Advantages: Committed performances and a couple of hours of enjoyable brain candy. Disadvantages: Toothless satire and a lack of detail.
Charlie Wilson is a womanising, alcoholic, coke-snorting congressman from Texas. But behind the decadent exterior lies an astute political mind, which he puts to helping the people of Afghanistan in the early 1980s when they have just been brutally invaded by the Soviet Union. With the help of angry and shambolic CIA agent Gust Avrakotos and socialite Joanne Herring, he sets about making unlikely alliances with Pakistan, Israel, Egypt, arms dealers and law makers. Their success is unparalleled and funding for covert operations against the Soviets rockets from five million to a billion dollars a year.
"The Graduate" director Mike Nichols continues the trend for Middle Eastern conflict movies with his latest offering. It's a shiny political romp that has a top-drawer cast and a big budget, which is used to tell of how one man made ...
Advantages: Good characters and interesting themes Disadvantages: Ragged and sudden ending
and wait. But when news does come it is not good and Rosa decides to follow in the footsteps of her fiancé and cousin.
From the moment I started reading I was hooked. Not only is Katharine McMahon a talented storyteller but she has chosen a great technique to keep you reading when you might ordinarily have a break. The chapters move alternately between Rosa and Mariella's childhood and the present day - that is the 1850s - and each chapter ends in a tantalising way that really urges you to read on.
I haven't read McMahons other bestseller "The Alchemist's Daughter" so I can't comment on her writing style generally, but certainly in the case of "The Rose of Sebastopol" it's very reminiscent of Jane Austen with its gently satirical humour and commentary on modern manners. It also has a touch of Mrs Gaskell about it with the recurring ...
Advantages: Superb analytical and satirical programming Disadvantages: Make more of them!
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the mind of Charlie Brooker, and welcome to his spin-off of his successful cult critique show "Screenwipe"; "Newswipe" - but instead solely focusing on the world of news and current affairs. Something the show's predecessor skimmed over but never tore into as deliciously as this.
First aired in March this year on BBC Four, it's a fresh new programme that has been pleasantly received. Its six episodes have reached five so far (at the time of the original review), each one as superb as the last. It's main aim is to expose, satirise and emphasise the impact that rolling news channels have on our lives. From the obvious role of informing us of major news stories, to the apparent recruiting megalomaniacs that flounder on American news networks.
Episode one took the ongoing saga that is the global ...
