Xoan-Carlos Leon

Xoan-Carlos (XC) Leon is a former writer for the Financial Times and currently a UK-based financial editor at a US investment bank. A Film Studies minor, XC has a longstanding interest in European and Latin America film and manages several social media sites specializing on the film of Wes Anderson.
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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.

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The French Dispatch

This is the most Andersonian of Wes Anderson’s movies so far, and arguably his most ambitious work to date. You may find yourself craving more and wanting to re-watch it immediately to pick up what you missed amongst the sensory overload.

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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,

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A Need-to-Know Guide to The Buccaneers

Was life in the Gilded Age all that gilded?  In the HBO Max series, penned by Downton Abbey’s creator Julian Fellowes, the focus is on the class divide between America’s old money aristocrats and new money industrialists, and the often exhausting rules of “society.”  Apple TV’s The Buccaneers, which just returned for its second season,

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A Watercooler Guide to The Phoenician Scheme: Wes Anderson’s Oil-Baron Fever Dream

Wes Anderson films are easy to spot, but not always easy to describe. Watching them feels like stepping inside a handcrafted diorama of history: symmetrical, stylized, and slightly sentimental. From the wry narration and sharp color palettes to his signature whip pans and deadpan dialogue, Anderson crafts cinematic worlds where emotions are bottled then uncorked

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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. 

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Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father

Though part of traveling is being able to tick off historical sites and iconic landmarks, the other part of it is about who you share it with and how these experiences impact your relationship.

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WTF: WandaVision Episode 7 “Breaking the Fourth Wall”

We’ve reached the present day in terms of television influences, with touches of The Office and Modern Family, both known for the gimmick referred to in the episode’s title.

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Start-Up (Seutateueop)

Every great success starts small. But if you don’t fix the bugs in the source code, they can come back to haunt you later—in life and in start-ups.

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Mr. Mayor

Parks and Recreation meets 30 Rock, with a murderer’s row of talent in front of and behind the camera. If you’re looking for a family comedy that goes down easy but still has a little bit of bite, Mr. Mayor is for you. There are jokes for the older generations and for the teens, and

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It’s a Sin Makes Britain’s AIDS Crisis Heartbreakingly Personal

Beautifully humanizing this little-understood period in our history, It’s a Sin pulls no punches in portraying the sheer cruelty of AIDS and British society in the 1980s.

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When Masculinity Meets Trauma: How Art Mirrors Life in Da 5 Bloods

The prevalent overarching themes of PTSD and harmful masculinity are interwoven very closely in Spike Lee’s latest project, mirroring star Chadwick Boseman’s secret fight with cancer while making the movie.

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WTF: WandaVision Episode 6 “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!”

They’re celebrating Halloween in Westview, with a new WandaVision episode that’s creepy, enthralling, and— just to throw another holiday into the mix—full of Easter eggs for comic-book fans.

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Love is Universal: Discover These International Rom-Coms for Valentine’s Day

These international romantic comedies offer an intriguing insight into different cultures around the world.

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Resident Alien

For fans of off-center Family Guy humor, it’s a fun twist on an old trope, and good for at least three laugh-out-loud moments per episode.

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