DARK (s01-03)

An elegant, intricate knot. The sort of story that screenwriters all wish they were clever enough to pull off this effectively.

It’s just the right length, brilliantly self-contained and full of endearing characters and so much mystery that you’ll be going right back to the start to figure out where that thread you lost went.

Yes, it’s complex and can be labyrinthine and hard to follow at times, but the creators have done an incredibly impressive job of leaving breadcrumbs in everything from casting to production design. Seriously, the casting of actors as older/younger counterparts of themselves is frequently astounding.

And the plot. Ooooooooh the plot. Young boys start going missing around a small German town, thirty-three years to the day after a similar rash of disappearances happened and we see the effects of this ripple through a small community being affected for a second time in a generation. But what is actually going on is truly best left to be discovered yourself.

While the third season threatened to keel over with another burst of complexity, ultimately I felt it stuck the landing and was genuinely disappointed when we reached the end to find there was none left to be revealed, when the knot showed how thoughtfully it had been tied right from the start.

Haunting, moody and engaging. Truly, one of the great modern mystery/sci-fi shows. Highly recommended.

by Thomas Scott Holland

MEPHISTO IN HADES // TRIUMPH & TORMENT

iPAD // PROCREATE

Digital painting study from MARVEL / Mike Mignola’s TRIUMPH & TORMENT graphic novel, wherein Drs Doom and Strange voyage into Hades to reclaim the soul of Doom’s mother from Mephisto.

This also marks my 100th post here over years and several iterations of the page. Thanks to everyone who’s stuck around and welcome to those who’ve just found me now, noodling away in my quiet little corner of the internet :)

by Thomas Scott Holland

PALM SPRINGS (2020)

Much more subdued than what you might expect from a Lonely Island movie but still light, easy and fun all the same.

Effortlessly charismatic performances from both Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti and the always welcome JK Simmons wildcard.

Could have maybe gone a little bigger on its premise, but it’s also really charming while keeping its humour away from the sort of rambling aimless improv you’d get from, say, an Apatow version of this.

Good for a lazy day if you want to feel colour and sunshine pouring out of your TV.

by Thomas Scott Holland

HANNIBAL (s01–03)

Not so much a review as an appreciation post (plus I wanted to paint Mads in the role).

Anthony Hopkins is iconic and no slight against him, but Mikkelsen is the perfect casting for Hannibal Lecter. He oozes a chilling charisma, excercising total control of everyone around him.

In fact, it’s hard to find fault with any of the casting. Richard Armitage’s turn as Francis “The Great Red Dragon” Dolarhyde makes you wonder why he isn’t perpetually a leading man.

The visuals are horrifying and beautiful, a high water-mark for television production and still holding up exceptionally well.

Really, the only true flaw is that the cast has not been reunited to bring home The Silence of the Lambs in a final season.

Here’s hoping it pulls enough viewers now that it’s all on Netflix to inspire them to make it happen.

by Thomas Scott Holland

THE LAST OF US: Part II (2020)

What a ride. Brutal, bleak and uncompromising in its determination to make you feel every twist of the knife and to question your part in how far Eillie is willing to go for revenge.

It’s significantly longer than I was expecting, which at first I thought was a fault, but the back half actually contains and surpasses much of the emotion and spectacle of the first, and of the original game, and I found its bolder choices always backed up its thesis statement that violence begets violence.

This is an unpleasant lesson, of course, and Naughty Dog’s stubborn refusal to sway from making you truly feel that these are almost exclusively terrible people while investing significant time and effort into making you empathise with them is a large part of what will make this game stand out long after the naysayers have gotten over the fact that this is not a fanservice sequel but rather a direct continuation of the consequence of the choices that very flawed people made in the first game.

Yes, it is at times tropey. Yes, it is at time quite ham-fisted in what it is trying to convey. Yes, it seems like it could have ended cleanly in more than a few places. But ultimately it’s unafraid to shy from the sort of harshness that makes something like The Road both miserable and incredible at once, and that lingers long after the credits.

It is staggeringly well crafted, beautiful and horrifying to look at, emotionally draining and tense throughout.

Ignore the hate, make up your own damn mind. There’s an incredible, one-of-a-kind journey into darkness to be found here.

MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD.

Continue reading “THE LAST OF US: Part II (2020)”
by Thomas Scott Holland

EUROVISION: Fire Saga Story or whatever (2020)

I’m not gonna spend time drawing anything for this one. It sucks.

Dan Stevens and Rachel McAdams’ charisma are entirely wasted on two hours of unwritten jokes and Will Ferrell improvising badly between occasional bright moments of Eurovision ridiculousness that are neither a love letter to the song contest nor anything approaching a satire.

There’s a good pretense for a film here but this execution is fucking atrocious. Comedy is an extremely generous classification.

Skip it.

by Thomas Scott Holland

HARLEY QUINN (s01/02)

A motherf***ing charming, bloody delight.

You might feel inclined to dismiss this for its proximity to the aggressively mediocre SUICIDE SQUAD film, or that on the surface it looks wannabe-DEADPOOL edgy — it’s really anything but!

Think of it as Adult Swim-toned Elseworlds DC universe satire wrapped around a sort of romantic comedy and garnished with all the obscenities and gory violence they can cram in. I’m talking people decaptiated by an ice-skating routine and an alcoholic Commissioner Gordon obsessed with trying to make an emotionally distant Batman his bestie.

Thanks to sharp writing, tonnes of heart, a stellar voice cast and some of the funniest characterisations in the DC canon this one’s way better than expected.

Two seasons, fingers crossed for a third and beyond cos this is a gem.

by Thomas Scott Holland

THE VAST OF NIGHT (2019)

A nice, simple little scifi thriller with the look and feel of an early Cold War-set episode of STRANGE TALES or THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

Does a great deal with very little, and has some really creative camera work that beautifully describes the distances around a small town somewhere in 1950s America.

Some incredibly long and seamless shots and two extremely charismatic lead performances, but to say anything of the plot would be to ruin the tone and the expectation it so wonderfully builds with steady, thoughtful pace. Could have perhaps gone a little further with some of its more creative reaches to really elevate itself it greatness, but I’m not going to hold that against it since restraint stops it tipping over into gimmicky and helps it feel authentic.

Recommended — don’t read anything up about it!

by Thomas Scott Holland