His Dark Materials S02E02 continues Lyra’s sojourn away from her home world as she continues to seek the truth behind ‘dust’ – the substance that facilitates traveling between alternate realities. Entitled “The Cave”, His Dark Materials S02E02 now takes place on multiple planes of existence as part of its narrative.
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After a bit of a teased twist at the end of episode 3, I was hoping that The Undoing S01E04 would bring us down an intriguing road. But alas, a tease was all it was, and it was unfulfilled. But still, The Undoing S01E04 is managing to keep my interest in the limited series so far. Why is that?
The Crown is a historical drama streaming television series about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II (played by Olivia Colman). Certainly, in modern times, no other royal family has captured public imagination like the Windsors. Also, in the context of the prolonged reign of Queen Elizabeth II, such a drama series is definitely merited. The Crown Season 4 perhaps begins the Queen’s most tumultuous years, to be concluded with Season 5, coming in 2022.
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The Sentinel is a 1977 supernatural horror drama based on the novel of the same name by Jeffrey Konvitz. Directed by Michael Winner, The Sentinel is about a young model (Cristina Raines) who moves into a historic Brooklyn brownstone that has been sectioned into apartments, only to find that the building is owned by the Catholic diocese and is a gateway to Hell.
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The Alienist is a period drama TV series set in New York of the late 19th century. Based on the novel of the same name by Caleb Carr, The Alienist debuted in mid-2018 to mixed critical responses. The Alienist Season 2 was released in July 2020 and based on Carr’s sequel novel, The Angel of Darkness.
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The Mandalorian S02E03 is destined to be a fan-favourite episode of this popular Disney+ series. Entitled “The Heiress”, The Mandalorian S02E03 introduces the live-action version of Bo-Katan (played by Katee Sackhoff), from The Clone Wars animated series. Bo-Katan is of the Mandalorian Clan Kryze and plans to reclaim Mandolore from the fallen Empire.
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Archive is a British indie scifi drama written and directed by Gavin Rothery. Although Archive is Rothery’s debut feature, Rothery had collaborated – contributed design work – with Duncan Jones on Moon. Thus, there is a similar low budget sensibility about Archive but with the same attention to detail and first rate quality witnessed on Moon.
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Elton John Jewel Box is the latest retrospective collection to be released in recent times. As with other similar products, Elton John Jewel Box is not for casual music fans but for the diehard Elton John fans out there.
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Neil Young has turned 75! So it’s probably the best day to present to you the click baiting listicle I call The Best Neil Young Songs Of All Time! AND… I have given myself the nigh impossible task of just naming TEN songs! But I think I am well satisfied with this list, keeping my selections to the less obvious and focusing on deep cuts. Without further ado, The Best Neil Young Songs Of All Time (in alphabetical order, natch!)
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The Queen’s Gambit is a Netflix limited series based on the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis. The series is alternately a chess fantasy and a feminist drama. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon, the main character, the story is set in the 1950s and 1960s.
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Star Trek : Discovery S03E05 “Die Trying” seems to promise the end of Discovery’s quest to be reunited with Starfleet and the Federation but what the crew discovers (sorry) is far from expected. At the end of the previous episode, Adira Tal reconnected with her symbiont’s previous hosts and was able to glean the vital information from Starfleet Admiral Senna Tal concerning Starfleet HQ location.
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For The Best Police Songs Of All Time list, I decided to feature an article that I wrote a long time ago. This piece details the history of The Police first time round, without really discussing the reunion. After that you will find an Apple Music playlist of The Best Police Songs Of All Time.
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Immortal Beloved is a 1994 historical drama depicting the final years of classical music composer Ludwig van Beethoven (played by Gary Oldham). The story revolves around a quest by Beethoven’s secretary and biographer Anton Schindler (Jeroen Krabbé) to find out the true identity of the “Unsterbliche Geliebte” (“Immortal Beloved”) addressed in three letters found in Beethoven’s private papers.
(more…)His Dark Materials S02E01 marks the return of HBO’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s popular scifi fantasy series. The first season was a mixed affair distinguished by the performances of Dafne Keen (as protagonist Lyra) and Ruth Wilson (as antagonist Mrs. Coulter), but bogged down by the convoluted storyline. Definitely did not have the impact of a Game of Thrones that perhaps HBO was hoping for.
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The Undoing is a six-part HBO psychological thriller drama mini-series based on the 2014 novel You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz. for the purpose of this review, I shall be splitting my comments into two parts. Episodes one to three will be covered in The Undoing – Part I. So whenever I refer to The Undoing – Part I, I am discussing the first three episodes.
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It is the 50th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s second album, The Man Who Sold the World. To celebrate this landmark, Parlophone have released a new remix of the album by Tony Visconti. David Bowie – Metrobolist was in fact the original title of the album till it was changed at the last minute to The Man Who Sold the World.
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The New Mutants is a superhero horror movie directed by Josh Boone. The final movie in the Fox X-Men franchise series, The New Mutants is loosely based on the Marvel comic book series of the same name, in particular the Demon Bear Saga that ran from #18 – #20, in the 80s.
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Elvis Costello – The Complete Armed Forces is a retrospective collection curated by Elvis Costello himself centred on Costello’s 1979 album with The Attractions, Armed Forces. If nothing else, Armed Forces is a personal landmark as the LP was the first Elvis Costello LP I picked up all those years ago.
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It’s fair to say that The Mandalorian S02E02 was a huge disappointment. After the reveal of the return of a fan-favourite legacy character at the end of the last episode, The Mandalorian S02E02 “The Passenger” simply went nowhere, plot-wise.
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“Forget Me Not” is the title of Star Trek : Discovery S03E04 and despite its best intentions feels like a stop-gap episode. Or maybe that’s the whole point of Star Trek : Discovery S03E04? A moment of pause to properly introduce new character Adira Tal (Blu Del Barrio).
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The Style Council. A stylish experiment sandwiched in the middle of The Jam and Paul Weller. Or a huge misstep in the career of a music icon. There as many opinions about this as there are Jam and Weller fans. Somehow, The Style Council has never been taken as seriously as Weller’s other two incarnations.
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The Duellists is a 1977 British historical drama and the first movie helmed by the renowned director Ridley Scott. The movie is an adaptation of a Joseph Conrad novel entitled The Duel and stars Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel in the lead roles.
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Possessor is an indie scifi horror movie written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg. Horror buffs will of course recognise the name Cronenberg. Brandon is the son of iconic film-maker David Cronenberg, director of movies like The Fly, Dead Ringers, Scanners, Rabid et al.
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Since I rebooted Power of Pop in late July, I have been moved to focus on movie and TV reviews with hardly any music reviews featured. This change in direction might be somewhat bewildering to anyone who has followed Power of Pop in the decades that it has been around.
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The Ninth Configuration is a psychological drama written and directed by William Peter Blatty, based on his novel. The movie is an exercise in surrealism and Blatty’s treatise on religious faith. Released in 1980, The Ninth Configuration is the perfect example of seventies movie making, where serious (and original) themes were allowed to be explored without compromise or studio interference.
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