One of the things I have long-loved about the European style of storytelling, and the reason why I have consumed everything from Agaton Sax and the Moomins as a child through to The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery as an adult, is that it is not afraid Continue Reading
Psycho in space: Nightflyers is one ship you don’t want to hitch a ride on
SNAPSHOT Nightflyers follows eight maverick scientists and a powerful telepath who embark on an expedition to the edge of our solar system aboard The Nightflyer – a ship with a small tightknit crew and a reclusive captain – in the hope of making contact with alien life. But when Continue Reading
Movie review: Rampage
There was a time when blockbusters had the power to not only thrill and awe us, but to move us as well, an intoxicating mix that saw films like Die Hard, Independence Day and even Alien/s and Terminator not only clean up at the box office, but find a Continue Reading
You DRINK coffee? Amateur! 1967 Cookie Monster EATS the machine that makes it
You can’t miss the fact that Cookie Monster, by sheer dint of name alone, loves cookies. And who can blame him? They’re freaking delicious! But coffee? Or more precisely, coffee machines? In this hilarious IBM promotional film from 1967, Cookie Monster goes to town on a very chatty coffee Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: “What’s Your Story?” (S4, E1 review)
SPOILERS AHEAD … AND FRIENDS AND ENEMIES AND FRENEMIES, AND OF COURSE, ZOMBIES … AMC, it turns out, isn’t all that well practised at heeding proverbs. Fair enough in one sense – what was in vogue a couple of millennia ago, so much so that the Bible decided a Continue Reading
Melissa McCarthy asks – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
SNAPSHOT Melissa McCarthy stars in the adaptation of the memoir Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the true story of best-selling celebrity biographer (and friend to cats) Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) who made her living in the 1970’s and 80’s profiling the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2018: Week 5 – Moldova, Montengero, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia
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 Continue Reading
Serving up a Pixar appetiser: Delightful Bao to precede Incredibles 2
SNAPSHOT The seven-and-a-half-minute short is a culinary fable about a Chinese-Canadian woman suffering from the depression of an empty nest, who gets a second shot at motherhood when one of her handmade dumplings comes alive. (via EW) Pixar has oft proven itself in the past as not simply the Continue Reading
Weekend pop art: The watercolour wonder of Alina Chau
There is an exceptional beauty and gentleness to the extravagantly beautiful work of Alina Chau, an animator with many years experience in the industry who has worked on the likes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Beautiful and gentle it maybe, embodying the loveliest aspects of watercolour work, but Continue Reading
Countdown to new Lost in Space: First 3 eps original 1960s series (review)
Nostalgia is a pretty unreliable lens to look at anything through, prone to rose-coloured distortions, warm-and-fuzzy childhood memories, and a willingness to forgive all kinds of deficiencies in the service of venerating something you love. All of which complicates reviewing a series that came out in the year I Continue Reading