Reviews

We returned to the Star Wars galaxy last month with Episode VIII of the saga, **The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson – and it’s been a bit of a bumpy ride. After **The Force Awakens was received as perfectly acceptable but not exactly groundbreaking, there was a lot of responsibility on Johnson’s shoulders with how to carry on this much beloved series in a way that would (hopefully) give us something new, as well as ticking all the necessary boxes. ...

**The Sinner, produced by and starringJessica Biel, and based on the novel by Petra Hammesfhar, is the sensational new Netflix Original mini-series that audiences are loving. With news of the opening episode’s shocking murder scene going viral, the success of the show has surpassed the expectations of those behind it. Starring Jessica Biel as Cora Tannetti, The Sinner follows her on what seems like any other day with her family. Spending some time at the beach, a group of young couples catch Cora’s eye, and suddenly, without explanation, she kills one of them in a seemingly random fit of rage. In charge of Cora’s case is Detective Ambrose (Bill Pullman), who invests all of his energy into proving there is an explanation for Cora’s gruesome act of murder. Cora’s husband Mason (Christopher Abbott), despite distraught with his wife, also won’t stop until he figures out the reason behind what she’s done. ...

When **Stranger Things hit Netflix just over a year ago, even the Duffer brothers that created it could not have predicted the cultural phenomenon it would become. Internet memes, the faces of the child stars on the covers of magazines, clothing ranges, Halloween costumes and a huge resurgence in love for Winona Ryder – just some of the ripple effects from this charming piece of 80s sci-fi horror nostalgia. Not surprising, then, that it was granted a second season, and the hype amongst audiences around our return to Hawkins made it one of the biggest TV moments of the year. ...

Easily one of the most controversial films of the past year, **Raw has become an instant classic of modern European cinema. With heavy emphasis on supposed fainting audience members in the marketing campaign, Raw was always going to gain vast exposure, whether people ended up finding it too disturbing or disappointing. The good news? We certainly weren’t disappointed. Directed by Julia Ducournau, Raw follows Justine, a teenager raised in a family of vegetarians who is starting her first year at veterinary college, which her sister also attends and her parents in the past. During her first night, she is roped into a brutal hazing ritual involving all-nighters, debauchery and being forced to eat raw meat, and with a desperate need to fit in and follow in her family’s footsteps, she obliges. Upon eating the raw flesh, she soon finds she has developed an uncontrollable craving for it. ...

**Mindhunter is one of Netflix’s most recent original productions and has been the latest sensation to tap into audiences’ obsessions with serial killers. Produced by David Fincher and Charlize Theron, and based on the true crime book *Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit *by John E Douglas and Mark Olshaker, Mindhunter is dark exploration into the minds of real life killers. The series is set in 1977, at a time when criminal psychology was in its infancy – there was no attempt to understand the behaviours of serial killers up until now, with most instead being institutionalised. ...

**Cabin In The Woods, directed by Drew Goddard and with Joss Whedon on board as producer, is a rip roaring meta-horror of a movie released back in 2012. Starring Kristen Connolly and Chris Hemsworth as part of a group of youths heading for what we assume is certain death during a trip to a cabin in the woods (because isn’t that how these things usually go?), this film has all the elements that you’d expect from classic horror, but an unexpected undertone which cleverly turns the genre completely on its head. ...

**Blade Runner 2049 is the long awaited, and largely unexpected, sequel to the cult sci-fi classic released in 1982. Surrounded by mystery, intrigue (and often concern), this film has surpassed all expectations, and has been branded a masterpiece in its own right. Denis Villeneuve is the director behind the film, and has proved his worth in his previous work (Sicario, Arrival) – but has now placed himself up there with the greats with his visionary take on the *Blade Runner*world. ...

**Green Room, directed by Jeremy Saulnier, is the story of a punk band on the road. Broke and looking for a gig to keep them going after someone lets them down, they’re recommended to play a show in a dodgy part of town that becomes more sinister than they could ever have expected. Getting caught up in violence and terror, they have to fight their way out of a neo-Nazi nightmare. ...

**Iron Fist is the latest venture into the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Netflix, following the last member of the upcoming **The Defenders – a team of heroes from New York including Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. Unlike its predecessors, Iron Fist has caused quite the controversy, and also been quite underwhelming. To start with, its controversy – the story follows Danny Rand, a billionaire heir from New York who survives a plane crash, gets taken in by monks in the Himalayas who train him in martial arts, and he eventually becomes their saviour, the sacred Iron Fist. Netflix and Marvel were accused of whitewashing, casting a white man to become the saviour of a culture who invented and practice martial arts. ...

**Legion was one of the first big shows of 2017, expanding theX-Menuniverse in a way that hasn’t been done before. Stylistically one of the better television shows of recent years, how has it matched up to the ever-changing and ever-growing superhero game? Starring Dan Stevens as David, a troubled young man who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic, we follow his journey as he soon learns that the strange things that have been happening throughout his life are not due to his mental condition, but because he is a mutant. Whilst an inpatient at a mental health facility, he has an encounter with Syd, a young woman who hates to be touched. After a horrific event at the facility, David finds himself taken in by a mysterious group of people who question him over strange events and findings, until Syd and others rescue him and take him to a secluded compound with various people with mutant abilities. Here David is helped to forget his diagnosis of mental health issues and trained to use his abilities to save the world. ...