I’m officially free of my Taboo-reviewing duties, at least until the next series (because there are two more, apparently, which is as much a surprise to me as it might be to you all) goes to air in 2018, presumably. If I’m being honest, I’m going to miss writing about this thing; I wouldn’t say I … Continue reading
I think I finally figured out how Taboo could have been a better show to start with, and it involves introducing Lucian Msamati’s Sons of Africa lawyer way, way earlier in the narrative than “Episode 5.” George Chichester has a clear cause that could have given the story backbone; by contrast, James Delaney’s cause is muddled, which … Continue reading
…man, I don’t even know with this Taboo show anymore, guys! I’m riding a fucking roller coaster here! The frosted side of me is in love with its unapologetic, bizarre narrative course as well as its aesthetic, which borrows as much from Game of Thrones and Deadwood as it does Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland. … Continue reading
This week on Taboo: Andy can’t take it anymore, so he dives deep on the show’s lack of focus on its non-Tom Hardy people, especially its non-Tom Hardy people who are ladies. Maybe it’s Oona Chaplin’s lot in life to be cast as women caught under the heels of patriarchal violence, domination, and abuse; I don’t … Continue reading
I’m a big fan of weirdness and debauchery in my visual media, and when you mash them together, all the better. So it’s fair to say that Taboo is slowly but surely becoming more and more my jam as it leans more into its weirdness and its flagrant aristocratic indulgences. To wit: This week’s episode, where … Continue reading
If one word describes In the Loop, Armando Iannucci’s 2009 political satire, it’s almost certainly “scathing”. If two, that and “unforgiving”. Going further would only yield an entire novella of words meant to convey intense discontent or outright anger, and indeed the only declarative statement I can make about the film in the positive is … Continue reading
Hanna makes a sound argument that action movies need not be artless, though maybe when the person at the helm is Joe Wright the final outcome can only inevitably attain a level of artfulness worth observing. Wright is responsible for 2007’s Atonement, a strikingly beautiful film that remains mostly empty despite its impressive craftsmanship; where … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 