Monthly Archives: June 2024

The Convert – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A very compelling narrative of finding oneself far away from home.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

The New Zealand coastline.

The Convert Review –

There was a whole wave of unintended consequences when the British gallivanted around the world, sticking their flag on any spot of land that they could. You know, other than the conquest, murder, and resource exploitation, that is. In what is now New Zealand, one of these was the Musket Wars, where tribal structures across the islands were ripped apart. Today’s film jumps into the heart of this and the world it is creating.  

So, to set the scene, it is 1830, and Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce) is on a dangerous journey across the Tasman Sea to his new home on the Islands of New Zealand in the town of Epworth. He has been hired as the new lay preacher, but before he reaches there, he saves the life of Rangimai (Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne) as the rest of her town is slaughtered by the warlord Akatarewa (Lawrence Makoare). Even when in Epworth, danger lurks, and not just from the “savages” in the bush.

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The Mountain – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An emotional roller coaster that can have you laughing, crying, and uplifting all in the space of 30 seconds.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Mount Taranaki in poster form.

The Mountain Review –

After a long and challenging week, I thought I would stop in at the movies on the way home from work on a Friday afternoon. I had a number of options, but then I noticed what looked like a fun kids flick out of New Zealand and thought that would be the perfect way to round out the week. I mean, it was, but it was also emotionally devastating on multiple occasions. While also being a delight at every turn. Well, let’s dive in and unpack Rachael House’s directing debut.

So, to set the scene, we open in a hospital as Sam (Elizabeth Atkinson) prepares a sneaky escape with the help of her friend Peachy (Sukena Shah). There is one thing that she wants to do in her life, and that is climb Mount Taranaki. On her way, she runs into Mallory Potts (Reuben Francis), a boy who has just moved to the area with their father Hugh (Bryan Coll), and Bronco (Terence Daniel), who is struggling with relating with his father Tux (Troy Kingi). Together, they decide to climb the mountain, no matter the obstacles in their way.

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Kalki 2898 AD – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that had moments of dire boredom but also had me sitting on the edge of my chair. I wish we got more of the latter than the first.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

The Complex hovering over everyone.

Kalki 2898 AD Review –

Back when RRR came out two years ago, I realised that I needed to watch more Telugu Language films, and I have been found wanting on that front. Well, if I am going to dive back in, a substantial mythological/Science Fiction romp is 100% right up my alley. Today, we are going to come into this movie with a slight outsider perspective with all its strengths and weaknesses.

So to set the scene, back in the ages past, in 3102 BC, two groups, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, fought for the throne. But when Ashwathamma (Amitabh Bachchan) attempts to kill an innocent, lord Krishna (Krishnakumar/ Arjun Das) curses him to walk the world as an immortal, being never able to die until Vishnu’s last avatar returns. Thousands of years later, in 2892 AD, the world was scorched, and the only city left was Kasi, which lived under the shadow of The Complex, a vast megastructure in the sky. It is a brutal world where everyone is trying to make enough units to get into The Complex while they act with impunity, killing anyone and stealing all the women able to bear children. Bhairava (Prabhas) is a bounty hunter in this world, but when he captures a fleeing Luke (Harshith Malgireddy), little does he know the new trajectory his life will now be on and the dangers he might have incited.

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The Acolyte (Star Wars: The Acolyte) – Night – TV Review

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TL;DR – An explosive episode that had me audibly gasping multiple times.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The Sith is revealed.

The Acolyte Review –

Well, one of the big problems that a show can have is setting up a fascinating Part 1 only to mess it up for Part 2. Oh, the lousy letdown, after waiting a week or even more, is such a letdown … looking at you, Doctor Who. But sometimes they nail the landing, and today, we get just that.

So, to set the scene, Mae (Amandla Stenberg) has arrived to hand herself into Jedi Master Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo), only to find him already dead because her Master (not spoiling it here) has returned. This is when Sol (Lee Jung-Jae), Yord (Charlie Barnett), Jecki (Dafne Keen), Osha (Amandla Stenberg), and a bunch of other Jedi arrive. Things could not get any worse. Well, that is when the Sith arrives and blasts all the Jedi 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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Doctor Who: Empire of Death & Full Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – While the ending did not stick the landing as well as it could have for me, it was a wild, Doctor-filled ride to get there.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Australia about to get eaten by sand.

Doctor Who Review –

Well, we have reached the end of this first season in the new Disney/Russell T Davies era of Doctor Who, and what a ride it has been. But before we look at how the season worked as a whole, we need to unpack the season finale. If there is one thing Russell T Davies knows how to do, it is setting up a smashing part one to a season finale, but he has a mixed track record as to whether he can stick the landing. So where will this one fall? Let’s find out together.

So to set the scene, during The Legend of Ruby Sunday, The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and everyone at UNIT were focused on what happened on the day Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) was born through a little time travel shenanigans. Also, trying to learn what Sue Triad (Susan Twist) was up to with her clearly TARDIS-inspired anagram of a name. However, no one was paying attention to the real threat, that friendly blue box that is always there, but this time, it brought a guest to dinner that no one was expecting. An enemy from deep in The Doctor’s past, Sutekh (Gabriel Woolf). 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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Trigger Warning – Movie Review

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TL;DR – When things click into place, this can be quite an entertaining film. Unfortunately, a lot of the connective tissue is full of awkwardness that holds it back.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

Parker mourns her father.

Trigger Warning Review –

Okay, so I am going to be upfront with you right from the start. The reason I sat down to watch this film is because it has been an age since I have seen Jessica Alba in anything. She was one of those tent pole stars when I was growing up, and I am always here for a new renaissance.   

So to set the scene, we open in the Bādiyat al-Shām Desert, Syria, as two pickup trucks with machine guns chase down an aid vehicle that clearly is not delivering aid. Instead, it is driven by spec-ops operative Parker (Jessica Alba), who is very handy with a knife. But when an apparent cave-in kills her father at the mine he works in, Parker travels all the way home to deep rural America to find out what really happened. However, one look shows that the cave-in might be a very convenient conclusion.   

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Deadland – Movie Review

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TL;DR –  It is a film with a lot of intrigue, but I wish it had a bit more going on under the hood.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

A man standing on the river's shore.

Deadland Review –

I do love when films get weird, when they play with your perceptions of what is real or not, though I should maybe stop playing them before bed. Today, we are looking at a film that does just that with the people in the movie, but does it have the same effect on the audience?

So, to set the scene, we find ourselves on the USA/Mexico border with US Customs and Border Patrol, where they find a suspicious van trying to cross. Agents Angel Waters (Roberto Urbina) and Ray Hitchcock (McCaul Lombardi) find just a kid behind the wheel and a whole lot of drugs in the back. It was just a routine day for The Patrol, but when Angel is alone and finds the body of The Stranger (Luis Chávez) floating dead in the river, he is the most surprised when the man wakes up out of his body bag on the drive home. But when Angel’s father, Ignacio Coronado (Manuel Uriza), returns and the dead man, now alive, turns up dead again, things start falling apart, and this is when Internal Affairs starts to sniff around.  

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Despicable Me 4 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Look, the kids started laughing with the title card and stopped with the end credits, and I am not sure that anything more than that truly matters in the grand scheme of things.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid credit sequences but you don’t need to stay for them.

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

Minions in a pool.

Despicable Me 4 Review –

Well, it is time to get the banana papayas out because it is Minions time. Look, I have generally liked these films because there is an almost charm to the slapstick comedy that permeates every frame. Also, while my mother is not a fan of this, I don’t have any kids, so I only have to watch this film once—my deepest sympathies to those well into the double-digit viewings. But now we are six films deep into this world, can there be any more fun to be found? Well, that is what we will find out today.   

So to set the scene, Gru (Steve Carell) is still working for the Anti-Villain League, and this time, his mark is Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell), a heavily ‘French’ accented villain and former classmate of Gru. Indeed, Gru takes him down in the middle of their class reunion. Things are also looking up at home, where he and Lucy (Kristen Wiig) have welcomed a new child into the family, Gru Jr. But when Maxime escapes and threatens to ‘cockroach-ize’ the baby, well, the whole family has to go undercover to keep safe. You better hope your new neighbours are not secret supervillain fans.

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The Acolyte (Star Wars: The Acolyte) – Day – TV Review

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TL;DR – A slow build of tension, the creaking forest, the looming darkness, and lightsabres drawn.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

The Jedi line up.

The Acolyte Review –

Well, last week, we took a turn that I had not expected as we dived back into the past with Destiny. It was an episode full of mysticism and likely an unreliable narrator or two. It was an unexpected detour, but now we are back on the hunt because Jedi are falling like flies, and there is a new evil on the rise. Which, of course, is your average Saturday night in the Old Republic.  

So, to set the scene, we arrive on the forested planet of Khofar, where the Wookie Jedi Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) is located. Unfortunately for him, he is next on Mae’s (Amandla Stenberg) hit list as she targets all the Jedi involved with whatever happens on her home planet. Back on Coursaunt, Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) and the other Jedi have also noticed the pattern. But Sol (Lee Jung-Jae) convinces them to send him and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) out to get Mae because she knows things the Jedi Order desperately needs to know. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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House of the Dragon: A Son for A Son – TV Review

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TL;DR – An episode full of dread and tension as grief moves way to violence and the chaos that walks in its wake.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this episode.

Warning – Scenes in this episode may cause distress.

Winterfell.

House of the Dragon Review –

Well, it is time to jump back into the Game of Thrones universe with the next season of House of the Dragon. You can read our review for Season One, but mostly, it was a season filled with grand heights that were crushed by trying to take in too large a time frame over such a short episode run. Well, with things starting to slow down and all the major players in place, I am ready to see how they will work from here.     

So to set the scene, after the Greens mobilised in Driftmark and the Blacks in The Black Queen. Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’arcy) sent her children Prince Jacaerys “Jace” Velaryon (Harry Collett) and Prince Lucerys “Luke” Velaryon (Elliot Grihault) to deliver messages to the great houses. While on that trip, Luke is set upon by Prince Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), and as they dance in the storm, there is a crushing blow of defeat, and Luke is killed in a moment of over-exuberance. A child is dead, murdered, and now there is no hope for peace. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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