Longtan Canyon Treasures 

A young boy who runs away from home discovers friendship when he befriends a young dragon in this animated movie.

"La Noria" deftly subverts audience expectations as it explores childhood grief, anxieties, and pain. The award-winning short shows us that often our monsters are often sprung from our darkest places.

Renee Zellweger shines in this Judy Garland biopic, which highlights the pain and loneliness that so many famous women endure.

As this critic continues to look back at some of this Summer's films I have taken in, I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of the most overall unsettling trends in Hollywood over the last several years.....sequels, reboots, and remakes. Look, I am all for seeing more than one film for certain originals that made a splash, ie: "Jurassic Park", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Transformers", etc.

Liar, Liar, Vampire takes a bite out of clichés in romances between vampires and teenagers. Anything but boring and dripping with fun, it's a Halloween story with a twist.

In order to learn why an arguably outdated fanfic trope was resurfacing in the contact zone of popular culture, I dove into a vibrant trough of character development.