Maya and the Three Offers Stunning Visuals But a Confusing Story
When I heard that Netflix was releasing an animated adventure series by Jorge Gutierrez, co-writer and director of Golden Globe-nominated movie The Book of Life, I thought it was destined to be a smashing success. Featuring an exciting story about a Mesoamerican warrior princess, and boasting a cast of some of the most famous Latino actors of our time, I couldn’t wait to see what this monumental animator had created.
All Good Things Must Come To An End: Brooklyn 99 Final Season
Nothing good can last forever -- including Brooklyn 99. Since the very beginning, I have always been a fan of the 99. From watching it when I was younger with my family, to finishing the final season amongst friends, it has been a constant in my life. I was devastated when Fox cancelled the show but ecstatic when NBC decided to give it another chance. When I heard the news that Brooklyn 99’s eighth season would be the show’s finale one, I understood that all good things must come to an end.
In A Musical Nothing Dreadful Ever Happens: Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark
Like his British counterpart Mike Leigh, Danish director Lars von Trier’s movies can be a tough watch. Often concluding unexpectedly and without resolution, they consistently leave you thinking about what you just saw for a long time afterwards. You leave the experience piecing your heart back together after having it ripped out of your chest for two hours. His 2000 Dancer In The Dark, along with his 1996 film Breaking The Waves, solidified von Trier as one of the unique emergent directorial voices to come out of Europe in recent times.
Plan B
In 108 minutes, Plan B, directed by Natalie Morales, perfectly sums up the utter panic and chaos that is teenagerhood. The film follows two girls on an epically hyperventilating and winding road-trip to find the Plan B pill within their 24-hour window. There is not a ticking clock on the screen, but through the hyperactive dialogue and split-second decisions gone wrong, viewers can feel the powders of the Plan B pill disintegrating grain by grain.
Only Murders In The Building
Everyone loves a whodunit — or at least that’s what the steady growth of murder mysteries à la Knives Out and the true-crime rage I’ve written about for nearly 3 years tells me. The newest hit of the sort, stacked with stars from both screen and stage, finds favor across generations and genres. Only Murders in the Building, created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, follows three unlikely friends as they create a podcast investigating, well, a murder in their building.
TV & film inspired Halloween costumes for 2021
Another year, another mad dash to throw together a last minute Halloween costume! To make it easier for you, we’ve compiled some of the year’s most iconic characters from TV shows and movies, as well as a couple of throwbacks, that are sure to win you Best-Dressed.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game: Netflix’s breakout hit Squid Game
Squid Game has taken the recipe for a bingeable Netflix show and seasoned it to perfection. The Korean drama follows Seong Gi-hun, a father who has gambled with both his life and his relationship with his young daughter. With little left to lose and everything to gain, he enters to compete in a series of children’s games, along with 455 other debt-ridden and desperate contestants, enticed by a handsome cash prize. The twist? Losing gets you killed.
What We Do in the Shadows is Back for Season 3
What is the recipe for success for a half-hour comedy these days? Apparently, it's to take a beloved New Zealand mockumentary about vampires and adapt it to American television.
What We Do in the Shadows, helmed by Oscar-winning Taika Watiti and Jermaine Clement of the original 2014 film of the same name, is a vampire-centric mockumentary-style show entering its third season. For those unfamiliar with the show, the main premise is that a group of centuries-old vampires emigrate to Staten Island from Europe, hoping to conquer the New World, but end up just being roommates in a dilapidated manor, getting into weekly shenanigans.
Jungle Cruise is the fun ride we’ve been waiting for
There is a special characteristic to a work of art that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Jungle Cruise displays this quality supremely well and ensures that regardless of its flaws, we leave the theater with a warm, fuzzy feeling in our hearts. An adventure ride is transformed into a story of mirth and enjoyment, becoming an appropriate panacea for these harsh times.
New Members’ Favorite Movies
A new year brings a new group of Moviegoers! From horror to comedy and every genre in between, this year’s new staff writers bring a wide range of taste in films, and they’re excited to share their all-time favorite movies.
Ghosts: A Heart-Warming Comedy That’s Bound to Raise Your Spirits!
Not a fan of horror? Well, this is the perfect ghost-themed show for you. Full disclosure: I hate horror movies. Whether it’s because of the jump-scares, eerie music or avoidable bad choices made by the protagonist, horror movies have never been my style. I have, however, always been fascinated by the idea of spirits and ghosts and can’t help but ask the same question whenever I watch a horror movie: what happens to all the normal people who die? Are all ghosts really vengeful spirits or creepy kids?
Day In, Day Out: Anton Corbijn's Control
As the Factory Records legacy ossifies over time, its main protagonists have begun to pass. The stories themselves are also passing into recorded memory. The telling, and retelling of the all-too-brief four years that Joy Division existed, ending with the suicide of their lead singer Ian Curtis, has been visualized in two fascinatingly different, wonderful films.
Netflix’s Vivo boasts a big name with few redeeming qualities
When I heard about Netflix and Sony Animation’s Vivo, I couldn’t wait to soak up more. The promise of music by Lin-Manuel Miranda added to my excitement. The film centers around adorable kinkajou Vivo (Don’t know what a kinkajou is? Turns out it’s a relative of the raccoon) who has grown up under the care of a kindhearted musician named Andrés. The two walk the streets of Havana, performing their music for all who will listen. When Andrés reveals that he never got to profess his love to his old music partner, Marta Sandoval, Vivo embarks on a journey to Miami with Andrés’ niece, Gabi, to deliver one last love song to Marta before her retirement concert.
In Praise of EastEnders
Weighing in at over 6,000 episodes so far, the BBC soap opera set in Albert Square, Walford, a fictional neighborhood in East London, is one of the longest-running dramas on British television, with a massive, devoted fan base. I’m proud to count myself as one of the Walford faithful.
What would losing control feel like? The Father offers a profoundly believable answer
Hollywood loves to churn out umpteen thriller flicks, love stories and coming-of-age dramas every year. But every so often, we get a glimpse into the lives of those completely ignored by mainstream culture, whose stories are not only important but entirely cinematic. Florian Zeller explores this in The Father, which tells the story of an aging father suffering from dementia as he slowly begins to lose grip with his surroundings and loved ones.
Queer love is intimate, hilarious, and real in Feel Good Season 2
If you haven’t seen Feel Good, let me put you on to Netflix’s most chronically underrated series: an LGBTQ+ dark comedy about gender identity, addiction, and love. Canadian comedian Mae Martin writes and stars in the semi-autobiographical tale. The show’s cynical, self-aware humor mirrors that of Fleabag, and it similarly spans two seasons, each containing six perfectly packaged episodes. While the second season, released this year in June, falters on the comedic front in favor of a bolder, darker storyline, you’re certain to fall in love all over again with the complex characters and genuine relationships Martin so beautifully curates.
"I have no conscience, only nerves”: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker
Based on Arkady and Boris Strugatsky’s novel Roadside Picnic (1972), Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979) carries all the cinematic hallmarks of humanity’s carelessness towards the environment, and the clinical, cold and soulless climate of life behind the Iron Curtain.
Invincible: A Shocking New Take on the Classic Superhero Story
When my roommates told me they wanted our next viewing project to be an animated superhero show, I was ... hesitant. An adult cartoon? Those aren’t really my thing. Eventually I gave in because, after all, I had forced them to watch Survivor with me.
Minari
Cultures throughout human history have been able to unite around a simple fact: Dragons. Are. Awesome. Raya and the Last Dragon takes inspiration from Southeast Asian culture to tell the story of Raya, a battle-hardened princess fighting to unite the divided land of Kumandra. The movie is Walt Disney Animation’s first original feature film since Moana in 2016.
“On a clear day you can see the class struggle from here”: Mike Leigh’s Career Girls
Following the success of the apocalyptic Naked (1993) and the harrowing Secrets & Lies (1996), at the end of the nineties Mike Leigh turned to a smaller, more intimate subject, the nostalgia for youth. Leigh’s been vocal about his motivation for Career Girls, explaining that he was interested in the large life differences in what happens to us between ages 20-30.