Chealsia Smedley

Chealsia Smedley is a freelance writer living in Slovenia who writes about culture, identity, and her own cross-cultural missteps.
Featured Image

You

Being in the mind of anti-hero Joe Goldberg is just as unsettling and addicting as the serial stalker’s own obsessions. If you’re not put off by that, it’s an entertaining social commentary that questions viewers’ perceptions of good, evil, and who deserves redemption.

Featured Image

Five Binge-worthy Comedies to Bolster Your Dating Life

Stream these off-the-beaten path romantic shows now to satiate and support your quest for love, both on screen and IRL.

Chealsia Smedley

Chealsia Smedley is a freelance writer living in Slovenia who writes about culture, identity, and her own cross-cultural missteps.
Featured Image

Sidney

A stirring documentary about iconic actor and activist Sidney Poitier’s life and its impact — on Hollywood, on Black history, and on American history.

Featured Image

Single? Swiping? Swooning? What to Watch on Valentine’s Day

Remember when we gave Valentine cards to every kid in the class, the teacher, our parents, and saved a handful of candy hearts that said “Hot Stuff” to stuff into our own mouths Watch on Valentines Day?  February 14th used to be about more than just romantic love. To honor its origins in our childhoods

Read More »
Featured Image

Laid Off? 10 Movies to Help You Cope

What to watch when you’ve been laid off? Here are the best movies about getting downsized and starting over.

Featured Image

Norah Jones’ Streaming Watchlist

After three long years, Grammy-winning star Norah Jones is going back on tour. She tells the Watercooler’s Steve Baltin what she’s been listening to and watching — and what she’s up to on her podcast.

Featured Image

12 Book Adaptations to Get Excited About

With each New Year comes a fresh lineup of literary adaptations, and 2023 will not disappoint audiences. Much-anticipated sequels (Dune, Shadow and Bone) finally arrive to satiate followers. Beloved classics (Wonka, The Color Purple) get new spins—and songs. Judy Blume adds another film adaptation to her career as an author, as does Bram Stoker. Whether

Read More »
Featured Image

A Royal Drama to Fill the Meghan and Harry Void: Corsage

Harry and Meghan drama might be waning, but our fixation with all things royalty has not. An Oscar Shortlist for Best International Film, Corsage looks at the first royal celebrity with depth and imagination.

Featured Image

The Oscar Contenders for Best International Film

In recent years, Oscar Nominees Best International Film, the Motion Picture Academy has made a concerted effort to represent more diverse and international perspectives, and the expansion of its membership has put “subtitled films” on the radars of voters — and, in some cases, in contention for the biggest awards. The turning point came just

Read More »
Featured Image

The Seven Faces of Jane

A original take on both anthologies and road trip movies, The Seven Faces of Jane experiments with the “roads not taken” concept by tapping eight different directors, each one using a different genre and a different “Jane.”

Featured Image

Fleishman is in Trouble

A smartly-written, often funny marriage drama, Fleishman is in Trouble will resonate with its honest, sometimes brutal, sometimes subtle portrayal of the ways that a connection can break down.

2 five-binge-worthy-comedies-to-bolster-your-dating-life
Featured Image

Transport Me: Holiday Movies from Around the World

If you and your family are getting tired of the same old Christmas stories year after year, why not dig a little deeper and try these picks from around the world?

Featured Image

From SNL to the Director’s Chair: Kyle Mooney Talks Nostalgia, Freestyle Raps & Y2K

He stood out for hilariously awkward and offbeat SNL characters like the eccentric Bruce Chandling and the painfully relatable Chris Fitzpatrick. Whether parodying cringeworthy YouTube personalities or channeling the overly sincere energy of ’80s public access TV, Kyle Mooney’s knack for finding humor in the bizarre and uncomfortable has always set him apart. Beyond SNL,

Read More »
Featured Image

Romance Me: Meet Your Holiday Streaming Date

Single this holiday season? Luck-y you. You’re free to binge – and fall for – all the charming, seductive, irresistible protagonists across the streamers. Check out these holiday-themed stories for starters.

Featured Image

The Holdovers

A cross-generation comedy drama that’s earned five Academy Award nominations, The Holdovers will tug at your heartstrings as it wrestles with themes of grief and loneliness, and it will ultimately nurture hope.

Featured Image

Dune: Part Two

A mesmerizing immersive experience, Dune: Part Two is a film you won’t quickly forget. From the collective talents of its high wattage ensemble cast to the stunning cinematography, costumes and sound design, its a blockbuster that will stimulate all the senses along with your emotions.

Featured Image

What to Watch (and Avoid) with Friends and Family over Thanksgiving

What to watch – and what to skip – if you’re spending Thanksgiving with kids, teenagers, older generations, or all of them under one roof? Your 2022 Watercooler Guide to holiday movies.

Featured Image

Tokyo Vice

On one level, Tokyo Vice is the story of one man’s kamikaze mission to bring down the Yakuza. But it’s also a mesmerizing noir drama that unfolds into a tense thriller — and ultimately serves as an important reminder that freedom of the press is worth fighting for.

Featured Image

Awards Season Catchup: A Watercooler Guide to Shōgun

An immersive must-watch embraced by critics, the new Shōgun brings a new perspective on the epic historical drama about the battle between East and West in 17th century Japan.

Featured Image

What the Netflix Hit The Diplomat Can Teach Us All

In the midst of all the hype about a dating show (Love is Blind) and a dark, LA-set comedy (Beef), a complex political drama that requires undivided attention rose to the top of the Netflix chart in 2023.  At its core, The Diplomat is a series about bureaucratic machinations, yet the show ups the ante

Read More »
Scroll to Top