Link: “Dirty Feed – Northern Star” by John Hoare
Cool article about the production of Red Dwarf’s (mostly) early seasons, and how they used “behind-the-scenes” parts of the studio, like lighting gantries, as sets for certain scenes!
Posts categorised ‘Film and TV’
Rake and Its Depiction of Women
The other night, Viv and I finished watching Rake (IMDB link). If you’re not familiar, it’s an Australian comedy-drama about a randy barrister, Cleaver Greene, whose life is a neverending trainwreck. And before I get too deep into the rest of this post, I can confirm that it is a seriously funny, though densely-plotted, absurdist kind of show. They made five seasons of it, each with …
Link: “The real reason Doctor Who makes fans want to hide behind the sofa”
For the hardcore faithful, by contrast, watching any new episode of Doctor Who is an uncomfortably fraught experience – one that’s wont to magnify the show’s every blemish and duff note, and leave you seriously questioning your life choices. Or is that just me?
This goes double, of course, if you happen to be watching in polite company: those unavoidable occasions when you’re forced to consume Doctor Who in front of family, friends and other Not We, many of whom have probably been silently judging you – or even noisily judging you – over your choice of hobby for years.
Of course, if you could guarantee the quality of what was about to unfold, this wouldn’t be such a problem. But, uniquely among TV shows, Doctor Who’s famously flexible format can make it a bit of a rollercoaster on the quality control front: for every sublime City of Death and The Haunting of Villa Diodati, there’s an excruciating Underworld or Nightmare in Silver.
Oh man, is this relatable 🙈
Found out that Master of None, whose first two seasons I adored, came out with a season three on May 23 – but it sounds so disappointing!! On Rotten Tomatoes, like 80%+ of the user reviews are scathing, with the minority who did like it seemingly unaware that this show used to be a comedy… lots of reviews along the lines of “poignant if glacially slow-paced character drama”. Like come on, there’s no shame in releasing a spin-off show, but don’t just call it season 3 of the original show if it has almost nothing in common with it. 😢
Judas and the Black Messiah
Yesterday Viv and I went and saw Judas and the Black Messiah, at long last. It’s about the Black Panthers’ Fred Hampton and the FBI’s COINTELPRO, and was pretty good (Viv liked it even more than me).
I think I’d’ve liked more focus on Hampton and the other genuine Black Panthers and less on the rat (William O’Neal), but it still did well showing Hampton’s vision …
On the 1979 Sydney Luna Park Fire
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve appreciated the ABC’s Exposed documentary series on the 1979 Luna Park fire, which killed seven. Having been born sometime afterwards I hadn’t heard about it before, but the accounts of the blaze from the first episode were harrowing, and then the second made it clear that NSW police had done a huge cover-up after eyewitnesses suggested it was …
Sometimes I feel like the only millennial who hasn’t just mainlined every episode of The Simpsons. I mean, sure I’ve seen dozens of episodes in my life… but this encylopaedic knowledge that some people (including Viv) seem to have? I can’t imagine.
In fact, actually, probably our best experience watching TV during our time in Mexico was when we found The Simpsons on. I could understand the Spanish, and Viv could understand because he’s memorised seemingly every line of dialogue in the whole show. Fun times 😆
Link: “Roughly 3,000 Words on Yes Minister Pilot Edits” by John Hoare
An interesting, if niche, investigation into why the pilot episode of Yes, Minister has a different, gaudier, title sequence to the rest of the series on the DVD box set.
Promising Young Woman at the Astor
Last night Viv and I went to the Astor to see Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan (actually it was a double-header with the 1944 film Gaslight, but Viv was too tired and we went home). It’s a black comedy thriller film, revolving around the themes of “rape culture” and the drive for revenge. And it’s so good!! Mulligan’s performance as Cassie Thomas is brilliant, the pace is snappy, and the tension and humour are on-point.
Link: “Judas and the Black Messiah Actually Does Fred Hampton Justice”
At last, a movie comes out that I really want to watch!
Jessica Smith is a left-wing feminist who loves animals, books, gaming, and cooking; she’s also very interested in linguistics, history, technology and society.