Seth Harris

TV Review – The League of Gentlemen Series 2

The League of Gentlemen Series 2 (2000)
Written by Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith & Jeremy Dyson
Directed by Steve Bendelack

hilary briss

Benjamin Denton escapes the clutches of Edward and Tubbs but with trauma-induced amnesia from his experience. Edward and Tubbs are on the search for a bride for their son David which involved the attempted abductions of women from Royston Vasey. Pauline is trying to get her position back with the jobs program but has to deal with Ross lording his new position over her. House cleaner Iris reaches a breaking point with her employer Judith, and a shocking secret about the two is revealed. There are also new arrivals to Royston Vasey, including the homicidal Herr Lipp and the grotesque circus ringleader Papa Lazarou.

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Movie Review – The Post

The Post (2018)
Written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer
Directed by Steven Spielberg

the post

In 1971, portions of a U.S. government commissioned classified report on their involvement in Indochina were sent to the New York Times. The Times was the first outlet to publish an article on the content which led to the Nixon White House slapping them with an injunction. Meanwhile, another portion of the document was dropped on a desk in the newsroom of the Washington Post. Editor-in-Chief Ben Bradlee sees this as the Post’s moment to move from a local D.C. paper to a national force in the news. Owner Katharine Graham is hesitant when she finds out, being told this could damage the legacy of her family. The Post has just gone public on Wall Street, and the board of directors fears massive damage financially. Graham is also a lifelong friend of people who will be implicated in flawed U.S. foreign policy like Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara. She must make a decision about what to do next and deal with the repercussions that result.

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TV Review – Black Mirror: Black Museum

Black Mirror: Black Museum (2017)
Written by Charlie Brooker
Directed by Colm McCarthy

black museum

A young woman named Nish makes a stop to charge her car while traversing the American Southwest. While waiting for her car to be ready, she enters a nearby tourist trap called The Black Museum. This establishment purports to contain artifacts related to criminal acts. The proprietor, one Rolo Haynes, begins to regale Nish with stories related to some of the crimes. All of these tales connect back to Rolo’s time a recruiter for experimental research at a hospital. There’s the doctor who was imbued with the ability to personally feel his patients’ pain, a comatose woman who was able to live inside the mind of her husband, and a man convicted of murder who sold his holographic consciousness to feed his family.

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TV Review – Black Mirror: Metalhead

Black Mirror: Metalhead (2017)
Written by Charlie Brooker
Directed by David Slade

black-mirror-metalhead

Three survivors travel across the apocalyptic landscape of England in the future. They are in search of something and make mention of being aware of “dogs” in the area. They stumble upon a warehouse with an ambulance parked outside. One of the survivors attempts to hack into the ignition of the ambulance while the other two enter the warehouse and search for a box with a particular serial number. They find the box but also find a dormant “dog.” The dog, a robotic drone killer, takes out one of the survivors and the hacker, with only Bella escaping. She engages in a drawn out cat and mouse chase with the seemingly unceasing “dog,” who will only stop when he kills his target.

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Movie Review – The Great McGinty

rwbcinema

The Great McGinty (1940)
Written & Directed by Preston Sturges

the great mcginty

We begin at a bar in a banana republic where a forlorn and suicidal American banker is stopped from ending things by the bartender. The bartender is also an American, Dan McGinty, who tells his patron that he was once governor of a state in the U.S. From there we flashback to the story of McGinty’s rise and fall to power. During the Great Depression, he’s another jobless schmoe who is coerced into a voting fraud scheme for two bucks. He ends up showing an impressive level of moxie, and a local mob boss decides to use McGinty in his plans. He starts out as an alderman before moving to mayor and eventually governor of an unnamed state. But, as the film’s opening prologue tells us, one moment of good will topple McGinty back to the bottom.

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TV Review – Black Mirror: Hang the D.J.

Black Mirror: Hang the D.J. (2017)
Written by Charlie Brooker
Directed by Tim Van Patten

hang the dj black mirror

Amy and George live inside The System, a walled-off community of singles who are paired off by an artificial intelligence known as Coach. The pairings are used to gather data on a person’s preferences in a partner so that they can one day be given their perfect match. The length of the pairings is seemingly random, with some lasting a couple days to others going on for an entire year. Amy and George are each other’s first date in the System, and they are only together for 12 hours. However, even after being paired up with other people, they feel a pull towards each other.

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Movie Review – The Transfiguration

The Transfiguration (2017)
Written & Directed by Michael O’Shea

the transfiguration

Milo is an orphaned teenage boy living in New York City. He lives with his Army veteran brother who is unable to get a job, never explained but implied by either physical or mental injury. Milo has a secret though, he is a vampire. Or Milo believes he is a vampire and has marked out on his calendar the nights he will feed. He’ll stalk bathrooms or hang out in Central Park late into the night, using a secret pen knife to slit his victims’ throats and then lapping up their blood. In the midst of this very dark existence, Milo meets Sophie, a girl who has just moved into his apartment building. They strike up a friendship that becomes a relationship, and Milo attempts to keep his secret from Sophie while fighting his urge to feed on her.

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Movie Review – The Untamed

The Untamed (2016)
Written & Directed by Amat Escalante

the untamed

In a cabin in the woods, far from the city, live an old scientist and his wife. Inside their barn, they house something fantastic and terrific. But if that’s where you think the film will spend most of its time, then you are wrong. After a teasing opening sequence, shot with beautiful horror, we follow Veronica, a young woman enthralled with the thing in the barn. Veronica is injured after an encounter and meets nurse Fabian. She introduces Fabian to this same object of pleasure and revulsion. Fabian’s sister, Alejandra is married and dealing with the increasing drudgery of domestic life and the distance of her husband Angel. Angel is secretly having an affair with Fabian behind his wife’s back, but the latter breaks it off after feeling his devotion grow to the thing. It becomes very apparent that this story will only end tragically.

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Comic Book Review – JSA by Geoff Johns Volume 1

JSA by Geoff Johns Volume 1 (2017)
Written by Geoff Johns, David Goyer, & James Robinson
Art by Stephen Sadowski et al.
Reprints JSA Secret Files #1 and JSA #1-15.

jsa geoff johns v1

Three generations of DC’s superheroes are thrust together when the dark sorcerer Mordru sets out to kill the next Doctor Fate. Old vets like Alan Scott (the original Green Lantern) and Jay Garrick (the original Flash) join with Black Canary, Starman, Hourman, and others to usher in the newest incarnation of their old friend. From there they face a myriad of evil forces: Black Adam, the terrorist cult Kobra, and the reality manipulator Extant. Along the way, their bonds not just as a team, but as a family strengthen and they become one of the great highlights of DC Comics in the 2000s.

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Movie Review – The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water (2017)
Written by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor
Directed by Guillermo del Toro

shape of water

Elisa Esposito lives in Baltimore circa the early 1960s. She is mute since birth and works as a cleaning woman at a government laboratory. Her only friends are Zelda, a fellow cleaner, and Giles, her neighbor who is a closeted gay man. One night while working, a new specimen is brought into the lab by Colonel Strickland. The creature was discovered in the South American rainforest and is a humanoid fish person. Elisa feels a connection to this poor animal and worries as Strickland oversees his torture. A plan begins to develop, and Elisa becomes determined to help her new friend escape this nightmare existence.

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