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Reviews
Warnie (2023)
Lively and funny
It seems some reviewers here, and in the media in general, were predetermined to hate this show. Offended that the producers and creators had the temerity to even make it. Couldn't wait to rag on it, no matter the content. Well, I'm not particularly a cricket fan or a Shane Warne fan, but I am a drama fan and I thought this was a really entertaining, well made, well paced, well written mini series. The structure's nifty - bounces and darts around (dare I say like one of Warne's spin bowls) but is never confusing. The show is clearly intended for a mainstream audience so it's not esoteric or confusing; it's lively and fun. The performances, specially from the two leads, are terrific and the directing and editing are nippy and fresh. The writing gives a real sense of Warne's complexities and contradictions as a person without wallowing in introspection or becoming navel-gazing. The cricket sequences - both archival footage and reshot drama inserts - are integral and exciting and do a great job of dramatising Warne's extraordinary talent as a spin bowler. So give this show a watch with an open mind and there's heaps to enjoy.
Spiderhead (2022)
small but good
Spiderhead is a small film - which isn't a criticism. It tells a simple story, tightly focused on very few characters and to my mind, tells it pretty well. The cinematography is terrific, the sets and production design are great, all supporting a strong cast doing their thing. Chris Hemsworth is marvellous as the driven, damaged man-child genius and he's clearly having a lot of fun stretching his acting chops in an other-than Thorish direction.
The ending did feel a bit rushed; like there was another beat needed to motivate Jeff's (Miles Teller) change of awareness and decisions.
If you don't come to Spiderhead expecting super-dooper high art or profundity, but come expecting a small film that's a slickly made and entertaining morality tale (it's really funny on places - handles its shifts in tone well), then you're in for nice tight treat.
Space Force (2020)
Improves to something quite special
I agree the first couple of episodes were uneven in tone and Steve Carell's character was initially hard to get a read on - bumbling doofus or misunderstood genius? Figure of fun or straight man? But there was enough in his performance and the story and the all the supporting characters for me to persist. And I'm so glad I did. Space Force is always entertaining, and sometimes laugh out loud funny. Not always, but then it doesn't always want to be. The variations in the show's tone are deliberate and designed and well worth the challenges they throw down to the audience. This is satire and comedy and drama in a series of wittily written, well-directed and terrifically acted sub-thirty minute episodes. I like the female characters, all of whom are strong and allowed to be funny; I love the send up of the military that also acknowledges the terrible situations thinking people within it are sometimes placed; I love its depiction of middle-aged marriage and I so appreciate the way it leans into the wisdom and humour and foibles of scientists and science. Oh, and finally - John Malkovich! He is an ongoing delight and a wonderful foil to Steve Carell...who is pretty darn good too.
Y: The Last Man (2021)
Thoughtful adaptation of the graphic novel
This is certainly different to the original material but then, sonwhat? A TV show is not a graphic novel. It feels like the writers and producers have leant into and remained true to what's really important - the source material's big ideas and deep themes.
It's interesting that so many reviewers have issues with Yorick's character, saying that he's whiney, unlikeable and not manly enough. That's kind of the point in both versions - that the world has changed utterly and inexplicably and the old iterations of gender types - masculinity and femininity - don't work any more. He spends the story learning what being a man means in this strange new world.
What some reviewers have criticised as the show's "soapy" elements strike me as the writers leaning into the emotional impact of half the mammalian population dying overnight, and not just being obsessed with action at all costs. The show is really a character study in an incredibly imaginative "what if" situation. If that means some scenes built on emotion rather than action, that feels real and is ok with me.