Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Director: George C. Wolfe

Studio: Netflix

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom brings down the honorous farewell to Chadwick Boseman!

People often say any film is boring, but some people have changed their thoughts on the last minute. For Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, it’s one of those films to watch for those who are feeling excited and frisky this year. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is directed by theater arts playwright George C. Wolfe and is written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, based on the inspirational play of the same name by August Wilson. Produced by Denzel Washington, Todd Black, and Dany Wolf, the film stars Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in their leading roles, with Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, and Michael Potts in their supporting roles.

Taking place in Chicago in 1927, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom focuses on the rising tensions in between Ma Rainey and her ambitious horn player Levee Green, under the white management determined to control the uncontrollable "Mother of the Blues,” a name adopted by Ma Riney herself.

Viola Davis (Fences) mainly stars as Ma Rainey, the legendary blues singer while Chadwick Boseman (Marvel’s Black Panther), in his final feature film, stares onscreen as Levee Green, a talented trumpeter. The trio Glynn Turman (Peyton Place), Colman Domingo (AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead), and Michael Potts (HBO’s The Wire) join in the film as pianist Toledo, trombone player Cutler, and the double bass player Slow Drag.

This film serves as Chadwick Boseman’s final feature film. He died suddenly on August 28th, 2020 due to an epic battle of colon cancer during the film’s production, leaving the fans, filmmakers, and celebrities devastated at this news. His acting credits include 42 and Marshall, before entering his breakout role in the MCU film Black Panther released in 2018, leading Boseman to become the first black actor to have a main, headlining role in a MCU film.

Wolfe, an experienced Broadway director, has utilized his theater-directing experiences to film every scene and shot centering on the music group, Davis’ character, and the chemistry between Davis and Boseman. Even when all the stress comes based on his steady story-creating job, the music insertion for the film, the gritty writing, and the focus shots of the camera angles facing towards actors as opposed to theater stages, Wolfe knows how to craft a film that becomes a musical production number as if anybody is going to see a play at the performing arts theater.

The performances coming from Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in their leading roles are very easy to follow. They both know how to portray a character based on the written play and know the pros and cons between acting in the film and the play. Davis provides a confident but similar technique on how drama films work in any direction rather than her own action films she ever starred in. Not just acting, but she serves as Boseman’s acting mentor on how to amp up the scene and the character development of his Levee Green character. Her onscreen chemistry with Boseman is really what makes the film easy to guide the viewers. Speaking of which, Davis also appeared in Fences (directed by Denzel Washington who serves as a producer for this film) for which she has won her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role.

Additionally, the costume design, the visuals, and the entire production design layouts are pretty ecstatic and genuine to give the film a proper boost for the characters, the 1920s decade feel, and the entire storyline to that affair. Though, my main focus is the costume design which can be a great profound contender for Best Costume Design Oscar nod.

However, my main downside for this film is that there’s a lot of bad language coming through those characters, which prevented me from seeing this too easily. It felt like the writers were trying to bridge on advancing themes of the racial violence and the 1920s setting before the Great Depression came to rise. The accuracy of the film based on the play and its setting just keeps getting weirder and wilder. But above all, the film and the actors’ performances provide some outstanding moments of history, the music, the class, and the culture which are very well recalled, well presented, and preserved.

Overall, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is an excellent movie that excels on the plot, the characters and the main points of the setting. Davis and Boseman really nailed it. I kinda say, this film is a must as the film serves as a “thumbs-up” for the film, mainly Boseman who makes this film enjoyable and pleasant to see. The cast and crew did a great job on the film, serving as a memorial tribute to Boseman. I have to say this, this film is top notch at being nominated in such glamorous Academy Award categories, particularly Boseman for that Best Actor role for 2020. This is absolutely one of the best films I ever watched in 2020, I’m putting this on my top ten of the year.

GRADE: A+

(Review by Henry Pham)

Soul

Director: Pete Docter

Studio: Disney

Pixar’s own Soul stone takes its storytelling level to its new height on life’s greatest mysteries!

Some say Soul can be mistaken for another Inside Out film upon seeing the trailer, but the studio offers another delightful flick this year that takes you and your family on a trip of a lifetime. Pixar director and Academy Award winner Pete Docter, who helmed Up and Inside Out and was appointed to Chief Creative Officer at Pixar following John Lasseter’s departure, returns to his fourth directorial outing, putting Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey on board as main leads of the film while supportive actors Questlove, Phylicia Rashad, Daveed Diggs, and Angela Bassett play along in the scenes. Newly director Kemp Powers also stands in as co-director for this anticipated animated film.

Soul follows the story of a middle school band teacher Joe Gardener, who has a deep passion for jazz, has a lifelong dream of performing in the jazz club with several respected musicians. However, he runs into an untimely accident that causes his soul to be separated from his body, heading towards what is called The Great Before, where all souls develop personalities and traits. With that, he must work with another soul in order to return to his body before it’s too late.

Actor, comedian, and singer Jamie Foxx (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ray) voices Joe Gardener, a middle school band instructor whose soul is separated from his body as a result of his untimely accident. Actress and comedian Tina Fey (30 Rock) voices 22, a soul with a dim view of life who she is assigned to Joe. Supportive actors also appeared in the film: Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show) as the mother of Joe, Questlove (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) as a drum player Curley, Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, The Black-ish) as Joe’s rival and nemesis, and Angela Bassett (Black Panther) as Dorthea, a much respected jazz musician and saxophone player.

Soul is the first Pixar film to feature a African American protagonist. The studio has increasingly, and arguably, engendered more cultural traditions and diversity after the productions of Coco and the short Bao. As a director, Docter have come to his past situations, dealing with life that signifies and embodies how any ordinary human life can be when it comes to growing up while Kemp Powers strongly focuses on the providing character developments of the main African American protagonist taking over onscreen based on stereotypes and representation of blacks and on his own life.

Doctor and Powers have really brought the Black representation of portraying Foxx’s character and other characters accurately to get a better understanding of how these humanistic explorations and contributions have endured in our culture and the ways of living in our world. These are the things that focus on what world we live in, the things we love, and what they are passionate about, borrowing the same elements from Inside Out, also directed by Docter. Their (Docter and Powers) experiences towards the film really adds a soft narrative structure to this powerful message about Black people and becomes the main part of the story’s dynamics to that affair.

The animation is really exquisite on every scene in the human world and the soul world that perfectly captures the enduring journey of how any person or life that engenders lots of happiness and compassion, giving the film’s main comparisons of the setting from Pixar’s Coco between this and the Land of the Dead and Inside Out, which focuses primarily on the five main emotions inside the girl’s mind. It’s really glowing to watch carefully as the animation from each soul could represent life and living on their well-beings as if one is watching the latter all over again. With the beautiful animation and the storytelling provided from Docter himself, Soul could potentially lead to become an Oscar contender for any categories, especially Best Animated Feature, with a very high hopes for that film to simply be nominated and winning it at the same time, but we’ll have to wait til the Academy is getting closer.

And let’s not forget the soft, beautiful, jazzy hardworking music from composers Trent Raznor and Atticus Ross with jazz music writer Jon Batiste, which stands perfectly on the film, the narratives, the characters, and the climaxes. Their music-writing compositions almost sounded like it’s good combination of Michael Giacchino and Randy Newman. Just to let the viewers know that this is Pete Docter’s first directorial film since Monsters, Inc. without having Giacchino on board.

As aforementioned, Soul is heavily one of the greatest films on my top ten list to watch. It clocks to at least a hundred minutes. Docter and his team of actors and film crew have done an outstanding job delivering messages, bringing the Black representation over to Hollywood, and learning better ways to get to know life, culture, and diversity at places and boundaries. This is absolutely one of Pete Docter’s finest hits. Though it’s very depressing and disappointing that this film has lost its gig on the big screen, I promise you that this flick will cheer your spirits up as you watch it and hope that 2021 gets better than ever that way we can go back to the movie theaters again. I must say, Soul is a must and is anybody’s soul food. You can watch this Disney+ or if you don’t have Disney+, better wait til the Blu-ray release is out.

One last thing, there’s a Pixar animated short called Burrow, which was originally scheduled for the theatrical release before the film, that you should watch before watching Soul like a traditional Pixar viewing pleasure in theaters.

GRADE: A+

(Review by Henry Pham)

Wonder Woman 1984

Director: Patty Jenkins

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures

Wonder Woman 1984 offers a fiery, fist of pain and glory!

After a few rounds of theatrical delays, Warner Bros. heavily made a hard decision to release this film in theaters and on HBO Max at the same date and time. Though this doesn’t mean that movie theaters will be gone forever, sometimes movies can be convenient and enjoyable at home for others who are afraid of going out during this pandemic. But fear not, let’s hope that 2021 gets better and brighter than ever. Patty Jenkins returns to helm the sequel while Gal Gadot reprises her role as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, the titular character in the film alongside Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, and Connie Nielsen in their supportive roles.

Wonder Woman 1984 takes place in 1984 just decades after World War I (the first film) and centers on Diana Prince, along with her former lover Steve Trevor, who is on a mission to battle against her newly found foes, Maxwell Lord and Barbara Minerva/Cheetah.

Gal Gadot returns to the onscreen sequel as Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) while the returning Chris Pine (Star Trek Into Darkness) appears as Steve Trevor. Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen also return to reprise their roles as Antiope and Hippolyta, the aunt and the mother to the titular superhero. Newcomers Kirsten Wiig (Despicable Me films, How to Train Your Dragon trilogy) and Pedro Pascal (Disney+ The Mandalorian) arrive in the scene as a small archaeologist-turned-villain Barbara Minerva, who dastardly revealed to be Cheetah, and the glamorous businessman Maxwell Lord respectively.

Patty Jenkins, having directed the first film, utilized her experiences to produce a sequel that gives a stronger, meatier characteristic role for Gadot to take on to her long journey after World War I. Jenkins even strolls down to memory lane by putting down the old 1980s vibes for that sake of the plot and the setting which bring the viewers to reminiscent of those times and memories that have been cherished in the 1980s where video games, television, and even movie stores became popular during those times, engendering the sparkling bright lights to people’s minds and eyes as they grew up. 1980s also sets in the Cold War, which is very interesting to see.

And what a wonderful way to give nice, subtle bonus points for the film is the cameo appearance of Lynda Carter, the actress who portrayed Wonder Woman in the 1970s television series, which gives the film a breezy, catchy surprise for that old-school 80s setting.

The narrative of the film is a lot bigger than is shown in the trailer. They are bruises and pieces that need to be put together to create one huge, prestigious, narrative flick. Though, the main disappointment is the lack of magic and faith for the film’s main narrative structures as well as giving Gadot's character a [somewhat] weaker characterized tone. Aside from that, parts of the plot seem very fitting to guide the viewers but there’s a lot of nonsense coming from the steady focus on Gadot and Pine’s chemistry as well as the battling chemistry between hers and Maxwell Lord character compared to the first film when she encountered Sir Patrick Morgan/Ares (portrayed by David Thewlis), revealing his true colors.

While it certainly didn't live up to the ridiculous hype, Wonder Woman 1984 is still a grand spectacle that satisfied my cravings for a cinematic experience. I would say it’s an okay movie that lies between “magnificent” and “disappointment.” I admire and respect the visuals, the music composition coming from Hans Zimmer himself, and the exhilarating experience the director and Gadot have offered this year, but the lack of emotional touches and bits of weakened plotlines left me untouched. And that is all I’m going to say about it, and since the film is going to be released in theaters and on HBO Max altogether, I can’t give any more details until you see it.

Just to let the viewers know that the film is about 2.5 hours long so you might want to pick a good time and date to view it.

GRADE: C+

(Review by Henry Pham)

Wolfwalkers

Director: Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart

Studio: Apple TV+

Wolfwalkers is a tale that keeps on giving

Any animation studio can pull up a good stunt on storytelling like Pixar or Sony Pictures Animation, with the latter that produced Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse which won Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2018. Under the big animation flicks and tricks Disney have produced throughout the years, it's hard to remember if there are any other studios making animated films just as great or even better for kids and adults to indulge. For this one, it’s from the television-streaming division from Apple. The film is directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart and features the voice cast of Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Simon McBurney, and Sean Bean.

Wolfwalkers tells a story about a young girl named Robyn, living in Ireland in 1650, who wants to become a hunter like her father Bill Goodfellowe whose main job is to clear the wolf pack in the village to prevent the wolves from endangering the village and its people. However, her desire has turned to fear when she meets a free-spirited girl from the wolf tribe who can transform into a wolf in a magical shapeshift called a “wolfwalker.”

Famed The Lord of the Rings alumnus Sean Bean voices Hunter Bill Goodfellowe in the film while Honor Kneafsey plays into the picture as Bill’s daughter Robyn. Actress Eva Whittaker voices Mebh, a free-spirited girl Robyn meets who can magically transform into a wolf under of what the powerful spell is called a “wolfwalker.” while Maria Doyle Kennedy voices Mebh’s mother who not only leads the wolf pack but is also a wolfwalker as well.

The direction being taken from Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart explores deep into the wilds of those characters that have been given a time setting in the 1650s which lies in the Early Modern period era. The director and producers put every inch of the story that builds some accuracies compared to the war periods and the war films as a whole (like Grave of the Fireflies for example). Building up the blocks on the strong storytelling idea, the directors’ story and the characters are absolutely fascinating and touching. It brings the cultural themes of friendship, loyalty, trust, and family that will truly resonate with people of all ages. Even the music from Bruno Coulais and Kíla that brings the glory and emotion to add to that effect.

The entire hand-drawn animation coming from Cartoon Saloon, which also serves as the co-producer for this film, is some of the most beautiful courses anybody has seen. Every frame or scene in the film has several of these intricate, meticulous details that make their films a unique visual delight to behold and to grasp on their hands. This film also contains numerous cinematic shots and sequences that push the boundaries of what can be done in the medium when it comes to films, both live-action and animation.

Overall, Wolfwalkers is an excellent film, on par with their other brilliant feature length animated films The Breadwinner, Song of the Sea, or any other non Disney-Pixar films you named. Maybe Grave of the Fireflies if you're a strong, wary animation buff. The cast and the crew of animators did an amazing job to tackle every scene with glee and emotion. It clocks about 102 minutes. This film can easily become the Oscar and Golden Globe contender for that attitude. I would strongly recommend anyone give this film a watch. It’s like Isle of Dogs but with wolves being used instead of dogs.

GRADE: A

(Review by Henry Pham)

I'm Your Woman

I’m Your Woman

** (out of ****)



Co-screenwriters Julia Hart (who also directed) and Jordan Horowitz are faced with a unique challenge in I’m Your Woman. The plot follows a woman who goes on the run, along with her child and an acquaintance, to escape the sins committed by her corrupt criminal of a husband. Curiously, there are two halves of a story being told here, but only one of those halves is being told onscreen.

Nearly everything with the husband is offscreen, with the exception of glimpses of the aftermath of what followed in his wave of destruction and deception. There is, then, a fascinating genre experiment being performed here, too. Hart and Horowitz have stripped this crime thriller of what we expect to see and shifted focus upon the villain’s hapless and clueless wife.

One day, Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) and Eddie (Bill Heck) are on the back end of having spent several years trying to become parents (either naturally or through adoption), and the next, Eddie has come home with a baby in tow. He offers no answers regarding whose child it is, but Jean doesn’t ask.

Soon, Eddie, who was involved in a major criminal organization, has disappeared after betraying and killing the organization’s boss, prompting Cal (Arinzé Kene), an associate of Eddie’s, to activate a plan to hide Jean and her child. The plan takes her to a safe house, where a nosy neighbor mucks things up, and ultimately to Cal’s family home, where his wife Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and father Art (Frankie Faison) reveal surprising connections to Eddie.

This is, until an inevitably violent climax in which all the conflicts come to an explosive head, the extent of the plot and of our understanding what drives that plot in the background. Jean isn’t a static character, thankfully, but her journey here is entirely predictable, moving from helpless, passive observer to headstrong, active participant with as much inevitability as the arrival of that violent climax.

Brosnahan’s performance essentially carries the whole of the film on its back, and it’s initially surprising how calm, how reserved, and how deeply considered it is in the actress’s every choice. In every way possible, Brosnahan is the movie, and it’s quite an effective and complex portrayal of fear, betrayal, and loss of innocence.

In other, crucial ways, though, the film does not hold up. The experiment, while intriguing, is merely one of genre and expectation. We expect to be led to the inevitable violence of the climax by way of a byzantine plot, complicated and complex characters, and double-crosses and revelations of a different sort. What we receive is quite different, more character-driven, more ambitious, and ultimately less satisfying as an experiment: Hart and Horowitz seem more focused on the fact of their subversion of expectations than with thinking of ways to take advantage of that promise.

I’m Your Woman still moves forward in the ways we expect, with predictable twists and a broad protagonist. It just shifts the perspective by 90 degrees.

Review by Joel Copling

Dear Santa

Director: Dana Nachman

Studio: IFC Films

Dear Santa spreads holiday cheer to both children and families.

Everybody knows the song, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” because children and families become more and more desperate to find out about Santa's existence. But to make this simple and clear, there are always city communities who are always helpful to fulfill the children and families’ wishes on having a wonderful Christmas. Dear Santa is a documentary feature film that tells a tale about the U.S. Postal Service serving as the primary focus in the film, setting up a goal to fulfill for children’s Christmas wishes.

Dear Santa explains focusly on the light on the 100-year-old ‘Operation Santa’ Program of the United States Postal Service. Every year, thousands of letters to Santa arrive at Post Offices around the country. Through Operation Santa, the United States Postal Service makes it possible for the public to safely adopt these letters and make children’s dreams come true. Traveling the country, much like Santa does on Christmas Eve, this documentary film focuses on the selected ‘Operation Santa’ Centers in metropolitan areas, including New York City, and others in small and big towns where the Post Office becomes the heart of the community.

Nachman, who is an experienced documentary filmmaker, gathers large usages of footage being taken and given from children as well as interviewing them and families about their Christmas history, past and present. Nachman not only films the entire film scene by scene from other cities, and documents the children’s scenes, but also captures the messages on how children would respond to these situations to determine whether Santa is real or not. Nachman knows how to record and interview each family about their Christmas histories with children, but on the inside, she knows how to handle these small situations and the horrible crisis up in her sleeve. Even when she makes lots of impossible moves the director and the postal workers in the film have done as means to say, “nothing is impossible.”

The scenes, the editing, and the plot focusing on the children add a touching empathy feel as children serve as the principal meaning on how the holidays are celebrated. Nachman guides the children and teachers on what they like to have that can make their dreams come true. Not just to make children's lives easier to understand the existence of Santa and the importance of the holidays, but she also gives the same moral lessons to adults in general. She basically tells the audiences and families how to give their children and themselves the best Christmas gift they ever receive without ruining their hopes and dreams as well as bringing some cheer for children and adults for the holidays and during the COVID pandemic as well.

Dear Santa is a good documentary movie. I really enjoyed reading and watching the moral lessons and messages the director and the film gave to teach people how to make a difference in different parts of the world. This film is a good choice for children and families just to bring some holiday cheer during Christmastime and the ongoing pandemic. It's a whole new American film that embodies the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new “holiday” frontier. Just to let the viewers know that this film clocks in about nearly eighty-four minutes.

GRADE: B

(Review by Henry Pham)

I'm Your Woman

Director: Julia Hart

Studio: Amazon Studios

Review: I’m Your Woman.

Crime and drama films being put together sounds extremely intense and completely new for my viewing experiences, especially when it comes to seeing a film at the movie theater or at home. Director Julia Hart comes in as the director of the film, featuring The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan in her leading, meatier role and Arinzé Kene.

The film takes place in the 1970s where crime and drama have existed in people’s eyes and minds. Here, a woman named Jean who is forced to go on the run after her husband Eddie betrays his partners, sending her and her baby on a perilous journey.

Rachel Brosnahan portrays a lady named Jean who is a mother of her baby and a wife to Eddie. Brosnahan knows how to act out as a strong mom on every step and direction as the director Hart would want. Brosnahan, under Hart’s guidance, really provided some dramatic performances that nearly landed on her Oscar-contender section as she knows how to deal with these situations in real life to reflect on other people. British actor Arinzé Kene also steps on Brosnahan’s side as Cal who helps Jean on her journey.

Hart, after the directing chores from Miss Stevens, Fast Color, and Disney+’s Stargirl, uses her talent and experience to film this cynical feature film that explores the concerns about the woman and her baby in her breath-taking, near-fatal experience that opens the mind-blowing imagination to both the cast and the crew’s journey through the streets outside of their homes. Hart uses several camera angles, focusing on Brosnahan’s character and her slowly-pacing scenes, giving some proper “suspense” effect on her character and the baby scenes as well. Hart even created some crafty scary, suspenseful images on the film entirely and towards Brosnahan’s scenes, taking higher advantages of a R-Rated crime-thriller film.

What can be enjoyable is the chemistry between Kene and Brosnahan compared to the film Far From Heaven starring Julianne Moore and Dennis Haybert, with Dennis Quaid as a supportive husband to Moore’s character. Kene and Brosnahan can maybe be a great couple together, but in the end, it sounds like they just enjoyed working with each other and having the time of their lives.

Though, the downsides of the film are mainly the slow pacing on the writing and editing coming from Julia Hart and her husband Jordan Horowitz, the scarred focus on the Brosnahan’s character and the baby, giving her a powerful feel of being damsel-in-distress nature, having the husband character getting a small screen time, and the baby in the a thriller, which seems a bit dangerous to have, even on the set.

Also appearing are Marsha Stephanie Blake as Teri, Cal’s wife who is revealed to be Eddie’s first wife, Frankie Faison as Art, Marceline Hugot as Evelyn, James McMenamin as Mike, and Bill Heck as Jean’s husband Eddie.

Despite the downfalls, I’m Your Woman is an okay movie. It clocks in two hours to see how their experiences would judge beneath their skills. Rachel Brosnahan really nailed it out of the ambulance, but I feel like the cast and the crew overdone just to make this film as good as anyone’s, trying to reach its Oscar-worthy level to that account.

GRADE: C+

(Review by Henry Pham)

Enola Holmes

Any movie that can make me smile when just thinking about it receives high marks in my book.

Such is the case with the Netflix produced “Enola Holmes,” which traces the Sherlock Holmes family lineage to a younger sister, Enola (Millie Bobby Brown), (“Stranger Things,” , “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” (2019)) who has a penchant for solving mysteries and the like.

Throw in Helena Bonham Carter (“A Room With a View” and “The King’s Speech”) who disappears one day out of the blue thus making mysteries afoot.

“Enola Holmes” occurs in the middle part of the nineteenth century, so their are no references to modern technology to get kids involved with. I hate to make another “Scooby Doo” reference because that is not what occurs here.

So readers know, Enola’s name is a palindrome, one where the letters can be mushed up and spell alone, hence part of the gimmick of the title.

That is also another plus to this story, since the family has a lot of letters in their home. Think of a bunch of Scrabble pieces that are strewn about in the living room to their residence.

There is also a lot of fourth wall breaking, since Enola talks directly to the viewer about her situation and predicaments. She even mentions that she doesn’t know how to embroiderer, something most teen girls were taught when they were younger.

Early on in the story, she even goes to meet brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill, “Man of Steel”) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Me Before You”) at the train station to rendezvous for the latest aforementioned predicament. Enola does not wear gloves or a hat because the hat makes her head itch.

Directing “Enola Holmes” is Harry Bradbeer, who recently won a plethora of Emmy awards for his work on “Fleabag” a British TV show that also does a lot of fourth wall breaking as well. Co-creator and lead Phoebe Waller-Bridge has a wit and sense that make her character very watchable I this tale, kind of like what Bobby Brown does here.

Part of what occurs in the plot is a lot of nonsense in that they want to make Enola something she is not. Both Sherlock and Mynecroft think they will do better for her if she follows the straight and narrow both by trying to get her to assimilate in modern society.

Sardonic tone and stride are present throughout her characters’ viewing of the world. Life should be a place to just enjoy oneself regardless of the events that occur.

I am not sure how this thing is doing ratings wise on Netflix, but I would like to see farther incarnations of this tale since it is a universe all unto itself.

Grade: A
Review by Ricky Miller