I watch a lot of TV and movies
Length: 47:39
Synopsis: Heavy dance rock
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: the opening ten-minute epic Doomscroller, the strings and synths in the title track, the energetic False Dichotomy
What I don’t like about it: a couple of weaker but still very listenable tracks
Review:
Writing about albums is hard! If you like bass, rock, pop and dance you’ll like this one.
Content notes (may contain spoilers):
Where to find it: NowTV
Length: Six 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: People use people at an expensive Hawaiian resort
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: human drama and social satire
What I don’t like about it: feels long and plodding, some storylines and characters are uninteresting
Review:
Mike White’s wonderful empathy is on display in this slow-burning miniseries (since renewed as an anthology) about several unrelated guests at an exclusive tropical resort: a ‘Lean In’ tech CEO and her family, a newlywed couple with a wealth disparity, and a grieving single woman with attachment issues. It opens with a promise that one of these will die, then begins setting up their characters – a process that seems to take the whole first half of the series. The languid pace is likely intentional and, along with the beautiful Pacific imagery and music, sets an enjoyable tone for a binge watch but makes it hard to want to come back to after just one or two episodes.
Content notes (may contain spoilers): drugs, racism, nudity, sex, defecation, violence
Where to find it: Disney+
Length: 100 minutes
Synopsis: A Chinese-Canadian teenager rebels against her parents as a menarcheal red panda
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: good themes, fun setting and cartoon animation
What I don’t like about it: it’s a little forgettable compared to Pixar’s best
Review:
The real Pixar movie of this year, Turning Red is a fun all-ages adventure about puberty and growing up. It’s a very worthy addition to their collection of message movies such as Inside Out and Soul, movies you could watch and discuss with older children to introduce them to certain ideas and themes. I appreciate that this film comes the closest I’ve ever seen in children’s media to endorsing rebellion against parental authority, it’s pretty great to see that barrier being broken down.
Content notes (may contain spoilers): menstruation, friend drama, parental conflict, megalophobia
Length: 73:18
Synopsis: Orchestr-Ellis-Bextor
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: i love orchestral pop so was always gonna like this one
What I don’t like about it: just some of the source material
Review:
When my pop-loving best friend suggested I listen to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Greatest Hits album, my reaction was apathetic but when elle told me that it’s backed by an orchestra, I quickly changed my tune. The album is unfortunately frontloaded with hits which don’t really fit the style (Groovejet) or which, let’s be honest, aren’t great source material (Murder on the Dancefloor) but they’re still impressive and only get better from there. I was under the impression that I only knew the two songs mentioned above but I recognised many more from the early-mid ’00s charts and the ones I didn’t recognise were generally beautiful ballads. She’s a wonderful singer and the orchestra do a great job, resulting in the album of a career.
Content notes (may contain spoilers):
Length: roughly 30 minutes
Synopsis: Smooth soundscape
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: complex and beautiful sounds, assured composition
What I don’t like about it: it’s quite laid-back for my personal taste
Review:
This is a really well-made record but a hard one to put into words.
Content notes (may contain spoilers):
Where to find it: Paramount+
Length: Eight 30-minute episodes
Synopsis: A young woman raised on QVC dreams of selling cheap trinkets
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: Vanessa Bayer, Jenifer Lewis, great character work, satire/ exposé of home shopping and sales work
What I don’t like about it: it’s not unmissable, the characters are good individually but rarely click together into any kind of dynamic
Review:
The premise of this one didn’t interest me much but the pilot did. We’re introduced to a young girl who has clearly been a hospital inpatient for some time, the scene is dark and grey but she is captivated by a dull light from the corner of the room: the falsely happy, friendly and elegant world of a home shopping network. Being too young to understand the artifice, she idolises the one happy presence in her small, sad world. Smash cut to her as a sheltered young woman, retaining many childlike qualities and a strong desire to not be “the cancer girl” anymore, she auditions for a role as a sales-host at the network which she spent so many hours watching. She clearly has a talent – her bubbly, enthusiastic and friendly nature make her a natural fit for the role – but she anxiously stumbles over her words a lot. Nonetheless she is hired and excitedly goes to spend her first day in the TV world of her childhood, only to find that behind the scenes it’s all business and bitchy backbiting. We see her thrown for a loop for the rest of the pilot as her naïveté is shattered in real-time and at the end, she makes a really bad decision that creates interest for future episodes.
This is clearly very well-informed by creator/writer/star Vanessa Bayer, who herself went from having childhood leukemia to being in showbusiness and that lends a lot of heart to a show that otherwise would feel tacky and exploitative. It’s not the funniest comedy on modern TV/streaming but in an age when comedy shows are mixing a lot with drama, it’s not the worst balance and is even good for a laugh-out-loud moment an episode. It’s getting quite unfavourable reviews which I think is undeserved and likely due to the show’s rather feminine appeal.
Content notes (may contain spoilers): cancer comes up a lot, some ableist slurs
Length: 51:49
Synopsis: Synth-heavy atmospheric pop with R&B crooning
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: easygoing pop with an intellectual undercurrent
What I don’t like about it: I could trim half a dozen tracks, personally
Review:
If the river Styx were a highway and the ferryman drove a shiny red Corvette, this is the album that would accompany you on your night drive into the hereafter. It’s hard to explain but the atmosphere it builds by the middle is quite remarkable.
Content notes (may contain spoilers):
Length: 56 minutes
Synopsis: Dark, atmospheric and reflective
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: it’s complex and wonderful, gay without being dance pop
What I don’t like about it: it took a while to grow on me, it is downbeat and that’s not for every mood
Review:
Utilising industrial and darkwave sounds to harness a darker-than-usual sound for this act, this is a heavy album for heavy times. “Dissociation” is an absolute must-listen for anyone who has experienced such a state. “Contempt for You” is a gay wrath anthem. Half the album features beautiful vocals from friend-of-the-band ANOHNI, harmonising with usual singer and core-of-the-band Andy Butler over bassy lines and fascinating sounds
Content notes (may contain spoilers): homophobic slurs (“Contempt for You”), mental health, violence
Length: 40:57
Synopsis: Surprisingly little drill
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: conscious lyrics, some great tracks
What I don’t like about it: inconsistently ambitious, some underwhelming tracks
Review:
Opening with an amazing poem written and performed by his big sister, moving through reflections on violence in the hip-hop community and being a working artist, I liked this one a lot, especially Ms. Mural and On Faux Nem
Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence
Where to find it: Amazon and BritBox
Length: 83 minutes
Synopsis: English villagers work together to keep their local train service running
Recommendation rating: 4/5
What I like about it: charming, witty, pretty technicolor images of the English south-west, great model shots, orchestral train-inspired score
What I don’t like about it: for a trim 83 minutes, it does start to feel stretched and samey
Review:
Set amidst the slow bloodletting of the nationalised British Railways network which preceeded the swing of Beeching’s Axe, this Ealing comedy finds a group of quirky villagers dismayed at the closing of their local railway. They seek to run it themselves and contend with many challenges along the way, often stemming from an enterprising villager who hopes to profit off the closure by running monopolised bus services in their place. Has much to say about the changes faced by rural villages in the post-war years and plenty of dry wit to keep it going – “They already closed the Canterbury line, vicar!” “Well perhaps there are not men of sufficient faith in Canterbury”. A delightful, fluffy diversion
Content notes (may contain spoilers): alcoholism, hunting scene, racism and all-white cast