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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…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
