Chris Chibnall (who also wrote Dinosaurs) is really growing as a writer this series. His work on this episode is a vast improvement from his work on the first series of Torchwood, where he was the co-producer. When I heard he had written 2 of the 5 episodes we were getting this year I must admit my heart sank a bit as I was worried we’d get something on the level of Torchwood’s Cyberwoman or Doctor Who’s 42. However, he’s written a couple of crackers this time round.
The latest episode of Doctor Who was a divisive episode – I know a lot of people disliked it but I thought it was a great episode. However, had it been a 2-parter it would have been a stand out Doctor Who classic.
Chris Chibnall (who also wrote Dinosaurs) is really growing as a writer this series. His work on this episode is a vast improvement from his work on the first series of Torchwood, where he was the co-producer. When I heard he had written 2 of the 5 episodes we were getting this year I must admit my heart sank a bit as I was worried we’d get something on the level of Torchwood’s Cyberwoman or Doctor Who’s 42. However, he’s written a couple of crackers this time round.
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Director/actor/writer Sarah Polley brings us her first original screenplay in the form the Leonard Cohen song titled Take This Waltz. She does a good job of reminding us why actors step behind the camera. It’s been a long time since the likes of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and The Sweet Hereafter (I recommend you watch both) but while she still acts - she writes, directs and produces too and here are the fruits of her labour and it’s all about love or is it? Michelle Williams is Margot, a writer, not the kind she wants to be, lives in Toronto with her hubby Lou (looking good Seth Rogen) and is afraid of being afraid, more specifically being in between things. Cue Daniel, not only a fine name but a fine face to match. Played by Luke Kirby, Daniel is a new neighbour and soon to be the third point of our romantic triangle. As Margot rightly puts it when she figures out the guy she’s been flirting with on the way back from the airport lives across the street: Gah! The third episode of the current series is the strongest in many ways, but the weakest in others. It tells a much smaller story than the last two episodes, at a much more leisurely pace. However, it isn't the story that the trailers suggested and is the most adult episode this series. I was expecting a humorous, over the top, action filled Western featuring aliens and a robotic gun-slinger and while there were moments of humour ('Tea – the strong stuff', Amy's ineptitude with a gun, Susan the trans horse [Although I feel I need to point something out to the Doctor – he says to respect her lifestyle choices and then uses a gender other than the one she's identified as to describe her]) there was also far more ethical debate than we've had in the two slightly pantomime-esque previous episodes. Image: David White As part of the BBC’s Sex Season presenter Cherry Healey tackled the sensitive subject of virginity in the documentary Cherry Healey: Like A Virgin. In the documentary Cherry states that: “Losing your virginity can be a momentous, exciting and nerve-wracking experience all rolled into one”. You could be forgiven for thinking, having watched this documentary, that losing your virginity is also only a heterosexual experience. The questions Cherry wanted to ask were: “how important is it [virginity]? Does age matter and is it fundamentally different for men and women?” In the documentary, with the exception of one gay male, loss of virginity was addressed as heterosexual penis in vagina intercourse. The complicated notions of which sex acts can be partaken in whilst maintaining virginity did not come up. Image: Ikon True Russian Vodka It started with a car. Teenagers Jess Sayers and Alice* had an older friend, Gemma Barker. People asked them why they were hanging around with someone 2 years older. Their answer? Gemma Barker could drive. Gemma Barker started to fade from their lives as the pair met boyfriends online. And so began a tale of 3 boys of varying levels of mystery... It has been 6 months since Barker was jailed for for two counts of sexual assault and one charge of fraud. Channel 4's documentary The Girl Who Became Three Boys charts Barker's deception of then 15 year old best friends Jess and Alice. Jess is endearingly candid about the whole affair, although it is clear the girls were deeply upset. The Girl Who Became Three Boys is primarily interested in the girls' story, experts are entirely absent from the investigation – unless you count the self-confessed tabloid expert Ryan Sabey. The Sun writer commented that this was a story made for the red tops: “In terms of a tabloid story this really had everything.” I didn't really know I was into Britpop until it was all over. Despite the fact that the first album I bought was Pulp's Different Class, and I vividly remember Newsround reporting on the Blur / Oasis rivalry, I was too young to really appreciate the music. My 90s was more about crimpers and school sports days than new drugs and music. Dammit. But I did fall in love with Britpop, both then and retrospectively, which is why I decided to buy tickets to Rosie Wilby's show How (not) to make it in Britpop If you want to watch comedy right now, it probably helps to be in Edinburgh. Which I'm not. But it turns out there is more on in London right now than the sport. It's just unfortunate no one told Londoners that... I ended up in an audience of 6, in what should have been a sell out show. Sam and Suzy My sweet and sprightly title completely reflects my adoration of this film. You can probably expect a rather skewed review from here on out but I will try to incorporate both sides of the Wes Anderson coin. When a director is so stylistically set in their ways you do find yourself in a sticky situation. You know what you are getting with Wes but maybe you’re not in the mood for twee with a sprinkling of angst. He likes those filmed-from-above still shots of things on tables and letters being read and he likes his wistful music. But you are treated to sexy sixties songstress Françoise Hardy and some little old American song about falling in love with an Indian, it’s nice trust me. It’s something to sit down to watch something confident you’re about to witness an hour of superbly crafted drama with realistic characters and sizzling plot lines – and then find yourself describing it as ‘pompous’ and ‘terrible’. When I first heard about The Newsroom I couldn’t wait to see it. A US drama set behind the scenes at a popular (fictional) network news show, from the pen of West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin, it felt bound to succeed. I loved The West Wing but even while I watched it, as Bush Jnr sat in the White House, I could see it was a fantasy of what politics could – should – look like with a Democrat president. Ideologically-driven intelligent politicians and staffers worked tirelessly towards a grand vision of America, and American politics. Partisan differences were (not always, but sometimes) put to one side for the greater good, and while there were a few conniving, backstabbing or corrupt characters they were the exception, not the rule. But despite the fact it was obviously a fantasy designed to sustain Democrats through the long years of a Republican presidency, it worked on every level as a compelling show. |
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