Tag Archives: Farce

Digger – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While I will champion the brilliant production design, many of the performances, and respect that they went for a big swing here, I must say that I ended up loathing this film with an anger I have never quite experienced before.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Digger looks in shock at the news on his computer screen.

Digger Review Introduction

Well, I don’t think I have ever experienced a film quite like the one we will be exploring today. It makes some of the biggest swings in cinema that I have seen all year, maybe in several years, and yet all it invoked in me was anger. Today, I will unpick the film as well as we can without heading headfirst into the inevitable spoilers. It will not be an easy balance to get right, but I shall try.

So, to set the scene, Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) is an oil baron from a long line of oil barons, who has made his considerable fortune from drilling oil in places no one else would, such as a national park in Greenland or along the Alaskan coastline. He has lived a life of luxury, where his wealth and power have insulated him from most things, even the President of the United States Compson (John Goodman) comes to him for advice. But all of that changes one day when the scientist Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) informs him that 1) a chunk of ice the size of Pennsylvania has broken off Greenland, 2) it is entirely his oil mining that caused it, and 3) now the ice sheet Judy is heading right towards Europe where it will cause flooding across the entire coastline.

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New Zealand Spy: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – A delightfully silly exploration of the world of spying through a Kiwi lens.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I viewed this on ABC iView.

New Zealand Spy over a view of mountains.

New Zealand Spy Review Introduction –

There is a wide range of ways you can attack the spy genre, and time and time again has shown that farce is a perfectly valid way of achieving that. Today, we are looking at an example of this from my next-door neighbours, and all-round nice guys, New Zealand, who hopefully won’t betray that kindness by casting the Australians as the bad guys.  

So, to set the scene, a man clad in white races down a side of a mountain in skis as bullets fly. Michael Brown (Paul Williams) wants to be a spy; good thing there are only three applicants for five positions, so he just got lucky. After training, Michael is sent on his first mission to Queenstown, with Sue Nightingale (Rose Matafeo) and Michael Anderson (Joe Thomas), to see why the head of Australian Intelligence just touched down. Though maybe the training to be a spy should be longer than two weeks? Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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TV Review – Space Force Season 1

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TL;DR – A show full of great actors and talent that unfortunately falls completely flat because it can’t pick a tone

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Space Force Season 1. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –
You would think a show that blends tow of my great loves, politics and space in the one show would be an instant hit for me. Well I do not envy the job the writers would have had on this job. You take one of (though by far not the most) stupid ramblings that was spat out on Twitter by the current President of the United States and turn it a slightly farcical spoof. The balance you would need to pull that off would be a high wire act and as we see today it does not work. Also, I should point out that if you are who has a passing understanding of space mechanics or current political system you will involuntarily cringe throughout the show.

To see the scene, General Mark R. Naird (Steve Carell) is with his wife Maggie (Lisa Kudrow) and daughter Erin (Diana Silvers) in The Pentagon for a big day as he is being promoted to a 4-Star General in the Air Force. However, he is not being promoted to the head of the Air Force but the brand new Space Force in nowhere Colorado. One year later and while things are proceeding Mark’s life has not gone quite to plan with his wife now in prison and a POTUS that wants results and they are not ready to give them.  Now we will be looking at the series as a whole and as such there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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