Review

Once Upon A Time 2.18 “Selfless, Brave And True” TV Review (opens in new tab) Episode 2.18 Writers: Robert Hull, Kalinda Vasquez Director: Ralph Hemecker THE ONE WHERE In the past: August wakes up in Thailand in 2011 with a wooden leg, and embarks on a quest to cure himself. …

You know an RPG is good when it causes you to neglect such bodily necessities as eating or going to the bathroom. Dragon’s Crown is one such game. As the latest picturesque epic from Vanillaware, it combines the combat of old-school, side-scrolling beat-’em-ups with the high fantasy of Dungeons & …

Only God forgives? That might be true, as you can be certain that a good portion of Ryan Gosling’s fanbase won’t let director Nicolas Winding Refn off for this disturbingly ultra-violent and decidedly un-sexy follow-up to their spellbinding 2011 collaboration, Drive . Here, Gosling’s character Julian, the owner of a …

It’s saying something that the huge whale cock on display isn’t the most shocking thing about Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s scary but sensitive doc. Presented as the real-life stuff of murder-mysteries, the three deaths caused by SeaWorld’s Tilikum the killer whale horrify. But Cowperthwaite dives deeper, unravelling the shocking thesis that captivity’s …

Floating assistance by Jio Butler Sheet music by Ewan Barry Moral & technical support by Paul Duffield Panty advice by Hayden Scott-Baron Fish & Chocolate is a collection of three short stories that explore the relationship between mother and child. I don’t know what genre they are. I know that …

Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero Tales From Year Zero is a trilogy of linked short stories, written by Travis Beacham, the screenwriter of Pacific Rim . They do exactly what the title implies; exploring the immediate aftermath of the Trespasser Event, the development of the Jaeger program and the …

Ex-Heroes book review . Zombies are awesome. Superheroes are awesome. Mash them together and you’ve got awesomeness squared, right? First published by a small press in 2010 and now receiving a wider release, Peter Cline’s tale of a post-apocalyptic LA community defended by caped heroes is shameless pulp escapism. Follow-ups …

Your mother always said that good looks aren’t everything. As easy as it is to take something at face value, it’s only a matter of time until the magic fades and the layers start to peel away. You begin to see that beautiful, drop-dead experience for what it truly is: …

Now On The Big Screen book review . In the 50 years since Doctor Who began on TV, it’s often seemed like the ideal candidate for cinematic success. But it’s a concept that’s been surprisingly difficult to get off the ground. this book covers every attempt by film producers to …

In ’60s Brazil, a maverick gang of musicians rebelled against a military dictatorship with ‘Tropicália’, a mix of bossa nova rhythms and US rock. Sadly, Marcelo Machado’s doc doesn’t do justice to the story, underselling the dramatic arc of experimentation and exile in favour of a slackly structured jam. There’s …