*Contains story spoilers* Rental Family follows Phillip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser), an unemployed American actor who is still living in Tokyo after finding success in a wacky Japanese toothpaste commercial seven years prior. Things start to change for Phillip when he lands the unusual gig of working for a company which provides actors to play stand-in…
Essays
Ginny and Georgia: Max’s Heartbreaking Storyline
Contains major spoilers for Ginny and Georgia season 3. Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia has explored serious and complex themes since the very beginning, but its latest season is the heaviest yet. Season 2 ended with Marcus (Felix Mallard) breaking up with Ginny (Antonia Gentry) due to his worsening depression, which continues to decline during season…
2024 Oscar Nominations: Barbie
The internet has gone insane because Barbie—the highest grossing film of 2023—has been nominated for eight Oscars instead of 10, snubbing Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig for Best Actress and Best Director respectively. Screen Rant’s Sarah Little called this a “horrific shock” and said that “being left out of two significant categories [proves] the movie’s point about patriarchy.”…
Killing Eve’s Tragic Love Story
Also featured on Medium. Contains spoilers for Killing Eve Season 4 finale. Killing Eve’s finale was a betrayal of what made the series so remarkable in the first place. Television producer Sally Woodward-Gentle, who optioned Luke Jennings’ Codename Villanelle in 2014, said: “The notion of a female assassin was not unique,” but Jennings’ take was “fresh, intelligent, and tonally…
Legally Blonde at 20
Legally Blonde was released in the US on July 13th, 2001, and in the UK on October 26th, 2001. Even after 20 years, Legally Blonde’s feminist legacy still perseveres in empowering women by dismantling the blonde stereotype through a strong female character. In 2017, Reese Witherspoon told the Wall Street Journal, “At least once a week I have…
What is the Real Message Behind ‘I Care A Lot’?
Contains Spoilers for I Care A Lot. J. Blakeson’s third feature film, I Care a Lot, follows the life and crimes of Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) — a sociopathic con artist who makes her living ripping off old people. It’s an intriguing focus for a film, but one that makes us ask “what’s the real message…
Killing Eve: the Transformation of Eve Polastri
Also featured on Medium. Since the beginning, we’ve always wondered whether Killing Eve — the title — means that Villanelle (Jodie Comer) will eventually kill Eve (Sandra Oh) as part of their intoxicating game of cat and mouse. But what if the title isn’t literal and instead possesses a deeper meaning? At its core, Killing Eve is really about…
20 Years of Cheers: The Legacy of Bring It On
At its surface, Bring It On is a fun teen rom-com about cheerleading that perfectly sets up its tongue-in-cheek tone with its opening dream sequence. Featuring the “I’m sexy, I’m cute, I’m popular to boot” cheer, it pokes fun at how people typically view cheerleading as nothing more than a bitchy popularity contest, but the film also shines…
I Am Legend: Becoming the Villain in a Vampiric Dystopia
Across the world, life as we know it has changed: we’re living in a real-life dystopia due to a novel strain of the coronavirus. With so many people in lockdown around the globe, people have been influenced to seek out films that explore similar circumstances. Unsurprisingly, the most popular is Contagion, a film about an airborne…
Captain Marvel: Does Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers Lack Personality?
As the first female-led superhero film from Marvel Studios, Captain Marvel has not had it easy. There has been plenty of support, as well as some fair criticism, but otherwise there’s mostly just complaint after complaint from the same people; the group of white men that set out to condemn the film after Brie Larson’s comments on…