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A BIGGER SPLASH (2015)
Following on from his Oscar-nominated film I Am Love, Italian director Luca Guadagino explores desire in the sun-drenched A Bigger Splash. A remake of Jacques Derays’ La Piscine (1969), the movie stars his long-time collaborator Tilda Swinton as Marianne Lane, an internationally famous rock star with undertones of David Bowie, who, in an effort to…
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THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (2016)
It’s no overstatement to say that Illumination Entertainment owes its success to the Despicable Me films, with its incoherent but popular spin-off Minions also achieving financial success. Illumination’s previous attempts to branch out, with Hop and The Lorax, were met with mixed reviews and disappointing box office, but The Secret Life of Pets feels like a hit. Following…
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REMAINDER (2015)
There’s an immediate urge to dive back into the world of Remainder once the screen fades to black. Based on Tom McCarthy’s underdog-debut-novel-turned-literary-phenomenon, this amnesia-themed puzzle feels more like a philosophical metaphor on the absurdity of life than a straightforward thriller. The head scratching quality of the storytelling invites the audience to speculate about what’s…
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PREACHER, 1.4 – ‘Monster Swamp’
I’m watching Preacher hoping it’s going to spark to life, but I’m still waiting. It all feels insufferably slow right now; particularly when compared to the fast-paced comic book it’s very loosely adapting. Maybe having read the source material exacerbates matters in my mind, and viewers unfamiliar with the comics are having a better time?…
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GAME OF THRONES, 6.9 – ‘Battle of the Bastards’
In the thrilling penultimate episode of this sixth season, two mighty battles appear to indicate a sea-change in world affairs, with women perhaps gaining the upper-hand across Westeros and Essos? In Meereen Viewers were poised for a huge battle in the north, but an amuse-bouche was provided across the Narrow Sea. Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) decided…
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OUTLANDER, 2.11 – ‘Vengeance is Mine’
History tells us that it was an English spy, Dudley Bradstreet, who forced the hand of Charles Stuart in his decisive war council with John O’Sullivan and the Lords George Murray, Elcho and Ogilvy on 4th December 1745. Bradstreet provided false intelligence that an army of 9,000 would prevent Stuart’s march to London along with…
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PEAKY BLINDERS – Series Three
There are times when describing stylish period gangster drama Peaky Blinders sounds less like talking about a television drama and more like recounting the fading memories of a vivid fever dream. This is the sort of series in which the plotting embraces an ‘everything and then the kitchen sink’ approach, as writer Steven Knight takes a…
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PREACHER, 1.3 – ‘The Possibilities’
I’m still not sure about Preacher. I love the comic books, but this TV series lacks its sense of mischief and spark of lunacy. There are clearly honourable intentions at work, but the changes to make the concept suit the demands of weekly TV seem to work against what was so entertaining about the bristling insanity of…
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GAME OF THRONES, 6.8 – ‘No One’
This week on Game of Thrones, The Hound was reacquainted with some familiar faces in a forest, Arya’s seized her destiny, Tyrion’s schemes backfired, the castle siege reached an unexpected conclusion, and Cersei received some very bad news from her son…. In the Riverlands It was no surprise to anyone that The Hound (Rory McCann) would easily…
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OUTLANDER, 2.10 – ‘Prestonpans’
If there was any lingering doubt about how effectively Outlander would depict the battles of the Jacobite rebellion, then that doubt was extinguished in the superb “Prestonpans” this week. That this is Sam Heughan’s favourite episode also marks it out as a particularly interesting watch. It is by turns full of mounting tension, horror, and…
