New York Times piece about the spending heyday of Condé Nast, the publisher of Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ, and Architectural Digest.
It’s packed with juicy anecdotes about writers’ astronomical salaries, mandates to stay at five-star hotels and fly first class to keep up appearances, and even apartments and house down payments paid for by the company.
But this is the detail that made me laugh the most (aka cry aka scream aka wish I was doing this job 25 years ago):
Every line of this @grynbaum piece on Conde’s excesses is absolute gold, but I legit laughed out loud at this section. pic.twitter.com/mqWFxdeSws
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) July 2, 2025
Leave Dakota Johnson Alone
I have said it before, and I will repeat it because it is at the foundation of my being: There is no experience in the world that I value more than being asleep for as many hours a day as possible.
So I was particularly radicalized when comments recently went viral again that actress Dakota Johnson made in 2024 about her own affinity for slumber and the backlash that ensued.
John Travolta made a surprise appearance at a Grease sing-along event at the Hollywood Bowl. The Hollywood Bowl hosted a Grease Sing-A-Long event on June 27, 2025, where attendees were encouraged to dress up and sing along to the lyrics of the 1978 movie GREASE starring Travolt pic.twitter.com/o9tNzzLTfu
— Jennifer Ajufo (@jenny_Esohe) June 28, 2025
Dakota Johnson is a sage. Dakota Johnson is a guru. Dakota Johnson speaks for me.
I Got Chills…
John Travolta showed up at a Hollywood Bowl sing-a-long of Grease wearing this wig. I had to see it, so now so do you.
John Travolta made a surprise appearance at a Grease sing-along event at the Hollywood Bowl. The Hollywood Bowl hosted a Grease Sing-A-Long event on June 27, 2025, where attendees were encouraged to dress up and sing along to the lyrics of the 1978 movie GREASE starring Travolt pic.twitter.com/o9tNzzLTfu
— Jennifer Ajufo (@jenny_Esohe) June 28, 2025
More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed
Why Scarlett Johansson is Hollywood’s true movie-star successor to Tom Cruise. Read more.
The American Idol star who fled the Mormon church to live his best gay life. Read more.
We’re all thinking it: The Gilded Age needs more sex. Read more.
What to watch this week:
Heads of State: John Cena becoming one of our best movie stars is quite a twist. (Now on Prime Video)
Sharks Up Coles With Bertie Gregory: One of my favorite wildlife explorers to watch. (Sat. on Nat Geo; Sun. on Disney+/Hulu)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Seventeen seasons in, still making me cackle. (Wed. on FXX; Thurs. on Hulu)
What to skip this week:
The Old Guard 2: This is all the more depressing because the first one was so good. (Now on Netflix)
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