3 of the best: PODCASTS
THE DARK IS RISING BBC/Complicité (12 episodes released daily from Tue 20 Dec)
A BBC audio drama adapting Susan Coop- er’s 1973 book, The Dark Is Rising is a chilling alternative Christmas story that follows an 11-year-old boy’s discovery of his true Lovecraftian identity one De- cember. Original music comes courtesy of Johnny Flynn, and episodes are broadcast in the ‘real time’ they happen in the story.
Review
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Follwing its premiere at the London Film Festival in October and a one-week theatrical release in November, Rian Johnson’s sharply awaited Knives Out sequel is fated to become Netflix’s top holiday movie when it arrives on the streamer just before Christmas. The second in what looks to be an anthology for Daniel Craig’s gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc, Glass Onion drops the character among a new cast of over-privileged potential murderers in a scathingly satirical take-down of the wealthy elite. The most elite of all is tech billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), who invites a group of old pals to a murder mystery party on his private island. The murder? His own! Unfortunately, the world’s greatest detective also arrives to play…
(10 x 10-15 min episodes)
CASE 63 Gimlet Media
Another immersive audio experience with top-drawer talent - this time from across the pond – Case 63 has Julianne Moore’s Dr. Eliza Knight, a New York psychiatrist, analysing a patient known only by their case number and played by Oscar Isaac, who’s insistent that he’s a time traveller from 2063. Super strange and super binge- able.
Investigators turned suspects include leisure-wear airhead Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), her weary assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick), Twitch meninist Duke Cody (Dave Bautista), his fame-hungry girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), workaholic politician Clare Debella (Kathryn Hahn), morally-compromised scientist Lionel Toussant (Leslie Odum Jr.), and Miles’ slighted ex-partner, the icy Cassandra Brand (Janelle Monáe). Superficially, they’re people whose closets are rattling with skeletons, but the punchy dialogue and spirited performances allow you to laugh with and at them – Hudson probably taking the lion’s share, with Monáe an absolute scene-stealer. Jenny Egan’s whimsical costuming also deserves high praise, while the design of Miles’ holiday home’s, the Glass Onion itself, is a kitschy distillation of the fact that no amount of money in the world can buy good taste.
Among all the fun – and Glass Onion is nothing but consistently laugh-out-loud fun – there’s enough room for Johnson to dig the knife in and carve some of the stuffing out of society’s most privileged. This was a core theme in the last film but here, the climax is particularly gratifying; the twist, cleverly deconstructive of misplaced victimisation. And at the centre of it all, another working- class woman of colour.
Dir. Rian Johnson (139 mins, 12A) Streaming on Netflix from Fri 23 Dec.
HANNAH COLLINS
Gimlet Media/Monkeypaw Productions (12 x 20-25 min episodes)
QUIET PART LOUD
Co-produced by Jordan Peele, this horror satire about the terrors of right-wing ra- dio hosts stars Tracy Letts as Rick Egan, who, post-9/11, becomes ostracised for his Islamophobia. A decade later on the comeback trail, he’s preyed upon by his bile-spewing rhetoric incarnate, a parasitic creature known as The Blank.
Think of this playlist as Christmas’s cool cousin: indiefied classics by the likes of Arlo Parks and Fleet Foxes. Now you can listen to all the cheesy hits (that you love, really) without pretending it’s ironic.
A VERY INDIE CHRISTMAS Apple Music
Avaliable wherever you listen to podcasts; The Dark Is Rising will be available on BBC World Service.
HANNAH COLLINS 41
Top Tracks: Future Islands, Last Christmas, Phoebe Bridgers, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Wolf Alice, In The Bleak Midwinter.
ELIZABETH MORRIS
3 of the best: PLAYLISTS
With just the right balance of whimsical yearnings to skate away on a frozen river and jaunty jigs about Christmas trees going up in flames, this mix has all your folky needs – without any seasonal cheese.
FOLK CHRISTMAS Amazon Music
Top Tracks: Joni Mitchell, River, Johnny Cash & The Carter Family, Christmas Time’s A-Comin’, John Denver, Aspenglow.
If you’re looking for something a bit different this festive period, then you’re probably in the right place. Jump in if Korn singing Jingle Balls and Twisted Sister wishing you a Merry Christmas is something you can get behind. I guess metal is shiny… that’s festive right?
METAL CHRISTMAS Spotify
Top Tracks: Dokken, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Twisted Sister, Heavy Metal Christmas, AC/DC, Mistress For Christmas.
Festive Special
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