Monthly Archives: September 2024

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Eldest – TV Review

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TL;DR – It does still feel like we are spinning our wheels a little bit, but this episode did work a bit better, if for no other reason than the return of old friends.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Lindon on a map of Middle Earth.

The Rings of Power Review –

For most of the start of the second season of The Rings of Power, I was riding on a high. It was just such a joy to be back in this world and exploring Middle Earth again. However, last week’s The Eagle and the Sceptre put a slight pause on the festivities as it bogged down in storylines that didn’t help push it forward. The question we look at this week is: Was that just a blip in the road, or was it the start of a trend?

So, to set the scene, after hearing worrying silence from Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards), a party of elves has been sent south from Lindon to see what might have happened and to make sure Sauron (Charlie Vickers) has not established influence there. Spoiler alert: he already has. However, it is not Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) who leads this expedition; it is Elrond (Robert Aramayo) who is profoundly suspicious of the ring that now lives on Galadriel’s finger. He fears that it will be a source of evil, but it might just be saving their lives. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Sector 36 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fascinating exploration of the interception of power, corruption, and serving the community, and how all of that can be shaped by self-interest.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains Scenes that may cause distress.

Mission Children Posters.

Sector 36 Review –

Corruption is one of the worst sins that a public official could do because their job is to uphold the people under their care, and when they obfuscate that sacred oath for money, power, or friendship, everyone suffers. Corruption can happen anywhere, but what happens when you target the most vulnerable members of society who have even less of a voice than ever? Well, you have a recipe for disaster.   

So, set the scene, in Section 36 of Delhi, works Sub Inspector Ram Charan Pandey (Deepak Dobriyal), a thoroughly corrupt police officer. Who is more interested in lecturing people on the Third Law of Motion than actually helping people. But when a girl’s hand turns up in the sewers, it puts into focus that there is a killer on the loose, not that the police want that. But that is what Prem Singh (Vikrant Massey) is doing, focusing on the most vulnerable members of society. He would have continued to get away with it, given the police’s incompetence, but one day, he tries to take the daughter of someone important, and ignorance is no longer an option.  

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Officer Black Belt (Mudosilmugwan/무도실무관) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While the action scenes hit, unfortunately, we get a tonally confused film that never quite finds its feet.

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.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Police Car in the rain.

Officer Black Belt Review –

Today, we are looking at a fascinating film that, for all its strengths, never quite came together. Conceptionally, you have an interesting story, the scenario is solid, your leading man is charismatic, and you are exploring an essential area in society. However, even with that strong foundation, what happens when you don’t land the tone? Well, that is what we will explore today.

So, to set the scene, Lee Jung-do (Kim Woo-Bin), who loves the competition that comes with sporting achievement, will try every martial art, race to deliver food orders, even dabble in some esports, anything he can find ‘fun’. He works so hard at this that he has multiple black belts across numerous disciplines. When Jung-do saves a police officer from being attacked by a former prisoner, he is propositioned by Kim Sun-Min (Kim Sung-Kyun) in the Seoul Probation Office to become a Martial Arts Officer to help monitor released felons and intervene if they re-offend. It is a job where you sit around, not doing much, interspersed with high action.

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Runt – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a delightfully fun film that gets a bit preachy at times and a little unhinged in places.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and end-credit stinger.

Runt – I paid to watch this film

A dog running through an agility course.

Runt Review –

There are a lot of things that can make a film Australian: its setting, its production, and the governmental jump ropes it needs to skip through to get funding. There are some films that, even if you removed the drone shots, pans over wheat fields, and set it in a small rural town, you would still know it was Australian, just because of the vibes. Today, we look at a film that is just that, Australian to its very core.

So, to set the scene, the Shearer family lives in the small Western Australian town of Upson Downs. One day, the daughter Annie (Lily LaTorre) found a stray mutt called Runt (Squid). She brought him home, and he soon became an integral part of the family. However, the town has been in drought for 375 days, and local rich snob Earl Robert-Barren (Jack Thompson) took all the local river water for his dam. Life is tight for the Shearers, with Bryan (Jai Courtney) and Susie (Celeste Barber) struggling to pay the overdraft on their overdraft, and her brother Max’s (Jack LaTorre) stunt video channel has not really taken off. However, one day, when Annie sees the canine agility course at the local fair with a cash prize, she sees a way to help her family. The only problem is that Runt does not like to perform when anyone but Annie is watching.

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Transformers One – Movie Review

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TL;DR – By taking the series back to the basics, they found the core of what makes Transformers so compelling.

Rating: 4 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.

The surface of Cybertron.

Transformers One Review –

If there has been one modern series that I have had such a mixed experience with, it is Transformers. For every Bumblebee, we get a Dark of the Moon and more. But thanks to those cartoons of my youth, including Beast Wars, I still have a deep fondness for the series and always turn up to see if this is the film where they nail it. Today, we are shifting things up with a new animated film that goes all the way back to the start, to a time when there were no Autobots and Decepticons.  

So, to set the scene, a long time ago, on a planet far, far, away, we are introduced to two miners deep in the depths of Cybertron. For millenniums, Energon ran freely on the planet. Still, after a disastrous battle with the killed all the Primes bar Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), and the Matrix of Leadership was lost, the wells dried up, and now nearly everyone has to delve into the dangerous mines to keep the city of Iocon running. While Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) is just a miner who does not even have a cog to let them transform, he dreams of finding the Matrix of Leadership and saving the city. This gets him in trouble quite a bit, and he often needs to get bailed out by his best friend, D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry). But when the pair get banished to the basement depths of the city, they stumble across an old beacon being unknowingly kept by B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key). They have a choice: do nothing or risk going onto the dangerous surface and changing their lives forever.     

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Speak No Evil (2024) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Unnerving, unsettling, uncomfortable, and unpleasant, but given that was the intention of the film, I then have to say that it achieved what it set out to do.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Louise tries to smother a scream.

Speak No Evil Review –

Well … phew … wow … today we look at a challenging film to review because I don’t think I have ever been this stressed watching a movie before. I am sorry for anyone next to me at the screening from the constant clicking of my pen. However, this stress was not a by-product of the film but the full intent of the filmmakers, which is what we will explore today.  

So, to set the scene, Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis), Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy), and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) are all on a slightly stressful trip to the Italian countryside. Ben ripped his family from their lives for a new opportunity in London, only to lose his job when his company closed. Agnes has struggled with attachment issues, and it is clear that the parent’s relationship is under immense strain. However, one day, they meet up with Paddy (James McAvoy), his partner Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and child Ant (Dan Hough). The two families have a completely different vibe, but they bond in the face of Danish snobbery. At the end of the trip, Paddy invites the Daltons to visit them in the West Country, and they take them up on the offer. One long drive into the deep countryside, they come across a house full of possibilities, but it is also clear that something is not right.

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My Old Ass – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that swims through the nostalgia of youth when significant changes are about to come, and you don’t know what the future might hold

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Elliott (39) talks to Elliott (18)

My Old Ass Review –

Today, we look at a slightly sweet film that tries to ride the line between a bombastic juvenile comedy and a quieter coming-of-age work. It is a very fine line to walk because there is not a lot of safe ground between those two points. Indeed, I know people who have entirely disagreed on where this film landed. I think I am more in that first category, but that might be just because this film is laser-targeted on who I am.

So, to set the scene, Elliott Labrant (Maisy Stella) has just turned 18, and in just 22 days, she is going to leave the life she has lived on a lake in Canada harvesting cranberries on her family’s farm to move to the big city. But before she leaves, she wants to have one more trip with her friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) out to an island on the lake to camp, chat, and, oh, maybe dabble in some hallucinogenic mushroom. While her friends see many interesting things like rabbit orchestra, nothing quite prepares Elliott to look over and see her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) looking back at her. They talked about life and love, and her older self warned her not to fall in love with Chad. “Well, that was an odd trip”, thought Elliott, until she found Chad (Percy Hynes White) working on her dad’s farm as a summer farmhand. Oh, and someone put a new contact ‘My Old Ass’ in her phone.

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The Wild Robot – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a stunningly beautiful film that hit me with a wave of emotions as if I were standing by the seaside watching them roll in.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

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

Roz surrounded by butterflies.

The Wild Robot Review –

It is school holiday time here in Australia, and that usually means a web of family films gets unleashed into the cinemas. Many are quite average fare, just looking to entertain the little ones for an hour or two in air conditioning. However, every now and again, you find something exceptional, and this is what we will be looking at today.

So, to set the scene, in the potentially distant future, a bunch of otters find a very peculiar item washed up on shore. It is a box with some contraptions. After some exploration, they accidentally set it off to discover it was a ROZZUM unit 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o) personal assistance robot. She is now activated and is not looking for a task. The only problem is that she does not speak wild critter, and they are all afraid of her. But when a bear attacks, she accidentally crashes into a goose nest, leaving only a single egg behind. Roz has to look past her programming with the help of Fink (Pedro Pascal), a local fox who would be happy to eat the issue away and Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara), an opossum who knows about motherhood. Because the little Brightbill (Kit Connor/Boone Storm) needs to eat, swim, and fly, all before winter sets in. Because if he doesn’t leave on migration, he will die.

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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: The Eagle and the Sceptre – TV Review

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TL;DR – After blasting through our first couple of episodes with flying colours, we reach our first pause as we explore the last of the opening trilogy.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Durin and Disa connect.

The Rings of Power Review –

In our jump back into the world of The Rings of Power, we have visited dwarves, elves, harfoots, magicians and orcs. However, there has been one major play from last season that has been surprisingly absent from the proceedings, Númenor. Well, today, in the last of the opening trilogy, we fix that as we spend time in the island kingdom on the cusp of a significant change.

So, to set the scene, after Elendil (Lloyd Owen) was forced to leave his son Isildur (Maxim Baldry) in the blight left by Mt Doom to get Queen Regent Míriel (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) back to Númenor, he thought all was lost. However, never bet against survival in The Lord of the Rings when you have a horse on your side. But as they arrive back in Númenor, they discover that the High King has died, and Pharazôn (Trystan Gravelle) might be coveting a new, more important job. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.       

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Not Today – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that explores the subject of suicide, as two people are brought together on what could be the worst day of their lives.  

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: if you are concerned, Lifeline Australia runs a confidential 24-hour hotline, which you can call inside Australia on 13 11 14.

Mamta quizzes Aliah.

Not Today Review –

Today, we look at a film that explores a very sensitive topic: suicide. It is a subject that is rarely tackled well in the media and in society. Given that this is such a difficult space to work in, how would you tackle a film where this subject is not only referenced but is central to the story? Well, that is what we are going to be looking at today.   

So, to set the scene, Aliah Rupawala (Rucha Inamdar) is training under Mamta (Vibhawari Deshpande) to be a suicide prevention counsellor. This is a profoundly difficult job not only because you are trying to intervein with people on their darkest day about engaging with actions that can’t be walked back from. But also because of the emotional toll it can take on the receptionists themselves. It is Aliah’s first day, and she has had to deal with learning a new environment, making prank calls, trying to waste their time, and more. But just as it is about to come to an end, she gets a message from Ashwin Mathur (Harsh Chhaya) that may turn her life upside-down.

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