A Sunburnt Christmas – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that walks the line between charming and serious like a professional.     

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Awards –

Nominated: Best Australian Film & Most Fun.

A Sunburnt Christmas. Image Credit: Stan.

A Sunburnt Christmas Review –

When you have worked a long time in retail, it is difficult to ‘get into the Christmas Spirit’. Which does sort of extend into those classic Christmas films. But enough time has passed to dive back in maybe, and well where best to start is the new Christmas film on Stan.

So to set the scene, we open in a hospital as a man is brought in for surgery. We find out that he is a prisoner and that he is considered dangerous. A little time later, Daryl (Daniel Henshall) tricks the local hospital Santa (Alirio Zavarce) and escapes just before the illusive Dingo (Sullivan Stapleton) arrived to kill him. Running in the Santa’s truck, he crashes into the farm of Hazel (Tatiana Goode), Tom (Eadan McGuinness), and Daisy (Lena Nankivell). He pretends to be Santa to Tom and Daisy, in the attempt to find his ‘sack’ (full of stolen money) that is buried on the farm somewhere.

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Palm Springs – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film about broken people reliving their broken lives, day after day after day after …   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Palm Springs. Image Credit: Amazon Prime.

Palm Springs Review –

There have been many media properties that have attempted to recapture the joy that was the time loop in Groundhog Day. I mean even Stargate SG1 gave it a shot. However, no one has quite gotten there. Well, today we might have a contender with Palm Springs. 

So to set the scene, we open in on the day of a wedding between Tala (Camila Mendes) and Abe (Tyler Hoechlin), but our focus is not with them. Instead, it is with Nyles (Andy Samberg) the boyfriend of Misty (Meredith Hagner) one of the bridesmaids. Nyles is the type of guy that will wear a Hawaiian shirt and swim pants to distinctly not beachside wedding. But still, he saves the day when Sarah (Cristin Milioti) the Maid of Honour has to make a surprise wedding speech, and she has had too much wine. It is all going swimmingly, with Nyles and Sarah about to hook up when an arrow comes out of nowhere and a masked man Joe (J.K. Simmons) starts hunting Nyles for sport. Wounded Nyles crawls into a glowing cave, and even though he asks Sarah not to follow she does, and then they both wake up at the start yesterday again.  

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Sound of Metal – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A profoundly moving and confronting film that explores a man’s life after it has been ripped asunder    

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Awards –

Nominated: Fascinating Worldbuilding.
Winner: Fascinating Worldbuilding.

Sound of Metal. Image Credit: Amazon Studios.

Sound of Metal Review –

There are times when you have seen an actor nail every role that you have seen them in, but they have only been in supporting roles. So you can’t wait to see someone take a chance and cast them in the lead. One of those actors is Riz Ahmed, and I am glad that I get to see that happen today with Sound of Metal.

So to set the scene, Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed) is a musician, specifically a drummer, who is on tour with his partner Lou (Olivia Cooke). One night when he is performing a ringing starts in his ears, but it goes away. However, it continues to relapse till he has only 20% hearing in both his ears. Ruben is told that he has to stop drumming or he could lose all his hearing. He ignores the doctor and goes back to drumming until it is all gone. In a moment of despair, he starts to backslide after being clean for four years. Lou calls his sponsor, and they are able to find a place that can help him with both his addiction and help him work through his loss of hearing. The head of the facility, Joe (Paul Raci) needs Ruben to cut himself off from the world for this to work, which is a difficult transition.

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Emma – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Charmingly silly, yet deeply compelling    

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Awards:

Nominated: Beautiful Cinematography, Stunning Costumes, Most Fun, Exquisite Musical Score & Fascinating Worldbuilding

Emma. Image Credit: Universal.

Emma Review –

It has been said of me lately that I have been rather a bit dismissive of the old works of writers like Jane Austen. Well, in my attempt to catch up on some of the films I missed in 2020, I thought it would be the perfect time to remedy this, a little.

In England’s Regency-era, a local matchmaker has made her latest match in the rural countryside village of Highbury. Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy) has set up her governess Miss Taylor (Gemma Whelan) and local widower Mr Weston (Rupert Graves). She loves the game, and her latest intrigue is Harriet Smith (Mia Goth) who brings her into a confrontation with George Knightley (Johnny Flynn), a friend and yet sometimes rival.

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Doctor Who: Revolution Of The Daleks – TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a perfectly okay episode, but I wish it could have been more than that

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – Watched on ABC IView

Doctor Who: Revolution Of The Daleks. Image Credit: BBC.

Revolution Of The Daleks Review –

Well, before we start, I need to be honest with something, I had utterly bounced off Doctor Who. I had liked Jodie Whittaker’s performance, and the characters, but something about the stories that just fell flat for me. I didn’t watch the last season and from the sounds of things that was for the best. I was honestly going to give the New Year’s special a pass, but then they had to go announce that a certain Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) is back, and well if I am not a sucker for things like this.

So to set the scene, in the aftermath of a Dalek attack on Earth, the body of said Dalek is taken away to be stored in deep storage. However, on the way to Depository, 23, the transport driver is incapacitated, and the corpse is stolen. Sometime later the Technology Sectary Jo Patterson (Harriet Walter) meets with disgraced businessman from Arachnids In The UK Jack Robertson (Chris Noth) who has a new crowd control invention, which just so happens to be an AI-controlled Dalek. Meanwhile, 79 billion light-years away The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) is stuck in prison and has been there for a while, just waiting for someone to break her out. From this point onwards we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Star Trek Discovery: There Is A Tide … – TV Review

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TL;DR – The awkward middle-episode of the three-part season finale

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Star Trek Discovery: There Is A Tide … Image Credit: CBS Studios.

There Is A Tide Review –

As we rush towards the end of the season, we spend a little time exploring the consequence of the crew’s actions to this point, their impact on the galaxy, and the damage they could wreak.

So to set the scene, in last week’s Su’Kal, we ended on a cliff-hanger with Discovery under the control of Osyraa (Janet Kidder) and jumping right to Federation Headquarters. Leaving Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala) stuck on his ship and the rest of the away team down in the radiation infested ship. Jumping into Federation space Osyraa create a ruse getting them inside the headquarters shield but not before Book and Michael crash land in Discovery’s perpetually open shuttle bay. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Onward – Movie Review

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TL;DR –  It takes a straightforward premise and elevates it with a real heart.    

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Awards:

Nominated – Creative Animation & Most Fun

Onward. Image Credit: Disney.

Onward Review –

There has been a couple of attempts in recent times to do the ‘what if the fantasy realm that you know was set in modern times’ and well, on the whole, they have been bad. But as a concept, it is solid, so I have been wondering if anyone would be able to pull it off. Well if anyone can do it, it is Pixar, and boy did they.

So to set the scene, Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland) is just an average teenage elf, winning math awards, learning how to drive, avoiding his brother Barley Lightfoot (Chris Pratt) and trying to find friends. He is trying to find his place in the world with his brother, who is a bit of a screw-up, and his mother Laurel Lightfoot (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) who is trying her best with the chaos. On his 16th birthday, their mother surprises them with a gift from their late father Wilden Lightfoot (Kyle Bornheimer) which turns out to be a magic staff and a spell, one that can bring him back, but only for one day.

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Mulan (2020) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that is desperately trying to differentiate itself from the past while still hitting all the same story points.     

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Mulan. Image Credit: Disney.

Mulan Review –

When I was growing up, I was at the perfect age for the original animated Mulan. It was this joyous riot of humour with music that I can still repeat verbatim today. However, it is also one of those films that as you grow up and the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia start to fade you begin to see it is not a film without its issues. With that in mind, this was one of the only Disney remakes that I was interested to see remade in live-action, but I am not sure it got to where it wanted to go.

So to set the scene, along the Northern Silk Road, a witch Xianniang (Gong Li) is helping a Rouran warlord Böri Khan (Jason Scott Lee) attack garrisons of the Imperial Chinese Empire. To respond to this threat, the Emperor (Jet Li) signs an edict that one man from each household must be conscripted into the army to fight the menace. This is a dilemma for one family because the only man is Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma) who badly injured his leg in the last war and has only daughters. Being called up to the army would be a death sentence for him, something his wife Hua Li (Rosalind Chao) sees. Seeing the inevitable outcome, Zhou’s daughter Mulan (Yifei Liu) takes his place even though it would mean her death if she is found out.

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Extraction – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A solid action film from start to finish   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Awards –

Nominated: Explosive Action
Winner: Explosive Action

Extraction. Image Credit: Netflix.

Extraction Review –

Today I begin my power shot through the films that I missed this year, these will be shorter reviews than usual, as I have a lot to get through in preparation for my best-of list. We begin with an action film that is both very old fashioned but also refreshing in some way.

So to set the scene, In Delhi Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal) is being a usual teenager going out with friends and visiting clubs right up until police officer kills his friend and takes him hostage. Ovi’s father is Ovi Mahajan Sr (Pankaj Tripathi) a major drug lord in India and is currently incarcerated. The boy was kidnapped by Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli) a competitor from Dhaka, Bangladesh. With time being short, the boy’s family hires extraction expert Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) to save his life and well things don’t go to plan.

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Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy – Earthrise [Chapter Two] – TV Review

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TL;DR – Unfortunately the issues of the first Chapter are back

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy – Earthrise. Image Credit: Netflix.

Transformers: War For Cybertron Trilogy Review –

When the first Chapter came out for the War for Cybertron, I liked some character aspects, but unfortunately, I came away from it feeling a bit hollow. I wanted to see if they could fix some of these issues in Chapter Two, but I am not sure they did.

So to set the scene, at the end of Chapter 1 – Siege, Optimus Prime (Jake Foushee) took many Autobots as they can away from Cybertron on the Ark. However, Megatron (Jason Marnocha) and the Decepticons think the Ark exploded taking the Allspark along with it. Megatron is in a state of despair, as he has no enemy to fight, and the planet is slowly dying. On Cybertron, the few remaining Autobots led by Elita-1 (Linsay Rousseau) try to free those locked up in detention camps. But on the Ark, things are not going well, even before some unexpected visitors pay a visit. Now we will be looking at the series as a whole, and as such there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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