Afghanistan
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainFriday, 04 September 2015
A unicorn, on fire; the wet slap of flesh on hospital linoleum; homoerotic manhugs from wounded soldiers. The latest and greatest in the legendary Metal Gear Solid series starts odd. But brilliantly odd.Waking in a hospital bed, covered in bandages... Read more... |
Three Tales, Ensemble BPM, IMAX Science MuseumThursday, 23 April 2015
Poised vibrantly enough between the buried-alive monotony of Philip Glass and the dynamic flights of John Adams, Steve Reich’s Three Tales deserves a special place in music-theatre history ("opera" it is not). Ironically, since it deals with the two... Read more... |
Hillary Clinton: The Power of Women, BBC TwoThursday, 26 March 2015
If the mark of a good documentary is that it teaches you something new, then the awkwardly titled Hillary Clinton: The Power of Women was a very good documentary indeed. For instance, before watching it I had no idea that the famous “women’s rights... Read more... |
Last Tango in Halifax, Series 3, BBC One / Homeland, Series 4 Finale, Channel 4Monday, 29 December 2014
Back for its third series [***], Sally Wainwright's saga of Yorkshire folk continues to tread a precarious line between syrupy soapfulness and a family drama with sharp little teeth. Its excellent cast helps to carry it over the worst of the soggy... Read more... |
The Choir: New Military Wives, BBC TwoWednesday, 17 December 2014
This feelgood programme hit all the buttons with almost unerring precision, as we followed Gareth Malone's project to prepare a military wives choir for a special prom, commemorating the World War One centenary on 3 August 2014. On the way we... Read more... |
Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race / The Spaceman of Afghanistan, BBC FourTuesday, 14 October 2014
Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race (*****) arrived at a strange time. With its remarkable accumulation of Soviet archive material and interviews with key figures, including Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space, the programme must... Read more... |
Our Girl, BBC OneMonday, 22 September 2014
If Molly Dawes (Lacey Turner) had to find one act of heroism with which to fully incorporate herself into her new squadron before the credits rolled, she couldn’t have planned it better: winched aboard a helicopter, her fist in the groin of the one-... Read more... |
DVD: A Thousand Times Good NightThursday, 11 September 2014
There’s war in the world outside and much conflict at home in Norwegian director Eric Poppe’s A Thousand Times Good Night. The film is centred in every sense around the poised, taut performance of Juliette Binoche as war photographer Rebecca, whom... Read more... |
Storyville: Which Way Is the Frontline From Here?, BBC FourTuesday, 01 April 2014
The title of Sebastian Junger’s documentary comes from a casual remark made as a group of journalists set off towards conflict in the outskirts of the Libyan town of Misrata: it may sound like a standard question from a battle-hardened war... Read more... |
Lone SurvivorTuesday, 28 January 2014
Just what kind of beast is Peter Berg's Lone Survivor? A jingoist justification for the continuing conflict in Afghanistan? A cautionary tale questioning the rules of engagement? War porn? An intense vehicle for its talented stars? Or, in fact, a... Read more... |
Jack Ryan: Shadow RecruitFriday, 24 January 2014
Assuming you care at all, your favourite incarnation of Tom Clancy's industrious CIA agent Jack Ryan is probably Harrison Ford (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger). Before him came Alec Baldwin in The Hunt for Red October, and afterwards there... Read more... |
Edinburgh 2013: The Events/Morning and Afternoon/Live Love LaughWednesday, 07 August 2013
The Events, Traverse Theatre **** Writer David Greig has been at pains to make clear that The Events is not about Anders Breivik’s slaughter of 77 people in Oslo and Utoya in July 2011, even though he and director Ramin Gray researched... Read more... |
