Film, TV & Book Reviews

Alien comes to wipe out human race. Alien’s ship struck by lightning. Alien crashes in Patience, Colorado. Alien loses vital device. Straightforward alien comedy material. The alien – whose name ...

By Philippa Tracy It begins with a memory. A piano lesson. A room with “an orange-tiled floor” and a young female teacher with “deep red” lips and nails. The latter ...

Best Medicine – August 4, Netflix Based on the long-running British comedy-drama series Doc Martin, Best Medicine tells the story of Dr Martin Best, a brilliant Boston surgeon who abandons his prestigious ...

What could be more thrilling than a coming-of-age drama that follows a red-haired force of nature chasing greatness? A miniseries released in 2020 and set in the Cold War, The Queen’...

When Lauren Hough set off across America in 2023 in her self-refitted second-hand Dodge van, she had the twin goals of circling the US and not traumatising her dog, Woody Guthrie. ...

We are staying on The Odyssey bandwagon as Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus hits cinemas, causing controversy and uproar. While global reviews have been, by and large, highly enthusiastic and ...

By Simon Demetriou In Andrew Sean Greer’s last novel, the lesson learned is that ‘up close [the world] makes no sense’. That was a valuable lesson in a wonderfully ...

Missed Call is a captivating thriller that takes a simple but terrifying idea and builds it into a mystery that keeps you invested from the very beginning. What starts as ...

Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus The Odyssey hits cinemas this week amid a promotional campaign blitz and some criticism. Moviegoers jumped at the opportunity to bash Nolan for having the ...

Good Omens is a brilliantly funny book. Although I’m not a fan of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, I immensely enjoyed this 1990 novel, written by Terry Pratchett and Neil ...

Heroes: Seasons 1-4 (Netflix, July 1) “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” If this isn’t pure millennial nostalgia bait, I don’t know what it is. Heroes blew everyone’s ...

By Philippa Tracy There are a number of mothers and sons in this novel. But the focus of the story is on the relationship between Ann, a former priest running ...

Let’s start with a question: ‘Can you imagine living a fulfilling life when you cannot touch anything in your home without instantly thinking about your father’s genitals?’ Before ...

I am about 24 years late in watching Everwood, which was first released in 2002, but it is never too late to discover a good TV show. This American drama series popped ...

One word that comes to mind when I think of Man vs Bee is hilarious. This comedy showcases a new side to the man we know behind the character of ...

If I told you that NS Toledano is the pseudonym of a secondary school student and that Catalyst is his self-published debut fantasy novella, you’d have every right to ...

I don’t know about you, but come June 24, I will be waiting outside my nearest cinema, popcorn bucket in hand and a smile on my face, ready to watch ...

Long before high-definition cameras and the global reach of natural history television, French adventurer Jacques Cousteau introduced viewers to a world few had ever seen. The Undersea World of Jacques ...

By Philippa Tracy Howard Jacobson won the Booker Prize in 2010 for The Finkler Question, a book about philosophy, culture, friendship, love, humanity and what it means to be Jewish. In ...

The successful Greek production won three awards at the Iris Awards of the Greek Academy of Cinema. June 2026 – “The Christmas Carols” has turned its Iris Award nominations into wins. The ...

In pretty much every movie ever produced, it’s pretty clear who the protagonist and who the antagonist is. Writers will subtly direct you to who you are supposed to ...

If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s a dark comedy. DTF St Louis explores dysfunctional families and love triangles, with everything going surprisingly slow until the favourite nice ...

There’s something compelling about hitmen, whether the first one you think of is Leon, Martin Blank, Jason Bourne, or any of the other bad, flawed but ultimately rivetingly cool ...

Risking sounding like an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn, they just don’t make villains like they used to. Antagonists today in films generally fall ...