NeonRocketship

This series is absolutely fantastic. It's heartfelt and one of the most thoughtful and honest stories about the experience of growing up trans that I've ever watched.

If this was a better world, I would say that it should be shown in schools as a part of a curriculum on tolerance and acceptance.

If you are trans, or you know someone who is and you'd like some insight on what they may be experiencing, or if you're open-minded enough to want to try to understand something that might not make sense to you, I highly recommend watching this series. It's available to stream on Hulu, and it isn't very long - just 8 episodes, none of which I believe were longer than a half hour, and it's definitely worth your time.

It's only in recent years that I've come to realize how short of a window the video rental store had in our culture. If you grew up in the 80's and 90's, it was just a part of your world, no more or less prevalent than fast food restaurants, and the idea that it could all disappear in our adulthood wasn't even a consideration. Only now can we look back and recognize that this iconic part of our childhood, with its own unique feel and culture, was something that could have only existed at a specific time and place, and only for a short time.

This film examines that culture - specifically that of independent rental stores and the ways that they influenced our lives, and it does so in a way that fits what these rental shops were. It's not a sterile history lesson with a Blockbuster Video logo slapped on the cover - it's a collection of stories and memories shared by people who have a genuine love of movies and whose experiences at small, independent video stores have a permanent place in their memory and in their hearts. Watching this reminded me of my own experiences of renting tapes at places like Heights Terrace Video in Hazleton, PA or at the Pantry Quik convenience store near my grandparents house.

I would strongly recommend this to anyone who loves movies. Watching this feels like it felt hanging out at the video store when I was a teenager, and whether you were there to experience these stores or not, I'm confident that it will bring a smile to your face.

I usually like movies that are so bad that they're good. That's not what's going on here. This movie will have you rolling your eyes and saying "oh god" at least once every ten minutes.

This isn't a horror movie. It isn't a slasher. It's not a thriller or suspenseful, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the original Black Christmas. It almost seems as if its primary goal was not to entertain movie audiences, but as cheap bait to prompt childish, name-calling arguments on social media.

If you're looking for something entertaining and empowering, go see Charlie's Angels or Oceans 8. This film isn't scary, or funny, or entertaining, or inspiring. It has no redeeming qualities of any kind.