Monthly Archives: September 2023

Star Trek: Lower Decks: Something Borrowed, Something Green – TV Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – We delve into Orion culture one dagger to the shoulder at a time

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
USS Cerritos

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

The one thing that Star Trek: Lower Decks has worked hard at is finding that middle line between being a comedic take on the Star Trek universe and being a show that would fit in that universe. While you can see that love in every single Easter Egg [there are so many]. But they don’t always get that balance right. Today, we get a fantastic example of what an episode can be when they walk that narrow line.

So to set the scene, the Lower Decks gang is still getting used to the new world where they are Lieutenant (j.g.). It comes with perks like not living in a corridor and being able to finish all your tasks for the day, but it also comes with responsibilities. For Tendi (Noël Wells), that means going back to Orion because her sister is getting married, and Starfleet wants to make a good impression after an Irion ship mysteriously vanished. Tendi is understandably hesitant, even more so when T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz) and Mariner (Tawny Newsome) tag along. But hey, it is not like her sister will get kidnapped just before the wedding? … Right? … Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Star Wars: Ahsoka – Part Six: Far, Far Away – TV Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – We get a story from a galaxy far, far away.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The hyperspace sled approaches the whale graveyard.

Ahsoka Review –

Last week with Shadow Warrior, we got the middle point of the narrative, laying out where everything will be heading. However, while all that was going on, there was part of the story that was absent. The driving force of the season so far. The only question is, was it worth the wait?

So to set the scene, as Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and Huyang (David Tennant) hop on a ride from a star whale heading to a galaxy far, far away. Lord Baylan (Ray Stevenson), Shin (Ivanna Sakhno), Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) rocket into a floating graveyard and the ancestral home of Morgan. But the anticipation does not have to wait for long as the Grand Mothers (Claudia Black, Jeryl Prescott Gallien & Jane Edina Seymour) announce that Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) is on his way. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

Continue reading →

Neighbours (Neighbours: A New Chapter) – S41 Ep. 8904 – TV Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – This was a fascinating jolt of nostalgia, but I am not sure it has the sticking power to be more than that.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I watched this on 10 Play.

Neighbours Review –

If there is an Australian that has made it big overseas, there is a more than reasonable chance that they spent some time on Neighbours [or Home and Away, but we are not talking about that today]. Guy Pearce, Luke Hemsworth, Cleopatra Coleman, Russell Crowe, Ben Mendelsohn, Liam Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, Natalie Imbruglia, Jesse Spencer, Dichen Lachman, Alan Dale, Daniel MacPherson, and Kylie Minogue, just to name few. So, it was a bit sad when the show came to a somewhat sudden stop last year. In the way that seeing an old cornerstone come to an end, you’ll understand when they finally put Simpsons to rest. But a year later, life has sprung back to Ramsey Street, and it is time to see if this is a rebirth or a lumbering zombie.

So to set the scene, it has been two years since we last checked in to the gang on Ramsey Street, a small cul-de-sac in the suburb of Erinsborough, Melbourne. When we last left the street, everyone was putting on a wedding. Well, time is nothing but a circle because as we meet everyone again, we discover them all getting ready for the next nuptials. Karl (Alan Fletcher) and Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) are letting their old friend Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) crash at their house. But if there is one thing that sums up Ramsey Street, the more it stays the same, the more it changes as a new family moves in and a mysterious woman, Reece Sinclair (Mischa Barton), arrives at the local hotel. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

Continue reading →

Foundation: Creation Myths & Season 2 – TV Review

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – The crisis climbs to a crescendo as cracks cascade over a crumbling continuum of chance and causality.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The death of Terminus.

Foundation Review –

Well, we have come to the end of the second season, and what a fascinating season it was. Adapting novels to work in a visual medium is no small feat, let alone one of the founding icons of Science Fiction. Taking a selection of interconnected short stories and making them work as a whole and in a framework that will work with a modern audience is a tightrope to pull off, and today, we will see just how well they have managed this task.  

So to set the scene, we open in the moments after Long Ago, Not Far Away ended by discovering just how Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) survived being very dead, so dead that even Salvor (Leah Harvey) believed he had passed. A trick from Gaal (Lou Llobell) so powerful that not even Tellem Bond (Rachel House) sees through the deception. As Terminus lays there as a flaming ruin, with Brother Day’s (Lee Pace) fleet in orbit, the question becomes, how can psychohistory’s plan continue from here? When all we know has been left in ruins. But when a sensor is tripped, Demerzel (Laura Birn) soon discovers that secrets can escape no matter how much you try to control them. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

Continue reading →

A Haunting in Venice – Movie Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – The stronger of the three so far that explores faith, mystery, and, of course, murder.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

skellington

A Haunting in Venice Review –

I love a good murder mystery film, and when you want a good murder mystery, you can’t go past the Queen of Murder Mysteries, Agatha Christie. She has a way with words that have made it through the ages, and the latest interpretation of her work on the big screen has been helmed by Kenneth Branagh with their Murder on the Orient Express in 2017 and Death on the Nile in 2022. Today, we get the third instalment in the series, and what, spoiler alert, is my favourite of the three.

So to set the scene, it is now 1947, and it has been ten years and one world war since we last saw Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) on the Nile. After a lifetime of investigations, Poirot has taken to seclusion and retirement in a house in Venice with only his bodyguard Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio) and the daily pastries boat making their way past his door. It is a life of quiet solitude that is punctured when an old friend/acquaintance/annoyance, Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), arrives at his door with a conundrum. There is a medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), going around claiming that she can talk with the dead, and no matter what Oliver can do, she can’t work out Joyce’s tricks. Joyce is doing a séance for local celebrity Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly) to speak with her recently lost daughter Alicia (Rowan Robinson) as it is Hallowe’en. All Poirot has to do is work out her tricks, and surely there won’t be any other deaths …

Continue reading →

Blue Beetle – Movie Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – It was an enjoyable time, and I wish it were not placed in such an awkward position in the franchise. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Palmera City

Blue Beetle Review –

Well, if there was ever a film that was affected because of cinematic universe issues out of its control, it is today’s film. No matter what merits the movie is coming in on, it will find difficulties because the DC Universe is one film out from a considerable reboot, and we have already seen that torpedo good films like Shazam. But if nothing else, you could tell the cast was throwing their all into this, and I am glad I watched it.

So to set the scene, Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) is returning to Palmera City after graduating from Gotham Law University. His family Alberto (Damián Alcázar), Rocio (Elpidia Carrillo), Molagro (Belissa Escobedo), Rudy (George Lopez), and Nana (Adriana Barraza) all meet him at the airport and take him out for tacos before dropping the bomb that they are losing their house. Jamie tries to find a good job but gets stuck cleaning the home of Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon). Still, a chance encounter with her niece Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) changes his life when that blue scarab statue Jenny gives him comes to life and gouges into his skin.

Continue reading →

Star Wars: Ahsoka – Part Five: Shadow Warrior – TV Review

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – A blast into the past and a push into the future.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Dual on the astral bridge.

Ahsoka Review –

One of the first things I mentioned back in Part One: Master and Apprentice is that I was coming into this series without watching the Rebels or Clone Wars animated shows that were being used as the springboard for both the characters and the narrative. I had wondered if this would be a show where you could follow what is going on if you were not coming in with all that extra homework. Well, today, we get the best litmus test for that.  

So to set the scene, last week’s Fallen Jedi did not end on the best note for everyone. Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) was tempted by Lord Baylan (Ray Stevenson) about the chance to be reunited with her lost friend and didn’t destroy the map. While Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) was thrown from the cliffside into the waters below. Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and the cavalry arrived, but it was not quick enough to stop Morgan Elsbeth’s (Diana Lee Inosanto) Hyperspace sled from jumping off into galaxies unknown. But what is waiting for Ahsoka in the ever after is not what she was expecting … a battle. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

Continue reading →

Kandahar – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – It is a solid action film that is, unfortunately, not really sure what it wants to say.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this film.

Fighters line up with guns.

Kandahar Review –

Some artists get known for periods in their career. Picasso had his Blue Period,  Monet had his Water Lilies, and James Cameron has his Avatar saga. But one new era that I have been particularly interested in is Gerard Butler’s one-word action films. So far, we have gotten Geostorm, Greenland, and Plane. Today, we look at the next entry with a spy mission that goes very wrong.   

So to set the scene, we open in Qom, Iran, where a team works on a telecommunications substation under heavy armed guard. But this is a secret CIA project led by Tom Harris (Gerard Butler) to monitor and disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. However, this gets leaked to a journalist, Luna Cujai (Nina Toussaint-White), from someone in the Pentagon. Tom is stuck in Herat, Afghanistan when the news is released. In Herat, the Taliban have taken over, and foreign spies from Pakistan, Iran, India, China, Pakistan, ISIS, and more roam the streets. There are no good options, but he needs to escape before he is publicly executed, and the only escape is MI6 black Ops pick up in Kandahar that will be on the ground for one minute in 30 hours.   

Continue reading →

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – Movie Review

Posted on by
6

TL;DR – A delightful romp of a film, stunning in its animation, and engaging in its story.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

The team looks at a video.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Review –

While you try to avoid it, you can’t help but walk into a film with preconceptions, especially when it adapts to a work with a long history. When you hear Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg’s take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, that immediately brings an idea of what the film might look like. I might have walked into here with preconceptions, but I walked out with a new respect for the animated work of the artists here.

So to set the scene, Baxter Stockman (Giancarlo Esposito) was working in a lab trying to create his own family using mutation. But before he could complete his work, TCRI tracked down his lab, and Cynthia Utrom (Maya Rudolph) ordered an attack. Stockman was killed in the commotion, but not before one of his creations could save their siblings, and one of the vials of ooze slips into the sewers and finds some baby Turtles. Fifteen years later, Michelangelo (Shamon Brown Jr.), Leonardo (Nicolas Cantu), Raphael (Brady Noon) and Donatello (Micah Abbey) live with their adoptive father, Splinter (Jackie Chan), running errands in secret. They long to be more part of the Human world, but when a new villain called Superfly (Ice Cube) starts stealing supplies, new opportunities and dangers are around the corner.    

Continue reading →

Mapping the Uncharted Games – Map-It

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – We map the route Nathan Drake, and the gang took on their adventures in the quadrilogy of games.  

Mapping Uncharted –

Whenever I upload one of my maps, I ask if there is anything else people would like to map? Often, I get some excellent suggestions, and today’s is just such a case. A little birdy asked me if I could map the Uncharted video game series? Well, yes, of course, I could, and after much thought, I decided to do it in the same style as my Indiana Jones Trilogy map. You will instantly get the comparison if you have played/watched the two.

Continue reading →