JR Atkinson

JR Atkinson is a co-founder and editor of Midriff Magazine and Reverberations. She is also a writer and performer based in Brooklyn.
Featured Image

Teen Romance for the Sweltering Summer

There’s a particular teenage feeling of promise to summer for me. School is out, the sun is beating, and the space between June and September seems big enough to live a lifetime in. Even for someone staunchly past teenhood, the tickle of summertime is exciting, Teen Romance For Sweltering Summer and self-transformation– and these are

Read More »
Featured Image

Grand Theft Hamlet

Grand Theft Hamlet is a testament to the relentless and pure desire to make art– it might not be convenient, it might not make sense, it might not even be well-received, but that’s not going to stop those who want to make it. The result is a touching and funny doc that justifies its experiments

Read More »
Featured Image

The Curse

As strange as it is funny and as thoughtful as it is surprising, The Curse is as unique a viewing experience as they come. I was first drawn in by the sharp satire and stayed for the company of its richly envisioned characters. 

Featured Image

20-Something & Figuring it Out: A Post-College Watchlist

I’ve grown accustomed to seeing people my age on screen. The problem is, 23-year-olds are usually playing high schoolers. And while I’ve relished the avalanche of shows and movies about high school’s clique-ridden trials, and even the few that explore college’s rich landscape by College Watchlist, I was ready for something that reflected my own

Read More »
Featured Image

If You Were the Last

Though it’s squarely a rom-com, If You Were the Last will pique the curiosity of the sci-fi lover. It’s a date night movie with an undeniable sweetness that never crosses over to cheesy. 

Featured Image

Fair Play

A psychosexual thriller with equal parts boardroom and bedroom drama, Fair Play has elements of a gender issue parable in the vein of Promising Young Woman while feeling truer to the thriller genre. With plenty of Watercooler-worthy moments, it has already inspired plenty of social media discourse. Get in while the getting’s fresh.

Featured Image

Bottoms

For lovers of the classic teen sex comedy, Bottoms has much to offer: well-played comedy, over-the-top antics, and underdogs to root for. But those in the market for something fresh will be even more rewarded, as the film flips the script on a well-worn genre. Deservedly so, because anyone who’s been an awkward teen girl

Read More »
Featured Image

Telemarketers

Telemarketers mixes stranger-than-fiction characters, high-level mystery, and drug-fueled thrills, with the intrigue of a pulpy true crime flick. It’s as journalistically interesting as it is entertaining. Anyone who’s been on the receiving end of a telemarketing call (which is virtually everyone) is in for a shocking treat, as the scene you might imagine is on

Read More »
Featured Image

The Best of the Barbie Watercooler

This weekend was the biggest of the year for water cooler conversations across the country – and even the world. I saw Barbie on Thursday, the first day it was in theaters in New York City, and I had to get tickets a week in advance.  Part of me was annoyed to be participating in

Read More »

JR Atkinson

JR Atkinson is a co-founder and editor of Midriff Magazine and Reverberations. She is also a writer and performer based in Brooklyn.
Featured Image

Oprah Talks COVID-19

If you need a bit of hope, or want to see how coronavirus is from someone asymptomatic but positive, this is a game changing show.

Featured Image

Better Call Saul

The show may play out against some bleak backdrops, but Bob Odenkirk will draw you in and keep you engrossed throughout this gripping saga.

Featured Image

Last Week Tonight

The show manages to call out hypocrisies and sound alarm bells, but does so with levity and punchlines, giving your head – and stomach – a way to process it all.

Featured Image

The Curse of Oak Island

Part history lesson, part treasure hunt, The Curse of Oak Island will inspire your inner Hardy Boys fan. For the audience, just sharing so many of the highs and lows of the team’s successes and disappointments has built a bond.

Featured Image

Chrissy’s Court

If you’re looking for something funny that you can watch on the go, this is the show for you. Quibi may be gone, but you can still it on Roku Originals.

Featured Image

Baghdad Central

An addictive six-episode thriller set in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq — told from the point of view of a Baghdad police inspector. Upends assumptions and stereotypes while dropping you into the daily drama of life in an occupied city.

Featured Image

Birds of Prey

Star Margot Robbie, director Cathy Yan, and screenwriter Christina Hodson deliver a female-powered, action-packed showcase, not just for Harley Quinn but for several of the most fascinating women in the DC Universe.

Featured Image

Inside Out

With so many of us facing unfamiliar, anxiety-ridden situations today, Inside Out can serve as a useful prompt for the entire family to acknowledge our emotional experiences — sparking insight and helping us cope with change.

2 teen-romance-for-the-sweltering-summer
Featured Image

Summer Escape Binges: The Best Series to Transport You

The best escapist shows and movies with travel and exotic settings.

Featured Image

Teen Romance for the Sweltering Summer

There’s a particular teenage feeling of promise to summer for me. School is out, the sun is beating, and the space between June and September seems big enough to live a lifetime in. Even for someone staunchly past teenhood, the tickle of summertime is exciting, Teen Romance For Sweltering Summer and self-transformation– and these are

Read More »
Featured Image

Round the World: Summer Camp Movies for Grownups

Ah, summer camp. Images of wood cabins, elaborate pranks, cringe-y talent show performances, and teens with raging hormones have filled our brains, thanks to what’s become a subgenre of American & Summer Camp Movies.. But summer camp stories take on different depths depending upon the decade and the country where they’re set, and they can

Read More »
Featured Image

What to Watch with your Roommates

It’s difficult to share your home with someone you don’t share anything else with. But one of the easiest inroads to friendship is television, and one of the joys of living with others is introducing them to the shows you love, and vice versa. Watching Carrie meet Big for the first time with my new-to-the-show

Read More »
Featured Image

A Watercooler Watch: Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything

Before social media and podcasts, there was one undeniable truth about news-making interviews: if a story mattered, Barbara Walters would be the one to tell it. Landing a one-on-one with her didn’t just mean publicity, it meant you had become part of a national conversation. But while the interview signified that you had made it,

Read More »
Featured Image

Universal Language

An absurdist dramedy about the clash of two worlds, Universal Language entertains as much as it motivates. Beyond the madness lies an urgent plea for unity, an appeal that resonates with people hoping for a better, more harmonious future.

Featured Image

Industry S1

Industry is a series fueled by greed, drugs, sex, and money, and provides all of these ingredients in Federal Reserve-sized quantities. There’s never a dull moment.

Featured Image

Minx

The streaming series about the intersection between feminism and smut could endear even the most skeptical. And what it might lack in delicacy, it certainly makes up for in swagger.

Featured Image

The Sympathizer

Told through the perspective of a conflicted hero with contradicting loyalties, The Sympathizer is an ambitious examination of a spy who can’t help but sympathize — hence, the title of the series — with the enemy. It might make you rethink everything you were taught about the Vietnam War too.

Scroll to Top