Better than anything that guy with a hammer can do for Norse theology or what Elon Musk’s doppelganger in a metallic red suit can do for science; Batman is for culture. Ignoring all the prequels that came before it and all the sequels that will – unavoidably – come after, The …
In a world that bombards us with reasons to be anxious all day every day, Ari Aster's latest unsettling film production, Beau is Afraid , speaks to us in the language of twitchy-eyed terror. Whether it’s WebMD convincing you that you have a life-threatening illness or the n…
The tale of an amoral media tycoon and his conniving offspring, set in a capitalistic world where loyalty means nothing and empathy is viewed as weakness, Succession is a story that audiences shouldn’t want to relate to. And yet here I am – a Bernie Sanders’ mittens-loving socia…
Black and white and weird, The Lighthouse serves as a noir allegory for the mental cost of isolation. Pretty pertinent lockdown viewing then, but not the escapism you might be seeking. Originally meant as a contemporary version of Edgar Allan-Poe’s unfinished short story, the fi…
I was an early onboarder of the Westworld fan bus and, as I ride into this third season, the excitement is still very much within me as we settle into the journey that follows vengeance-hunting robot Dolores, now set free into a sleek future society in which an AI system …
A story about a man in space, sure, but not just a story about a man in space. Rather, Ad Astra is an existential thrill ride about what it means to be a man in space. And what does it mean really? For Brad Pitt’s Roy McBride, directed by James Gray, it means a life …
If you’re not someone totally shut off to the idea that animals aren’t so different from humans, and that primates in particular can tell us a lot about humans’ own evolutionary process, The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore is a book you must read. The novel, written as a memoir …
Post-spiritual awakening Jim Carrey is Carrey at his best. It’s further than you ever thought he could get from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and yet Jeff Pickles, the central character of Kidding , still holds a similar sort of intrigue. Distant from anyone we know, yet relata…
How do you get a boat load of 19 th century young men to agree to risking their lives (real big time) for nothing but a state salary and a pat on the back? You make them believe in something; in their country’s goals, in the knowledge and the power of the British empire, in En…