Change Your Image
davidadesegun
Reviews
Wednesday (2022)
Refreshing though flawed
Going into this series, I had no familiarity with the Addams family. I had never seen trailers, clips or watched any of the adaptations. As such my expectations of this series was neutral.
To start with the good, Jenna Ortega as the titlular character was absolutely masterful. An outcast among outcast, she plays the dark teen, who whether she realizes or not, wishes to escape her lonely solitude. Unfortunately aside from Wednesday and Principle Weems, this show desperately struggles with presence from their other actors. Wednesday employs mostly unknown actors and it shows, whether it's the script, the acting or a combination of both, the show never finds life in its actors.
The story is a high school drama with mystery at its centre. Wednesday often struggles finding its balance between the two plots. Giving us highschool cliches while at the same time trying the shy away from cliches. But perhaps Wednesday's most egregious plot line was the love triangle between characters, Wednesday Addams, Tyler Gaplin and Xavier Thorpe. Thorpe especially whose character boiled down to the jealous love interest. Wednesday is actively worse everytime it revisits this love triangle. However I stayed for the mystery aspect and the show shines, though struggled at the end.
We learn Tyler Gaplin is the monster Wednesday has been looking for, which should have been discovered by the audience halfway through the series. A predictable mystery is not a bad thing, however the series throws so much misdirections that the reveal is exhausting. The big bad villain gone as soon as he arrives failed to kill anyone.
Wednesday struck gold in its casting of Jenna. It's a decent series that may resonate in those that feel themselves to be outcasts.
To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021)
2,942 miles
LJ and Peter throughout this movie navigates the struggle that comes with a life altering decision. Their romantic lives are turned upside down when LJ's application is turned down. Throughout the almost 2 hour runtime, we see the the pair trying and failing to weave each other into their futures before ultimately coming to terms with the reality of the situation.
These movies have always been about more than just the pairs romantic relationship, which is quite refreshing. As we see LJ also balance her home life and the challenges that come from new and exciting developments. This allows LJ to be more than just Peter's girlfriend. She has agency and it's been fulfilling seeing her come into her own.
A personal gripe I have, is the "always and forever," conclusion and the arrogant attitude of how their relationship will survive because "they aren't like other couples."
Ultimately the movies biggest weakness comes from its nearly 2 hour runtime. The characters have almost nothing to do, but the biggest strength of the teenage romance genre is the romance and the pairs chemistry makes it ALMOST worthwhile.
Euphoria (2019)
Flashy directing can't make up for lack of substance
Really the only good thing about this show is the directing, it's bold, intense and just generally some of the best work I've seen. Now this show reminds me of 13 reason why, the characters are almost entirely defined by their trauma, they are completely caricatures of humans, it's like the creators looked at a human, took out anything subversive about them, then all only left the worst possible traits. Euphoria seems to want to say something about drugs, about abuse and mental health, but every time it's on the verge of anything they revert to spectacle. It's only 8 episodes so give it a watch if you are comfortable with nudity, teenage drinking etc. All in all the show fails spectacularly which is a shame, because I love zendaya
The Half of It (2020)
Incredibly Charming
Edit*
If nothing else, this movie is charming. This movie is at its best when its exploring the three main protagonists. And at its worse every other time. The movie jumps from plot point to plot point without clear direction or focus. The movie tries to be clever but falls short and the characters change with no explainable reason. When the main guy protagonist finds out Ellie is gay, it conflicts with his Christian belief and he I guess isn't friends with her anymore. After 1 conversation with Ellie's father and probably in the span of 1 week, he accepts it and is back to being best friends with her. It's lazy writing. If you like teenage shows you'll love this. If you don't, still give it a try.