Game of Comparison
It’s been over 24 hours, so we have at least 24,000 thinkpieces about Game of Thrones finale / final season’s compressed narrative, character inconsistencies, political absurdities and lack thereof, etc. Your mileage may vary, but I say season eight had 2.5 Great/Good Episodes out of six. Much of the Great exists despite the compressed timeline, … Continue reading
Doctor Who “Resolution” Shot Study – Crossing the Line
A month ago I was on a feature film shoot, ready to go into a take. The 1AD had called turnover, everything was slated, and the DOP jumped up, startling everyone, waving his arms. “Wait! Is this a line cross!?” They don’t always wait until quite so last-second, but a line cross is a DOP … Continue reading
Legends of Tomorrow – Witch Hunt
“I hope you’re feeling morally superior!” I’m not doing episodic reviews of Legends, but how this show went from the Hawk-driven disasterpiece that was Season 1 to being the best show in the Arrowverse fascinates me. The opening Ray exposition [RaySposition, TM] scene appears to be a result of writers competing for “most ridiculous contraption … Continue reading
Shot Study – Doctor Who “The Woman Who Fell To Earth”
The first episode of the 11th season of NuWho has Very Big Expectations. It has to stand up to many recent introductions of The Doctor and/or companions, some of which arguably rank among the best episodes the show has done. It has to act as a pilot of sorts, because even though we know this … Continue reading
Use of Framing to Visualise Characters’ Thoughts and Feelings in Halt and Catch Fire
Halt and Catch Fire is never afraid to go for broke with its direction. While sometimes (especially in Season 1) this leans too hard into melodrama or Dutch tilts, overall, the direction makes any given episode stand out. (To read a fantastic piece on the show’s use of colour, in the episode after the one … Continue reading
A Tale of Two Films with Gutsy Endings
I’ve recently seen both Call My By Your Name and A Quiet Place, which I loved for very different reasons. The real clincher, though, one of the things which sticks out in both films and which I submit is unusual today, is in the final moments. Final moments in films can be clever and quotable … Continue reading
Everything Sucks! is kinda adorable, actually.
It may sound like damning with faint praise, but the best adjective for this show is adorable. The young cast is adorable (and talented), the plots about innocent young love are adorable (and properly teenage-awkward), the set dressing is adorable (though its period budget is obviously less than, say, Halt and Catch Fire), you get … Continue reading
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and the Cycles of Abuse
Under its primary colours and insistent optimism, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a psychologically complex show. Many writers have talked about its problematic handling of racial issues and how some of that is the very point, the way it deals with coming out of cult situations and sexual abuse, the way it addresses the aftermath of said cults, including … Continue reading
Glitch: Pilot
This is the first in a series of pilot analysis, where I review how the pilot works as such. Eventually if there’s enough interest I may pick up a whole series. First up is Glitch. A good pilot establishes; that’s almost its only job. It establishes the main story, the setting, characters, the look and … Continue reading
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