Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

2024

★★★½ 6

undeniably uneven, but episode 5 is one of the most shattering things i’ve ever seen, and the brothers’ final scene broke me in two. if nothing else, i’m glad this series is exposing a whole new generation (myself included) to the truth and tragedy of this story and starting - or rather, restarting - conversations most sadly weren’t ready or willing to listen to 30 years ago.

it’s time to bring these boys home.

One Day

2024

★★★★½ Liked 8

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Angels in America

2003

★★★★★ Liked 12

“i try to tighten my heart into a knot, a snarl, i try to learn to live dead, just numb, but then i see someone i want, and it's like a nail, like a hot spike right through my chest, and i know i’m losing.”

i first learned what AIDS was in my eighth grade health class, during a unit on STDs. we learned its history, its symptoms, its causes, its prognosis, and who it affected - “homosexuals and addicts.”…

BEEF

2023

★★★★★ Liked 3

to quote bowen yang’s review of everything everywhere all at once, “this is one of the best things i’ve ever seen in my piece of shit life.”

Daisy Jones & the Six

2023

★★★★★ Liked 4

It’s impossible for me to rate this “seriously” - I discovered this book over the pandemic, tore through it in a matter of days, and followed every part of the show’s production from start-to-finish in anticipation. I’ve been waiting for it forever, and watching something you care about so deeply in one medium come alive in another is simply one of the most exciting experiences ever. And while there’s no “perfect” adaptation (and I understand being upset with some of…

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

2022

★★★½ Liked Watched

Can totally see why some wouldn’t like this, but I had a ton of fun :)

Tatiana Maslany can do no wrong, Charlie Cox is incredibly attractive, and even though the episodes vary in entertainment value from time-to-time, there’s enough hits (the pilot, Madisynn’s Moment™️, and the final two for SURE) to make it all worthwhile. And, at the end of the day, if this was what it took to get Maslany’s Jennifer Walters on the board as a major player in the MCU, I’m all for it. Let her lead the Avengers, honestly.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Ranked

DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

2022

★★★½ Liked 1

I’ve seen this and Blonde compared to one another recently - two graphic retellings of real-life tragedies that have been accused of being “exploitative” - so I was VERY apprehensive before sitting down to watch Dahmer.

But, surprisingly, I had a much better experience with this than I ever anticipated. To start, I hate that the families didn’t have a say in how this story would be told or how this project would be produced, or even if it should…

Under the Banner of Heaven

2022

★★★★ Liked 2

I sometimes struggled with the structure of this series - it was a little too slow to start, and the interweaving of the past and the present was clumsily constructed from time to time - but it REALLY picked up halfway through, and at the very least, it was always thematically compelling, unveiling harsh truths about religious radicalization.

Above ALL else though, this was just elevated enooormously by the exceptional ensemble. Andrew Garfield is an irably committed lead, but it’s…

Moon Knight

2022

★★★½ Liked 2

Idk y’all, I thought this kinda slapped???

I’ve found the MCU Disney+ shows to be a… bit of a mixed bag so far. You’ve got the great (WandaVision), the good (Hawkeye), the middling - for me - (Loki), the afterthought (What If…?), and the dumpster fire (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). I was worried Moon Knight was gonna be a real whiff after some of the first reviews were more mixed than expected, but, to my surprise, each episode…

Maid

2021

★★★★★ Liked 4

At risk of oversharing on Letterboxd, this miniseries meant a lot to me for many reasons. For starters, though I was a bit older than Maddy when my mom was going through something similar, I’m the child of an eventual single mother who had to escape abuse for the sake of the safety of herself and her children, and while some of my youngest and saddest memories have faded as the years go by, the feelings haven’t. 

The horror I…

The Girl from Plainville

2022

★★★★ Liked Watched

Though it kinda petered out towards the end - with a final episode that felt more like an epilogue that could’ve been tacked onto the penultimate one, instead of needing to take up its own forty minutes - I was largely pretty impressed by The Girl from Plainville overall, particularly in how it added complications and complexities to the characters of the center of this tragic tale. It’s no easy to task to try and help us empathize with -…

Dopesick

2021

★★★★ Liked 3

Dopesick is one of the most emotionally devastating series I’ve seen in quite some time. Occasionally, its reach is greater than its grasp, and it’s not free of heavy-handed dialogue entirely, but it’s full of undeniably riveting righteous fury, and the ensemble is exceptionally cast, with each actor earning your engagement in spite of the slight structural stumbles here or there. Michael Keaton is going to deservedly win that Emmy, but Kaitlyn Dever is just as astounding, again asserting herself…