Excellent performances from both Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Love the dynamic between The Doctor, Martha and Shakespeare in this episode. Shakespeare being treated as one of the rockstars of his age feels appropriate, and The Doctor quoting Shakespeare back at Shakespeare will never not grow old. A few sketchy moments with the writing aside that have not aged well, The Shakespeare Code is still a fun romp in a mostly consistent season.
The Stolen Earth is the Doctor Who event: the first part of a culmination of everything Russell T. Davies has brought to the show. Big, loud, bombastic & ends with multiple cliffhangers on a sprawling, galaxy-wide scale where the heroes lose. Infinity War, only better.
Quite a comedown after the brilliant Stolen Earth and the weakest of the post Unicorn and the Wasp era episodes, but there are some great ideas in this and it aims big and succeeds in resolving the massive cliffhanger the only way RTD knows how: deus ex machina. The departure for Donna never fails to be emotional even when Rose's send-off is a bit too melodramatic, but as a way to close off one of the best eras of the show, Journeys End does so in style. The Russos blatantly nabbed the whole Infinity War "50% of the population" thing from this.
Murray Gold is at his peak here - Song of Freedom is top-tier. Love the Sarah Jane/Davros reunion too, it's well overdue.
Rivals Blink in terms of scare factor, this two parter's terrifying. "Hey, who turned out the lights?" The River Song mystery being introduced so early comes as a surprise, but Alex Kingston has an instant chemistry with David Tennant from the word go - it's completely believable. Hits all the right beats, makes you care about even the side characters who you've met for seconds - I always seem to underrate these two when making lists, but they're just so good! Possibly one of Tennant's better performances as The Doctor in this pair of episodes, too.
Turn Left is a trial run for the brilliant Years and Years - Who at its darkest and most dystopian? Terrifying. This is another 10/10 in a row here, Russell T. Davies firing on all creative cylinders, Catherine Tate (her best performance) & Bernard Cribbins are phenomenal here. "The Stars are going out" is more chilling than it has any right to be. A depressing reminder that it can always get worse.
That's another stellar episode of Doctor Who - maybe Russell T. Davies' best script for the show? It's a perfect bottle episode (dare I say the best bottle episode of television apart from Breaking Bad's Fly?) A great slice of Twilight Zone-esque brilliance at its finest. Lesley Sharp is terrific. This run from The Unicorn and the Wasp to Journey's End is pretty much perfection.
Underrated and an excellent Coen Brothers film..
"Oh, what a day... what a lovely day!"
Not quite as funny on a rewatch but still a pretty good film.
An excellent movie with a superb cast. One of my favourites of the year. Uplifting and effective. Loved this.
TV as the 6th estate, completely damning of the police and a complete tour-de-force of a performance by Sheridan Smith. Stephen Merchant in an against-type role but Port is never glamourized. Essential.
Pretty much the definition of the term instant classic.
The combination of Spielberg's direction, Hanks' performance and the Coen Brothers' script makes for an awesome film.
Excellent movie! Great soundtrack, great acting. Welcome back, Rocky.
Absolutely incredible. As it stands, the best movie of the year.
Interesting start. Moves fairly slowly though and there's a fair amount of exposition.
A cinematic masterpiece. Probably the best sci-fi film of the 21st century.
An interesting start. Like the period setting, soundtrack and atmosphere. Will be fun to see where this one goes.
Jared Harris continues his hot streak of appearing in very good things and being very good in them. The on-location shooting on the Isle of Wight is the true star, but Cush Jumbo gives you a character to root for and the Knives Out of it all is suitably compelling. Not bad for Britbox's first original show.
A genuine delight, soars like a firecracker on all cylinders - matches the same chaotic energy that films like We Are the Best! (no doubt an inspiration) had - grippingly authentic and a genuine breath of fresh air on the British comedy scene.
Jimmy McGovern is unmatched in writing brilliance - shining a spotlight on prisons a world away from what the Daily Mail would have you believe they're like - he paints a damning portrayal of institutionalised corruption with astounding performances from the always brilliant Sean Bean and Stephen Graham - few actors have a better track record of appearing in good stuff than Graham.
Decent show so far! Ron Perlman is good as per normal.
Off to an excellent start so far. Can definitely recommend it.
Excellent movie. Easily one of the year's best and a great return to form for the franchise.
A brilliant, darker-edged, hard-hitting Fleabag-esque dark comedy featuring an astounding performance by Billie Piper - bloody hell, how good is the Baftas right now? Gloriously inventive, completely unafraid to go where it wants to go and might just well end up being one of the best shows of last year.
Overcomes a shaky, shock-heavy start and frequently confusing time-jumps that force the show to explain everything that's happening over and over again leading to a lot of repeated exposition, only to plunge you deep into the thick of Roman political intrigue once the early episodes are out of the way. Game of Thrones this isn't, but there's a lot of promise especially for fans of historical period dramas of the more talky side.
A brilliant continuation of one of 2018's best movies, wickedly smart, clever and tonally just right - a hangout TV show if there ever was one. Might just be even better than the film.
Haunting, breathtakingly unique puzzle box from Stephen King and Pablo Larrain that has all the hallmarks of both at their best. Great performances from across the board - and whilst King stories tend to fizzle out with a whimper rather than a bang, the signs are strong for this on that it won't suffer the same fate. Dane DeHaan is appropriately sinister, and the high-budget production makes it look better than most movies.
Completely fearless, brave, unique and breathtakingly weird. By far the most original show to come out of 2020, Lovecraft Country is a trip that has to be experienced fully to be believed: I loved it! Its anthology-esque structure is refreshing with largely different storylines each episode with a core group of characters. It throws everything at the wall and most of it sticks, the genre-shifting is handled really well and you will almost certainly be surprised. For a great double-act, pair it with the equally insane Lovecraft horror fare Color out of Space.
