Mary, Mary, So Contrary 

Rip Tide is a coming-of-age film that teaches viewers about finding yourself and reconnecting with surroundings.

This Netflix series is a remake based on the book series of the same name with a more diverse main cast.

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.

With raw and unapologetic performances by Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman, stories about the hardships of Black musicians are weaved in with The Blues.

Hope has great characters, inventive ideas, an incredible imagination, a palpable intensity, and numerous other aspects that make it one of the best of the year. 

The Conjuring: The Last Rites delivers a thrilling mix of scares and heart. From the axe-wielding ghost to the Warrens’ emotional farewell, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga shine. Fans get a chilling, atmospheric conclusion that’s worth watching in theaters.