5 Problems Once Upon A Time Needs To Fix

When a new season of Once Upon A Time whirls around, there's promising adventures to behold. Savior Emma Swan and her charming parents and son, swash-buckling boyfriend Hook, and Evil-Queen-turned-Hero Regina face off against 'fictional characters' re-imagined for the real world. And, the series' ability to plant powerful messages of hope, courage, and love is refreshing compared to darker-themed shows.

However, there is no doubt the fandom has been struggling. As much love as there is for Once Upon A Time, the storytelling  often falls down a rabbit hole of messy writing and confusing world-building. Off-screen, the show dropped in ratings and stars like Robert Carlyle and Jennifer Morrison are considering not returning. When rumors swirled over the holiday break that the series might be canceled, it wasn't surprising to ONCERS despite what a rotten apple the news was. But as the show has taught us over the years: there is always hope - we just have to look and fight for it. Here are five ways Once Upon A Time can break its own curse.

Jackie (2016) elegantly reshapes American royalty

Photo Credit: Jackie / Fox Searchlight Pictures

Ask anyone of the Baby Boomer generation, and chances are they'll recall the day President John F. Kennedy was killed and how the news reverberated around the U.S. Even though history has cemented the family's legacy, as well as Jackie as a style icon, time itself, has rarely scratched the surface of the former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's experience. That's where the intimate, poignant biopic Jackie steps in.

On November 22nd, 1963, Jack Kennedy and his wife Jackie were on a political tour through Texas when he was violently assassinated. Following Jackie through this horrendous ordeal, arthouse director Pablo Larraín dismisses the blind patriotism many biopics have taken before and dives into a non-traditional portrait of Mrs. Kennedy with a beautiful existential approach to trauma.

Swinging back and forth between the past and present, Jackie (Natalie Portman) dictates her memory of what happened on that fateful day and the immediate aftermath to Life journalist Theodore H. White (Billy Crudup). In giving the epilog of Jack's political career and her transition out of the White House, it reveals her grace under fire as she salvaged the lasting impression of her husband to grieving nation.

When movies recognize Jacqueline, it's often as the great woman behind the man, but rarely does it delve beyond the iconography of the infamous Pink Suit or the unforgettable black veil during her husband's funeral. In sculpting the final hours of his legacy we see the woman both privately and publicly.

In the midst of the tragedy as everyone looking to Jackie, it's difficult to imagine there was a time when the American Public didn't warm up to Jackie. But in the beginning of Jack's political career, her debutante behavior was actually a turn-off because she wasn't in the kitchen. In an eery premonition, her major role as First Lady was restoring the White House as a museum to deceased Presidents; elevating what was a home and workplace for the husband into a showcase of history. In almost an instant, her life becomes a question of preserving her family.

Jackie puts on quite the performance. The woman called to respond to Jack's death in front of the country is different to who she is in private to her staff, the press, Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Bobby Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard), and her children. With each approach, she must consider what woman is expected of her as a new administration anxiously takes over, and she moves out of the White House.

All of this revolves around Natalie Portman who gives a demure and chilling performance. It's almost immediately forgotten that she is playing such a familiar figure. Her portrayal of Jackie isn't reserved to just imitating her voice or the physical mannerisms, but a greater reveal of anger, regret, shame, happiness, joy, prideful, and bitter rolling out in waves as the plot gradually builds to the literal shot heard around the world. As everyone around her is numbed into inaction, she's the one who takes the reigns, no matter how much everything weighs on her. Portman captures this essence of feeling like a ghost lingering in history and the classy, regal force that'll be remembered.

Between Jackie's moments by herself, with her staff, or in front of the nation, barriers are crossed between the audience and its subject. Her post-traumatic stress and bereavement are brushed in all different strokes of contemplative calm and terror. A cold formality lingers in the aftermath of the fatality with the grand procession and majesty of his burial. The lengths she goes to pursues the question if it was for her husband's benefit, to quench her own ego, or mourn with the public. Using original and archived historical footage, as well as a haunting score by Mica Levi, Lorrain's sweeping film is an intimate and haunting biopic. It's not a typical examination of worshiping the Kennedys and recognizes that Jackie in the movie is different to how we see or imagine her as outsiders. Jackie is an ethereal monument to a woman who shaped American royalty.

RATING: ★★★

Have you seen Jackie? What are your thoughts?

Christine (2016) tragically predicts our sensationalist world

Photo Credit: Christine / The Orchard

Based on a true story, Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall) is an ambitious journalist for a local Sarasota tv station. Her immense dedication to simple yet meaningful human interest pieces is compromised when upper management intends to increase ratings for sensationalist news. 'If it bleeds, it leads' becomes the new standard, and Chubbuck struggles to match the style going as far as killing herself on-air.

Despite knowing the outcome of Chubbuck's life for this biopic, Christine intensely and thoughtfully delves into her mindset and struggles, especially mental health.

Just shy of her 30th birthday, Chubbuck is a person unto herself. She's never been involved with someone romantically, closes off from potential friendships, and has a complicated relationship with her mother. Getting married and having children is on her future itinerary, but it's sideswiped by plaguing health issues both physical and emotional. A lingering depression pushes her perseverance in the best and worst ways from an iron-fist like grip on her standards to an inability to communicate her needs to others. Despite her wanting more personal relationships, she's left with only a job, one of the utmost integrity in her eyes, to occupy her time which becomes the last thing she has to hold onto.

Rebecca Hall gives a tremendous performance portraying Chubbuck's downward spiral. Much of her character's personality and behavior is internalized. She has a tough time expressing herself to others, and when she does it's self-deprecating, retaliatory, or as harsh bursts of judgment towards herself. Both professionally and personally, Chubbuck continually asks questions, but tries to possess all the answers; a misfit who tries so hard to act as normally as everyone else does. Self-inflicted and environmental pressure weigh on her ability to handle and control what goes on in the studio, at home, and during telecasts. Hall's portrait is passionate and subtle capturing multiple sides of how her character feels: kindness, sympathy, detail-obsessed, hard-working, burdensome, self-conscious. She doesn't limit herself to one trait or another but undergoes many different emotional hurdles at once.

Like mental health itself, Chubbuck's struggles are a conglomerate of issues. In contrast to Chubbuck, other characters like Maria Dizzia (Jean Reed), weatherman Steve Turner (Timothy Simons), and on-air anchor George Peter Ryan (Michael C. Hall) have faced obstacles, but found ways to cope or "not dwell on everything". There's a nice mix of people surrounding Chubbuck who try to be her friend or let her be her own person. Before the inevitable ending, the movie hints at possibilities if she didn't judge herself too harshly or unloaded her burdens onto someone without feeling burdensome, if she got fuller treatment for her depression. There's no way of knowing what could've happened if her life played out differently, but the brief inclusion shows the script's thoughtfulness to its leading character.

Christine as film is a fascinating feat as a biopic considering Chubbuck's life isn't well-documented. Screenwriter Craig Shilowich interviewed previous colleagues and researched news pieces to create what he could of Chubbuck. He also connected to her depression making the project a personal examination of his own experiences, and one that movie goers who suffer from depression may relate to it deeply. Considering how many biopics over-indulge in someone's life to justify the commercial appeal, the movie is an impressive and intimate character study.

Director Antonio Campos adequately recreates the 1970s from the news stations equipment, occasional overgrown sideburns, and flared pants. The era serves mostly as a backdrop to its leading lady. At most, when Chubbuck concocts an idea to try to fit in with the new rules, the soundtrack kicks in with a catchy news-track similar to what a viewer would hear turning into News Update from Saturday Night Live or 60 minutes. Her life was her job, and it fittingly plays into Chubbuck's 'grasping at straws' brainstorming and avoids being a cheap attempt to be more stylistic.

A common criticism is the film's "exploitative nature", which wasn't the case at all to me. Softly in the background, the story focuses on sensationalism turning into "hard hitting news", mostly on Chubbuck's attempts to be promoted and her work validated. On the cusp of Watergate, and history forever holding it up as a daring example of journalism, the era's sexist nature ultimately cups her ambition - no matter the desperate lengths she goes to. Adding to the depth of her death, Chubbuck is more of a prophet having seen the graphic nature news would venture, and she wanted to hold onto her integrity. Regardless of her fate, culture carved its own path, fueled by click-bait titles and attracting readers into violent-gossipy articles to make gruesome acts appear glamorous. The movie doesn't make her a poster-girl for how our world would turn out, leaving the parallels of the media and her final moments a poignant tragedy.

Many celebrities or public figures, maybe even people we know or are well-acquainted with, who suffer a downward spiral aren't looking for fifteen minutes of fame as the news often reports; they're crying out to be seen and heard. This point is well-established throughout, and it's difficult to not feel relatable to her in many ways. Slow-burning and tactful, Christine is a fascinating examination of a woman in a man's world, her mental illness, and going to extremes as a devastating last resort.

RATING: ★★★

Have you seen Christine What are your thoughts?

Fences (2016) is a marvelous home run

Photo Credit: Fences / Paramount Pictures

Sometimes we build fences to keep people out, but those same barriers can keep their loved ones locked in. In Fences, this gripping realization chips away for the Maxson family. Set in the 1950s against the backdrop of Pittsburgh, Troy's (Denzel Washington) marriage to wife Rose (Viola Davis), lost potential and responsibilities of as a father, husband, and man buckle under his own personal demons and the limitations of the times.

Like most theatrical adaptations, the performances and script deliver all of the emotional action to give a wildly complex study of characters. This is completely true of Washington's adaptation of the August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

At the center of this complicated drama is Washington and Davis bursting with restless energy. Imprisoned by the nature of the era, Troy and Rose have raised a family together but their compromises have kept them coiled to each other for good and bad reasons. They share an enduring love tainted by the sacrifices as a husband/wife/mother/father/etc. and the imposed repercussions of the Jim-Crow era.

Troy: It's not easy for me to admit that I've been standing in the same place for eighteen years!

Rose: Well, I've been standing with you! I gave eighteen years of my life to stand in the same spot as you!

Troy and Rose are very different sides of the same coin. Troy waxes philosophical about life, duties, and responsibilities, hammering out tough love to his sons and wife, but fails to recognize the hypocrisy of his actions. Washington brings to life an imperfect man who does despicable things to deal with his existential crisis.

As his counterpart, Davis as Rose is a force to be reckoned with. As much as Troy dwells on all that he gives to his family, rarely if ever does he understand how much Rose has given in order to sustain their marriage. Having faced and faces the same trials as he, she's buried her dreams and let them be forgotten, but continued to forge on ahead with a silent resolute nature. Life, and Troy, has taken its toll until the final straw breaks prompt a poignant almost impossible strength.

Impressively, theatrical adaptations of a play often rely on the playwright's work to deliver all of the action - unless the direction or script is drastically altered to be more blockbuster. As Troy's family square off against each other, the script rarely feels like there is a dull moment.

Washington's experience of the play as an actor, and now director and leading role pushes him to he executes how a play of such timely significance could be adapted. The city of Pittsburgh bustles in the background as this nook puts a generational, cultural, and historical experience on display. His focus of the Maxson's family places them solely in a minimalist and intimate environment; their claustrophobic backyard acts as a boxing ring for fights, confessions, criticism and speeches. Wilson's story grows seamlessly into three acts, lending a balanced examination to all of the characters.

Fences is a centerpiece of titanic performances and deliver as an adaptation. Washington executes the story as if you were attending a play on film but stand on its own. His work as a director and the cast is a gripping character study and a marvelous home run.

RATING: ★★★ Have you seen Fences What are your thoughts?

Inspirational Quotes from Fictional Characters for an Awesome 2017

Starting a new year usually inspires us to take chances, make mistakes, try new things, believe in ourselves more. As geeks we often turn to books, movies, or tv shows for advice and comfort. In sticking with our resolutions for the next twelve months, here are some inspirational quotes from 2016 to make our world a little brighter. What quotes are motivating you this year? Feel free to share in the comments!

2017 New Years Film + Life Goals

2016 was one hell of a year - a spectacle we couldn't help but watch in slow motion no matter how much we tried to avoid it. Many events will make it memorable: cinematic disappointments (Suicide Squad), nostalgic surprises (Stranger Things), political train wrecks, protests, the loss of icons - to name a few. If I ever have kids and they ask me what 2016 was like, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enough words to describe it - confusing, bombastic, heated, inspiring, one for the ages.

To keep the chaos a little controllable and sobering, I had a wee list of things to do: matched my reading goal, committed to daily walking routine, drank more water, post more on instagram, survived the Captain America marathon, and perhaps the big one of all - dress up as Matt the Radar Technician for Halloween.

Like all good, bad, and the ugly things the world endured, they have to come to an end. Or at least roll over into a new start. 2016 put us through a lot and we were all ready to wave Bon Voyage.

But pointing fingers or throwing my hands up at a set of numbers also made me realize the kind of power I want to give 2017. And that's to see how much I can throw at it and see what it can withstand rather than the other way around. Create, read, watch, write, speak up, donate, work harder, relax better, wrangle my anxiety, try new things. If there's one impression the past twelve months and a bad-ass woman left on the world, it's not to have time for bull. There's no better time like the present.

+ Start A Bullet Journal. *hopping on the bandwagon* My journals are a bit messy, they have a rushed collection of lists and thoughts - but they are also too disorganized. Bullet journals looks like fun and might help me organize a few notebooks.

+ Read 17 books. My next goodreads challenge.

+ Keep up with Walking Dead recaps and Wonder Women series.

+ More Instagram. I just really like it.

+ Cosplay/dress-up for Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Wonder Woman (2017)

+ Complete my to-watch list. So many movies I desperately wanted to see ended up with limited releases, so I missed a lot of 2016 movies. And, the other half of the list are movies I always felt like watching but forgot. Can't wait for a time in the future when I think of those same movies and go "Hey, I saw that! FINALLY."

+ Write more movie reviews. I fell a little behind with this last year, failing to put into words what I thought about a movie or not feeling they were terrible enough to warn people against or inspire to take a chance on. So I'm gonna try to do both a little more.

+ Follow a Blog Calendar. Ideas are great to have, but I'd like for them to do more than pile up on each other in the draft section.

+ Health skidded sideways out of nowhere halfway through December, so hoping with some diet changes I can get back on track.

+ Continue #27Lessons. Turning 27 was strangely monumental. So many light-bulb moments went off at once of things I struggled to understand or put into practice. It inspired me to tweet a little hashtag of musings and will be sure to add more.

+ Get a new laptop. This one's going.

These are some things I have in mind for the next year. What are yours? What do hope to have done a year from today? Good luck on all your dreams and ideas!

2016 Year In Review: Movies

2016 was a strange year for movies - so many landed on my to-watch list for 2017 because of their limited releases, and what memorable movies I did see felt few and far between. In all, I watched about 50 flicks which beats last year's total but I plan on seeing a lot more next year.

Below are my favorites and picks for Best Of from what I've seen so far. When a movie is pretty bad, I tend to forget about it pretty easily - so there's no worst category here (unlike my 2016 tv post).  I hope you enjoy my picks of characters, couples, and genres. What were your favorite movies? What movie surprised or disappointed you? Let me know your favorite movies of 2016 in the comments!