Timothy Olyphant

Series Review: Lucky; Anya Taylor-Joy makes Apple TV’s slick crime thriller worth the gamble

Crime thrillers live and die by two things: whether their central mystery keeps you guessing, and whether you care enough about the people at the centre of it to stay along for the ride. Thankfully, Lucky has Anya Taylor-Joy. Apple TV+’s seven-episode limited series wastes little time throwing audiences into the deep end. Luciana “Lucky”…

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Interview: Annette Bening and Timothy Olyphant on the power of contradiction and the psychology of family in Lucky

There are plenty of television series about criminals. Far fewer are interested in the contradictions that make them human. On paper, Lucky has all the ingredients of a high-stakes thriller. Based on Marissa Stapley’s bestselling novel, the Apple TV+ series follows Lucky (Anya Taylor-Joy), a gifted con artist forced back into the criminal world she…

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Interview: Lucky creators Cassie Pappas and Jonathan Tropper on the emotional inheritance at the heart of their Apple TV series

On the surface, Lucky is a high-stakes thriller about a woman running from both the law and the criminal world she thought she’d left behind. Beneath the twists, cons and near-constant danger, however, lies a far more universal story about inheritance – not of money or possessions, but of perspective. Adapted from Marissa Stapley’s bestselling…

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Interview: Casting director Jill Anthony Thomas on assembling Apple TV+ series Loot; “My favourite thing is finding and fostering new talent”

As casting director Jill Anthony Thomas states herself, those involved in the casting process are “the unsung heroes of the industry”.  Actors aren’t always handed a role.  And two performers on paper doesn’t equate to them working well in person.  So, thank the movie and television Gods that we have people like Jill to steer…

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The Starling squanders any of its emotional potential with lazy manipulation: TIFF 2021 Review

There’s a hopeful message about tackling grief in a healthy manner and how there’s the possibility of light at the end of darkness present in the core of The Starling.  With so many promising ingredients too, Theodore Melfi‘s feel-good dramedy is likely to lure audiences in with a false sense of security, promising potential but…

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The Mandalorian Season 2 opener “The Marshal” leans into western themes and fan service

. Fans of The Mandalorian need wait no longer, the highly anticipated first episode of Season 2 is now available on Disney Plus. The return of the show comes amid a turbulent year for big studios and will be a welcome addition to Disney’s arsenal since they have had to shuffle some of their releases…

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TV Review: Santa Clarita Diet’s second helping is a funny treat of blood, bone and heart

The Undead, Serbian vile, Nazi Lobsters and an ancient taskforce against the supernatural are all stories we hear about on a day to day basis, (are they not?) but when watching Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet‘s second season, they make so much more sense than that entire paragraph I just wrote. Check out the trailer! We…

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TV Review: Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet Season One (USA, 2017)

Now’s your chance to sit back, grab some food and drink, and start the diet. The Santa Clarita Diet! Just over a year ago I would have told you it was silly to even fathom a show’s entire season coming out in one day. It made no sense to me back then, how could they…

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Five reasons you should be excited for Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet

So, you’re looking anxiously through your Netflix list to find the next binge worthy show to eat up. You’ve already had a massive meal with some great sci-fi (Sense 8), comedy (Brooklyn Nine Nine), drama (The Queen) and of course Stranger Things. But now you want something fresh, a little bit of all of the…

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