Owen Wilson Matrix-esque drama Bliss is a dark dose of reality February 4, 2021 In the past decade, Owen Wilson has been more prominent as a sofa salesman than he has as a movie star. Since his early 2010s peak as a mild-mannered comedy lead, he’s popped up in underwhelming sequels (Zoolander 2, Cars 3), and had a supporting role in wholesome hit 2017’s Wonder, but nothing that sticks [...]
A Glitch In The Matrix – reality docu is a stoners’ paradise February 4, 2021 Premiering at this week’s Sundance Film Festival, A Glitch In The Matrix ponders a very large idea: what if what we perceive as reality is in fact a computer simulation? Talking to academics, artists, and hardcore believers discuss the various clues around us that suggest not all is as it seems. Director Rodney Ascher’s Room [...]
Malcolm & Marie review – Zendaya saves clunky lockdown drama February 4, 2021 Unusual times call for unusual methods. With filming on their TV series Euphoria halted due to the COVID-19 lockdown, creator Sam Levinson and Emmy winning star Zendaya got together and filmed this relationship drama entirely contained within one building, with cast and crew isolating in order to work together safely. Told over the course of [...]
WandaVision Episode 4 review – Marvel fills in the gaps. January 29, 2021 Up to this point, WandaVision has revelled in the enigmatic nature of its plot. We’ve been given only threads of what is happening, and who’s behind it. Last week ‘Geraldine’ (Teyonah Parris) cracked Wanda’s reality by mentioning that Wanda’s (Elizabeth Olsen) brother was killed by Ultron. Infuriated, Wanda threw Geraldine out of their sitcom world [...]
Visit London’s first ever absinthe distillery January 29, 2021 London’s first absinthe distillery has opened in east London in a suitably trippy location. The Devil’s Botany Distillery is the brainchild of two devoted “absintheurs” – owners of The Last Tuesday Society, the Hackney bar famous for its taxidermy collection and absinthe-based cocktails including “The Naughty Nun” and “Magik & Medicine”. “Devil’s Botany London Absinthe [...]
Synchronic review – A bleak but unique sci-fi January 28, 2021 One of the very few advantages of the current global situation is many people’s ability to catch up on the content they might have missed, or challenge themselves with something different. Of the many choices coming your way in the next twelve months, few can boast to be as different as Synchronic. Avenger Anthony Mackie [...]
The Dig – Mulligan and Fiennes shine in gentle period drama January 28, 2021 The true story of the Sutton Hoo excavation gets the Netflix treatment in a handsome period drama The Dig, an awards hopeful that quietly works its way into your affections. The story takes place in idyllic Suffolk in 1939. Wealthy widow Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires softly spoken excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to investigate [...]
Twist review – Sky’s Dickens update is not so Artful January 28, 2021 Like Dracula and Sherlock Holmes, Oliver Twist is a character that seems to have been reimagined a number of ways over the years on the big screen. As well as the standard dramatisations of Dickens’ classic, there’s the beloved 60s musical Oliver!; animated hit Oliver & Company; and, er, a version set in the New [...]
