Review: Orphan Black
Ever feel like you’re having difficulty keeping characters straight? That could have been a problem in Orphan Black, a new BBC America scripted series based on the premise that a set of cloned...
Category: Europe
Director Maxim Pozdorovkin Discusses “Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer”
Suffice to say that by now – thanks to Amnesty International and/or Madonna – you’ve probably heard of Pussy Riot, the feminist punk rock collective that burst onto the international scene...
In Greece, Journalists Occupy the ERT Studios and Keep Producing News—Despite Austerity Measures
Last Tuesday, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announced that Hellenic Radio and Television (ERT)—Greece’s only public television and radio station, and national equivalent to the BBC—would...
Companion Cannon Fodder: The Doctor Who Finale
Oh, gentle readers, do let’s discuss Clara the Impossible Girl and the thrilling or perhap insipid conclusion of the seventh season, which just aired on televisions ‘round the world. We were...
“And Then There Were None”: Reflections on an Empty Nest
I love Mother’s Day and I know that Mother’s Day loves me right back—the proof is in the three bunches of flowers before me. Much like their senders used to do, each is jostling for its...
Review – Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories
Daft Punk’s latest album Random Access Memories resists easy categorisation. Undoubtedly an Event album, accompanied by an all-star guest list and Vice-sponsored short making-of documentary series,...
Review: Christopher Guest’s Family Tree
Christopher Guest is finally (and delightfully) back behind the camera with Family Tree, a new half-hour single-camera comedy on HBO co-created with Jim Piddock. The production is a bit of a...
“Shadow Dancer”: An Interview with Director James Marsh
“Fiercely intelligent” is the phrase used by a recent acquaintance, whose husband worked on “Shadow Dancer,” to describe the film’s director James Marsh. It’s a spot-on assessment that I...
Cruel Britannia: A closer look at Gangster No.1.
London 1999. In the shadow of the Millennium Dome, men with faces as rough as Bethnal Green tube station laugh and leer at the camera. These monsters in bow ties are grotesque; their mirth rains like...
“A series of endless stupid romances”: Doctor Who returns
Doctor Who came back from a brief hiatus this weekend with a rather unremarkable episode revolving around a plot to steal human minds over wifi networks in order to feed a mysterious client. Its main...