Lady Audley's Secret (1915)

Hours before their line-up of screenings for Trans Awareness Week began, the filmmakers of 'When Men Were Men' chatted with me about the film's personal exploration of masculinity.

Welcome to Ryan Reynold's world. Dwyane Johnson, Gal Gadot and us are just living in it. Is he acting? I think he is, it's just the question of it's believable anymore.

The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.

This little Netflix film was very inspirational. It passes the Bechdel test, and features a different worldview with rural Indian representation.

It is not hard to make a musical biopic that pleases audiences and draws a profit.  Michael is no exception. 

I have been a long-time fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe ever since it made its official debut through 2008's absolutely excellent "Iron Man". The run continued, as did my associated fandom of the films, through the utterly EPIC 2019 finale "Avengers: Endgame".