Black Girl Nerds • 5th August 2022

Review: Neil Gaiman Brings the Cosmic World of Dreams and Nightmares to Life in Netflix’s ‘The Sandman’

After over thirty years since its publication and several attempts at film adaptations, the highly-anticipated Netflix series The Sandman finally graces our screens. Based on the DC comic series of the same name by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth, and Mike Dringenberg, the first season adapts “Preludes and Nocturnes” and “The Doll’s House.” The novelistic television series, developed by Gaiman, David S. Goyer (Foundation), Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman), stays true to the comics while expanding, altering

Black Girl Nerds • 1st August 2022

Review: Rebecca Hall Captivates in ‘Resurrection,’ a Psychological Thriller Exploring the Horrors of Trauma

After its premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, IFC Films acquired one of the freshest psychological thrillers of the year. Andrew Semans’ sophomore feature, Resurrection, explores the fear of parenthood, the loss of control, and debilitating trauma. The writer-director (also known for Nancy, Please) delivers a disturbing, thought-provoking film that keeps you guessing and never lets you get comfortable. Margaret (Rebecca Hall) seems to have a content, if a bit boring, life as a successf

Black Girl Nerds • 29th July 2022

Review: Prime Video's Female-Led Sci-Fi Series ‘Paper Girls’ Is a Gorgeous, Nuanced, Time-Bending Adventure

Based on the best-selling comic book of the same name written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, Prime Video’s latest sci-fi series Paper Girls follows, you guessed it, paper girls who start their day delivering newspapers and end up in a completely different time period. The series, led by showrunner Christopher C. Rogers (Halt and Catch Fire), is set in the 1980s, so naturally, it’s already been compared to Stranger Things, but within the first few minutes, you’ll realize th

Black Girl Nerds • 28th July 2022

Review: ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin’ Pays Homage to the Slasher Genre from a Female Perspective

Five years after Pretty Little Liars ended, HBO Max brings us a new set of Liars in a different but equally shady town with dark secrets. Co-creators Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Lindsay Calhoon Bring (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) developed Original Sin intending to lean more into the horror genre, and they definitely succeeded. When the first episode ended with Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl,” I knew this series was heading in a direction I could get

Black Girl Nerds • 22nd July 2022

Thrilling Mysteries to Watch If You Love ‘Pretty Little Liars’

It’s been five years since Pretty Little Liars ended, but the series lives on with a strong fanbase. This month, we’ll get the new HBO Max Original Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, but what do PLL fans watch until then? Since 2019, all seven seasons have been available to binge on HBO Max. As much as we love returning to Rosewood, sometimes it’s worth venturing out. Teen dramas like Riverdale, Gossip Girl, and Revenge are all full of shocking betrayals and dark secrets. But if you’re looking

Black Girl Nerds • 21st July 2022

Review: ‘Harley Quinn’ Comes in Swingin’ with a Wild, Sexy, Cool Season 3

Harley Quinn is finally back with its third season and has a new home on HBO Max. The first two seasons of the hit Max Original aired on the now defunct DC Universe platform, premiering in November 2019, with the Season 2 finale in June 2020. Two years is quite a long gap between seasons but the show’s creative team, led by co-showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker (Abbott Elementary), made sure it was worth the wait. Season 3 picks up where we left off with Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco

Black Girl Nerds • 7th July 2022

World Chocolate Day: Revisiting the Sweet Chaos of 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'

Load up on Wonka Bars because it’s World Chocolate Day! What better way to celebrate than to revisit 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory? Based on the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, the story follows young Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), who comes from a poor family and spends his days delivering papers, going to school, and dreaming of a better life. When it’s announced that the titular chocolatier hid five golden tickets in his Wonka Bars, it becomes an abs

Black Girl Nerds • 5th July 2022

Review: Apple TV+'s 'Black Bird' Is Your Next True Crime Obsession

If you’re still trying to fill the Mindhunter-sized hole left after its cancellation, look no further than Apple TV+’s latest original Black Bird. Created and executive produced by best-selling author Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island), the six-episode limited series joins the slew of true crime dramas dominating the television landscape. Inspired by the book In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption by James Keene and Hillel Levin, the

Black Girl Nerds • 22nd June 2022

Review: Our Favorite Cross-Generational True Crime Trio Are Back and in Trouble in Hulu’s ‘Only Murders in the Building’

Less than a year after its cliffhanger of a season finale, Hulu’s cozy murder mystery comedy returns for its second season, much to fans’ delight. Only Murders in the Building is a show that maintains an intriguing mystery while exploring things like grappling with one’s past in order to make a better present and future, feelings of isolation, and our collective fascination with true crime. And it also manages to be genuinely hilarious. In Season 1, we’re introduced to Charles-Haden Savage (Ste

Black Girl Nerds • 14th June 2022

Review: Netflix’s ‘Spiderhead’ Is Tonally All Over the Place

The latest psychological thriller from Netflix comes from Joseph Kosinski, director of the highly praised Top Gun: Maverick, and Deadpool writing duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. It is based on the 2010 short story “Escape from Spiderhead” by award-winning author George Saunders, first published in The New Yorker and then later in his collection Tenth of December. Spiderhead has all the ingredients for an intriguing satire — the dangers of technology, unethical practices for the greater good, r

Black Girl Nerds • 7th June 2022

Review: ‘Evil’ Is Back with Demons and Doomscrolling

Warning: Spoilers for seasons 1 and 2 of Evil. Writer-producer duo Robert and Michelle King (The Good Wife, The Good Fight) are back with the third season of their horror crime drama Evil. Its new home at Paramount Plus gives the series the freedom it needs to get even weirder and more daring. Robert told Entertainment Weekly, “The show works best for us when it plays the game of the supernatural, but it also shows how the supernatural can be a psychological condition.” Evil creatively touches

Black Girl Nerds • 2nd June 2022

Cult Classics: Revisiting the Underrated '90s Gem ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie’

In the early 1990s, the world was introduced to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a group of super athletic “teenagers with attitude.” The TV series premiered in 1993, becoming an overnight success, and skyrocketing the young cast to fame. Two years later, director Bryan Spicer (Magnum P.I.), along with writers Arne Olsen (Distorted) and John Kamps (Premium Rush), brought the Rangers to the big screen. The movie begins with the Rangers — Rocky, the Red Ranger (Steve Cardenas), Adam, the Black R

Black Girl Nerds • 18th May 2022

Review: Peacock’s Cosmic Fairytale ‘Angelyne’ Explores Fame, Fantasy, Female Empowerment & So Much More

A divine creature from outer space, an ’80s billboard diva, a glow-in-the-dark queen of the universe — there are endless ways to describe L.A. legend, Angelyne. Peacock’s five-episode series, Angelyne, is loosely based on a 2017 investigative expose by Gary Baum for The Hollywood Reporter, “The Mystery of L.A. Billboard Diva Angelyne’s Real Identity Is Finally Solved.” However, this is anything but a straightforward biopic because Angelyne isn’t a straightforward being. From showrunner Allison M

Black Girl Nerds • 11th May 2022

Review: Apple Original 'Now & Then', a Captivating Crime Thriller Led by an Outstanding Ensemble Cast

Apple’s latest original Now & Then is an intriguing whodunit with multi-layered characters facing life-changing consequences. The bilingual series comes from showrunners Ramón Campos and Gema R. Neira, the duo behind the series High Seas and Cable Girls, and follows the lives of former friends and current disillusioned adults as they grapple when a past secret catches up with the present. One fateful night in Miami, six best friends party on the beach to celebrate their status as recent college

Black Girl Nerds • 4th May 2022

Review: Hulu’s ‘Candy’ Takes on the True Story of a Small-Town Housewife Turned Ax Murderer

How does one go from Christian housewife to vicious ax murderer? Hulu’s latest five-part limited series Candy explores that very question. Showrunner/co-creator Robin Veith (The Expanse, The Act), and co-creator/writer Nick Antosca (Brand New Cherry Flavor, The Act) tell the true story of Candace “Candy” Montgomery, a woman who was accused of murdering her friend and neighbor Betty Gore in 1980. The murder weapon — an ax, of all things. It’s a fascinating crime with an unexpected victim and a su

Black Girl Nerds • 3rd May 2022

Cult Classics: Revisiting the Weird, Wild, and Whimsical World of FX’s ‘Legion’

Before Wanda Maximoff created her own alternate reality sitcom-style town of Westview, before Moon Knight’s Steven Grant discovered that he has another personality, Noah Hawley (Fargo) brought us Legion, X-Men’s story of a powerful telepathic antihero who doesn’t know he’s an Omega-level psychic mutant. The 2017 FX series laid the groundwork for all the surreal superhero stories to come, sending audiences on a psychedelic trip exploring the human (and mutant) mind. David Haller (Dan Stevens), i

Black Girl Nerds • 12th April 2022

Review: Iconic Series ‘Killing Eve’ Meets an Unsatisfying, Nonsensical End

Warning: MAJOR spoilers for all four seasons of Killing Eve. For four years we’ve followed Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) all over Europe as they develop a mutual obsession that evolves into a rather toxic relationship. We’ve seen them nearly kill each other, have intense, sexually charged moments, and share a brief post-brawl kiss on a bus. These beloved characters hold a lot of meaning to many viewers. While finales will never please everyone, this ending to a cult favo

Black Girl Nerds • 12th April 2022

Review: Roku Channel's Original Series ‘Swimming with Sharks’ Is a Dark Tale of Power and Obsession in Tinseltown

This month, The Roku Channel expands its impressive library of original programming with its new series, Swimming with Sharks, a dark psychological thriller loosely adapted from the 1994 film of the same name. Writer and first-time showrunner Kathleen Robertson, who also acts in the series, gives us a voyeuristic view into the sinister side of Hollywood. The series explores the allure of Tinseltown, the complexities of mental illness, and the infectious nature of power. Lou Simms (Kiernan Shipk

Black Girl Nerds • 11th April 2022

Review: The Struggles Are (Sur)Real in AppleTV+’s ‘Roar’

AppleTV+ has been on a roll lately with quality television, and this month, they continue that streak with Roar, an eight-episode anthology series based on the 2018 short story collection of the same name by Cecelia Ahern. Following eight very different women and their stories, GLOW creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch dig into societal expectations, beauty standards, modern dating, and more. As we’ve seen, female perspectives in genres like horror delve into issues very specific to the terrif

Black Girl Nerds • 4th April 2022

Review: HBO Max’s Thrilling Newspaper Noir ‘Tokyo Vice’ Explores the Dark Side of ’90s Tokyo

In his 2009 memoir Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, investigative journalist Jake Adelstein details his time as a crime reporter for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat. The Missouri native set out to explore Tokyo beneath the surface — the seedy underbelly of organized crime and its ties to prominent figures in power — and that’s exactly what he got. Playwright (and Adelstein’s childhood friend) J.T. Rogers brings his story to life in a Japanese and English-language