T.V. REVIEW: PEAKY BLINDERS Series 5

4/5

Murphy's Law.

6 Episodes. Starring: Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Finn Cole, Aidan Gillen & Sam Claflin. Created By: Steven Knight.

Flat caps on bar tops. So many 'Peaky Blinders' themed establishments have been popping up around the country like moonshine ever since the Cillian Murphy series became a roaring like Arthur success. So much so the BBC have had to send a cease and desist warning by order of the British Broadcasting Corporation to various public houses. But that hasn't stopped everyone from cutting their hair in that signature style like they were afraid of getting head lice too. Even once upon a time in Hollywood (the war worn 'Fury'), Brad Pitt expressed an interest in a spot on the show by guest order. Have you seen the 'Ad Astra' star on the form of his Hollywood life in 'Snatch'? Sign him up! Don't make the same mistake 'True Detective' could still make good on. Tom Cruise is a fan of the show too...hmm! All this reverence about a bunch of Birmingham mobsters who hide straight razors under their hats...and they aren't trying to keep that haircut fresh. And now their criminally compelling leader is about to make a run for Prime Minster?! Hey anything would be better than Boris (on your bike) right now! Even you Miss May. In an apocalypse age were it seems all our world leaders need is no sense under dodgy blonde haircuts. Now if that's the case allow me to throw in my bald patch covering flat cap into the ring. Oh no wait a scene stealing Sam Claflin's just gone and done that with a stirring party speech, class clinking and roaring twenties toast that pokes satire at putting "Britain first" and talks about laying with swans. Everything save actually directly referencing Brexit and Trump's wall itself. Just with the relief of a Sam Neill accent (or me doing impersonations of it all month whilst binge watching catching up with everybody who is so over that already) when you thought it couldn't get much better than Adrien Brody's New York Goodfella gangster blasting a Tommy at the Shelby Godfather (who even shoots a horse in the head), there's more peaking below the brim of this blinding show.

Flat caps on Guys strung up on crosses, mocked up to look like Tommy Shelby how about this Scarecrow Easter Egg full of foreboding and brimstone for Cillian Murphy? The 'Batman Begins' villain who made his Hollywood name with the 'Dark Knight' trilogy and fellow Christopher Nolan films 'Inception' and 'Dunkirk'. But here the '28 Days Later' breakout star is back and home in his trench coat hiding his Tommy tommy and that cut below the rest. This time Sir Shelby is gunning for an OBE with those political spectacles and you might expect Murphy to get one soon too from Her Majesty's crown. This amazing, accomplished actor is not only accented here...he's acclaimed. The Irishman showing exactly why this show is by order at your service from the British Broadcasting Corporation to streaming service Netflix all the way in the Far East like a trading company the Shelby clan deals with. He might hate the haircut, but we love the line from an actor who always makes very thing he's in better (see his time cop in Justin Timberlake's not so on, 'In Time') and we can't wait to see more of this man like in 'A Quiet Place Part II'. For so many years this Irish pride had us convinced he was an American in Hollywood. And for seasons now it's hard to remember he's no Brummie. But the signs of a great actor isn't just how well they speak, but what they do to evoke every emotion from expression to the ole blue eyes of the soul. And Cillian has couplets worth of poetic depths of this in his vast pool of talent. That's why even more than a De Niro or Pacino (yeah I said it...wack me. At least I didn't go for Pesci), he can make a chain smoking gangster who looks ready to betray even friends and family, hit the bottle, slap his veins and tap into any illegal smuggle hustle he can still seem so sympathetic and compelling. All with a saluting respect to all those who have served as he brings the horrors of war-from the frontlines to the trenches of these streets-right to your front door in a fire blazing industry town, hammer to nail.

Arthur...what more can we say about Arthur. And ''71', 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows', 'The Revenant' and 'Hostiles' star Paul Anderson who character actor enraged lives and accented to a tee breathes this cauldron of blood and alcohol character to the purest extent? Everyone's cult favourite character always literally gets away with murder. But this time stuck between the good book and a "don't cross me place" will he choose the love of his faith, or the just one more temptation of sin? The only thing more worthy of award is the great, but still so underrated legend of Helen McCory. Perfect ever since she came along as Polly, the 'Harry Potter', 'Skyfall', 'Hugo' and 'Charlotte Gray' star who showed Richard Gere how its done in 'MotherFatherSon' and also played Cherie Blair in 'The Queen' actually has an OBE, thank you Tommy. And here she's far, far more than just the catwalk look of the traditional dresses of the time. No matter how good Pol' looks in fur and pearls...and just wait until she's all dolled up in real gangster, era regalia. More than a Lady Macbeth cliché, she's actually the one holding all the puppet strings in a story worthy of Mario Puzo. No wonder Helen's captured the jewel heart of 'Game Of Thrones' Gypsy king Aiden Gillen, whose lost the long hair this season, but none of the acting smarts in his 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. Showing this cast is still so strong even in vision, after many have met the morgue, gone with the seasons like 'A Prayer Before Dawn' knockout Joe Cole (still so heart-breaking in the fourth, most formidable season). But let's not forget about 'An Inspector Calls' star Finn Cole as Finn. The young Shelby still torn between this family and another one...this time in New York and the super Sophie Rundle, the 'Bodyguard' star whose sister act is the perfect pitch that gives grounding heart and a soul to this show. From the smoky, whiskey soaked traditional texture of this period piece picture. To the of the blues times, atmospheric Anna Calvi scoring soundtrack alongside the modern likes of Radiohead. This grand design miniseries that has been inspiring all sorts of London Underground art from 'Locke' and 'Serenity' director Steven Knight is anything but limited. As a matter of fact as cinematic as they come and worthy of its own movie, in the 'Downton Abbey', 'Crown'-ing golden era of British television (let alone the small screen in itself) this may be the best thing the BBC has ever produced since Terry Wogan. And this is the same channel that's really tuned into dramas now, from 'Collateral' detectives like Idris Elba's 'Luther' and of course Benedict Cumberbatch's 'Sherlock'. Not to mention the 'Line Of Duty' and 'Fleabag' Emmy and West End scoring craze. Or their forthcoming 'Les Miserables' like version of H.G. Wells sci-fi epic, 'The War Of The Worlds' like Jeff Wayne. But forget those from outer space (except 'Ad Astra'), because as of right now there's a war of the roses down in the grimy cobbled streets in the West Midlands. So who should we send the flowers too? Because this one deserves all the bouquet's (not buckets Hyacinth), even without the 'Taboo' and Cockney venom of 'Locke' and 'Bronson' star Tom Hardy (a former series like Nolan regular (everything that Cillian's been in)) after he was sand dune'd in the beaches of this writers hometown (no wonder we didn't pass on a bar too). But instead a guest star who has come to our attention as much as a Brody, Paddy Considine or great Sam Neill in the classic Claflin and his well spoken, but not seemingly mild mannered with pure malice of menace villain. And just like a 'Godfather', or 'Goodfella', this is all about family and its going to take all this families got to come out on top like this show. All to the iconic ole Birmingham streets 'Reservoir Dogs' like march that keep walking like Abbey Road. After all, there is God...and then there are the 'Peaky Blinders'. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Taboo', 'Luther', 'Boardwalk Empire'.

REVIEW: AD ASTRA

4/5

Once Upon A Time In...Outer Space.

124 Mins. Starring: Brad Pitt, Liv Tyler, Ruth Negga, John Ortiz, Donald Sutherland & Tommy Lee Jones. Director: James Gray.

Out of this world is a whole universe away from just another space movie cliché in a solar systems worth of them for this NASA t-shirt wearing trend when it comes to James Gray's latest piece with Hollywood superstar of Hollywood superstars Brad Pitt. Who couldn't be bigger than he is right now, just when you thought the 'Se7en', '12 Monkeys' and 'Oceans Eleven' actor was the most famous face and name there is. After a decade of Plan B production (also helming this ship here), from ones he acted in ('12 Years A Slave'), to ones he watched from a distance ('Moonlight') diverted from the stream of his acting career, save award ('Moneyball') and blockbuster standouts ('World War Z'), Brad is back in a B.I.G. way. Not just this year, but this damn month. Sharing the star shine with the other biggest name behind the face in the game, Leonardo DiCaprio with Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood'. And now going it all alone lost in space searching for a man in black...and we aren't talking about walking the line with Johnny Cash. Going 'Interstellar' like McConaughey and Matt Damon with a brief Mars 'Martian' like interlude of sobering solitude like the 'Solaris' of George Clooney, all under subtle Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong in 'First Man' stoicism with 'Blade Runner 2049' like emotional by-line test. Put this poetic performance piece next to the greats of space travel from the grounding 'Gravity' of Sandra Bullock to the groundbreaking Kubrick classic '2001: A Space Odyssey'. All whilst taking cues from those type of out of this realm, intergalactic inspirations like 'Arrival' or even the soil to the heavens fever dream and cinematic art of Brad Pitt's 'Tree Of Life' with Terrence Malik and 'The Martian' and 'Interstellar' star Jessica Chastain on a breakout. All this and some cell classic structures for cinemas canon from 'We Own The Night' and 'Lost City Of Z' director James Gray again on the look for something much deeper than the surface story. Something as cinematography compelling as it is "no one in space can hear you scream", silently slow burning. So much so that even Korean subtitles in a Seoul cinema for this travelling writer couldn't distract from the vivid visuals, which themselves can't take away from what this testimony to motion picture is really telling us (who thought away from family it wouldn't just be Thor saying goodbye to his Rene Russo mother in a plane re-watch of 'Endgame' that would have me like a broken satellite in bits?). Listen to the sparse sounds and see the sun in this dense moon dust desert for the senses.

Profound. Poetic. Moving. Meditative. Cerebral. Classic. Epic. Enthralling. This is everything. Everything in the known universe and everything that comes to the heart of matters and what's really inside as we look to the stars. And that is 'Ad Astra'. A father and son story like Cat Stevens masquerading as something for the 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' crowd, finally getting Pitt back in the picture after years of being behind the camera or in shockingly hilarious 'Deadpool' cameos too. But never to vanish truly from the spotlight. The GQ Hollywood star who has been sculpting and listening to Bon Iver in his spare time, overcoming personal problems has crafted a classic here all the way down to the off the Max Richter score that could string rival the 'Interstellar' inspirations of even the great Hans Zimmer. 'Astra' might reach the ends of the earth and beyond that infinity. But it's main concern is how much harder it is to get in touching distance to those who are meant to be the closest to us. And the universe's worth of gulf that acts as the space between. It doesn't matter how far we go out this world...if we can't hit home. And with beautiful and powerful restraint, Pitt is perfect at personifying this with sincere subtlety. 'Once Upon A Time' may be his star show support, but 'Ad' as it stands is his deepest and best cut. As these two make for even a legend like Brad Pitt's greatest year of all time like when co-star Leonardo DiCaprio acted in 'Inception' and 'Shutter Island' in like this the same Summer, let alone the same year once upon a time...in Hollywood. This also shows like fellow films 'The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford' and 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button' that are more than meets the aesthetic eye that he is more than a name with all the tools as an artist. The quiet storm that is brewing here like a meteor shower glows with simmering emotion and always looks primed to strike no matter how calm it floats along. Someone who Hollywood press revered for his looks can do more with a few facial expressions here than he could in days of Q.T. dialogue. And both methods have so much meaning here this month. His nuanced demeanour even in the harsh wilderness of space in this reality is anything but cold in this calculated classic.

Blasting moon buggies, an IMAX free fall off the edge of your seat and Galactus tall space station, back down to the atmosphere of your own earth and something even more scarier than an alien attack, Gray's deep, black sea of space is anything but calm in this coolly moving meditation of 'Odyssey' outreach, bathed in a Mars red glow. All this and a class cast makes this Gray's greatest shade. Even if some of the biggest names are given less of a stage when it comes to the main spotlight in this epic event. But oh how these stars still shine. Like the best facetime acting we've seen since McConaughey and Chastain's Nolan 'Interstellar' iPhone like acting in 'Armageddon', Aerosmith rocking star Liv Tyler's bold and beautiful return to what she's best at. Evoking even more emotion, even when there are demands on screen time. This is the one actor from Marvel's 'The Incredible Hulk' movie who knew how to capture the soul of the symbolic seventies show. And how about even more heart from 'Loving', Academy Award nominated Ruth Negga? The 'Preacher' star punctuating the third act of this legacy making, layered narrative. Always dependable character actor John Ortiz is counted on for another small, but significant role. As is legendary great Donald Sutherland. So good to see like he was a J. P. Getty in the 'Trust' series. But trust the legend of legends here making his grand return is 'The Fugitive' great Tommy Lee Jones. On top of his game when Brad was really making his name. Now together it's another classic collaboration in the month of Leo for Brad which you would have wished for once upon a star for a time in Hollywood. Waiting longer to meet him for more than a video conference call than we did on that hot coffee between De Niro and Pacino it's worth it all in Oscar gold. As a gunning Tommy Lee hasn't been this great since a certain guitarist dated a 'Baywatch' star. Put this next to 'No Country For Old Men', 'In The Valley Of Elah', 'In The Electric Mist' and 'The Homesman' as this homecoming space cowboys best with a little Easter Egg for you...I guess Clint Eastwood gave up every which way but loose. But seriously 'The Hunted' grizzled and 'Lincoln' bearded this veteran is at his best yet...apart from the classic cheerleader comedy 'Man Of The House' (that I've been calling "Man About The House' for years now...but that's an Easter Egg in itself). One that blindsides us with its brilliance and it's brutality in how far a man in manifest will go for his destiny when his real one waits at home. An intergalactic cautionary tale if ever there was one. Because maybe after all in this universe we really are alone. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Interstellar', 'The Tree Of Life', '2001: A Space Odyssey'.

REVIEW: HUSTLERS

4/5

Can't Knock The Hustle.

110 Mins. Starring: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Madeline Brewer, Lizzo & Cardi B. Director: Lorene Scafaria.

Hustle and flow through the dollars and sense that rain on this dancefloor and the comeback of Jenny from the block will smack stereotype like a pole across the face. Respect this hustle. Open your eyes and not just your jaws to 'Hustlers'. This might one of this year's best, in a film bigger than the gaping holes between the mouths and the wallets of a boiler rooms worth of these Gekko lizard like Wall Street wolf in funeral clothing types. One kind of looking like Jason Sudeikis' character in 'Horrible Bosses' when he laughs after a tired chauvinistic joke. Another like that slimy corrupt cop partner of Misty Knight (I'm sorry but that almost sounds like a strippers name in itself) in 'Luke Cage'. Hustled and getting shook down here like they were being dangled by their feet off the ledge of the Empire State building. As all their cents change falls down the drains of a Manhattan sidewalk. Taken for a ride and all they're worth, this movie based on the New York Magazine article 'The Hustlers At Scores' wrote by Jessica Pressler has 'Save The Last Dance's' Julia Stiles (terrifically tying this story together like a narration) going from the prom to the strip club. Taking over the journalists pen as 'Crazy Rich Asian' Constance Wu and a fellow gold pole Oscar worthy Jennifer Lopez like Shaq and Kobe take to the floor with some of the youngest and biggest names in acting and music. All for something as New York as Hot Dogs on every corner smelling like roasted peanuts and steam rising from the yellow cab passing grids on a Winter warming fall in the Big Apple of Gotham City. But front hook, ankle hook, knee hook, this carousel of a corrupt circus in the city from Lorene Scafaria's penmanship and director's chair bests even 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist' that is the perfect soundtrack for 'Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World'. And oh how different a film it is. All to the power of a 50 Cent, 'I Get Money', Big Sean, 'Dance A$$' and Usher 'Love In This Club' special Spotify soundtrack. And the real reason all the strippers go running from their dressing room screaming in union in the trailer like an N.Y. rat was in there as they were changing. All for a film that is more than just a XXL Mars to the 'Magic Mike' Venus meets 'Oceans 8' remake (thank God it's not 'Oceans Eleven'...nobody wants the full monty of seeing those old a$$ balls Clooney...not even me) getting their 'Widows' on with J-Lo playing Viola. But one that beyond the face card look of what will bring the boys to the table, knows how to play this all like 'Molly's Game'. All for the girls that run the world like Jessica Chastain's forthcoming '355' spy hard, epic ensemble. Drop drop money on this and throw awards their way like you were making it rain in gold too, but be careful what you're wishing. Because these 'Hustlers' have ambition like you've never seen before for their eyes only.

Love don't cost a thing...but lust does. And after an epic entrance to the stage, the theatre curtains roll up for the grand return of Jennifer Lopez. Fabulous at 50 (it ain't just Keanu that's breathtaking, killing it like Wick) this is the best yet from the woman who literally spearheaded the Latin pop movement, breaking borders, barriers and boundaries down like walls. Running this world like girls when Beyoncé was still a Destiny's Child like the one she mentors here. But 'On The 6' did you forget that the dancing 'If You Had My Love', 'I'm Real', 'Aint It Funny' and 'All My Love' huge hit maker with the likes of Ja Rule, Jadakiss and LL Cool J was in one of her biggest movies the year before her debut album in 'Out Of Sight' with George Clooney of all people? And now she's back where she belongs commanding the screen like she does the stage in a supporting role which is real and all front and center. Slick but with more substance enough to be one of the lawyers she takes to the cleaners everytime she walks in to the same bar to the nines. Leading a crew, some almost half her age, but nowhere near her stage with that look on her face that she's about to take you're checking account all the way to 0.00. But there's an overdrawn reason to her crime rhyme that will have you in the red more than the raging hangover and colour in your cheeks when you check your balance, whilst trying to maintain your actual own one suit and tie still on, but your pants around your ankles. Jenny off the block is so good you'd give her her phone back too, instead of throwing the book at her. But if she deserves an Academy Award then fresh off the 'Crazy Rich Asians' boat that's still rocking, Constance Wu deserves one too. Lopez is the legend in the limelight. But Wu is the star of the moment and nothing to f### with! And her Destiny character is the child that's blessed to have her own. All she wants to do is not rely on anyone, take care of her family and go shopping once in awhile. But she's got to deal with the blatant, bull#### ignorance of clients calling her Lucy Liu, or horrible bosses taking the majority of her earnings, but insult to debt injury shamefully giving her the money for her to only have to hand back in some toxic masculinity power trip s###! But she'll have the last laugh drowning in champagne and rolling in cash. Screaming like Anne Hathaway's Catwoman acting for all the cream in 'The Dark Knight' as she takes a naked 'Rough Night' like client whose taken a turn off the penthouse for the worse to the hospital, only to turn the waterworks off the moment the gurney is rolled away like not her problem anymore. Roll that alongside a scene stealing Lili Reinhart, AKA 'Riverdale's' Betty Cooper biting her thumb and striking a Vogue pose for your instant text back and 'The Handmaid's Tale' Madeline Brewer popping up with all eyes and even more ears lent, then this is one crew even Sandra Bullock wouldn't be 'Bird Box' too for Queenpin Lopez's New York City street team in Juicy Couture velvet behind the rope. Especially when it comes to music's best scoring on film like the soundtrack. From a coming out on screen party of Keke Palmer and classic cameos from Rap Queen Cardi B featuring her 'Money' trailer tease cha-ching like M.I.A. 'Paper Plane' gunshot taking your change and the biggest star in music right now Lizzo complete with her flute. This movie just took a DNA test...and it turns out it's the s###! Now if you think this 34 year old white writer got the lyrics wrong then you're wrong. I don't even call a female dog a b####. Did you really think I was going to join the rest of the senior citizens watching 'Downton Abbey' this weekend? B#### please!

Strip all that away however and behind the dirty money of the gold curtain the only thing more stronger than the power of women here in the same time big three pops icons Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey are coming together in their best year for the soundtrack of a new girl power flick to tell Charlie, 'Don't Call Me Angel', is the camaraderie. From the moment they teach pole on the grind. The soul of this may be somewhere in the murky moral compass that looks lost in the five N.Y.C. boroughs like the Bronx b####. But these 'Hustlers' have heart. Especially next to who they Robin Hood from. And like this fast and furious time even all the crime is all about family with Lopez's Godmother character trading in De Niro sneering lips to everyone's nodding approval as her Escalade guzzles Diesel gas. This is even far more self aware in the morality over celebratory cautionary tale storytelling than say a Scorsese and DiCaprio debauched 'Wolf Of Wall Street'. Stopping short before making false idols out of Lopez's Ramona Vega (but what an entrepreneur she would make and oh how she knows how to take the house from those who think they are running it), like all the boys who drooled over Jordan Belfort and his book and seminars. And that's why these 'Hustlers' make more than the rest in a slick, but Soderbergh sobering story of rags to blood soaked riches. The mink coat isn't the only fur that's dripping in more ways than one. Imagine taking your child to school in the same outfit you wore to the club last night, all with something a little worse for wear than alcohol spilled on it. Now that should be able education for where your dedications at. It's clear here that we see right through those clear heels. All the way to the curtain closing credits emceed by a hilarious tongue in cheek D.J. telling us the shows over, nothing to see here. There's nothing wrong with stripping to make your money, but pole to pole when the con is on that's when all bets are off. But for all those pig men under the Wall Street bull's sack and those who think they're even higher than Trump Tower, calling crooked. How about you take a look in the mirror of the champagne room and see what's glaring back in a sleazy neon glow of crumpled Lincoln's and creased Tom Ford's for these women wrestling for their place out the corner and in the Rocky ring? After all this is America. The world's biggest strip club. Everyday everybody's hustling. But 'Hustlers' hustles real hard. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Oceans 8', 'Molly's Game', 'Magic Mike'.

T.V. REVIEW: TRUE DETECTIVE Season 3

4/5

True Grit

8 Episodes. Starring: Mahershala Ali, Carmen Ejogo, Stephen Dorff, Scoot McNairy & Ray Fisher. Creator: Nic Pizzolatto.

Sparking like orange firecracker illuminating embers (not January embers) off the ash tip of a cigarette resting idle in an ashtray. Vacant with an empty shot glass and bottle of bourbon by the bar next to it as it's only lonley company. A couple of crumpled and worn dollars with Lincoln fading as it's coaster. Season 3 of 'True Detective' is as slow burning as they compelling come. Like condensation running down the side of a cold one. So much so you may sit here and ask yourself, "why is this writer reviewing a show that came out in January now. Over half a year later"? Well for one not all of us have HBO. Some of us just have regular ass T.V. Not all of us have seen 'Game Of Thrones'...no matter how much we'd like to. Have you got a spare 62 hours? One for something you have already had social media spoiled time and time again ever since you heard an old girlfriend screaming the house down downstairs and ran down to help, only to be met with the Red Wedding? Exactly! I successfully managed to binge 'Stranger Things 3' over a week of being in the U.S.A. for the fourth of July between Greyhounds and waiting for connecting flights, only to have the ending (which we won't even) spoiled by a major media outlet of all accounts posting a reaction article online on social media with the dead name in the damn title. So even when we do binge in this industry trying to get a review out as quickly and diligently as possible it doesn't always work out to our advantage. And when it's comes to the latest series of Nic Pizzolatto's 'True Detective' that Barkley rebounds from the sophomore slump, but still amazing performances from Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, Vince Vaughn and especially born to be beat cop Colin Farrell and returns to the hallmark heydey of executive producers Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey's classic series, nursing it over the course of a year like a fine malt is the perfect slow burn for this season and it's nature in the age of binge.

Narratively it matches the rule of three time frames of reference that percolate through the photographic memories of our main protagonists here. Trying to seemingly solve the unsolvable in a missing kids case that rabbit holes over the generations from the seventies style to the modern musings. Taking your time with this slow but assured series makes you feel like you're part of the investigation too. Feeling the time worn and aged weary nature of this incendiary investigation. No cinematic storytelling has done this since you felt the eager strain and desperate times of the three hour long 'Zodiac' movie with Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. You feel right there with them. So much so like you're riding shotgun in their cruising cop car confidential's (remember, "this is a bar, not a f###### bedside"?) and this terrifically directed time lapse one here that have become a 'True' trademark just like their epic, singular shootout scenes. That one shot hood biker escape. And just wait until this one unloads from the classic clip. Your T.V. set might just claymore explode. And after the dynamite, dynamic duo of the first season and the throw every Hollywood big name and the kitchen sink at the writers room wall and see what sticks second, this series seemingly focuses on one. 'Moonlight' and 'Green Book', back-to-back 'Best Supporting Actor' Oscar winner Mahershala Ali taking the lead for his Emmy. And moving, mesmerizing and even polarising in his punctuated scenes, Ali is a knockout. But you best believe this is more than Mahershala too in a series that in a time of CG needs it's make up department awarded for just how old they make these characters look over time as the actors match that ante with their smarts. We can all recede a hairline (have you seen mine? Nope! Neither have I), but what is done here to evoke the worn and weary lapse of time and memory is nothing short of miraculous to be pulled off this genuinely and convincingly. But believe me that's not the only reason you see Stephen Dorff here like you've never seen him before. The vampire overlord Deacon West himself seems like a throw in name next to an Oscar winner after all the big ones this show has produced. Feeling more as an aside like when you try to put down where else you know him from. That is until Dorff commands the screen with his drawl and drawn down south, always smooth cool presence that is one Bolo tie away from making even McConaughey look like a fraud. Just how good is Stephen Dorff? I for one underestimated him as a younger actor. The scene stealing X-factor. From a classic bar fight after some beautiful one sided banter when he just wanted to self destruct and make someone else make him pay for his sins, to his emotional canine counsel on the blood spat sidewalk with just another stray looking for some stroke. Dorff is definitive and the crazy thing is that after the show wrapped, months later before we wrote this Mahershala Ali was picked up by Marvel to be the new 'Blade' vampire hunter in the next chapter of his storied career. Now how's that for poetic synchronicity?

Second billing though in a show of different seasons that has always been about more than just two partners like the sinister but sublime score from the Wild West's T Bone Burnett, however goes to Carmen Ejogo. The 'Best Actress' worthy actor has been on a hot streak for a half decade now ever since she perfectly played Coretta Scott King alongside MLK in the glory of 'Selma'. From 'Alien: Covenant' and Denzel Washington's 'Roman J. Israel Esq'. To the 'Harry Potter' spin-off 'Fantastic Beast' movies. And finding her loving Ali like the boxers wives and forging her own path and page as a writer. Penning a true crime book about the disappearance and haunting in memory and how she shadows the police case for her own details...but all with courtesy, professionalism, dignity and respect. This may be Ejogo's, evoking best yet. The same can be said for platinum character actor Scoot McNairy. One hit and award away from his own stardom...and this may be it. The 'Killing Them Softly' and 'Argo' star is far from the 'all Adam Sandler's friends get a job' of Ben Affleck movies (see 'Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice'...no seriously. See it! We can't keep preaching about the Martha aside criminally and critically underrated super, superhero movie). 'Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood' he even made a recent cameo in a Quentin Tarantino movie alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. But here he excels as an understandably spiralling father paranoid to death and frightened with where on earth his children are...if they're even still alive at all. His desperate measures come from times the same. It's a complex, layered nuanced performance in a show as such. Not just the slow alcohol soaked and medicated destruction of nerve and self. Even 'Justice League' Cyborg Ray Fisher gets the compliments for his beautifully restrained performance of the grind of a son trying to keep it all together as his father is slowly losing his mind. Also showing you that Cyborg's father is Blade for your superhero degrees of separation. Add a cult favourite from the M.C.U. whistling in the wind and adding an unforgettable cameo and that will more than make up for those pining for a twin McConaughey or Carnage of Harrelson appearance alongside that newspaper Easter Egg reference report between the peaks. Because its all twine doll sacrifice connecting across the narrative strands of each separate season and separate story arcs between the trees, highways and flat circles. All the way to the canvas of the artistic smoke and smashed frame mirror, terrific title sequence of this vivid imagination. And from afro and tweed to salt and pepper hair, now this story is across the decades complete and this detective is true again let's hope they get back on another case. Because we know just the one to be reopened never case closed. Together. Walking hand-in-hand to extinction. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'True Detective (Season 1)', 'The Wire', 'Mindhunter'.

REVIEW: IT CHAPTER 2

4/5

You'll Float Two.

169 Mins. Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransome, Andy Bean, Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, & Bill Skarsgard. Director: Andy Muschietti.

Scary. Pennywise for your terrified thoughts? A month before Joaquin Phoenix's 'Joker' shows you his magic trick on another dark night it's time to send the clown back in. Even if the Harley Quinn hammer-time of a 'Birds Of Prey' teaser trailer wants to emancipate from all that Warner Bros circus act. Doot-doot-doodle-oodle oot doot do do! 'IT Chapter 2' follows the first part two years back, or 27 if you're talking about the 'Goonie' like bicycle riding characters on a Finn Wolfhard, 'Stranger Things' "One Summer Can Change Everything" tip as they make good and come back to their 'Stand By Me' oath. Because be wise to this. You can bet your bottom penny this is going to be an amusement arcade carnival of a fun but f##### up fright fest. From a window licking, head banging hall of claustrophobic mirrors. To flooding toilet cubicles that look like Carrie was in there before you ("Plug it up! Plug it up!"). And after a warm welcome back that makes this movie something you'll blood brothers glass cut an oath for, some fortune cookie, Pennywise wisdom misfortune were you'll really wish you opened the 'Stick With Your Wife' barrel. It's back to scare the shIT out of you again. And back home in Derry this is the Maine event. Reflection in the glass concluding the mega movie like the 90's back-to-back T.V. miniseries one adapted from the ship sinking anchor that is Stephen King's '86 legendary, magnum opus of an 1,100 plus page novel which could sink anything as everybody will float too. And in three hours this is so long in itself, yet it moves along at a fast paced clip. Watch out for those 99 red balloons like kids who didn't hold on to them tight enough (they probably only had one arm to do so they way everyone's been wearing yellow slickers as a fashion accessory since the first film came out the gutter ("YOU BUY AND I DIE')) as this one's about to pop. 'IT' ends now with 'Chapter 2'. You ready to read on? Are you ready for IT?

Very Scary. Returning dark director Andy Muschietti knows how to bring the entertaining scares and honour the human horrors that were really was Stephen King's terrifying page turner's were all about. But let's not forget the touching humanity too. And after years of reader references from 'The Dark Tower' movie to Netflix's 'Geralds Game' this renaissance of King in the rejuvenated genre of horror brings the ultimate Easter Egg sharing a Neil Young 'Harvest' with the headphones, head to head farmland of 'A Quiet Place'. And the director brings the 'Mama' of horror films back in his gothic, grungy star and regular day redhead Jessica Chastain. So who better than to play an adult Beverley Marsh for the first film scene stealer Sophia Lillis back for seconds in a movie which captures it's characters in older form look and act alike perfectly? Many may forget 'The Help' and 'Zero Dark Thirty' actress did horror (in the year of 'IT' the best actress could have been nominated for three Academy Awards with her big-three of 'The Zookeepers Wife', 'Miss Sloane' and 'Molly's Game'), but they won't after this and her darker, yet albino alien like turn in the X-Men 'Dark Phoenix' conclusion as a classic villain. And did they forget her raven in Guillermo del Toro's 'Crimson Peak' too? She's a blood red revelation in crimson. As his her month after years second reunion with 'The Disappearence Of Eleanor Rigby' and 'Dark Phoenix' co-star James McAvoy on the form of his career. As the older leader Jaeden Lieberher matching the stutter and giving it even more stammering affection than he did to the speech impediment of one of his 'Split' personalities in this year's 'Glass' crossover sequel breaker. And the great Scot has an amazing American accented performance too. But for all the most famous faces making good on their child stars and their promise, it's 'Barry' T.V. star and 'SNL' legend who can impersonate everyone from Al Pacino to Lindsey Buckingham like 'What's That Name', Bill Hader who steals the show. Being passed the bifocal frames of the most famous young Loser in 'Stranger Things'' Finn Wolfhard, showing fans again what it was like before he went through puberty this Summer again (one Summer really can change everything... especially the depth of your voice). Even if Bill brilliantly refused a gift from Finn of a framed picture of him. He's a card, especially with his opening stand up act which is so spot on we only wish he finished the joke. One of the most funniest people on the planet, Hader is hilarious here whilst also showing a more emotional side we've never seen before in character and actor for a horror film with heart, showing us soul behind the scares.

Not Scary At All. Open the door on this one. As former NFL wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa is still at home in Derry, playing quarterback on this one. The right choice for the older Chosen Jacobs. And with scene setting maturity and duty the 'Old Spice' commercial favourite not named Terry gives you everything you could ask for...although he's not on a horse. New Zealand 'Neighbours', 'Top Of The Lake' and 'Beauty and The Beast' actor Jay Ryan is so good at this he looks exactly like Jeremy Ray Taylor or someone you've seen so many times before on film, even if he's in a different weight class and industry unless you spend your days watching Aussie dramas and soaps. Whilst 'Sinister' actor Jay Ransome acts exactly like his Jack Dylan Grazer character counterpart inhaler in all-just like he's married someone exactly like his mother-he may aswell look exactly like him. Whilst 'Swamp Thing' actor Andy Bean writes more depth to the legacy of young Wyatt Oleff. Old and new. Young and old these Losers are a winning combination across the generations. But the real star of this big too show is the man pulling scares out his sleeves like handkerchiefs. 'Castle Rock' star Bill Skarsgård from the famous family but in one moment looking like a young Hugo Weaving Mr. Anderson is the dancing clown king. The clown in Joker make-up about to show you how he got those scars, Skarsgård is pencil trick perfect. Why so serious? It's not like their going to get Jared Leto to replace him in the next movie before a Phoenix rises again. These clown feet fit for Bill for a clown worse than Krusty. And just wait until you hear that iconic laugh. Keep those arms together like you hold on to your butts, unless you want to end up like Samuel L. Jackson in 'Jurassic Park'. And like Speilberg to Crichton this series of 'IT' honours King's version even more than the miniseries. Staying loyal to the great American novel writers word like Tabitha. Even brutally beginning by including the horrific assault on a gay man that the show left out. But again in these times King was and is showing what the real horrors of this world are all about. And in building bridges with an emotional end that turns it all around in an indelible message of togetherness carved into you like a glass cut palm, burning like January embers, you have to hand it to him and his directing partner Muschietti. And this is what makes 'IT' really something. Something for us all. For The Losers. Losers forever. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'IT', 'Pet Semetary', 'Stranger Things 3'.

REVIEW: SHAFT

3/5

Damn Right.

122 Mins. Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Jessie T. Usher, Regina Hall, Alexandra Shipp, Titus Welliver, Method Man & Richard Roundtree. Director: Tim Story.

Cancel culture would have a field day with Netflix's new 'Shaft' movie. Too bad they are breaking funny bones over Dave Chappelle's off-Broadway 'Sticks and Stones' special for the streaming service. I lost count tallying up hearing the word "p####" more times here than I did as a kid on the playground and to say this dabbles in casual misogyny (and let's leave out the homophobia 'Brothers Helping Brothers'), is to say that Chappelle likes to court controversy...sometimes. There's a moment were Shaft pulls out a piece ready to put slugs in someone when a woman draws a Louisville slugger from out under her desk ready to bop heads. And when his son Shaft junior protests. How does the as the late, great Isaac Hayes calls it on the iconic title theme, remixed here for a recap and logo straight out the seventies, "black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks" respond? "I'm not being misogynistic. You're being misogynistic. I'm an equal opportunities ass whooper". Yep that's how far we have come socially and culturally in this progressive 2019. But we're talking about 'Shaft'. And the man Samuel L. Jackson who redefined him along with using the word "motherf#####" like punctuation and literally being in every other film you ever see. Millennials need to brush off the snowflakes this Autumn on this Summer sleeper and see why Samuel L. Jackson is famous for wearing a leather trenchcoat like Kangol. And we aint talking about Nick Fury (there's even a meta hilarious real life satirical put down to those who keep confusing him with a certain 'Matrix' character). The first time I saw him strolling into Tony Stark's penthouse for the first Marvel post credits scene legend telling Robert Downey Jr's 'Iron Man' about the Avengers Initiative I was like, "who shot Shaft in the eye?" Let's hope it isn't cancelling critics. Because besides, like dancing along to Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan declaring 'War' and what it's dance off good for in 'Rush Hour', to bonding over Keanu Reeves' 'John Wick' killing everyone with a pencil, whilst Mum pops out for a few hours this is another time for this writer and his pop to enjoy a boys night film together before I make a move to the Far East of Tokyo, Japan. Because watching him leave it all at the door and laugh with abandon and glee when I won't get to see this everyday in a matter of weeks is a pure joy. Adding, "that was one of the most silliest and fun films I've seen in ages," for the review of this generation game fitting, father and son story...and we just watched Chapter 3, 'Parabellum'. You can't tell me anything else motherf#####! Shake and stir that! Black James Bond? As Samuel says, "if that motherf##### was real, he'd wish he was me"!

Damn right! Now the only confusion should be in this Netflix movies 'Fast and Furious' DVD ordering like exact same title of the 2000 remake of the Richard Roundtree blaxploitation classic trilogy by the late, great '2 Fast, 2 Furious' director John Singleton almost 20 years later. And this year it's 'Ride Along', 'Fantastic Four' and 'Barbershop' director Tim Story who is a cut above the rest as he stretches to riding shotgun to this flame hot franchise that is the "other" gun to Sam Jackson's big-three of Marvel, 'Star Wars' and Tarantino or Spike Lee series of films. Not to mention the Mr. 'Glass' they call him in one of his biggest years here that also saw him de-age and get his eye back for 'Captain Marvel' as this year's biggest superhero is a sixty something man with a mouth fouler than a chicken farm you mishear as they all go cluck. The biggest year for the Hollywood star if Hollywood stars whose probably had his biggest year or decade for as long as most have been alive. But in this fun flick that's jokes land (according especially to my father) surprisingly as well as the rolling with the punches, blunderbuss of action on the meat and potatoes New York streets, because of his delivery, it looks like the most enjoyment the legendary L. Jackson (that's what the "L" stands for right? If it was Samuel M.F. Jackson, you know what that would mean) has had in years. And although he may go to the Ice Cube school of smiles he always still seems in a playing it all perfectly good mood. And here he settles back into the Shaft jacket almost two decades later like he's been wearing it for the last twenty something M.C.U. movies. Turtlenecks are back like leather with the strap. And you know those shoes-as he strolls across the street to stubbing yellow cabs beeping their horns as he Denzel in 'Training Day' walks on without a look or care-came from the fact that he had enough of those "motherf##### snakes on that motherf###### plane." Hey if Sam's Shaft is going to offend everyone he may aswell offend the vegans too. Especially when he takes his first sip of coconut water. But if you don't think this whiskey drinking cop isn't on the whole straight and narrow health trip kick then just you wait until you see his Pilates instructor. Now he's still the man who would risk his neck for that. Can you dig it?

Busta Rhymes, Batman (Christian Bale of all Caped Crusaders too) and Jeffrey Wright's cult legendary Peoples (*pauses as the expelled turd plops in the toilet water*) Hernandez were all in the last 'Shaft'. But here there's no Mekhi Phifer. There is however an Usher for your 8701. Yeah! A Jessie T. Usher. And the young 'Starz' player really is a star. If he was good enough to play Will Smith's son in the 'Independence Day' sequel (yeah...that one really did go quietly into the night didn't it?), then he's good enough for a Samuel L. Jackson 'Shaft' resurgence playing his junior. Here taking on stereotype and toxic masculinity and hitting his top marks in action and buddy cop comedy acting. He cracks a crack cast that includes 'The Hate U Give' and 'Scary Movie' actress Regina Hall who would be queen like King and 'Bosch' cop character actor vet Titius Welliver who has also been a Marvel lore part of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, Avenger, 'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' initiative if you ever saw the 'Avengers Station' in New York's Discovery Times Square. The storm of new generation 'X-Men' and 'Love Simon' star of the future and right now Alexandra Shipp-who was so good as Aaliyah-keeps it Marvel in house too like the M.C.U. wish they only could Tom Holland. And you know you can't f### with M.E...T.H.O.D. maaaaan when it comes to the Wu Tang Clan rap God acting. From films like '187' with Jackson (maybe his underrated best), to most recently and notably the launderettes of 'Paterson' rapping and trading rhymes with the opposite to Mace Windu, Kylo-Ren himself in Adam Driver's poetic movie. But the realness to 'Shaft' comes with the original as Richard Roundtree is back like 'Shaft's Big Score' as we visit his home that looks like the halfway house between an MTV Crib and Mahershala Ali's from 'Green Book'. Complete with elephant 'Shaft In Africa' Easter Eggs for the comic like cult following of this original superhero to those whose memories are Hayes and not a purple haze. Still in a moment and big three, generation to generation finale that the trailer should have just teased and not spoiled for bringing out the big guns, 'Shaft' shows it's all about a Diesel like family affair and legacy...even if this move could do the right thing and look after there's and in entertainment turn ours a little better. Still who else but Samuel L. Jackson to be seventy and still having this much fun like it was the seventies? Pistol whipping men half his age into shape, making sons out of us all? Now that's one bad...you know the rest. And to those critics who say 'Shaft' is a bad motherf###### film...SHUT YOUR MOUTH! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Shaft (2000)', 'Rush Hour', 'Bad Boys For Life'.