Monthly Archives: January 2019

Movie Review – IO

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TL;DR – This is a film that has the appearance of wanting to say something profound, but never actually gets around to saying much of anything.    

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

IO. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

In some respects, Netflix has been the saviour of the small concept science fiction film in recent years as cinemas abandon anything but the next tent pole franchise blockbuster. However, for all the wonders of Annihilation (see review) and films like that, there has been a slew of mediocre dull affairs. Today we look at a film that at first look feels like it should be the first, but unfortunately, it ended up being the latter.

So to set the scene, there were many attempts to forestall the coming abyss including making a satellite to harvest geothermal energy from other planets. However, it was all in vain because before they could intact their plan, the atmosphere on Earth turned bad becoming toxic at most lower altitudes. Most people that could leave the Earth did so in a great exodus for the space station IO around Jupiter’s moon Io. There are few people left on the planet but Sam Walden (Margaret Qualley) is one of them, trying to find a way to fix the planet rather than flee it. Well, on IO they have finally stored enough energy to send people off on interstellar colonisation missions, so they are stopping the evacuations of Earth. Sam has one choice, give up her father’s research and get on the last ship out of a dying planet, or be left behind.

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TV Review – Carmen Sandiego: Season One

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TL;DR – This is everything a Carmen Sandiego series needed to be, fun, informative, full of beautiful animation, and a cast giving their all.  

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Carmen Sandiego: Season One. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

I grew up in the age before the internet, yes there was a time even before the internet yelled at you when you wanted to log on. It was an era when you would get games on floppy disks, both big and small, and it was here where I first met the elusive Carmen Sandiego. She was the final boss in an epic quest that took you from the streets of Reykjavik to Sydney and everywhere in-between as you hunted down VILE and recovered the stolen artefacts. When you have one of the touchstones of your first forays into the world of media getting another reboot, you tend to go in cautiously. However, I needn’t of worried because this was a joy from start to finish.    

So to set the scene, we open as Interpol agents Chase Devineaux (Rafael Petardi) and Julia Argent (Charlet Chung) run down the list of places Carmen (Gina Rodriguez) has recently hit, Art Galleries, Banks, … an amusement park …? The only clue she leaves is her presence in all red, announcing to the world who just robbed you. Well tonight she is in Poitiers, France, and the agents will stop at nothing to bring her in, but see Carmen is a master at what she does, and she has a little help thanks to Player (Finn Wolfhard). After a quick escape, Carmen makes it to the train only to be intercepted by Crackle (Michael Goldsmith) someone from her past. Well, since they have a lot of time on their hands before they reach Paris, Carmen relates to him the important story about how she became the world’s greatest thief. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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TV Review – The Good Place: Chidi Sees the Time-Knife

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TL;DR – With Time-Knife we get the big major push for the rest of the season and it is an interesting one indeed.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

he Good Place: Chidi Sees the Time-Knife. Image Credit: NBC.

Review –

For the back half of The Good Place’s third season, we have jumped from Australia and have started ricocheting around the afterlife. Well in today’s episode we get to visit the last name dropped location in the series so far The Interdimensional Hole of Pancakes.

So to set the scene, during last week’s Book of Doug’s Michael (Ted Danson) and the gang – Janet (D’Arcy Carden), Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), and Jason (Manny Jacinto) discover what is really stopping people entering The Good Place. It is not spies in the Accounting Department, it is that the world of 2019 is significantly more difficult to navigate and even buying a single tomato is enough points to send you to The Bad Place. With this information in mind, Michael calls a meeting with The Judge (Maya Rudolph) in The Interdimensional Hole of Pancakes, where she is weakest, to discuss what it is that they can do about it. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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TV Review – The Punisher: Roadhouse Blues

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TL;DR – This does what any good first episode of The Punisher should, it shows Frank minding his own business until someone comes swinging in to wreck his life.  

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Punisher: Roadhouse Blues. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Starting the episode for the first time provoked two very different emotions, the first is that I was not ready to see Stan Lee’s name even though I knew it should be there, and also the way things are going I am starting to watch the last season of The Punisher. You know you try to ignore any external factors when reviewing something, but whether you want to admit it or not, sometimes they barge in on you. So is this the last season of The Punisher, who knows, probably, well if it, if this episode is any indication, they are going down swinging.

So to set the scene, we open in on Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) covered in blood racing down a street only to get cut off. Surrounded there is only one thing Frank can do, he pulls out a machine gun and removes the problem. Cut to two days earlier, and we see Frank enjoying the music in a bar in a small town in Michigan. He is laying low after Season One staying one night here and there, making sure not to get noticed. But in a moment of happiness, it all gets messed up. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Brother

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TL;DR – New faces, old friends, and a new dilemma, sign me up.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Brother. Image Credit: CBS Studios/Netflix.

Review –

The first season of Star Trek Discovery was one that started of interesting, took a bit to find its feet, but by the end of the Season a bunch of people had become a crew, and I was there for it. Tonight we dive back in with a bit of trepidation because they ended the season face to face with the most iconic starship in Star Trek history the original USS Enterprise. So where do you take the story from here, well into some very new territory it seems. 

So to set the scene, at the end of Will You Take My Hand? the USS Discovery was on its way to Vulcan to both drop of Sarek (James Frain) and also pick up their new captain. Well before they got there, they had to drop out of warp due to an emergency distress beacon coming from the USS Enterprise. In Brother, we start right from where we left off, trying to hail the ship when nothing else worked it was Morse Code that made it through and the Enterprise informed them that Captain Pike (Anson Mount) and two others were coming on board. Well, both Sarek and Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) know who severs on the ship, but Spock is not there. Pike informs everyone that he is taking over command of the ship because of an emergency, you see seven lights just blared into existence across the galaxy, at the same moment, thousands of light years apart. Well since they just got out of a war The Federation is understandably nervous about what this might mean because this is not a natural phenomenon. Well off The Discovery goes, once more unto the breach, which turns out to be literal when they drop out of warp behind a fracturing asteroid. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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TV Review – The Orville: Nothing Left On Earth Excepting Fishes

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TL;DR – In many respects, this is the most Star Trek-like episode I have seen so far, but in that it feels just okay and that it is missing something.  

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

The Orville: Nothing Left On Earth Excepting Fishes. Image Credit: Fox.

Review –

This is a great time for Sci-fi for tonight I get a new episode of The Orville and Star Trek Discovery. All of this is made all the more interesting because tonight’s Orville feels more like an episode of Star Trek than any so far this season. This gives some characters the chance to shine, but it also feels a bit odd.

So to set the scene, the USS Orville is once again being rerouted to a Starbase to help out rather than exploring, something that is starting to get on everyone’s nerves. But for Ed (Seth MacFarlane) it is all fine because he is using his love smile with Lt. Tyler (Michaela McManus) and Kelly (Adrianne Palicki) can see it. Well, after much thought they decide that it is time to make it public, always a big deal on a ship of this size, and celebrate this by taking some shore leave. Time to get away, see the sights, get harried by some Krill fighters, wait get harried by some Krill fighters. Soon both Tyler and Ed are captured and Ed has to make a choice, will he sit back and watch the love of his life get tortured, or will he give up everything he believes in and hand over his command codes. Now from here on in, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, and as such there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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TV Review – Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Hitchcock And Scully

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TL;DR – Today we go back into the deep past and explore 1980s NYPD while also dealing with the ramifications of today.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Hitchcock And Scully, Image Credit: NBC.

Review –

One of the great boons of having a new season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine is that you get to explore new stories and in this case that is explore the backstory of two of the shows amazing cast Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller).

So to set the scene, the aftermath of Honeymoon, when Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) stood up to the new Commissioner John Kelly (Phil Reeves), has been a rough transition for the team. This is because Kelly has gone out of his way to punish the 99 for Holt’s deference in his public questioning the return to Stop and Frisk. This has meant that floors have been shut down and space has become a precious creating friction among the detectives and uniformed officers. This is bad enough, but the next round of Kelly’s punishment has arrived when he gets Internal Affairs to look into a case from 1986 run by a young Hitchcock (Wyatt Nash) and Scully (Alan Ritchson). Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Movie Review – Mary Poppins Returns

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TL;DR – This is a film with two halves, the beautiful story of a family coming together in the face of a crisis with the help of Mary Poppins, but also a story about how it is individuals and not big corporations that are bad … from Disney … umm  

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Mary Poppins Returns . Image Credit: Disney.

Review –

Mary Poppins is a movie that is quite dear to me. When I was a child it was one of those films that we would watch as a family on a Saturday night. I honestly I was not really all that on board with the remake/sequel hybrid film all the trailers seemed to imply that we were about to get. As well as this, I am starting to get a little tired of Disney’s ‘Weaponised Nostalgia Era’.  Well, that is what I thought walking in, but then a wave of joy enveloped my life leaving a smile on my face and tears rolling down my face.  

So to set the scene, it has been a number of years since the first film and the Banks’ children have grown up. Michael (Ben Whishaw) is, well was, a painter, who married and had three lovely children Annabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh) and Georgie (Joel Dawson) before his wife tragically died. This has understandably sent ripples through the family, made all the worse when there is a knock on the door and we discover that the bank is foreclosing on the house because Michael has fallen behind paying back a loan, the same bank his father helped run, and the same bank he currently works for. Well, the whole family, including his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) helps to look for their father’s shares in the bank in the last ditch effort in saving the house, when who should appear at the end of a kite, none other than Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) herself.

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Movie Review – The Kid Who Would Be King

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TL;DR – It has a good message, and I give it full props for trying something new even if it does not all completely come together

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

The Kid Who Would Be King. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Review –

Due to the vagaries of international copyright law, there are some stories that you will see over and over again because they have had the good grace to enter the public domain, which is becoming more and more difficult to do. This means that anyone can make a film based around the King Arthur mythology, and there have been a lot of them, including King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (see review) from a couple of years ago, which I really liked, but I think I was alone in that. Well, today we get a new film based around this mythology, which is trying to do something a little different, even if it doesn’t all quite come together.

So to set the scene, we open with a really well designed animated sequence that gives you in a couple of minutes a quick overview of this particular film’s take on the Arthurian mythology. With Arthur banishing Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson) under the Earth, but in a last act of defiance, she cursed the world that one day when the country was leaderless she should return and take what is hers. Flash forward to 2019 and England is just as she predicted … looks at today’s news … yikes they really timed this film well. Well out in Britain there is still but a hope because one Alex Elliot (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) runs into a construction yard after being chased by some bullies and finds a rock with a sword in it … yes, that sword … and like all true and noble heroes, he is able to pull it from the rock. This puts in motion a series of events because in four days there will be a total solar eclipse and Morgana will rise.    

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Movie Review – Storm Boy (2019)

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TL;DR – A movie that has good moments, but is hamstrung by its narrative framing device that was unhelpful and unneeded     

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene but not one you need to stay back for

Storm Boy. Image Credit: Sony.

Review –

When you grow up there are these touchstone moments as you discover the world of cinema. For me, and I would say a lot of people in my generation that grew up in Australia, the original Storm Boy movie was one of those moments (well until you have to write an essay on it for English, which was the worst. Well, it has been many years since I have watched the original, so I was really interested when I heard they were remaking it, well that was until I saw it.

So to set the scene, we do not start with the story of the pelicans, but instead, we begin many years later when Storm Boy has grown into being an old man (Geoffrey Rush). He is back in Australia because his son-in-law (Erik Thomson) is holding a vote to allow mining on his company’s pastoral land. The old man’s granddaughter Madeline (Morgana Davies) is very much opposed to it, but he is all just a bit ambivalent to it because it is not really his business anymore. But before the vote could be cast a storm damages the building and we get a day’s pause. It is during this time that he decided to tell his granddaughter the story of when he was a child (Finn Little) and he and Fingerbone Bill (Trevor Jamieson) found some baby pelicans, orphaned after hunters killed their parents.

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