(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTClaire Clauster (Michelle Pfeiffer) is the glue that holds her chaotic, lovable family together every holiday season. From perfectly frosted cookies to meticulously wrapped gifts, no one “decks the halls” quite like Claire. But this year, as her grown kids & distracted husband get swept up in Continue Reading
Movie review: Cicadas (Zikaden)
(courtesy IMDb) It’s not often that you emerge from a movie and wonder what on earth the point of it was. Usually even the films you don’t quite love, or outright dislike, have a clearly defined reason for being and you can very easily reconcile with what you liked and Continue Reading
“We need to give the cage a good rattle.” Dept. Q dives into the coldest of cold cases
SNAPSHOTDCI Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but terrible colleague. His razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in Edinburgh police. After a shooting leaves a young pc dead, and his partner paralysed, he finds himself exiled to the basement & sole member of Department Q; a newly formed cold Continue Reading
“We act – or we lose.” The stakes couldn’t be higher as Foundation season 3 debuts its arresting first trailer
(courtesy First Showing (c) AppleTV+) SNAPSHOTBased on the award-winning sci-fi novels by Isaac Asimov, Foundation chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilisation amid the fall of the Galactic Empire. The premise of the stories is that, in the waning days of a Continue Reading
Movie review: Long Story Short (Feste & Freunde – Ein Hoch auf uns!)
(courtesy IMDb) Being part of a solid and constant group of mutually supportive, caring friends is undoubtedly one of life’s great and often enduring gifts. Far from having to navigate life alone, we can do it, with all of its challenges and opportunities, its highs and lows, triumphs and deplorable Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2025: Week 7 – The Big 6 – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, UK (Grand final)
What is the Eurovision Song Contest?Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading
The darkness and violence of absolute power made manifest: Thoughts on Andor S2, E7-9
(courtesy IMP Awards) There is a fearful moment when something known only in the abstract, but horrific even so, suddenly becomes real, takes manifest palpable form and you are unable to pretend even for a second that within humanity lies the kernel for great evil if so nurtured. (Thankfully, great Continue Reading
Movie review: Thunderbolts*
(courtesy IMP Awards) Once as close to a sure thing as any blockbuster can be, Marvel’s prodigious output of epic superhero storytelling has stumbled more often than not over the last few years, offering up films that felt they were mere Xeroxes of the studio’s previous glories which, if you Continue Reading
Book review: Letters to our Robot Son by Cadance Bell
(courtesy Ultimo Press) I know, I know, I KNOW that you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (unless you’re part of a publishing company’s marketing team in which case that’s all you want to do). BUT, and in the case of Letters to our Robot Son by Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: I Heart Skull-Crusher! by Campbell/Zonno/De Santiago
(courtesy BOOM! STUDIOS) SNAPSHOT18-year-old Trini will do anything to compete in her favorite sport, Screaming Pain Ball, aspiring to the heights of her longtime hero Skull-Crusher! But she can’t do it alone, and a gaggle of misfits is just what she needs to cross the American wastes and battle in Continue Reading