Luther - Return of the DI

‘He is the Sunrise. He loves everyone’

I didn’t watch the first series of Luther - not because it didn’t interest me, but because I didn’t have the luxury of recordable TV - so I went into last night’s second series opener with virtually no prior knowledge of the story.

The first test was whether I would be left in the dark with regard to previous plot, but this was swiftly and cleverly dealt with. Rather than relying on the slightly lame and lazy flashback, or ‘previously on…’ technique, the back story was told through a clever expository opening in which Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) is being questioned in a mental institution about the events of last series.

Who dares - but does it win?

The first part of the eleventh Doctor’s second series* came to a climactic close on Saturday, finally giving viewers the answer to a question first pondered over in May 2008, but leaving them asking a million more. This series has been described as more daring, intelligent and confusing than ever before by critics and fans alike, with many complex plot-points being seeded from the first episode, but looking back on it, was it really as good as we all first thought?

Under the Radar - Great films that may have passed you by: Battle Royale

Battle Royale - Kinji Fukasaku - 2000

It’s hard to sum up the premise of this film better than the opening prologue:

“At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA the BR Act...”

In a near future world where adults are trying to regain the respect of the rebelling younger generations, a new programme is established whereby classes are arbitrarily selected to compete in the Battle Royale; a sadistic, kill or be killed game ,which can only have one winner.

Living on The Only Way is the Real Chelsea Shore

I’m not reality TV, I’m not ITV2, and I’m simply not interested in watching posh/rich/shallow people bumble through their lives without a care in the world, which is why I’m annoyed that yet another vacuous docusoap has graced our TV schedules with its presence.

Made in Chelsea is the latest addition to this new craze of fly on the wall documentary dramas following the lives of ‘ordinary’ people. It centres around some of London’s young elite, and affords viewers a ‘candid’ (not scripted scenarios in the slightest), triple-A insight into the way they live their rich and glamorous lives. Do we really need (or for that matter want) another?

Moffat vs. Moffat...revisited

Earlier this year the British public snubbed Steven Moffat’s televisual efforts, as his newly regenerated Doctor and co-created contemporary Sherlock lost out in all their categories at the National Television Awards.

Moffat-adoring conspiracy theorists believed it was due to fans’ votes being split, as they were forced to choose one or other of his creations. My belief is that the What’s On TV reading public aren’t your archetypal fan of either of these programmes, preferring a bit of cosy melodrama instead.

Under the Radar - Great films that may have passed you by: Madeo

Madeo (Mother) - Joon-ho Bong - 2009

Let’s play a little word association game. I’m going to say something, and then I’m going to try and guess the first word that comes into your head. Ok here goes: ‘amazing filmmaking nations’.

You’re thinking ‘Korea’ aren’t you? No? Well then you obviously haven’t seen Mother, in which case read on!

Since the early noughties, South Korean cinema has begun to grow and it is one of the few nations in which Hollywood films don’t dominate at the box office. Bong Joon-ho’s Madeo is just one example of the growing confidence of this industry.

The film centres around the relationship of hapless, seemingly mentally retarded Do-joon (Won Bin) and his long suffering, but ultimately loving Mother (Hye-ja Kim). When a high school girl is found murdered and left for all to see atop a building in the centre of their village, all fingers instantly point to Do-Joon. However, determined that her son is innocent, his mother sets out to find evidence to the contrary, and will stop at nothing to overturn the conviction.

Submarine: Sinking Ship or Riding the Waves to Success

Anyone reading this, who is in their late teens, twenties or above, will know that sometimes adolescence can suck, and sometimes it can be brilliant, but very rarely does it follow along the same (slim, toned, sexy, spot-free, care-free) lines of coming of age films like American Pie.

I can’t speak for the entire population, but my teenage years were more ‘Inbetweeners’ than ‘Skins’, so it was really refreshing to go to the cinema and watch a film which honours and celebrates these awkward years of life, rather than trying to pretend it’s an easy ride of parties, booze and casual sex.

I’m talking about Richard Ayoade’s debut film Submarine, which tells the incredibly ordinary, but incredibly well observed tale of a 15 year old boy growing up in Wales; his life, his first love, and how he deals with his parents' failing marriage.