Bardo 

Dune has stunning visuals, a striking soundtrack, and great performances. But it has issues everywhere from its pacing, to its story, to its diverse representation.

The actions that Verity confesses to are tragic.  But the way to prevent those actions isn’t to force the related emotions into the shadows. 

A code adopted by gay men and LGBTQ+ individuals in general to subtly disclose your identity to another, “friend of Dorothy” is widely considered to originate with Judy Garland.

In Amazon’s new shark flick, The Devil’s Mouth, terrible tourists finally get their comeuppance while two estranged best friends must overcome their petty squabbles to survive as the rest of their party gets chomped one by one. While it’s by no means an Oscar winner, The Devil’s Mouth is good old fashioned shark week carnage with a tourist critical twist, perfect with popcorn, a friend, and a healthy does of schadenfreude. 

Netflix’s Shadow and Bone has a complicated relationship with race. It has a diverse cast, but not without its problems. Based on Leigh Bardugo’s two book series, the show features characters from the Shadow and Bone trilogy, which is very straight and white, and the Six of Crows duology, which is much more diverse. When bringing together a cast and writing about these characters, the team behind the show expanded upon some of the representation missing from the first trilogy, then seemed to take away representation from the duology. Shadow and Bone seems to play a bit of a push and pull game when it comes to portraying diversity onscreen.

The film centers around two young women, Becca and Sam, who were once high school sweethearts until they reconnect in their town.