entertainment
The very best in geek and comic entertainment.
The Empress: A Hidden Netflix Gem
It was late last night while in bed scrolling through my Netflix account that I stumbled across the period drama that is The Empress. After watching a snippet and with a 97% match, I went ahead and started watching and within minutes I was hooked. The Empress follows the story of Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898) played by Devrim Lingnau. The synopsis is as follows:
By Rosie J. Sargent3 years ago in Geeks
Film review: Booksmart
Booksmart is actress Olivia Wilde’s first film as director, and it’s no surprise that she gets vibrant performances from her cast. Plenty of actors-turned-film-makers do that. Unlike most of them, she does a lot more, breathing hilarious new life into two tired genres. A female buddy film in the guise of a high-school partying movie, Booksmart is endlessly funny and outrageous, yet always grounded by its realistic central relationship.
By Mao Jiao Li3 years ago in Geeks
Film review: Downton Abbey
If you’re going to elevate the social world of Downton Abbey’s aristocratic Crawley family, you really have nowhere to go but up to the king and queen. As this cheerful movie picks up from the hugely popular television series, King George V and Queen Mary visit Downton. It is 1927, soon after the show’s story ended. There is no mention of the royal guests’ then-baby granddaughter, who would grow up to be Elizabeth II.
By Alessandro Algardi3 years ago in Geeks
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners | Love, Death, and Cyberpunk
I’m usually the last to admit that I’m picky when it comes to anime, but here I am, ready to confess my anime sins. Compared to where the industry was some ten years ago, Japanese animation has become a worldwide mainstream topic for people from all walks of life. Back in the day, anime felt more niche, like a dirty secret that you had to keep hidden otherwise you’d be bullied for it at school. Many more shows then flew under the radar and coming across good ones felt like you had uncovered a hidden gem.
By Amanda Starks3 years ago in Geeks
Can beauty pageants ever be empowering?
eauty pageants have long been a contested part of our culture: some see them as a hangover from a far more patriarchal era, while others defend them for helping women of all ages to feel more confident and to know their self-worth. It’s a debate raised in new film, Misbehaviour.
By Many A-Sun3 years ago in Geeks
How Pretty Woman erased sex from its story
A middle-aged businessman pays a much-younger prostitute to be his live-in lover for a week. It’s a sordid premise for a feel-good romantic comedy, but that didn’t stop Pretty Woman being one of the biggest hits of 1990. And now, 30 years later, the film is still so cherished that a musical adaptation opened in London’s West End, after a successful run on Broadway (now closed due to the Coronavirus crisis). How did the film’s director, Garry Marshall, get away with it? How did he make such a tasteless exploitation fantasy seem almost wholesome? Well, casting a star with the incandescent beauty and charm of Julia Roberts was undoubtedly a factor. But another factor was casting a co-star, Richard Gere, who behaved as if that beauty and charm meant nothing to him.
By Cindy Dory3 years ago in Geeks
Why the apocalypse is being reimagined as a beautiful
The Last of Us may have been a zombie horror survival game, about a duo traversing a post-apocalyptic US overrun with cannibalistic creatures, but its most memorable moments weren’t daring escapes from zombie hordes, nor explosive shoot-outs with hostile human survivors. Instead, the greatest draw of the 2013 best-seller – lauded as one of the greatest video games of all time – was its quiet story beats, and one quiet story beat in particular.
By Cindy Dory3 years ago in Geeks
Luca is 'personal and charming'
If you don't live in Italy, and you don't have a holiday booked there, then watching Luca might be the next best thing. The new Disney-Pixar film is set in and around an idealised Riviera village, a rustic paradise of trattorias, vineyards, and crumbling town squares with fountains in the middle. In fact, celebrating the Italian dolce vita could well be the cartoon's main purpose. A gelato-sweet coming-of-age fantasy, Luca is inspired in part by The Little Mermaid, but mostly by the childhood of its director, Enrico Casarosa, an animation veteran who makes his debut as a feature director here. Instead of aiming for the metaphysical profundity of Pixar's last offering, Soul, or the mythological sprawl of Disney's recent action-epic, Raya and the Last Dragon, Casarosa has crafted a modest and gentle yarn about a few good-natured people in a small area, and their enviably simple way of life. His cartoon is aimed at the heart – and the tastebuds – rather than the brain. And it's no less of a delight for that.
By Sue Torres3 years ago in Geeks
Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles: Return of the Rocket Men Review
One of the breakaway hits of the Companion Chronicles series was John Dorney's "The Rocket Men", a powerfully emotional tale that introduced a brand new foe for the Doctor in the form of the Rocket Men. The jetpack-wielding pirates were a surprise hit with listeners, as was the story's emotional content, and a sequel was quickly developed. Now with a new writer and a new companion, however, could this sequel capture the same magic as the original, while still offering listeners something new and fresh? In a word - yes. Emphatically. "Return of the Rocket Men" is a perfect sequel, in that it recaptures what you loved about "The Rocket Men", but it also offers a completely new take on what made it a success. It makes, therefore, for a sequel that won't leave you disappointed, no matter what your expectations are for this story.
By Joseph A. Morrison3 years ago in Geeks
