September 1, 2026 – SparklyPrettyBriiiight

(courtesy IMP Awards) In an age where everything feels more than a little serious and there’s nothing, it seems at least, but doom and freaking gloom, then we should all give thanks for franchise such as a Enola Holmes which, on its third sprightly outing, proves there’s great diversionary and Continue Reading

They’re not back … they never left: Trailer drops for Ghosts: The Possession of Button House

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOT‘This Halloween, secrets will be unlocked…’ The beloved and award-winning BBC comedy Ghosts arrives on the big screen this Halloween. Ghosts‘ stars, writers and creators Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond are all back, along with Lolly Adefope, Charlotte Ritchie Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel

When I read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel a good chunk of years ago, two things stood out for me in a novel full of clever and emotionally resonant storytelling. First, that the author possessed a brilliant capacity for imaginative world-building, for predicting what might lie just over Continue Reading

Songs, songs and more songs #143: half•alive, Mitch Tambo, Logic1000, Priyanka & Lemon + Ladyhawke

(via Shutterstock) There’s something about just the right song that can lift a mood or soothe the soul or simply make you feel lighter and airier than life is allowing for at a given time. Honestly, I can’t fathom how you can possibly get through life without music soundtracking the Continue Reading

Movie review: Coyote vs. Acme

(courtesy IMP Awards) We’ve become so used to the well-structured cycle of movie hype and promo, which always finishes with the release of said ballyhooed film either in the cinema or a streaming platform, that the idea that you could make a film and actually never released it, not because Continue Reading

Life is a rollercoaster: Thoughts on Trying S5

(courtesy IMP Awards) Making all your dreams come true is an intoxicating feeling, but what happens when the dust settles and reality bites and you have to deal with the fact that the dream may be wonderful but it has some thorns attached with all the floral zest and colour? Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Scion by James Islington

(courtesy Text Publishing) One of the things that makes or breaks a sci-fi novel is how well an author establishes a sense of evocatively definitive time and place; half-do it and you find it hard to imagine the world they create as anything real or tangible, potentially hobbling the ability Continue Reading

The short and the short of it: The emotional canine journeying of Archie

(courtesy IMDb) SNAPSHOTArchie is devastated to learn of the death of his beloved aunt. He makes the long journey to the home she’s left him in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and a new day brings renewed hope for Archie and his dog. Archie is written and created by Domenica Continue Reading

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S4 review: “Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass” (E7) and “Orders of Magnitude” (E8)

(courtesy Memory Alpha) “Like Chronotons Through the Hourglass” One of the best things about Star Trek storytelling in general and Strange New Worlds (SNW) in particular, is its ability to channel what I like to call the “Nordic Effect”. In essence, it’s the co-existence of both light and dark in Continue Reading

A trio of triumphantly tantalising trailers: Whalefall, The Cat in the Hat and Below

(via Shutterstock) How can you not love going to the movies? Look at the dazzling variety in these three films alone – a gripping if fantastical thriller, a garrulously chaotic animated delight based on an iconic Dr Seuss book and some seriously Halloween adjacent supernatural goings-on in an otherwise ordinary Continue Reading

Sci-fi September book review: Massif by Garth Nix

(courtesy Allen & Unwin – Australia) One of the reasons this reviewer loves science fiction is because at its heart, it is devoted to exploring, thinking through and celebrating big ideas; woven into its storytelling DNA is an impelling need to peek behind the curtain, to wonder why things are Continue Reading

Movie review: Enola Holmes 3

Graphic novel review: Strange Bedfellows by Ariel Slamet Ries