It’s a tricky business delivering up mystery and explanation in one tight sci-fi storytelling package. Tip too towards the mystery and you end up with Solaris or Arrival, both fine films in their own way which are hampered by the fact that they deliver up far more questions than answers Continue Reading
Graphic novel review: Paper Girls volumes 1 & 2 by Brian K. Vaughan (writer) and Cliff Chiang (artist)
Time travel is always a compelling element to add to the narrative mix. There’s the inherent upsetting of the linear natural order, the frisson of excitement that comes from wildly unpredictable parts trying to fit into a whole to which they don’t organically belong and the confusion/thrill of characters grappling Continue Reading
Get ready for a “different vibe”: Heartstopper season 2 drops a teaser trailer and release date
SNAPSHOTNick and Charlie navigate their new relationship, Tara (Corinna Brown) and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) face unforeseen challenges and Tao (William Gao) and Elle (Yasmin Finney) work out if they can ever be more than just friends. With exams on the horizon, a school trip to Paris and a prom to Continue Reading
Book review: Go as a River by Shelley Read
Picking up a book that is meant to be the next big thing, the next Lessons in Chemistry or Where the Crawdads Sing or Still Life, is always a little fraught. You want to believe with all your literary-loving heart that the novel will be every bit as good as Continue Reading
Movie review: Tetris
History doesn’t always make for good stories. In-between all the big battles and epic moments, there’s an awful lots of business-as-usual incidents that don’t lend themselves to exciting storytelling, no matter how much extra made-up oomph Hollywood might inject into proceedings. And then there are stories like the one behind Continue Reading
Sitcom review round-up 2! Ted Lasso (S3, E4-6) and Not Dead Yet (S1, E 6-10)
Ted Lasso Good lord but Ted Lasso has a big heart. When it has a mind to, of course, which, granted is much of the time, although not as strongly in season 3′ first three episodes as had previously been the case. While the episodes – “Smells Like Mean Spirit”, Continue Reading
They went tiny and now they’re going larger – say hello to Big Beasts …
SNAPSHOTTravel from freezing poles to tropical rainforests to meet nature’s most captivating giants, who prove being big comes with enormous challenges. Narrated by Tom Hiddleston, the 10-episode series, premiering across five weeks, features the gray whale, the elephant seal, the giant otter, the gorilla, the hippo, the brown bear, the Continue Reading
So much gorgeously fabulous quirk: How to become Accidentally Wes Anderson
SNAPSHOTIt’s hard to find a director with a more distinct visual style than Wes Anderson. In this video we’re going to learn how to recreate it photographically. …What are the elements of Wes Anderson’s visual style that make him so recognizable? (courtesy Laughing Squid (c) Imitative Photography) There is so Continue Reading
Sci-fi streaming round-up! The Mandalorian (S3, E7-8) and Picard (S3, E9-10)
It is the end of things in these episodes from Star Trek: Picard season 3 and The Mandalorian season 3, and yet at the same time, very much not. While The Mandalorian has a clearly flagged fourth season beckoning, Picard ends its three-season run with this series of ten episodes, Continue Reading
Get ready for supper at 6! Lessons in Chemistry comes to AppleTV+
SNAPSHOT“Your mother needs a moment to herself.” Set in the early 1950s, Lessons in Chemistry follows Elizabeth Zott (played by Larson), whose dream of being a scientist is put on hold in a patriarchal society. When Elizabeth finds herself fired from her lab, she accepts a job as a host Continue Reading