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Sense8’s Sensibility
Before we get started, I’d just like to take a moment to introduce myself and lay out how things will work here over the next few weeks. I’m the executive editor of, and film critic for, the Washington...
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Sense8’s Insensible Multiculturalism
Early in episode three of Sense8, we see the Nigerian sensate, Ami, as a child. He is talking to his mother, walking down a dirt road. The two see a zeal of zebras, munching on some grass. “I wish I...
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‘Sense8’ (Finally) Starts to Make Some Sense
The closing moments of the seventh episode of Sense8 almost serve as a payoff for the six-plus hours that led up to it. Nomi (Jamie Clayton) and Amanita (Freema Agyeman) have broken into the home of...
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‘Sense8’ Finale: The End is Nigh, Thank God
There’s a moment at the end of the ninth episode of Sense8 that feels like a metaphor for the whole show. It’s not a moment, exactly: It’s a series of moments. Five minutes worth of moments. Five...
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‘True Detective’ Season Two: A Show Confronts its Gender Issues and Tries to...
For the next few weeks, the intrepid Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) will be discussing the new season of True Detective here at Acculturated. Spoiler Alert: Plot points for the first two episodes discussed...
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‘True Detective’ Recap: The Stultifying Effects of Bureaucracy
It seems the second season of True Detective is, at least a bit, about the stultifying effect of systems and structures. When everyone has a different priority—when every bureaucracy is pursuing a...
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True Detective Recap: A Bang, Not a Whimper
This recap discusses the events of episode four of the second season of True Detective. Well, that was some ending, wasn’t it? Before we get to the bloodbath that closed things out last night,...
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Troll Detective: ‘True Detective’ Episode 5 Recap
This post discusses plot points of episode five of True Detective’s second season. I can’t help but feel that True Detective’s Nic Pizzolatto is trolling his critics exceptionally hard on the issue...
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‘True Detective’ and The Lines We Cross
Are we changed by trauma or does trauma simply bring out our true self? That seems to be the most important question of True Detective’s second season, and it’s one we’re asked to consider a couple of...
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‘True Detective’ Season Two Finale Recap
A wise man once said, “Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.” It’s a bleak perspective, perhaps, but...
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Netflix’s Plan to Make America Great Again
Netflix pioneered the unlimited streaming plan, allowing consumers to watch as much content as they could. This offering found a strange echo in the company’s vacation policy, which allows staffers to...
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Nature Always Wins: ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ recap
Our protagonist wakes up in a boarded building, disoriented. He hears noises downstairs and stumbles toward the sound, encountering blood stains along the way. On guard, the faltering young man calls...
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‘Halloween’ and the Death of the Slasher Film
Few films are as influential as Halloween, John Carpenter’s 1978 horror film that essentially invented the modern slasher flick. Historians can argue over Psycho (1960) or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s...
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The Nativity Stories: The Best (and Worst) Christmas Movies Ever
What’s the greatest Christmas movie of all time? Well, before we tackle that question, we have to take a step back and ask what makes a movie a “Christmas movie” in the first place. It’s a trickier...
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