Anaconda (2025) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a wildly silly and meta film that holds back when it should dive all the way in.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to view this film.

A production slate for Anaconda.

Anaconda Review Introduction –

Today, we are looking at a film that sold itself to me by its bonkers premise alone: what if the sequel to 1997’s Anaconda was a meta reboot about a group of filmmakers trying to film a sequel to 1997’s Anaconda. It is a premise so profoundly silly that you must see just how they pull it off, and the answer is very meta indeed.

So, to set the scene, Ronald “Griff” Griffen Jr. (Paul Rudd) is a background actor in Hollywood whose only notable role was a four-episode stint on S.W.A.T. Well, after another failed audition, he sees a poster for the 1997 film Anaconda and gets an idea. He returns home to Buffalo, New York, to inform his friends that he has secured the rights to the Anaconda franchise so they can make one of the films they used to make when they were kids. It is a profoundly silly idea, but soon wedding videographer Doug McCallister (Jack Black), recently divorced lawyer Claire Simons (Thandiwe Newton), and now Buffalo sober Kenny Trent (Steve Zahn) find themselves in Manaus, Brazil, looking at snake handler Carlos Santiago Braga (Selton Mello) and his pet anaconda. They take a boat deep into the jungle to start filming, but little do they know that when filming Anaconda, there may be an anaconda hunting them.      

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PLUR1BUS: We Is Us [S1E1] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A masterpiece in tension and build-up.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Warning – This episode contains flashing lights.

439D 19H 56M 11S.

PLUR1BUS Review –

Today I begin my first dive into a work of Vince Gilligan. I know his work is quality, but unfortunately for me, by the time that Breaking Bad was accessible in Australia, it had already been mostly spoiled. It also meant I did not have the energy to explore Better Call Saul, even though I know it is excellent. But now it’s the time for fresh starts and as the show came highly recommended by my friends, and some dabbling into science fiction helps things along nicely. I found it the right time to press play.    

So, to set the scene, one evening, two SETI scientists find a repeating message coming from space. It is nothing bouncing off the Moon. It is a code repeated every 78 seconds and sent from 600 light-years away. As the scientists try to break the message, Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) is busy signing the latest addition of her romance fantasy book. But little does anyone know that one bite and a kiss later, the entire world changes. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Heated Rivalry: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a profoundly compelling if fundamentally risqué series that explores relationships in the harshest place through the lens of a visionary auteur.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Hollander on the back of a jersey.

Heated Rivalry Review –

When people were mapping out what would be the go-to pop culture event for the end of the year, it would have been a safe bet to pick something like the final season of Stranger Things, or maybe the bombastic Avatar. Few predicted that the year’s breakout cultural moment would come not from a blockbuster franchise but from a modest Canadian drama. Well, if you spend any time on the internet, you know how successful it has been in cutting through the noise of the algorithm, so let’s have a look and see.

So, to set the scene, in 2008, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) has had one drive all his life: to be the best hockey player of all time. But on the cusp of being drafted, he meets the new Russian prodigy Ilya Grigoryevich Rozanov (Connor Storrie) at the International Prospect Cup final. Six months later, they have been drafted to rival teams, Boston Raiders & Montreal Metros, of the Major League Hockey (MLH). When the two of them meet again, they find they have undeniable chemistry, and one thing leads to the other. But there are no out gay players in the MLH, so the two keep this tryst/relationship/booty call/whatever you want to call it a secret, lest anyone find out and their careers are ruined. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Avatar: Fire and Ash – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Avatar is pomp and circumstance like no one else in the business is doing at the moment, except maybe the other Avatar films, which are doing the same thing very much.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The Wind Traders.

Avatar: Fire and Ash Review Introduction –

Truly, there is nothing out there at the moment with the ambition and multi-coloured excellence like Avatar. Just three hours of non-stop visual excellence for your eyeballs with a sheer tenacity that we don’t see come out of Hollywood much anymore. But, this is the third outing in the series, and the question is: can it keep feeling fresh coming back to the same world again and again? Before we jump in, I do want to make clear that for this review, we watched the standard presentation, so no 3D, 4DX or other extras other than the meal I ordered halfway through because I splurged on the nice seats. So, we won’t be able to comment on whether the 3D, etc., is worth the ticket price.

So, to set the scene, everyone is still reeling from the end of Avatar: The Way of Water, where to save his family, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri’s (Zoe Saldaña) son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) sacrificed himself to save his family, and Spider (Jack Champion) no less. Everyone is grieving in their own way, and most of those ways are not very helpful. However, after some battery mix-ups show how vulnerable Spider is out here in the wilds. The parents decide it’s time to send Spider back to the researchers, where he will be closer to humans and safer. It is a long trip back, full of dangers, but not just from humans/sky people. For within the Navi, there are the Mangkwan clan led by Varang (Oona Chaplin), who are raiding and killing all those they come across.

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Sunny Nights: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a profoundly chaotic show, some of that is intentional amusement, and some of that is unintentional interactions of tone and pacing.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Will Forte looks at a snow globe covered in blood.

Sunny Nights Review –

There are times when a single pitch is enough to get you to take a chance on something: Will Forte and D’Arcy Carden are siblings who get in over their heads with Rachel House, a mobster, as they try to push their spray tan business in Sydney. That is a sentence that makes you want to see how the hell they pull such a chaotic idea off. Well, it worked for me if nothing else.

So, to set the scene, American siblings Martin (Will Forte) and Vicki Marvin (D’Arcy Carden) have moved their spray tan business, Tansform, to Sydney, Australia. Martin is going to get back with his wife after they separated and she moved to Sydney. Vicki is there to help get out of the life she’s in and make some bank. However, they are both profoundly outside of their element, even before Martin gets catfished, and all of a sudden, they are up to their ears in debt and might just have the mob after them all because of an exploding crocodile. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Peacemaker: Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – A very oddball second season filled with genuine earnest moments, topped off by a profoundly rushed ending.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the HBO Max subscription that viewed this series

Post-Credit Scene – There are end-credit scenes in each episode.

Top Trio mural.

Peacemaker Introduction –

Back in 2022, one of the oddest moments in the modern comic era happened: in the midst of all of its serious problems, as the DC Studio was falling apart, film after film, they decided to put out a TV series around one of the less-liked characters from the Suicide Squad films. What made it even odder is that it kind of worked, with a level of charm that managed to undercut its many issues. Well, it may have helped get James Gunn the job in the big chair and changed the direction of a multi-billion-dollar media empire, but after a cameo in Superman, it is time to dive back into Peacemaker.  

So, to set the scene, in the time since the end of the first season of Peacemaker, things have not quite worked out for many of our characters. Many of them had been blocked and couldn’t get work anymore, and Chris Smith/Peacemaker (John Cena) is still working through the trauma of having to kill his very racist and unpleasant father, Auggie (Robert Patrick). But what happens when you are at your lowest and temptation strikes? Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Foundation: Season 3 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This season has started to diverge considerably from the source material, and among its bombast and stunning visuals are some creeping worries.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service to view this episode.

Looking at a sun.

Foundation Introduction –

When I first started watching the third season of Foundation with A Song for the End of Everything, I was concerned they would be trying to force all of The Mule’s story into this one season. While they avoided that particular pitfall, the season still shows signs of strain as it pushes further from Asimov’s framework, as you can start to feel the show beginning to wobble a bit and potentially head towards disaster as we move farther away from the source material.

So, to set the scene, it has been 152 years since the Second Crisis, and while the Empire continues to collapse, the Foundation grows, expanding further out of the outer reach. Now both the Empire and The Foundation are fighting to control Kalgan, a pleasure planet, and the key to controlling The Middle Band. But there may be a third player out there, ready to tear everything up. For after much prediction, or perhaps, not enough prediction, The Mule (Pilou Asbæk) is on the move, and both sides should fear him because with him comes calamity, and the galaxy is not prepared for what he is about to wreak. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Silo: Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – The sophomore season suffers from some significant pacing issues, but when it clicks together, it is like no other.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Juliette Lives.

Silo Review –

As it is the end of the year, it is time to catch up with all the shows that I didn’t get a chance to finish during the year, and the first on my list is Silo. Conceptually, I love this show, the brooding treatise on humanity, control, and rebellion. However, I dropped out halfway through. Well, today, I go back to see why.

So, to set the scene, after being set up by Bernard Holland (Tim Robbins) and Robert Sims (Common), Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) was forced to go outside and ‘clean’ in the season finale. However, thanks to some work from Martha Walker (Harriet Walter), Juliette’s suit was fitted with tape that actually worked so that the poisonous air would not leak in. It is here that she discovers not only is there still a barren, poisoned world on the surface, but their Silo is not the only one. Not knowing how long the tape will last, she runs to the next Silo over, only to discover thousands of dead bodies spilled across the ground. But there is no time to wait as she escapes death by entering a dead silo. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Fallout: The Golden Rule [S2E2] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A riot of whimsy as we delve into the world of Fallout, as the characters try to make sense of everything that goes on.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this series.

The destruction of Shady Sands.

Fallout: The Golden Rule Review Introduction –

One of the great things about Fallout has been its ability to be filled with contrasts, yet still manage to keep the whole from being ripped apart. Which, as we have seen from a multitude of adaptations, is a difficult thing to pull off. Grounding something this inherently silly is a rare skill, and the show pulls it off again here.

So, to set the scene, many years before the time of the show, there lived a town called Shady Sands. Life was still hard, but they had found their niche in the wilderness, and they were starting to rebuild the world that had been lost during the Great War that rained down nuclear fire on the earth. However, their success drew the attention of forces they did not know were out there, or in this case, under there, which is why they may not have acted quickly enough when the trader walked into town acting odd. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Clarisse Blows Everything Up [S2E4] – TV Review

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TL;DR – We get reminded again how good the casting has been in this series, and also what the stakes are, because you never know when things are going to explode.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

Clarisse and Percy fight.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Review –

Well, we have heard a lot about the Sea of Monsters, but so far, we have been spending a lot of time not actually visiting it. Well, that all changes today, because cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, because nothing will stop Percy when he is on a quest.

So, to set the scene, a long time ago, Luke was a demigod on the run from monsters with a young Annabeth (Marissa Lior Winans) in his care. They were hiding in a sewer to escape cyclopes that were chasing them and Thalia (Tamara Smart). It is a great sadness for Annabeth (Leah Sava Jeffries) because Thalia never made it to Camp Halfblood. But it may be an illegal quest, but everyone is on board, right up until the part where Clarisse (Dior Goodjohn) blows up their boat. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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