GANGS OF LONDON
Stan
FROM the opening moments of Gangs Of London you're left in little doubt that this is a gritty and violent dive into the English underworld.
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A badly beaten man is dangling by a rope around his leg from a tall building. When his pleas of innocence fall on deaf ears he's doused in petrol and burnt alive while hanging from the rope. It's a shocking opening scene from a series that demands your attention.
When London's leading crime boss, Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney), is assassinated it creates a power vacuum among the city's multiple multicultural organised crime gangs.
Wallace's hot-headed son Sean (Joe Cole) inherits his father's organisation and attempts to suppress the uprising by seeking retribution against those he perceives to be involved in Finn's murder.
Sean also shuts down the Wallace family's various businesses, which only further ostracizes him in the growing gang war.
Gangs Of London looks and feels like your typical mafia-style show until late in episode one when a gratuitously violent pub brawl introduces elements of martial arts to the action. If you enjoy fights with pint glasses and darts and a touch of kung fu, this is your thing.
Away from the action there's plenty of intriguing characters and subplots to make Gangs Of London worth a look.
LOVE AND ANARCHY
Netflix
MANY people enjoy office flirting in their working lives, but raunchy Swedish comedy Love and Anarchy explores what happens when the games go too far.
Married mother Sofie is an ambitious consultant hired by a publishing house to help them transition into the digital age. She also enjoys masturbating and watching porn on her phone.
After Sofie is photographed masturbating late at night in the office by the young IT technician Max, she is blackmailed into having lunch with him. It begins a dangerous and flirtatious game between Sofie and Max as they keep challenging each other to cause chaos within their workplace.
If you can get past the English dubbing, Love and Anarchy is an original and riotous ride.
BOMBSHELL
Binge & Amazon Prime
ANYONE interested in a fair and balanced media would likely be disgusted by what the likes of America's Fox News, and our own Sky News "after dark", dish up as journalism. However, Bombshell portrays a world behind the cameras which is even grubbier.
Bombshell is a very American story, weaving real-life news reports into the story of the downfall of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) in 2016 due to sexual harassment claims from high-profile TV journalists Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) and Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman).
Bombshell wasn't a commercial hit at the cinemas last year but it attracted critical acclaim and earned Theron and Margot Robbie Oscar nominations for best actress and best supporting actress. Lithgow is also superb as the obnoxious Ailes.
However, the corny portrayals of Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch does stifle the film's message somewhat and the nuances of American politics and media could be lost on Australian audiences.