Twin Peaks S03E10: “Laura is the one” (17/7/17)
I realised something odd at the end of this week’s episode of Twin Peaks – I’ve stopped waiting for Special Agent Dale Cooper to “return”. Instead, for me, the [...]
Schlesinger: Pacific Heights (1990)
One of the most unusual thrillers of the early 90s, Pacific Heights updates the suburban horror formula for the yuppie generation. At its heart are Patty Palmer (Melanie [...]
Pollack: Havana (1990)
One of the most languorous and sumptuously atmospheric films in Sydney Pollack’s long career, Havana updates Casablanca for the early 1990s, by way of a period piece set on [...]
Twin Peaks S03E09: “This is the chair” (10/7/17)
The third season of Twin Peaks doubles back down on its momentum after the sublime excursion of “Gotta light?,” for a convergence episode that sees a variety of disparate [...]
Scott: Alien: Covenant (2017)
Apparently one of Ridley Scott’s earliest and most ambitious plans for the Alien saga was to retell the Gospels through the Alien mythology, and to present the figure of [...]
The Handmaid’s Tale: Season 1 (2017)
The Handmaid’s Tale is still one of the most urgent dystopias of the twentieth century and the good news on the Hulu adaptation is that it utterly makes good on that [...]
Feud: Bette and Joan (2017)
Along with American Crime Story, Feud seems to mark a new moment in Ryan Murphy’s career, channeling the high camp of his previous television series into a more burnished [...]
Weir: Green Card (1990)
Peter Weir’s follow-up to Dead Poets Society, Green Card was both his first solo screenplay since the 1970s, and his first screenplay for an American film. Not [...]
Scott: Days of Thunder (1990)
Tony Scott’s second film of 1990 is, for all intents and purposes, a spiritual sequel to Top Gun, with the Daytona 500 race track substituting for the tarmac at NAS [...]
Raimi: Darkman (1990)
Before he made Spider-Man, Sam Raimi came up with his own original superhero for his first Hollywood studio film. Watching Darkman now, it’s amazing how different it looks [...]
