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News of the World

Adventure/Drama directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks

Netflix

Cast your mind back to a time when Covid was some weird new illness that couldn’t possibly affect us much and remember that moment when you heard Tom Hanks and his wife had tested positive. Yup Hollywood nice guy Tom Hanks had picked it up while filming in Australia. Well, News of the World was what he was filming. It’s an old school western centred around the strong, silent loner who has done terrible things in the past (Hanks), finding redemption when he agrees to deliver an orphaned and traumatized young girl who speaks no English (Helena Zengel) to the home of an aunt and uncle. This is Texas after the American civil war, lawless and brutal, most especially to people of colour, native Americans and Mexicans. The title comes from how the Tom Hanks character makes his living. He charges people a dime to read stories to them from various old newspapers. Vintage Hanks performance.

The Dig

English Drama written by Moira Buffini and directed by Simon Stone. Starring Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan

Netflix

The Second World War is looming and a gruff, pipe-smoking English country man (Fiennes) has been engaged by landowner Mrs Pretty (Mulligan) to dig into ‘mounds’ on her property and discover what lies beneath. Expect plenty of will they/won’t they romance, pious villagers, lots of complications and the arrival of pompous folk from the British museum once anything of value is discovered. Entertaining in a very British stiff upper lip kind of way. 

Firefly Lane

10-part Series, starring Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke

Chic-lit for the eyes, this is the story of two friends played out over 30 years. It’s undemanding, with lots of soft-focus flashbacks and somewhat clichéd character development. But in these difficult times, undemanding is not necessarily a bad thing. One to binge when your brain needs a holiday.

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at The Cecil Hotel

True Crime Documentary, directed by Joe Berlinger

Netflix

The first in a new series of True Crime docs which focus on locations associated with murder and mayhem. The Cecil Hotel is an excellent place to start. The hotel opened when Los Angeles was booming, bringing new glamour to the rapidly expanding city’s downtown area. But the depression hit and pretty much since the 1930s, Skid Row, the neighbourhood around the hotel is now a byword for desolate slum living. Today the area is home to the largest stable population of homeless people in the US. Violent crime is a normal daily occurrence. The Cecil has a reputation for housing serial killers and being the scene of more than its fair share of strange deaths. This documentary focuses on the disappearance of 21 year old Canadian Elisa Lam. We hear from the Internet sleuths who obsessed over solving the case, see phone video footage of a young woman shrieking in the lift where Lam was last seen and even here from a rock singer who was openly accused of her murder. Lam’s case is as much the story of our bizarre modern obsession with true crime, as it is the sad tale a girl struggling to find herself in an unforgiving world.

Red Dot

Scandi Noir Thriller

Netflix 

This is the first in a series of Scandi Noir films made by Netflix. A Swedish couple are on a romantic camping trip in the mountains (they are Swedish remember!) when they wake in the middle of night to find a red laser dot in their tent. It’s the kind of dot made by a high velocity sniper rifle. The shooting starts, they flee into the wilderness and then a snow storm arrives. Expect plenty of plot twists and nail biting.  

Back

Comedy starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb

All4

If you missed the second season this very funny series when it screened recently on Channel 4, check it out of All4. Reuniting the comedy duo behind Peepshow, is set in a country pub owned by the family of Stephen (David Mitchell). Stephen is a depressive with an alcohol problem and none too happy when supposed foster brother Andrew (Webb) turns up at his father’s funeral. No one can remember Andrew but, since he is everything Stephen is not – charming, confident and go-getting – the family accept him immediately. In this season, Andrew moves in on Stephen’s ex-wife.

Worth revisiting…

Parks and Recreation

Series 1 to 7

Now on Netflix

The series that bought US comedian Amy Poehler to the wider public, Parks and Recreation was a Golden Globe hit for a reason. Poehler plays Leslie Knope, the deputy director of Parks and Recreation for the fictional town of Pawnee in Indiana. Knope is passionate about serving the people, which brings her into frequent conflict with her boss and rarely inspires appreciation in the very people she’s trying to serve. Equal parts irritating and adorable, Knope is one of the great female comedic characters. Binge worthy, even if you’ve watched it before.