The Devil All The Time Explores Relentless Generational Trauma, Set in the American Rural Heartland
The ugliness inherent in The Devil All The Time’s world is inescapable. It seeps into the rural heartland where the story takes place, infecting all characters, warping their minds and twisting their hopes, robbing them of compassion and sincerity. Adapted…
Disney’s Mulan is Beautiful (and Action-Packed), but its Message is Problematic
Disney, it appears, just cannot do right when it comes to remakes. No one would accuse the remakes released so far to be great, though some of them, such as Maleficent, attempt going off the beaten path. In case of…
Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is a Sleekly-Produced Action Blockbuster with a Dense Plot (and High Concept Gimmicks)
Tenet is one of those movies that will either frustrate you or delight you, especially if you’re a Christopher Nolan fan. It’s the love child of Nolan’s yearning to do a Bond film and his eagerness to dive deep into…
Project Power is a Run-of-the-Mill Action Film with Strong Performances (and a Unique Premise)
Project Power is one of those films that start to fade from your memory minutes after you have finished watching it. It’s not that it’s a bad film- rather, it’s an aggressively okay film. It takes a good premise and…
Doom Patrol is as Surreal and Introspective as Ever in Second Season
Doom Patrol is one of those shows that stays with you for a while. Surreal, heartfelt and delightfully dysfunctional, the show returns for a strong second season that is still as absurd as ever, while furthering the narratives of the…
Umbrella Academy Finds it Footing in a Strong Season Two, Marrying Comic Book Weirdness to a Fun Family Dynamic
In season two, Umbrella Academy essentially remixes the show, tasking the Hargreaves to once again to prevent a potential apocalypse, this time in the 1960s. While there is a danger of repetition in pursuing such a narrative, the show builds…
Raat Akeli Hai is a Tense, Well-Paced Murder Mystery That Earns its Runtime
Raat Akeli Hai opens with a man ruthlessly murdering a woman and her driver, driving their corpses to a tannery and melting their bodies down to the ground. You might expect the narrative to expand on this immediately, but the…
Normal People is an Exercise in Honest, Powerful Intimacy, Showcasing How Love Helps You Become a Better Person
I feel at a disadvantage writing about Hulu’s Normal People, as I haven’t read Sally Rooney’s book of the same name. Rooney is often credited as a quintessential millennial writer, whose approach to romance is, in her own words, “is…
Space Force Fails to Stick the Landing in First Season, Despite a Stellar Cast
On paper, Space Force looks like a no brainer. Steve Carell reuniting with The Office co-creator Greg Daniels to create another workplace comedy sounds like a solid idea. The execution, unfortunately, leaves a lot to be desired. Mark Naird (Steve…
The Great Puts a Sardonic Spin on History, Portraying a Young Queen’s Rise to Power Amidst Chaos and Court Politics
Despite its lavish environments, The Great makes it clear that it’s the farthest thing from historically accurate. It tells the story of Catherine’s arrival to Russia and eventual coup by her 20th birthday. In reality, Catherine arrived in Russia when…
