-
Rare Imports: Lesser-Known Gems of European TV
The rise in popularity of international TV drama on our screens is a testament to not only the quality of foreign imports, but the willingness of English-speaking viewers to watch something regardless of language. These days, we have dramas from Scandinavia and continental Europe airing in primetime slots on prominent UK digital channels, genuinely competing…
-
Trailer: GHOSTBUSTERS (2016)
It’s a risk to review the first trailer of an unreleased movie, because the marketing department and the filmmakers are separate entities, and certainly have different agendas (commerce vs. art), but I thought it would be worth talking about the trailer for today’s long-awaited Ghostbusters remake, simply because fans have waited decades for footage of an official…
-
AUDITION (1999)
The early-2000s were the era of the Japanese horror movie. Films like Ring, Dark Water, and The Grudge occupied the supernatural part of the genre, while movies such as Oldboy and Battle Royale ramped up the human horror; presenting scenes of extreme human violence that pushed the boundaries of censorship and, arguably, bad taste. The…
-
BETTER CALL SAUL, 2.3 – ‘Amarillo’
How long will the honeymoon period at Davis & Main last for Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), who’s more of a lone wolf than a company man? We’re definitely heading for an acrimonious divorce (spoiler, for the 0.09% of viewers who haven’t seen Breaking Bad), and the tension could become unbearable if “Amarillo” is anything to go…
-
VINYL, 1.3 – ‘Whispered Secrets’
Sometimes when I’m watching Vinyl I wonder: ‘would it have been a better drama if we’d spent a bit of time with Richie before his life went off the rails?’ I can’t fault Bobby Cannavale’s committed performance, but it’s also true he’s being asked to play a man in the throes of a drug-induced breakdown,…
-
MARCH 2016: The Best of Film & TV
Spring has almost sprung, so below I’ve selected some of the most notable television shows and films debuting in March 2016. If you think there’s anything missing, please mention in the comments below. LEGENDS OF TOMORROW – Season 1 3 March – Sky1 Following the dual successes of Arrow and The Flash, The CW’s superhero…
-
The 88th Academy Awards – 2016 Winners
Last night, the 88th Academy Awards were held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, hosted by black comedian Chris Rock (a fact notable for the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that had been building ever since the all-white nominees were announced). Below are this year’s winners of the main categories, with brief commentary on each: BEST PICTURE Bridge…
-
SUFFRAGETTE (2015)
Wonder Woman is a child of the suffragette movement. The symbols we associate with her strength and power belonged to the American feminists who came before and inspired William Moulton Marston to create a new kind of heroine. Suffrage was a dynamic and furious force to be reckoned with. A force that, for some women,…
-
Brie Larson: Room at the Top
Every generation has their breakthrough artists, but when it comes to Hollywood stars the concept is relative and volatile. Brie Larson represents the epitome of this phenomenon. Over the past few months the Sacramento-native has become the talk of tinsel town and the world for her outstanding, Oscar-nominated performance in Room. This heartbreaking drama, directed…
-
Star Trek 2017: Set Phasers to Prediction
Bryan Fuller was recently announced as the showrunner of CBS’s new Star Trek TV series, due for launch in early-2017 (first episode on CBS, before transferring to their video-on-demand service CBS All Access). Can we predict what the future has in store for Star Trek next year, based solely on the scraps of information we…
