TV
13 Commandments, Channel 4 review - murder most FlemishMonday, 19 March 2018
To Belgium for the latest continental instalment of murder really rather unpleasant. 13 Commandments, yet another crime drama brought to Channel 4 under the auspices of Walter Presents, began with the grizzliest manner imaginable. A man arrived at... Read more... |
Annihilation, Netflix review - not quite a sci-fi masterpieceThursday, 15 March 2018
Mild controversy hovers over the new film by Alex Garland, the novelist-turned-screenwriter-turned-director. Garland’s 2015 directing debut, Ex Machina, was a slow-burning hit which found favour with critics and film festival juries. This follow-up... Read more... |
Being Blacker, BBC Two review - absorbing film about family, culture and societyTuesday, 13 March 2018
They don’t commission many television documentaries like Being Blacker (BBC Two) any more. That is not unconnected to the fact that Molly Dineen downed her camera a decade ago. Dineen began filming in another age, before the arrival of kiss-me-quick... Read more... |
Below the Surface, BBC Four review - terror in CopenhagenSunday, 11 March 2018
Read Adam Sweeting's review of the Below the Surface FinaleAfter recent experiences with the likes of McMafia, Troy and Collateral, mysteriously moribund affairs apparently designed by a committee of box-ticking zombies, many a viewer will turn with... Read more... |
Civilisations, episode 2, BBC Two review - Mary Beard on the cultural offensiveFriday, 09 March 2018
The sheer ambition of the BBC’s new Civilisations is becoming apparent. This second episode, with Mary Beard grasping the presenter baton from Simon Schama, was subtitled “How Do We Look?” and themed around representation of the human image. It... Read more... |
Collateral, series finale, BBC Two - Carey Mulligan hares to the finishTuesday, 06 March 2018
In a revelatory interview for the Royal Court’s playwright’s podcast series, David Hare admits to a thin skin. In his adversarial worldview, to take issue with him is – his word – to denounce him. He’s quite a denouncer himself, of course. In... Read more... |
Tones, Drones and Arpeggios: The Magic of Minimalism, BBC Four - brilliant appraisalMonday, 05 March 2018
By most measures, minimalism is the most successful movement in 20th-century music, certainly orchestral music. The story of its inexorable spread from a tiny offshoot of the 1950s experimentation of John Cage, which was defined and promoted by two... Read more... |
Civilisations, BBC Two review - no shocks from SchamaFriday, 02 March 2018
Lord Clark – “of Civilisation”, as he was nicknamed, not necessarily affectionately – presented the 13 episodes of the eponymous series commissioned by David Attenborough for BBC Two in 1969; it was subtitled “A Personal View”, and encompassed... Read more... |
Save Me, Sky Atlantic review - it's grim down southThursday, 01 March 2018
Workrate of the Week award goes to Lennie James, who not only stars in this new six-part drama but wrote and executive-produced it as well. James (who starred in the first series of Line of Duty, and has hit it big in The Walking Dead) plays the... Read more... |
Marcella, Series 2, ITV review - more twisted tales of detectionTuesday, 27 February 2018
Marcella’s writer Hans Rosenfeldt was the creator of Scandi classic TV drama The Bridge, the one that made detectives with emotional disorders the flavour du jour, but you do have to wonder what kind of police force would continue to employ DS... Read more... |
Working with Weinstein, Channel 4 review - portrait of a predatorWednesday, 21 February 2018
While this well-crafted documentary chose to open with footage of the stars and glitz of the American awards ceremonies, the focus of Working with Weinstein (Channel 4) was almost entirely on Harvey Weinstein’s involvement over more than 30 years in... Read more... |
Mum, BBC Two, series 2 review - Lesley Manville is a discreet delightWednesday, 21 February 2018
This week brings a tale of two comedies. Both half-hour sitcoms are about widowed mothers with grown-up sons still at home. Each woman has an unattached admirer. Both shows star fine comic actresses who learned much of their craft in the films of... Read more... |
