There is no doubting the universal appeal of Charles Dickens’ 1843 A Christmas Carol. Interpreted by just about franchise going, including the Muppets, and even run in reverse by the likes of Blackadder and Scrooged, A Christmas Carol appeals because it maintains with exuberant moral certainty that the hopes and Continue Reading
Streaming
Is there hope at the end of the world? Station Eleven says “YES” (series trailer)
SNAPSHOTA post-apocalyptic saga spanning multiple timelines, this limited drama series tells the stories of survivors of a devastating flu as they attempt to rebuild and re-imagine the world anew while holding on to the best of what’s been lost. Created for television and showrun by TV filmmaker Patrick Somerville (also Continue Reading
Movie review: 8-Bit Christmas
Ah, the hazy, crazy days of youth! Specifically the late 1980s when kids definitely wore bike helmets – shhhhh, no, they didn’t but don’t tell today’s kids that – and the biggest, baddest Christmas present goals out there were, beside getting a freckled Cabbage Patch Kid, was securing your very Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: S7, E 5 & 6 review + World Beyond: S2, E 7 & 8 review
FEAR THE WALKING DEAD SPOILERS AHEAD FOR “TILL DEATH” AND “RECLAMATION” … You could be forgiven for thinking, and yes, that is still possible even in the midst of the apocalypse, that there’d be precious little humanity left in a landscape given over not only to the dead but also Continue Reading
Where does destiny end and self-fulfilment begin? Thoughts on Foundation (E 8-10)
One of the prevailing themes of the masterful storytelling that is Foundations, adapted from Isaac Asimov’s saga of the same name, is how of what happens to people the result of blind, immutable destiny and how much resides in our often fallible hands? Musing on this great conundrum has kept Continue Reading
A terrific trio of TV trailers: As We See It, HALO and Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock
As we race to the end of 2021, exhausted, if even we have enjoyed them ( and we have) by the sheer volume of shows now available on streaming services, which are breeding like digital, high-resolution, it’s becoming excitingly clear that 2022 has a lot of great things to take Continue Reading
Birthday TV review – Every body has a secret: Thoughts on Only Murders in the Building (season 1)
Is it possible for murder to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? Likely only if you’re Dexter, but for the rest of us who are not so sociopathically-inclined, watching people solve a murder comes pretty close, especially if it wrapped in the cleverly charming packaging of Only Murders Continue Reading
Five Disney classics told by one classic storyteller: The hilarious narrative-spinning of Olaf Presents
If ever there was a breakout character from Frozen, the Disney animated juggernaut that bestrode the world when it first came out in 2013, it is the very much alive garrulously exuberant to a fault snowman Olaf (voiced with a boisterous of childlike wonder by Josh Gad) whose sheer presence Continue Reading
They go together like pasta and pesto: The heartfelt Luca redux of Ciao Alberto + Baymax! series trailer
Whatever your thinking about the merits of streaming platforms or production studios holding big, bold splashy all-day events to herald their upcoming shows and movies – crass commercialism or a tantalising glimpse into an eagerly awaited future? – the just-staged inaugural Disney+ Day 2021 was worth its existence alone for Continue Reading
Lives changed beyond all recognition: Thoughts on Invasion (S1, E 4-6)
The second half of 2021 has been a tale of two slowly unspooled series. Rather counter to the counter, and often well-done trend for huge epic moments in every episode, cliffhangers seemingly falling from the narrative sky like confetti, both Foundation and Invasion have taken a welcome slow-and-steady approach to Continue Reading