Monthly Archives: December 2023

Silent Night (2023) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – I respect this film for trying something new, even if they don’t actually pull it off.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Silent Night Review –

There are some directors that you have to watch when you hear they are attached to a project, and if you are a fan of action, then you know that John Woo is one to get yourself into a cinema. Add to this is a hook that I have not seen played like this before, and I was intrigued, well, at least I was when I walked in.  

So to set the scene, we open with a man running, hands covered in blood, as tires screech and bullets fly. Two cars are in battle as bullets fly around, and the man is chasing them down. You think he might be succeeding as he flings a metal bar into the window, crashing the car. That is until Playa (Harold Torres) gets out of the crashed car and shoots Brian (Joel Kinnaman) right in the neck. Brian can speak, but that is only the start of his trauma, and he decides that he has to do something about this.

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Godzilla Minus One (Gojira Mainasu Wan, ゴジラマイナスワン) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A visual riot and fascinating story that shows that Godzilla still has it after 70 years.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Godzilla stalks a boat underwater.

Godzilla Minus One Review –

Few icons can last 70 years and still feel fresh and engaging, but Godzilla is very much the exception. There is something so iconic that even a single frame can invoke an emotion. It is in this space that we look at today’s film, which goes back in time to tell a very modern story.

So to set the scene, it is in the closing days of World War 2, and Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) feigns technical issues with his kamikaze plane and lands on Odo Island. The mechanics humour the boy and check out his plane before he is sent on his way on the inevitable suicide mission. However, that night, a siren goes off as something attacks the beach. But it is not the Americans, island hopping their way to the mainland. It is Godzilla. Shikishima is given a second chance to prove himself, only to fail again, with a shame that follows him all the way back to the ruins of Tokyo.

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Bottoms – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It races right up to the line of being a parody without crossing it, a bunch of laughs even if not everything lands.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

PJ and Josie at rock bottom.

Bottoms Review –

After mainly being obliterated, the R-rated teenage comedy has returned in recent years, which means a whole new generation gets to have their EuroTrip moment. But can a more mature comedy focused on teenagers work in this new world? Well, that is the question we are looking at today.

So to set the scene, friends PJ (Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edebiri) are at the bottom of the social picking ladder at Rockbridge Falls High School. Even more so when they run over the star quarterback Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine) a month out from the big game against rivals Huntington High. But when you are on the bottom, there is nowhere else to go but up, and it is in that moment that the girls arrange a fight club. On the surface, it is all about empowering the women of the School, but in reality, it is all about getting laid.  

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie

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TL;DR – Asks the question, can you do an episode of Rick and Morty without Rick? And the answer is: sure.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this episode.

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

Moments befroe the death of Q

Rick and Morty Review –

It can be hard to break when you have built your show around some bedrock principles, so you have enshrined them in your show’s title. Well, if this season of Rick and Morty is known for one thing, it is breaking with what they have established in the past, and this time that is, can you have a Rick and Morty episode without Rick?

So to set the scene, Morty (Harry Belden) has one of those rare moments where he is not out on an adventure with Rick (Ian Cardoni) and is instead at Harry Herpson High School in Mr. Goldenfold’s (Brandon Johnson) math class. After getting detention, he is held back, which is when Water-T (Dan Harmon) arrives because the Numbericons have invaded his planet and killed his father, Helium-Q (Ice-T). Now, only Goldenfold can save them. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder – TV Review

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TL;DR – it is all fine and dandy to declare that one should cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, but what it the universe was listening?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

TARDIS in time and space.

Doctor Who Review –

One of the things that defines Doctor Who is how it uses all its sci-fi gadgetry to solve all the many, many odd situations they find themselves in. But what if you striped that all away? Could they survive? But more so, does the show work?

So to set the scene, we open in England in 1666, where Isaac Newton (Nathaniel Curtis) is about to go out and have an excellent idea under an apple tree. When the Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) come crashing into the tree he is sitting under. For you see, at the end of The Star Beast, Donna “accidentally” spilled some coffee on the TARDIS console, and it is a little out of control. After a crash and some flames, the Doctor had to put the TARDIS in rebuild mode, so it was time to work out where they ended up. I mean it should be fine, they have air, light, mavaity, what could go wrong? Which is the point the TARDIS runs away. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters – Parallels and Interiors – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is the first week where we have an almost restrained jump around the timeline.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Review –

After racing forward, you need to consolidate your gains or at least reveal some of the cards you are working with. For Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, that time is now, because things are starting to hit the fan.  

So to set the scene, we open in on Utah, 2015, where Barnes is sitting watch at Outpost 47, and some weird beeping comes from her equipment, a piece of equipment that should not be getting set off. Coincidently, at the end of Secrets and Lies, Cate Randa (Anna Sawai), Kentaro Randa (Ren Watabe), May (Kiersey Clemons), and an old Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) come face to face with a monster that breathes cold air, and it is not happy they just landed on its mountain. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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NCIS: Sydney – Ghosted – TV Review

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TL;DR – Alas, it is a quite predictable affair that produces some oddly wooden performances.  

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

The Syndey Harbour at night.

NCIS: Sydney Review –

As we continue through the season, we are starting to hit the episodes where people have had time to feel their characters and how they should be played. Here, you get to see actors start defining who they are. Just that is not always a good thing.

So to set the scene, it is the spooky season, and what else would you do during that time but take a late-night ghost tour of The Rocks in Sydney. In full costume, of course. We learn about all sorts of awful things, like the bakery that used unholy meat. But no one suspected a new ghost to be made in front of them as a body flew out a window, like the defenestration of Prague. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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