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THE KNICK, 2.10 – ‘This is All We Are’
The Knick has always been a series that boasted a wry and dark sense of humour, which was always necessary to offset the rather grim nature of most of its storylines. But for the season two finale—which may just be doubling up as a series finale, given the nature of how things play out, and…
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STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (2015)
There’s a moment halfway through Star Wars: The Force Awakens when I realised I was completely on board with the movie. It’s the wordless exchange between Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher as former flames Han Solo and General Organa (née Princess Leia), when they see each other for the first time in years. I was…
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AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL – ‘She Gets Revenge’
The high points of “She Gets Revenge” are the scenes between Liz (Denis O’Hare) and Douglas (Josh Braaten), the son she abandoned 31-years ago. The show’s sudden, earnest detours often end in heartbreak, so when we learned that Douglas would be staying at the Cortez, there was reason to worry for the young man. Surprisingly,…
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MR. ROBOT – Season One
There are some shows that make you sit up after the first episode and exclaim: ‘what was that I just watched?’ It’s the reaction I had after the first episode of The Sopranos, after the start of Veronica Mars, when Peaky Blinders came roaring onto the screen, and at the beginning of the year with…
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LEGEND (1985)
[usrlist “Theatrical Cut:2.5” “Director’s Cut:4.0”] While Ridley Scott’s long, eclectic filmography has its ups and downs, fans and non-fans alike generally agree that he’s never quite reached the heights of the early one-two punch Alien and Blade Runner. Some would include his first feature, The Duellists, and I’d add his 1985 fantasy epic Legend. While it’s clearly not quite…
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HEAT (1995)
Michael Mann’s Heat is essentially a ‘cops and robbers’ story. But, of course, it’s also a hell of a lot more than that. Unlike many of Mann’s greatest films—in particular Manhunter (1986), Miami Vice (2003), and more recently Blackhat (2015)—Heat is a film that was critically and commercially successful on release, and now regarded as…
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THE KNICK, 2.9 – ‘Do You Remember Moon Flower?’
As has so often been the case this season, the opening shot of “Do You Remember Moon Flower?” is designed specifically to startle us. The jarring sight of a vivid green jungle vista is perhaps the most colourful shot in The Knick’s history, and the opening moments are reminiscent of nothing less than one of…
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AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL – ‘She Wants Revenge’
“She Wants Revenge” begins promisingly, with the Countess (Lady Gaga), in voiceover, making plans to rid herself of everyone but Rudolph Valentino (Finn Wittrock); her one true love, who was recently released from several decades of imprisonment in the Cortez. The Countess is planning to build her own fortress by sealing off a floor of…
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TRIPPED – Series One, Episode One
The best word for E4’s newest comedy is ‘amiable’. Tripped, co-created by Jamie Mathieson (who wrote the Doctor Who episodes “Mummy on the Orient Express” and “Flatline“, in addition to working on Being Human), is the story of two slackers: Milo (George Webster) and Danny (The Inbetweeners’ Blake Harrison), who find themselves swept up into…
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TRAINWRECK (2015)
It’s both a success and failure that the funniest thing about Judd Apatow’s latest film is basketball star LeBron James. I’ve never seen him play on the court, but he can certainly play ‘the weirdo’ in a rom-com; appearing in Trainwreck as a bizarre version of himself who’s befriended doctor Aaron (Bill Hader), the subject…
