Dani-Kessel-Odom

Off Campus is pretty entertaining, and I love how refreshingly mature Garrett and Hannah are. They have strong communication and trust. The show handled difficult topics pretty well. The romance was a bit rushed, but overall great. Allie and Jules are my favorite characters.

That being said, I'm frustrated as a nonbinary person that they didn't cast an openly nonbinary or trans actor as the nonbinary character. (P.S. No matter how frustrated anyone reading this might be, please DO NOT go bully Julia Sarah Stone. That's not okay.)

Netflix's Vladimir could have been a lot better than it was. There were certainly a lot of missed opportunities and storytelling weaknesses. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Rachel Weisz gave a fantastic performance, and I love how utterly unreliable the protagonist was. The fourth-wall breaks were quite funny, and I liked most of the changes to the book. It's definitely worth checking out.

I generally enjoy Sophie Turner's acting, but she couldn't even make this movie good. Trust is an absolute mess that doesn't seem to know what it wants to say. It only superficially explores its themes. We spend way too much time with the side characters instead of Lauren, and the movie doesn't actually give us a reason to care about them. Every character except Loretta, the nice lady introduced halfway through, behaves in erratic and nonsensical ways. Even some of Lauren's choices seem downright stupid, though they later try to paint her as the smart survivalist.

That being said, I did enjoy the final action sequence with Lauren, so it gets an extra star.

Technically, Black Rabbit is fantastic. It's beautifully gritty and moody, which is an aesthetic I enjoy. The shots are also well-crafted.

That being said, the story was an absolute bummer! The characters were unlikable, the subplots were unnecessary, and it was PAINFULLY slow. I wish I hadn't wasted eight hours watching it. I'm only giving it three stars out of ten because of the technical aspects of the show.

If you love a slow-burning, genre-bending ghost story steeped in Mexican culture, this is the movie for you! I loved the book by Juan Rulfo, and this is a great adaptation with impressive visuals and storytelling. I'm especially impressed by the actors' performances.

As a queer person, I cannot in good conscience recommend this show to anyone. It reinforces harmful LGBTQ+ myths and stereotypes, which is the last thing we need right now.

This documentary is really interesting, but it's PAINFULLY slow. I had to watch it sped up to get through it.

The Legend of Ochi is a very unoriginal story with flat characters packaged in genuinely breathtaking visuals. It's painfully slow-paced, and the audio mixing wasn't always great. Still, the film is definitely best watched in the cinema to fully appreciate the landscapes, animatronics, and puppetry. Also, Helena Zengel gave a compelling performance that tugs on the heartstrings despite the poor character writing.

As both a Disney fan and a horror lover, Screamboat is fantastic. The movie is chockful of gore, blood, and Disney easter eggs/references. It felt like a love letter to The Mouse. Screamboat also has many similarities to the Twisted Childhood Universe, which is a group of indie films that I love. However, it isn't without its weaknesses. The story lags at points, and some of the characters are so one-dimensional that I just don't care whether they live or die. That being said, I'd definitely watch Screamboat again!

I really wanted to like Disney's Snow White more than I did. Unfortunately, the film had so many issues, from cohesion to a consistent theme to strange costume choices to terrifying CGI dwarfs. The performance by Gal Gadot also didn't live up to expectations. That being said, Rachel Zegler perfectly embodied Snow White, and the dynamic of the relationship between Jonathan and Snow entertained me. I also loved the new songs (minus "All Is Fair"). I might not watch the movie again, but I will definitely have the soundtrack on repeat.

I love XO, Kitty season 1. If I were rating just based on the first season, I'd give the show 7 stars out of 10. Unfortunately, I hated almost everything about season 2, outside of the family storyline.

**SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 & 3 ARE AHEAD!**

What was the point of having Sapphic characters if they were going to paint them as liars and cheaters? That perpetuates stereotypes, especially when one of the characters engaging in cheating is bi. They destroyed three Sapphic romantic pairings and an LGBTQ+ friendship. The story destroys Yuri's personality. Then, they rubbed salt in the wound by using a Chappell Roan song (Chappell Roan, who is an out and proud lesbian) on Min Ho and Kitty instead of any of the potential WLW pairings.

Season 3 edit: Against my better judgment, I decided to give season 3 a shot. They somehow managed to make it worse. I had to drop it from three stars to one star. Why is every single queer character a cheater or violent? Except for poor Praveena, who was treated like a plot device instead of a person. Why did they never give Kitty and Yuri closure? Why did they use Kitty's bisexuality to trick Min Ho into giving her attention? It feels like they went through a checklist of stereotypes when writing seasons 2 and 3. Also, Min Ho fans should be angry too because they completely flattened him as a character.

I love the visuals. I love the characters and their relationships with one another. I even love the small-town ambiance. However, there are so many timeline issues that it's maddening.

Every single week, my rating score for Before drops because the story is painfully dull, messy, and frustrating. Every episode adds more questions but provides almost no answers. At this point, I'm only continuing to watch it for two big reasons:

1. It's my job to write about this show.

2. I want to see if they can come up with a satisfying explanation that could redeem the show.

I will give the show credit for one thing that's continually impressed me, though. The sound editing is fantastic! There are some great moments of audio horror that made my skin crawl.

Edit 12/14/2024: Yep, you guessed it. The rating dropped another star.

Dear Santa is so painfully bad that it's hilarious. The premise feels like a family-friendly rip-off of Letters to Satan Claus. The movie also doesn't know its target audience, and the ending undermines the core message. The only thing that saves the film from being a 1/10 is Jack Black pretending to be a demon, pretending to be Satan, pretending to be Santa.

I wanted so badly to like this show because it has really great moments of horror and suspense. However, most of Teacup season 1 is slow, boring, and hard to get through.

The movie was extremely fun to watch, and I love the heightened gore, but the storytelling and character development were weak. It didn't feel like a cohesive story. Still, I would watch it again.

I enjoyed It's What's Inside the first watch-through, but something about the movie made me uncomfortable. I gave it a 7/10 initially. I had to drop the ranking to 4/10 after the second watch because I figured out what bothered me. I'm extremely upset that characters were hooking up in other people's bodies because the other character didn't consent to that. That makes my skin crawl. It's What's Inside still has great cinematography, an interesting concept, and a stellar soundtrack. I just can't get past the consent issue.

I like to joke with my friends that I have a cold, dead heart. Well, if I do, Nobody Wants This brought it back to life. I found myself laughing and crying alongside the characters. I cheered Joanne and Noah on the whole time. It was amazing to see Kristen Bell and Adam Brody onscreen together again. The soundtrack and score are also A+ quality. I fully recommend this to anyone who likes rom-coms.

I saw an early access showing of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. This sequel is fantastic! I was worried it would be a cash grab, but the movie includes an entertaining story with excellent actors and a catchy soundtrack.

I love the animation, music, instrumentation, and characters in Helluva Boss. It isn't quite as entertaining as the sequel series, though. Some episodes are also awkwardly paced. Despite these issues, it's worth watching.