that one girl who reviews

What happens when the first son of the United States falls in love with a British prince? A poorly paced movie adaptation. 

Amazon’s Red, White and Royal Blue fails to capture what made Casey McQuiston’s book captivating in the first place. The movie, which released on August 11, sacrifices depth and substance for the usual rom-com antics that are entirely overplayed and essentially useless for a story as riveting as McQuiston’s. 

Alex Claremont-Diaz, played by Taylor Zakhar Perez, and Prince Henry, played by Nicholas Galitzine, strike up a romantic relationship and partake in clandestine meetings after they are forced by their teams to have a PR friendship in order to damage control for an incident they caused at Prince Philip’s wedding. 

Unexpected and exciting, the two’s positions of power in their respective countries make it virtually impossible for them to love one another freely without scrutiny. Perez and Galitzine’s chemistry speaks for itself on the screen, bringing their characters to life in a way that represents the hardships that come with identity. 

However, while their relationship is as every bit exciting and emotionally charged as it is in the book, the characters lack any sort of depth. 

In the movie, Alex’s mental health issues and LGBTQIA+ journey is completely erased in favor of his love for Henry. While this change may seem insignificant, it takes away from the struggles his character actually faced throughout the book and makes him seem very two-dimensional. 

Henry’s story is kept, but poorly explained. While the audience is aware of his father’s death, it’s unclear how deeply this affects him and his ability to be open and vulnerable with Alex. 

Perhaps Matthew Lopez and Ted Malawer thought that any aspect of the film that didn’t entirely revolve around Henry and Alex’s relationship would be received poorly by the audience. Unfortunately, the lack thereof hurts the film’s ability to provide characters that are more than just their significant other. 

While some of the changes from book to screen are to the film’s detriment, Alex’s political journey and involvement in Texas’s polling is a change that positively affected his character. It allowed the audience to see his compassion for his home state and his belief that if you have a platform, you should use it for change. 

Another highlight of the film was Zahra, played by Sarah Shahi, who completely stole every scene she was in. Shahi perfectly embodies the character’s witty aggressiveness and comedically navigates the insanity of working with a First Family as dysfunctional as the Claremont-Diazs.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Uma Thurman, who plays President Ellen Claremont. Her acting was stale and the Southern accent she attempted only made her scenes hard to watch. 
As a whole, the film provides a cute love story with a Romeo and Juliet forbidden type of romance, but it fails to actually make the viewers understand the characters on a level deeper than appearances and romantic love. If I wanted a surface-level feel good rom-com, I would’ve just watched an Adam Sandler movie.

Disney’s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series premiered it’s final season on August 9 with eight 30-minute episodes that gave a heartfelt goodbye to the cast and East High.

While the show has gone through some drastic changes such as losing its leading lady, Olivia Rodrigo, in season three, the actors have stepped up to the plate, making the show better than before.

The season follows the high schoolers as they return to school for junior and senior year, with the drama department preparing to put on “High School Musical 3” as the fall play. However, their plan is quickly derailed when it’s also revealed that Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Lucas Gabreel and Kaycee Stroh, the original cast of High School Musical, would be returning to film High School Musical 4: The Reunion at East High.

Tim Federle immensely improved the writing, allowing the show to be an accurate interpretation of high schoolers going through what they think is the biggest, most important moments of their lives.

A standout this season was Sofia Wylie who plays Gina Porter, giving a gut-wrenching performance of a girl who knows all too well what it’s like to constantly have to say goodbye to the ones she loves. Julia Lester, who plays Ashlyn Caswell, perfected the high school awkwardness of first crushes and coming out, absolutely nailing the unique Gen-Z humor and comedic timing.

Unfortunately, the same praises cannot be said for the male cast members whose performances fell flat in comparison to their female costars. While Joshua Bassett shined in his songs, I cannot say he did the same in his scenes.

The music was also improved this season with “Maybe This Time” by Wylie and Bassett truly shining in the first episode. Their undeniable chemistry and dynamic partnering almost makes up for the stale acting done by Bassett.

Compared to the previous seasons, season four is bold and really pushes the boundary for what is or isn’t allowed on Disney shows. With swearing and subtle sex jokes, the show keeps its childlike innocence while also inviting the maturing nature of teenagers in the wild.

While seasons one through three hinged primarily on the drama surrounding the Bassett-Rodrigo alleged relationship, season four stands on its own and succeeds at being uniquely true to the HSM franchise.

However, it is a bit disheartening that it took the show until its final season to finally find its voice and produce a piece of television actually worth watching.

Perhaps the main issue is the show’s refusal to allow characters to just be single for a change.

Every season relied on a relationship to keep the plot running. Shows should not rely on their romantic prospects but rather the actual inner-workings of their characters, which is why season four worked so well.

Although Gina and Ricky were the main couple of the season, we were able to delve into the individual struggles each character was facing as a high school senior and rising movie star. Federle expertly navigated the topics while keeping the characters grounded in their very normal lives as high school students.

While I know the kids are the main focus of the show, it was unfortunate that the original HSM cast members didn’t get more of a chance to shine. The most acting we see from the cast is through Coleman’s heart to heart with Dara Reneé’s “Kourtney” as she struggles to choose what college she wants to attend. Other than that, the actors who were claimed to be taking over a large part of East High for filming were virtually non-existent.

Maybe it’s nostalgia or perhaps it’s the need for some acting with substance, but the season could have benefitted from some additional scenes with the more seasoned actors who made the franchise what it is today.

While it’s sad to see the show come to an end just as it was starting to get good, Federle leaves his characters with the most appropriate endings and perhaps, leaves room in the future if it ever decides to comeback for one more ride.

Taylor Swift, after having a momentous run on her U.S. leg of “The Eras Tour,” announced her second album of the year and 14th album overall, “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” at her final stop in Los Angeles at SoFi Stadium. 

The announcement comes just a month after Swift dropped her re-recorded version of “Speak Now.”

The highly anticipated re-recording of the infamous “1989” which was released in 2014, has an additional five songs “From the Vault” that Swift describes as “insane” and will be released exactly nine years after the original on October 27.

After revealing in 2020 that her contract allows her to legally re-record her first six albums, Swift released “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” in April 2021, “Red (Taylor’s Version)” in November 2021 and “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” in July 2023. She is now officially halfway through her re-recordings with only “Taylor Swift (Taylor’s Version)” and “reputation (Taylor’s Version)” yet to be announced. 

While the goal for Swift was to own her masters, she has achieved something much bigger with her re-recording process by paving the way for younger artists through owning and redefining her artistry. 

Spending the first half of her career at Big Machine Records, Swift parted ways with the label in November 2018, striking a new deal with Republic Records who she has been with since. 

Swift’s masters had been sold to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019 and then sold again in October 2020 to Shamrock Capital, with Braun originally planning to sell back to Swift, only to have the deal fall through after allegedly expecting Swift to sign “an ironclad NDA” that Swift said would require her to “​​never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before [they] could even look at the financial records of BMLG.”

Swift’s re-recordings essentially decrease the value of her masters through streaming and consumption. With her ever-growing fanbase and her wildly successful tour, “Taylor’s Versions” have begun to outstream the original versions.

The original songs also may not be used in advertisements or visual media without permission from Swift herself, therefore allowing her to grant usage of her new versions to anyone interested in using her work in theirs. 

Swift has already released two songs from “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” using this technique, the first being “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)” in September 2021 for a viral TikTok trend and “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” in May 2022 for Amazon series “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” which also debuted a snippet of “Delicate (Taylor’s Version)” from her yet-to-be-announced re-recording of her sixth studio album, “reputation.” 

While fans eagerly await “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Swift will embark on her international leg of “The Eras Tour,” starting with Mexico City on August 24.

With captivating performances by the entire waitstaff, it’s hard not to have a good time at Ellen’s Stardust Diner. But, it’s even harder to enjoy the food. 

There were plenty of options to choose from and they even offered “all-day breakfast” which is a plus for dining anywhere. I got the “penne alfredo” which was $22 with the added bonus of chicken for a truly terrifying extra $10.

The pasta was fine but the sauce left much to be desired. While I don’t mind a bit of cheese, it felt like my food was practically encased in a giant parmesan tomb along with the added touch of breadcrumbs along the top which did nothing but worsen the taste. 

The added chicken definitely tasted like chicken but it was cold and, unfortunately, not worth the ten bucks.

I also had the pleasure of enjoying ice cream for dessert, but honestly, if you mess up ice cream I feel like that’s grounds for closure of your restaurant. 

I truly wish I had spent the $32 for my meal on tipping the performers because they were truly phenomenal. From showtunes to pop hits, they covered all the bases and made sure none of the customers felt left out of the magic of theater. 

One of the highlights of their performances was when the entire staff performed “Be Our Guest,” quite the appropriate tune for fine dining. Running around with utensils and a French flag while singing an iconic Disney song is definitely a must-see. 

Perhaps Ellen’s Stardust Diner would benefit from allowing customers to pay to get in without having to actually dine. I could have sat there all day watching the waitstaff perform. But, alas, the food was not good enough to keep me captivated by their performers. 

If you’re looking for something to do in the city, I would suggest going here. Maybe eat a meal beforehand and get an appetizer, but definitely show up for the wonderful performers who deserve an audience to share their talents with.

Coming to an explosive close on Monday night, the second season of Freeform’s Cruel Summer brought forth an intriguing mystery with an even more intriguing answer but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the painstakingly torturous season the audience had to sit through to get there. 

In the classic “whodunit” style, showrunner Elle Triedman had her sights set on a certain killer from the very beginning. However, intentionality is much different from a tired copy of the first season. 

Season one and two both follow the same formula. You meet a few characters who are the primary suspects in the mystery. Then, right at the end, you realize that it was someone else and you think to yourself “Well, duh, it would’ve been too obvious if it were the main suspect.” But then, in a “pull the rug out from underneath you moment,” the final minutes of the show reveal that, yeah, it was the main suspect. 

In season one, this worked flawlessly. Jeanette Turner was just unlikable enough that you secretly hoped she did it because it just made sense for her character and when it was revealed that she didn’t, you’re genuinely surprised, just to find out that she did hear Kate in the basement and you were right for not liking her in the first place. 

Season two was a cheap remake of this technique, trying to pull the same unexpected twist at the end as they did in season one. But, how unexpected can it be if it’s already been done before? 

Murder mysteries should be unexpected, but solvable. However, creating a mystery and basically spoon-feeding it to your audience from the very first episode is not fun nor enticing. It’s just boring. 

Spanning over a year and following three different timelines (summer 1999, winter 1999 and summer 2000), the ten episode sophomore season led the audience through the tumultuous relationship of Isabella, played by Lexi Underwood, and Megan, played by Sadie Stanley. 

The girls form an unbreakable bond, deeming each other “sisters” within the first couple months of knowing each other. If that’s not the first red flag of a terribly toxic relationship, then I don’t know what is. 

In addition to this, Luke, played by Griffin Gluck, is Megan’s best friend-turned-boyfriend and Isabella’s brief summer fling-turned-rival because obviously there needs to be a man to insert himself into a growing female friendship. 

With all of these aspects, Luke’s murder unsolved and some extremely harrowing filters to help distinguish what timeline you’re in, it seems like there’s a solid story here. 

But there’s not. 

Eight out of the ten episodes of the season consist of the same thing: Megan and Isabella becoming friends in summer 1999, Luke and Megan’s relationship along with Isabella’s jealousy in winter 1999 and the icy tension between the girls in summer 2000 as the cops come closer and closer to solving Luke’s murder. 

Maybe the show’s weekly release hurt the overall quality of it because it genuinely felt like it took forever to even reach some sort of clue for who could’ve killed Luke (someone other than Megan and Isabella). 

If the show truly wanted to create a riveting mystery, perhaps they should’ve focused more on Isabella’s shady past and her intense feelings for Megan. We learn all about her travel tendencies and her connection to ex-best-friend’s death, but we never learn about anything past surface level details. 

Nonetheless the show is over and the audience can rest easy knowing that Luke is still dead, someone is behind bars and their sad little town will be much better without any of those characters in it.

“‘I’m here to tell you about the worst time of my life,’ he says in a low, earnest tone, which is how he always starts. And then, with his hands gripping the edge of the podium and his eyes locked on the students in front of him, he tells them about the worst time of mine,” says Addy Prentiss, one of the three narrators of Karen M. McManus’s latest novel, One of Us is Back.

Accompanied by Nate Macauley and Phoebe Lawton, the three characters serve as our guides to this newest mystery plucked straight from the depths of McManus’s brain. The third novel in the One of Us is Lying series has outdone it’s predecessors with it’s riveting plot and dynamic character relationships. 

While One of Us is Lying left pretty big shoes to fill (One of Us is Next – not so much), it was hard to see how McManus could possibly outdo her debut novel while tying up these beloved character storylines in a way that would best suit them.

Yet, One of Us is Back serves as a terrific ending to the series, leaving the audience with a beautifully gift wrapped little box of a plot. 

The novel brings back Addy, Nate, Bronwyn, Cooper, Kris, Phoebe, Maeve and Knox, otherwise known as the “Bayview Crew,” following them as they navigate the town’s newest killer-game combination. 

Bringing back Jake Riordan, resident psychopath and Addy’s ex-boyfriend, served as quite the show-stopper. McManus does an excellent job at showing Addy’s trauma through not only her POV chapters, but also Nate and Phoebe’s. 

In addition to the POV chapters, McManus gave her readers an extra treat with some select Simon/Jake chapters that served as backstory to the current timeline. While she didn’t have to delve into the “why” – sometimes people are just eerily psychotic – it was extremely well done and very interesting to see the inner-workings of a young villain and his sinisterly innocent best-friend (or ex-best-friend).

While the Bayview Crew certainly has a fine dynamic in this novel, it is a little difficult to see how they got to this point. Addy, Nate, Bronwyn, Cooper and Kris knew each other in the first novel with Bronwyn’s sister, Maeve, befriending Knox and Phoebe in the second. But, how did all of these characters suddenly become grouped together in the final novel?

That question remains unsolved. While the answer is probably because McManus needed a way for all the characters to be together in a way that makes sense and the groups are easily connected through Bronwyn and Maeve’s familial relationship, the actual inclusion of one another as some big friend group just seems forced.

It’s not entirely impossible, but it doesn’t seem like traumatic incidents would be enough to make you friends-for-life just because it happened in the same town. 

However, while friendships might not be McManus’s forte, she certainly knows how to write a family relationship. 

Phoebe is the main star of this seeing as her siblings were the driving force of the last novel, One of Us is Next. While their relationship may have fallen flat in that book, McManus was able to right her wrongs by playing into Phoebe’s trauma with her brother’s questionable behavior and her sister’s lack of interaction. 

While it’s sad to see the series come to an end, McManus does an excellent job at leaving the reader satisfied with the conclusion. Our beloved characters have brighter days ahead – not perfect, but definitely brighter – while our most hated characters get exactly what they deserve. 
One of Us is Back serves a great lesson for those of you interested in writing mystery novels – give your readers a mystery worth solving.

Behind all the pink and the glam that came with the absolute genius marketing, Barbie is a complex film that delves into the very thin line that separates childhood and adulthood. 

Barbie, even with all of her jobs and awards, is a child at heart. Margot Robbie demonstrates this unique innocence in her portrayal of “Stereotypical Barbie,” the one doll in BarbieLand with no real distinction or purpose. 

She believes that, because of how forward thinking Barbie was when she was first created, the doll has solved all issues of patriarchy and gender inequality in the real world. However, after her brief trip, she learns that nothing as simple as a doll could ever fix the years of mistreatment women have faced at the hands of the system.

America Ferrera, who plays Robbie’s Barbie’s human, is truly the heart of the film. Gloria is a mother who works as an executive assistant at Mattel headquarters. As her daughter has grown older, she fails to connect with her in the way they used to when she was a kid and she’s lonelier than ever. 

As Stereotypical Barbie fails to understand why she’s suddenly feeling depressed about life, Gloria is in the real world designing dolls that reflect this very human aspect of life. Yet, while Gloria thinks she’s doing it to create more progressive Barbies, it’s clear her true emotions are seeping into her work as she fails to grasp onto the extremely frayed relationship between her and her daughter. 

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach do a phenomenal job at displaying that childlike introduction to feminism through Stereotypical Barbie. While some might view Ferrera’s monologue scene as “surface-level thinking,” it’s just what the Barbies need to realize that the Kens don’t have control over them. 

Gerwig and Baumbach also expertly portray the destruction of men through the ideologies of the patriarchy. Men who were once kind and loving, turn on their female friends when they’re told that’s how they should act. If you don’t like him back, he has every right to try to ruin your life. How delightful.

Ryan Gosling’s Ken is a comedic yet deeply multifaceted exploration of this idea, as he slowly turns from an admirable on-looker in Barbie’s life to a destructive man who thinks Barbie owes him for not reciprocating the same romantic feelings he shares for her. But, you can’t blame Ken for this sudden change in behavior. It’s what he’s been shown by men in the real world.

Gosling delivers a beautifully emotional song called “I’m Just Ken,” singing about the treacherous misfortunes he, as Barbie’s accessory, must endure. While the song is as catchy as ever and Gosling has the voice of a gritty rock angel, it also makes the audience wonder why Ken thinks it’s Barbie’s job to fix and love him.

Women are not required to make men feel better about where they lack in life, encouraging them to keep trying and emphasizing that they are good enough. We are not Therapist Barbie.

Barbie, however, does an excellent job at clarifying this, while also apologizing for making Gosling’s Ken feel neglected. While she remains unapologetic about her feelings toward him, she helps him realize that he needs to be Ken without Barbie. If you define your whole life based on another person, are you really living for yourself?

Barbie is not just a film about a children’s toy. It’s a nuanced take on how women and men are both mistreated by the real world. While the Kens were only ever ignored in BarbieLand, women in the real world have to endure so much more at the hands of the patriarchy. 

The real highlight of the film happens within the last fifteen minutes when the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler (played by Rhea Perlman) takes Barbie’s hands and shows her how wonderful womanhood truly is. 

With a breathtakingly emotional montage of women just being women while Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” emotionally destroys the viewer, Barbie finally understands what she wants to do with her life: go to the real world.

The Barbie movie doesn’t teach women to hate men or give them unrealistic expectations about career or life goals. Instead, it allows them to understand that it’s okay to feel sad and not know what you want to do with your life. 

I am not a physicist. I cannot do math nor do I have a Nobel Peace Prize in literature. I sleep when I’m sad and binge-watch hours worth of the same sitcom over and over again. But that doesn’t mean I’m not trying or that I’m not capable of being great.

Barbie is not about teaching women that they need to be successful in anything and everything they do. Barbie teaches women that they have a choice. They can do whatever they want.

The opening of the film praises the way the doll was able to steer away from the traditional housewife role that many dolls prior had forced young girls into. Yet, it never occurred to them that maybe some women want to be mothers. 

Or maybe, some women want to be able to feel unapologetically without having to explain themselves.

Or they want to be able to exist without having to be extraordinary. 

And that’s okay, too. 

A federal judge from Texas ruled the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of mifepristone invalid on April 7. Shortly afterward, a conflicting ruling in favor of the pill was made in a federal court in Washington state, placing the decision in the hands of the Supreme Court. 

But leaving the fate of mifepristone’s accessibility up to the high court is probably more dangerous to the well-being of women across America than the pill itself.

Anti-abortion judge attempts to ban mifepristone, denying science and jeopardizing reproductive rights

Fan Society at Baruch College is a new club that hopes to bring students together over a shared love of music, regardless of artist or genre.

The club held its first general interest meeting on April 20 in the Newman Vertical Campus building where its board members introduced themselves and the club’s main goals.

Baruch’s new, ‘Fan Society’ club embraces the wide world of music 

Amazon Freevee’s new show “Jury Duty ” is “The Truman Show ” meets “Punk’d” and “SNL.” It’s a unique combination of fiction, reality television and improvisation that allows for funny moments.

Jury Duty offers a unique take on reality television