There’s a reason I have an annual subscription to Disney+. After watching The Mandalorian, I was looking for something new to watch. WandaVision caught my eye, and after work, I decided to watch the series. I’m intrigued as to how WandaVision will play out, as I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in the story.

Wanda Maximoff (played by Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (played by Paul Bettany) are a married couple living in suburbia. Each episode released so far has shown Wanda and Vision in a different time era. It’s not explicitly stated which time period each episode occurs in. The first episode is clearly the 50’s as Wanda stays home cooking and levitating dishes while she cleans them. In the second episode, Wanda is wearing pants, so it must be later on. There are certain occurrences between both episodes leading Wanda and Vision to be hesitant about the life they are living. WandaVision has been compared to classic sitcoms, although my first impression of the series reminded me of The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey.

I’m happy with the WandaVision series thus far! Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany have great chemistry together. They cover for each other when there’s the off chance someone might discover their powerful abilities. One fun scene to watch was in the second episode when Vision and Wanda were performing for a talent show. Vision would complete these magic tricks using his natural strengths. Wanda would summon an object to counteract Vision’s trick. It shows how they work together, even if it’s as simple as a neighborhood talent show.

There are so many unanswered questions! At the end of episode #2, there’s a beekeeper who appears out of a storm drain. I’m not sure who that’s supposed to be. Additionally, Wanda hears her name being called out on a radio. This moment in the second episode is why I was reminded of The Truman Show. WandaVision is supposed to tie into the Doctor Strange sequel, so I’m curious as to how this will be achieved. Are Wanda and Vision in an alternate reality? Were they kidnapped and forced to be in this show to entertain others? How is Vision back because he died in Avengers: Infinity War? There was an ad in one of the episodes of WandaVision listing Hydra as a sponsor. I thought that was a clever “blink and you miss it” Easter Egg.

If you have already watched WandaVision, please comment your theories in the comments below! The third episode of WandaVision will air on Friday, January 22nd, only on Disney+.

I remember watching the No Man’s Land Scene from the first Wonder Woman movie. Watching this scene in the theater was an empowering moment. Diana wasn’t going to let Steve hold her back, especially since she needed Steve’s help in getting through the battleground. When my fiancé and I watched WW84, I felt let down in a huge way. The plot left a sour taste in my mouth. Diana is a part of history as seen through the mementos in her apartment. However, all of that can’t be celebrated because she’s still missing Steve???? Why does WW84 feel so different from the first film?

After the shopping mall fight sequence, Diana (played by Gal Gadot) is shown at a restaurant eating by herself and looking up at a plane flying in the night sky. These scenes conveyed to the viewer how Diana is not over Steve. Losing Steve during the war was traumatic for Diana, but I find it hard to believe that she hasn’t moved on. When I think of Wonder Woman as a character, she’s a role model to women and has fought for everyone on the planet. I would have liked to see Diana live a normal life when, suddenly, Steve is revived. It would have been more believable to the character. This Mary Sue article reiterates my thoughts regarding Diana and the way she’s portrayed in WW84.

Besides Diana, there’s Barbara Minerva. Barbara (played by Kristin Wiig) wants to be Diana, to be acknowledged, and attractive. Who cares about Barbara’s multiple Ph.Ds because she wants to be the hot girl. I felt there weren’t enough scenes in the film where I could actually buy into Barbara wanting to be Diana. There’s a brief mention of Barbara being bullied for being a nerd, so it’s assumed Barbara wants to be like Diana to be accepted. When I think of female empowerment, Barbara’s story doesn’t do that either. She feels she needs to be attractive and feminine to be taken seriously. This could be an overreaction on my part, but if someone could help me understand why Barbara wants to be like Diana, other than the fact that she’s attractive, please enlighten me. I would have liked to see Barbara own her shit and use the dream stone to wish for good luck with her research. This research could have led her to become Cheetah and seek power from Diana. This is what I would have liked to see out of the character.

When I first watched WW84, I was hoping for a friendship to be developed between Diana and Barbara. There’s only one scene where Diana and Barbara are out to dinner, where they talk about love. This again brings up the fact that Diana is still not over Steve. Once this scene ends, I’m supposed to believe Diana and Barbara are BFFs? I think there could have been more development in the friendship between Diana and Barbara.

Ultimately, if you loved WW84, I’m happy for you! I think it’s annoying when I state how much I like something, and fans remind me how much the thing I like sucks. I felt WW84 could have been a much better film if it had been structured differently. With the first Wonder Woman film, I walked out of the theater feeling elated, and with WW84, I sat at home pondering what it was that I just watched.

My friend finished watching Normal People on Hulu and immediately messaged me asking if I had watched this series yet. As a side note, I take a while to watch TV shows since my fiancé and friends seem to watch them faster than I do. She couldn’t stop raving about Normal People and how the sex scenes seemed to be realistic. Normal People is an emotionally charged story of two people falling in and out of love throughout their lives.

Based on the book of the same name by Sally Rooney, the series follows Marianne Sheridan (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell Walderon (played by Paul Mescal). Marianne and Connell first meet in secondary school, with Marianne being painted as the weird girl who reads too many books. Connell is popular, although he is attracted to Marianne, he doesn’t want his friends to know. They have sex, and Marianne is angered to learn Connell takes another girl to a dance. Marianne and Connell meet again throughout their adult lives as they contemplate being committed together.

The chemistry between Daisy and Paul is undeniable. I wouldn’t be surprised if these two were dating after the camera stopped rolling. This show is an emotional rollercoaster. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t crying every other episode. The sex scenes feel real. They aren’t fake and feature over-the-top moaning. As I watch these scenes, it feels like two people having sex who truly care about each other’s well-being.

I have to offer a slight content warning as this series is extremely emotional to watch. Marianne is a victim of familial physical abuse by her brother. The show doesn’t explain why this happens unless I missed it. From the abuse, Marianne finds herself in abusive relationships. It’s heartwrenching to watch because we know Marianne deserves so much more. There’s a storyline leading back to suicide as one of Paul’s friends from secondary school commits suicide. As I mentioned, this is an emotional series beyond Marianne and Connell’s relationship. It’s important to be in that mindset to fully enjoy this series.

I haven’t read Sally Rooney’s book, which the series is based on. I’m undecided if I will read the book because I loved the show. Usually, I recommend reading a book before viewing the adaptation, but this adaptation is so good! A couple of my favorite book vloggers have already rated the book, and their reviews weren’t positive. I have this book on my to-be-read shelf, so maybe I will get around to reading it eventually, but it’s not a high priority.

Normal People is so much more than a love story. It’s a commentary on love, life, and experiencing tragedy. As mentioned above, it’s best to be in the mood to watch this series. I cried every other episode because I was happy for the characters, or I genuinely was sad for them. This is a series I would re-watch if I need a good cry. If you have read the Normal People book or seen the series, let me know in the comments below.

My fiancé loves watching documentaries on Netflix. While we were creating our wedding website, my fiancé started playing Challenger: The Final Flight as background noise. Instead of contributing to our wedding website like I should have, I started paying attention to each episode.

Challenger: The Final Flight has only four episodes, with each episode ranging from forty-two to fifty minutes long. The series introduces the astronauts, provides background information before The Challenger launched, footage from The Challenger as it exploded, and the aftermath of the investigation. What happened with the Challenger, and was NASA responsible?

My knowledge of the Challenger explosion was next to none before watching this docuseries. I knew a teacher was on board and the shuttle exploded shortly before take-off, but that was about it. I was crying throughout the series. Families, children, NASA, and the United States all watched what happened to the Challenger. Relatives turned to each other in shock and held each other as they cried. Students were in awe as they weren’t sure what was happening. Hearing the relatives of the seven astronauts speak as they relive this moment was horrifying. Some of the relatives knew their loved ones couldn’t survive, while other relatives tried to deny what had happened.

Christa McAuliffe was a teacher in New Hampshire who was one of 11,000 applicants who applied to board the Challenger. She was the final of ten and was chosen to be the first teacher in space. She took a leave from teaching while she trained to be an astronaut. She had planned to teach two fifteen-minute lessons to students from space. I’m imagining how I would feel if one of my teacher friends were chosen to go into space. I would feel happy for them, but anxious about what could go wrong.

The failure of the O-rings caused the Challenger’s explosion. The docuseries details how NASA knew about the history of the O-Rings’ failure since 1977. That’s nine years before the Challenger launched. Richard Feynman, a scientist on the Manhattan Project, was included in the post-investigation. Feynman demonstrated how the O-rings are more likely to fail in lower temperatures. On the day the Challenger launched, it was 36 degrees.

Challenger: The Final Flight is a heart-wrenching look at what happened with the Challenger. There’s a lot we can learn from this tragedy to make space exploration safer, and the importance of analyzing scientific data. Challenger: The Final Flight can be streamed on Netflix.

Vampires were a trend back in 2008. I used to own a Team Edward t-shirt from Hot Topic back when I read the Twilight series. Twilight showed us sparkling vampires, while The Vampire Diaries was a highlight on The CW. True Blood was the more adult vampire show that aired on HBO for seven seasons. I never finished watching True Blood, so I decided to give the show another chance. True Blood is a sexy and entertaining vampire show.

True Blood stars waitress Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin) in the small Southern town of Bon Temps. True Blood takes place two years after vampires were introduced into society. There’s an invention titled “Tru Blood” which allows vampires to feed off of synthetic human blood. While Sookie is waitressing, she meets Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer), a vampire who is compassionate towards humanity. Ultimately, Sookie and Bill begin a romantic relationship and are forced to face off against various supernatural threats.

One of the positives of True Blood is getting to know Bon Temps and the people who live there. Several of the characters go through positive character growth, including Arlene Fowler (played by Carrie Preston) and Andy Bellefleur (played by Chris Bauer). Both Arlene and Andy were prejudiced against vampires at the beginning of the series. As the seasons continued, Arlene and Andy started to recognize that not all vampires are the same. Andy used to be a character I despised in the first season, and is now one of the best characters. Besides Arlene and Andy, Sookie’s brother, Jason (played by Ryan Kwanten), matures throughout the series. Originally portrayed as a playboy, Jason starts to develop feelings for Jessica (played by Deborah Ann Woll, before her Daredevil days). Jason starts to think differently about vampires and treats women with more respect than he did before. I could go on and on about the characters in True Blood. If the characters weren’t as memorable, True Blood would have been canceled a long time ago.

True Blood also had various guest stars, including Christopher Meloni (Detective Elliot Stabler, Law & Order SVU), Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia), Rob Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld), Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story), and more. Christopher Meloni played an older vampire who was a spot-on cast. Denis O’Hare played a nasty vampire in season #3 and was one of the best villains of the show.

True Blood started strong. Seasons #1 – #4 were wildly entertaining. Sookie builds a relationship with Bill, has a relationship with Eric (played by Alexander Skarsgård), and fights off witches. Seasons #5 – #7 are where True Blood started to drag on. Season #5 featured Christopher Meloni, but his appearance wasn’t enough, as this season was probably the worst out of the seven.

Overall, True Blood was a fun watch. I’m glad I gave the show a second chance. It’s a perfect show to watch in Quarantine because I could devote the time to watch all the seasons. I have a picture of Eric as my phone background because he’s one of my favorite vampires in the show. If you watched True Blood, let me know in the comments which character was your favorite.

I have a subscription to HBO Max, and there is so much content! My watch list has grown exponentially, even though it takes me some time to watch everything. On HBO Max are the three Blade movies starring Wesley Snipes as the hybrid vampire, Blade. One of the main reasons I started watching the original trilogy is because Marvel relaunched Blade, starring Mahershala Ali. Blade is a well-made movie ahead of its time.

Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) is a vampire hunter while being a hybrid vampire himself. His mother was attacked by a vampire while pregnant with Blade. As a result, Blade has vampire attributes while still being human. Blade is mentored by Abraham Whistler (played by Kris Kristofferson), who assists in Blade’s training regimen. When vampire rebel Deacon Frost (played by Stephen Dorff) wants to capture Blade to resurrect a blood god, that’s when all hell breaks loose.

The Blade opening sequence has to be one of the best openings in an action movie. The film opens with a man being walked through a butcher shop into a vampire rave. Blood is sprinkled among the crowd as the vampires go into a feeding frenzy. This frenzy is stomped on when Blade enters with his sword and kills the vampires while the strobes flash. This opening scene helped keep me invested as the movie unfolded.

Blade also doesn’t force a romance between the protagonists. Assisting Blade with taking down Frost is Karen (played by N’Bushe Wright). Karen is a hematologist who is attacked by another vampire named Quinn (played by Donal Logue). Blade rescues Karen and keeps her safe since she’s been marked after being bitten. It’s clear Blade starts to care for her, but they aren’t romantically entangled when the credits roll. This doesn’t happen in many action movies.

Watching Blade, it doesn’t feel like a movie made in the ’90s. The one exception to this is Deacon Frost’s overall aesthetic. Deacon looks like a former Backstreet Boy who was turned into a vampire. Otherwise, this movie still holds up today.

Blade was a blast to watch. The day after watching Blade, I watched Blade II. I will write a Blade II review soon because I was surprised by how well this holds up as a sequel. Blade is available to stream on HBO Max.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a movie I had never watched until last weekend. There is a Rocky Horror Picture Show-themed party room at CONvergence every year, but I never knew what the references were. My friend was shocked that I had never seen this movie, and ultimately, she pulled the DVD from her collection and made me watch it. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the ultimate horror-themed musical.

Throughout the movie, the unnamed narrator tells the story of the newly engaged couple Brad Majors (played by Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (played by Susan Sarandon). They have a flat tire and stumbled upon a massive mansion. Brad and Janet are invited inside and are immediately introduced to Dr. Frank-N-Furter (played spectacularly by Tim Curry), a transvestite from Transylvania. Brad and Janet see Furter create a man named Rocky (played by Peter Hinwood), who becomes Furter’s lover. There’s sex, music, murders, and generic chaos as the story unfolds.

I’m typically not a fan of musicals, but The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an exception. I like the references to various horror films. An example of this would be when Rocky is created as a mad scientist experiment by Furter. The music is catchy, and I didn’t know the rockstar Meat Loaf was in this movie.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is so fun. I can’t believe I waited so long before watching this. It’s the perfect blend of sexuality, horror movies, and musicals. It’s fitting I watched this right before the Halloween season. I’m going to have the soundtrack on repeat for weeks.

Last weekend, I went to visit my friend for the weekend. Besides playing multiple board games, we like to watch movies together. In college, we would go see a movie once a month, at least? Her DVD collection is massive, and I decided to pick the Ghostbusters re-make for us to watch.

This particular Ghostbusters outing is a remake directed by Paul Feig, who also directed Bridesmaids. The film centers around physicists Abby Yates (played by Melissa McCarthy) and Erin Gilbert (played by Kristin Wiig). Erin is fired from her teaching position at Columbia University after Abby republishes the ghost book they wrote. Since Erin’s been fired from her job, she teams up with Abby and Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (played wonderfully by Kate McKinnon) to hunt ghosts. Eventually, they meet Patty Tolan (played by Leslie Jones), whose expertise in navigating around NYC helps the group locate the ghosts. Ghosts end up being unleashed, and all hell breaks loose.

The showstopper in this film is Kate McKinnon. Her facial expressions and lines in this movie were the best. I wish Leslie Jones were more of the main character. She felt sidelined for the movie, which is a shame. I can’t forget to mention Chris Hemsworth playing the dumb secretary. Chris Hemsworth isn’t known for comedy, but his one-liners were great.

Although I liked Ghostbusters, this movie ended up being a box office bomb. There was so much controversy over having a female cast. I remember when the trailer for this movie hit YouTube, there was a remarkable amount of thumbs-down responses. I’m biased in my response because I was a ’90s baby, so I wasn’t alive when the original Ghostbusters was released. It saddens me that fans had such a negative reaction to a movie before it was released.

Ghostbusters wasn’t a perfect film by any means, but it was a campy sci-fi film starring funny women. I want all the Dr. Jillian Holtzmann merch. I saw her Funko pop, and it’s so quirky. Let me know what you think of this movie in my comments section below.

BlacKkKlansman is a movie I have wanted to watch for a while. I couldn’t find BlacKkKlansman on any streaming service I subscribe to. My mom collects DVDs and allowed me to borrow this movie. This movie tells a crucial story, especially with the events that preceded the making of this movie. There was a lot I took away from watching this film.

BlacKkKlansman tells the story of Ron Stallworth (played by John David Washington), who was the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department. During his service, he sets up an undercover operation to have white police detectives infiltrate the KKK. Philip “Flip” Zimmerman (played by Adam Driver) is the white Ron Stallworth who uncovers a planned bombing on the Black Panther Party. It’s a race against time to stop the bombing at all costs.

The real Ron Stallworth wrote a book about his experience, which I have already ordered from my local bookstore. I admire his bravery in becoming a police officer while racism was still rampant. I’m glad his story was told as a film, so others like me can be aware of his story and read his book.

My major takeaway from this film is recognizing the role white women played in the KKK and in keeping systemic racism alive today. In the film, one of the wives of the Klan helped plan the bombing. This level of violence wasn’t unheard of during this time. In today’s society, I think of the white women who call the police on young black kids. I may not have been alive during the Civil Rights movement, but I want to be an ally in fighting racial injustice.

Towards the end of BlacKkKlansman, the film shows real-life footage of the Unite the Night rally in Virginia, along with President Donald Trump’s statements. If we are to truly eliminate these hate groups, we cannot tolerate them in our society. There are no “both sides” with the KKK; their existence is a symbol of hatred and violence.

BlacKkKlansman deserved every single Oscar nomination. It’s a movie with incredible acting and storytelling. Ron Stallworth’s story, along with the history of the Black Panther Party, has inspired me to donate to nonprofits and to learn more about this time in history.