Tag Archives: kiernan shipka

Series review: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

15 Saturday Dec 2018

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So I was about 30 seconds into the first episode and I already wanted to punch Sabrina (Kiernan Shipka).
It’s not her fault, it’s just one of those faces…I think.

I found the first 2 episodes to be so cheesy. The ‘romance’ between Sabrina and her boyfriend (Ross Lynch) was hard-to-watch, cringey and her relationship with her besties also turned something in my stomach.

I do quite like all the dark witchy stuff, not Disney’s PG crap.
Might’ve played a bit too much on Satan for a few viewers but I enjoyed it. It really spoke to the edgy teenage girl inside me.
This makes me mad but I actually kinda like the series.

Overlooking the cringe, the shots were quite pretty and the characters actually have a personality, nothing vanilla about them (except maybe Sabrina’s friends and boyfriend).
Each episode is different from the last, there’s no sense of repetition.
There is an interesting story in every one of them with of course the main plot running throughout, but not solely focusing on that.

I love Salem, however I must admit I miss the old queer talking cat from the original series (he was bisexual I swear).
The new cat is completely adorable, don’t get me wrong, and he helps with getting through all the cheese but as he lacks a voice, he also lacks a personality and that’s a shame. I am still grateful he is in the series though, I’m not sure if I could handle it if he wasn’t.
Well him and Michelle Gomez. She plays Madam Satan/ Mary Wardwell, and honestly needs to be given more screen time. I don’t need to say much about her, she’s self explanatory; a treasure of modern day TV.

The second season (if there is one) is going to suck, because they always do, but also because I believe the writers are pouring all of their creativity into this season, it’s quite full on.
It’s at a pace that would be hard to match, especially if all the main characters have already been introduced and Sabrina has already gotten over her teenage angst.
I think next season will completely stray off path and have nothing to do with season 1, or become a knock off of Charmed. Or alternatively, they will just drag on their original story as much as they can for another 12 episodes.

The Diagnosis:

To sum up, for me this series is cheesy, pretentious and I kinda hate it but annoyingly I can’t stop watching it.

  • Charlie Owen

Movie review: The Blackcoat’s Daughter

02 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by in Movie review

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The Blackcoat’s Daughter churns away at the soul and the psyche with a slow and effective grind that resonates deeply.

Osgood Perkins directorial debut which he also penned may not be for everyone with a pace that is so slow you’d be forgiven for that thinking that you were positively stationary.

What lifts this above most standard fare is the performances of Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) who continues to show a level of maturity that belies her age and Emma Roberts (Nerve), who is also carving a strong career path with her film choices.

Told in two separate timelines that isn’t revealed until the climax, we initially follow Shipka’s Kat, a freshman who is waiting for her parents to pick her up from a prestigious boarding school for the holidays.

Surrounded by snow in a wintry climate that is reminiscent of Let The Right One In, Kat becomes increasingly more aloof and her behaviour more peculiar as a result.

Her sense of isolation is further exasperated as she fails to connect with the nuns at the school and the only other student on the premises, Rose (Lucy Boynton) who is herself too consumed with her own pregnancy that she fails to see Kat’s shrinking from the world and inner turmoil.

Meanwhile, Roberts’ Joan is making her own journey towards said boarding school where she is offered a lift by two parents grieving for the loss of their daughter.

The father seems sympathetic to Joan’s plight as if he recognises his  own daughter within her. The irony being that she is far from it and actually the perpetrator of his daughters death.

The struggle of human connectivity or lack thereof is front and centre of this film as the characters are minimal on number and those that we do see are so trapped in their own world that it’s no wonder that Kat is drawn to the darkness that surrounds us all and bows to the whims of a being that lurks beyond our own existence.

Perkins first attempt in the directors chair certainly impresses and it will be interesting to see what he does next as his vision feels like a strong one and for that he’s made a fan from this writer.

  • Paul Farrell