Ad Astra Tells a Haunting Sci-Fi Narrative, Anchored by a Strong Brad Pitt Performance
Ad Astra (which is Latin for “to the stars”) rests firmly on the shoulders of Brad Pitt to carry it from start to finish. Directed by James Gray, it’s a slow, meditative story that focuses on personal stakes wrought large…
Rambo: Last Blood is a Gory, Simplistic Action Film that Feels Unnecessary
Rambo: Last Blood ends with an end-credits montage that recaps Rambo’s greatest hits, stretching from First Blood to this latest (and ostensibly last) film. While Rambo has rarely reached the narrative heights set by First Blood, with its first two…
Undone is a Visually-Arresting Narrative about Relationships (and Time Travel)
Undone is a new eight-part animated series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg (Bojack Horseman) and Kate Purdy. The only familiarity it shares with Bojack is the way it deals with mental illnesses. Stylistically, it has more in common with Waking Life…
Why Men Rape: A Complicated Portrait of Rapists’ Minds
There is no easy answer to this question. While it may be tempting to lump all rapists into one monstrous category, rapists vary just as much as ordinary men do. In fact, many of them are ordinary men. Richard von…
How Netflix Spearheaded the Streaming Revolution (and Why it Spends So Much on Original Content)
Netflix began its streaming service in 2007, but its founder, Reed Hastings, had envisioned the move much earlier. Hastings laid out his vision for the company to Ted Sarandos, head of content at Netflix, all the way back in 1999.…
Why Making New Friends Gets Harder Over Time (and How to Handle it)
Our twenties are a weird time. We grow through a lot of changes, often very fast, and by the time these years are winding up, we are still in the process of discovering ourselves. Friends are a key part of…
Carnival Row Falls Short of Tapping into the Full Potential of its Rich Fantasy World
In a post Game of Thrones world, producers are rushing to fill the void left by the cultural phenomenon. Amazon, for instance, is working on both a Lord of the Rings and a Wheel of Time adaptation. While these will…
What Dating in a Tinder World Feels Like: a Lot of Trial and Error
There’s a certain math to Tinder that makes the entire prospect of online dating seem like a momentous endeavor. There are a lot of options, yes, but only a few really work out for you. Let’s say you browse a…
Mindhunter Season 2 is Mostly Solid, Delving Deep into a Complex Murder Investigation
When Mindhunter debuted in 2017, it quickly picked up steam, partly due to its superstar creator, David Fincher, and partly because it arrived right at a time when people were fascinated by true crime stories. The show stood out because…
Sacred Games 2 Tells a More Complex Story of Ominous Spirituality, Nuclear Terrorism and International Violence
The last time we saw Sacred Games, police officer Sartaj Singh had just learned about an impending nuclear threat that threatened all of Mumbai. The second season sees Sartaj (Said Ali Khan) hunting for the bomb, and also catches up…
