-
APRIL 2016: The Best of Film & TV
Easter’s over and the days are getting longer, so I’ve selected some of the most notable television shows and films debuting in April 2016. If you think there’s anything missing, please mention in the comments below.
-
THE AMERICANS, 4.3 – ‘Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow’
Is there any show as strong at narrative misdirection as The Americans? Four seasons in, the show’s strategy of slowly building tension over multiple episodes, only to suddenly upend the narrative apple cart, should be more predictable… and yet it still works. It’s not even that the show relies on out-of-left-field plot twists—the turn this week’s…
-
VINYL, 1.7 – ‘The King and I’
Stop the clocks, because, for the second week in a row, I enjoyed an episode of Vinyl. “The King and I” was a tightly-scripted and entertaining hour of television that was also surprisingly funny at times—something of a first for this series. All kudos to this week’s writer, David Matthews, who expertly juggled some very…
-
BETTER CALL SAUL, 2.7 – ‘Inflatable’
Certain things about Better Call Saul are fated to happen, as we know where Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) will end up in several year’s time. The fun is seeing the details of the journey, but chances to truly surprise us are difficult to execute. Jimmy’s tenure at Davis & Main was doomed from the start,…
-
DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS (1971) • DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT (1972)
Although both Death Walks on High Heels (1971) and Death Walks at Midnight (1972) fall under the heading of giallo, they differ decisively from what one expects from that cult Italian genre. There are, of course, similarities between these two films by Luciano Ercoli and the ouevre of giallo heavyweights Dario Argento and Mario Bava.…
-
BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (2016)
There was understandable cynicism when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was announced—born of suspicion it was a cynical way to rekindle interest in a sequel to the faltering Man of Steel, and concern that The Dark Knight trilogy had dropped the mic when it comes to modernising Batman. It also felt true that DC Comics were jealous…
-
THE AMERICANS, 4.2 – ‘Pastor Tim’
Any fans of The Americans who, after last week’s season premiere, looked ahead to this week’s episode, had good reason to suspect that Pastor Tim (Tim AuCoin) wasn’t likely to survive an episode that shares his name. Sure enough, early in the episode, Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip’s (Matthew Rhys) initial reactions to learning that Paige…
-
EDDIE THE EAGLE (2016)
Sometimes, formulaic films can just be exactly what we need, and Eddie the Eagle is one of those films. While watching it, you’ll be very aware it’s following the template of so many other inspirational and uplifting sports movies, but that doesn’t stop it from working tremendously. That’s especially true if you don’t know all…
-
ZOOTROPOLIS (2016)
Even if you disregard the relatively consistent quality of its Pixar co-productions, Disney itself has been on a hot streak with animated features over the past few years. 2009’s The Princess and the Frog was the last film from Walt Disney Animation Studios that could arguably be called a dud, but was soon followed by…
-
VINYL, 1.6 – ‘Cyclone’
It’s only taken six weeks, but Vinyl finally produced an episode in which the good outweighed the bad. Yes, there were still problems—the Bowie cameo was a particularly cringeworthy moment—but this was a tight, taut episode, which largely focused on Richie’s (Bobby Cannavale) downward spiral; what drugs cost him before. and what they might yet…
