Category Archives: 2019 Reviews

Movie Review – Destroyer

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TL;DR – This is a film that holds its cards very close to its chest but that makes the slow burn that much better   

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

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

Destroyer. Image Credit: Madman.

Review –

Okay … wow, this is a difficult film to parse because its structure and tone jump all over the place and it is a film guards its biggest conceit at all times. This also makes it a difficult film to review because there are vignettes throughout that I really like and really didn’t and it is hard to conceptualise that without immediately running into spoilers. However, that is what we will attempt to do.

So to set the scene, we open on Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) a detective in the LAPD who has clearly had a tough life, and is clearly worse for wear after a long night of drinking. She is arriving at a murder scene of a John Doe that had been shot multiple times. The police on site were not happy to see Erin, and even less so when she implies she knows who did it because she recognises the tattoo on the back of his neck and the money covered in die spread around the body as a warning. All of this is confirmed when we next see Erin at her office and she gets a letter with one of the dyed bills revealing a past that haunts her to this day.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Project Daedalus

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TL;DR –  This is both a beautiful episode and also a heartbreaking one, it also reveals all the cards Discovery has been holding.  

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Project Daedalus

Review –

As this season has progressed so far, it has felt like there were a number of disparate threads running through, and it was not entirely clear how, or if, they would all come together. Why is the Red Angel jumping through time and space? Why did it lead them to the Sphere? Why is it saving certain people? Why does Section 31 have so much power? What does Spock (Ethan Peck) have to do with all this? Today some if not all those questions are answered in a very interesting way.

So to set the scene, at the end of last week’s If Memory Serves, the crew of the USS Discovery had a choice to make. Do they hand Spock and Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) back to Section 31 and have them disassemble Spock’s mind, or become fugitives and technically commit treason. There is only one real choice. Well at the start of this week they are still on the run, but not without some allies, as a single shuttlecraft glides over a darkened hull of a ship running on low power. As the shuttle arrives Admiral Cornwell (Jayne Brook) steps out to begin her integration of Spock to work out just what the heck is going on. She has footage of Spock killing people, but her tests make it clear that he is telling the truth. Something is wrong, and she is pretty sure where to start, so it is time to give Section 31 a wakeup call. 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 – Triple Frontier

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TL;DR – While it has all the components for a good film, it feels like it is spending more of its time imitating than driving its own course.     

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

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

Triple Frontier. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

This is an interesting time for the action films, there are spaces where it is showing brand new filmmaking techniques, films that build tension as I have never seen, or simply shots where you go, how did they get that? Unfortunately, today I am not looking at a film like that, because today we review one of the most paint-by-numbers films I have seen in a very long time.   

So the set the scene, we open in Colombia where Pope (Oscar Isaac) works as an ‘independent observer’ helping the local police take down one of the local drug cartels. While there he becomes friendly with a local informant Yovanna (Adria Arjona) who lets him know how to get to Gabriel Martin Lorez (Reynaldo Gallegos) the local big bad. This is not a mission that he can pull off alone, nor does he want to involve the locals because they might tip his hand. So instead, he goes back to the States to recruit his old military Special Forces team. Redfly (Ben Affleck) now sells condos … badly and can barely keep his head above water after the divorce, Ironhead (Charlie Hunnam) spends all his time giving talks to military trainees, and his brother Ben (Garrett Hedlund) is now an MMA fighter, and Catfish (Pedro Pascal) can no longer fly planes after an incident. Together they go down to provide expert reconnaissance, and maybe a bit more than just that.    

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Movie Review – Hotel Mumbai

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TL;DR – This is an incredible, violent, and emotionally visceral film that will grab you in the first frame and not let go  

Score – I honestly don’t know how to score this.

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

Hotel Mumbai. Image Credit: Screen Australia.

Review –

In a now previous life, I taught international relations to university students. This is a large discipline and one of the areas we looked at was terrorism, which happens to be one of the most pressing security issues in the modern world, or not, it’s complicated. All of this meant that when I walked into the theatre to review this film I thought I had a pretty good handle on what I was about to see, as I was quite familiar with the 2008 Mumbai Attacks, and well I could not have been more wrong.

So to set the scene, we open with a boat slowly making its way into one of the many harbours on the Mumbai shoreline. On the boat are eight well-dressed young men who could be there for work in the financial capital of India, but immediately you know that is not the case. Each of them carries a large duffel bag and they are listing to someone give them instructions, directing them to different landmarks across the city. Meanwhile, across the city everyone else is just going through their day as normal, Arjun (Dev Patel) is trying to get his dastaar perfect as he gets ready for work at the Taj Hotel, Zahara (Nazanin Boniadi), her husband David (Armie Hammer), and their nanny Sally (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) are arriving at the hotel after a long flight and everyone is racing to get the room ready for her as her mother is a VIP, and the hotel head chef Hemant (Anupam Kher) is just trying to work out how to get everything done in such a short time. None of them knows the hell that is heading for them.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: If Memory Serves

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TL;DR –  In today’s episode the shoe finally drops and it is so much better for it.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: If Memory Serves. Image Credit: Netflix/CBS.

Review –

It is starting to get to the pointy half of the season and for the longest time, Star Trek Discovery has been holding their cards close to their chest. Which has meant that the last couple of episodes have been falling a little flat with me. Well today, not only do they fix that, they give us a hint of what is to come for the rest of the season, and I can say that I am very intrigued.

So to set the scene, and the end of last week’s Light and Shadows, we discovered two very important things. The first is that Spock (Ethan Peck) needs to go to Talos IV to get help and that Airiam (Hannah Cheesman) had been infected by something from the probe, oh and also that Section 31 can’t be trusted, but I think we knew that one already. Well as we start today’s episode the Starfleet admirals give Section 31 some clear orders in how they should recover Spock after Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh) outmaneuvers Leland (Alan van Sprang) showing just how integrated Section 31 is at this point (well will get to that a bit later). However, Pike (Anson Mount) is having none of that and knows a ruse when he sees it. While all of this is happening Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Spock finally make it to Talos IV only to find it is not quite what they thought it would be. 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 – The Orville: Blood of Patriots

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TL;DR – A much more mature episode that we have seen in the past looking at the fallout of war and what that does to people

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Orville: Blood of Patriots. Image Credit: Fox.

Review –

“War is hell” it is one of those phrases that gets thrown around all the time by people trying to sound profound, without a real understanding of what that phrase actually means. War means making difficult decisions, one that haunts you at night, ones where there is not clear right option, and ones where even if you are doing the right thing, it may have disastrous consequences. Today’s episode puts the crew in the middle of such a quandary where they have to weigh in the choice of saving a hero or protecting a peace.

So to set the scene, at the end of last week’s episode Identity Part 2, The Planetary Union barely fought off an invasion and only stopped it because the Krill, a mortal enemy, was convinced that there was a bigger threat at play. This week we start off with the news from Admiral Perry (Ted Danson) that after decades of trying the Krill are finally ready to start peace treaty negotiations. This is a big deal because the thought of peace after so many years of war is something everyone can feel. The Orville is sent to a neutral location to meet with a Krill ship to begin the opening prelude to maybe having a peace treaty. As they arrive, they give the Krill a bit of trust and approach with deflectors down only to discover that the Krill ship is firing on one of their own shuttles. The shuttle askes to land, and when it does the crew find Orrin (Mackenzie Astin) and his daughter Lana (Aily Kei) in the badly disabled ship with only basic survival rations left. The Krill demand that they return the man because he is a terrorist putting Ed (Seth MacFarlane) in a very difficult position. 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 – Captain Marvel

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TL;DR – This is a film filled with wonderful characters, fantastic action, and some of the best banter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.    

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Captain Marvel. Image Credit: Marvel.

Review –

It feels like it has been an eternity since Thanos snapped his fingers and destroyed the world in Infinity War. Since then we have been wondering wanting to know what happened, however, in the closing seconds of the film Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) pulled out a pager and sent out a signal calling someone to help. Well, today we get to see just who had that pager, and just who is behind the red and blue.

So to set the scene, we open with Vers (Brie Larson) asleep on the Kree homeworld. She rarely has a restful night’s sleep because her dreams are punctuated with wars she cannot remember. Well, there is one way to get over a lack of sleep and that is to wake up your commanding officer Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) and have a good old-fashioned sparing session. Well as old fashioned as one can be when you are on an alien planet, have no memories from before six years ago, and oh you can shoot fire out of your hands. The Kree are fighting a losing war against the Skrull, a race that can mimic anyone down to their DNA, who infiltrate worlds and work their way up until they can take them over from the inside out. After training, she is finally brought to the Supreme Intelligence (Annette Bening) the AI that runs the Kree Empire and given her first mission. With the rest of the Starforce including Yon-Rogg, Korath (Djimon Hounsou) and Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan) they are to infiltrate a planet that has just fallen to the Skrulls to extract an undercover agent as Ronan (Lee Pace) provides cover fire with an orbital bombardment. Well, that’s the plan but plans rarely quite work out as nicely as we would like.

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TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Light and Shadows

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TL;DR –  The Search for Spock is over, long live The Search for Spock

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery: Light and Shadows. Image Credit: CBS Studios.

Review –

We have reached the mid-point in the season, the point where the story should be coming into focus and propelling itself into the back half of the season, and today I think we got some of that, though maybe we got more questions than answers.

So to set the scene, at the end of last week’s episode The Sounds of Thunder, we discovered that the Red Angel is actually a being using some very advanced, possibly future technology. This means that there is a time travel component to their travels, which is backed up with the traces of tachyon particles found at every location it has visited. This means that the Red Angel might be from the future and might be messing with the timeline, and that is possibly not very good at all. So they decide to attack this on two fronts, Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) goes back home to Vulcan to find Spock (Ethan Peck), and Pike (Anson Mount) decides to stay and explore the slight fracture in time around Kaminar which is when everything falls apart. 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 – The Orville: Identity Part 2

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TL;DR – We get what is not only the best episode of The Orville but one of the best episodes of Science Fiction I have seen.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

The Orville: Identity Part 2. Image Credit: Fox.

Review –

Writing Science Fiction shows seems like it would be easy, I mean they are just westerns set in space, right? Alas, they are much more difficult than you think. You have to world build, but you can’t overwhelm the audience, every part of your universe has to have logical consistency, you need to fill that universe with interesting characters, and you need to always have in the back of your mind what future you want to present. Then, of course, you have to create stories that support every part of this. It is this alchemy that draws me to Science Fiction as a genre, and tonight we got to see an exemplar of a show doing it all.    

So to set the scene, in last week’s episode Identity Part 1, just about everything we knew about The Orville got turned on its head. This is because Isaac’s (Mark Jackson) mission on the USS Orville was not about seeing if the Planetary Union was good enough for Kaylon to join, but to see if biological lifeforms were worth preserving at all. Well after some consideration the Kaylon’s decided no it wasn’t and that they should make way in their need to expand. This led to them boarding the Orville, killing many of the crew and taking the rest hostage, as the ship runs vanguard in front of an extermination fleet headed for Earth. In today’s episode we find out how, if at all possible, they can stop them, and the repercussions of such a brutal betrayal. 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: He Said, She Said

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TL;DR – Brooklyn Nine-Nine delves into the Me Too era in an episode that shows that B99’s consistent strength in drama still shines.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: He Said, She Said. Image Credit: NBC.

Review –

Over the last few years, we have seen an outpouring of discussion from a number of industries about the toxic workplaces that exist, especially for women. We have seen big-name Hollywood producers, politicians, comedians, and members of finance be called to account for their behaviour, and the Me Too movements has spread across the world and into every industry. This is such an important issue that when you first hear that a comedy show is going to tackle the issue you take pause because this is not an issue that you should be making light of. However, when you hear that show is Brooklyn Nine-Nine you give it a pass because B99 has shown in the past it is able and willing to tackle important issues like this.

So to set the scene, in the morning briefing the team find out that there has been an investment banker admitted to hospital with a broken penis, which leads to an array of amusing wonderings as to which drug-fuelled shenanigans lead to such an injury. Only for them to then find out that it was alleged that he tried to attack a colleague only for her to protect herself from assault with his golf club. Amy (Melissa Fumero) and Jake (Andy Samberg) are put on the case and so they interview both sides. Seth (Jonathan Chase) has no idea why she would do such a thing, maybe she’s just crazy. Well Kari (Briga Heelan) has a very good idea why it happened, but there is no evidence creating a ‘he said, she said’ situation. Meanwhile, Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) gets the news he has been dreading the Disco Stranger (Richard Finkelstein), his first big collar, has died and now he has to evaluate what that means for his life. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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