Tag / review

by Andrea

SOLOS (Amazon Originals, 2021)

What is SOLOS about?

SOLOS is about 8 people, from different times but the same universe. Eight people who drift together or apart, who are tied up together in the fabric of space.  Each episode stars one person, only the finale features two. Each protagonist has someone to play off of, either themselves in a double role, or sometimes, an AI companion, a disembodied voice. Each performance is stellar, and each script is tangled up in speculative fiction tropes. Time travel, humans and bots, space and the advancements of technology. The good ones, and the bad ones.

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by Andrea

LUPIN (Netflix, 2021)

Why casting a Black man rather than a smug-ish prick white guy in the role of the famous French gentleman burglar is timely social commentary and adds a much needed layer of depth to the aspect of disguise and social stealth & playing roles.

Warning: the end of this post contains spoilers for the cliffhanger of the series!

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Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Kate McKinnon are the new Ghostbusters
by Andrea

Answer the Call: Ghostbusters (2016)

There’s four new heroes in town.

I watched Ghostbusters this past weekend, making it a point to go see it on its opening weekend here in Germany. I’d been looking forward to it pretty much since the first announcements, and definitely since the first casting news. I watched and up-voted the first trailer everywhere I could, I followed the dudebro/misogynist and racist backlash against this movie as well as its actresses, particularly Leslie Jones, with increasing rage. However, I also read so many good things about it from delighted critics (mostly women) and bloggers, celebrating the many things this movie gets right. In short, I was really stoked to finally see it, make up my own mind, and quite frankly: goddamn enjoy myself for a change.

The setup: I haven’t seen the first two movies in over ten years and I frequently confuse plot points between the two, so I can’t really speak to any similarities in plot or story. I did ponder rewatching beforehand, but I realised one crucial thing: I don’t care. Because I had fun. Continue reading →

Peter Capaldi and Maisie Williams in Doctor Who Series 9
by Andrea

Throwback Thursday — Doctor Who: The Girl Who Died + The Woman Who Lived

Previously on Doctor Who: Before the Flood.

In the first two-parter guest starring Maisie Williams, we’re visiting first the Vikings, and then the (I’m guessing) late 18th century. With war-thirsty aliens projecting a false god Odin into the skies (very Monty Python’s Holy Grail, by the way), the mere fact that we’re visiting the Vikings is not so much the point, except perhaps for the idea of a death in battle being a good way to go. Since the whole episode is set within one tiny village and, intermittently, on one pretty small spaceship, the world-building isn’t as extensive as we’ve known it to be. Continue reading →

Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman in the Series 9 episode 'Under the Lake'
by Andrea

Throwback Thursday — Doctor Who: Under the Lake + Before the Flood

Previously on Doctor Who: The Witch’s Familiar.

In this two-parter opened by Toby Whithouse, we see a bit of a reset — this is, in essence, the first proper adventure after everything that’s happened. After Clara said goodbye for the first time, after Danny’s first death and then his second. Being abducted to Skaro doesn’t really count because, well, it wasn’t the Doctor that called, it was UNIT. So this is the first we see of Clara and the Doctor on the road again, wherever they went at the end of Last Christmas notwithstanding. Continue reading →

Jenna Coleman, Peter Capaldi, and Nick Frost star in Last Christmas (2014)
by Andrea

Throwback Thursday—Doctor Who: Last Christmas (2014)

Previously on Doctor Who: Death in Heaven.

Life — you know, that thing that happens when the Doctor’s not there to fix it. I had my own bit of Life in 2015, and it wasn’t going so well. Hence, I scaled back my usual blogging activity and treaded the Whoniverse more or less incognito. But now, it’s 2016, it’s a fresh start, and I do still love this idiot travelling in a box. So I’ll use the good old tradition of Throwback Thursdays to blog about Series 9, Clara’s exit, and Peter Capaldi’s second year as the Doctor.

In this case, I know I am horribly late to the party, but do indulge me — we’re travelling back to 2014, and Peter and Jenna’s first Christmas Special together. Last Christmas. Speaking as a plot detective, one might also call it The Curious Case of Suspending Disbelief for Strange Men Distributing Gifts. Continue reading →