Review: Going viral with "Not Okay"

by Matt St Clair

While social media can be an outlet for networking and connection, it’s also a place of toxicity. Quinn Shephard’s new satire Not Okay heavily emphasizes the latter. In a digital age where anyone can achieve fame with viral tweets or TikTok videos, Not Okay taps into how some people, like anti-heroine Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch), go on a demeaning search for internet clout.

Stuck with an unfulfilling photo editor job when she wants to be a writer, Danni Sanders aims to get ahead at the magazine she works for. Seeking fame and validation from everyone around her, including influencer Colin (Dylan O’Brien) who she crushes on, Danni decides to fake a trip to Paris. With just her photo skills and a change in location on her Instagram posts, Danni makes it appear she went away despite being held up in her apartment. But once a terrorist attack occurs in Paris, Danni then pretends to be one of the survivors. As you can guess, thinks get grimmer as they progress... 

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Quick Reviews: Sea Beasts, Asgardian Clowns, and Silver Teeth

To try and catch up, another round of quickie reviews, one of which (Thor Love and Thunder) is quite belated primarily by way of 'if you don't have anything nice to say...' But the other two movies are good so let's get started...

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Streaming: Why doesn't "Persuasion" work?

by Nathaniel R

Dakota Johnson and Cosmo Jarvis star in "Persuasion"

Jane Austen's final completed novel Persuasion has been adapted to screen several times, but unlike her most famous novels, theatrical motion picture fame as eluded it. The latest non-theatrical screen adaptation, via Netflix this time, has met with such harsh reviews that we almost didn't watch it. Nevertheless the extremely alluring faces of Dakota Johnson, Henry Golding, and Cosmo Jarvis beckoned as did the reliable wit of Jane Austen herself. We gave in and pressed play. Unfortunately it's difficult to argue with the consensus this time around...

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Review: Jordan Peele strikes again with thrilling overstuffed "Nope"

by Nathaniel R

We name them. We train them. We live with them. Some people work with them. But do we ever really know our animal friends? Since we can't speak directly to them, their emotions and thoughts are mostly guesswork on our part. Nope takes place largely at a horse ranch. It's run by the Haywood family, Father Otis (Keith David), son OJ (Daniel Kaluuya), and daughter Emerald (Keke Palmer). The Haywoods have been training horses for movie and television shoots for generations. OJ, perpetually tense, quiet, and observant, notices it quickly; something is off with the horses. But what? The answer, without spoilers, is this: they know it's a horror film before the Haywoods do.

What kind of a horror film it is, though, is another question...

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Doc Corner: 'Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down'

By Glenn Dunks

We’ve been here before with the filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen. The prolific documenters (four film in five years) have carved a niche as directors of biographical explorations of people who staked a claim for themselves in annals of history through sheer dogged determination: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Oscar-nominated RBG), activist and non-binary pioneer Pauli Murray (I Am Pauli Murray), and celebrity chef Julia Child (Julia).

Their latest is a much more contemporary figure, yet one who represents the directing pair’s most cherished traits. Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down isn’t the most exciting film, but it is an emotionally affecting one...

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