So what’s the greater point in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus? There does seem to be one lurking indecipherably within the subtext. The Imaginarium delivers some poignant propositions but appears to lack a binding thread – unless one falls back on the grandiose ‘it’s an exploration of human nature’ theme, which is sufficiently vague to suit the film’s irrational tone and is yet supported by the evidence of an occasionally coherent observation or statement that manages to force its head through the Gilliam’s veil of insanity. Read more on Rant!…

Salvador Dali said “I have Dalinian thought: the one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous”: a philosophy perfectly understood and applied by film director Tarsem Singh, whose cinematography encompasses the terrifyingly impressionable hyper-realism of surrealist art. Read more on Rant!…

Formulating a discussion of Carnivàle seems to contradict the nature of the show – it is an attempt to create some kind of cohesion from something that is not cohesive. Carnivàle is a cinematic Dali construction – obtuse and yet so very poignant. The show is set in the American Dust Bowl (prairie lands that were savaged by severe dust storms in the 1930s) during the Great Depression. It presents an austere look at the lives of a group of ‘carnies’ that travel from town to town performing. Carnivàle decapitates the grandiosity of the American Dream – a concept particularly rife in the 1920s. Read more Rant!…

The mind of a serial killer is a fascinating thing. And the mind of Dexter Morgan is like a delicious trifle that I feel compelled, by the rumblings of a hungry gut, to dig in to, dissect and explore in the hope of finding hidden treasures. Jeff Lindsay’s character has spawned a cult following of readers and viewers. The TV adaptation of Lindsay’s series stars the brilliant Michael C Hall as the killer we love to love. Read more on Rant!…

As implied by the term itself, Antihero refers to an individual who possesses the qualities opposite to the traditional traits of a hero. Rather than nobility and bravery, an Antihero displays “lack of courage, honesty, or grace, his weaknesses and confusion, often reflect modern man’s ambivalence toward traditional moral and social virtues”. And therein lays the attraction. Why do we champion the underdog? Because he is a more accurate representation of humanity. Who can live up to the Herculean notion of a hero? Read more on Rant!…

I am downing Season 3 of The Wire at a rapid rate and thought it best to share the love before the show gets the best of me. Anyone remember a masterful prison drama series called Oz that aired a couple of years back? The Wire runs in a similar vein. Both shows boast a gritty realism that is downright offensive but not the least bit gratuitous – the violence, sex and language are in tune with the brutal reality of a society motivated by the fight for survival in a ‘kill or be killed’ environment. It is not a surprise that the shows share many of the same cast and crew. Read more on Rant!…