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Movies

“I, Tonya” Review

Even though I watched (and loved) this film the first week it came out in theatres back in December, its arrival onto Netflix reminded me of just how good it was. After re-watching it, my thoughts on it have solidified, and my love for it has grown. Here are the reasons why I thought I, Tonya (2017, dir. Craig Gillespie) is an incredibly introspective film that took a real life event and transformed itself into a thought-provoking commentary on fame, media depiction, mob mentality, and elitism in the figure skating world. (Warning: major spoilers ahead.) Here’s what you have to…

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Movies

Dark Humour in “Kingsman: Secret Service”

Happy Sunday, everyone! A little bit of academic writing never hurt anyone, so today I’m posting yet another one of my old essays I wrote for a film class back in university. The essay focuses on Kingsman: Secret Service (2014), offering an academic view on the use of dark humour, satire, and self reflexivity in the film, and how it created a successful movie. Enjoy! The British-American movie Kingsman: Secret Service, directed by Matthew Vaughn, is characterized as an “action-comedy spy film”, starring Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mark Strong. The film both embraces the classical Hollywood…

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Movies

“Ocean’s 8” Film Review

The highly anticipated film, considered a “gender-bent” version of the original Ocean’s trilogy, Ocean’s 8 (directed by Gary Ross) is doing really well at the box office. But how does it compare to the original series, or even fare as a standalone film? The reviews so far are a mixed bag, and after watching the movie, I can truthfully say I understand some of those perspectives, even though I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Here’s what I thought. Warning: spoilers ahead! Ocean’s 8 (2018) starred an incredible ensemble cast, and I was super excited to see some of my favourite actresses interact…

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5 Best Series

5 Best Series: Understanding Other Cultures

As a child, I never really noticed the lack of cultural diversity in the shows or films I watched. Since I was growing up in a fairly diverse city, race wasn’t something I was very conscious of – until I started to get older. That’s the thing about systemic racism; you don’t necessarily notice it until you actively start analyzing and questioning the societal “norms” we were taught. People may not have been calling me names or making fun of my culture in obvious ways, but racist ideologies and cultural ignorance were (and are) embedded into institutions and every day…

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