Category Archives: 2024 Reviews

Star Trek: Discovery – Erigah – TV Review

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – A very Star Trek episode all about whether violence or diplomacy is the best way forward.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

USS Locherer catches up with Moll and l'ak.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

We are starting to get into the back half of the season, and you can feel things starting to come ahead. This would be tense in any season, but given this is the final season of Discovery, you can feel that being amplified even more so because the Breen are coming.  


So to set the scene, after finding the next clue in an abandoned weather tower, the next hint was some sort of Betazed text inscription. But when the USS Locherer catch up with Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis), the Discovery jumps straight there and beams them to their sick bay. L’ak is in bad shape and needs emergency cryo-therapy at Starfleet HQ before he dies. But the Breen knows where they are and are coming for Starfleet HQ with a dreadnaught, and everyone can feel that we are at a tipping point. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Continue reading →

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – Movie Review

Posted on by
8

TL;DR – While you can feel some tension in the script at times, this is still a solid entry into the franchise with characters you care about and a world you want to explore.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

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

Noa rides through the ruins of the old world.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Review –

Without a doubt, I have loved the Planet of the Apes reboot films. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a great foundation, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was this sad meditation on the legacy of trauma, all before ending the trilogy with this grand biblical epic of War of the Planet of the Apes that hit the big 5 out of 5 stars. So, there was a bit of hesitance to come back to this world after such a long time and a new creative team, but thankfully, I had nothing to worry about.

So to set the scene, we open with the final funeral of Caeser, a leader who brought his people out of danger and into a new promised land but was unable to enter himself. Led by Maurice (Karin Konoval), it is a solemn event, but it is the start of something, and you see that in the world several generations later. It is here where Noa (Owen Teague) and his friends Soona (Lydia Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) climb up through the ruins of the old world to find eagle eggs. They are a village of eagle trainers, and Noa’s dad, Koro (Neil Sandilands), is the leader who sings to the new eggs. However, when Noa sees an Echo (human), little does he know the carnage that is following in their wake and how his world is about to change forever.

Continue reading →

X-Men ’97 – Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 2 – TV Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – The ending gave me pause, but this was still a fantastic episode.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ Service that viewed this series.

A painting of the Sentinels.

X-Men ’97 Review –

When you have a trilogy, the middle part is always going to be, well, for lack of a better world, the middle child. They are stuck following up on what went before while also having to set everything up for the final part. In that space, there is rarely time for them to shine on their own. Today, we will see if Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 2 will continue or buck that trend.

So to set the scene, at the end of Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1, just when everything looks like it is about to fall apart, two critical events happen. Professor X (Ross Marquand) returned to Earth and called all his X-Men to him, and then Magneto was released from his prison. But this time, Magneto is not going to let humans get away with their crimes. This time, Magneto is going to war. The problem is that Magneto is destroying the Earth’s magnetic field, and in 12 hours, that might be irreversible. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) Review – Exploring the Past

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – It is a profoundly emotional work that builds on the first film in nearly every way.   

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

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

Caesar in war paint.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review –

It has been ten years since this movie first came out, and I was taken aback by just how good visual effects had grown, even by the high standards that the Lord of the Rings brought us. But with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes coming out this week, I wanted to take a moment to go back in time and see how well this second entry before War of the Planet of the Apes holds up.

So to set the scene, it has been ten years since the Simian Flu pandemic spread across the globe with a survival rate of only 1 in 500, as was seen at the end of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. As human society completely collapsed, the ape colony founded by Caesar (Andy Serkis) began to thrive in the growing woods outside of what was once San Francisco. It has been two years since they even saw a human, which made that first sound of a gun going off echo throughout the colony. One of the few human settlements left on the Earth has set up shop in the ruins of San Francisco. Caesar does not acquiesce to the drum beats of war but gives the humans an ultimatum: stay away from their area. Peace has a chance, just as long as no one on either side decides to fall on the animosity of the past.     

Continue reading →

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) Review – Exploring the Past

Posted on by
3

TL;DR –.It is a remarkable film that still holds up today and provided a strong foundation for everything that followed.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

Caesar looks down on San Fransisco.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review –

Back in the 2010s, remakes were all the rage, and most of them were not great. So, I am not sure that anyone was expecting a prequel remake reboot of the beloved cult Classic Planet of the Apes was going to be any good, let alone spawn one of the best trilogies of the modern cinematic era concluding with War of the Planet of the Apes. Well, with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes coming out this week, I knew it was time to jump back in and refresh myself in this world.

So to set the scene, we open in on a rainforest where a troop of chimpanzees is led into a trap by poachers. In San Fransisco, Dr. William “Will” Rodman (James Franco) is desperately trying to find a cure for Alzheimer’s, using chimpanzees as part of the trial. But when the first trial goes terribly wrong, they discover a surprise: the trial chip was pregnant. It is this new baby called Caesar (Andy Serkis) that Will discovers the hope he has been looking for as his father, Charles (John Lithgow), slips further behind. But will the world see what Will sees, or will they see a threat?  

Continue reading →

Corner Office – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – It has its moments, and it very much lands its vibe, but there is an intensity that loses its impact halfway through.

Rating: 3 out of 5.
The brutalist concrete building they work in.

Corner Office Review –

Today we are looking at a film that I can’t quite place into the world of genre’s it is not quite a comedy, or a drama, or even a mystery. It has elements of all of those, but not enough to categories it. The only thing I can say is that it is a film about facial hair, and how there is probably a reason those styles are not popular anymore.

So to set the scene, we open in a car park covered in a layer of snow as the wind howls around. Orson (Jon Hamm) is arriving for their first day at work at The Authority Inc. in a large brutalist building. He is trying to stand out in the office, which is full of quirky characters, including his tablemate Rakesh (Danny Pudi). One day, while trying to find where they hid the printer paper, he stumbled across a room Orson had never seen before: a beautiful corner office. The room calls to him, like a forbidden lover, a place worthy of who he thinks he is, even if that does not match reality. The only problem is that no one else acknowledges that the room even exists.  

Continue reading →

Turtles All the Way Down – Movie Review

Posted on by
4

TL;DR – Come for the interesting exploration of mental health and the bond of teenagers in the face of tragedy. Stay tuned for the exciting trivia about Indianapolis.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Yellow microbes on a black banner.

Turtles All the Way Down Review –

Today, we look at a film in which I had some deep trepidation before pressing play. I generally like the author’s work and have read all of his other novels; however, when I sat down to read the Turtles book, I hit a wall. There was this moment early in the book when it went from being a fictional story to being too real and personal, and I had to put the book down. And I am sorry to say, I never picked it back up again. So today, what we have is almost a second attempt for me to find a new first impression and see if I can make it further into the work than last time. Well, I have a packet of Wagon Wheels in front of me and the house smells of roast potatoes, and there is no time like the present.  

So to set the scene, we open with Aza Holmes (Isabela Merced) lamenting or musing about how 50% of the human body mass is made up of microbial entities and what that means on a philosophical level with her therapist Dr. Kira Singh (Poorna Jagannathan). Aza has OCD, which relates to how she perceives the microbial world, both within and without. When she goes to have lunch with her best friend Daisy Ramirez (Cree), they discover that Aza’s old friend Davis Pickett’s (Felix Mallard) father has gone missing, and there is a $100,000 reward.

Continue reading →

X-Men ’97 – Tolerance Is Extinction – Part 1 – TV Review

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – This is a solid opening to the final arc of the season.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ Service that viewed this series.

X-Men opening logos with Rouge and Storm.

X-Men ’97 Review –

Over the last week, I have finally had the chance to dive into the heart of X-Men ’97. I did come into it a bit wearily because X-Men: The Animated Series was my first introduction to all things X-Men and Marvel. There was this concern that maybe this new series would dent those old memories, or what if I was living in the world of rose-tinted glasses? So far, it has been mostly fantastic, but the truth is in the landing, and we look at the first part of that today.  

So to set the scene, in last week’s episode, we discovered that Mister Sinister (Christopher Britton) is not the main villain pulling the strings because Bastion (Theo James) has returned. But as the X-Men still try to pick up the pieces after the Genosha genocide and discovering who Cable (Chris Potter) is. But there is no time for that because there is a more significant threat moving, a threat that might be closer to home than anyone knows. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

Continue reading →

Knuckles: Season 1 – TV Review

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – When it leans into the absurd, it is a delight, but a lacklustre narrative holds it all back.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

End Credit Scene – What Happens in Reno, Stays in Reno has a mid-credit scene.

Knuckles burrows up from the ground.

Knuckles Review –

When the first Sonic the Hedgehog film came out, I did not know what to expect, but now we are two films in, we know the vibe we are working with. But the question is: are we ready for spin-offs? Well, that is the query we are looking at today as the Idris Elba-voiced Knuckles takes the show.  

So to set the scene, during Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Knuckles (Idris Elba) was tricked into working against Sonic (Ben Schwartz), but they all worked it out in the end. Now, Knuckles starts his day by going through a deadly obstacle course just to get the blood flowing. But he hasn’t quickly got the hang of Earth when it takes down a construction crew trying to fix the house, thinking they were invaders. Desperately trying to find meaning in his life, Knuckles is visited by the aberration of his mentor, Chief Pachacamac (Christopher Lloyd), who gives him a new quest. Find someone to become his mentor so he can pass on his echidna ways. Who is that apprentice? Well, enter from stage left Wade (Adam Pally) and his quest for bowling glory. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.     

Continue reading →

Goodbye Earth (Jongmalui Babo/종말의 바보): Season 1 – TV Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – This is an interesting premise that is well acted, but the glacial pace holds it back when there is such a specific counting clock driving all the motivations.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The destruction of the Earth mural.

Goodbye Earth Review –

In the past couple of years, there have been two huge surprises. The first was how emotional Greenland turned out to be, and the second was how impactful All of Us Are Dead turned out to be. When I heard that there was a series that could be the Venn diagram between these two, well, I had to check it out. In today’s review, we will be looking at the first six episodes to see if it captures us.    

So to set the scene, we opened in an abandoned construction site for apartments, with cranes left standing, swaying in the wind mid-load, as if society shifted in an instant. In this world, a young girl lives alone on the top floor in a society that is starting to collapse around them because on February the 22nd, 2026, an asteroid Dina is going to crash into Earth, striking the Korean Peninsula, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. There are just 201 days before the end of most life on Earth. While anyone who can get out of Asia is in the city of Woongcheon, Korea, at Cheondong Middle School, people are trying to go on. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

Continue reading →