All Forms of Art

  Janel Parrish is an American actress and singer best known for playing Mona Vanderwaal in Pretty Little Liars and Margot Covey in Netflix’s To All the Boys films. Born in Oahu, Hawaii, in 1988, Parrish began performing at a very young age. At six, she started piano lessons and soon began studying acting, singing, and dance. Her professional career began on stage when she played Young Cosette in Les Misérables , first in the national tour and later on Broadway. She later appeared in television series and films before landing her breakthrough film role as Jade in Bratz in 2007. Best Known For Pretty Little Liars (2010–2017) As Mona Vanderwaal, Parrish became one of the most memorable characters in Pretty Little Liars . Mona's transformation throughout the series gave Parrish the opportunity to play a character who could be vulnerable, manipulative, funny, and threatening, sometimes within the same storyline. The role earned her four Teen Choice Awards for Choice TV Villain. ...

  I have a confession :  Crew Girl  probably isn't  for me. From the very beginning, it has that unmistakable Gen Z teen-show vibe. A girl is forced to move to a small town, hates it, and then, naturally, meets a boy. Add some romance, complicated parents, friendships, and a few emotional secrets, and you have a formula we've seen many times before.  It reminded me of The Summer I Turned Pretty in a way I can't quite explain. Maybe it is Teagan (Miku Martineau) herself, who has something of Belly's closed-off, slightly awkward personality. At first, I found it a little boring. I'm not Gen Z, and I suspect some of the things that make this show immediately appealing to its target audience simply don't work on me in the same way. And Teagan isn't exactly the greatest actress either. But eventually,  something about  Crew Girl   gradually won me over. It is warm, funny, and sweet, even when it is also decidedly silly. More Than Just a Teen Roman...

  I have to admit that I’m suspicious of movie sequels. Especially when I really liked the first movie. Something about a second film makes me expect disappointment. The characters are already established, the story has already had its big emotional moment, and sometimes it feels like the sequel exists simply because the first movie was successful. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by Moana 2 . It isn't perfect, and I don't think it has quite the same freshness as the first film, but I genuinely enjoyed it.  A Different Kind of Disney Heroine Modern Disney has moved away from the idea that every heroine needs a romantic story, and Moana fits into this new view. She doesn't need a boyfriend. She doesn't need a boy to rescue her, complete her, or give her story meaning. She can stand on her own, but that doesn't mean she's completely alone, either. Moana is independent, but she still needs other people. Friendship and Teamwork Independence doesn't mea...

Spoilers ahead! After four seasons, The Man in the High Castle finally ends. And since I've complained so many times about the show struggling to make its alternate realities meaningful, I was curious whether the final season could actually make it work. The answer is... mostly. Season 4 is probably the show's most chaotic season. Everything is falling apart at once: the Reich, the Japanese Empire, the resistance, the Smith family, and even the boundaries between worlds. There is a lot happening, sometimes perhaps too much, but there are also some genuinely powerful character moments. And, yes, Tagomi ( Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa ) ! :( When Everything Starts Falling Apart One thing the final season makes very clear is how fragile systems built on absolute authority really are. The Japanese departure changes the entire political balance. Suddenly, the world that seemed relatively stable — however horrifying it was — isn't stable anymore. Someone leaves, someone else immedia...

  I probably would never have watched Anne with an E if it wasn't for my daughter. I didn't think I could like it. I was wrong. Anne with an E is cute, but it is also surprisingly heavy at times. There is friendship, family, hard work, and adventure, but also loneliness, prejudice, bullying, abuse, and the very real limitations placed on children — particularly girls — at the time. It is a coming-of-age story, but it doesn't pretend growing up is always pretty. Anne's Imagination Is More Than Imagination What interested me most about Anne (Amybeth McNulty) is how she constantly escapes into fantasy. At first, this can seem like simply part of her charm. Anne is imaginative, dramatic, endlessly talkative, and can turn almost anything into a story. But once we understand what she has experienced, her imagination feels less like a quirky personality trait and more like a survival mechanism. Fantasy is where Anne has some control. When reality has been cruel and unpre...

  Something about Landman feels strangely unsettling . At first, I thought I was simply watching a show about the oil business: oil fields, workers, explosions, money, criminals, family problems, and a lot of very complicated people, but it is more than that.  It is about a world where danger has become normal. An accident happens. People die. Someone gets injured. There is an explosion. And then... the business has to continue. Because the business always has to continue. The Show Must Go On The first episode does a surprisingly good job of introducing us to the world of Landman without feeling like a lecture about the oil industry. We learn how things work by watching people do their jobs. We see the dangers, the relationships between the workers, the money involved, and the strange mixture of confidence and resignation that seems to define the whole environment. Then the explosion happens. And from that moment on, I couldn't watch anyone working without expecting some...