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BETTER CALL SAUL, 2.9 – ‘Nailed’
Given the title “Nailed”, you’d be forgiven for thinking the big climax of Better Call Saul’s penultimate hour would involve an exciting set-piece where Mike (Jonathan Banks) uses his homemade ‘spike strip’ on one of Hector Salamanca’s drug-carrying trucks. Instead, it came down to Chuck (Michael McKean) simply arguing with an employee of a xerox…
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BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (1990)
What stops me joining the cult of Re-Animator is how reductive the franchise is. Stuart Gordon’s original 1985 movie is a schlocky update of a 1921 novella by H.P Lovecraft—entitled Herbert West—Reanimator—widely regarded as the author’s worst effort. A lame parody of Mary Shelley’s trailblazing Frankenstein, Lovecraft himself admitted he only wrote it for the…
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DAREDEVIL – Season Two
It’s fair to say Netflix’s Daredevil was one of 2015’s biggest surprises, because it did something fresh with a superhero indebted to Batman, in a show with conceptual similarities to The CW’s Arrow, while overcoming a negative perception of Daredevil thanks to a misfiring 2003 movie. In going darker and meaner than everything else in…
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MIDNIGHT SPECIAL (2016)
Midnight Special is the kind of film that drip-feeds information rather than dole out exposition. The film starts with two men acting shiftily in a motel room, while the news anchor on TV tells us that one of them is wanted by the police. The other man’s history will remain a mystery for much longer.…
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THE AMERICANS, 4.4 – ‘Chloramphenicol’
I’ll admit that I was initially reluctant when asked to cover The Americans for Frame Rated. It’s not that I’m not a big fan of the show—I’ve been hooked since the pilot’s incredible Fleetwood Mac-scored opening sequence, and it’s never let me down. My hesitation had more to do with why I love the show, which has little…
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THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR (2016)
Snow White and the Huntsman was the kind of film that was perfectly enjoyable in the moment, but you forgot about almost as soon as the credits roll. A dark-fantasy adapting the classic Grimm fairy tale, Snow White boasted beautiful visuals and a scene-stealing turn from Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen, but it was…
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BETTER CALL SAUL, 2.8 – ‘Fifi’
We’re hurtling towards the season finale now, but things remain surprisingly sedate in the world of Better Call Saul. I’ve heard grumblings from people that season 2’s been a disappointment, but I wouldn’t go that far. It’s just understandably tougher to turn the life of a crooked lawyer into gripping spectacle, and the writers are…
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THE SOUND BARRIER (1952)
Although The Sound Barrier manages to excitedly capture the thrill and majesty of flying a plane above the clouds at high speed, the film is even more successful as a fractious family drama spanning many years. Writer Terence Rattigan did have input from professional pilots, but it’s clear that his interest lies with the characters…
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AGENT CARTER – Season Two
One of the most appealing aspects of Marvel’s interconnected live-action universe is how their output spans a range of genres. If we were just watching an endless parade of superhero stories it could be frustrating, but the studio have proffered crazy sci-fi adventures, a heist flick, a gritty crime thriller, a psychological drama, and Agent…
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TANGERINE (2015)
The greatest accomplishment of a film like Tangerine is making the audience empathise with the characters on screen, despite telling a story set in a reality very alien to most of us. Entirely filmed on an iPhones 5s, starring a couple of talented newcomers with great chemistry, writer-director Sean Baker has crafted a perfect example…
