‘Silent Night’ Has Good Ideas that are Wasted on Mediocrity
By Ben Konuch
“The outcome is always the same, and in no particular order. We will all die, one by one, and you will be left crying with no one to comfort you. And I can’t do that.”
When I first learned the concept for black comedy/drama "Silent Night", I was really hoping for it to be an unexpected sleeper hit of the year. The concept is a gold mine of potential, following a group of old college friends and their families gathering for one last Christmas party the day before the world ...
‘Hawkeye’ Concludes with Action and Holiday Cheer
By Janie Walenda
The Hawkeye finale marks the last MCU release of 2021. In my opinion, “Hawkeye” was one of the best MCU Disney+ shows of the year. By going back to the incredible Matt Fraction Hawkeye comic run, the show breathed new life into one of the least popular Avengers. It balanced character development with amazing action scenes and had the most satisfying conclusions to each of its plot points.
Here’s hoping for a season two so we get more of Clint and Kate’s ...
‘Arcane’ Is Inexplicably Amazing
By Janie Walenda
There are many reasons why “Arcane” should have failed, such as its source material. the numerous characters and complex subject matter. Yet, in an interesting turn of events, not only is “Arcane” good, but I would go so far as to call it a masterpiece.
I went into this show completely blind, to the point that I didn’t even know it was based on a video game. It wasn’t until halfway through the show that I learned “Arcane” was a prequel series for the ...
‘Being the Ricardos’ Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be
By Ben Hiett
Amazon’s most recent attempt at striking Oscar gold, “Being the Ricardos” bears all the trademarks of its director, for better and for worse. Plagued by its own excess, the film proves that an overabundance of talents is not always reflected in the final product.
I’m not saying that this film is not a well-put-together product; too many seasoned professionals are involved here for such an outcome. In fact, the performances, the writing, the direction and the overall ...
On Piercings
By Heidie Raine
Like most women in my generation, I got my ears pierced at a Claire’s burrowed deep within my local mall. A woman with chunky, early 2000’s highlights and a hair feather approached me, piercing guns in her hands, and reassured me that it would only feel like a pinch. Then came the click, my raised-shoulder flinch, and two slightly uneven studs—the product of double-fisted piercing guns and a twitchy 3rd grader.
Since then, my number of piercings has increased: doubles ...
‘National Champions’ Calls for Change in College Sports, to Little Avail
By Nick Ratliff
“National Champions” is a sports drama about two college football athletes fighting for something bigger than themselves. LeMarcus James (Stephan James) is a star quarterback projected to be the number one pick in the upcoming NFL draft, while Emmett Sunday (Alexander Ludwig) is a starter who is not projected to make it past the college level.
Three days before the national championship game, these two athletes protest the game on the basis that student-athletes should be ...
‘Encounter’ is More (and Less) than It Appears
By Benjamin Konuch
"Keeping a level head when all hell's breaking loose, that's a special kind of tough."
Released by Amazon Studios earlier last month, "Encounter" is a slow-burn thriller/drama starring Riz Ahmed, Octavia Spencer and Lucian River-Chauhan. Ahmed plays Malik, an ex-marine who discovers a conspiracy about alien parasites taking control of humans. Once he finds out, he embarks with his two young sons on a journey across a country where anyone could be an enemy.
While many ...
‘Nightmare Alley’ Masterfully Warns about the Dangers of Deception
By Ben Konuch
"When a man believes his own lies, he believes he has too much power. He’s got shut-eye. Because now, he believes it’s all true."
When does ambition become obsession? What is the line between deceit and reality?
These are the central questions of "Nightmare Alley", a drama / thriller directed by Guillermo del Toro. A remake of a 1947 film of the same name, this "Nightmare Alley" is a dark journey into the mind of a carnival man with a skill for deception. Set in the 1940's, ...
Now on Netflix, ‘Seinfeld’ is a Comfort Show About Nothing in Particular
By Sam Acosta
After their loss of sitcom headliners “The Office” and “Friends,” Netflix was searching for another big name to fill the void. This fall, Netflix announced that the entirety of “Seinfeld” would be coming to the streaming platform. I had never seen a single episode before, so I took it upon myself to binge the entire series to see if it lived up to the hype.
The show follows Jerry Seinfeld, a comedian in New York City, and his friends George, Elaine and Kramer, as ...
‘The Witcher’ Season One is a Mix of Failures and Triumphs
By Sam Acosta
This Netflix adaptation of the beloved “Witcher” series has its fair share of triumphs and failures. This gritty fantasy series follows the story of Geralt of Rivia, one of the few surviving Witchers (mutated humans created to hunt monsters), and his battle with his destiny. While I am in love with so much of this series, I also struggle to justify some of its creative decisions.
In terms of plot, “The Witcher” somehow manages to take its strong story and place ...
