Category Archives: 2017 Reviews

TV Review – Game of Thrones: Dragonstone

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TL;DR – Dragonstone moves everyone into place and sets the scene for what is to come, whilst really trying to get you to give up your lunch in the process

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Game of Thrones - Dragonstone Banner

Review –

We’re in the penultimate season of Game of Thrones and goodness what a ride it’s been so far we’ve had the highs of the Battle of the Bastards, and the lows of Dorne, and everything in between. But now after six seasons, things are starting to fall into place, pieces that have been moving for seasons are now ready to collide, and boy are we looking forward to it.

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Movie Review – Baby Driver

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TL;DR – If you love the art of filmmaking, or cars pulling off impossible yet possible stunts, or well make films, then this is one for you

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Baby Driver. Image Credit: Sony.

Review –

Today I’m doing something I have not had the chance to do before, see an Edgar Wright film up on the big screen. I have been a fan of his work for a while now, I would put Hot Fuzz on my top ten films of all-time list. However, I have never been able to see one of his films up on the big screen, well depending on how you classify Ant-Man (review). So as I walked into the screening there was a giddiness that I have not experienced before, but also some hesitation. Could I have built this film up so much that it would never live up to the hype?  Well to make sure I was an impartial viewer, and not wearing rose-tinted glasses, I brought a friend along with me to keep me grounded. So what did I think? Well, let’s get started, but come on you already saw the score.

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Movie Review – Spider-Man: Homecoming

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TL;DR – A brilliant relaunch of a much-loved character, which tells an origin story without telling an origin story

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

P.S. – There is a Mid and Post Credit scene.

Spider-Man Homecoming. Image Credit: Marvel/Disney/Sony.

Review –

So here we are with our first big standalone Spider-Man feature now that he is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Before we go on, we should probably take a moment and talk about how amazing it is that we actually got Homecoming at all. Indeed a lot had to fall into place to make this work. I’ve not seen companies work like this, and as well as this since, well maybe since Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Props have to be given to both Sony and Marvel to being able to put aside their differences and making this work, because that would not have been an easy set of negotiations, but they have made the integration almost seamless. So let us begin as we swing into the world of high school proms, alien weapons, explosions, and award conversations about life changes when you become a teenager.

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TV Review – Doctor Who: Season 10

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TL;DR – From highs to lows, the good thing is that what was compelling this season, was the companions.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Doctor Who

Review –

So here we are at the end of Doctor Who’s Season Ten and we have had almost all of Peter Capaldi’s final stories, as Steven Moffat’s time at the helm draws to an end. So today we are going to look at how well the season went as a whole, its highs and lows and everything in between. Now because we are looking at the season as a whole there will be some [SPOILERS] here for the whole season, including the season finale.

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Movie Review – The House (2017)

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TL;DR – One of the funnier films I have seen this year, a great example of what happens when fools rush in when angels dare to tread.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

The House. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review –

What would you do to avoid crushing your daughter’s dreams to go to college, how far will you go? That is the basic premise behind The House, in this case referring to the fact that in casinos ‘The House’ always wins. So can they make this truly silly premise work, all will it crash and burn, well let’s take a look.

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TV Review – Cleverman: Revival

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TL;DR – Season 2 opens with a bang, leaves you wanting more, and fearing the worst.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Cleverman

Review –

Wow what an opener, I mean we loved Season One of Cleverman, but I don’t think anything prepared us for how this first episode of Season Two was going to play out. So to remind everyone of where we left off last season, Koen (Hunter Page-Lochard) had rallied all the remaining residents of The Zone to fight the coming Containment Authority. His brother Waruu (Rob Collins) rejected his family and his people to stand with Jarrod Slade (Iain Glen) who is trying to unlock Hairy DNA and the power it possesses and that creep probably did something to his wife Charlotte’s (Frances O’Connor) pregnancy. Finally, Araluen (Tasma Walton) was able to escape the brothel she had been imprisoned in after killing the minister in charge. All through the season we were building up to the conflict, Koen was understanding and accepting his role as the Cleverman, and then bang season two opens and Koen is dead in a body bag, and you know nothing is safe anymore. So in our review today we are going to be covering all the aspects of the first episode of Season Two, so there will be [SPOILERS] for those who have not seen it yet. If you have not seen Revival yet, you can watch it easily on ABC IView, or SundanceTV, and you should go do that right now.
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Movie Review – Okja

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TL;DR – Beautiful, moving, devastating, unsettling, emotional, heart-breaking & powerful

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

P.S. – There is a post-credit scene

Okja. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Wow, just wow, for a long time Netflix has been moving into the movie distribution industry, but so far they really have not put out anything truly remarkable, focusing more on Adam Sandler type movies, when they actually get around to promoting them. So when some friends in the industry mentioned that Okja was the real thing, I was surprised, then I found out that it was made by Bong Joon-ho, whose Snowpiercer was a fascinating film, even if I did have a couple of issues with it. So I loaded up Netflix, put out my lunch, and wondered what we were going to see, and I can honestly say I was not prepared for the feels, in any way shape and form.

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TV Review – GLOW: Season 1

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TL;DR – An oddly compelling, yet still really raw look at creating a women’s wrestling TV show in the 1980s

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

GLOW

Review –

Wow, this came out of nowhere, the first I knew anything about was an odd email alert from Netflix, and even from that all you could tell was that this was something vaguely 80s related. Indeed, I didn’t even know that GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) was actually a real thing until I started doing some research for this review. So I came into GLOW with very little idea of what I was getting myself into, and now that I have finished it, well I can honestly say that this has left a lasting impression.

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Movie Review – Cars 3 and Lou

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TL;DR – It starts really formulaic but then it hits you right in the feels

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

P.S. – There is a post credit scene

Cars 3. Image Credit: Pixar/Disney.

Review –
Cars have always been the odd one out of the Pixar films, some found the cartoon cars charming, others heralded it the beginning of the end of Pixar, for me I just found them to be ok, nothing more, and nothing less, the Thor’s of the Pixar catalogue. So it has been six years since Cars 2 a movie didn’t end up seeing because, to be honest, it didn’t sound all that good. This led to a bit of apprehension before seeing Cars 3, was it a chance for Pixar to show that they had learned from their mistakes, or was this just simply another toy cash grab, because Cars merchandise has been a real boon for Disney. Well, can it be both?

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Movie Review – Despicable Me 3

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TL;DR – It has its moments, but it lost a lot of the charm of the first two films

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Despicable Me 3. Image Credit: Illumination.

Review –

So I should get this out of the way right from the start that I do really like the Despicable Me films, they have a beautiful charm to them, and they have a story that cuts right to the heart of what it is to be a family. Now part of this is probably because I don’t have children which means that I have thankfully not been so inundated with Minions to the point of involuntarily hating the colour yellow. So I came into Despicable Me 3 on a high note after just seeing the great Cars 3 and I was looking forward to another great entry, but well, I don’t think we quite got there, unfortunately.

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