Doctor Who: The Star Beast
by Russell T. Davies; dir. Rachel Talalay (BBC, 2023)
Russell T. Davies returns to Doctor Who as if on a season pass he misplaced for fifteen years, and brings David Tennant and Catherine Tate along for the ride, scripting a fun, tonally frivolous special that nevertheless checks assumptions at every turn.
Peaky Blinders, Season 4
by Steven Knight (BBC, 2017)
Season 4 contrives to relative flatness, squeezing the Shelby family apart and then together again to counter a mob vendetta that never really amounts to much (though there are some cleverly worked surprises and Adrien Brody does bring presence to Luca Changretta).
Talion Rule (Shadows of Otherside #7)
by Whitney Hill (Benu Media, 2023)
A genuine page-turner. Arden grows ever more powerful and assured, yet struggles under the sheer weight of human and Otherside prejudices she’s forced to deal with. Hill deftly piles trouble upon trouble, investing readers in both the urban fantasy and the allegory.
Arne Dahl: Bad Blood
dir. Mani Maserrat-Agah (SVT, 2012 / BBC, 2013) [subtitled] [originally “Ont blod”]
![TV poster: “Arne Dahl: Bad Blood” dir. Mani Maserrat-Agah (SVT, 2012 / BBC, 2013) [subtitled] [originally “Ont blod”]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Arne-Dahl_Bad-Blood.png)
Swedish crime miniseries. The first half treads water, shunting A-group’s detective work to focus on personal lives and problems seemingly unrelated to the case. The second half is more satisfying, upping the investigative action and tightening the character focus to father-son relationships.
James Reyne live @ the Princess Theatre
(Crawl File Tour, 23 February 2024)
James Reyne turned back the decades, playing an entire, mostly loud-rock set of Aussie Crawl songs to the happy, singalong crowd. Highlights included ‘Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama’, ‘White Limbo’ and a stripped-back reggae version of ‘The Boys Light Up’ (with Josh Owen).
Quintana of Charyn
by Melina Marchetta (Viking, 2012)
audiobook read by Grant Cartwright (Bolinda, 2012)
Marchetta crafts a fitting conclusion to the Lumatere Chronicles, investing readers in protagonists at once flawed and fettered and subjecting these to near-cataclysms brought about (mostly) by the brash, presumptuous leadership of men. The outcome is a powerful, sublimely feminist YA fantasy.
Thor: Love and Thunder
dir. Taika Waititi (2022)
Most of the film is played for laughs. Chris Hemsworth just about gets away with it but the humour is undercut by consciously hammy acting and ‘unkillable god’ computer-game action scenes. Christian Bale rules the starker moments, channelling his inner Richard O’Brien.
The Heavy Water War
dir. Per-Olav Sørensen (NRK, 2015) [subtitled] [originally ‘Kampen om tungtvannet’]
![TV poster: “The Heavy Water War” dir. Per-Olav Sørensen (NRK, 2015) [subtitled] [originally ‘Kampen om tungtvannet’]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Heavy-Water-War-2015.jpg)
Well-paced war miniseries, genuinely tense at times and with dollops of emotive face acting. The dual plots address Germany’s development of the atomic bomb and the Allies’ efforts to blow up Norway’s heavy water plant. An effective study in science/duty versus morality.
Icehouse and Simple Minds
live @ Sandstone Point Hotel
(Red Hot Summer Tour, 17 February 2024)
Simple Minds delivered an outdoor acoustics–defying exhibition of blended synth rhythms and early-80s nostalgia. Highlights: ‘Someone, Somewhere (in Summertime)’; ‘Promised You a Miracle’. Equally assured, Icehouse then soundscaped and rocked the already predisposed crowd. Highlights: ‘Hey, Little Girl’; ‘Don’t Believe Anymore’.
Harry Seidler: Modernist
dir. Daryl Dellora (2017)
An hour-long documentary charting the career of architect Harry Seidler, whose modernist designs, though meeting with resistance from local governments, ultimately transformed Australia’s housing and highrise landscapes. Seidler, work-focussed and egotistic, emerges as a passionate, innovative, uncompromising advocate of modernist design principles.