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It’s a universal truth that anyone who has been an adolescent girl (or has had an adolescent daughter) knows: Adolescent girls are absolutely ruthless. Think “Lord of the Flies” was a terrifying look at what adolescent boys can do? A version of that story with young girls would have been twice as cut-throat. Trust me. […]
I know that subtitles are divisive. Sure, a lot of people automatically subtitle everything they watch on TV now, but when it’s a foreign language series or film that requires English speakers to rely on those same subtitles to understand the dialogue, for some reason, people can get a bit put off by it. And […]
Spy x Family is an action spy comedy based on Tatsuya Endo’s manga. It is directed and written by Takahiro Harada. The first season aired in two cours/parts from April to December 2022. Kazuhiro Furuhashi directed and wrote that season. Wit Studio and CloverWorks produce this series. The latter studio is known for Akebi’s Sailor […]
Over the past decade, the entertainment industry has seen drastic changes. There has been the rise of streaming services, a focus on big-budget films based on recognisable intellectual property, and an increase in digital media sales at the cost of physical media. In 2023, the Hollywood business model suffered from the detrimental effects of short-term […]
In the last five years of so, there’s been a resurgence of the murder mystery as a viable story both on the big and small screen. From Kenneth Branagh’s insistence on portraying Hercule Poirot in a series of Agatha Christie adaptations, to Rian Johnson’s excellent Knives Out series, to Only Murders in the Building becoming […]
In my last post, I chose ten (Western) animated series which I felt were the best of 2023. However, of the over 40 reviews I wrote in the past year, 14 of them were anime. Originally I was planning to make this a top 10 list, but I decided that was too limiting, and added […]
It’s that time of year again. The temperature is dropping, the days are growing shorter, and 2023 is drawing to a close. Which can only mean one thing: It’s time for Pop Culture Maniacs’ annual TV Top Ten list! This year in television was a tumultuous one, as it was for all of Hollywood, with […]
Culprits, a new British thriller, isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s a show that knows the story it is telling isn’t particularly novel – we’ve all seen stories like this one before – but it’s determined to provide us with exceptional performances, great direction, strong fight choreography, and compelling characters in order to take […]
Futurama is a mature animated sitcom with elements from the sci-fi and comedy drama genres. The original series aired from 1999 to 2003, then 2008 to 2013. Matt Groening, the mind behind The Simpsons and Disenchantment, created this series. He developed it with David X. Cohen. Both were executive producers along with Ken Keeler and […]
The Other Black Girl, the new Hulu series that is based on the Zakiya Dalila Harris novel of the same name, would best be described as a Jordan Peele-horror story meets Single White Female. At least that’s my main takeaway after watching the ten-episode season (the season ends with enough additional story to support a […]