Monthly Archives: June 2023

Silo: Outside & Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – Kept me on the edge of my seat until the credits rolled

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

They see all.

Silo Review –

I was unsure what to expect when the first episode of Silo, Freedom Day, dropped. I had not read the original novels by Hugh Howey, so when we went down the rabbit hole that was the mystery of the Silo, I was captivated about which turns the show would make. Now that we have seen the first season, I am even more fascinated by where the show can go from here. In today’s review, we will first explore the season finale Outside, before looking at the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, things are looking dicey for Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) as she fights to save her life as the judiciaries Robert Sims (Common) and secret lord of the Silo Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) chase her down, trying to contain the information she knows. It is a race against time, but Juliette does not know just how much the chips are stacked against her. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – TV Review

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TL;DR – An interesting episode on its surface narrative, but even more intriguing once you think about the ramifications.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

The USS Enterprise.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

If there has been one thing that Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has excelled at, it is making the most out of its ensemble cast. Nearly every central cast member gets to play a role in the A or B story for the week. However, they also make sure that everyone gets their own focus episode. [well, almost everyone, shout out to Ortegas (Melissa Navia)]. This week it is La’an turn to shine as we get whisked away from the Enterprise to somewhere a bit closer to home.  

So to set the scene, La’an Noonien-Singh’s (Christina Chong) role as chief of security means that she has the unfortunate job of knowing everyone’s business, even when they don’t want it, which is amplified given her mixed emotions regarding Una (Rebecca Romijn) and her behaviour when Una came out as a modified Illyrian. But as she was walking the deck of the USS Enterprise, a white light exploded out from another room, and a gentleman in a suit and a gun wound walked out, talking about an explosion that she had to stop. He disappears in another bright light, but when La’an makes it to the bridge, James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) is now the captain and no one knows who she is. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Secret Invasion: Promises – TV Review

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TL;DR – This episode felt like it was just moving things around to get them ready for the rest of the season

Rating: 3 out of 5.
Gravik stares down the Skrull Council

Secret Invasion Review –

Well, I was not sure how people would take the first episode of Secret Invasion, and wow, did the internet rip them apart. I think part of that was justifiable with those awful AI opening titles, and others less so, given I feel like a lot of it was just a significant tone shift than what people were used to. But after being much stronger on it last week, the follow-up was a bit more disappointing.  

So to set the scene, in 1997, in Brixton, London, two years after the events of Captain Marvel, the Skrulls are back on Earth after finding no home. Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) promises those who had made the trip that if they help him on Earth, he will find them a new home. Thirty years later, we see the aftermath of that broken promise, forgotten in the time of the Snap. As people, including Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), lies dying in the square after the successful terrorist attack in Moscow and Fury is bundled into an FSB car as the Russians start arresting all those they think carried out the attack. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Skull Island: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a perfectly watchable show, but it never reached its potential, with some odd tone issues and a lacklustre narrative holding it back.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

King Kong's foot print.

Skull Island Review –

When  Kong: Skull Island came out in 2017, I was delighted with the world they created, full of mystery and wonder. This meant I was slightly disappointed when they killed off the island with one line of dialogue in Godzilla vs. Kong. However, there is clearly still a lot of space in the Monsterverse, and today we look at more adventures on an island where nearly everything wants to kill you.   

So to set the scene, we open on a research boat of some sort in the South Pacific Ocean. There is a loud commotion when a girl named Annie (Mae Whitman) in handcuffs tries to escape the crew hunting her down. She makes her way onto a lifeboat in a last-ditch effort and drives into the storm. Meanwhile, on an exploration boat, Charlie (Nicolas Cantu) and his father, Cap (Benjamin Bratt), have a significant conversation about going to college. As Charlie’s friend Mike (Darren Barnet) consoles him, Charlie notices a girl floating in on some wreckage. It is quite a commotion, but while Annie is concerned about the mercenaries chasing her, she is even more concerned about what lurks in the deep. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Silo: The Getaway – TV Review

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TL;DR – Much like the staircase that stretches from the top to almost the bottom, the situation in the Silo is starting to spiral out of control.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this series.

Red Level Relic 18

Silo Review –

While Silo started to lose its way, a touch, in the middle, like many shows before and after it, last week’s Hanna felt like an immediate return to form as the show threw off its restraints and started running at 100km an hour. This week continues that same pattern as we barrel along to the season finale.  

So to set the scene, all seems lost as Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) reveals that as well as being the Head of IT, he is also in charge of the secret force that maintains order in the Silo. He and Holston Becker (Common) lie that Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) said she wanted to go outside, a death sentence. There was one hope, as Nichols was being marched up the central staircase, she realised that Paul Billings (Chinaza Uche) was having one of his tremors and used it to escape his grip, grab her bag with the hard drive and dived off the staircase. Thankfully landing on one of the cross-struts and not plummeting to her death 70-odd layers down. But now she is on the run, and almost everyone in the Silo is after her and the secrets she holds. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Red, White & Brass – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that brings you joy from the moment they start in a house covered in Tongan flags till those final credits roll.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

The band performs.

Red, White & Brass Review –

There are many emotions that cinema can bring forth, and if I am honest, my favourite is joy. You are just sitting there beaming with a smile stretching from one side of your face to the other. It is so easy for films to come off as disingenuous that it is hard to nail joy in its purest form. However, today, we look at a movie that not only nails it, it revels in it.

So to set the scene, it is Wellington, and the 2011 Rugby World Cup is descending on New Zealand. Flags are popping up all across the city as everyone gets into the celebratory mode. But Veni (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) was not quite prepared to find his house covered, and I mean covered, in the red/white cross of Tonga’s flag. His best friend Maka (John-Paul Foliaki) has been trying to get enough money so all of his church can see the Tonga v France match live. However, when several of his schemes fall through, he discovers a way forward, but it just means getting everyone to become a proficient brass band, oh and only in a couple of weeks.

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Ad Astra per Aspera – TV Review

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TL;DR – An episode that wears its heart on its sleeve and leaves very little room to misinterpret the moral lesson it is exploring.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Review –

If there is one thing that Star Trek has always been is political. They were not subtle with it, given Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, to say the least. It has also been full of episodes based around trials that speak for their time, like The Measure of a Man. It is time for Strange New Worlds to take its take, and what a take it is.  

So to set the scene, back in Season One, we discovered that Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) is actually an Illyrian who cannot serve in Starfleet due to their extensive genetic modifications. In the season finale, A Quality of Mercy, she was arrested. Sent to prison, she has been offered a deal that includes dishonourable dismissal. In The Broken Circle, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) has travelled to a planet in the Vaultera Nebula, where only Illyrians can live to meet with Neera Ketoul (Yetide Badaki) to be her lawyer. A last-ditch chance to save Una’s career. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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No Hard Feelings – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While I appreciate that it is trying to have something to say about class relations and Jennifer Lawrence’s physical comedy chops, the narrative just didn’t land for me.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Jennifer Lawrence

No Hard Feelings Review –

Comedy films directed only at adults can be a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, they can go to extremes that you just can’t do in more family fair. However, it can just be an excuse to hit below the most common denominator. If you will be crass, you need to be at least thoughtful about it. Today we are looking at a film that is at least trying the latter.

So to set the scene, Maddie Barker (Jennifer Lawrence) is an Uber driver and waitress in the summer holiday town of Montauk, New York. While she lives in the house bought by her mother, she can’t afford the property tax that has dramatically excecated as all the rich people from New York come to buy summer homes. After having her car towed, her primary source of income, she is lost with what to do until she sees an ad in the paper. Laird (Matthew Broderick) and Allison Becker (Laura Benanti) are concerned about their son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman), who is primarily a recluse. Percy is going to Princeton next year, and they fear he will not survive. So, they are paying Maddie with a car to “Date” their son and get him out of his shell.

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Secret Invasion: Resurrection – TV Review

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TL;DR – This first episode is a bit of a mood introduction for the series, preparing you for where things will go.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film.

Fury arrives back on Earth.

Secret Invasion Review –

When people wondered where the MCU could go after Endgame, one of the most mentioned storylines had to be Secret Wars. So you can understand there was quite a reaction when it was finally announced. Even more so, you realise that they have been seeding this story since Captain Marvel and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Now it is here, and we get to see how well this franchise can jump back into the spy/espionage genre.

So to set the scene, we open in Moscow as Agent Ross (Martin Freeman) walks through a night as society starts to fray when he meets an agent Prescott (Richard Dormer), who thinks that Skrulls are trying to take over the Earth with targeted terrorist attacks. With a warning that an attack is coming that “will set the world on fire”, and then Prescott attacks Ross. Flying through the streets of Moscow, Agent Hill (Cobie Smulders) tries to get Ross an evacuation, only to discover all is not what it seems. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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PAX Australia 2022 & Melbourne Day 4 & 5 – Explore-It

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TL;DR – We dive into PAX properly and discover all the new indies out there.

Disclosure – I paid for all products featured or mentioned here.

Set Phasers to 'Fun'

PAX Australia & Melbourne Day 4 & 5 –

The Yara River
The Yara River.

Well, it may be almost a year late, but we are finally getting to the end of our PAX 2022 series with a look at the final days. It was the last day of PAX Aus, and for the first time, I actually took the time to stop and have a decent breakfast down by the river as the morning Sun warmed off the previous night’s rain. It was a beautiful day by any standards, but apparently quite good for Melbourne’s sometimes temperamental weather.  

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