The original Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory movie from 1971 was a bit of an anomaly. Sometimes, when a film’s elements come together in just the right time and place, it is something akin to lightning striking. This process cannot be predicted, duplicated, or repeated, at least not easily. The …
Heartbreak High is returning to Netflix for season 2 in April, so I wanted to catch up with everything in season 1 before I watched the new episodes. This sexy, hilarious, and positively amazing Netflix reboot of the 1994 original Aussie series stole the hearts of adoring fans (including me) who …
Culprits is a new British thriller series on Disney+ that recently captured my attention. Created by J Blakeson, it was released on November 8th last year in the UK, and I’m surprised that I haven’t heard many people talking about this show. The show follows a crew of elite criminals carefully chosen …
In a family of television and movie lovers, we’re always looking for our next movie or show to binge. While my mother and I tend to go for fantasy or drama, my nephew is always down for the latest action flick, chasing an adrenaline high for bigger and bigger fights …
Director Peter Hutchings turned heads (in the best way!) with his adaptation of the popular romance book The Hating Game, starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell. The indie rom-com was so successful it was even the number-one movie on the US charts for a bit of time. Hutchings is back with another exciting romance, Which Brings Me to You, …
True to its name, Role Play is an uninspired affair disguised as something more exciting. Its hybridization of the action and comedy genres has worked plenty of times in the past – Kick-Ass, Spy, Hot Fuzz, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and the 21 Jump Street films to name but a few examples. While they are all focused on …
Who would’ve thought a January-released musical remake of Mark Waters’ Mean Girls would actually be so fetch? Definitely not me, but here we are. Moreover, it’s a far better film than the 2004 original, with energy in front and behind the camera, making it a special piece of consumerist entertainment. There’s no denying the …
Both 2013 and 2014 were years of incredible loss for me. My mother was diagnosed with ALS and died from complications related to that. I went through a divorce. I suffered a stillbirth at 35 weeks of pregnancy. It felt like at every turn, there was something to grieve. The …
I live in West Virginia, right in the heart of Appalachia. I love my state, but I don’t always love the way that the people who live here have been portrayed in the media. Poverty porn, like what was featured in both the book and the film Hillbilly Elegy, reduces the …
Though Mr. Monk is older and grayer, he still has something to say in Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie. Although it’s billed as a comedy, the movie is surprisingly touching with a message about finding meaning and value in our lives. The film, which premiered on Peacock in December, is …