Dr. Juli Fraga

Dr. Juli Fraga is a psychologist who’s written for NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post and VICE. As a creative person, she loves what television shows and movies can teach us about psychological concepts and human behavior. 
Featured Image

Never Have I Ever

A fresh coming-of-age dramedy, Never Have I Ever depicts how the death of a loved one can impact teens’ mental health, as well as a parent’s wellbeing. Families enduring similar struggles will find relatability and reassurance to know they’re not alone.

Featured Image

Stepmom

A classic that addresses tough topics like blending families and how to cope with grief, Stepmom can also serve as a kind of road map for how to broach tough topics like a terminal illness.

Featured Image

Dead to Me (S3)

A form of cinematherapy, Dead to Me’s final season brings a big plot twist, one that can be emotionally provoking as well as a cathartic and entertaining conversation starter.

Featured Image

In Treatment (2021)

A timely reboot that depicts the vital relationship between a therapist and patient, and the meaningful role it plays in fostering growth and change.

Featured Image

Maiden

A lesson in surviving childhood trauma, channeling energy into a worthy cause, and fighting to win — even when the majority says victory is impossible.

Featured Image

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

At first glance a true crime story, the film is actually a look at how poverty, loneliness and imposter syndrome can seduce someone into creating a false reality.

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.

Featured Image

Workin’ Moms

When you can’t make it out of the house to attend a support group for new moms, this can be a great substitute. By showing the human side of motherhood, the series helps normalize maternal ambivalence, “mommy guilt,” and the pressure many women feel to be “perfect” moms.

Featured Image

Serendipity

A lesson in authenticity, the power of friendship, and acting on your gut feeling, even when the odds are against you.

No items found
Featured Image

The End of Kim’s Convenience is a Loss for TV Culture at Large

As one of the few shows to center around an Asian family, Kim’s Convenience broke barriers and was a big step forward in representation and diversity on North American television. Is there hope after its cancellation?

Featured Image

A Black Lady Sketch Show

A Black Lady Sketch Show is a fun, funny, and smart way to spend 30 minutes. Don’t be mad if you find yourself binging the entire series in one sitting.

Featured Image

Origin Story: How Friends Became the Ultimate Watercooler Hit

After a year-long delay due to the pandemic, the much-anticipated Friends Reunion Special finally has a “stream date”:  Thursday, May 27th, a tribute to its original “Must-See TV” night.  The big event has already driven legions of fans sign up for HBOMax, turning the service into “Must Stream TV.” David Janollari was a young development

Read More »
Featured Image

The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness

The subtitle isn’t just referring to David Berkowitz’s murderous rampage, but one investigator’s never-ending quest for the truth.

Featured Image

Stream and Scream: The Best Horror Movie Sequels

In honor of yet another Saw sequel, we present some of the best horror movie sequels to stream. When there’s money to be made, horror villains, no matter how shriveled, dead, or decapitated, always manage to return.

Featured Image

Vincenzo

Looking for an action-adventure, mafia epic, kooky comedy, or romantic thriller? This unconventional K-drama checks all the boxes.

Featured Image

The Mosquito Coast

Watching The Mosquito Coast, you get the sense that Apple TV+ was trying to make its version of Netflix’s immensely popular thriller series Ozark. And it succeeded.

Featured Image

The Best of What’s New on Netflix: May 2021

From Zach Snyder and Ryan Murphy’s latest to an all-star Hitchcockian thriller, May 2021 has some particularly promising new Netflix Originals.

Featured Image

Infinity Train

A thoughtful PG series full of imaginative designs and compelling, layered characters, Infinity Train finds the sweet spot between deeper philosophical themes and lighter, more whimsical fare.

2
Featured Image

A Need-to-Know Guide to And Just Like That…

It’s been a two year wait, but Carrie Bradshaw and her tribe of fabulous fifty-somethings are finally back with their third season. You’d be forgiven if you lost track of the Sex and the City sequel and its storylines. But with summer’s planes, trains, and automobiles and rained-in weekends, And Just Like That might be

Read More »
Featured Image

Bring Her Back

A psychological horror film with standout performances, Bring Her Back isn’t just about summoning the dead, it’s about confronting the parts of ourselves we lose in the process. The Philippou brothers have crafted a film that dares to ask whether the true horror lies in what we’re willing to do in the name of love.

Featured Image

The Something for Everyone Show: Poker Face is Back

Can’t agree on what to watch together?  Consider putting on your Poker Face. Peacock’s acclaimed mystery-of-the-week series created by Rian Johnson (best known for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and, most relevant here, the Glass Onion films) and starring Natasha Lyonne, is finally back for another season after two long years. That’s great news for

Read More »
Featured Image

It’s not HBO, it’s The Pitt: How streamers are embracing old TV network models  

“It’s not TV, it’s HBO.” Remember that old tagline? For nearly all of its history, broadcast television has been fighting against the perception that it’s subordinate to film as a storytelling medium. Television was just media for the masses, as opposed to the more erudite aficionados of cinema (who, by the way, poured into theaters

Read More »
Featured Image

Boyhood

Boyhood captures the importance of moments in time as people grow up and contests the idea that any singular moment is defining to your childhood. It’s a film filled with the full breadth of the emotions of childhood, conveying each one delicately to leave you reflecting on its many pensive conversations. 

Featured Image

Why Andor is Luring in Non-Star Wars Fans

An edgier Star Wars prequel with a timely story about rebellion, Andor skips some of the more familiar elements of the franchise — from lightsabers to Jedi to the Force — in favor of a more grounded story with parallels in both history and our current moment. While it sets up the legendary world of

Read More »
Featured Image

Inside the War Zone: A sit down with Warfare’s director and cast

A harrowing new film from Alex Garland’s production banner, Warfare drops viewers into a real-time combat mission in Iraq. Set in 2006, it follows a team of Navy SEALs on a surveillance mission gone awry. Co-written and co-directed by Garland and Ray Mendoza—whose own platoon was ambushed during the real-life event—the film is both brutal

Read More »
Scroll to Top