Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Episode 1.1 “Horizons”
Created by Max Landis
Written by Max Landis
Directed by Dean Parisot
Starring Samuel Barnett, Elijah Wood, Hannah Marks, Fiona Dourif, Jade Eshete, Mpho Koaho, Dustin Milligan, Miguel Sandoval, Neil Brown, Jr., Richard Schiff
BBC America
Air date: Saturday, October 22, 2016

If you watched the series premiere of BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and you’re highly confused about what went on, you’re not alone. A lot of characters and scenarios were introduced during the first episode, titled “Horizons,” which brings writer Douglas Adams‘ title creation to American television audiences. Max Landis (Chronicle) created the television series and wrote all 8 episodes of this first season, which stars Samuel Barnett as Dirk Gently, a holistic detective who believes in the “fundamental interconnectedness of all things,” and Elijah Wood as his highly reluctant new sidekick Todd.

Here, Landis is not giving an adaptation of Adams’ Dirk Gently novels, but instead expands upon the universe created with Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul, the former of which was birthed from two Doctor Who serials the author penned, hence why Dirk is very Doctor-like. The new TV series takes Dirk Gently from his native Britain and transplants him to America’s rainy equivalent, Seattle, Washington. (The series was actually shot nearby at our neighbors to the north, Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.)

Straight Outta Compton
Director: F. Gary Gray
Screenwriters: Johnathan Herman, Andrea Berloffk
Cast: Corey Hawkins, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jason Mitchell, Paul Giamatti, Neil Brown Jr., Aldis Hodge
Universal Pictures
Rated R | 147 Minutes
Release Date: August 14, 2015

On the surface, many biopics based on a music artist or group will probably follow the same old Behind the Music narrative of the successes, hardships, and downfalls of said career. Of course, the subject of those episodic documentaries have had some sort of significance, but few have had as much of an impact both in the music industry and culturally as NWA.

In F. Gary Gray‘s Straight Outta Compton, we see a dramatized version of the rise and fall of the rap group whose significance resonates even 30-plus years after their first studio album of the same name. It was because of NWA’s groundbreaking music that the world learned about Compton, CA, and South Central Los Angeles. But the film also covers what went on when the music stopped, revealing that meteoric success can’t stop an inevitable disbanding.