Reviews

On paper this very British young adult comedy is made up of so many familiar parts, but the writing is fresh, unpredictable and often riotously funny. The principal roles are perfectly cast - the housemates completely believable as former student friends growing in different directions, and the weirdness, grounded in familiar situations, seems completely natural. I quickly learned I could trust the writers to land each embarrassing situation so I could relax and enjoy the ride. A couple of familiar faces are reassuring but don't distract from the main characters. And whoever chose the music had a LOT of fun - the soundtrack is excellent. After the first run through I missed its company, so I watched it again.

We are rehoming a cat tomorrow, I'm sorely tempted to change his name. At least I'll get him a laser pointer.

I knew this was going to turn silly, but three glasses of wine couldn't quite prepare me. Covid made us all do weird things, but how the producers of this craziness managed to sign up Halle Berry is beyond me. The story is codswallop, and anything even vaguely really still look like CGI. Still, it's admirable quite how far the cast embrace the ridiculousness, it's played dead straight and for that I loved it. Whether or not this becomes a cult classic is anyone's guess, maybe it's too long, but I'd love a future where drunk physics students in astronaut costumes shout the lines back at the screen. To be embraced if you're in the mood for silly.

This should be exactly my sort of movie: an apocalypse, a cute dog and a record collection. Steve Carell and Keira Knightley are always good value - no real chemistry but given the circumstances, who are we to say? - and the bit parts brought some lovely surprises. But it's basically Last Night (1988) with a budget, a car and a manic dream pixie girl, no? It's a great set up though and at least they managed to keep the cynical worldview, against type for Hollywood. So - basically fine, if a few character beats didn't quite fit, and the dog and tunes were excellent.

Beautiful to look at, this movie plays like an extended episode of 'Community' - no bad thing. The characters and script may clunk on occasion, but I've seen both this and Netflix's crashy bangy new megaflick today, and this is the one I'll remember.

Well, I loved it. The story kept me guessing, the actors are appealing and there isn't a word out of place. Danielle Macdonald should doing what she's doing, I was invested in Helen's story long before The Man became interesting. I can't speak to Australian authenticity but there were flashes of the glorious Upright. Jumps to Greece and India were less welcome, but it all tied together in the end. If there's a second season - somehow - I would love to see these characters again.

Really lovely. So similar on paper to Notting Hill, but quirky and bang up to date, with well-rounded, not alway sympathetic characters and a different side of London, pretty but brutal.

To the reviewer who went through and described what was so bad about each episode - Why the heckling heck did you keep watching?? And I loved the chemistry.

Please ignore the troll who got here before me. Song Exploder is a podcast that's been running for years, where Hrishi Hirway interviews an artist about the technical and emotional history of a single track - then takes himself out of the conversation, allowing the artist to tell the full story. Each episode is made with care and respect, and the podcast grew by word of mouth to become a real phenomenon. I'm so pleased Hrishi got the permission and budget to expand this onto Netflix, and the guests, song choices and graphics are seriously impressive. Glorious.

Look, it won't win any awards and the script is a tiny bit smug, but I adored this. There is real pathos between the self-aware gags - the 'close your eyes' scene hit me right in the gut. Maisie Williams carries the whole thing, and Taheen Modak's evolution as Jay is skewiff and charming. Bring on series 2.