Category Archives: 2019 Reviews

TV Review – Black Summer: Season One

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TL;DR – There are moments of real tension but in the end, it fell a bit flat.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Black Summer: Season One. Image Credit; Netflix.

Review –

Zombies are a concept that and yes I am going to go there, has been done to death. There have been so many different permeations of the living dead and the impact that they would have on the world it is hard to come into this space and have anything new to say. Well, today we take a look at a show that is trying to find some new space, even if it does not always succeed.

So to set the scene, it has been a couple of weeks since the first infection and society is in the state of collapse. There is still hope that the government can contain the spread of the zombies as fighter jets fly overhead and the military is still working on evacuations. We meet Rose (Jaime King) as she is trying to get her family to the evacuation point so they can be taken to the stadium and airlifted out to safety. Well, all of that falls apart as the soldiers discovered her husband’s wounds and drive off with their daughter leaving them behind. All the commotion draws the zombies from nearby and soon those who are left like Kyungson (Christine Lee), Lance (Kelsey Flower), and Ryan (Mustafa Alabssi) have to flee as chaos breaks out. Broken into groups everyone tries to make it to the safety of the stadium. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Movie Review – The Silence

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TL;DR – This is a film that has unfortunately come out after several other films have done the same premise but better in every respect and because of that this can’t help but feel lacklustre in comparison     

Score – 2 out of 5 stars

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

The Silence. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Sometimes the film business can be tough, where forces outside of your control can completely derail your project through no fault of your own. Today we look at just such a film that in many ways just had the back luck of not being the first one out of the gate. However, more than just that we look at a film that suffers from inconsistencies throughout which really shows when you compare it to those that have come before.

So to set the scene, we open in an uncharted cave system under the Appalachian Mountains where a group of explorers are trying to chart it. When suddenly after breaking through as a rock formation they disturb what was lurking underneath and they are instantly killed by a swarm of creatures that fly out into the night sky. Meanwhile, Ally (Kiernan Shipka) is on her way home after she was mocked because she is deaf and is also frustrated because her parents Hugh (Stanley Tucci) and Kelly (Miranda Otto) are coddling her in response the accident that took her hearing. During the night she is woken up by her parents as something is happening, a terrorist attack, chemical weapons, no it is the Veps and they are killing everything and everyone in their paths.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Through the Valley of Shadows

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TL;DR – In our darkest moments we show our true strength or failure, and be glad we had Pike on our side.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Through the Valley of Shadows. Image Credit: CBS Studios.

Review –

Things are starting to really hit the fan in Star Trek Discovery as a secret sentient AI is positioning itself to wipe out all sentient life and it has started using nanites to replicate real people. That’s a problem, a real problem, a ‘resistance is futile’ kind of problem. But never fear because the red lights are back and this week brings us revelations of the future and connections with the past.

So to set the scene, with the knowledge that Control now has 50% of the sphere’s data and that there is no more Red Angel to help because her time crystal was destroyed in last week’s Perpetual Infinity, everyone is a little bit on edge. No one more than Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) who watched her mum come back from the dead, be mostly disinterested in her, and then get sucked back into the future with no hope of returning all in a space of a day. That is going to be upsetting. But another of the red bursts has emerged this time over the Klingon planet Boreth, a sore spot for Ash (Shazad Latif) as it means reconnecting with L’Rell (Mary Chieffo) now the Mother of the Klingon Empire. As well as this, a Section 31 ship had an odd transmission and Michael is desperate to find Control and this might be the way to do it. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.     

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Movie Review – Unicorn Store

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TL;DR – A delightful film about the tension between dreams and reality and how they don’t always add up   

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

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

Unicorn Store. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

One of the things that is becoming rarer and rarer these days is going into a film without any idea what to expect. Well, today I got to experience one of those rare moments as I turned on Netflix and stepped into a world of glitter and paint and every colour in the rainbow with no idea what I was getting myself into.

So to set the scene, we open with a montage of Kit (Brie Larson) growing up, discovering her life, discovering her joy for art, only to have it come crashing down when she fails out of Art College and has to go back to live with her mother Gladys (Joan Cusack) and her dad Gene (Bradley Whitford). This of course sets of a period of depression as Kit fails to find purpose in her life, while her parents try to help, like introducing her to Kevin (Karan Soni), but it is not very successful. In frustration, she joins a temp agency where she placed in an advertising firm, a place where creativity goes to die. When one day she gets a letter to come visit The Store and she finds The Salesman (Samuel L. Jackson) waiting because he has the one thing she has always wanted a Unicorn.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Perpetual Infinity

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TL;DR – Um wait, what, um did it just get all Borg up in here?

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Perpetual Infinity. Image Credit: CBS Studios.

Review –

This is an episode of reconnecting, finding purpose and watching that all fall apart because that is how life is. This week we look upon the precipice where nearly everything is falling into place and we discover that the big bad might not be as unfamiliar as we once thought.

So to set the scene, at the end of last week’s Red Angel Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) was brought back to life as the trap the set to capture the Red Angel worked. Only to discover that the Red Angel was not Michael (I mean causality theory should have let you see that one coming) but was instead her mother Gabrielle (Sonja Sohn). Today we get to see it all happen when one moment Mike (Kenric Green), Gabrielle, and Michael (Arista Arhin) were sharing dinner and the next thing the Klingon’s arrive. Gabrielle jumps into the Red Angel suit in the hopes of jumping back an hour to warn them but is instead thrown 900 years into the future at which point her suit malfunctions because no matter what she does, it keeps bring her back to that point 900 years in the future. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Movie Review – Shazam!

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TL;DR – By finding a focus, Shazam! shows that DC can really make great films when they focus on something, in this case, the role of family.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene

Shazam! Image Credit: Warner Brothers.

Review –

By now, I am sure you have heard about the issues with the DC Extended Universe, in the race to get that big multi-film spanning Cinema Empire they jumped the gun too early and rushed forward before finding out if people wanted what they were giving. During its First Run, there was only one film that was both a critical and commercial success, Wonder Woman, this was because it had its own heart and was not just here to push a cinematic universe, and it has something to say. Since then we have had Aquaman that while not perfect was at least trying to do something interesting, and today we get a look at the next film that found that fun is fine, but heart is more important.

So to set the scene, we open as a young Thad (Ethan Pugiotto) is on a car trip with his unpleasant family in the 1970s when he is sucked into another realm run by Shazam (Djimon Hounsou) the last of the council of wizards left. He is trying to find someone pure of heart to be his successor, but alas Thad is not the one. Fast forward to December 2018 when we find Billy Batson (Asher Angel) helping the police out, but it a ruse to get into their computer because he is trying to find his mum that he lost as a child. Well, it didn’t work out and Billy is put with new foster parents Victor (Cooper Andrews) and Rosa (Marta Milans), not that he plans to stay long. However, everything changes when a subway trip leads him to a dark cave and he yells out the word Shazam becoming someone completely else (Zachary Levi).

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Red Angel

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TL;DR –  It starts on an emotional beat and stays there up until the very last moments.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Red Angel. Image Credit: CBS Studios.

Review –

From the very first episode this season Brother there has been one defining question this season “who is the Red Angel?” well tonight we find out and while I am sure someone out there picked it, I did not see it coming at all.

So to set the scene, we begin the episode where Project Daedalus left off, where Airiam (Hannah Cheesman) was killed to save Control getting access to the data she had downloaded. At the start of today’s episode her body is recovered, her memories deleted, and finally, a memorial service was held where people shared their fondest memories and Saru (Doug Jones) sang as her body was laid to rest. There is a real threat out there and we have to stop it but now Section 31’s Leland (Alan Van Sprang) and Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) are willing to let slip that the Red Angel suit was theirs, or at least it started off that way. It was built when a new time war was heating up with the Klingons a few years ago that ended when both sides destroyed each other’s work. Oh and just a small thing that in one of Airiam’s data files was the scan of the Red Angel and it matches Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green).   

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TV Review – The OA Part 1 and 2

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TL;DR – This is a show that entrances you and then just when you think you have everything worked out it shifts the game completely and you are left in awe with what just happened.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

The OA Part 1 and 2. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

I have tried to keep up with all the new sci-fi shows dropping on Netflix, but occasionally one of them slips through the cracks, and this week we are looking at one of those with the brilliantly odd The OA. When a friend highly suggested that I give it a watch I thought I would get it an episode or two to see how it was and then at some point during Part 2 I looked up to see that it was 3 am and I truly wondered if I should watch the two last episodes then and there, so that should give you an indication as to how good the show is.

So to set the scene, we open with a rainy day as people drive over a bridge when someone records a woman in white running across to the edge of the bridge and then falling off into the water below. She survives, but won’t tell anybody her name or where she is from. Meanwhile in a small town, in a housing estate that was never finished, Nancy (Alice Krige) and Able (Scott Wilson) are going about their day when someone sends them a link to something online and they watch at their long lost daughter Prairie (Brit Marling) jump off a bridge. They race to her hospital, retelling the story of how their daughter went missing one day seven years ago, they race into her hospital bed where the woman in front of them goes by The OA not Prairie and does not recognise who just walked in, that is until she touches Nancy’s face. For you see when Prairie was taken she was blind but now she can see. Now, from this point onwards, we will be looking at Part 1 and Part 2 as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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TV Review – The Orville: Lasting Impressions

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TL;DR – It looks at the addictions we could have, to objects, to people, to the past, and how sometimes we need help to get us out of it.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Orville: Lasting Impressions. Image Credit: Fox Network.

Review –

As we continue through Season Two of The Orville, tonight we take a step back from the big galaxy-ending conflicts to take a smaller quieter look at the past. However, while this is a smaller story, it does not mean that it doesn’t pack a punch. It explores what it means to be alive, what it means to get lost, and what it means to not be able to give up.

So to set the scene, in the far future of The Orville there is a quaint moment when a time capsule near Albany is dug up from 2015. In the time capsule, there were all sort of artefacts from the time period and such a diverse collection that Dr Sherman (Tim Russ) is taking them to be displayed in a museum. However, there is one area where they are at a loss, in the capsule, there is a mobile phone, but the battery is long been depleted. Well, the crew of the Orville will not stand for that so they work together and finally get all the power back revealing the phone was owned by Laura (Leighton Meester) who left a message for whoever would find it and who instantly captivates Gordon (Scott Grimes). Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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TV Review – Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Therapist

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TL;DR – It take a moment amongst all the shenanigans to really explore some of the characters.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Therapist. Image Credit: NBC Studios.

Review –

There is a certain joy that comes with seeing one of your favourite shows come back from the brink, but there is also a little hesitation. Will they be able to capture that magic again? Will they evolve as a show or will they keep everything the same to keep the people who push for the reinstatement happy. Well, today we get to see a character have a major realisation about their past.   

So to set the scene, Charles (Joe Lo Truglio) comes to Jake (Andy Samberg) with a juicy potential murder. A Dr Tate (David Paymer) has come to them with a concern about some of his patients, for you see a husband had called him out of the blue and acted out of character and then they did not turn up to couples counselling. Meanwhile, a parcel was mailed to Amy (Melissa Fumero) that was clearly meant for Terry (Terry Crews) and Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) invited Rosa (Stephanie Beatriz) and her new girlfriend to dinner only to get a surprising rejection. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead

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