‘Booksmart’: A Fun Coming-of-Age Comedy
Wilde’s coming-of-age comedy directorial debut is simultaneously hilarious and entertaining, and remarkably heartfelt and relatable.

Desire, power, and passion take center stage in the Opéra Royal de Wallonie’s 2014 production of Puccini’s incomparable masterpiece Tosca. The brilliant three-act melodrama was staged by Claire Servais and featured Paolo Arrivabeni as music director. Dutch soprano Barbara Haveman is the desperate Tosca to acclaimed Italian bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi’s evil Scarpia.
Wilde’s coming-of-age comedy directorial debut is simultaneously hilarious and entertaining, and remarkably heartfelt and relatable.
How closely should film adaptations follow their source material? Let's take a deep dive into "Norma Rae", and find out.
Netflix's Afterlife of the Party might fall into the rom-com genre, but it's much more about grief, strong female friendships, and platonic love than it is about romance.
'An American Werewolf in London' possesses a possible queer reading in the way it envisions a heterosexual romance being undone by the presence of a creature who embodies self-contentment in the face of social alienation.
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.
With the start of the new season we're excited for all of the April new movie releases, some of which our writers here will cover in individual reviews throughout the month.