Month: January 2022

One of my pandemic addictions is British crime dramas. Initially, I found the limited series format of most of these dramas off putting. I generally like series that have multiple seasons that I can spend weeks binging but I gave one of these dramas a go because I found the premise captivating and now I am hooked. Paranoid is one of the series I dove head first into and could not stop thinking about for weeks afterward.

Based on a investigative team in the fictional town of Woodmere in the UK, Paranoid, on its surface, is a limited series about the murder of a local doctor that goes international when ties to a German pharmaceutical company. As the investigation proceeds, the team narrows their list of suspects to a young man with mental health issues.

As they tighten their focus on the young man, he is suddenly killed and the team has to go back to the drawing board. This happens time and again. The team identifies a suspect only to have the suspect found dead. All the while an unknown person is feeding the team information that is either leading them towards the real killer or leading them astray. The tension builds as the team meets dead end after dead end.

Written by Bill Gallagher, Paranoid is smart, well-paced and unexpected. It is not formulaic yet it is familiar in a comfortable way. The collection of personalities that make up the team is unique and relatable and they have been cast perfectly. Indira Varma, as Nina Suresh, and Dino Fetscher, as Alec Wayfield, in particular are stellar. I’ll not give away the villian in this story but both the acting and the story for this character are brilliant.

There is a different sensibility with British dramas. The cast look like people you might actually know, and they look like their age. There is less superficial polish and more deep character work. There are fewer hotshot detectives and more team work. All in, British crime dramas are just smarter and more enjoyable.

Don’t take my word for it, tune into Netflix now to watch Paranoid. Don’t think of it as a limited series, think of it as an epic crime thriller movie with regular snack breaks!

On a gentle winter night, between Christmas and New Year’s, my partner and I hunkered down for a quiet movie night. We’d heard some buzz about a new Leonardo DiCaprio movie that was new to Netflix so we decide to check it out. This is the tale of how the media lost its collective mind over a too-on-the nose- satire called Don’t Look Up.

In case you have been, rightfully so, avoiding social media or the news recently let me tell you, this little flick has generated an enormous amount of disdain. The critics have panned it and the media has taken the premise personally. Some seem to have forgotten that it’s meant to be a work of fiction, a satire, a piece of entertainment which might be understandable considering how timely it is.

The movie is about two scientists who discover an asteroid that is on a collision course with earth. Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) and Randall Mindy (DiCaprio), upon spotting the asteroid on the Subaru Telescope, alert the NASA and the White House to the impending disaster. Instead of immediately jumping into action, the White House denies the validity of the finding and begins a massive campaign to keep the public from finding out about the asteroid.

When the asteroid becomes visible in the earth’s sky, and can no longer be denied, the Trump-esque president holds rallies claiming the scientists are fear mongers and encouraging a distrust of science in general. The media goes along with the White House view and those who believe in science become the minority – right up to the end of the earth.

The movie is full of dark humor and snapshots of a frenzied public that is not too different than the mobs that attend rallies and protests in red hats, waving Old Glory flags while screaming about civil liberties. The White House administration in Don’t Look Up is reminiscent of the former administration, complete with vanity, arrogance and nepotism. But I think the thing that has caught the ire of the media is the portrayal of the media.

Throughout the film, the media is depicted as more concerned with ratings than fact, obsessed with earnings, biased and out of touch with the reality of the situation. There are snippets of FOX-like interviews, full of mockery of science and ridiculous claims of attacks on freedoms that look eerily like the news we’ve seen unfold over the last two years of this pandemic.

While some critics of the film have attacked the science behind the film while others have picked apart the writing, directing, and acting. Some have criticized the charcutiers that make up the administration and others have cited the portrayal of the media as completely unbelievable.

But as a watcher of the film and an observer of the media, I’d say the movie got this pretty spot on. The media’s biggest beef with Don’t Look Up is that they don’t like looking in this particular mirror. Throughout this film the media has been both the witless protagonist and the maniacal antagonist. It is the leading role in the melodrama and it’s character is based on a real life model.

But don’t take my word for it. Watch the film, read the reviews and then judge for yourself. The fallout from this film could mirror the aftermath of the asteroid – at least as far as the media is concerned.

Olivia Coleman. That’s it. She’s everything. I am such a fan of her work so it is no surprise that I absolutely loved her latest offering, The Lost Daughter. I am not alone in my feelings about this psychological thriller that centers around the complexities of motherhood; there is Oscar buzz for Ms. Coleman once again.

The story is set at a resort town in Greece, where a middle-aged university professor on holiday is drawn into the dynamics of a family who lives and, seemingly, runs the town. When Nina’s (Dakota Johnson) daughter goes missing on the beach, Leda (Olivia Coleman) joins the search for the child. Before long, Leda finds the missing girl and returns her to her family. What should have been a happy end to an unfortunate happening becomes the beginning of a disturbing connection between the two women.

Nina bumps into and searches out Leda several times in the days following the loss of her daughter. Each time the two have an awkwardly personal exchange about their lives and their experiences as mothers. And each time their lives get a little more linked together. The mystery of Leda’s past and the fate of her daughters unfolds through a series of flashbacks triggered by the encounters with Nina.

On the surface a film about the mixed emotions of mothering may sound like a bit of a snooze but the reality is far more dark and mysterious. Leda becomes fixated on Nina and her young daughter and consumed by memories of her own early years of mothering. There is an underlying darkness and growing despair to the memories that are triggered and the pacing, score and cinematography of the film all add to the suspense and increasing dread of the story.

Written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter is based on a novel of the same name by Elena Ferrante. Gyllenhaal knocked her debut as a director and screenwriter out of the park. The movie premiered at Venice International Film Festival in September of 2021 where it received a four minute long standing ovation. Since then, the film and its leading ladies, both on screen and behind the camera, have been nominated for multiple awards. And with the Oscars just around the corner we can be sure to see this lot on many lists.

Be sure to check out The Lost Daughter and watch the divine and delightful Olivia Coleman work her magic on screen once again. See you at the Oscars, again, Ms Coleman!

I am a mega-fan of the Snowpiercer series. It had me at Daveed Diggs, really. But it kept me with the fast-paced action, plot twists and utterly intriguing storyline. And let’s face it, a show where Sean Bean survives more than an episode or two has got to be a keeper!

It has been a long Snow-drought since the final episode of season 2 aired on March 29, 2021 but the drought is over and the thaw is coming! Season 3 of Snowpiercer dropped on January 24 and, though I promise you no spoilers, let’s review where we are an take a quick look at where the show picks up this season.

In season 2, the folks on Snowpiercer find themselves linked to the original perpetual motion engine, Big Alice. Unbeknownst to them, Big Alice had also been doing loops around the globe during the big freeze and the captain at the helm is none other than the real Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) and he’s not alone. Wilford has been raising/grooming Melanie’s daughter, Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard), since the night Snowpiercer began it’s journey.

Through the second season we see a power struggle develop between Melanie (Jennifer Connelly), Layton (Daveed Diggs) and Wilford. This struggle is amplified when the people of Snowpiercer are forced to enter trade agreements with Wilford as their survival is at risk. Melanie also makes the big decision to venture off Snowpiercer in an effort to determine the health of the planet in hopes of signs of a thaw.

The entire second season is tension filled and the stakes are raised week after week as the survival of the Snowpiercer community is put into question time and again. No episode was more stressful than the season finale which unravels at the speed of the train itself. Alex and Layton are struggling to enact some kind of plan that would allow them to rescue Melanie who is trapped at a frozen weather station. All the while, Wilford seems to be one step ahead of them and is tightening his grip on the control of both trains.

The season ends with the Snowpiercer team successfully seperating part of the train from Wilford’s control and returning to the weather station to rescue Melanie. When they arrive, though, they discover Melanie’s data diligently preserved but no Melanie in sight. When they find a message left by her they learn that she had walked into the Freeze to accept her death, as she had run out of supplies. She left them with one final note of hope. The data shows that there are places on the planet that are beginning to thaw. Life on land will be possible again soon.

Season three picks up six months later. Wilford has proven to be a despot leader. With supplies quickly dwindling, power supply at a minimum and morale non-existent long term survival seems unlikely.

But Layton has a pirate train and he searching for the thaw.

Season 3 of Snowpiercer is available now on Netflix with new episodes being released weekly. Be sure to catch all three seasons on Netflix now.