barbarellacom

For the lover of the British political satire, one of the most ferocious and incredibly smart and up-to-date with the political era, this is a must see. Armando Ianucci did the tour de force of making a brilliant and successful American political satire, Veep, following the success of The Thick of It. Now with Brexit, it is hard for satire to keep up with the atrocities of the real world, because, what used to be funny and satirical has now become real. The phone hacking scandal, the Cambridge Analytica scandal, etc. The BBC has moved on to a more absurdist approach, with the 2020, mocking the organisation of the Olympics game followed by an absolute delight: W1A which mocks the BBC itself and the entertainment business at the very moment the Beeb is in turmoil internally and externally. That is British humour for you: at the worst of times, what sustains British society is their utterly weird yet so delightful sense of dark self-deprecating humour. Unfortunately there is not a current political satire on air that measures up to what The Thick of It has been and stands for, as an icon at the top. It's my personal go to for a ferocious laugh when things are dire. I adore Michael Tucker's character, we all have met clones of him in the workplace, terror-infusing screaming machiavellan tyrans. #MeToo won't get rid, or even expose, all of them... Maybe Armando Iannucci should come back to it, we need an upgrade to political satire that encompasses all of the worst that has settled in nicely. If you've not seen it yet, don't miss it, it's unbelievably smart, somewhat accurate (real-life cabinet people have been cited as an inspiration for Michael Tucker such as Alastair Campbell, Blair's spin doctor) and witty.

The film addresses the issue of online constant tracking, data tranparency and privacy, in a world where records can be falsified and therefore no one can know the truth anymore. Anyone with the means can thus find a hacker to delete his misdeeds. Rings any bells ? Whether you think of Bitcoin and it's blockchain technology, the Facebook data sold to spin doctors world wide (in the UK and the US, that we know of). Here we try to solve murders, but how do we do it when the murderer is deleting his/her online meta data and can't be tracked or found? You'll find out.To the uneducated critics, in case you did not know, everything sci-fi addressing major contemporary issues isn't a Black Mirror wannabe. The track-record of this film-maker speeks for itself. He's been on this very issue of fundamental freedoms for decades and he is not new to the sci-fi genre. Indeed Writer/Director Andrew Niccol started questionning major philosophical and now everyday issues, back in the 90s when he made the screen adaptation of "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley (1932), the formidable Gattaca (1997). Some writers have it in them to question whether our fundamental freedoms are endangered by technology and this one has consistently done so over the years, with the brilliant Truman Show or Lord of War, and his work skillfully brings us to the depth of the questions he asks in a very entertaining fashion, and whether it is a drama or a comedy, it is always relevant. Clive Owen is perfect as the detective in charge, a classic detective of the genre : somber, smart, sad, somewhat rebellious with great instincts. A must see.

I'm not going to write a rave review of this show, many others have done it before me, it was a really good series, the stories were well crafted, it was high standard in the world of sci-fi were you see a lot of cr***. I just want to direct you to the writer and creator Joseph Mallozi's blog to read why it was cancelled and wasn't saved, which demonstrates once again the haughtiness of "money making moguls" in networks deciding that we, the viewers, are just bottom lines and they're just milking the milky way however fast they can. Disrespecting loyal fans is no longer a tenable posture in the industry, especially when dozens of awful shows get produced that don't have the level of quality this one had, especially in the sci-fi genre and on SYFY. Besides The Expanse, there wasn't much being done towards giving sci-fi afficionaos the real deal. Personnaly, I believe in the downfall of the $ all-mighty culture of the entertainment industry that disregards viewers' choices especially when they're loyal to the series. We too can unite and fund movies-series outside the realm of the establishment if need be. It's about time WE decide not the networks.

Sadly you will find it hard to engage in an otherwise very "seen before" premisce that went wrong starting episode 2. Even great actors on the show are unbelievable and you really try hard to want to believe them... It's totally un-engaging, un-thrilling and definitly un-terrifying ! Just don't waste your time on this one, there are so many better series out there, (such as Hard Sun, still on the iplayer). The BBC really wasted its resources on a crummy script, how could it escape them when they have such great series, some of the best crime drama on TV, I'm truly baffled. Maybe they are becoming W1A quicker than expected (^^).