Articles by:

Rob Smedley

‘The Returned’: ‘Adele’ review

There’s no escape this week. None whatsoever. And if you’ve followed The Returned this far, chances are you’re stuck too, just like us – unable to leave this show until you get to the bottom of what’s going on. Well, get comfy friends, because if writer Fabrice Gobert gets his wish we’re probably going to be here a couple of years yet.

Posted Filed under

‘The Returned’: ‘Serge & Toni’ review

New Year’s Eve. Always a letdown. But this December 31st, whether you’re having every atom of your privacy invaded in a club so packed that it resembles a box of sweaty styrofoam peanuts, or you’re sat at home with a sherry, waiting to salute the clock at midnight, think on this: it could be worse. You could be in an underpass, caving in your cannibalistic brother’s head with a crowbar as he tries to eat Catwoman’s pancreas. ‘Should auld acquaintance be forgot’?. Ideally, yes.

Posted Filed under

‘The Returned’: ‘Victor’ review

If you turned Episode 4 of The Returned into a drinking game, with the rule of having a shot every time someone discovered a secret, then by the time the credits rolled you’d be lying unconscious on the floor, being eaten by your cats Mme Payet style.

Posted Filed under

‘The Returned’: ‘Julie’ review

Last week The Returned felt like a police procedural with a David Lynch haircut. This week it has the aura of a soap opera wrapped about it. A weird soap opera but a good one, similar in result to if Rod Serling wrote an entire week’s worth of Neighbours. ‘So Paul Robinson’s cursed false leg was an allegory for America’s relationship with Communist Cuba? Wow…’.

Posted Filed under

‘Man of Steel’ movie novelization book review

Movie novelizations are strange beasts. On one hand, if you’ve seen the film, what would compel you to then read it? And on the other, if you haven’t seen a film yet, why would you want to buy several hundred pages of entertainingly presented spoilers?

Posted Filed under

‘Man of Steel: Inside the Legendary World of Superman’ book review

Man of Steel: Inside the Legendary World of Superman is the kind of sturdy coffee table book that looks best when casually left open, brazenly revealing one of its many glorious double-page spreads of the film’s pre-production artwork. Or the big photo of Henry Cavill’s bare glistening torso. Hey, it’s all part of the film’s aesthetic appeal.

Posted Filed under