And, as with any media in the omnibus format, some episodes clearly work better than others. The irony is that Chiller begins to find its footing as the hours click by, yet it’s all over and done with after five. The two-disc set contains the entire quintet of the supernatural stories. The first, “Prophecy,” […]
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Posted inArts & Culture
Above Suspicion: Set 1
Emetophobes may wish to shield their eyes in the opening scenes of the pilot, as rookie Detective Constable Anna Travis (the magnetic Kelly Reilly, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) has trouble getting used to the job’s sights and smells when it comes to corpses. She eventually proves useful elsewhere, when her superior, the brusque […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Casting the Runes
Those working on a TV special on the history of witchcraft have peculiar run-ins with a mysterious, reclusive alchemist known as Karswell (Iain Cuthbertson, Gorillas in the Mist), a man who openly espouses lust, deviance and all-around evil. When one character recalls a co-worker’s fatal brush with Karswell (depicted in the prologue) and says that […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Whitechapel: The Ripper Returns
That’s a tough case to crack, especially when Chandler’s fellow squad members — who heavily resent his promotion in the first place — don’t buy in to his theory. But this BBC tale being titled “Whitechapel,” after all, we know that Chandler is correct. And that revelation — strengthened with the discovery of each subsequent […]
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Downtown Abbey
“Downtown Abbey” begins with a telegraph. It’s April of 1912, and as the family and staff of the palatial mansion called Downton Abbey wake up and start their day, the news travels fast: The Titanic has sunk, and the master of the home, Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, is suddenly without an heir. Because […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Downtown Abbey
“Downtown Abbey” begins with a telegraph. It’s April of 1912, and as the family and staff of the palatial mansion called Downton Abbey wake up and start their day, the news travels fast: The Titanic has sunk, and the master of the home, Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, is suddenly without an heir. Because […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Trip
Condensed from the recent, six-episode BBC series of the same name, the improv comedy casts Steve Coogan (“The Other Guys”) and Rob Brydon (“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”) as themselves, more or less. Steve’s tasked with taking a road trip to write about some fine dining spots along the English countryside, and because he’s […]
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The Trip
Like the food its stars sample, “The Trip” isn’t for everyone’s tastes. Those who appreciate a subtle brand of humor that’s all about the details — in other words, British — should try it, when it screens Friday and Saturday at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, as part of the four-day, three-flick Foodie Film FEASTival. […]
Posted inMusic
Laura Marling – A Creature I Don’t Know
So much of the 21-year-old’s third LP, “A Creature I Don’t Know,” comes in styles more nuanced and technically difficult to perform than pure, simple folk, while it simultaneously avoids lazily dipping into other stylistic offshoots for guidance or song structure. Stories are told here in country, British folk, American folk and plenty of other […]
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The Feathered Serpent: Complete Series
Something about their video-shot look felt alien; I even found that damned Thames logo animation unnerving. This may explain my lifelong allergy to Benny Hill. But there’s no explaining “The Feathered Serpent,” a 1976 series that was over and done with in a dozen half hours. Whether you saw it then or are experiencing it […]