TV Review: Little House on the Prairie

August 17, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Little House on the Prairie (2026), screenplay by Rebecca Sonnenshine and based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Showrunner: Rebecca Sonnenshine
Starring: Luke Bracey, Crosby Fitzgerald, Alice Halsey, and Skywalker Hughes
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Romance, Holiday, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars (8 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Ingalls family lives and works on a farm in Midwestern America during the late 19th century.

Anything is possible on the open prairie.

So many iconic moments from the book were explored here. I’d say my favorite one involved what happened when the Ingalls family was snowed in over Christmas and had to become creative when planning how to celebrate that special day. Another notable moment involved a natural disaster that the characters had no advance warning of but had to react to quickly in order to prevent something catastrophic from happening. These were moments I imagined over and over again while I read the Little House books growing up, and it was fun to see a modern reimagining of them.

I was surprised by how many changes this adaptation made to the original material which had already softened many of the more difficult moments of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life. Some of the changes made sense for a 2026 interpretation of this classic as western society has changed quite a bit in the last hundred and fifty years or so, but I would have loved to see Laura and Mary played by actors who were closer to the original ages of these girls when the book was written. Some of their scenes simply fit better for younger children and felt a little unusual for a preteen and a young teenager to still be interested in. For example, most older kids have a very different experience of Santa than what was portrayed here.

With that being said, this first season did a great job of setting up what happens to these characters as they grow older. There was some wholesome foreshadowing for the Ingalls children in particular that Little House fans might find amusing, and I liked the way so many of the important people in their lives were either introduced early on or included in conversations that will hopefully be revisited in the future.

Little House on the Prairie was a heartwarming introduction to what will hopefully be a long-running series.

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Movie Review: Voicemails for Isabelle

August 10, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Voicemails for Isabelle written and directed by Leah McKendrick
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Nick Robinson, and Ciara Bravo
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars (8 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

Jill leaves voice messages to her deceased sister telling her about her chaotic life in San Francisco. Unwittingly, a mysterious Austin TX real estate agent begins to receive their confessions.

Love has many faces.

Chronic illness isn’t a topic I‘ve seen covered in the romance genre very often, so I was immediately intrigued by Jill’s relationship with her sister who had a life-threatening health condition. While I don’t want to give away too many spoilers in this review, I can say that I loved the early segments that showed how their relationship had developed from childhood on through to adulthood and how the uncertainty and unfairness of life had shaped both of their personalities.

The final act did feel a little rushed to me, especially given how upset Jill had been with Wes earlier on. While this conflict between them was absolutely necessary in order for certain plot twists to play out later on, I would have liked to see a few more scenes showing how they worked things out so that the ending could have a few more layers to it and be even more satisfying for this viewer than it already was.

With that being said, I loved the chemistry between the two main characters. They had a lot in common and I enjoyed the slow burning romance that ignited between them as they got to know each other better while also juggling some serious life issues along the way. There was a nice mixture of themes included like complicated family relationships, grief, and the stress that comes from being in the wrong job that only made the romantic scenes all that much sweeter.

Voicemails for Isabelle was heartwarming and romantic.

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TV Review: The Quilters

July 27, 2026 By Leave a Comment

Title: The Quilters
Director: Jenifer McShane
Producer: Jenifer McShane
Starring: Joe Satterfield
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Non-Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars (10 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

In this award-winning short documentary, men in a Missouri maximum-security prison design and sew beautiful, personalized quilts for foster children.

Rehabilitation begins with empathy.

I adored the sensitive and kind framing of this documentary, especially given the fact that many of the men who sew these quilts have been incarcerated for decades or even for the rest of their lies for what were in a few cases hinted to be terrible crimes. It’s not always easy for filmmakers or audiences to see the humanity in people with these kinds of violent pasts, so I appreciated the fact that as little time as possible was spent exploring what, exactly, they did to end up in a level 5 facility. Those details, while obviously important in other contexts, were not relevant to work these inmates were doing for children living in foster care or with disabilities like autism.

As someone who knows little about sewing, I was fascinated by the many detailed steps it requires in order to sew a quilt, weighted vest, or weighted blanket. For example, I didn’t know that cloth needs to be ironed and stretched out before being sewn together or what happens if those steps aren’t done properly. The inmates were trained carefully on their craft, and the items they produced were incredible. It was especially interesting to see how every inch of an item was inspected methodically before being shipped out to the children who were waiting for their gifts.

Regret and forgiveness were two of the deeper themes of this documentary that played out quietly in the background. A few of the men featured will probably never leave the maximum-security prison in Missouri where they have already lived for decades, so hearing their thoughts on the many years they’ve had to consider their life choices was especially poignant. I don’t want to share too many spoilers about what they’ve learned along the way, but I will say that they have had a lot of time to work through their feelings and I liked the way they expressed them.

The Quilters was a beautiful and heartwarming look at how dramatically people can change for the better when given the chance.

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TV Review: One Piece: Into the Grand Line (Season 2)

June 29, 2026 By Leave a Comment


ONE PIECE: Into the Grand Line (Season 2)
Showrunners/Developed By: Matt Owens and Steven Maeda
Starring: Iñaki Godoy, Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, Jacob Romero, Taz Skylar, Charithra Chandran, Mikaela Hoover
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Rating: 5 Stars (Ten stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Dicentra

With his straw hat and ragtag crew, young pirate Monkey D. Luffy goes on an epic voyage for treasure.

Netflix’s ONE PIECE: Into the Grand Line is a jolly good time and entertaining for both those familiar with the original manga/anime and those new to the world. A series based on the manga by Eiichuro Oda and led by Iñaki Godoy, playing the fearless leader of the Straw Hat Pirates Monkey D. Luffy, there is lots of adventure and new places to explore as they work towards finding the One Piece.

The Straw Hats are the centerpiece of the story, but in Season 2 they both gain new crewmates and new adversaries. With the new crewmates, there is Miss Wednesday (played by Charithra Chandran from Bridgerton) as well as the most adorable medical professional I’ve ever seen – Tony Tony Chopper (voice and facial motion capture by Mikaela Hoover). The adversaries come in pairs, in the form of the many Baroque Works agents trying to kill them. I snorted out loud when Roranoa Zoro (played by Mackenyu) made a comment about them plundering other pirate’s treasure to pay for their costume budget, as it’s a very fair and valid point with how elaborate almost all of them are dressed. The amount of wax required to style Mr. 3’s hair (played by David Dastmalchian) is exorbitant. While journeying through the Grand Line, they also take on the voracious and exiled former King Wapol (played by Rob Colletti) who has come back to reclaim his kingdom. There are so many other cool side characters that I can’t name them all (especially without spoilers), but I thought the team at Netflix did a great job bringing the CGI parts to life as well as making very realistic and immersive sets. In going down a YouTube rabbit hole, I found out that they made a full size Going Merry to film on, and I think that’s totally awesome.

Overall, this was an excellent season and I think that it has real potential to be one of Netflix’s lead titles since Stranger Things had its series finale last year. It’s super exciting that Season 3 is already in production, and I’m eager to see how the Straw Hats fare against Joe Manganiello’s Mr 0 and the rest of Baroque Works.

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Movie Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures

June 8, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Title: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Writers: Olivia Newman and John Whittington
Director: Olivia Newman
Starring: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, and Colm Meaney
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Cozy Mystery, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars (6 on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

A widow who works at a local aquarium finds joy again when she forms an unlikely bond with a giant Pacific octopus and a wayward young man who comes to town in search of family. Together, they uncover a mystery that will lead them to a life-changing discovery and restore their sense of wonder.

Loneliness is a heavy burden to carry.

Some of the best scenes were the ones that explored how quickly news can spread in a small town and what happens when gossip doesn’t match what actually occurred. It rang true to life in my experience, and I enjoyed watching the characters react to the stories that were either being spread about them or that they were spreading about their friends and neighbors. Some of them liked this process far more than others did, and my opinions of all of them shifted for the better or the worse depending on how they handled this topic.

I did find the character development flat, especially when it came to the protagonists. Even given the tragic backstories of certain characters, I struggled to connect to them due to the limited amount of information that was shared about them outside of the painful events they were processing. As much as I wanted to give this one a higher rating, I wasn’t able to do so thanks to this issue.

The magical realism was handled nicely. While the vast majority of the storyline was rooted in realistic conflicts and events, there were a few moments that were slightly outside of the realm of possibility in our world. These scenes were handled so sensitivity and creatively that I could easily imagine them really occurring which is exactly what I love to see in this sub-genre. The ordinary experiences of the characters in the vast majority of their lives only made those rare deviations from the norm all the more spectacular.

Remarkably Bright Creatures made me smile.

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Movie Review: Lead Children

April 6, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Lead Children
Writers: Michal Jedryka and Jakub Korolczuk
Director: Maciej Pieprzyca
Starring: Joanna Kulig, Agata Kulesza, Kinga Preis, and Michal Zurawski
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Non-Fiction, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars (8 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

A young doctor uncovers lead poisoning in children near a steelworks. Despite state opposition, she strives to treat the sick kids.

Success is never guaranteed.

I appreciated how much time was spent exploring the effects of lead poisoning and why so many people in the 1970s were unaware of how it can disable and even kill children. This wasn’t something I knew much about before watching this series, but knowing the stakes the inhabitants of Silesia were facing was critical in order to understand why Dr. Wadowska-Król’s campaign was of utmost importance. Some of the best scenes in my opinion were the ones showing children playing in the dirt, going swimming, eating vegetables from their mother’s gardens, or doing other innocent things that took on a much darker meaning once the audience understood how polluted this community was and the many ways lead can enter the human body.

There were times when I found this mini-series to be a little uneven in its pacing and repetitive, especially when it came to Dr. Wadowska-Król’s conflicts with various Communist party members about how much information the general public should have about how lead poisoning was affecting the children of Silesia. These scenes were powerful the first few times but began to lose their effectiveness a little for this viewer by the time I reached the last two episodes and had seen them play out multiple times.

Understanding the culture of this time and place was necessary in order for the later episodes to make the most sense. Silesia was a complex town that relied on everyone following orders and not asking questions about what they were instructed to do. Normally, of course, this can be a good thing, but there are cases when obedience can have tragic unintended consequences when those in power may not have the best interests of the common person at heart. The scenes that dug into the discrepancies between what the leaders said and what they actually did behind closed doors were among the most powerful ones for me, and they were a big part of what kept me going despite my gentle critique of certain scenes.

Lead Children was an illuminating look at a chapter of history I’d never heard of before.

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Movie Review: Irish Wish

March 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Irish Wish
Writers: Kirsten Hansen
Director: Janeen Damian
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Ed Speleers, Ayesha Curry, and Jane Seymour
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Romance, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars (6 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

When the love of Maddie’s life gets engaged to her best friend, she puts her feelings aside to be a bridesmaid at their wedding in Ireland.

A wedding is the perfect place to fall in love.

I loved how charming and whimsical this film was. The paranormal themes were lightly and naturally interwoven into the plot, and I thought the relationships between the characters, especially when it came to Maddie’s interactions with James, the photographer who had been hired for the wedding, were funny and playful. A light touch was exactly what the storyline needed in order to come across as believable, so I was glad that everyone was on the same page there.

The dialogue felt stiff to me at times. It was particularly noticeable in the scenes that were supposed to be representing characters who were falling in love, and I wished that more attention had been paid to the nonverbal messages they sent to each other in those moments. There was so much else going for this film that it could have been much more relatable had the protagonists had a chance to find their groove together. I wish there had been a few more scenes showing how their feelings were evolving to better explore this aspect of the plot.

With that being said, I loved the Irish setting and thought it provided a wonderful backdrop for a tale that needed a little something extra to set the scene. This was such a beautiful part of the world that sometimes I wanted to pause the film just to drink in the famous cliffs Maddie visited, for example, or the quiet country roads where so many amusing things happened to the characters.

Irish Wish was gentle and romantic.

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Movie Review: The Electric State

February 23, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Electric State
Directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Simon Stålenhag
Starring: Chris Pratt, Millie Bobby Brown, Woody Harrelson
Distributed by: Netflix
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Action/Adventure
Rating: 4 Stars (8 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Dicentra

An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.

I’ve always been a fan of Millie Bobby Brown’s work since she initially rose to fame as Eleven from Stranger Things, so getting to see her in another Netflix production where she teamed up with Chris Pratt and Woody Harrelson (among others) was a no brainer. Based on Simon Stalenag’s The Electric State book, Michelle (Brown) is an orphaned teen who refuses to buy into the mass technology usage that has swept across the world following a war between the robots and the humans. With robots being exiled into an ‘Exclusion Zone’ after losing the war, Michelle’s life is thrown into a chaos after a robot from her brother’s favorite cartoon shows up on her doorstep (claiming to know where her brother is). A cross country trek ensues, where they must fight off those from the mega corporation pursuing them as well as those tasked with the eradication of robots in human territory.

The cast of this movie is certainly stacked. Along with Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Woody Harrelson, there are some other major players like Giancarlo Esposito, Stanley Tucci, Ke Huy Quan and Anthony Mackie. It took me a second to recognize some of them as they are playing robots, and their voices were a little digitized at times but their mannerisms are definitely there (even in a metallic body). Admittedly, there were some moments where Chris Pratt’s character felt less like the rugged smuggler he was supposed to be and more like Starlord from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (see the music included in the movie), but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the film.

While the plot of the movie isn’t that original (it reads like a much more dystopian version of Ready Player One), the emotion is. Chris Pratt’s comedic timing showed through in the movie, and helped lighten some of the more tense moments. And the way that Michelle and the Cosmo robot were able to connect with very few words was particularly impactful. I started crying during the last scene between Michelle and her brother Christopher (Woody Norman), with Ke Huy Quan’s character PC looking on.

Overall, this was a great movie and I was very entertained. I’m not sure why critics viewed it so negatively. It’s available through Netflix, and I recommend it to sci-fi movie fans who also enjoyed movies like Ready Player One.

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Movie Review: That Christmas

December 15, 2025 By Leave a Comment


That Christmas
Writers: Richard Curtis and Peter Souter
Director: Simon Otto
Starring: Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker, and Bill Nighy
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars (8 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

It’s an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in history alters everyone’s plans, including Santa’s.

Anything is possible when Santa comes to visit.

Wellington-on-Sea was such the perfect setting for this tale that I wished it were a real town. I loved the friendly relationships between many of the members of this small town as well as the many inside jokes about their community and lives that they shared with viewers. Their playful senses of humor worked beautifully for the Christmas season, especially when not everything necessarily went according to plan. Viewers who are already at least somewhat familiar with British culture will also find some great cultural references here, although understanding them is not required in order to understand the plot.

This movie would have been stronger if it had focused on a smaller number of storylines, and I’m saying this as someone who enjoyed all of the subplots. There simply wasn’t enough time to develop all of them fully, so I wasn’t quite satisfied with any of them in the end. A few plot lines were left dangling, and others were only able to briefly hold the audience’s attention as their most important moments were resolved.

I liked the modern spin on the holiday season that was shown here. It included characters from many different types of families as well as an exploration of who should and shouldn’t be counted as naughty for Santa’s purposes. That meant that a wide range of perspectives were included, from kids who knew they deserved to be on the good list to those who really struggled with the holidays and everything in-between.

That Christmas was a jolly ride.

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Movie Review: Meet Me Next Christmas

December 8, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Meet Me Next Christmas
Writers: Camilla Rubis and Molly Haldeman
Director: Rusty Cundieff
Starring: Christina Milian, Devale Ellis, and Kofi Siriboe
Publisher: Netflix
Genre: Romance, Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars (6 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Astilbe

In pursuit of a fairytale romance with the man of her dreams, Layla must race through New York City to get her hands on the hottest ticket in town: the sold out Pentatonix Christmas Eve Concert.

True love makes everything a little better.

I adored the chemistry between Layla and her romantic interest. They shared similar playful personalities and were both incredibly kind and generous people as well. It was nice that they both had so many opportunities to shine as this film progressed as they weren’t the sort of people who would generally draw attention to themselves on purpose. They needed a little more time to open up to the viewers, but it was well worth the wait.

There was a plot hole involving Layla’s desperate need for a ticket to a Pentatonix concert that I did wish had been explored in greater depth. Couldn’t she have gone to the venue without the ticket and still looked for James in the lobby or left a message for him with the employees at the box office there? That’s what I would have done in her shoes, and I was a little puzzled by why this never came up as an option even though I otherwise enjoyed the storyline.

With that being said, this was still entertaining. As a fellow fan of Pentatonix’s music, I loved seeing Layla gush about their songs and try to use that as a way to connect with other people. She was so earnest about her interests that it only made me like her even more. There is definitely something to be said for characters who are this deeply invested in something that matters so much to them.

Meet Me Next Christmas was sweet and heartwarming.

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