James Harvey

2 weeks ago | filmstories.co.uk | James Harvey

An eccentric loner tells tales about 90s videogame journalism in a grungy procedural LSD trip. Here’s our Black Mirror: Plaything review. The fourth episode of Black Mirror’s seventh season, Plaything, starts with a spot of thievery. Peter Capaldi’s Cameron – sporting stringy, elbow-length hair immediately marking him out as a wrong ‘un – tries to steal a bottle of wine from an off-license. Tsk tsk. Thankfully for the forces of law and order, he’s not very good at it.

2 weeks ago | filmstories.co.uk | James Harvey

Cristin Milioti and crew galivant around a brave new online world in an uproarious end to Black Mirror season 7. Here’s our USS Callister: Into Infinity review. A John Williams-esque score swells as the camera tilts down onto a mono-climate planet. Two masked gang members, fresh from the bridge of their sleek chrome starship, threaten a group of teen ruffians sat around a campfire.

2 weeks ago | filmstories.co.uk | James Harvey

Paul Giamatti looks back on life filled with regret in a thoughtful inspection of love and memory. Here’s our Black Mirror: Eulogy review. In the world of Black Mirror, when a “kit” arrives at your front door via drone, it’s rarely a good sign. In Philip (Paul Giamatti)’s case, it might be just what he needs. The package comes from an organisation called Eulogy, a funeral company which transforms memories of the deceased into “immersive experiences”.

2 weeks ago | filmstories.co.uk | James Harvey

A high-flying development executive takes against the new employee in a solidly silly thriller. Here’s our Black Mirror: Bête Noire review. Maria (Siena Kelly) is good at her job, and not very nice. Office wunderkind at a trendy-looking chocolate company, her idea to combine Miso jam with a dark chocolate coating is taking the focus groups by storm. The first bite tastes as bizarre as it sounds – on second inspection, apparently, it starts to grow on you.

2 weeks ago | filmstories.co.uk | James Harvey

Brandy (Issa Rae) enters the remake of a Hollywood classic in one of the weakest episodes in the anthology series’ canon. Here’s our Black Mirror: Hotel Reverie review. It’s probably a cliché to say Black Mirror’s weakest episodes are those with the largest budgets. It’s also can’t be entirely true – USS Callister (who’s sequel, Into Infinity, we’ll see at the tail-end of this season) is well-liked even if it lacks some of the satire’s sharper edges.