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

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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?  

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Corner Office – Movie Review

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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.  

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Turtles All the Way Down – Movie Review

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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.

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

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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.  

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Knuckles: Season 1 – TV Review

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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.     

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

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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.  

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Star Trek: Discovery – Mirrors – TV Review

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TL;DR – There are reflections a plenty this week, and that is not even contained to a mirror universe.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

The USS Discovery-A approaches the wormhole.

Star Trek: Discovery Review –

This season, we have had an interesting situation with a pair of antagonists who don’t quite fit the bill as bad guys. Sure, they deal with the shady side of things, but I also think we might forget that the Romulan ship in Red Directive was also legitimate salvage. But you could feel that some backstory was ready to be dropped. Well, today’s episode does just that.

So to set the scene, after flashing through time in Face The Strange, we discovered that Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak’s (Elias Toufexis) gambit worked, and they are now ahead of the USS Discovery-A crew. But as luck would have it, they know where they went because there is a wormhole of sorts, but not a nice friendly wormhole like in DS9. No, this one will rip your ship in half without thinking of it, which is what Michael (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Book (David Ajala) discovered as they went in. That was surprising, but even more so was stumbling across the ISS Enterprise. Now, we will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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The Fall Guy – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It’s a wonderful romp, full of pomp and circumstance, and a desperate need for an extra edit.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a sequence in the credits and a mid-credit scene.

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

Filming a car chase.

The Fall Guy Review –

Today, I am looking at a film that is genuinely quite odd. It is an Action-Adventure, Romantic-Comedy, Mystery, Adaption of an Old TV Show, that is also making a meta-commentary on how Hollywood treats people who work on the stunt team. Yet with all of that, they made it work, and a blast of fun at that.

So to set the scene, Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is a suave and super-confident stuntman who knows how to take a fall while on fire and thrown into a rock. When he is not being blown up, he is flirting with the very professional camera operator, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). However, when his incompetent actor Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who could not do his own stunts in his dreams, wanted a stunt done again because they saw ‘too much face’. But the stunt goes wrong, and Colt breaks his back. Eighteen months later, Tom’s Producer, Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham), calls Colt, who is now a valet. She needs him to come back to Sydney because Jody has her first director role, and they need his stunt prowess. But did anyone ask Jody?

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Fallout: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a series that shows you how important it is to get the vibe of the work you are adapting correctly.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

End Credit – There is a mid-credit sequence.

Cooper Howard sells vaults.

Fallout Review –

Like many people, I had a bit of trepidation when they announced that there would be an adaptation of the video game Fallout. Sure, the original video game built a world that is ripe for adaptation. However, at the time of the announcement, video game adaptations were not known for their quality or respect of the source material. But that first trailer showed that there was potential here, and I am glad to say, after watching it all, I think that mostly held up.  

So to set the scene, we open in 2077; that feels like it is a world of the past that is close but not quite like the one we have today, yet actually the future. After a series of resource wars, the USA and China are on the brink of apocalypse, and it is on everyone’s mind as Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) appears as a cowboy at a local child’s birthday party. Which sadly, it comes to pass as multiple nuclear explosions destroy Los Angeles as Cooper rides off with his daughter on a horse. Two hundred nineteen years later, Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) lives in Vault 33, one of the few places that survived the carnage. Her dad, Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan), is the overseer of the Vault, and the day of her wedding is a big event for everyone. However, the tri-annual visit from Vault 32 does not quite go according to plan. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a visually impressive film that is narratively shallow, even though everyone is trying their best.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

Jimmy

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver Review –

I had an odd sensation as I sat down to watch this sequel, in that even though I had only watched the first film back in December, for my life, I could not remember anything that happened. It had evaporated into the ether, bar was Anthony Hopkins a robot? This meant I desperately needed that what happened last time the introduction that started the proceedings. But it did not fill me with confidence as I sat down to watch the follow-up.

So to set the scene, at the end of Rebel Moon, the plucky rebels had found and won a massive victory against The Motherworld. Kora (Sofia Boutella) and her group was able to return home to Veldt after killing Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein). But you see, you can never count The Motherland and its technology out. Because Noble is still alive, and now he has a more than personal reason to burn Veldt to the ground and the village has only five days to prepare.

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