The Drama Club: February 2026

This month in The Drama Club: Sam Rockwell time-travels to save humanity from AI, the Winter Olympics' most unhinged events, the underrated Arctic Monkeys album worth a revisit, and five breakup albums that understand heartbreak isn't something you solve in a weekend. Let's go →

Each month, I recommend two movies: one you can watch at home and one you should head out to the theater for. At the end of this section, you’ll find a list of some releases coming this month.

Even before he was an Oscar winner, Sam Rockwell had proven to be one of the most exciting and malleable actors of our time. This month, he returns to some of his more crazed roots with Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. The premise of the film is simple: in the future, AI turns on humanity and Rockwell’s character has traveled back in time to stop it from ever having the chance. Where he lands in our present day is inside a diner where he attempts to recruit unsuspecting characters into his mission. Directed by Gore Verbinski, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die promises to be as unhinged as it is poignant, which places it firmly atop my list of movies to watch this month. Even if it may seem at first glance like Rockwell is playing a Boomer who is ready to shout at every teenager to get off their phone, I trust the script by Matthew Robinson will guide the film into deeper territory. Tech dystopia is one of film’s more commonplace tropes these days but this one feels a bit different. It feels fresh, funny, slightly distressful and all too poignant. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die hits theaters next Friday, February 13.

If you want to stay in, why not watch a rom com? Of course, my recommendation is not your traditional romantic comedy with meet-cutes and easy laughs. Instead, make a night out of watching and discussing Eternity. When I watched the Elizabeth Olsen led film, I was pleasantly surprised to find it as funny as it was difficult to imagine. After the death of Olsen’s character and her husband (played wonderfully by Miles Teller), they meet in the afterlife where they must decide where they’d like to spend eternity. The world of the film provides a litany of hysterically off-kilter eternity options for them to consider, which I found to be intriguing as a conversation starter after the film. As they begin to make choices, Olsen’s character comes face to face with her first husband who died in the Korean War. Now, she must not only decide which eternity to spend her afterlife in, but with which of her husbands. The film is anchored by perfect performances from John Early and Da'Vine Joy Randolph who each play Afterlife Coordinators (ACs) for their respective clients. Eternity works wonderfully to build a unique view of the afterlife while asking questions worth answering while being alive. You can rent it on demand now.

More February Movies To Be Ready For:

Pillion (February 6)

“Wuthering Heights” (February 14)

How To Make A Killing (February 20)

Scream 7 (February 27)

Each month, I recommend two pieces of music: something new and something I have recently returned to. At the end of this section, you’ll find a list of some releases coming this month.

Next Friday, British producer Danny L Harle is releasing his latest album Cerulean. Danny has been revolving around the world of PC Music since the early days and in most recent years has become renowned for his work with Caroline Polachek on her albums Pang and Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism and his ongoing work with left of center pop girls like Yeule and Charli xcx. He is one of those producers shaping the pop landscape without most of pop’s listeners not even knowing his name. 

Cerulean wishes to change that. With collaborations with Clairo, Dua Lipa, PinkPantheress and Oklou sitting atop the masthead, Harle’s album should be the sort of pop collection where anyone can find a song they like. The pre-release singles have all been wonderful, particularly the Caroline Polachek collaboration, “Azimuth.” I remember playing it for the first time while driving down to Palm Springs and screaming full volume when the trance beat kicked in. Months later, when he released his Oklou/MNEK collab “Crystalize My Tears,” I was sure this album was going to be special. Whereas “Azimuth” lives in the strobe of the club, “Crystalize My Tears” is head-on pop that manages to sound fresh while not being too strange to alienate the general populace. It’s a banger! That is Danny L Harle’s superpower: to create soundscapes and palettes that can get any music weirdo interested while also being structured and regimented enough for the everyday listener to still love. If he delivers on the promise of that superpower, Cerulean will be our first AOTY contender. 

Last month, British rockers Arctic Monkeys returned with “Opening Night,” their first great song in 13 years. Released on behalf of War Child, the charity single easily eclipses the band's last two albums and is an easy reminder of just how wonderful Arctic Monkeys can be. The song is allegedly an unreleased leftover from their 2009 album Humbug, which remains the band's most underrated record and, 16 years later, their album most worth a revisit.

If you're casually familiar with Arctic Monkeys, you probably haven't spent much time with Humbug. Recorded in Joshua Tree with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, the album marked a hard left turn from the band's signature punk sound. Instead of scrappy, feverish energy, Humbug leaned into surf and desert rock, with frontman Alex Turner singing about abandoned circus tents and carnival rides. Critics were lukewarm. Fans were confused. What happened to make England's most electric band sound so dour? The album was divisive in a way that felt almost deliberate, like the band was testing how far they could push their audience. Even now, some will argue they ventured too far off center. When I found it, however, it quickly became my favorite in their catalog.

What makes Humbug special is its comfort living inside contradiction. The album's mysterious tone and gothic soundscapes create a strange gloom the band has never successfully replicated. Songs like "Cornerstone" and "Crying Lightning" sit in the top tier of the band's discography because they offer mirrored angles on how Turner was handling a breakup. "Cornerstone" follows him from bar to bar, searching for his ex in the faces of strangers. "Crying Lightning" paints her as a manipulator who weaponizes running mascara. One song is tender and desperate, the other bitter and sharp. This seesaw sits at the center of Humbug, creating a tension unique in the band's discography.

Four years later, the band released AM, their most popular album. It was also recorded in Joshua Tree and is unmistakably an evolution of what Humbug set the stage for. The themes are similar, but the hooks are bigger and catchier. Does that make it better? For some, yes. But I prefer the smoke and shimmer that encapsulates Humbug because Turner wasn’t in rockstar mode yet. He was still figuring out who he was and what he wanted to say without sanding down the rough edges. That would be the last time. And for that, Humbug is better.

More February Albums To Be Ready For:

Daphni - Butterfly (February 6)

Charli XCX - Wuthering Heights (February 13)

Mumford & Sons - Prizefighter (February 20)

Bruno Mars - The Romantic (February 27)

Mitski - Nothing’s About To Happen To Me (February 27)

Each month, I recommend two pieces of television, which means less and less these days but for our purposes, television means anything you can stream that isn’t structured as a film. This month, we have two big sporting events. At the end of this section, you’ll find a list of some releases coming this month.

This month, turning on your TV means you will most likely be coming face to face with a lot of sports. This is largely to do with the Winter Olympics, which kicks off this Friday and concludes in a few weeks on February 22. For the first time, the Olympics are being hosted officially by two cities: Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. Italy is hosting their fourth overall and third Winter Olympics, their first since the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. 

When asked which Olympics I gravitate towards, I often say Winter because, frankly, I am not a winter sports person. I never enjoyed skiing or snowboarding, which makes watching people excel in these sports far more impressive than some Summer events which feel more attainable to a California kid like me. 

This year's games bring several compelling storylines. American figure skater Ilia Malinin, who became the first person to land a quadruple axel in competition, is expected to challenge for gold in his Olympic debut. Mikaela Shiffrin returns aiming to add to her legacy as one of the greatest alpine skiers ever, while snowboarder Shaun White's retirement means a new generation will define halfpipe competition. On the ice, the U.S. women's hockey team seeks redemption after falling short in recent tournaments, and short track speed skating promises its usual chaos of crashes and photo finishes. For those drawn to the most unhinged events, skeleton (you know, the sport where athletes barrel headfirst down an icy track at 80mph) remains the Winter Olympics' answer to "why would anyone do this?" This iteration of the Winter Games will also debut ski mountaineering, a grueling combination of uphill skiing and racing that tests endurance in ways most of us can't fathom. See what I mean? Some of these events are just absolutely bonkers. 

And then there is this Sunday’s Super Bowl. Look, I can’t pretend I am excited to see the Patriots back in the Super Bowl spotlight. But they’re there and the only thing standing in their way are the Seattle Seahawks, who should absolutely crush them. But this is the Super Bowl. Crazy things happen there and all expectations are just that: speculative. In terms of entertainment, center stage at the halftime show is Bad Bunny, one of music's most beloved yet somehow controversial figures. With the chaos surrounding ICE and the current administration's immigration policies, seeing a monolithic non-English speaker headlining the biggest 14-minute concert of the year is going to spark conversation. The other big act performing prior to the game is Green Day and, really, I am just incredibly excited to see them play songs like "American Idiot" for over a hundred million people. Both performers will serve as a pointed reminder of where we are as a country right now. And then, as a balm to help us forget that rather quickly, there will be some football.

Speaking of ICE, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center has a great deal of information to help if you come face to face with agents. If you want to stay informed about ICE’s whereabouts, refer to this ICE Activity Tracker.

More February TV To Be Ready For:

The ‘Burbs - Peacock (February 8)

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - HBO (February 13)

56 Days - Amazon Prime (February 18)

Paradise - Hulu (February 23)

Scrubs - ABC (February 25)

Survivor, Season 50 - CBS (February 25)

Each month, I dig into one cultural topic that feels unavoidable. Sometimes it’s a moment, sometimes it’s a movement, and sometimes it’s just a question I can’t stop thinking about.

I hate to be a cliché and say I am going through a breakup and listening to Disintegration by The Cure, but I am going through a breakup and listening to Disintegration by The Cure. The 1989 goth rock epic remains a gold standard for me because it does not rush toward healing or clarity. It lets grief sprawl, romanticizes obsession without excusing it, and turns the slow erosion of love into something vast, gothic, and operatic. When I decided to write about the breakup albums that are getting me through my pain right now, I knew I had to start here. Not because every breakup sounds like Disintegration, but because the album reminds me that the best breakup albums do not try to fix you. They understand that heartbreak is not something you solve in a weekend. It is something you live inside for as long as you need to.

But not every breakup sounds like Disintegration. I have had my fair share of Jagged Little Pill breakups. Whereas Disintegration lives inside fog, Alanis Morissette's 1995 magnum opus opts for fire, turning confusion into confrontation and grief into something sharp enough to scream along with. She reminds us sometimes the most honest way through heartbreak is not to sink into it, but to spit it back out. Even now, 31 years later, every song is an absolute knockout punch. A song like "Not the Doctor" hands you a match and dares you to say the quiet parts out loud. Alanis looks you dead in the eye and pulls you out of your wallowing. She forces you to stand up and scream out, even if your voice shakes.

Then there are the albums that live on the losing side of a breakup, where power is gone and you cannot scream. You’re left with the wreckage and realize the only option left is to tell the truth as plainly as possible. This is where Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago lives, cocooned by the sound of retreating inward, leaving you trapped alone in your own head. It is an album devastating in its smallness, maing an entire world out of a broken heart inside a cabin in the woods. "Re: Stacks" and "Blindsided" are two of my favorite songs of all time because they strip everything down completely, refusing to offer armor or anger. “Blindsided,” with its “Would you really rush out for me now?” refrain, shows you all of Justin Vernon’s scars. Everything is barren and painfully alone. You put on For Emma, Forever Ago when you need to let yourself be small and when healing means retreating. It's an album for when you've lost your voice entirely. 

But not every breakup strips you down like that. Not this one.

Instead, after rounds of Disintegration, I have found myself living somewhere stranger. I’ve been on the edge of going scorched-earth and Marvin Gaye's Here, My Dear has been there with me. An album his ex-wife demanded he release as part of their divorce settlement, Here, My Dear is bitter, petty, tender, vindictive, self-aware, and completely unfiltered, all at once. It is absolute carnage, with Gaye turning the pain of his breakup into a living document of resentment and reckoning, without any desire for moral high ground. It’s almost shocking to know this sort of album lives inside of Gaye’s discography. Listening to “When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You,” I can’t help but have a “get her!” moment. It is absolutely genuine in its desire to be unforgiving. And that’s the beauty of Here, My Dear. It boldly embodies the uncomfortable truth that sometimes heartbreak does not make you better, it just makes you honest. There just aren’t that many albums that accomplish this with such ease and groove. It has been shockingly fun to listen to in the midst of my breakup. There's something liberating about hearing someone air every grievance without apology, as if Marvin is giving me permission to feel the petty, vindictive parts without shame. If Marvin can be this insane, maybe I am doing fine.

The other place I have been living is Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. It sits near the top of every best breakup albums list, and for good reason. Not because of its lyricism or instrumentation but because of how Dylan shows up for the actual performance. The man sounds absolutely shattered. Listen to "If You See Her, Say Hello" and hear Dylan sound more human than on a vast majority of his catalog. Seeing yourself in a broken icon strangely makes you feel less alone. Maybe that’s because Dylan does not offer wisdom or closure, he just shows up and tells the story. That is where I have been living. Not in the fog of Disintegration, not in the fire of Jagged Little Pill, not in the cabin with Bon Iver. I have been in the mirror with broken Bob Dylan, trying to figure out what it means to just show up.

By design, breakups are isolating. Routines collapse. Language fails. Time starts behaving strangely. Music steps in to ground you. These albums are not passive listens, they are companions. Some sit beside you quietly, letting you fall apart. Others grab you by the shoulders and remind you who you are. That is why they endure. Inside of a breakup, you are looking for someone who understands what you are feeling. The question is never whether you need the music. It is which friend you need that day, and which album has your back the hardest when things fall apart.