Being the President of the United States is not an easy undertaking. Especially when, as we saw at the end of season 4 of VEEP, you’re Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and your dream run to the presidency is rather cruelly complicated by ending up with the same number of Continue Reading
Movie review: The Jungle Book
It is a rare and wondrous thing indeed to be transported by a film so completely far away from the everyday grind that you almost forget you are sitting in a cinema watching it all unfold. But that miraculous feat is accomplished within seconds of Jon Favreau’s delightful live Continue Reading
The short and the short of it film festival : 3 quirky animated films with unlikely heroes
Short films are a wonderful thing. They allow you to enter someone’s world for a brief point in time, catch a ride on the narrative of their life for a stop or two and then leap, wiser, enthralled and amused for having met them. The really good ones, and Continue Reading
Fear the Walking Dead: “We All Fall Down” (S2, E2 review)
*SPOILERS AHEAD … AND BEACH-GOING ZOMBIES AND CREEPY ODD SURVIVALISTS* “We don’t talk to strangers” (Victor Strand) Remember when you were a sweet, trusting child and your parents instilled in you over and over that talking to strangers was a Bad Thing? It was pronounced in the sort Continue Reading
They’re back! The return of Calvin and Hobbes
The popularity of Calvin and Hobbes continues apace, over 20 years after creator/philosopher/one of the greatest cartoonists who has ever lived retired the much-loved comic strip. While every fan including yours truly wishes that more new strips would be forthcoming, there’s also an acceptance and admiration for Watterson finishing Continue Reading
New Game of Thrones S6 trailer: Winter, the dead and a whole lot of drama are coming
*WINTER IS COMING … AND SPOILERS … AND WHITE WALKERS* SNAPSHOT Following the shocking developments at the conclusion of Season 5, including Jon Snow’s bloody fate at the hands of Castle Black mutineers, Daenerys’ near-demise at the fighting pits of Meereen, and Cersei’s public humiliation in the streets Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2016: Week 3 – Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, San Marino, The Netherlands
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 to Continue Reading
Most Unusual Marvel: Doctor Strange and Suicide Squad
Marvel likes its narrative templates. I get it – if I was pumping as many well-made, largely (though not always – see Avengers: Age of Ultron) I’d probably stick to a template as often as I could too. After all the fan boys and fan girls love it, it Continue Reading
It’s a Hanna-Barbera Universe and you and Scooby Doo are just living in it
As you might have noticed, cinematic universes are very much a thing these days. Marvel has one, a very successful one at that which is now entering its third phase, DC wants one but seems unable to make it work on the big screen as well they do on Continue Reading
You’re reading what?! Comedian pranks people with outrageous book titles
Now this my friends is how you conduct a daring and incredibly fun-filled sociological experiment. You come up with deliberately provocative but still hilarious book titles, go onto crowded New York City subway and read away as if you’re reading something charmingly innocuous like Little Women or Harry Potter. Continue Reading