Puberty! Everyone experiences it, and no one comes out unscathed. From the jocks to the nerds, that time in your life when your body changes and your hormones spike is always filled with a certain amount of internal struggle. Countless “coming of age” stories have tackled this topic in some manner, which is why it’s … Read more
Director Mateo Gil (Blackthorn, Realive) makes a brainy, but an ultimately unfulfilling Spanish-language romantic comedy in Netflix‘s The Laws of Thermodynamics, which plots along notions that the permanent universal laws dictate our emotional behaviors as much as our physical lives. Though playful and occasionally bright, the high concept’s never taken into the deep end of … Read more
If you start watching The First, Hulu’s latest prestige drama starring Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn in a rare TV role, expecting it to be “Sean Penn in space,” you’ll surely be left disappointed. The first season mostly stays earthbound as it focuses on the political, personal, and scientific stakes of sending the first human crew to Mars, but by … Read more
In the Netflix import Ghoul, Nida (Radhika Apte), a loyal young interrogator working for the Indian government, is assigned to a covert facility where suspected terrorists and anti-government activists are held and questioned. The assignment has a number of personal elements for Nida. Her Muslim background forces her to confront bigotry, suspicion, and even accusations … Read more