Disney’s newest release “Raya and the Last Dragon” is a hit with critics and viewers alike. Photo from metacritic.com. “Raya and the Last Dragon,” the most recent feature-length animated film from Disney+, follows the theme of distrust and builds an immersive new world inspired by Southeast Asian culture through beautiful animation and fun choreography. “Raya…
Hulu recently released a new Christmas movie with LGBTQ+ themes. Photo from Indiewire.com. Hulu’s “Happiest Season” is filled with an all-star cast playing a host of hilarious and strange characters, secondhand embarrassment for viewers and some long overdue lesbian representation in the holiday romantic comedy film genre. “Happiest Season” was released on Nov. 25, directed…
2007 film “Ratatouille” directed by Brad Bird is still relevant in pop culture today. Photo from the letterboxd.com. Inspired by a sudden resurgence of “Ratatouille” content on TikTok, I’ve rewatched the movie to see if it still holds up today. It does. Watching “Ratatouille” again feels just like the scene where food critic Anton Ego…
Hit Broadway show “Into the Woods” was made into a movie directed by Rob Marshall, released in 2014. Photo from ohmydisney.com. As a huge musical theatre fan, I’m a bit ashamed to admit to you all that my introduction to arguably the best composer and lyricist in theatre history, Stephen Sondheim, was through the 2014…
“Percy Jackson & the Olympians,” originally written by Rick Riordan, was made into a movie by directors Thor Freudenthal and Chris Columbus in 2013. Photo from TBIvision.com. Greek mythology is fascinating but often difficult to read in its original form. Within the context of Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” series, we had access to some of…
Ryan Murphy directs the new movie musical “The Prom” on Netflix. Photo from whatsonnetflix.com. When I listened to the song “Tonight Belongs to You” from the soon-to-be-released Netflix film “The Prom,” I wasn’t transferred back to the Longacre Theatre where I saw the original stage show live in January 2019, nor to watching the Tony…
The first line of the 2020 Netflix original film “Rebecca” is the same as the original 1935 gothic romance novel the movie is based on: “Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” The classic novel, written by Dame Daphne Du Maurier tells the story of a young woman (Lily James) who falls in…
Director Luca Guadagnino remade the 1977 version of Dario Argento’s Suspiria. Photos from vox.com and wearemoviegeeks.com. I don’t think there has ever been a successful movie remake that has been so drastically different from the original like “Suspiria.” The two versions of “Suspiria” couldn’t be any more different, yet both movies are some of the…
Film student Lionel Jefferies takes his film production class online. Photo by Grace DeSanti. Students and staff in the University of Rhode Island’s film media program are finding creative ways to conduct classes and produce work despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Film media program director Rebecca Romanow stated that the program has developed ways to make…
Lily Collins stars in Netflix series “Emily in Paris,” directed by Darren Star. Photo from insider.com For the people out there wishing to immerse themselves in a life of culture after college, “Emily in Paris” is the furthest thing from reality. Take every cliche about Paris, put it in a bowl, mix in pink glitter…