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karudderham
Reviews
The Midnight Club (2022)
Missed the point
I will start this off by saying I do enjoy most of Mike Flanagon's and Christopher Pike's books. I will also say that this is not the midnight club.
The novel was incredibly removed from anything supernatural and was about a girl's desperate attempt to evade the inevitable, choosing instead to focus on magical thinking and believing terminal cancer could be cured with herbs. Ilonka eventually comes to terms with death and accepts her ends with as much grace as she can manage.
Death comes for all, it is not unfair, it cannot be avoided.
I read this book when I was 12 and it helped me to deal with the passing of my grandmother (who was in palliative care with pancreatic cancer) so I'm very protective of the ideas within it. Mike Flanagan didn't seem to understand what the group of kids were doing and the terms they were coming to.
The supernatural never should have been introduced.
Run Sweetheart Run (2020)
You can tell who decided to be offended without actually paying attention to the movie.
Was this a perfect movie? No.
Was this a movie that mirrors the every day experiences of females pushed to the nth degree? Yes.
Any female that is over the age of 20 can tell you about a lot of these experiences. (That's not to say it doesn't happen to younger females as unfortunately it does) The main character opens dealing with a male HR rep that makes not so subtle hints that she will not be advanced because she's female and she must remain calm, she is later sexually harassed and assaulted on a bus on the way home and again must remain calm and can not simply scream, to draw attention to the ordeal because then not only does she become viewed as emotional/excitable she becomes the problematic black woman. With the exception of the last part every woman you know have been in this situation. Every one of them and it rings more true now than it did before because we actually talk about it openly now.
Onto the date, she thinks she meets a nice guy who seems genuinely interested her but the warning signs are there. The sudden irritation and barely concealed hostility that comes with being corrected when the female doesn't immediately defer to the male, the out bursts of unexplained anger over small things, the prodding to go home alone with this person despite having said no before it becomes easier to simply give in and when the door closes the horrific part is the violence, abuse, is left to your imagination before she comes fleeing out of the door with her clothing torn and her flesh bloodied and bruised.
This happens frightening often, when someone thinks they with a safe person and they turn out to be anything but that. Social commentary seems to be the main point of the story. Cherie begs for help and very few are interested in helping her, money and privilege excuse his behavior to the police (yes - this does happen) and her decent continues.
People try to help but are frightened away with threats of violence (a harsh reality), people are silenced, and still she tries to keep looking for help.
It's disturbing to anyone who has been in an abusive relationship or has been assaulted and real empathy is felt towards Cherie who simply wants to be safe and to go home. The point isn't that the hostile person is a white male, the point is this can happen to anyone at anytime.
If you can't relate to her journey be grateful, more than a few of us most certainly can even with the supernatural elements mixed in.
Ms. Marvel (2022)
Heartfelt and enjoyable.
I started this with my tweens as from the preview the show seemed geared to their age group. I wasn't wrong and like most of the marvel shows it didn't disappoint. The show centers on a teenage girl looking to find herself and her place in the world.
Don't pay attention to the complaints of "woke bs", most of those are from people that can't handle a straight white male lead.
Candyman (2021)
Was it really a sequel?
So I'll start with the positives... the actors were better than a lot of horror actors that have debuted this year, the movie looked clean and crisp but that about sums it up. Unfortunately this version is meant to be a direct sequel to the 1992 film but somehow manages to completely retcon the origin story of the character which throws a wrench into the story. Candy man was not a strange/manic amputee that handed out candy to the kids of the projects. This was the first of many head scratching moments. As a reboot this film might have worked but a direct sequel? I'm afraid not.
Take it for what it is and forget just about everything you know from the original.
Reservation Dogs: California Dreamin' (2021)
This episode has a trigger warning for a reason
There have been a few episodes this season that made me shed a few tears but nothing compared to this episode. I've had too many friends that had decided they were done and this single outing brought back all of that pain from my teenage years to now with both Elora and Coach.
Pay attention to the trigger warning, it can be too much for some people.