TV, music, and film critic for The Age/SMH and The Monthly. Creator of BINGE-R, which you should subscribe to right now. 📺📽️ Yes, it's on my list to watch.
Melbourne, Victoria
Joined July 2016
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In its fourth season SUCCESSION is only getting funnier, more concisely cutting, and bitterly tragic. My Age/SMH review - from the first four episodes - of what shapes as a definitive final season of television's best show.
smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-ra…
Disney+'s ANDOR - one of the best new shows of the year - is the subject of my final Age/SMH TV critic's column. After 11 years of fortnightly verdicts I'm moving across to the weekly streaming reviews page.
smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-ra…
ANDOR tops my streaming wrap for @THEMONTHLY: the first essential STAR WARS series. #Andor
themonthly.com.au/blog/craig…
"Went for the neck, bitch!"
The second season of INDUSTRY is something else. My Age/SMH TV column on how the HBO series found compelling new depths.
theage.com.au/culture/tv-and…
Impressed by so much of Disney+'s ANDOR, which debuts Wednesday. Creator Tony Gilroy puts a fresh perspective on the STAR WARS universe: insurgency grit, British light and faces, zero Jedi, genuine tension, Fiona Shaw being Fiona Shaw. Such a welcome change.
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON is many things, including George R.R. Martin asserting himself and a Matt Smith blitz, but the episodes to date haven't been cohesive, entertaining, or even necessary. My Age/SMH TV column:
smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-ra…
No dragons, no elves, but just quietly RESERVATION DOGS is now one of the best shows on television - my latest Age/SMH column:
smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-ra…
THE BEAR is finally here. The taut, fulfilling Chicago kitchen drama drops today on Disney+ and it's one of my three best new shows so far of 2022. My review of this must-see series from the new issue of @THEMONTHLY:
themonthly.com.au/issue/2022…
Update on Ethan Hawke's THE LAST MOVIE STARS: Binge have confirmed to me that they're streaming the HBO docuseries about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in Australia. Will debut in September, with an exact date due next week.
Ten's reality fugitive show HUNTED is incredibly silly, but I am grateful to it for allowing me to use the descriptive phrase "Jason Statham's uncle and day-rate Charlize Theron" in my new Age/SMH piece.
smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-ra…
I am amazed, amused, and sometime appalled by Nathan Fielder's THE REHEARSAL. But the HBO docu-comedy is clearly one of the year's crucial new shows, and the lead for my streaming wrap in @THEMONTHLY.
themonthly.com.au/blog/craig…
Amazing flex by Michael Mann in this first-rate New York Times profile, having Daniel Day-Lewis and Christopher Nolan as the associates quoted offering praise. God-tier level celebrity profile move.
nytimes.com/2022/07/20/magaz…
I 100% support every weird, glorious tangent that Olivier Assayas has in his reimagined IRMA VEP. His limited TV series is a paean to filmmaking with meta-commentary, a sublime Alicia Vikander, and Parisian production chaos. My review from the @THEMONTHLY:
themonthly.com.au/issue/2022…
Jeff Bridges still calls television "the tube", but here he is starring in the compelling spy series THE OLD MAN (Disney+, debuts Wednesday). For the SMH/Age I talked to the Hollywood legend about mortality, what endures, and shooting fight sequences.
smh.com.au/culture/tv-and-ra…
Normally I'm pitching grim German dramas or dystopian comedies, but tonight's episode of BACK ROADS (ABC, 8pm) is a tonic. The NSW town of Leeton has 7,000 people and 30 nationalities - the community welcomes refugees and is thriving. A welcome vision of what Australia can be
A wondrous event: all six seasons of THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW are now streaming on Binge. Garry Shandling's 1990s meta-sitcom about a neurotic talk show host is one of the great TV comedies. Rip Torn is magnificent as Larry's producer, Artie, and numerous Hollywood stars cameo.
Update on THE BEAR for everyone hanging to see it: it's an FX series, so will air on Disney+ in Australia. Have checked and they are going to schedule it, but it's not on their July list at this point.
Wrote about the juicy Amazon social media thriller CHLOE for my @THEMONTHLY streaming wrap, plus the punk rock disaster that is PISTOL, the warm charm of Maya Rudolph's LOOT, and more.
themonthly.com.au/blog/craig…
