Category Archives: 2023 Reviews

Poker Face: Season 1– TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a delightful romp across America where we solved a murder each week in almost the same way, and I was captivated for the whole run.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Stan service that viewed this series.

Charlie sees something off.

Poker Face Review –

At times, the modern TV landscape is perpetually stuck in a state of cognitive dissonance. People tend to use the word ‘old-fashioned’ in a pejorative sense as if it has nothing of value to give us. We do this while living in perpetual nostalgia cycles that are morphing into nostalgia spirals. But if there is ever an artist that lives in the overlap between those two extremes, it is Rian Johnson, and I was fascinated to see where this show would go every week.   

So to set the scene, we open in a casino as the maids try to get the rooms ready for the next occupants, or at least clean for the day, when a maid sees something horrifying on a laptop. Something that needs to be reported. So Natalie (Dascha Polanco) tells her boss (Benjamin Bratt), who tells the head of the casino, Frost (Adrien Brody). But instead of protecting her, they did the unthinkable. The only problem is that working in the Casino, Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) has the impeccable talent of always knowing when someone is lying. Now we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there may be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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The Last of Us: Look for the Light & Season 1– TV Review

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TL;DR – In a show about the end of the world, this is the first episode to truly explore the levels of violence that could be found in the ruins of the old world.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this show.

Running for safety.

The Last of Us Review –

When I started watching this season a couple of months ago, I came in with some trepidation. To begin with, many video game adaptations had fallen flat because those adapting them didn’t understand the genre or were embarrassed with the course material. Something that had already happened to one of Playstation’s marquee programs. Second, I was just coming off the masterclass of post-apocalyptic fiction with Station Eleven, and I knew I would constantly be comparing the two. But watching this first season, all my fears evaporated in amazement at what I was watching.    


So to set the scene, we open in the woods outside of Boston where a young woman Anna (Ashley Johnson), is running through the trees as screams erupt behind her. She is about to give birth, but the fungus waits for no one, and the walker bursts through a door as the contractions are coming. Fighting the creature off, she gives birth only to see she has been bitten on the leg. She cuts the umbilical cord before contamination could happen and entrusts the little baby Ellie into the care of her best friend Marlene (Merle Dandridge). In the show’s current timeline, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) have made it to the outskirts of Salt Lake City, and the end of their journey is near. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Article – The 95th Academy Awards Picks

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TL;DR – This is a list of not what we think will win in the 2023 Academy Awards but who we would give the awards to if we could.

Article –

It is Oscars time again, and thanks to some well-timed leave, I get to watch them live this year. So here we will be going through all the nominees and picking which ones we would have chosen if we were a voting academy member.

I should preface this with the notice that we have not seen every film nominated, so we will only pick from those we have seen. We will only cover the categories where we have seen at least three nominees. Also, if you want to see our reviews for said films, you can click on the links to be taken to them. So without any further prattling on, here are the nominees.

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Star Trek: Picard: No Win Scenario – TV Review

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TL;DR – ‘To boldly go’ is a good motto as anything else, but it is rare to see it captured in an episode quite like this.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

An energy wave hit the USS Titan

Star Trek: Picard Review –

What do you do when your back is against the wall, and there is no easy way out? Star Trek has a term for that, the Kobayashi Maru, a term they may have put on repeat recently. However, only when all the chips are down can you honestly tell the mantle of a crew and their captain.

So to set the scene, the crew is on edge after hours of The Shrike coming from nowhere and attacking the USS Titan-A, which is not helped by the fact that there is a Changeling on board who is sabotaging. A moment of incredible frustration boiled over when Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Admiral Picard (Patrick Stewart) disagreed over the course of action, which is when The Shrike’s new portal weapons were used devastatingly. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.     

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65 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – There is a scaffolding of a good film here, but not the substance needed

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a sequence during the credits

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

A dinosaur footprint in the mud.

65 Review –

Many things can capture my attention, and “Adam Driver Fights Dinosaurs” might be one of the quickest ways to do it. I knew practically nothing about 65 before walking in, but that tagline was enough, even when I heard it was not being screened for critics. Now that I have seen it, maybe I should have been a touch more hesitant.

So to set the scene, 65 million years ago, other species were exploring the galaxy. One such was Mills (Adam Driver) from the planet Somaris who takes a 2-year extended mission guarding some colonists so he could make enough money to save his daughter Nevine (Chloe Coleman), who is sick. However, along the route, the ship runs into an undocumented meteor swarm and crashes into an uncharted planet. But not just any old unknown world, because this is Earth and dinosaurs still rule the roost, and Mills and the only other survivor Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), have to fight for survival.   

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Till – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a heartbreaking film that soars thanks to a stunning performance but also struggles to stay out of its own way in parts.    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Mamie watches the train leave.

Till Review –

I am not sure there is anyone who is going to see this film that does not know what happened to Emmett Till on that awful day in Mississippi. The question is, how do you come to a movie when your audience already knows every terrible beat coming? Till’s answer to this question is to make every moment land with the force of a hurricane.

So to set the scene, it was Chicago in 1955, and Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler) is taking her son Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall) shopping for a new wallet and shoes because he is about to spend some time by himself down in Mississippi with his cousins. Mamie is concerned because he has never spent that amount of time away from her, and the South is not a safe place to be. But Emmett is having a blast with his cousins until he accidentally ‘offends’ a white woman Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennett), and soon some white men come into his uncle’s (John Douglas Thompson) house and drag him out of bed.

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Faraway – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fun little story about finding love in a faraway land, where you might find yourself for than anything else.    

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film

The Croatian Coastline.

Faraway Review –

Sometimes you sit down to watch a film with no real plan as to what you will watch. You are just looking for something to spark your interest, and the story of a woman finding love in a long-lost house bequeathed to her by her late mother, who no one knew about. That is a good plot hook to make me interested in how that plays out.

So to set the scene, Zeynep Altin (Naomi Krauss) is trying to keep the family together as they prepare for her mother’s funeral. But things are not good at home, as just about every member of her house walks all over her. But it is at this lowest point when the family lawyer tells Zeynep that her mother purchased a home in her homeland of Croatia and left it to Zeynep in her will. What do you do when everyone has let you down? Well, how about you head to the coast and find a new view on life?  

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The Mandalorian: Chapter 18 (The Mines of Mandalore) – TV Review

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TL;DR – We finally make it to Mandalore, and it should be no surprise that it is not as empty as once thought.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this show.

Peli Motto looks at a striped down racer.

The Mandalorian Review –

It has been an interesting transition to shift tonally from Andor, with its much more severe and grounded story, back to the romp of The Mandalorian. It is probably a good showing of the strength of the underlying Star Wars universe that both can work within the same frame. This week we do lean hard into that romp because … is that pod racers I see?

So to set the scene, last week in The Apostate, we were reminded [for those who skipped The Book of Boba Fett] that The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) has been excommunicated from his group. Because he showed his face … willing … the shame. He can only seek forgiveness if he bathes in the sacred waters under the mines of Mandalore. The only problem is that The Empire used fusion bombs to glass the planet’s entire surface. It is poisonous. It is cursed. Or is it? Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole and the rest of the season, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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The Last of Us: When We Are in Need – TV Review

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TL;DR – In a show about the end of the world, this is the first episode to truly explore the levels of violence that could be found in the ruins of the old world.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Binge service that viewed this show.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

"When we are in need He shall provide" banner

The Last of Us Review –

There is a deep breath that you take when you can feel the endgame coming, and you might not be ready for what is about to go down. This is even true for me. Who knows just what is about to go down. So as we head into the penultimate episode of the season, it is a time to prepare ourselves for what we are about to see.

So to set the scene, at the end of Kin, just after Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) discovered the direction of the Fireflies and things were looking up. They were for a moment until Joel got stabbed by some raiders, and Ellie had to drag him to an abandoned house to survive. In Left Behind, Joel begged Ellie to leave him and fly back to Jackson, but she refused to let him die. But now they have bigger problems than a bleeding-out Joel because those raiders might be back for more. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.

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Star Trek: Picard: Seventeen Seconds – TV Review

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TL;DR – A bit of a rocky episode, but that is to be expected when you are at your lowest point.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Picard's hand on Riker's.

Star Trek: Picard Review –

As far as we know, Thomas Fuller was the first to write the phrase ‘It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn’. As a theologian, he had a particular view on what he meant by that, and being written in 1650, I am not sure he ever would have thought about how those words would be translated in a cinematic context. But now more than ever, It is always darkest before the dawn.

So to set the scene, a while ago in the past, back when Captain Riker (Jonathan Frakes) was new to the USS Titan, he sat down [in another new uniform, I weep for the cosplayers] with his old mentor Admiral Picard (Patrick Stewart). Deanna (Marina Sirtis) had just given birth to their son Thaddeus, and they were celebrating. In the now, after deciding at the end of Disengage not to hand over Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers), the USS Titan-A dives into the nebula to avoid detection. Still, not even that may save them from the Shrike and her captain Vadic (Amanda Plummer). Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.

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