Film Reviews

How ‘Love in Taipei’ Tackles The Immigrant Experience

Like its protagonist, this Paramount+ romance is far more than meets the eye

Love in Taipei

via Paramount+

It’s a particular experience to be a marginalized person in a predominantly white setting. When you’re an immigrant in any Predominantly White Institution (PWI) in the U.S., you’re both defined by and alienated from your ethnicity. The idea of your ethnicity feels like a shroud that separates you from the people around you, while also obscuring the complexity of the reality of your place of origin.

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CULTURE

Are the VMAs Relevant Again? What Happened at the 2023 VMAs?

Highlights from the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards

Taylor Swift at the 2022 VMAs

Photo by Guerin Charles/ABACA/Shutterstock
For someone who considered themselves plugged in and aware of music and pop culture happenings (it’s literally my job, considering where you are reading this), I was surprised to see my feed blowing up last night with content from the VMA red carpet.
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Film Reviews

“Bottoms” Review: Girl Failures Are the New It Girls

Like Barbie before it, Bottoms lets girls be messy and boys be the butt of the joke

Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri

via Bottoms Move

We started the year blessed: by the “girl failures” tweet. In a viral post on the app formerly known as Twitter, user @ricshatty said: “enough girlbosses i need girlfailures. just an absolute loser of a female character. more women who suck!!!!!”

This summer, movies have delivered precisely what we asked for.

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Film News

Barbenheimer Begins: The Battle of 'Barbie' v 'Oppenheimer'

What to expect from summers most explosive double feature — and what order to watch it in

Barbie and Oppenheimer double feature

via Warner Brothers and Universal

For months on end, the internet has been joking about summer's most unexpected double feature: Oppenheimer vs Barbie. Well, July 21st is finally here. And, as writers who are chronically online and always down to do something for the bit, of course, we grabbed our comfies and our blankets and spent 5 hours in the cinema on the opening day for what’s been dubbed ... Barbenheimer.

Barbie and Oppenheimer may not seem like they have much in common, but after watching both in quick succession, turns out, they do.

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CULTURE

Is Movie Magic ... Marketing Magic?

The magic of the movies has been reduced to the magic of a marketing budget

Barbie Cast

Stewart Cook/Shutterstock

On July 21st, Barbie and Oppenheimer are set to open in the biggest box office battle since 2008’s Mamma Mia and The Dark Night. And if those two films taught us anything, it’s that we can have it all: a gritty Christopher Nolan film and a fun, fresh, flirty, female-helmed, camp musical.

So why is the entire internet pitting these two films against each other? It just may be part of the marketing strategy.

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CULTURE

Movies to Watch this Summer — In Theatres

The momentum for moviegoing is back

Joyride Movie

via Lionsgate

Remember the era of summer blockbusters? Every weekend of the summer, families, friend groups, budding romances, and solo cinema lovers alike would pack into their local theatres to watch the latest, hottest summer film.

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