It’s been five years since we said goodbye to the residents of Beacon Hills and the majority of its cast moved onto bigger projects allowing them to become household names. Bringing all these characters together again and having them moved from teens to adulthood was a big gamble to see if fans would return and…
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Translating a video game to screen is no easy feat. There have been so many examples of terrible franchises that companies try to cross over and while some work (Sonic, Detective Pikachu) more often than not they fail spectacularly (Resident Evil on Netflix, Monster Hunter, Silent Hill). What these adaptations fail to understand is an…
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Though it’s created by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, the screenwriters of the two National Treasure movies, and has links through the casting of guest-spotted performers Harvey Keitel and Justin Bartha, National Treasure: Edge of History has very little of the ultimate charm and adventurous spirit of its predecessors. The films – 2004’s original and its…
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Chameleon comedian and musician, Tim Minchin has had some busy years working in theatre and on films. After an eight-year break away from live touring, he returned to the live stage with his show, Back, only for Covid-19 to hit. Filmed live at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in the UK, Back is a clever blend…
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If you have been glued to Amazon’s new show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power each week, you wouldn’t be alone. The first five episodes have firmly established the Second Age setting, filled with a lot of back story and establishment of Numenor, Southlands, Khazan-dum and Lindon. It feels all of this…
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Set in the middle age of Middle Earth, thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and the One Ring, Amazon Prime Video’s new series The Rings of Power. After watching the first two episodes, it is clear the studio squeezed every cent out of the reported $465 million dollars for its first season…
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There aren’t many shows that can successfully straddle the lines between comedy and drama. But This is Going to Hurt is not most programs. The British dramedy based on Adam Kay’s memoir will dazzle audiences with its sharp writing, humour and pathos. Ben Whishaw stars as a young doctor working for the National Health Service….
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Watching the anti-heroine of Alice Seabright‘s thrilling series Chloe, Becky Green (Erin Doherty, an absolute star-making turn), as she scrolls through the social media lifestyle of the titular Chloe (Poppy Gilbert), a flame-haired femme with a seemingly enviable and lavish existence, the loneliness and self-loathing is palpable. It’s a feeling we’ve probably all experienced, noting…
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Within the first few minutes of the third season of The Boys, the profane-laced dialogue (no one drops a “C-bomb” like Karl Urban), bold nudity (if you think there’s a lack of male frontal shots in mainstream media, feast your eyes here), and bloodied-red body horror (there’s that R18+ rating certified) more than announces that…
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As Gillian Anderson states – under a set of prominent teeth that appear almost caricaturish in their imagery as Eleanor Roosevelt – being a first lady isn’t a job, it’s a “circumstance”. Such a circumstance, it would seem, that Showtime thought it only fair to showcase the women behind some of the most powerful Presidential…
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So often favouring spectacle over character development, the comic book action movie has gradually skewered its initial action-centric mentality towards a dramatic outreach (however melodramatic) that speaks to the quality talent the films so often manage to lure. And for Marvel, not only are their films consistently cast, but their Disney+ series’ have more than…
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The British have always excelled at the cosy murder mystery – the sort you watch routinely on a weeknight with a cup of tea – but this time its Ireland that’s produced a stellar addition to the genre. Giving off strong Rosemary & Thyme vibes, the Acorn TV original Harry Wild stars Jane Seymour as…
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It’s been two years since the first season of Upload, an off-beat comedy set in the future where the wealthy can upload their consciousness to a digital afterlife and continue living in a perfect world of their creation. The first season was the perfect blend of comedy mixed with drama exploring themes of loss, love…
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Amy Sherman-Palladino’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has returned for a fourth season of lighthearted 1960’s shenanigans and based on the first two episodes it looks set to be just as quick-witted as ever. The spirited comedian Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) is back in New York City after she was abruptly removed from Shy Baldwin’s…
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Over the last year there’s been a heavy re-examination regarding the critical response the media placed upon women in the public eye. Recent documentaries about Britney Spears and Janet Jackson have truly bought the discussion into a manner that extends beyond their fandom, and something like Pam & Tommy, as exaggerated at times it is,…
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This is a spoiler-free review of the first three episodes of Peacemaker. The show premieres on Binge January 13. The Suicide Squad went down as one of 2021’s best comic book movies. The soft reboot helmed by James Gunn won over critics and audiences with its hyperviolent scenes and adult tone. Gunn further expands the…
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The last episode of The Wheel of Time season one was released on the 24th of December, capping off the agonisingly slow weekly wait (who decided to re-introduce that?) for new episodes of the epic fantasy series. For the uninitiated, the show is based on the well-known novels by Robert Jordan – although fans of…
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As easy as it is to wax lyrical on the fact that we have yet another Marvel property release in 2021, not to mention the fact that it’s basing itself around a character that never appeared like enough of a stable figure to centre around, the resulting Hawkeye is all the more alarming and engaging…
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Although the fantasy genre had always had a dedicated fanbase, one could argue that it wasn’t until the filmic adaptations of the Lord of the Rings in the early 2000’s that it truly became a classification known and embraced by a mainstream audience. Second to that, in a more culturally relevant manner, Game of Thrones…
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Marvel have really leaned into their Disney+ products, haven’t they? Following on from the fan-embraced success of WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki, the fresh-but-familiar mentality continues with the animated ambition that is What If…? The notion of a multiverse is something that the MCU have teased and ultimately confirmed throughout their…
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Though it boasts a lush Byron Bay setting, is filled to the brim with aesthetically pleasing cast members, and is based around the notion of healing one’s self, Nine Perfect Strangers is decidedly unnerving. Set in a secluded health and wellness resort named Tranquillum House, the nine perfect strangers of the title are the latest…
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Knowing that one simply can’t just replace Tom Hanks – in whatever capacity – Disney+’s Turner & Hooch reboot tries the next best thing by honouring his character’s legacy, even if it is essentially a veiled attempt at replacement. For the uninitiated, Turner & Hooch was a sizeable success for Hanks in his more comedy-driven…
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Earning a more fruitful reaction and reputation over the similarly themed Netflix offering Next In Fashion (which only lasted one season), Amazon’s Making The Cut took the winning Project Runway duo of Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn and altered their mentor mentality to look for a fashion brand rather than just a designer. There’s no…
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The first episode of The White Lotus, the latest darkly comedic effort from the mind of Mike White (Enlightened), sets itself up as a more humorous Big Little Lies, offering a seasonal hook in the first few minutes that suggests the titular paradisal resort is anything but. A stoic Shane (Jake Lacy) sits at an…
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Supported by Pixar but not specifically animated by them, Monsters At Work serves as a direct continuation of 2001’s Monsters, Inc., picking up in the hours after learning the laughter of children is a much more efficient way to energise their city over the nightmarish screams they used to evoke. Despite the sequel feel of…
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When Kevin Can F**k Himself begins you’d be forgiven for worrying that Annie Murphy, so great as the vapid Alexis Rose in Schitt’s Creek, has drastically reduced herself to playing the stereotypical put-upon wife in the all-too familiar sitcom set-up of schlubby husband acts like a man-child and gets away with it because he’s endearing,…
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There’s something delightful in a comedy series basing itself around a person who’s, for lack of a better word, awful. Maybe awful is too strong a word. Let’s go with morally questionable. Either way, In The Cards, from writer/director Colin Kane Healey, centres itself around a morally questionable type who most would agree deserves that…
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Given how mischievous Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is as a character, it only makes sense that his namesake series follows suit. A show that, from the first two episodes afforded to media ahead of its Disney+ debut, seems to absolutely delight in embracing the unexpected, Loki continues the more inventive, and oft-humorous, route that served the…
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Let’s be honest; the 2017 version of Justice League was one of the biggest cinematic disappointments of the last decade. What should have been the glorious peak of the DC Extended Universe was ultimately a sloppy, disjointed mess that was the inevitable result of switching directors at the eleventh hour. After the tragic death of…
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Right from the opening moments of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – an extended action sequence amid rock formations spearheaded by Anthony Mackie‘s Falcon – it’s evident that the intent of this show is to link it to the prototype of the Marvel canon we’ve come to expect. After WandaVision took bold swings, this…
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