Category Archives: 2020 Reviews

TV Review – Space Force Season 1

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TL;DR – A show full of great actors and talent that unfortunately falls completely flat because it can’t pick a tone

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Space Force Season 1. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –
You would think a show that blends tow of my great loves, politics and space in the one show would be an instant hit for me. Well I do not envy the job the writers would have had on this job. You take one of (though by far not the most) stupid ramblings that was spat out on Twitter by the current President of the United States and turn it a slightly farcical spoof. The balance you would need to pull that off would be a high wire act and as we see today it does not work. Also, I should point out that if you are who has a passing understanding of space mechanics or current political system you will involuntarily cringe throughout the show.

To see the scene, General Mark R. Naird (Steve Carell) is with his wife Maggie (Lisa Kudrow) and daughter Erin (Diana Silvers) in The Pentagon for a big day as he is being promoted to a 4-Star General in the Air Force. However, he is not being promoted to the head of the Air Force but the brand new Space Force in nowhere Colorado. One year later and while things are proceeding Mark’s life has not gone quite to plan with his wife now in prison and a POTUS that wants results and they are not ready to give them.  Now we will be looking at the series as a whole and as such there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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TV Review – Snowpiercer: First, the Weather Changed & Prepare to Brace

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TL;DR – This an okay start, but nothing really captured me with the opening episodes.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Snowpiercer: First, the Weather Change & Prepare to Brace. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

A couple of years ago, there was this truly fascinating film from Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho who would go on write/direct last year’s Oscar winner Parasite. I found the film to be fascinating right up until that ending which I am still going back and forth on. So when I heard they were going make a TV show out of it I was intrigued how they would pull it off, the setting is there, but is the story?   

So to set the scene, as the world started to crash as global warming and sea levels swamped the coasts. To fix this the world’s scientist had a plan to cool the world down … and they went too far. The world was freezing over and one man had a solution, Mr Wilford who built a 1001 car train for the world’s rich. However, as it was about to take off on its never-ending journey across the world those who could not afford it boarded the train in the last-ditch effort to save themselves from the coming death. Six years later, those who made it on still live in the tail, living off meagre food bars, trying to find the right time to rebel. They are ready to make their move when their leader Layton (Daveed Diggs), is taken by the hospitality team led by Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) because he is the only homicide detective left on the train and someone just got murdered. 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 – Mutiny of the Worker Bees (Rebelión de los Godínez)

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TL;DR – This is a film of two halves, one that really works, and one that really doesn’t 

 Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

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

Review – Today we get to review a film out of Mexico that delves into the world of office workplaces. A place of conflict, love, war, and comedy. It is here where we see the best and the worst of ourselves and others and it can be both a metaphorical and literal riot at times, and a bit frustrating at others.

So to set the scene, we open in on a city street in Mexico as someone in a mascot outfit walks down the street to the sounds of Staying Alive. He is very popular with everyone as they line up to take selfies with him right up until an elderly man shots him in the head with a t-shirt gun. It is here where we meet Omar Buendía (Gustavo Egelhaaf) the man behind the mascot outfit and his Abuelo (Alejandro Suárez) the man behind the gun. Well, Omar’s Abuelo has a minor heart attack, so has to step away from his job forcing Omar to find a steady white-collar job. Well, welcome to Relo Tech, a world of extremes … also a really toxic work environment.

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: Promortyus

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TL;DR – This is one of those episodes that is there to remind you that Rick and Morty or not good people at all

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Rick and Morty: Promortyus. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

If there has been one area of incongruity in within the greater Rick and Morty zeitgeist is has been how a lot of people idolise Rick (Justin Roiland) specifically when the show goes out of its way to show that he is not a good person and should not be idolized. Well, today we get another episode that reinforces this message.  

So to set the scene, we open with Rick and Morty (Justin Roiland) walking around a cave, but with weird face-hugging aliens … well over their faces as the name implies. There are walking with some damp slimy eggs when one of the tentacles of Morty’s alien catches on a stalagmite disgorging it and we discover that this is not a disguise they were being taken over. Two dead aliens, later they now need to escape, they just need to get through an entire civilization to do that. 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 – Rick and Morty: Never Ricking Morty

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TL;DR – One of the most Meta episodes of the show I have ever seen, and given that this is Rick and Morty that is saying something

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Rick and Morty: Never Ricking Morty. Image Credit: Netflix.

 Well, today we dive back into the world of Rick and Morty, a show that I have loved (see my review for Season Three) but it is also a show that I have developed an odd relationship with. This is because (and I am sorry but I am about to drop the D-word) a lot of the discourse around the show and a certain vocal minority of fans have created an unpleasant environment at times. The first part of Season Four kind of came and went for me, but now we are getting the second half of the season weekly, I thought it would be a good time to give it another go.

So to set the scene, we open in as a weary traveller hops on a train and gets his tickets stamped. He pulls up to the bar to get a drink, but all he gets is a story about how someone wants to kill Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland). Suffering from one vignette to the next he escapes only to run into another traveller with the same problem and that is when things get weird (which for this show is saying something). 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 – Ali & Alia (علي وعليا)

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TL;DR – A difficult film to watch at times but an interesting look at power, addiction, family, and abuse.    

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

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

Warning – Depicts scenes of abuse

Ali & Alia. Image Credit: Number One Films.

Review –

I had realised that my drive to experience more of world cinema has taken a back seat for a while, so today I decided to change that. More than just change that, I thought it would be best to dive into a cinema I haven’t really explored before. As if on cue, Ali & Alia appeared and well one does not look providence in the face and then blink.   

So to set the scene, we open flying through a town until we land in a football field where two sides are drawn together in opposition. On one side is Ali (Khalifa Albahri) and on the other is Aboud (Mayed al Ali). What is the fight about, well we jump back a little time and we see the start of it all. One day as Ali is escorting Alia (Neven Madi) to the local clothes shop when he is accosted by a bunch of layabouts. Instead of standing up for himself, he says nothing. This upsets Alia because he is not acting like a man. This rebuke starts a spiral in Ali’s life that affects everyone around him.

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Movie Review – The Wrong Missy

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TL;DR – An interesting premise, but I don’t think the film ever lives up to it.    

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

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

The Wrong Missy. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

We have all sent a text message to the wrong person before and had that mortified realisation, well what would happen if you had made that wrong text and didn’t know about it. This is a really interesting set up for a film that gives you a lot of avenues to explore. Well, one of those avenues is hard MA15 comedy, which might not be my first choice but here we are today.

So, we open in on Tim (David Spade) as he is meeting someone on a first date only to find that the women he has been set up on a blind date with is married to Roman Reigns. Of course just before he gets his head beat in his real blind date Missy (Lauren Lapkus) pops in to tell him she set it all up. Well, the first date deteriorates from there and includes a short sword, an escape out of a bathroom window, and a broken ankle. Well three months after that disaster he is running through an airport when he collides into a woman called Missy (Molly Sims) in an airport and they immediately clicked together, the first person since his marriage fell apart. Well the company retreat is coming up and his ex-fiancé Julia (Sarah Chalke) is bringing her new beau Rich (Chris Witaske), so Tim takes a chance and invites Missy to Hawaii … and I think you can tell from the title what happens.

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Movie Review – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend

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TL;DR – A better use of the ‘choose your own adventure’ structure but it still shows the flaws with the design     

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene (bar playing the film again)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

A while ago, Netflix dropped this weird little experiment onto its service, an episode of Black Mirror where you got to pick the direction of the story. Bandersnatch was an interesting experiment and a lot of people had fun with it but walked away from the experience feeling more than a little hollow. Well, Netflix has taken a second crack at the formula, this time with a show that could not be more different.

So to set the scene, Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) is getting married, since the end of the series, she has found love with the equally adorkable Prince Frederick (Daniel Radcliffe). Things are looking up and up for Kimmy, right until she discovers an old book in her backpack Lucy (Stephanie D’Abruzzo) of a chose your own adventure novel (foreshadowing). However, the book was loaned out from the library after she had been taken, so it could not be hers. Were there other kidnapped women out there? Well, there is only one person to ask … the Reverend (Jon Hamm) himself.

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Movie Review – Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics

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TL;DR – An interesting exploration of Psychedelics through personal stories but it didn’t quite sit well with me at times.      

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

Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –


If there is one policy area that has received more attention than any other in recent years/decades/centuries it is that of drugs. Governments across the world have tried everything from the death penalty to throwing up their hands to turning a blind eye and all in between I mean, America is still fighting a War on Drugs for little to no effect. Well, how do you approach an issue like this, well one way is to actually talk to the people involved. This is the documentary that we explore today, though I should preface this goes into depth with the experience of drug and it is a hard R rating for a reason and you should know that going in.

So to set the scene, Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics is a documentary that talks to people in the arts sphere about their experiences with drugs of the psychedelic variety. This documentary is broken up in several different ways, there are long-form interviews with people like Sting, where the documentary animates their stories, there are a wide range of talking heads from musicians, comedians, actors, and more, while also having old school educational videos (both real and created), while Nick Offerman pops in occasional as a teacher type figure.

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Video Game Review – Old World (Ōld World) First Look

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TL;DR – A game that sits in the middle between Civilization and Total War, taking things that work from both.

Old World. Image Credit: Mohawk Games.

Review –

If there is one genre of games that I will always been drawn to, it is the 4x (EXplore, EXpand, EXploit and EXterminate) strategy genre. It can be in space, in a fantasy realm, in the past, or somewhere completely new, I don’t care just hook it up straight to my veins. When I heard that Soren Johnson, the lead designer of Civilization IV, was diving back into the genre my interest was peaked and now that I have had a chance to play the game I can see why. One thing I do need to point out before we proceed, this is an “early access” game in that it is not yet finished. This means that this is only a first look, a first impression of the game and not the full review, which is why there is not a score above.  

So to set the scene, Old World (or as it is styled Ōld World) is a game set in the past charting the dawn of civilization through the classical era to almost the medieval era. In it, you play one of seven civilization/leaders from the dawn of time. Ashurbanipal of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Dido of Carthage, Hatshepsut of Egypt, Philip of Greece, Cyrus of Persia, and Romulus of Rome. However, unlike Civilization and other similar games, you don’t just hold on to the one leader for the whole game, because like in real life, leaders get old and die. This means as well as maintaining your expansion you need to make sure your heirs are ready to take over. This brings the game a little of the way into the territory of the popular Total War series. On the whole, I quite liked the dynastic politics in the game, however, has the game goes on and your heirs and siblings etc start popping out multiple babies a turn, it can be a bit hard to keep track of. Which is just about when your sister kills you in your sleep for ascending to the throne over her as what happened in my first game. You also need to keep different dynastic families from squabbling, giving you potential problems from afar and within.  

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