Review – Everything Sucks! (2018)

By Armando Vanegas

I don’t usually review TV shows, but I wanted to try something different and Netflix’s Everything Sucks! was something that really stuck with me, so much that I was inspired to write about it and hopefully those of you who read this might want to give it a shot. Everything Sucks!, in a lot of ways, is the show that the trailer sells you with its very 90’s aesthetic, due to the fact that it’s set in 1996. It’s evident in the first two episodes, which are also its weakest. However, they do a good job setting up for the tone, the characters, and the story. But once it figures itself out, it becomes quite an engaging and charming show. The show is about a group of high school kids in Boring, Oregon and how they’re dealing with growing up.

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Review – Patti Cake$ (2017)

Precious’ Meets ‘Hustle & Flow’ in ‘Patti Cake$

by Nile Fortner

Patti Cake$ is a heartwarming story about a young woman from New Jersey named Patricia Dombrowski, who has dreams of achieving stardom and success as a rapper. Patricia, aka Killer P, aka Patti Cake$, wants to follow in the same footsteps of her favorite rapper. In order to achieve this goal, Patti receives help from her friend, a mysterious Goth musician, and her supportive grandmother.

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Review – American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace (2018)

by Kevin Muller

Ryan Murphy has been a gift from God for FX.  Over the past eight years he has given us American Horror Story, Feud, Glee, and most recently 9-1-1. Four out of the five mentioned have won countless awards. In 2016, Murphy gave us a new series called American Crime Story, which was about the trial of OJ Simpson. As with Feud and American Horror Story, each season has its own story with its own characters and conflicts. The series won countless awards for acting and as a series overall.  Once again, it was a major win for FX. What would Murphy follow up with for season 2? There were ramblings about Katrina, which will now be season 3, but he ultimately decided to look at the death of Gianni Versace and the hunt for his murderer, Andrew Cunanan. Murphy, a proud and outed gay man, would definitely give one of the gay community’s greatest icons the proper treatment, right? Well, that is where the series becomes conflicted. It isn’t with the acting. All the actors, including Edgar Ramirez, as the title character; Penelope Cruz, as his sister Donatella, and even Ricky Martin, as Versace’s lover, Antonio D’Amico, are all fantastic. The production value is incredible to boot. Even Darren Criss, more on him later, is career defining as Cunanan. The problem lies that the title character isn’t really the main focus of the piece, and when he is, the story is incredibly fragile.

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