Human Traffic is one of the many films from the 1990s and 2000s that explores the social lives of young idealistic men and women in their twenties: we watch them exchange banter in pubs, go out on the town, indulge in as much sex and drugs as is humanly possible, […]
Alex Paine
Outside The Blue Box: Jackdaw (2023)
Jackdaw is a film that’s interested me for multiple reasons, the first and perhaps most important one being that it’s the feature debut of director Jamie Childs – who cut his teeth on a handful of episodes during Jodie Whittaker’s first series as The Doctor. The 11th series made an instant […]
Talk to Me (2022): A Riveting & Confident Indie Horror Debut
In light of the upcoming release of Danny and Michael Philippou’s sophomore feature Bring Her Back, Second Sight have released a limited 4K/Blu Ray edition of Talk To Me – their directorial debut that put them on the map. It’s a film that I lump in with other recent horrors […]
Doctor Who (2025): The Wish World/The Reality War – I Don’t Even Know What To Think Anymore (SPOILERS)
Oh Christ. Those two words best sum up my thoughts going into this review, in both good and bad ways, as they reflect my feelings on pretty much everything: these two episodes, the trajectory of the show going forward, and the general state of the fandom – a fandom that […]
Doctor Who (2025) The Interstellar Song Contest – An Explosion of Camp and Fan Service, and Unexpected Politics
So this episode was a lot, wasn’t it? The Interstellar Song Contest will go down as one of the most extravagant episodes we’ve ever had, and that’s before you even get to the moments of fan service that, trust me, we will discuss. Reportedly the most expensive episode in the […]
Doctor Who (2025) The Story and the Engine: Brilliant Low-Key Idea, Pompous Execution
Inua Ellams makes his Doctor Who writing debut with The Story and The Engine, an episode with a tone and setting unlike any Doctor Who episode I’ve ever seen. Typically the show never sets foot outside of either Europe or the USA for a whole episode, though there are some […]
Doctor Who (2025) Lucky Day: An Average Start That Reveals A Sublime and Timely Message (SPOILERS)
Ncuti Gatwa’s second series is so far following a very similar blueprint to his first. This is something I discussed the other week, but both series started with a silly sci-fi opener, a 20th-century period romp, and a tense space-based thriller. 73 Yards, probably the most acclaimed episode of last […]
Freaky Tales (2024): High on Style, Inconsistent on Substance
The amount of 80s nostalgia there has been over the last ten years or so has meant that it’s harder and harder for films set in the decade stand out: regardless of quality, there’s nothing that stops them being seen as cynical bursts of nostalgia for a time gone by, […]
Doctor Who (2025): The Well – A Fantastic Return To Tight, Taut Horror
This new Disney+ era of the show has had a less unanimously positive reception than Russell T Davies was perhaps hoping for, but fans have always seemed really happy whenever this era delves into horror. The eerie and freakish Wild Blue Yonder, the most purely horror-focused episode until this one, […]
Doctor Who (2025): Lux – A Visual Marvel Backed Up By Fun Script (SPOILERS)
In the days leading up to Series 15, it struck me that Russell has structured this series in a very similar way to the last one. The Robot Revolution is a bright and silly family-friendly introduction like Space Babies, next week’s Episode 3 looks set to be a dark and […]