Gretel & Hansel Gets Lost in Its Beautiful Woods
Gretel & Hansel falters due to its razor thin story and lack of characterization. It loses sight of horror’s key rule: In order to create an effective tale, characters and emotions must be emphasized.

Chiyako Hara has moved into an apartment in a rural town. She hears from her manager, Hagura, that there is only one person living in the apartment. At night, a woman dressed in black, who claims to be her next-door neighbor, came to say hello. One day, Chiyako's younger sister Miori visits her older sister, but is concerned about her strange neighbor and consults with her senior Kano. Kano and Miori find out that the apartment Chiyako moved into was a murder property. Miori and Kano head to Chiyako's apartment, but what did they see?!
Gretel & Hansel falters due to its razor thin story and lack of characterization. It loses sight of horror’s key rule: In order to create an effective tale, characters and emotions must be emphasized.
True crime media is notoriously obsessed with the “missing white woman” trope, and yet the vast majority of American murder victims are male, and well over half are people of color.
'The Menu' has a strong story. The 5 acts, which are defined by the courses, are an excellent subversion of the classic 5-act film structure.
When diverse representation is featured on-screen, it oftentimes comes with strings attached that undermine the message they were trying to send. This can be attributed to the fact that behind-the-screen, the industry primarily does not reflect the breadth of diverse difference that is present in daily life. That’s why when something as powerful and authentic as Minari comes along, it is both incredibly wonderful and needs a large audience to witness it.
'Living' dives into many themes that we can all understand regardless of our cultural backgrounds. We can see this through the shared similarities between 'Ikiru' and 'Living'.
After years of mediocrity, Thunderbolts* is the welcome change MCU fans were waiting for.