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The very best in geek and comic entertainment.
Social Commentary, Gender and Racial Representation in The Powerpuff Girls
Like most well-received animated TV shows, Craig McCracken’s nostalgic revving, half episodic half serial, The Powerpuff Girls was made for kids to enjoy as well as adults. Three little girls fighting crime is enough to get many kids interested, but when tongue and cheek innuendo is added to the mix, it’s not that difficult to also get the parents' and/or babysitters’ attention. With this comes many opportunities for the show creators to make commentary on American society and lightly criticize it. Like many other popular cartoons of the 1990s, The Powerpuff Girls often pushed the limits of representation through satire. The show’s social commentary, though subtle and easy to miss, is ultimately strong enough to be reflected when watching through a critical lens. Though The Powerpuff Girls does a good job at acknowledging the problems reflected in American society, it does almost too good of a job to the point where the viewer has to incessantly question if the show is indeed challenging these norms or celebrating and reinforcing them as normal.
By Mariah Mickens5 years ago in Geeks
Jawaani Jaaneman(2020)- Review
Jawaani Jaaneman is comedy-drama film revolving around Jaswinder Singh (Saif Ali Khan) or better known as Jazz. Jazz employs a free going and carefree attitude, and works with his brother (Kumud Mishra) as a property broker in and around London. Jazz is not too big on serious relationships and avoids commitments whenever he can. At night he parties with his close friend Rocky (Chunky Pandey), the pair maybe getting old but their spirits still remain youthful and continue to live the lifestyle they have been accustomed to, into their 40’s. Jazz is disinterested in having a traditional ‘Indian family-life’, and has a slew of one-night stands. Little did he know on one of the several rendezvous with women, he has fathered a child (Alaya Furniturewala), the existence of whom he learns after almost two decades when she comes to London looking to get acquainted with him. Jazz, being in his 40’s is barely able to keep up with his womanizer-carefree lifestyle, is dreading the advent of a new problem he finds himself in with a young daughter coming in his life which he didn’t know existed, and to make matters worse, is pregnant. In the coming months Jazz tries to juggle between taking care of his daughter, to keep her as a secret to his family, continue living his lifestyle and on top of that being in the middle of an important multi-million pound deal. Jazz trying to manage it all gets into funny and hilarious situations and in the way somehow finds himself.
By The Couch Review5 years ago in Geeks
Coolie No. 1(2020)- Review
Coolie No. 1 (2020) is a comedy film, remake of the 1995 film Coolie No. 1 starring Govinda and Karisma Kapoor in the lead roles. It starts with Jeffery Rozario (Paresh Rawal) who wishes to marry his daughter, his only criteria is choosing a boy who is extremely wealthy. Soon he gets acquainted with Kunwar Raj Pratap Singh (Varun Dhawan), who is a billionaire, has a slew of cars, and dines with famous cricketers & film stars and has phone calls with Trump & Modi. Sounds way too good to be true right? That is because it isn’t remotely true. Kunwar Raj Pratap Singh is in reality Raju a coolie. In order to get married to Jeffery’s daughter Sarah (Sara Ali Khan), Raju is portraying the persona of being ultra-rich, after he is convinced by pundit Jai Kishan (Javed Jaffrey) to do so if he wishes to marry Sarah. Jai Kishan has an ulterior motive of bringing the pride of Jeffery, after he was balefully insulted by him. Raju, in trying to keep up the ruse of being rich gets tied down in his own spiral of lies, which creates supposedly funny situations.
By The Couch Review5 years ago in Geeks
House(2004–2012)- Review
House (previously called House, M.D.) is a medical drama that centers around Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), he is an exceptional & brilliant doctor running the diagnostics department at Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. What he makes up in medicinal prowess is undone by his lack of social skills and carefree nature. He has a reputation of being erratic, unpredictable and extremely hard to work with. As his diagnostic skills & unconventional treatment methods which more often than not successful, are outmatched by most of his peers, the hospital has no option but to have him if they want to have a diagnostics department. The hospital administrator and Dean of Medicine, and long-time friend of House Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), is the only person that can keep him in check, and only person that can tolerate him as a subordinate. House’s only friend is Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), head of the Department of Oncology. Throughout the series House and his team come across several cases that are not yet diagnosed. They try to find the diagnosis and ultimately its cure. Under the instructions of House his team too is made to engage in unconventional methods, which leads them to sometimes cross legal/ethical/moral lines, due to it he and his team often find themselves in a conflict with other doctors at the hospital, mainly Dr. Lisa Cuddy.
By The Couch Review5 years ago in Geeks
AK vs AK(2020)- Review
AK vs AK is a Netflix film starring Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap, playing themselves as the title characters. The film begins with displaying a celebrity feud between the two "AK's" that has been boiling for years. The story then kicks in when Kashyap develops an idea for a film/documentary where Kapoor's daughter Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, needless to say played by herself, is kidnapped on his birthday and he needs to find her before the sunrise of the coming morning. Kapoor's quest to find his kidnapped daughter will be filmed by Kashyap, and he'll need to follow a few instructions as laid out by Kashyap. The film runs through Kapoor's attempts & pursuit trying to fulfil the story/film as devised by Kashyap. But it won't be a cakewalk as planned with a few surprise curveballs & speed breakers that come along the way.
By The Couch Review5 years ago in Geeks
The Princess Switch: Switched Again(2020)- Review
The Princess Switch: Switched Again is a 2020 American Christmas romantic comedy, sequel to The Princess Switch (2018). It continues two years after the ending of its prequel, Stacy (Vanessa Hudgens) being married to Prince Edward (Sam Palladio) is now the Princess of Belgravia and Margaret (Vanessa Hudgens) is to ascend the throne of Montenaro after the death of the king and his successor choosing to abdicate. With the unexpected responsibility bestowed upon her, Margret finds herself in a conundrum and tries to juggle between her personal and her new ‘professional’ life which leads to Kevin (Nick Sagar) and her splitting up. Stacy and Olivia (Mia Lloyd), Kevin’s daughter, are heartbroken seeing this break-up, are trying their best to get them back together. This task is full of difficulties as Margret is fancied by a count/ his childhood friend/ his chief of staff Antonio Rossi (Lachlan Nieboer) who tries to stymie any new developments in Kevin and Margret’s relationship. Stacy hoping for them to get back together suggests doing the good ol’ switcheroo. But things get complicated with the arrival of Fiona (Vanessa Hudgens), Margret’s cousin, who has a switcheroo plan of her own. Needless to say Fiona also resembles Stacy and Fiona.
By The Couch Review5 years ago in Geeks
Wonder (2017)- Review
The 21st century has been all about materialistic possessions and the aesthetic value of everything, including humans. On the face of it we may be going with the now accepted notion, but deep inside we feel a sense of shallowness in judging it all from just its exterior. This feeling occupies a tiny space in our heart, of wanting to go beyond what is displayed. Wonder simply reaches out to this deep kept feeling of ours that we have been ignoring.
By The Couch Review5 years ago in Geeks
TV Musicals. Go Fix Yourself!
(Honrable mentions to Drew Gould, Khyel Roberson, Mike Reinhart, Richie Berner, Amanda Biro, Daniel Rollock, Stephanie Johnson, Reilly Crouse, Isaiah Moore, Maddie Davies, Nole Beran, Paige Scott, Lindsay Vallance & Beth Maio. Thank you so much for contributing your honest thoughts thowards the cration of this work.)
By Jacob Herr5 years ago in Geeks
Special Ops (2020)- Review
Special Ops is a story about Himmat Singh’s(K.K. Menon) quest to find a terrorist who was directly involved with the 2001 Indian Parliamentary attack and at the same time trying to prove his existence to the Indian authorities. With the prologue displayed in the initial scenes, the series kicks off, which is set years after the event in question. In that time Himmat’s hair has turned to grey from sombre and he is now heading the government agency he worked for but he has still not been able to find the terrorist nor has he been able to successfully prove his existence. The story continues with Himmat and his team trying to capture the mystery man, all while still trying to prove the existence of whom.
By The Couch Review5 years ago in Geeks
Suits(2011–2019)- Review
Suits is a legal drama, primarily showcasing a law firm (initially Pearson Hardman), its workings and the stories few of few of its executives. It would have been a very much alike to the ubiquitous TV shows’ on lawyers/law firms, but Suits brings together a curl to the high flying lifestyle of lawyers, or as has been showcased on the screen. Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) is nothing short of a genius with his brilliant mind and photographic memory, but due to his unimpressive history in his previous years has stymied him in achieving his dream from becoming a lawyer. To make ends meet he takes on a few jobs whose legality can be questioned. When one of these jobs takes a dark turn, and Mike trying to fend off the police of his shoulder, serendipitously runs into Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). Harvey is interviewing candidates for his firm. Harvey extremely impressed by Mike offers him the job despite knowing that he does not have a law degree. The basic premise of the story works on this with Mike & Harvey trying to keep Mike’s identity a secret, along with taking on difficult cases and trying to find solutions in unconventional ways.
By The Couch Review5 years ago in Geeks
