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SHORT CIRCUIT (1986)
Movies of the 1980s had a fascination with robots, almost to the point of obsession. It was the decade that brought us The Terminator, Blade Runner, RoboCop, and even the cake-wielding robotic butler from Rocky IV. While some explored the technophobic relationship between man and machine, Short Circuit, which turns 30 tomorrow, instead delivered a…
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UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT – Season Two
I was an instant fan of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt when it debuted last year. Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s Netflix comedy was brimming with colour and energy, delivering streams of jokes every episode, and was the perfect vehicle for Ellie Kemper as the eponymous Kimmy—a naive young woman imprisoned in an underground bunker as part…
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THE AMERICANS, 4.8 – ‘The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears’
“The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears”, this week’s episode of The Americans, ends with its own sleight of hand, but begins with a farewell to Martha (Allison Wright), who boards a plane to Russia via Cuba. The opening is a great, mostly wordless sequence, as we follow Martha taking her last…
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LINE OF DUTY – Series Three
What exactly is BBC2’s police drama Line of Duty? A forensically detailed examination of corruption, stuffed full of pitch-perfect jargon-heavy dialogue, with a complex plot about a cover-up in the highest echelons? Or a genre series with the drama turned up to eleven, featuring whiplash twists, countless red herrings, irritating loose threads, and frankly unbelievable…
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AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE PEOPLE v. O.J SIMPSON
This FX television drama—based on real events, duh—is created by screenwriting duo Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. They usually write films, most notably The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)—another biographical courtroom drama focused on a celebrity—so one has to wonder if they knew, back in the mid-’90s, that the recent O.J Simpson trial would become the grist for…
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OUTLANDER, 2.4 – ‘La Dame Blanche’
Dinner parties. They don’t always go according to plan, and some of your guests never quite hit it off. Was it such a good idea to invite them in the first place? Claire (Caitriona Balfe) is certainly wondering why she bothered at the end of Outlander’s latest episode, “La Dame Blanche”. But before we get…
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GAME OF THRONES, 6.2 – ‘Home’
This week on Game of Thrones, the older generation came under threat from the younger generation, various people made plans to return home, there were no less than four murders (not including bystanders), the dragons were released, and you-know-who’s fate was finally resolved… In the North I didn’t expect another shocking death so early in the season, but the first…
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MAY 2016: The Best of Film & TV
Summer’s just around the corner, but the blockbusters are already here! Below, I’ve selected some of the most notable films and TV shows debuting in May 2016. If you think there’s anything missing, please mention in the comments below.
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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS (2016)
Ricky Gervais has been walking his own path since Life’s Too Short flopped in 2011 (his last collaboration with Stephen Merchant), but his first solo effort was 2012’s unremarkable sitcom Derek—which wasn’t well-received by British critics, yet found unexpected success as a ‘Netflix Original Series’ in the US. And it’s with Netflix that the comedian’s…
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THE AMERICANS, 4.7 – ‘Travel Agents’
There’s a moment halfway through “Travel Agents” where Martha (Allison Wright), finally, simply asks “Clark” (Matthew Rhys) what his real name is. When he responds, after a beat, that his name’s Philip, and Martha asks what his real real name is, I thought about just how layered The Americans has become. “Travel Agents” begins where last week’s…
