Author Archives: tldrmoviereviews

Map-It: Civilization VI: Rise and Fall Expansion

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TL;DR – We continue to chart Civilization VI as we dive into the new expansion pack and map out all the new civilizations.

Rise and Fall banner

 

Map-It –

For today’s map, we looking at the new Rise and Fall expansion for Civilization VI. So we are including everything in the base game of Civilization VI, as well as what was included in the Poland, Viking, Australia, Persia/Macedonia, Nubia, and South East Asia DLC packs, and today we are adding upon that the Rise and Fall expansion pack. If you would like to see our original map looking at the base game you can Click Here, if you would like to see the cities for each civ in the base game Click Here. A big thanks to everyone over at Civfanatics who helped by collate all this information in their Features Thread. Now there are going to be a number of large images after the page break, so if you are on a mobile device and need to watch your data, now is the time to jump onto Wifi.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: The War Within, The War Without  

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TL;DR – The season is hurtling towards the season finale and today is about putting all our ducks in a row waiting for next week’s growing dilemma.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

The War Without, The War Within

Review –

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the first season of Star Trek Discovery, and that today’s episode is the penultimate entry for the season. Now, this more than any episode this season was all about getting everything ready for what I am assuming is going to be a massive season finale. Which is good because you can see where it is going in the future, but does leave this being one of the weaker episodes this season, but given the strength of the season it still is a fascinating one to watch. Now as always, we will be going into depth with the episode, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Movie Review – The Cloverfield Paradox (God Particle)

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TL;DR – Great casting, an interesting premise, and a fascinating history behind it, but there was something that just didn’t work The Cloverfield Paradox, and honestly it left me feeling a bit meh at the end.

Score – 2 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

The Cloverfield Paradox


Review –

So back in the day in the olden times of far way 2008, a little film called Cloverfield exploded onto the scene. Now I was not a big fan of it, but ‘found footage’ films are not really something I like so that was no real fault of the film itself. There were talks of a sequel but nothing ever came about in the years that followed, and then one day 10 Cloverfield Lane (see review) kind of appeared in 2016 with almost no promotion and it was amazing, one of our Top Films of 2016. So given there was some similarities but also differences between the two films that preceded The Cloverfield Paradox there have been a lot of discussions as to what their relationship was. Are they all connected together, or are they more like an anthology series, for example, American Horror Story? We today we get the answer … well, sort of, when the sequel to both films dropped on Netflix with no warning. So let’s dive in and take a look.

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TV Review – The Good Place: Season 2

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TL;DR – Season Two took the series in a fascinating direction, that left you wondering where the series would go next. It puts the human in humanities.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Good Place

Review –

I have to be honest that I was a latecomer to The Good Place, I had heard about it in passing of course, but Season One just wasn’t really accessible for me, and when Season Two started and was on Netflix I was snowed under with other projects. Then one day I had a couple of hours free so I watched the first couple of episodes to see what all the fuss was about, and in true Netflix binge style I has soon watched all of Season One and what was available of Season Two and couldn’t believe I had to wait a week for the next episode. So now that Season Two is over, we are going to take a look back at Michael Schur’s sophomore’s outing. Now because we are looking at the season as a whole, there will be [SPOILERS] for all of Season Two and of course Season One, so if you have not watched either season can I recommend that you go binge watch everything and then come back.

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Movie Review – The Shape of Water

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TL;DR – A compelling film that pulls you in with its content and visual style, and then used it to tell a story of a world not that dissimilar from today.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

The Shape of the Water

Review –

So today we are looking at a Guillermo del Toro’s monster film, ok wait no that is too broad a category. Ok a Guillermo del Toro’s monster film featuring Doug Jones, ok no that is still too many, Ok a Guillermo del Toro’s monster film featuring Doug Jones as a water monster … seriously still. Now, of course, I kid because all of these films are visually stunning and some of the most fascinating stories in modern cinema, indeed I still think about the ending of Pan’s Labyrinth. So today we are going to unpack Guillermo del Toro’s latest film The Shape of Water which is up for a fantastic 13 Oscars at the moment.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: What’s Past is Prologue

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TL;DR – Tonight’s episode takes the twist from last week and ploughs forward at 100km an hour

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

What's Past is Prologue banner

Review –

So right out of the gate, I have to say that last week’s episode Vaulting Ambition (see review) completely caught me off guard. Lorca’s (Jason Isaacs) reveal was such a masterful stroke on the part of the writers, it was a surprise but it was also hiding in plain sight all the time. That is such a difficult thing to nail, especially when you were setting it up all the way back in Context is for Kings (see review). So it is in the afterglow of that reveal that we start this week’s episode, the continuation of our now four episode Mirror Universe arc, where we discover a number of things, including that I was completely wrong last week and that reactor is totally not Romulan.

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Movie Review – Padmaavat (Padmavati, पद्मावती)

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TL;DR – A fascinating but also a quite difficult film, great acting, but only one-dimensional characters, with a very mixed ending

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

Padmaavat

Review –

So back in 2017, I pushed myself to go see more non-western films and while it was a laudable goal, it didn’t pan out as much as I would have liked. Well, 2018 is a new year, and so let’s take another stab at this, and well there was no better place to start than with one of the most controversial films I have seen since maybe The Interview (see review). A leading politician in India demanded people assault the director, sets have been burnt down, death threats have been made, even riots at screenings and well some people have really got to understand what the Streisand Effect is. Now before we get into the film review proper I did want to preface this review with a couple of provisos, for better or worse I am approaching this film as an outsider, as I am a white guy who is not a practitioner of any of the religions depicted nor a decedent of any of the ethnic groups in this film. Now this means that I am likely missing a lot of the historical and cultural contexts that the film is using as shorthand. But also, I have no particular want to see one side viewed in a certain way, so impartial external observer and what not. So let’s dive into probably one of the more interesting films I have seen recently, for good and bad reasons.

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Movie Review – Sweet Country

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TL;DR – Sweet Country is a film I think more people need to see because it confronts our nation’s past and helps contextualise the grief of a people.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

Sweet Country

Review –
There are some films that are so perfectly timed with their release that they capture a moment in time. We saw that last year with Wonder Woman (see review) and we are likely to see it in a months’ time with Black Panther, and if there was ever a film that Australians needed to watch at the moment it is Sweet Country. It is a film that is both bleak and beautiful, fascinating and demoralising, a difficult film to watch, but also one that everyone needs to see.

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Explore It – The Sunshine Coast Hinterland

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TL;DR – Today I explore the winding roads and mountain towns of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland

The Sunshine Coast Hinterland

Article –

During 2017 I received some bad news and the best way to deal with bad news is always to run away from your problems … ok no that is a bad idea, but if you are going to run away from your problems you can do worse than running away to the beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland. So let’s hop on the Bruce Highway and head north from Brisbane and have a look at a little slice of heaven here on Earth. Also, if you are on mobile, now if the time to check that you are on wifi.

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Movie Review – Call Me By Your Name (Chiamami Col Tuo Nome)

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TL;DR – A beautifully films film, with a great cast, but the story does not always work for me

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

Call Me by Your Name

Review –

So I have to admit this was a hard film to track down near me, which is why this review is quite late compared to many others, however, after an hour trip into town I finally got the chance to give Call Me By Your Name a watch. Well as my father never says, better late than never, so let’s dive into the world of the Italian countryside in the 1980s.

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