Category: Film

When I first heard of a new figure skating-based Netflix drama called “Spinning Out,” I knew I needed to watch it. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for sports TV shows and movies, for better and for worse. Growing up, I watched Olympic figure skating religiously. So “Spinning Out” was an easy choice to binge, and it was one I didn’t regret.

The premise of “Spinning Out” is similar to many other figure skating books, movies and TV shows I’ve seen. Kat (Kaya Scodelario) is a 20-something figure skater who was training for the Olympics before an injury gave her the yips, a psychological condition where she is unable to complete her jumps. An eccentric Russian coach, Dasha (Svetlana Efremova) encourages Kat to try pairs skating instead with Justin (Evan Roderick), a spoiled — but hot — fellow skater who can’t keep a partner. A significant subplot includes Kat’s relationship with her bipolar mom and sister, Serena (Willow Shields) who has taken Kat’s place as the skating star of the family.

Though the storyline is cliché, Spinning Out has a surprising amount of depth on many issues relevant to society today, including mental illness, self harm, infertility, sexual assault, racism, family pressure, sports injuries, infidelity and homosexuality. While the first few episodes were a bit hard to get into due to the formulaic nature of this storyline, the depth of the show and the characters increased as the season went on and dove into Kat’s relationship with her family, friends and coaches. Several of these storylines were very compelling; I especially enjoyed the characters of Marcus (Mitchell Edwards), Kat’s co-worker, and Dasha.

The main thread of the show was the trauma that Kat is dealing with in the way her singles career ended, especially as someone struggling with bipolar disorder. Kat conceals her disorder from everyone except her family due in large part to the insular nature of the figure skating world — it’s not just about how you skate, but how you look. Kat believes she would be ostracized if she reveals her illness, but concealing it of course leads to more problems.

Kat’s relationship with Serena is also layered and complex. Serena has become the new golden child, a title she has a complex relationship with. The sisters love each other, but their relationship is strained due to their mom’s toxicity. As someone with a sister, though one I’ve always been close to, this storyline really resonated emotionally.

As for the skating itself, the technique wasn’t Olympic-level, but I’m saying that as someone who regularly watches Olympic figure skating, and getting multiple stunt doubles who can actually skate at that level is impractical, so I was willing to let it slip. Other than that, the portrayal of the sport was decently accurate and better than many other sports-themed TV shows or movies I’ve seen.

By the end of the season, I couldn’t put my laptop down, and I even cried a little. At the beginning I wasn’t sure about this show, but it pulled me in and by the end I was sold. The worst part of Spinning Out is that it was canceled by Netflix after one season and I agonized over the season-ending cliffhanger for nothing.

Alas, Spinning Out is still worth watching for anyone who enjoys sports-themed dramas that hit surprisingly hard.

If you haven’t heard of this show, or mentions of Carol Baskin and her dead husband, you must be sleeping under a rock! The mini-series on Netflix was released on March 20th, and is only 7 episodes long, which are each about 45 minutes. It follows several very eccentric exotic animal owners, especially big cat owners, and their interactions with each other and with other people in their communities. Every person filmed is a real person, and they all contribute to the wacky story that unfolds.

Watch now on Netflix!

Wow. If you are looking for a show that you literally cannot turn off, then this is one you should watch. It is only 4 episodes, each an hour, and I watched all 4 of them in the same sitting (which I did not plan to do)! I even convinced my mom, who was watching with me, to stay up much later than she usually would and watch as well because we were both so fascinated with and invested in this show.

First off, the subject matter is interesting, as it is a society most do not get a glimpse at. The story follows a young ultra-orthodox woman who flees to Berlin after her unhappiness with her life in Williamsburg, New York in her secluded community. Although the story begins with her leaving, we get plenty of flashbacks to her old life, and get to watch some of the customs, choices, and frustrations of a group of people who tend to keep to themselves. The story focuses on her journey in Berlin, once she realizes that staying with her mother (who had also fled the community many years before) is not an option anymore.

One of the reasons I think I liked the show a lot was because the main character was so easy to empathize with, and so eager to learn about the world. She wanted to perform music, and she found such joy in both listening to it, watching it, and learning how herself. I am also a musically inclined person, and I really connected to that part of her. I also think she was appealing because of her fascination with everything she sees in the world, because she had lived in her small community her whole life and had never gone anywhere else, so everything was new to her. I loved her child-like fascination and joy at so much of what she saw in Berlin.

It was also very satisfying to watch her shed her old life and start new while literally and emotionally letting go of what had burdened her in her old life. You can see her becoming more happy and more her own person as the show goes on, with not only the way she dresses, but the way she interacts with those around her and her mannerisms. I loved watching her learn how to be unconstrained, and really have fun in the way that she wanted.

But what really kept me watching the show was the drama and thriller of the members of her community who went after her. This was not only her husband, who did a very good job of making me hate him, but a mysterious other member of the Orthodox community who seemed to have a shady past as well. As they followed her, we got to see sort of parallel stories where her and her husband learned some of the more ugly parts of life outside of their neighborhood. And the emotional scene when they finally found her was definitely one of my favorite parts of the mini-series, although there were a lot of really good, dramatic moments.

Overall, I would urge you to watch Unorthodox, and watch the “making of the show” after episode, which was an awesome compliment to the show. It caught my attention from the first episode until the end, and was full of drama, intrigue, and a unique perspective that is not often brought to light or discussed by the general public. Make sure you give yourself a 4 hour block though, because you will want to watch it all in one sitting as soon as you start!

Unorthodox follows the story of a young woman who tries to escape from her Orthodox community in Williamsburg, New York. The story follows her to Berlin, where her mother lives (who also fled the Orthodox community), and the adventure that she experiences as she wrestles to find her real place outside of the only place she’s ever lived. The Netflix miniseries is loosely based on the book Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, an autobiography written by Deborah Feldman.

Each episode is only an hour long, and there are 4 of them, so it is a quick watch. However it already has high ratings, so I am excited to see it and tell you all what I think!

If you decide to watch this movie, settle in for a long film and make sure you know your lawyer jargon before watching! Maybe grab some popcorn as well.

The film is based on a New York Times article about a top lawyer for chemical companies who ends up working against his own clients. When he is faced with an ethical dilemma about people and animals being harmed by a mystery chemical in their town’s water supply and rivers, he must make the decision to help the common people and possibly ruin his own career, or to keep on the trodden path and look the other way. This movie hit particularly hard, I think, because of what is still ongoing in Flint, Michigan and their struggles with the contaminated water there.

To begin, this movie certainly has a lot of famous actors, some of whom I had to look up where I knew them from because they were just tip-of-the-tongue familiar. Anne Hathaway played a significant role, as the wife of the main character. She didn’t have a ton of screen time, but when  there were scenes where she was a focus, she certainly shined. She played her very emotional role well, and was also a major badass, as we have seen her do before in previous movies. Mark Ruffalo also conveyed his emotional turmoil and increasing stress well, as the movie followed his character into an unending court case that is still going on today. I was also excited to see some smaller roles with actors I really like, including Bill Pullman, William Jackson Harper and Victor Garber.

One thing I thought was difficult to follow was a lot of the lawyer jargon and information that I did not know, not being someone who works in law or business. My parents (who both work in business) definitely had to answer some of my questions about what was going on. I don’t think that it pulled away too much from my understanding of the film overall, but it was certainly helpful to know a lot of the more professional terms and subject matter that were going on during the movie. I think that they brushed over a lot of these important topics, assuming that people watching the movie would know, when in fact this makes the film less accessible to a wider audience who may want to watch it and be able to follow along with all of the plot points.

At the end of the movie, before the credits, the film included information about the real case that is still being fought, and about the real people involved. Some of them even had cameos in the movie, which was really cool to see. It also made the case all the more real, and made me continue to think about a few of the more standout themes that were outlined in the movie. The fact that major companies are really not working for us, but for their own gain, and will do anything to keep their cash flowing is quite scary, and this movie certainly brought that to light in a very stark and obvious way. It also made me think about what harmful chemicals could be still allowed into our food and everyday household items, that we could be ingesting every day. This movie was certainly thought provoking, and I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of social advocacy and fighting for the people.