The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Sebastian, Four Mothers, Restless, and The Most Precious of Cargoes
Latest editorial
Netflix new ‘asteroid to hit Earth’ offering misses the point
PETE STEVENSON compares Don’t Look Up, the most recent offering by the network, to Armageddon classics and finds it wanting on several counts
group
JOHN GREEN explores the argument that psychiatry needs to move away from the idea of just seeing and treating the individual
SYLVIA HIKINS applauds a polemic against “cleanfluencers” and considers radical alternatives to current inequalities of housework
RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
DON’T LOOK UP directed by Adam McKay is a disappointing science fiction film with a powerful message, presented as an analogy of the dangers of climate change.
An asteroid is heading for Earth that, on contact, will kill us all. Two scientists played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence struggle to convince the US president (a female version of Donald Trump) to act — well trodden Hollywood territory (Deep Impact, Armageddon, etc).
The urgency of the situation is initially ignored and the scientists are treated with contempt. Eventually the president agrees to take action because she sees it as electorally advantageous, and Nasa launches a rocket to zap it in space before it arrives.
More from this author
As part of the recently re-formed Exeter Stop the War Coalition, PETE STEVENSON explains how talented artist Becca Edwards engaged young people in a collaborative painting for Palestine
PETE STEVENSON tells a positive story of a community who fought back after a homophobic and misogynist hate crime in the harbour town of Watchet
PETE STEVENSON is concerned that children have an extraordinary capacity to innovate, but they are encouraged by teachers and parents to grow out of creativity, to leave it behind to the detriment of society as a whole