Category Archives: 2023 Reviews

Uproar – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An emotional punch to the face as it explores the power of finding your identity.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

A sign that says "Justice for Black South Africa, Justice for Brown New Zealand would be nice to!"

Uproar Review –

At the time of writing, we are in the middle of the Brisbane International Film Festival or, more affectionately, BIFF. So many films were on offer that you needed to sort through all the entries before being paralysed by indecision. For me this year, I decided to prioritise Aussie and Kiwi films, and with that in mind, you will see a couple of these entries over the coming days. Our first entry from BIFF explores the need to find your identity and how that shapes us as people.

So to set the scene, it is 1981, and the South African Rugby Team, the Springbok, are currently touring New Zealand. Given an intentionally racist Apartheid political system that still runs South Africa, this tour is quite controversial, and there are protests everywhere the team plays. It is within this world that Josh Waaka (Julian Dennison) is trying to find his voice. He is surviving High School by hiding in the library each lunchtime, but he is not thriving at any level. Much of his out-of-school time is spent on odd jobs helping his mother Shirley (Minnie Driver) and the family survive and assisting his brother Jamie (James Rolleston) in his physical therapy recovery from an accident. But as these protests cause a reckoning in the country, they also force Josh to reflect on his own identity.  

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Loki: Heart of the TVA – TV Review

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TL;DR – It starts from 100 and then blasts ahead from there.   

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

The remins of a palace stuck in time.

Loki Review –

After a strong opening, last week’s 1893 was the first time I had pause to wonder if Season Two might not be on as firm a footing as I had first thought. But you can’t count your chickens before they hatch, and we still have half the season to go. With that in mind, let us jump into this episode before the episode starts a paradox it can’t fix.   

So to set the scene, after helping Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) escape with knowledge of the TVA because they were fighting. Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) make their way to the end of time to see the dead He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) and his crumbling palace. It is here that Miss Minutes reveals that Renslayer helped with the last war, like did most of it themselves, and well, maybe they don’t need another He Who Remains to run the TVA. Which is when Victor Timely arrives in a TVA and might be the only one who can save the world. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: The Inner Fight – TV Review

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TL;DR – A tail of two parts, one fascinating, the other frustrating.   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Outpost Scientists.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

It is the penultimate of Star Trek: Lower Decks’ fifth season, and I wondered if the show could pull all those different threads together. Since the revelation at the start of the season about a mysterious ship destroying non-Federation vessels, it felt like we were barrelling towards something. Now it is time to see if that something was worth barrelling towards.

So to set the scene, we open in on Persioff IX, where a pair of Outpost Scientists are observing a local creature that spits acid and is covered in neurotoxin, and when things go wrong, Mariner (Tawny Newsome) rushes out to fix the problem herself. Her friends, Tendi (Noël Wells), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Rutherford (Eugene Cordero), and T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), have become concerned about this risk-taking behaviour, even the command crew. When Shaxs (Fred Tatasciore) is concerned about your risk-taking behaviour, you know there is a problem. All they need to do is distract Mariner because they must pick up notorious risk taker Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill) before he influences Mariner to do even more risky behaviour. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Absolute Beginners (Absolutni Debiutanci): Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a fairly predictable story about a love triangle, but an engaged cast and more female perspective help elevate the material.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Two hand meet.

Absolute Beginners Review –

Earlier this year, we dipped our toes into Polish TV for the first time with the Sci-Fi/Romance romp called A Girl and an Astronaut. That was our gateway, but I wanted to spend more time in this world, and today’s review provided just such an occasion.

So to set the scene, we open on a sprint to Ustka, a resort town on the Polish Coastline. Here, Lena (Martyna Byczkowska) and Niko (Bartłomiej Deklewa) are making a mad dash to film around and catch up to a local train to help with their application to film school. Their mothers, Bogusia (Anna Krotoska) and Tamara (Katarzyna Warnke), have been friends since they were kids and now own a holiday home together where the families go each year. However, this year, both families are on the cusp of significant changes: moving to Italy, wondering if they are happy in their marriage, a wash of hormones affecting everything, which is a setting primed for danger even before Niko and Lena find Igor (Jan Sałasiński) alone struggling in the surf. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Five Nights at Freddy’s – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It captures the feel of the video games, though the added narrative might not work for everyone.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza

Five Nights at Freddy’s Review –

In the not-so-distant past, if you heard the words ‘video game adaptation’, it would provoke a feeling of instant cringe. At best, they were okay, often terrible, and much of the time, they were embarrassed about the very material they were adapting. But 2023 has bucked that trend with The Last of Us and Gran Turismo, some of the many knocking it out of the park. Well, it is time to see if they can keep this run going and terrify me simultaneously.   

So to set the scene, we open in on a man (Ryan Reinike) in clear distress as he crawls through some vents, desperate to escape, but no exit can be found. Sometime later, Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson) is desperately looking for a new job after mistaking a father grabbing his kid for a predator. If he can’t get a job, he will lose custody of his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) to their awful Aunt Jane (Mary Stuart Masterson). With very few options left, he takes a security gig at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. It was once all the rage but has sat chiefly abandoned since the 1980s. All Mike must do is sit in the security room and keep an eye on the place, but no one told him the place might be keeping an eye on him.

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: The Jerrick Trap  

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TL;DR – This is another perfectly safe episode that does not go as far as it could have.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this episode.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Warning – Contains moments that may cause distress.

Jerry enters Rick's Lab.

Rick and Morty Review –

Last week’s How Poopy Got His Poop Back ushered in a new era for Rick and Morty and gave us a pretty okay episode. It’s not bad, but it’s not standing out, either. The question I had was this choice they made for just the first episode, or is this foretelling where the rest of the season is going? And I think we are at the latter.


So to set the scene, Jerry (Chris Parnell) is frustrated because one of the neighbours said they didn’t have his rake way too quickly, meaning they have his rake. Rick (Ian Cardoni) replies with one of his usual dismissive remarks. But this time, Jerry does not let it lie. He chastises Rick for not using his brain as much as he could. Incensed, Rick demands they swap brains to see who is the worst off, but not in a Freaky Friday way. Well, Rick cannot handle being in Jerry’s body for three seconds and ‘removes himself from the equation’, and Jerry has no way to control his new gadgets and crashes into the ceiling. This is not a good day for Rick’s computer (Kari Wahlgren). We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Payday 3 – Video Game Review

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TL;DR – A sequel that looks stunning and full of quality-of-life improvements that unfortunately ends up feeling like a hollow shell of what came before.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for this game.

The gang.

Payday 3 Review –

If you check my most played games on Steam, you will discover that Payday 2 is in my top 5. Me and my friends played every aspect of the game, being able to stealth that first bank on the hardest difficulty as a warmup for the session. There were these moments of joy when we summited Everest in that damned politician’s office overlooking Capitol Hill. There were attempts to make Payday 3 multiple times over the years, but when it finally dropped, I got the gang back together for a heist or two.         

So to set the scene, your long, enjoyable retirement has been ripped out from underneath you as a mysterious force simultaneously targets you and all your old heisters in a targeted hit. Thankfully, Slade (Kosha Engler) saw it coming and was able to reach out and save Dallas (Simon Kerr), Chains (Damion Poitier), Hoxton (Pete Gold), Joy (Siu-see Hung), Pearl (Rebecca LaChance), and Wolf (Nicklas Berglund). All of their supplies have been lost, and their bank accounts have been frozen. But to survive, they need to start getting money and supplies, so it is time to start looting a new city and saying hello to New York.

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Loki: 1893 – TV Review

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TL;DR – An episode of two halves, one fascinating and the other frustrating.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

Chicago

Loki Review –

This season of Loki has been delightfully refreshing, as it is clear that they have learned from their mistakes on the first time out. However, after setting up the narrative drive for the season, it is time to get into the meat of things, and that is when things could go awry.

So to set the scene, we opened in 1868 in Chicago, Illinois. After fleeing the TVA at the end of the last season, Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) jumped back to find Miss Minutes (Tara Strong). But the unpaved streets of Chicago were not where she expected to end up. Even more so when she discovers Miss Minutes’ plan. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Star Trek: Lower Decks: Caves – TV Review

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TL;DR –  A charming clip of friends stuck in a cave.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Review –

As Season Four of Star Trek Lower Decks progresses, I have been genuinely joyful about how the shake-up of promoting the team has let the show evolve its dynamic. But never one to shy away from a good reference. This week, we get not one but two deep cuts as we dive into the world of Star Trek caves.

So to set the scene, we open on the planet of Grottonus as the USS Cerritos orbits above. It has been an age since they were promoted, and for the first time, the old lower decks team of Boimler (Jack Quaid), Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) have all been put on the same away mission. Mariner is ecstatic right up until she discovers that it is a “cave mission”. Everyone else loves caves, but like clockwork, there is a tremor, and the away team is trapped. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.       

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The Retaliators – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It plays with some interesting concepts and an ocean of blood but does not quite stick the landing.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – This film depicts scenes of abuse.

A man at a graveyard.

The Retaliators Review –

I remember seeing a trailer for this film last year and being intrigued by the concept. Is there a pressure point so severe that it would turn a peaceful person to use violence? I wondered when we would get it here in Australia, so I was intrigued when the screener arrived to see how it would explore that central issue.

So to set the scene, after hearing some musing on evil, we found ourselves near Hillsdale, New Jersey. When a tire bursts, two women are trying to take a shortcut near a local slaughterhouse stop to change it, not knowing the horror they found themselves in. We then encounter John Bishop (Michael Lombardi) and his family. John is a local pastor who does not believe in using violence to solve his problems. However, this will be tested when his daughter Sarah (Katie Kelly) accidentally stumbles across a crime and is chased down by Ram Kady (Joseph Gatt), a father’s worst nightmare.

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