QUEENPINS – Review by Marina Antunes

For some, couponing is a thrill. For others it’s a necessity. For Connie Kaminski and her best friend Jojo Johnson, it’s a multi-million dollar business enterprise. Written and directed by the husband and wife team of Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly, Queenpins stars Kristen Bell as Connie, a former Olympian and suburban housewife who finds solace in couponing and stockpiling, while Kirby Howell-Baptiste is Jojo, the victim of identity fraud whose life has been so badly damaged by said fraud that she’s been forced to move back into her mother’s home and is trying to make a name for herself as a YouTube star.

Read more

FROZEN II – Review by Susan Granger

Based on a story by Chris Buck, Marc E. Smith, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez – which traces its antecedents to Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” – it’s written by Jennifer Lee, who did the first installment, and co-directs with Chris Buck, once aging focusing on Anna and Elsa as self-reliant, resilient role-models for young girls.

Read more

VERONICA MARS, Season Four – Review by Martha P Nochimson

In its first three seasons, Veronica Mars was widely regarded as a sparkling feminist television series. Well, its fourth season, airing on Hulu, would seem to unmask the show as creator Rob Thomas’ 21st century version of the kind of backlash entertainment that appears right on cue whenever women make new strides toward independence, personhood, and realization of their talents and goals. Like running for president and “me too”? Suddenly, Veronica has emerged as a sinister warning to any girl who would be her own person while female. And in a very big way.

Read more