TL;DR – It a show where sex
is very much front and centre, however, it is actually the relationships that
actually shine through.
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
There are some people who would like a do over, go back in time and do high
school all over again, or indeed there are those people who never left. I would
never go back to that hellscape of hormones, and finding yourself while the
world gets ripped out from underneath you. Well today we look at a series that
explores that very time period in all its uncomfortableness.
TL;DR – While it does not
always quite get there, it was still an interesting ride.
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
After three seasons of trying the gang is finally in the good place, and after all this,
the emotional and social capital to get us here does it actually hold up? Well
no, but then I think it does something a little more important, maybe.
TL;DR – It a show where sex
is very much front and centre, however, it is actually the relationships that
actually shine through.
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
Sex, it is in the name of the show, and if there is any confusion the episode
opens with a very explicit view of two people engaged in it. Pretty much there
is no misunderstanding in the first five minutes as to what you are going to
get with this show. However, as things went on, the one thing that struck me
was how caring it all was.
TL;DR – In Home, The Orville finally finds that balance between the absurd and the sincere
and creates one of their best episodes so far.
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
So far this season The Orville have continued on in its mission to highlight the juxtaposition between the absurd and the sincere. Now, this is something that you can completely do, but the show in both Season One and so far this season just couldn’t quite find that right balance. Well with Home I think they really are starting to head in that right direction and it doesn’t hurt when you throw in some great guest cast and beautiful art design help along the way.
TL;DR – Honeymoon brings everyone back together, hits all the right beats,
and propels the show forward, so a great opening episode of a season.
Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
I have been around long enough that the list of shows that I love that got cancelled
without closure is a decently long list. When it happens you always hear of
trying to get it picked up by another network, but this barely ever happens. So
when Brooklyn Nine-Nine got cancelled,
I lamented the stupid decision, but I knew it was unlikely to change, and if
there was ever a time I was happy to be wrong this is it. Well, now we are back and even more extraordinary
we have a full season pick up, so let’s dive into
the first episode of the season Honeymoon.
TL;DR – With Primal Urges we
see how The Orville is not afraid to tackle really important issues, but that
it has yet to quite get that balance right
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
One of the issues facing the world today is porn addiction, free porn is literally
at most people’s fingertips if you have an internet connection and it can be devastating
to a relationship. The Orville looks at Porn Addiction in the context of a relationship
that has completely soured but there is still a child involved, which is a
situation that is very familiar in the world today.
TL;DR – This series explores
the temptation and addiction that we can have with capturing the past. However,
while it introduces a lot of important themes, it does not really have the
space to digest them all.
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
If you could be young again for a day or so, would you take that opportunity,
would you try to fix some part of your life? However, what would you do to keep
staying young, would you hurt people, would you kill, what if going back meant
losing who you were? These are all really deep questions and I don’t know how I
myself would answer, but today we are looking at a show that posits these exact
questions and more.
TL;DR – With the last episode
for a year, we get the return of a villain past, and not really a whole lot
else, which leads to an interesting if forgettable episode.
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
The debut season for Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall has come and gone, and while I generally enjoyed it, it has been divisive among the fans, and no not just because The Doctor is a woman now (though there are still those people, sigh). The show pretty much used this season as an opportunity as a soft-reboot and a good entry point for new people joining in without years of storylines to catch up on. All of this meant that we got some amazing episodes like Rosa and the Demons of the Punjab but there was also an awful lot of filler and constant use of ‘oh the bad guy is not the actual bad guy.’ All of this lead to many episodes feeling undercooked and the drive to have all new enemies for the series probably didn’t help. Well, today we look at the epilogue for the series and its first ever New Year’s special and see how well it does for the last Doctor Who episode for over a year.
TL;DR – This first episode was
all about us getting back into the groove with The Orville and its juxtaposition
of absurdity and sincerity, but not all of it works.
Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
I finally got the chance to see Season One of The Orville early this year when it finally got a release down under, and I was struck by how funny and also how many serious issues it tackled. It was not just a Star Trek parody with the first officer and captain being exs, okay it is totally that, but it is also a beautiful sincere look at the work, with some fantastic characters and alien races. Now that Season Two is about to start, I am really interested to see how the show evolves going forward, and can it keep this interesting juxtaposition going.
TL;DR – While there is some clear potential in the interactive story model, my particular playthrough of Bandersnatch was less engrossing and for me more frustrating than anything else.
Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars
Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene
Review –
Black Mirror is a series that is always looking to be on the cutting edge of
narrative storytelling. It twists worlds
in on itself, leads the viewer down the garden path only to cut their legs out
from underneath them, or destroys the nostalgia we have for the past, or indeed
the hope we have for the future. So, when it dropped a couple of days ago that
there would be a feature-length episode, well
that was some interesting news, but then when it was announced that it would be
a ‘chose your own adventure’ with multiple endings and user interaction, well
this went from intriguing to must watch in a heartbeat. However, now that I
have seen it I feel that maybe the idea did not match the execution. Also,
because this is a chose your own adventure, it actually makes it difficult to
review because my experience is going to be possibly a lot different to what yours
will be. Maybe I just drew the short straw and hit all the frustrating options,
maybe you’ll be luckier than me, which from the discussions on the internet
might just be the case, I just simply do not know. Well with that in mind let’s
take a dive into a world with multiple paths and endings.
TL;DR Movie Reviews and Analysis 