Foundation: Long Ago, Not Far Away– TV Review

TL;DR – The calamity of capriciousness causes crisis conflagration.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

A jail for an andriod.

Foundation Review

As we crash into the end of the season with today’s penultimate episode, there is a building wonder as to whether this season can stick the landing. It has pulled in so many different directions. Will that work when you bring everything back together? Well, this is what we will explore today.

So to set the scene, in The Last Empress, we discovered that Demerzel (Laura Birn) might, in fact, be the actual Empire, using the cloned dynasty almost as a shield to obscure her power. Today’s episode starts with her story of discovery, imprisonment, and how Cleon I (Terrence Mann) rescued/imprisoned her. But while this is happening, Brother Day/ Cleon XVII (Lee Pace) is going to Trantor looking to bring the Foundation down. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Wars: Ahsoka – Part Four: Fallen Jedi– TV Review

TL;DR – This is an episode that dwells on the weight of choices

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Ahsoka and Sabine ponder what to do next.

Ahsoka Review

Thinking back on this season, it has been interesting, but I have not found the depths that many other people have with the show. I think part of that is that I am not coming with the wealth of experience from The Clone Wars and Rebels TV shows we draw from. However, this week, I am starting to see hints of what others revel in: destruction and creation coming in equal measures.

So to set the scene, in Time to Fly, Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson), Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and Huyang (David Tennant) discovered that Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) has been building a giant hyperspace ship able to jump between galaxies. She wants to jump to where they think Thrawn ended up, bringing the last living Imperial Fleet Admiral back from the dead. Even though their ship has crashed, and they are stuck on the planet, the team has to do something to stop the map from being decoded before it is too late. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee – TV Review

TL;DR – It’s promotion time, and things are changing on the USS Cerritos  

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Romulan wreckage.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review

There is only one thing better than a new episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks dropping. That is two episodes dropping at the same time. But if Twovix was the episode where our crew [mostly] got promoted. Then I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee is looking at the fallout of that decision.

So to set the scene, in Romulan space and on a Tal Shiar ship, the crew are busy cleaning up the Reman juice leftover from an interrogation when a strange ship appears and blasts it away. Back on the USS Cerritos, the crew is busy backing up their bunks because they are now all Lieutenant Junior Grades. Well, Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), and D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) all got promoted. Poor Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) got left behind, but for how long? Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: Twovix – TV Review

TL;DR – Not all the story worked, but jumping back into this world was still a delight.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
The USS Cerritos approaches the Star Base.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review

After a stellar final season of Star Trek: Picard and a stunning follow-up season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, surely there is nothing left of Star Trek in 2023 … right? Well, hold on to your horses because Lower Decks is back and committing to changing one of its core features, changing the tone of the show … okay, not that much.

So to set the scene, the USS Cerritos has been sent on its most secretive mission so far. No one knows why they have been sent to this starbase until the lights turn on and everyone witnesses the joy that is the USS Voyager [Insert theme song here]. They have to escort the now museum ship to its permanent resting place. This should be a breeze, but Jack Ransom (Jerry O’Connell) lets Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid) know he is up for a promotion, just as long as he fails spectacularly. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Mapping Star Trek Series – Map-It

TL;DR – We map every location on Earth used as a ship name in the Star Trek universe.

The fleet comes together.

Mapping Star Trek

At the end of last season of Star Trek: Lower Decks, we were introduced to nineteen new members of the California Class. Which made me wonder where they fit on a map of California and lo our Lower Decks Map was created. However, since then, I have wondered what would happen if we expanded it globally. We have had 849 episodes of Star Trek at the time of writing, so we have charted every ship, shuttle, class and transport named after an Earth location.  

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The Nun II – Movie Review

TL;DR – We get a film that terrifies in its opening and reigns with a bombast at the end. You just have to get between these two points.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

The Nun appears in a magazine.

The Nun II Review

In 2023, I set myself a goal of dipping my toe more into the Horror genre, and while I am not sure how successful I have been on that front, I have continued with some interesting new entries in that genre. Today’s entry is another film in the Conjuring Universe, of which I have only seen The Conjuring 3, and neither of the three other films the main character appears in before now. With that in mind, can you follow a sequel when you missed everything leading up to it?     

So to set the scene, it is 1956 in Tarascon, France, where a young alter boy is going about his daily routine to prepare for evening mass, not knowing that an evil presence lurks in the dark. Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) is now working in a quiet monastery mentoring young nuns like Sister Debra (Storm Reid) when she is told that The Nun (Bonnie Aarons) is back and carving a swath of destruction across Europe. But the potential victims dramatically increase when The Nun homes in on a school.

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Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre – Movie Review

TL;DR – It never reaches the heights it is aiming for, but it is deeply entertaining in parts.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

A car chase.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre Review

I love spy films. I like it when they play them seriously and when they are more whimsical. When it comes to Guy Ritchie, you could get either or both. Add a cast you know can deliver and even a comeback or two, and you have a premise I want to see.

So to set the scene, it is a lovely Sunday morning when Nathan (Cary Elwes) is summoned to the intelligence headquarters in London by Knighton (Eddie Marsan). For you see, something just got robbed from a facility in Odessa. What no one knows, but the wrong people are interested in it, so that makes it a top target. Knowing traditional intelligence apparatuses would be too slow, they bring in the team that you need for cases like this, led by Orson Fortune (Jason Statham), who is now rudely having his Moroccan holiday interrupted, and worse, they will need the famous movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett) to pull it off.

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Foundation: The Last Empress – TV Review

TL;DR – The culminating catastrophe coalesces.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Many Seldons

Foundation Review

I was captivated back in Season 1 of Foundation. This book was challenging to adapt, and the show did it interestingly. This season has been a bit of a rollercoaster, and I wonder if they have a plan of where it is going. Today’s episode might be the answer, maybe.

So to set the scene, deep in the capital of Trantor, Brother Dusk (Terrence Mann) finds someone in Demerzel’s (Laura Birn) quarters who should not be there. Rue Corintha (Sandra Yi Sencindiver), enjoiner to Queen Sareth (Ella-Rae Smith), is rummaging through all of the android’s personal effects, but is she just an opportunist, or is she a threat? Meanwhile, on Ignis, Gaal (Lou Llobell) is desperate to find out what happened to Salvor (Leah Harvey) and confronts Tellem Bond (Rachel House), only to discover just how powerful Tellem is. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Halo Infinite – Or How I Found the Love of a Game Without Playing the Main Game

TL;DR – I discovered why so many people love the Halo series by exploring the custom content with friends.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Game Pass that obtained this game.

Halo Infinite title card.

Halo Infinite Review –

When I was growing up, my family had a PC, so I did not grow up with the console classics that so many of my friends had. I had heard of Halo. You can’t live in the video game space without knowing who Master Chief is. I listened to the musical score at performances and understood why people worldwide break into that hum on command. I had watched the previous games streamed on Twitch, and I even watched the Halo TV series. However, no matter what I  did, I only felt like an observer, like an academic who never does fieldwork. But all of that changed one day.

I had dipped in when Halo Infinite first came out of PC. It was on Game Pass, so there was not a significant financial barrier for me to drop into. A lot of it did feel like the shooters that I was familiar with. Come capture that flag, kill as many enemies as possible, find that sniper, or keep on the point. I was running around mantling up ledges, jumping over crevices that could lead to your death, and finding the gun set-up that works for you. While there were some of these more familiar elements to grab onto. However, my head or the keyboard/mouse controller did not click with the grenade, gun, and melee combo. Add some jump crouches and odd slides, and I fell away until earlier this year.

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The Great Seduction (La Gran Seducción) – Movie Review

TL;DR – While you will know the story from the opening moments, it was still a fun ride.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Santa María

The Great Seduction Review

I know it is seen as almost a bad form to re-make films in different countries in the modern discourse. However, I am always fascinated to watch adaptations to see how a familiar story gets reinterpreted in a new context. Today, we get an excellent example of this as we visit an island off the coast of Mexico.  

So to set the scene, Santa María is a small town of 120 living on an island, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in heart. But when a neighbouring village opens a fishing factory, the town loses all their jobs, and soon, people fall away. Germán (Memo Villegas) wants to stay in his home, but that is becoming increasingly difficult each month. But if they can get a doctor to live on the island, maybe a new packing plant might follow. It feels like a lost cause until Dr Mateo Suárez (Pierre Louis) gets passed over at the local hospital and drinks just enough to cause a scandal. Well, the town has one month to make him want to stay and seduce him to stay.    

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