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MR. ROBOT, 2.9 – ‘eps2.7_init_5.fve’
After last week’s excellent Darlene-focussed episode, this was more of a placeholder; a chance for Sam Esmail to get his ducks in a row ahead of the final three hours. That said, what “init_5” lacked in exposition it more than made up for in atmosphere. Most of season 2’s been as much horror movie as…
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HALT AND CATCH FIRE, 3.3 – ‘Flipping the Switch’
The difference between Mutiny and MacMillan Utility is startling, and in “Flipping the Switch” talented young coder Ryan (Manish Dayal) has walks in both worlds. Mutiny’s always been a relatively low-scale and scrappy outfit, but it’s built around real friendships and passion. Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace) can offer all-night parties inside extravagant sea-view apartments, crowded with attractive people doing…
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ESCAPE FROM L.A (1996)
Snake Plissken is once again manipulated by the US government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, which has become an autonomous island where undesirables are deported.
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SUMMER 2016: WINNERS & LOSERS
The summer movie season is drawing to a close, and 2016 hasn’t been a vintage year. To put it mildly. It seems that most of the big wannabe-blockbusters didn’t make the splash the studios wanted, and many high-profile releases were savaged by critics. But which offerings from summer ’16 became hits, and which were the…
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MR. ROBOT, 2.8 – ‘eps2.6_succ3ss0r.p12’
Oh dear. For much of season 2, creator Sam Esmail’s teased us with titbits about how bad the world has become since fsociety’s hack. In this episode, the first not to feature Elliot at all (and I’m sure Rami Malek heaved a huge sigh of relief at being given a breather), he ripped back to…
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HALT AND CATCH FIRE, 3.1-2 – ‘Valley of the Heart’s Delight’ & ‘One Way Or Another’
When it began, I grew tired and frustrated with Halt and Catch Fire after three episodes, as this AMC drama felt like it just wanted to do for technology what Mad Men did for advertising. There were aspects I enjoyed about the first season, but structurally it felt very unsound, and there was an overemphasis…
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SWALLOWS & AMAZONS (2016)
A group of children travel to the picturesque Lake District, with the aim to claim a remote island for themselves.
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DAVID BRENT: LIFE ON THE ROAD (2016)
A film crew catch-up with David Brent, the former boss of BBC documentary ‘The Office’, as he tries to launch a singing career…
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THE IN-LAWS (1979)
In preparation for his daughter’s wedding, a dentist meets the groom’s father, who claims to be a government agent and drags him on a series of misadventures…
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MR. ROBOT, 2.7 – ‘eps2.5_h4ndshake.sme’
Some fans correctly guessed the true nature of ‘Mr. Robot’ (Christian Slater) last season, partly because the show shares DNA with Fight Club and it was thus a relatively easy deduction to make. Others also guessed this week’s twist ending: that Elliot (Rami Malek) is actually inside a prison (although some theorised an asylum), and only…
