Streaming Review: Apple TV+ 'Invasion'

By Ben Miller

Rich with atmosphere and well-rounded characters, Invasion, the new sci-fi series Apple TV+, provides a small-scale look at what a global event can have on a few normal citizens.  Created by Simon Kinberg (producer of The Martian), the opening three episodes establish realistic characters and how the problems in their lives pale in comparison to a mysterious alien invasion that begins on Earth.

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Gay Best Friend: Malcolm in "Darling" (1965)

A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Not pictured: The waiter that Diana (Julie Christie) and Malcolm (Roland Curran) were checking out.How can one be truly breaking convention if the act of breaking away is itself a convention? This is the plight of Diana Scott, the role that earned Julie Christie an Oscar win for Best Actress. Diana uses her feminine wiles to rise to the top of the English fashion scene, creating scandal everywhere she goes. She breaks all the conventions of how a “good girl” of the 50s would behave. While this makes her exciting, what is behind her social climbing antics? Is her rebellion ushering in a new progressive wave, or is she just rebelling to rebel? If the case is the latter, why is that something people should respect, rather than jeer?

The tagline of Darling (1965) reads: “A powerful and bold motion picture...made by adults...with adults...for adults!” It’s amazing to see what was bold by 1965 standards. An English production, Darling fittingly feels like part French-New-Wave, part mainstream Hollywood. The topics of sex, abortion, homosexuality and the blanket “sin” of adult life hang over every scene, even if very little is explicit. This illustrates that the “gay best friend” trope, among others, was once considered shocking or bold. By the 1990s, as we've witnessed in this series, boldness gave way to the expected, as the trope became overused...

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International Oscar Contenders: "A Hero" and "Bad Luck Banging on Loony Porn" join the fray

by Nathaniel R

A HERO (2021) comes from Iran's Oscar-winning champ Asghar Farhadi

Next week we have scheduled Oscar submission announcements from Denmark (we suspect Flee), Italy (we suspect Hand of God), Norway (we suspect Worst Person in the World) and Portugal (we suspect... no, we have no idea!) and on the latter we'll be hearing from Cláudio, your favourite Portuguese critic. But  let's not get ahead of ourselves. There is a lot to discuss RIGHT NOW in the International Feature Film Oscar Race as we now have seven more titles announced plus another finalist list. Which brings us to 51 movies so we're aware of over 50% of the competitive set now. News from Algeria, Belgium, India, Iran, Latvia, Palestine, Romania, and Sweden is after the jump...

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Best TV of the 21st Century?

by Nathaniel R

Mad Men, my personal vote for Best TV show of the 21st century

Have you seen the latest list that has tongues wagging? BBC polled TV critics to come up with a list of the 100 greatest TV series of the 21st century. Usually 100 greatest lists are silly because the time frame is too long and there are more than 100 things that are great in a century (or more) but given the short time frame (2000-2021) this one is more reasonable to argue about. We only wish they had nixed reality tv (it's silly to have only one show - RuPaul's Drag Race -- representing an entire enormous genre of television; better to just ignore it than have a single token show) and that they would not have allowed series that have not yet wrapped up to qualify; final seasons ALWAYS effect how people judge a show, for better and worse. And they should!

You should read the whole list but here's are three pulled samples to discuss...

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50th Anniversary: "Play Misty for Me"

by Nick Taylor

Happy 50th anniversary to Play Misty for Me! The 1971 directorial debut of notoriously productive actor/director/writer/composer Clint Eastwood received a new wave of attention earlier this year in the wake of lead actress Jessica Walter’s still-unthinkable death at age 80. Nathaniel mentioned the film in his in memoriam piece, but with its anniversary upon us it seemed right to give the film a deeper dive. The story is a tale as old as time - boy meets girl, boy and girl have a liaison, boy realizes girl is dangerously invested in their relationship and that one of them will probably die. Fatal Attraction would take that fable in an iron grip once it hit the screens, imbuing it with its own peculiarities, but Play Misty for Me is very much its own beast. That’s partially the beauty of launching before the film that will eventually define your subgenre...

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