NATURAL (2023)

I write for a diversity-focused film review blog, so I’ll be honest: I really wanted to like Pretty Lethal. Starring Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Avantika, and Millicent Simmonds, Amazon Prime’s new thriller seemed like it would be a girl power movie about dancers with a horror action twist. Sort of a Suspiria for teens. But with shallow and unlikeable characters, a confusing plot, an overreliance on violence, and cringey dialogue, any fun the movie started out with was quickly lost. What was left was a faint echo of greater horror movies about dancers made before. 

Yeah, sure, the movie’s about Carnage. But it’s really about love. A love that defies all odds: the love between a man and his man-eating alien symbiote.

A group of criminal animals tries their best to reform themselves into good citizens to avoid serving time in prison.

Not a lot of people realize that being introverted is not always a permanent state of mind. Being considered an introvert by others is a complicated thing; not everyone likes being labelled “shy.”

Elio could be seen as fantastic piece of representation, showing lonely children who feel ostracized that they are not alone. That is, unless you look behind the curtain.

Two young girls meet in the same neighborhood unexpectedly as they embark on a new adventure using their imaginations as this movie brings strong representation among women.