Warning: Contains Spoilers for A League of Their Own (1992 film) and A League of Their Own (2022 Amazon Prime Video series). I have fond memories of Penny Marshall’s 1992 film, A League of Their Own , so when I heard that a new series was being put out on Amazon Prime Video I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch it. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big Abbi Jacobson fan. I loved Broad City (and if you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend her podcast, “A Piece of Work”), but the show’s trailer features Jacobson running to catch a departing train, much like the iconic film scene with Lori Petty and Geena Davis. Was the series just going to be a carbon copy of the original film with new actors? I hoped not. Turns out, it wasn’t. I gave the new show created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson a watch, then went back and revisited the 1992 film to examine what works (and maybe what doesn’t). Rather than reboot the movie’s main story, the new Amazon series has the opportunity to tell other stories that weren’t included in the original film. It specifically makes a point to have two main characters: Abbi Jacobson as Carson Shaw, a white housewife (who plays catcher), and Maxine “Max” Chapman, a Black pitcher who is not allowed to try out for the women’s team and takes a factory job in hopes of playing for the company team. (Max is played by the excellent Chanté Adams). The only nod in the original film to players of other races is a brief scene where a Black woman throws a ball back to Dottie from the stands and it is a noticeably strong throw. She doesn’t speak, only nods. And that's it. The AAGPBL (All-American Girls Professional Baseball League) was segregated but we never touch on that issue for the rest of the film. Not only does the series feature a Black main character with her own plotline, character arc, and struggles to overcome, but it also showcases players of Cuban and Mexican descent and it doubles down on the decision to make both of its leads queer individuals. This is a lot to tackle but it makes for far more interesting characters that viewers can identify with and root for throughout the series. In the film, the idea that the players needed to attend “charm school” and be pretty for fans watching the games was played for laughs. Jon Lovitz’s “Ernie the Scout” all but leaves Marla Hooch behind based on her looks alone. Later, the women on the team give Marla a “makeover” and some alcohol, and BOOM! She instantly finds the man she wants to marry. In the show, the ideas of charm and feminine beauty are not only points of contention but methods of survival. Canadian player Jess McCready (Kelly McCormack) looks “too queer” and is going to be thrown off the team until other players come to her rescue. Every day, Jess pays a “fine” to her team’s chaperone for wearing pants, something that is strictly against the rules. In the film, the Rockford Peaches are never openly questioned about being anything but heterosexual. Doris (Rosie O’Donnell) has a photo of her “not-very-nice” boyfriend back home. She defends him though by talking about how all the other guys at home made her feel like a “weird girl, a strange girl, or not even a girl,” just because she could play baseball. But now after meeting the players on her team, she has gained enough self-confidence to rip up his picture. While Penny Marshall’s film never directly commented on the player’s sexuality, O’Donnell has stated in interviews that she always perceived her character Doris to be a lesbian. In the film, Doris and Mae (played by Madonna) are best buds from New York - Mae was a dancer at a club and Doris was a bouncer. In the series, D’Arcy Carden ( The Good Place, Barry ) plays Greta, who holds a bit of Mae’s essence with some Dottie thrown in for good measure. Greta is beautiful, smart, confident and at times, a persistent flirt; but it turns out, she is also queer. The Yin to Greta’s Yang is Jo, played by Melanie Field. While Jo presents as more openly gay than Greta, she also plays “by the rules.” There are certain things that Jo and Greta have learned over the years that prevent them from being openly queer. This is after all, still the 1940s. The major plot point in the series is when Greta kisses Carson one night and thus, changes everything Carson previously believed about herself. Heading into the series, one of my main concerns was how could they ever replace Tom Hanks as the team’s coach, Jimmy Dugan? Turns out, they couldn’t and they didn’t even try. Before he gets hired to manage the Rockford Peaches, Jimmy is an alcoholic ex-player who washed out his baseball career by drinking too much and injuring himself. He sets the tone by entering the locker room drunk before the first game and taking one of the longest pees recorded in history. Dottie has to make the lineup from the very beginning. Jimmy sleeps their first game away in the dugout and he still gets credit for “coaching.” In the show, Nick Offerman plays Dove Porter, a buffoon who also takes credit for things he doesn’t deserve and seems to care little about his players. The only player who bonds with him is Mexican pitcher Lupe García (Roberta Colindrez), who Dove views as a potential protégé. The announcer dubs Lupe the “Spanish Striker” to make her more “accessible” to the fans. Dove tries to get Lupe to adopt his signature pitch, even to the detriment of her playing. He comes across as mean-spirited and spiteful when his players try to offer suggestions for coaching. It makes him seem just as bad as the catcalling and taunting men in the stands. He doesn't think the women's league is “real baseball.” It’s a different way of tackling the plotline of a coach who isn’t there for his team. While Jimmy was often hungover early in the film, he actually had good advice for his players. He eventually comes around to Dottie and starts taking a real interest in his team. On one of his more sober days, Jimmy catches Dottie signaling to Marla and disagrees with her call. This is the turning point in the film. He starts actually coaching and he starts actually caring. On the flip side, unlike Jimmy, halfway through the show’s season, Dove accepts another coaching position for a men’s minor league team and no one is hired to replace him. Carson gets the opportunity to prove to the players that they can coach themselves. When Dove goes missing, Carson and Lupe must work together which often creates friction. The friction between Lupe and Carson seems uncalled for until Lupe finally confides in Jess that she feels everything is given to Carson because she is White. Lupe’s main argument is, “I don't want to just be a really good Latin player. I am a really good baseball player.” Lupe is one of the strongest examples of a player who just wants to be taken seriously, so much so, she plays through pain and injury. Carson worries that Lupe may be looking to leave the Rockford Peaches for another team when she sees her speaking to another team’s player. She follows Lupe one night and discovers an underground queer bar where Lupe is meeting a ballplayer from another team, for a date . Lupe isn’t looking to leave the Peaches after all. Jess is there too, and she helps Carson connect the dots. Lupe and Jess help Carson navigate her own burgeoning sexuality without judgment (only a few teasing questions about Greta). Rosie O’Donnell pops up as the bar’s owner and converses with Carson, whose mind is officially blown. “Good thing your sister bailed you out,” seems to be the central theme of the original film: sibling rivalry. Kit (Lori Petty) struggles to measure up and prove herself beyond being “Dottie’s sister.” This plot point works in tandem with the women who were trying to prove themselves to America that they too could play baseball and play it well. Something that always bothered me about the film was the idea that Dottie is so reticent to revisit her past as a ballplayer. When she is invited to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new exhibit about the AAGPBL at the Baseball Hall of Fame she tells her daughter it just “wasn’t that big of a deal to me.” That seems like a load of BS. And it is. But we have to watch the rest of the film play out to see how important playing baseball really is to Dottie. There is no pretense like Dottie’s in the Amazon series. Carson Shaw is so ecstatic to finally be able to play baseball for real that no one would ever doubt her love of the game. It grounds the show in a way that I think was really needed. These women are connected by a love of the sport but also by realizing how special and crazy an opportunity it is to play at the time. In the film, the owner of the Chicago Cubs (and candy bar empire “Harvey Bars''), Walter Harvey, persuades his fellow owners to bankroll a women's league. He puts Ira Lowenstein (David Strathairn) in charge. Mr. Lowenstein asks the Rockford Peaches to do “something spectacular” for Life magazine in an effort to boost ticket sales and save the League. Just as the Peaches enter the playoffs he learns that since America is “winning the war” (WWII) there will be no need to extend the women’s league next season. He hopes to prove Mr. Harvey wrong and he pins his hopes on Dottie as his star player. As the Peaches win more and more games, Dottie enters the spotlight and you see Kit grow jealous again. For a while, she was making a name for herself, but now she’s back in Dottie’s shadow again it seems. When Dottie recommends taking Kit out before the end of a game it is the final straw. “It’s like at home. It’s like if you’re here, I’m not here,” Kit says. Dottie thinks the solution to the problem is to leave the team and go home. But instead, Mr. Lowensen trades Kit to the Racine Belles. A more somber moment in the film is when someone shows up to deliver a telegram from the war department. We get scared that it might be to deliver the message that Dottie’s husband is dead, but it’s Betty Spaghetti’s (Tracy Reiner). There are no real stakes like this in the new series. Max’s beloved best friend is Clance (Gbemisola Ikumelo), an aspiring comic book writer who does not play baseball but also seems to not fit the mold of a traditional housewife in the 1940s either. Clance tries to comfort her husband who is afraid of leaving for the war but we never witness anyone’s death in the series. Dottie seems to argue with Jimmy that once her husband comes home from the war she will have no problem leaving baseball but Jimmy argues that she plays “like she loves it.” Later Dottie’s husband returns home injured but very much alive and Dottie must decide whether to go home or stay for the world series. Jimmy is angry that she is just going to leave. She says it “just got too hard,” to which Jimmy replies, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” In the series, while the players are suffering the highs and lows of playing the game, they are also experiencing the highs and lows of new relationships. Carson and Greta finally get the chance to share a room during an away game where Carson shows the overeagerness and nervousness of someone’s first time having sex who is afraid of messing it up. Greta frames their relationship in terms of others she has had. She feels that Carson will be able to go back to her husband after the season is over and that she and Jo will go to California. Carson isn’t so sure it will be that easy. In our other heroine’s story, Clance has no idea that her best friend Max is also gay. A double date is suggested with Clance and her husband and a friend, Gary, who is interested in Max. Max is only interested because Gary plays for the factory baseball team. When the date ends badly, Max returns home and overhears her parents arguing about her aunt (who is gay) and how Max could also “become an invert.” When Max finally meets her Aunt Bertie she discovers that Bertie is trans. Meeting her “Uncle Bertie” scares Max so much that she tries to make peace with her mom and Gary, even if she is lying to herself. The plotline of “lying to oneself to fit in” is seen throughout the show for both Carson and Max, and they eventually find each other through their common love of baseball. That might be the most far-fetched plot device of the series, but the two are introduced when Max catches Carson and Greta kissing. Their shared secret of “otherness” bonds them before Carson ever knows that Max is also gay. Up to a certain point, Max was comfortable having secret trysts with married women. But once she is confronted with her family member living as a man (but excommunicated from the rest of her family) she must come to terms with her views and biases. When Max finally introduces her best friend Clance to her Uncle Bertie, Clance calls him a freak. She might as well be calling Max one too. She doesn't know her best friend as well as she thinks. As some of the Peaches get ready to go to the underground queer bar across town, Max decides to go to a party at Bertie and Gracie’s house. They are having their own queer Black salon and it is joyous and diverse but overwhelming for Max. Meanwhile, in the bar, Greta and Carson get to hold hands “in public” for the first time. But instead of letting everyone enjoy this win, the club gets raided by police. Greta and Carson manage to escape but without Jo. This incident only confirms all of Greta’s fears. Judy Garland's Dorothy repeats, “There’s no place like home,” while we are forced to watch Rosie O’Donnell’s character get beaten by police. It’s brutal. Jo is brought home by policemen and she’s also been badly beaten. As a result of her arrest, she gets traded to another team, the Blue Sox. In the movie, the team’s chaperone, Miss Cuthbert (Pauline Brailsford), is only played for laughs (and sometimes very mean ones at that). But in the show, the team’s chaperone, Sergeant Bethany, is one of my favorite characters and that is no doubt because of Dale Dickey’s performance. Dickey does a great job of humanizing Bethany, giving more depth to her character than the chaperone in the film. At first, she seems like an incredible hardass (and she is), but in time, she offers guidance and proves to be someone who is entirely on the team’s side throughout the season more than they ever realize. Sergeant Beverly pays off the police to avoid them arresting Jo. While she is forced to go to another team, Jo takes this as a chance to not be afraid. She doesn’t want to throw away all she has accomplished throughout the season. Greta is scared for her and tries to convince her to run away together like they usually do, but Jo leaves to join her new team. Unlike Kit’s departure for the Racine Belles, the rest of the Peaches shed real tears when Jo is forced to leave her team. They are sad to see her go and will miss their friend. The raid at the bar shakes Greta to the point that she breaks up with Carson just as Carson’s husband Charlie arrives in town from the war. The bad part is Charlie seems like a good guy. Seeing him and Carson together you can tell they have a shared history and are great friends. He’s such a good guy that he didn’t tell Carson he got the letter that she wrote him while drunk with Greta, all those months ago at the start of the season. Across town, Max wakes up after her uncle’s house party and wants to track down the woman she danced with all night, Es (Esther). The real stunner is when she finds out the woman she met plays on a men's baseball team. Not only does she play, but she’s also a pitcher. Initially jealous and angry, Max realizes her feelings are really all towards herself. She apologizes to Esther before the game and she defends her Uncle Bertie to Clance. During the game, Es fakes a shoulder injury but they do not have enough players to complete the game. She points to Max in the stands as a fill-in. Max puts on such a good show striking out the other team that she is offered a spot to play. The climax of the original film comes when the Peaches make it to their final game against the Racine Belles and Dottie returns. In the last inning, Kit, now playing for the Belles, must bat after giving up runs in the previous inning. She’s shaken up by Dottie’s strong performance. Dottie prompts Ellen Sue to throw high fastballs at Kit. Kit strikes out for the first two, but hits the third hard and runs for home. Dottie catches it but Kit slams into her and she drops the ball. The Peaches lose and are devastated while the Belles cheer and hoist Kit into the air. After everything, Mr. Harvey agrees to continue the league next season. When he offers Jimmy a job coaching AAA baseball, Jimmy turns it down to keep coaching the Peaches. The film culminates with the older version of Dottie meeting her teammates again before they are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jimmy Dugan has died. Ellen Sue starts singing the song Evelyn wrote all those years ago and many women join in just as Kit shows up with her whole family to make peace with Dottie. For Dottie, the journey of the film was to help her realize how truly special and important playing baseball was to her, but not more important than her relationship with her little sister, Kit. In the series, while we do not have competing siblings, we do have Lupe and Esti González (Priscilla Delgado). Esti is a teenager from Cuba who initially only speaks Spanish. When she joins the Peaches, she is relieved and excited that Lupe speaks Spanish. Instead of welcoming her, Lupe tries to distance herself from Esti, often scolding her to try to speak English and fit in. It’s an interesting dynamic because of the way Lupe is critical of her White teammates. At times she softens, trying to help Esti, only to change abruptly and push her away again. Jess is the bridge between Lupe and Esti that sees Esti as a little sister and takes her under her wing. Esti looks to Lupe for help and guidance and just wants to be included, to be a part of the team. One of the best aspects of Jess is that while she doesn’t talk much she seems to notice quite a bit. After their car breaks down, Jess walks to go “get a part from the mechanic,” leaving Esti and Lupe behind to duke it out verbally. When the two finally talk, we learn that Lupe has a daughter that she had as a teenager that she left behind in Mexico, and Esti (painfully) reminds her of her. It’s part of her story as an immigrant that she left behind her family in Mexico in hopes that she could have a better life in America and really “be herself.” Jess returns with some Coca-Colas in hand, all part of her plan to have them work things out in her absence. Lupe is not the only mother on the team. Several of the players have children at home and have been hiding that fact. The show only reveals this information towards the end of the season. It’s interesting to see because several of the players believe they will not be taken seriously in the game if the fans, press, coaches, or even their other teammates, know they have kids at home. One player, Maybelle (Molly Ephraim), tells her judgemental teammate Shirley (Kate Berlant) that she has to learn to accept people as they are. Maybelle’s got kids and has been “living it up hard” while she’s been playing baseball. Shirley, a slightly more neurotic and sheltered individual, says she feels unsafe and betrayed that so many of the Peaches have “secrets.” Shirley goes to see Greta but finds her room packed up and empty after Jo has been traded to another team. Greta is at the train station ready to leave. Carson chases her down and convinces her to stay at least one more week for the championship. When Carson returns to her room, she finds that her roommate Shirley has read a letter Greta left to say goodbye, effectively outting both of them to the more conservative Shirley. In the final episode of the series, we find out that the Peaches have already lost the first two games in the championship and that Charlie is hanging around while Carson tries to think of ways to boost the team’s morale. It isn’t working. They miss Jo and Carson is freaking out about Shirley knowing about her relationship with Greta. Having her husband present is killing Carson’s ability to really be herself and focus on coaching the team. Greta takes her aside to tell her to get her head back in the game and figure out how to actually coach. Carson asks Charlie to go home. He is too much of a distraction. He goes and is pretty understanding about it which is the surprising part. Max and Carson meet up to talk. Max is about to embark on her own journey that she never thought was possible. She is finally going to be paid to play baseball on a team with Es, who she is excited to openly be herself with. This spurs Carson to have the confidence to confront Shirley and rally the team. She eventually reconciles with Greta, who is heading to New York to pursue a new job for the off-season. Carson decides she can't go home to Charlie but she also doesn't want to go with Greta to New York either. She passionately kisses Greta goodbye and turns to find Charlie there on the porch with flowers, looking defeated. We are left with a major cliffhanger. No word yet on whether League will be renewed for another season on Amazon Prime Video. We will have to wait and see. News of some of the real players that inspired the characters in the Amazon series lends gravitas to the series. During a panel discussion at the show’s Tribeca Film Festival premiere, Maybelle Blair, a former player in the AAGPBL who worked as a consultant on the series, publicly came out as gay at the age of 95. She had been open with co-creators Graham and Jacobson, but the show’s positive reception gave her the confidence to finally come out publicly. Blair was quoted as saying, “I think it’s a great opportunity for these young girl ball players to come to realize that they’re not alone, and you don’t have to hide. I hid for 75, 85 years and this is actually basically the first time I’ve ever come out.” Blair was cheered at the panel and a clip of the discussion went viral on social media. Blair’s real-life reaction to the series proves that representation matters. Rather than just rebooting the original, the Amazon series has successfully begun to tell some of the stories that were omitted from Marshall’s film. The addition of more diverse characters is the show’s strength, and I hope we get the chance to watch more of their stories in a second season. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching TV and movies, Diana likes plants, the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school dropout. You can follow her on Instagram @dldimuro and Twitter @DianaDiMuro

Story Screen Reports is our team REACTING to the top 5 film, television and entertainment news stories of the month. Join us as we dissect and comb through everything from upcoming releases to studio drama. On this episode, Diana DiMuro guests to discuss the wildly fascinating and cringe-worthy happenings and reception to Don't Worry Darling's premiere, as well as a few other stories. You can find those stories, and their sourced articles, linked below. 1. DON’T WORRY DARLING REVIEW ROUNDUP Written by Siddhant Adlakha at IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/dont-worry-darling-review 2. D23 NEWS ROUNDUP Written by Sean Keane and Gael Fashingbauer Cooper at CNET D23 Everything Announced: Marvel, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Avatar, Disney Parks and More - CNET 3. AVATAR DIRECTOR SAYS PEOPLE WHO WATCHED IT AT HOME “HAVEN’T REALLY SEEN IT” Written by Ryan Leston at IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/avatar-director-james-cameron-theater-home-tv 4. UNOFFICIAL JOKER PARODY PULLED FROM FILM FESTIVAL Written by Ryan Leston at IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/unofficial-joker-movie-that-featured-bob-odenkirk-pulled-from-festival 5. BLADE RUNNER 2049 SEQUEL SERIES ORDERED BY AMAZON Written by Joe Otterson at Variety https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/blade-runner-2049-sequel-series-amazon-1235373625/ Listen on....

In this episode covering the newly released Clerks III , Bernadette Gorman-White and Robby Anderson talk about their relationships with Kevin Smith and his View Askewniverse, how impressively well-earned the payoff is for knowing these characters for nearly three decades, and what could possibly be next for Kevin Smith. Other notes of discussion include Kevin Smith wrestling with his mortality, the director's career and how this is the perfect ending to his Clerk's trilogy, legacy sequels fatigue and crying. Listen on....

In this episode of Cathode Ray Cast , Bernadette Gorman-White and Reeya Banerjee cover their thoughts and predictions on the upcoming Emmy Awards. In the first half, they go over the Limited or Anthology Series categories as well as a "speed round" for the categories dedicated to Variety and Competition programs. In the second half, they cover the Comedy and Drama categories. Throughout the episode, they also sing The White Lotus ' praises, criticize the comedy categories' lack of cohesion, lament their favorites that didn't get nominated, and speculate on possible upsets. Listen on....

On this episode of Hot Takes , Mike Burdge and Diana DiMuro discuss the recent awk-comedy release from Jeff Baena, Spin Me Round , while also being very respectful to Italian food, drooling over Alessandro Nivola and just repeating lines of dialogue from Zach Woods and laughing. They also talk about the movie, too, so no worries there. Listen on....

Spoilers for Sharp Stick Ahead Even though it’s been twelve years since Lena Dunham has released a film of her own making, she’s never been a stranger in the public eye. Ever since fully arriving on the scene in 2010 with her semi-autobiographical film, Tiny Furniture , Dunham has enjoyed varying degrees of success, but perhaps more prominently, she’s been embroiled in even more controversy: controversy that always finds a way to paint her projects. Deeming herself (through her character, Hannah) in HBO’s Girls , as a “voice of a generation,” Dunham has never shied away from speaking her mind first and apologizing later. This is no different in the response to her most recent film, Sharp Stick . In 2022’s Sharp Stick , Dunham tells a story of a young woman who experiences a radical sexual awakening at the age of 26. Our protagonist, Sarah Jo (Kristine Froseth), lives in LA with her mother and adopted sister (Marilyn, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Treina, Taylour Paige). Marilyn manages the apartment complex in which they live, and the two daughters help to manage the tenants while Treina attempts to become famous on social media and Sarah Jo works as a caretaker to children who are differently abled. Through her work placement, Sarah Jo works with a young boy named Zach (Liam Michel Saux) whose parents are stay-at-home-dad Josh (Jon Bernthal) and pregnant-mom Heather (Lena Dunham herself). After being party to several sexual conversations at home between Marilyn and Treina, Sarah Jo is convinced that it is time for her to lose her virginity, and she sets her sights on Josh to be the man for the job. An affair ensues but quickly falls apart, leading to an even more elaborate sexual journey for Sarah Jo. This type of story isn’t necessarily new, save for the fact that Dunham has claimed that it is, in part, a story about her own struggles with her own hysterectomy. Dunham suffered from endometriosis for years and elected to have a hysterectomy at the age of 31. The character of Sarah Jo, on the other hand, suffered a medical emergency at the age of 15, received an emergency hysterectomy, and went through premature menopause all while most of her peers were just beginning to become sexually active. Between the physical changes in Sarah Jo’s body and the humility and shame that came with her surgical scars, she never felt comfortable enough to physically engage in the formative years of puberty. On paper, and even in Dunham’s understanding of the character, Sarah Jo’s story seems empowering and engaging. But what Dunham believes she was attempting fails to translate. Unlike other films which document female sexual exploration at a young age, like The Diary of a Teenage Girl and Thirteen , Sharp Stick never addresses its failure in presenting Sarah Jo as a 26-year-old woman. Eight years might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things when it comes to a full life, but Sarah Jo’s eight-years distance from when she’s eighteen should feel significant when they absolutely do not. Sarah Jo is coded as an adolescent, despite her career as a caretaker and verbal confirmation of her age. Not to say that fashion and home decor can’t possess a throwback quality (especially for someone in their mid-20s), but Sarah Jo wears an assortment of clothes that could be easily seen on a toddler (or, strangely enough, a quirky Mormon), decorates her room with findings off of the $5 grab-bag rack at Claire’s, and eats ice-cream as if she needs a bib. Froseth’s, and Dunham’s, choices for Sarah Jo are strange at best, and uncomfortable at worst. While watching the film, it’s difficult to find yourself cheering for Sarah Jo because the film sets the audience up to be nervous for her. She’s a woman who needs more than a mother who’s gone through five husbands, and a sister who isn’t sure who’s the father of her baby (that is to say, women who claim to know a lot about sex, but might not be the best at offering objective advice), to get her acquainted with a world from which she has seemingly shut herself off. In fact, the world that Dunham has built for Sarah Jo seems strangely adrift from the rest of the world. The mother and the two daughters orbit each other in a constant state of repetition, each of them, outside of Sarah Jo, only existing in the womb of the home, repeating stories to each other and never seeming to further their stations in life. Sharp Stick exists in a state of stasis, until Sarah Jo breaks free from the norms she’s perpetuated for 26 years. But by the time she’s begun to break free, her coding makes it nearly impossible to watch the film without squirming. In reading about the film post-viewing, the disconnect between screenplay and film becomes clear: Froseth’s first interpretation of the character was of an autistic woman. As she became more acquainted with Sarah Jo, she even reached out to Amy Gravino, an autism sexuality advocate, to help consult and better navigate the transition from page to screen. A deeper explanation of the events leading up to filming can be found in this Variety exclusive , but ultimately, even after the film had been released, a spokesperson for the film had to come forward to say that, “Sarah Jo was never written nor imagined as a neurodivergent woman.” Regardless of intent, it can’t be forgotten that Froseth interpreted the character as one way and then was told to take that aspect out of the character before filming. It's entirely arguable whether or not Froseth completely shook her initial interpretation in the formative study of who Sarah Jo is. The warring of these dual Sarah Jos within Froseth’s acting inhibits the film from being either of its two final products: an exploration of a young autistic woman’s sexual awakening or a semi-autobiographical tale of a woman whose life has been shaped by the trauma of a radical hysterectomy. The disconnect between the two Sarah Jos is also mirrored in the two disconnected halves of the film. Sarah Jo’s affair with Josh implodes at the end of the second act which spurs Sarah to better educate herself in the world of sex as a whole (which she does by way of a sexual experience “dating” site and a self-made A-Z checklist she makes using construction paper and markers to hang on her bedroom wall). By this point in the film, whether or not you’re on board with Sarah Jo continuing on this sexual odyssey, the juxtaposition of school-girl aesthetic and hard-core porn is so overly saturated that Sharp Stick has driven right past any sort of worthwhile commentary. There doesn’t seem to be any critique here, only a story that’s continuing on its manic path, nor is there any consolation for spending time with these characters: no real concern for whether or not any of them get, well…anywhere. (In this third act of the film, you do start to hope that Sarah Jo might spend some real time with Arvin, a male suitor who has accepted one of Sarah Jo’s online sexual advances, but only because Luka Sabbat-as-Arvin is the first real human being to show up in the film.) During a segment where Marilyn is imparting wisdom to Sarah Jo, she tells her that men like drama, they like a story. In the following sequence, Sarah Jo tells Josh the story about how she came to acquire her stomach scars, seducing him by explaining how she and her body became strangers after her hysterectomy. The quick succession of these two scenes makes you wonder if Sarah Jo is even telling the truth. Is she attempting to put Marilyn’s words of “wisdom” to the test? Or is she putting on a show like her sister Treina does for her social media followers? The world we are given in Sharp Stick is supposed to be solid, but it teeters on stacks of unearned confidence: confidence in the characters, confidence in the writing, and confidence in the story. Dunham has mined from her own life for most of her work, but at some point, the telling of personal stories begins to warp, folding in on themselves. There’s no doubt an important story to be told was here, it just didn’t quite make it all the way through. Despite Sharp Stick ’s lackluster material, as a long-time fan of Girls , it’s always a treat to see the cast of actors Dunham has at her disposal. The film does shine for those who are fans of simply watching Berenthal, Leigh, and Dunham's work and there’s an extra bonus for those who are fans of both Girls and FX/Hulu's The Bear , as Ebon Moss-Bachrach shows up to work with Dunham and Berenthal both. It is strange, however, that Janicza Bravo shows up in a film where the opening shot is of Taylour Paige dancing suggestively in a TikTok video, immediately setting the film up for comparisons to 2021’s masterpiece, @zola (both are films where women who embrace sexual power are put in positions of peril). Regardless, Dunham’s choice to cast these specific actors for this project does instill faith in most of her artistic choices. Sharp Stick is the rare film in which there perhaps weren’t enough cooks in the kitchen. Women’s bodies are magical, and what it means to be a woman and identify as a woman is a deeply personal and important journey that all women should be given the grace to experience on their own terms. Dunham’s own journey with her body has been a difficult one, one of which she has written about multiple times. She certainly doesn’t need anyone’s permission, or approval, to write about it in any way she wants. But Sharp Stick isn’t Dunham’s story, it’s Sarah Jo’s, and Sarah Jo barely exists. With a story like Sharp Stick , a story about a woman coming to terms with her body, a story that by its nature should have been easily accessible and identifiable, a connection to the lead character is really all you need. But in Dunham’s inability to craft that connection, Sharp Stick is merely a stab in the dark. Bernadette Gorman-White Managing Editor Bernadette graduated from DePauw University in 2011 with a Film Studies degree she’s not currently using. She constantly consumes television, film, and all things pop culture and will never be full. She doesn’t tweet much, but give her a follow @BeaGorman and see if that changes.

A review of Bodies Bodies Bodies The latest horror film from A24, Bodies Bodies Bodies , has great dialogue, a lot of humor, and feels more like whodunnit Clue than your typical slasher film. The story centers around a group of mostly twenty-somethings who gather together for a house party before a hurricane. When they decide to play a game to pass the time, things begin to go horribly wrong. This is only the third film directed by Halina Reijn, who is primarily known for her acting career. Written by Sarah DeLappe (screenplay) and Kristen Roupenian (story), it features performances by Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, Myha’la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Lee Pace, and Pete Davidson. Before we get into the titular party game, we are introduced to some of the existing tensions amongst the Gen Z friend group gathered at David’s (Pete Davidson) family mansion. David’s girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), along with friends Jordan (Myha’la Herrold), Alice (Rachel Sennot), and Alice’s forty-year-old Tinder date Greg (played by the wonderful Lee Pace) are all enjoying swimming in the pool when Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) shows up with her new girlfriend, Bee (Maria Bakalova). “You never replied to the group text,” is a refrain heard more than once as Sophie is chastised for just showing up at the party unannounced, fresh out of rehab, after seemingly ghosting her friend group as of late. Not only did she not RSVP, but she brought her new girlfriend (and a stranger to the group) Bee with her without asking. Jordan warns Bee to “watch out for her,” referring to Sophie, but not without obvious tones of jealousy. On the ride up to David’s family home, Bee scrolls through the social media accounts of Sophie’s friends saying, “they all seem so impressive.” She does not seem to fit in with the high-rolling party crowd she has now found herself among. Some of the most entertaining parts of the film contain character development and petty-yet-timely dialogue between these “friends.” The cast is great. No matter who ends up in a room together, it’s entertaining. Snippy exchanges between exes Jordan and Sophie, or current couple David and Emma, put the audience on edge long before there is any actual bloodshed on screen. Alice’s (Sennott) comedic timing, even when unintentionally spilling gossip, is impeccable. (If you haven’t seen Rachel Sennott in Shiva Baby do yourself a favor and watch it now). Tensions rise quickly between the party’s goofy host David (Davidson) and the hunky more masculine-seeming Greg (Pace). The party really does seem fueled by alcohol, cocaine, and drama-rama. But after some initial bickering, Sophie asks the group who wants to play the murder mystery party game, “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.” When the hurricane finally hits hard the power goes out and that’s when things in the film really begin. One member of the friend group turns up dead. From that moment on, Bodies becomes an actual murder mystery whodunnit, with our paranoid group constantly mistrusting and second-guessing each other as they struggle to figure out who the murderer actually is. Without electricity, the film is lit by everyone’s cell phones, flashlights, or glow-in-the-dark jewelry as they search the house. It’s foreboding, but it’s also a way to keep the view close-up on its characters. Cinematographer Jasper Wolf worked with director Reijn on her film, Indistinct, and is better known for his work on Monos. In Bodies, Wolf uses those close-up shots to really make the film feel suffocating at times. We are just as anxious as our partygoers as they search the house expecting more horrible things to happen. Without access to the internet, these friends have nothing else to focus on except each other. This is what produces the most disastrous results. Bee (Bakalova) is extremely timid (a huge difference from her performance in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm ), which makes her a wild card among the group, along with the extremely laid-back Greg. It’s entertaining and anxiety-inducing to see these differing personalities up against the more vapid catty attitudes of the rest of the group. While acting as a whodunnit, the film also comments on the idea of social media and being too much online. Its characters craft digital identities and when the power goes out, we get to witness how those personas compare to each character’s actual identity. The ideas of trust and sense of self are tested again and again until the film’s very end. With plenty of neon lights, title cards, and party music, Bodies Bodies Bodies does an excellent job of blending comedy, horror, and mystery to make an extremely entertaining film. Let’s hope we get more from this stellar cast and crew in the future. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching TV and movies, Diana likes plants, the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school dropout. You can follow her on Instagram @dldimuro and Twitter @DianaDiMuro

Story Screen Reports is our team REACTING to the top 5 film, television and entertainment news stories of the month. Join us as we dissect and comb through everything from upcoming releases to studio drama. On our very first episode, Mike Burdge guests to discuss some truly odd happenings over at Warner Bros and HBO MAX, as well as a few other stories. You can find those stories, and their sourced articles, linked below. 1. THE BATGIRL HAS BEEN SHELVED Story by Umberto Gonzalez at The Wrap https://www.thewrap.com/batgirl-movie-dead-warner-bros-discovery-has-no-plans-to-release-nearly-finished-90-million-film/ 2. ABUSE OF VFX ARTISTS IS RUINING THE MOVIES Story by Linda Codega at GIZMODO https://gizmodo.com/disney-marvel-movies-vfx-industry-nightmare-1849385834 3. THE BATMAN 2 NOT YET GREEN LIT, NEXT MOVIE REPORTEDLY YEARS AWAY Story by Ryan Leston at IGN https://www.ign.com/articles/the-batman-2-not-yet-greenlit-next-movie-reportedly-years-away 4. EZRA MILLER APOLOGIZES Story by Brent Lang, J. Kim Murphy at Variety https://variety.com/2022/film/news/ezra-miller-apologizes-the-flash-mental-health-issues-1235341888/ 5. DOUG LIMAN, JAKE GYLLENHAAL TO REIMAGINE MGM’S “ROADHOUSE” FOR PRIME VIDEO Story By Jeremy Kay at ScreenDaily https://www.screendaily.com/news/doug-liman-jake-gyllenhaal-to-reimagine-mgms-road-house-for-prime-video/5173116.article Listen on....

On this episode of Cathode Ray Cast , Bernadette Gorman-White talks with guest Scotty Arnold about their histories with watching the RuPaul's Drag Race franchise, their favorite guest judges and special appearances, the growing pains of testing out a new competition format, and their mutual satisfaction with the reigning Queen of all Queens. Listen on....

Robby Anderson chats with guest, Tim Irwin, about how, "Wow, Prey is really good!" They also discuss the multiple changes to the design of the Predator alien over the years, pitch ideas for other time periods to drop everybody's favorite invisible, stabby dude into, as well as talking about the Predator franchise as a whole, especially the much debated 2004 joint, Alien vs. Predator . Listen on....

WARNING: Contains spoilers for AppleTV+’s Shining Girls and IFC Film’s Resurrection. Do an internet search for “warning signs of domestic abuse” and you will come up with a list that includes: jealousy, sudden mood swings, controlling behavior, making others feel responsible, rigid roles, unrealistic expectations, and isolation. These are all behaviors that Rebecca Hall’s character Margaret has experienced at the hands of her abuser in 2022’s Resurrection. When we meet Margaret she is (we believe) on the other side; she has left her abuse in the past. She is confident and put together. She walks tall and straight. She makes jokes and a room full of people laugh. She closes business deals and has her own large office at a leading biotech company. We watch Margaret as she engages in an affair with a married coworker while her daughter, Abbie, spends the night at a friend's house. Margaret seems to keep others at arm’s length. She’s not looking for commitment, at least, not from anyone outside of her offspring. Margaret is so composed and self-assured until she’s drastically not. While attending a lecture, she recognizes a man sitting a few rows over. There is a complete and utter transformation of Margaret’s face and demeanor that is astounding. Hall does such a magnificent job of completely transforming Margaret’s character and making us feel the absolute terror in the formerly confident and calm woman. It is Hall’s performance, again and again throughout the film, that transfixes the viewer and makes Resurrection worth the watch. In the TV series Shining Girls, Elizabeth Moss plays Kirby, a woman living in Chicago. When we meet Kirby, we can tell that something is seemingly wrong in her life, but we’re not sure what it is yet. Kirby is someone that is hiding in plain sight. She hides in the oversized clothing she wears. She hides behind her headphones, listening to loud punk music while delivering archived articles to reporters at her job at the Chicago Sun-Times. She feels like a shell of a person speaking in breathy whispers. Kirby is the survivor of a violent attack that has left her scarred both mentally and physically. She was viciously stabbed and left for dead one evening, while she was out walking her dog. This experience completely derailed her career aspirations of becoming an investigative reporter. She has spent the time since this experience, living under a new name, in an unassuming job, with her mother, until she notices similarities between her case and the murder of a local woman whose body is found. The similarities of the cuts made on the victim’s body (among other strange details) spark something within Kirby that leads her to further investigate who is behind several other attacks on women in Chicago. Margaret’s daughter Abbie (Grace Kaufman) is about to turn 18 and leave for college. She mostly plays video games, and at times, she drinks a little with friends, but altogether, she is a good kid who does not do anything too crazy. Her mom seems overprotective. We’re not sure why Margaret seems so overprotective until we see the mysterious specter from her past: David (Tim Roth). We do not know who he is to Margaret, we only know that his presence is terrifying to her. When we first met Margaret in the film, we witnessed her coaching a younger intern in a toxic relationship. The intern goes to Margaret in confidence, asking her not to share what she has said. Margaret encourages her to stand up for herself and to say no to her partner’s demands and leave him. This clues us in that she has escaped some form of toxicity in her past. We don’t have any idea what that is until David reappears in her life 22 years later. We are introduced to Kirby’s abuser, Harper, as a middle-aged man who miraculously, does not seem to age. Jamie Bell plays Harper and I think it is one of his most interesting performances to date. With Harper, we are given the opportunity to meet and get to know our villain. We see the circumstances that shed light on his true nature. We understand when he feels he has been wronged or when he feels he is in a position to gain from a situation. There are moments at the beginning of the series when it’s possible to feel sympathy for his character. His love for a childhood friend goes unrequited. He’s poor and has always tried to find money. He returns home from World War I without any medals of honor, but we learn he’s capable of murder. We see no such revealing backstory about David. Our only knowledge of him is when Margaret chillingly recounts to her intern how David groomed a young naive Margaret, how he won over her and her parents until he gained what he wanted: complete control over Margaret’s life. The difference is in how the abusers and the abused seem to affect one another in each story. In Shining Girls, physical things begin to change drastically for Kirby. At first, it is minor: her desk at work is in a different location than she remembers. Then it escalates - her hairstyle and wardrobe change; until we finally watch her come home to her apartment where a coworker is now her husband. Kirby has no memory of marrying him or their life together. We don’t understand how these things are happening to Kirby, but as the series progresses, we realize that they connect her to Harper and his actions. The problem is that Kirby is an unreliable narrator to those around her. She comes off as potentially crazy, damaged by the experiences of her past. It takes several episodes before any other characters even start to believe her. Once Margaret starts seeing David pop up in public places around where she lives and works, some of her old habits begin to resurface. She becomes more and more paranoid and unsure of herself. She is willing to perform “kindnesses,“ a form of psychological and emotional abuse that David proposes to her in exchange for leaving her and her daughter alone. These kindnesses are bizarre at best and completely sadistic at worst. Margaret must walk to work daily instead of driving, barefoot the entire way, or else, David threatens, something bad may happen to her daughter. There is a way of gaslighting that comes so naturally to David’s character. Tim Roth who can seem so handsome and charming in some films is at his worst here and it is one of his best performances. He is manipulative and also a complete and total degenerate human being. His hair is greasy, his teeth are crooked, and he is quick to flash a smirk when he knows he has turned the tables, calling Margaret “Maggie,” and swearing that he only wants her happiness all these years later. David is able to manipulate her and cause her intense fear and paranoia. Despite making statements about their past (and present) that seem completely delusional, he is able to gain control over Margaret. Abbie becomes concerned for the safety and sanity of her mother as she struggles more and more to appease David in an effort to protect her daughter. Margaret never confides in Abbie about what happened between her and David all of those years ago. In Kirby‘s case, she is not alone. Over time, her coworker Dan, a washed-up reporter, begins to believe her. The odd evidence of all of these murders starts to stack up and he has seen Harper, seemingly agelessly reappearing, throughout history and the series. When Harper is finally confronted by Kirby it is a complete shock to his system. Up until that point he has succeeded in feeling powerful over the women he has murdered. Kirby is the lone survivor of his attacks and her survival has triggered something that he cannot control. Not only can he not control the physical change of events happening around them, but there is something that Harper hasn’t felt over all these years: fear and a lack of control. Kirby transforms from a potentially paranoid delusional character to a woman full of quiet rage and determination. It is jarring to watch her make the switch. If you’ve seen Moss in The Handmaid’s Tale , you know what I mean. Once Kirby changes, she becomes a force to be reckoned with. She stands taller, fixed on revenge against Harper for what he did to her and all of the other women he murdered. Even though Moss displays a compelling metamorphosis in Kirby, I would argue that Rebecca Hall‘s transformation in Resurrection is even more impressive. Hall’s Margaret shows complete vulnerability, like a caged animal, afraid of its tormentor returning, and yet, willing to fight to the death to protect her daughter from any harm regardless of the cost. In Resurrection, we always get the story from Margaret’s point of view. Hall’s performance is both breathtaking and devastating. There is a suspension of disbelief that is tested by the audience the further Margaret is pushed by David’s actions. The more she becomes unhinged, the more confident we may become that to a certain degree, some of this may just be inside Margaret’s head. In Shining Girls , the supernatural and fantastical are reality. We witness experiences from other characters’ points of view that only lend validity to the originally unbelievable accounts of Kirby. In the end, she gains control of her life, even though it feels bittersweet. Margaret on the other hand may have lost total control if we believe the film’s end is all a dream or inside her head. In that sense, it feels much more like part of the horror movie genre than Shining Girls ever does. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching TV and movies, Diana likes plants, the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school dropout. You can follow her on Instagram @dldimuro and Twitter @DianaDiMuro

Diana DiMuro and Mike Burdge try to figure out just what in the world is going on with the latest Netflix mega-blockbuster-extravaganza-no-seriously-EVERYBODY-watched-this-trust-us to hit the streamer: The Gray Man . Along the way, they chat about the careers of the Russo Bros, the appeal of just about everybody in this thing, Gosling's Abs vs America's Ass, and more. Listen on....