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Tuesday, 30 November 2021

Hammer House of Horror: Guardian of the Abyss

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 "Don't you know the power of positive evil?" This episode is one of the finest yet. Written by David Fisher, who had written ...
Monday, 29 November 2021

Squid Game: Gganbu

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 "I'm pretty good at getting the things in the holes, huh?" After weeks and weeks it's been quite clear that Squid Game , ...
Sunday, 28 November 2021

Doctor Who: Flux, Chapter 5- Survivors of the Flux

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 "Fetch your dog!" This is, let us confess with all due squeeing, if that word still exists, that this was a somewhat exciting epi...
2 comments:

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

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 "Now, that's the way a cigarette should taste..." This is, seen one way, a typical Tarantino film. It has his signature cinem...
Saturday, 27 November 2021

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

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The first shock upon reading this justifiably admires piece of pulp fiction is how unexpectedly short it is. But then, like so many “novels”...
Friday, 26 November 2021

Superman and the Mole Men (1951)

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 “Why, you give the impression you’re leading a… a double life!”  This is a fascinating little document. It may be the first ever full lengt...
Wednesday, 24 November 2021

The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock

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This is a very different book from all the previous Michael Moorcock novels I’ve read, to understate hugely.  There are some similarities an...
Sunday, 21 November 2021

Doctor Who: Flux, Chapter 4- Village of the Angels

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 “Mrs Hayward, you appear to be... at night." Right then. I've been pretty positive about pretty much every episode this season so ...

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

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 "It was English cooking..." This is, of course, a wonderful film. But the wonder is that, for a British film with a military them...
Saturday, 20 November 2021

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick

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 I’ve never read a novel by Philip K. Dick before, despite having knowingly seen at least three films based on his work. This is a highly im...
Friday, 19 November 2021

Black Moon (1934)

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 "If I ever find him in the house again, I'll have him whipped." This is... well, a very racist film. We're not talking a ...
Tuesday, 16 November 2021

I May Destroy You: Social Media Is a Great Way to Connect

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 “You kind of had penetrative sex with someone under false pretences, Kwams.” Yet again we get a multifaceted and fascinating episode. It’s ...
Monday, 15 November 2021

Hammer House of Horror: The Carpathian Eagle

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 “Are you going to be strict with me?” This is an odd episode, not least because it's based on a purported Polish legend of a wronged co...
Sunday, 14 November 2021

Doctor Who: Flux, Chapter 3- Once, Upon Time

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 “Time is playing games with you all." I have to admit this episode is pretty damn awesome, and has me bloody excited. I have my usual ...

The Dragon in the Sword by Michael Moorcock

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  This is the last of the Eternal Champion trilogy, and a fitting ending that draws together many threads from both earlier novels, as well ...

The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)

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 "The blood is the life..." This is a cheap German film which, like many of its ilk, happens to star Christopher Lee who, while ph...
Saturday, 13 November 2021

Squid Game: A Fair World

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 “Everyone is equal…” The mid-way point, and we get a very interesting episode with an underlying theme of equality. The cliffhanger is reso...
Friday, 12 November 2021

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)

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 “She’s not your little girl any more.”  It's always instructive where a movie that has a lot seemingly going for it, like this one,turn...
Thursday, 11 November 2021

Hammer House of Horror: Children of the Full Moon

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 "It's getting dark outside..." This is a good 'un. A creepy, very well-directed werewolf episode with an unexpectedly cre...
Tuesday, 9 November 2021

I May Destroy You: Line Spectrum Border

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 "It's no longer an active investigation." Yet again we have a fascinating episode, full of all sorts of moral ambiguities. We...
Monday, 8 November 2021

Breaking Bad: ABQ

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 "He's just decent. And he always does the right thing." Here we go, then: the finale. There's tension throughout, a sense...

Doctor Who: Flux, Chapter Two- War of the Sontarans

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 “Repair must not be undertaken by idiots!" Once again, for the second week in succession, I must admit this episode is pretty good. Ch...
Sunday, 7 November 2021

Delayed Doctor Who Blog

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 I always try to blog Doctor Who , of all programmes, on the day of broadcast, but tonight that won’t be possible because of real life. We’r...
Saturday, 6 November 2021

The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham

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It is commonly assumed that, of all the writers of whodunit novels during that golden age of the 1920s and ‘30s, Agatha Christie was the unq...

Inspector Morse: Last Seen Wearing

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 "You were so keen to have a murder. You should be happy." One ought to bear in mind that Colin Dexter's novel was written fif...
Wednesday, 3 November 2021

Squid Game: Stick to the Team

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 "I don't trust people..." This is a superb episode- all peril, tension and dog eat dog action. And yet, by putting the charac...
Tuesday, 2 November 2021

Hammer House of Horror: The Silent Scream

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 "Prisons without walls, cages without bars..." This is an interesting episode- clever, imaginative, ingenious, with a strong cent...
Monday, 1 November 2021

Breaking Bad: Phoenix

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 "If I gave you that money, you would be dead inside a week..." I've mentioned before that this series is the tale of Walter W...
Sunday, 31 October 2021

Doctor Who: Flux, Chapter One- The Halloween Apocalypse

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 “What's the matter with Sheffield?" "Too near Leeds... Here we go then: a new season of Doctor Who , after what feels like an...
Saturday, 30 October 2021

To the Devil a Daughter (1976)

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 “Damn you!” I thought this was supposed to be a terrible film, the flop that ruined Hammer. It may not be as good as The Devil Rides Out, H...

Don’t Look Now (1973)

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 “The one who’s blind. She’s the one who can see.” This film has a reputation of one of this country’s famous horror films, despite the fact...
Wednesday, 27 October 2021

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

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I should say, at the start, that this novel, unlike all the other Asimovs so far, isn’t one I’ve ever read before. This, like the Foundation...
Sunday, 24 October 2021

The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov

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This is, on the surface, a science fiction novel. Spaceships and alien planets abound. There are even little nods towards the fact that this...

Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov

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Yes, I got through this bloody quickly, but these novels are so damn readable. Again, the prose and characterisation are basic, but nobody c...
Saturday, 23 October 2021

Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov

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This second novel is not, in a sense, a novel at all, just like it’s predecessor. It is a compilation of a serialised succession of short st...
Thursday, 21 October 2021

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

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The Michael Moorcock marathon is briefly interrupted by an unexpected change in my circumstances (nothing to worry about), so I’ve managed t...

Jurassic Park (1993)

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 “An interactive CD-ROM!” “An interactive C-D ROM!”  I had a vague impression I’d seen this film 🎥 before. I hadn’t. It is, to avoid all be...
2 comments:
Tuesday, 19 October 2021

I May Destroy You: Happy Animals

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 "It's declined. Can I get a selfie, please?" As ever, this is a thought-provoking episode with lots to unpick, centred around...
Monday, 18 October 2021

Squid Game: The Man with the Umbrella

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 "It hurts a lot. It's like trying to push out a kid..." After last episode being so drama-heavy, this is all about the island...
Sunday, 17 October 2021

Breaking Bad: Mandala

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 “This game we're playing? You don't got the street cred to survive it." This ewpisode really raises the stakes and moves thing...
Saturday, 16 October 2021

Squid Game: Hell

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 “Out here is worse!” This is an interesting way to do a second episode in many senses: we’ve seen the premise, and now it’s suddenly taken ...
Friday, 15 October 2021

Phoenix in Obsidian by Michael Moircock

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. This is the second in Moorcock’s Eternal Champion and, if rather less unified in its structure than the previous novel, is a very interest...

Squid Game: Red Light, Green Light

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 “Would you like to play a game with me...?" Yes; I've finally jumped on to the bandwagon. All the other series I'm blogging wi...
Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Hammer House of Horror: Charlie Boy

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 “I’m going to get YOU…” This is not the greatest episode so far but, after the misstep that it was its predecessor, it's a solid return...
Monday, 11 October 2021

I May Destroy You: The Alliance

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 "I'm here to learn how to avoid being raped..." We see yet another angle on rape and sexual assault in tghis clever and subtl...
Sunday, 10 October 2021

Breaking Bad: Over

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 "You cannot beat the thermal efficiency of the C3!" This episode may not have the high concepts or dramatic incidends of recent i...

Logan (2017)

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 "Don't be what they made you..." I'm going to do my best to watch the few remaining X-Men films from Fox in order. It...
Saturday, 9 October 2021

The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock

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  I’ve never read this before, or indeed any Michael Moorcock novel other than the two I’ve already blogged. This is a much earlier novel, m...

Halloween II (1981)

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 "I've been trick or treated to death tonight!" This, despite its fairly high wattage cast and its script credit for John Carp...
Thursday, 7 October 2021

Hammer House of Horror: The House That Bled to Death

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 "House prices are ridiculous these days..." Ah, 1980. When, apparently, a hospital porter and a housewife could get a mortgage on...
Wednesday, 6 October 2021

Sex Education: Season 3, Episode 3

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 “Yes, Jeffrey, you sex god!” This episode is bloody eventful, and bloody good. On the other hand, it made Mrs Llamastrangler cry. There...