Tag Archives: netflix

Lindsay Lohan’s Latest Trailer Has Netflix and Fans Falling for Christmas

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Netflix’s new release Falling for Christmas features Lindsay Lohan as a Paris Hilton-like hotel heiress, who ends up with memory loss after a marriage proposal gone wrong. A Good Samaritan, played by Glee’s Chord Overstreet, finds her at the bottom of a hill, takes her to the hospital and offers to put her up at his small-town lodge.

Fans have reacted with joy to the Hallmark-style holiday movie’s trailer and Lohan’s return to acting. One surprising trend can be found on the official trailer on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter: Comments have been overwhelmingly positive.

“I’m actually in tears. This is such a warm welcome back to a Lindsay that I thought we’d never see again. I’m so happy for her and I’m so happy for us x,” wrote S A on YouTube.

“Yesssss Lindsay was my childhood! I’m so ready for her! Let’s pick up where we left off Lindsay, glad to see you back in action 🙂,” wrote fan Colethia Sosa on Facebook.

Even Starbucks got into the act tweeting: “The limit to our excitement does not exist! 💚”

Lohan gifted her supporters the Falling for Christmas trailer on Mean Girls Day (Oct. 3). Many pointed out that the singer actress was performing Jingle Bell Rock in the trailer as a throwback to her seminal film.

“This looks fantastic. As everyone is saying it looks like Lindsey is healthy and happy and back on track to doing the movies that we loved seeing her in. I also love the homage to Mean Girls by using Jingle Bell Rock as the theme!” wrote YouTube user mikeswayiscool.

A few fans noticed the plot resembled that of the classic Overboard, starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Still, they will be watching Lohan as she makes her comeback to feature films.

Aside from Mean Girls, Lohan is best known for the Disney comedies The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. She went through a period of legal trouble starting in 2007, which included a reckless driving charge and multiple stints in rehab. While she has been active in TV series and shorts, this is her first movie since 2019’s Among the Shadows, a werewolf murder mystery.

A romantic comedy, Falling for Christmas is set to be released on Netflix on Nov. 10, 2022. It is a part of a two-movie deal Lohan signed with the streaming giant. The next film in her contract is called Irish Wish. Lohan plays Maddie, who is asked to be a bridesmaid at her best friend’s wedding; her best friend is marrying the love of Maddie’s life.

This article uses affiliate links. If you buy something through an affiliate link, a small portion of what you pay goes to our website. The best part is it doesn’t cost you anything extra.

I wrote this as part of a job application. I didn’t get the job. It probably didn’t help that I spelled “Lindsay” wrong. (I corrected it so it is “Lindsay.”) Maybe next time.

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Dead to Me Season 2 through Episode 4: If The ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ and 2020 Had a Baby

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When ‘Dead to Me’ season 2 started filming in Sep. 2019, coronavirus didn’t exist, and 2020 was still in the future. So, how the writers came up with a show that is a simile for the entire year and what we’re all going through is a mystery. Think of Steve as the coronavirus, which leads to a discussion of how long they would have to stay in the house together. The writers have created a simile for everything that has happened and combined it with Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” (affiliate link) creating something new and amazing. ‘Dead to Me’ season 2 continues to provide surprises, even if one of them is straight from a soap opera. It also provides disaster upon disaster.

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‘Outer Banks’: Faux-Teens, Family, and the Search for Treasure

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As with a majority of teen dramas, the actors portraying the teens of ‘Outer Banks’ are in their 20s with Chase Stokes being the oldest of the main troupe at 27! Stokes’ John B. is a 16-year-old headed to foster care after the disappearance of his father who was looking for the gold from an old sea-wreck. He lives on the poor side of the Outer Banks and runs with his Pogues. There’s plenty of teen drug use and violence, with fists and the occasional gun being used to solve problems. There are also a couple of scenes of teen sex, but they don’t get too graphic. Clothes remain mostly in place.

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What would America’s ‘The Calling’ look like?

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After watching “The Calling” on Netflix, I wondered what the show would look like in the U.S. First, I think there would be a lot more game playing and strategizing than there has been through the first seven episodes of the Indian incarnation of the show. That would take away from the appeal of the show because “The Calling” is at its best when the three contestants are helping each other and taking their individual strengths into consideration, rather than just focusing on winning.

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‘The Calling’ Explores India and Competition in Reality TV Show

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Netflix’ reality game show “The Calling” pits three Indians against each other in a test of skills and personal knowledge of each other as they travel India checking items off their bucket list and earning miles toward the Grand Experience and a scholarship. Preethi, Guarav, and Atmaj are the lucky contestants who are traveling together and, at least up through episode seven, nominally competing against each other.

Each almost-30-minute show begins with a challenge related to the area they have traveled to. One show, they tied ribbons on Yak horns. Another show, they tried to steal pineapples while dodging arrows shot by local hunters. The winner of the challenge gets 1,000 points and the grand experience for that show.

The losers of the challenge must curate an experience for the winner based on two choices given them. Once the two experiences are over, the winner chooses who made the better experience. That person gets to go to the grand experience with the winner and 900 miles. The person, who’s experience isn’t chosen, gets 800 miles. At the end of the season, the person with the most miles will get a scholarship.

This show works as a quick showcase of India and the possibilities of tourist travel. It also exposes parts of Indian culture that people may not be aware of. It doesn’t work as much of a competition because the dynamics of the three travelers tends to make them friends first and competitors second. It would be difficult for three people who competed in a cutthroat manner to travel together, Preethi, Guarav, and Atmaj are aware of this.

However, through the course of their travels, each of them faces very personal challenges, and they need the support of their traveling companions to overcome the problem. In one episode, the support actually led to the person having the problem winning the challenge. It’s inspiring and nice, and it challenges what Americans know from their own reality shows. “The Calling” shows that people can compete and do so with integrity, respect, joy, and compassion. Preethi, Guarav, and Atmaj are enjoying each other’s company and the experience while having fun.

‘Dead to Me’: Cancer Risks and Human Psychology

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If you haven’t binged “Dead to Me,” yet, it’s time to start. The short episodes featuring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini pack a punch. They are witty, dark and amazing. Bookmark this page and come back to it after you’ve seen the series. There are spoilers after the trailer.

Jen (Christina Applegate) found out she had the breast cancer gene and decided to undergo a double mastectomy to protect her family from the pain and suffering she went through when her mother died early due to breast cancer. She does this because she has seen the stress and sorrow that breast cancer can cause. Yet, Jen still smokes and drinks a lot, so while she has reduced the cancer risk due to her genetics, she has increased her overall cancer risk due to lifestyle choices. And it’s an unfortunately too realistic portrayal of decisions people make every day.

At first glance and with deeper thinking, it may seem like Jen’s decision to smoke and drink is in direct opposition to her decision to have a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of cancer. After all, smoking causes cancer, and recent studies have shown that alcohol is the cause of “several types of cancer.” It should be a no-brainer for Jen to give up these vices; instead, she dives headfirst into them.

In some ways, having a double mastectomy is the easier decision because it only has to be made once. There is a lot that goes into that decision, but once it’s made and the procedure is done, there’s no going back. Someone who should quit smoking or drinking needs to make the decision to not participate in those activities every day. Sometimes, the addiction is bad enough that an active decision needs to be made several times a day. It’s not just one decision and it’s over. Instead, it’s a continuous process of decision-making that doesn’t get easier.

Smoking and drinking are socially acceptable. Having a smoke or drink with someone is a way to bond with that person. Jen is in a position where she needs a support system. These activities are a socially acceptable way to make interactions easier.

Smoking and drinking provide solace and improve mood. Jen is facing the death of her husband and the problems that come with it. Alcohol is a depressant, which would make it easier for her to sleep at night. Smoking provides a comforting habit while producing a positive-emotion effect. Both these things are helping her deal with her sadness, her feelings and the tragedy she has experienced.

Regardless of her personal experience, Jen has fallen into the trap that many people succumb to. She doesn’t believe that smoking or alcohol will harm her in the long run. She experienced the death of her mother due to cancer, but that cancer was ostensibly caused by the BCRA gene not by other behavioral and environmental factors. While the cause of cancer is often more complicated than people want to believe, it’s easier to have a procedure done than it is to change behavior and overcome the addictiveness of nicotine and alcohol.

‘Dead to Me’: No One Drops the F-Bomb like Christina Applegate

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Most of the time when people curse, it’s not pleasant or natural. It’s like they’re trying too hard to make a point: I’m cool, I’m down to earth, I’m angry, I don’t give a rip what others think… (probably should have put a swear word in there.) The words spew forth like so much phonic vomit with no care for art or lyricism. Christina Applegate’s Jen in “Dead to Me” is the exception.

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‘Oblivion’: Come Face-to-Face-to-Face with the World’s Worst Nightmare

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With a plot as predictable as “Oblivion’s,” telling you that this article contains spoilers is questionable. After all, if you know what’s going to happen, me telling you isn’t really a spoiler, is it? It seems as ridiculous as this movie and its ending. Still, there may be spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen “Oblivion,” yet. I would suggest avoiding it altogether, and with a domestic gross total of just under $90 million for this 2013 release, it appears that’s what many people did.

That doesn’t mean that “Oblivion” is without merit. Sure, it may leave you wondering how Tom Cruise continues to get acting jobs and why Morgan Freeman decided to get mixed up in this 2-hour sleep pod. The film may even have the same effect on you as a sleep pod.

Still, it does give you cause to ponder and imagine thousands of Tom Cruises coming out of a spaceship on a mission to eradicate humanity from the planet, or at least, destroy enough people to make the planet harvestable. If the idea of thousands of Tom Cruises as an invading army doesn’t give you nightmares, I’m not sure what will.

The stunning visuals and effects were wasted on Cruise and his lack of acting ability. There wasn’t even a good running scene – he does run, but the angle that it’s filmed from doesn’t allow you to make too much fun of it. The movie’s end scene, which was supposed to be touching and beautiful, had me laughing out loud as “Oblivion” slipped into the absurd one final time.

‘Dead to Me’: The Measure of Womanhood

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If you haven’t binge-watched “Dead to Me,” what are you waiting for? With episodes coming in at under 30 minutes, you’re getting a series that can fit in with almost any schedule, and every episode packs a punch of drama, comedy, pathos and the exploration of psychology that comes with it. Bookmark this page, go watch the show and then come back here for the discussion. Spoilers are below the trailer.

Jen (Christina Appplegate) found out she had the gene related to breast cancer and got a double mastectomy (Applegate went through the procedure IRL in 2008) to save her family the trauma of what she went through when her mother died. (She still smokes heavily, but that’s for a different blog post.) After the surgery, her husband stops being intimate with her, and unbeknownst to her, he finds a younger woman with larger breasts to start a relationship with. He told this girl that he was a widower and his wife died from breast cancer.

While Judy’s (Linda Cardellini) case is a little more complicated, she says her fiancé left her after she had her fifth miscarriage. He couldn’t deal with the pain or the letdowns, and he wanted to have a family at some point.

These two experiences are parallel. As the two women have their womanhood and desirability called into question when they, for all intents and purposes, lose the body parts that make them female. Is Jen any less worthy of her husband’s love after she sacrifices for the sake of her family’s future? Is Judy less deserving of love because she hasn’t been able to bring a child to term?

Most people would say “No,” probably including these two women’s husbands before the procedure and the miscarriage had the hypothetical been asked of them. For all of American society’s supposed advances in rights and body image, the U.S. still values women for how they look and their ability to bear children. Nowhere is that point made better without it being preached than in “Dead to Me.”

2 Episodes in: ‘Dead to Me’ and the M-word

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To avoid any spoilers for “Dead to Me,” I have intentionally kept the subject of this post out of the title. That may mean fewer page views, but ultimately, it means better viewer service. If you’ve already seen “Dead to Me,” then feel free to scroll past the trailer. If you haven’t, I’m not sure what you’re waiting for. Go watch it and then come back to this article. You can book mark it. It’ll be here when you come back.

According to the Mayo Clinic, between 10 and 20 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage. Miscarriages are rarely addressed in American culture. It’s almost as if superior medical practices and technology have made miscarriages a thing of the past. As an overlooked problem, and one that is often attributed to the woman and her lack of womanhood, it may be difficult for women to find a place that can help deal with the emotions a miscarriage may instill.

Judy (Linda Cardellini) has had five miscarriages, but this isn’t sufficient enough loss for some members of the grief support group to accept her after she has lied about her fiancé. It’s clear from a flashback that Judy’s grief comes from another place as well, but the group members don’t know about it. They just know she lied.

Not everyone handles their grief in the same way, and when something as personal as a fifth miscarriage is the cause, the woman may displace her feelings and choose to deceive to get the help she needs without exposing the reality of her situation. “Dead to Me” does a beautiful job of dealing with this emotional situation, touchy subject, and the psychology that comes with it.