Tag Archives: Holly Hunter

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Beta Test [S1E2] – TV Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – I think this episode shows the potential best and also the possible worst for the series moving forward.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that airs this series.

The Cadets in a line.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Beta Test Review

Apparently, it is tradition in the year of the Lord 2026, when you drop a weekly series order, you need to drop two episodes, which usually feel like they could have been one movie-length episode, but weren’t because of weird Hollywood economy reasons. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is no stranger to this phenomenon, but to give it its credit, this did feel like a whole new episode in its own right.  

So, to set the scene, Caleb Mir (Sandro Rosta) is trying to acclimatise to a world defined by rules, order, and, strangely for him, safety. Meanwhile, Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter) is championing student learning wherever she can. One opportunity is being given to Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr) because, for the first time since The Burn, the Betazed delegation is coming out of their psionic barrier that was put up around their territory. This could be a big win for the Federation to get Betazed to return to the fold, but it was the Federation that abandoned them during The Burn, and memories can be long. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Kids These Days [S1E1] – TV Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – This is a bit of a rough first episode, but underneath all the mess is a lot of promise.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that airs this series.

The USS Athena.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Kids These Days Review –

Well, it is a new year, and also it is time for some new Star Trek, well, I say new Star Trek, but the idea of setting a show in Starfleet Academy has been kicking around since at least the 1980s. However, it might have taken forty-odd years to get it going; its time is now, and of course, we must take a look, even though I suspect it is a show that is not pitched to me. But then Star Trek Prodigy was also not pitched to me, and that turned out to be a real gem.  
So, to set the scene, at the end of Star Trek Discovery’s Fifth Season, we discovered that things had stabilised enough in the remnant of the Federation and Starfleet to restart the Starfleet Academy back on Earth. Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) had the tough job of choosing a commandant for the Academy, but he settled on Captain Nahla Ake (Holly Hunter), who left Starfleet because it was not living up to its ideals. However, on its maiden flight from Bajor to Earth, the USS Athena detects an anomaly. She stops to examine this possible teaching opportunity that turns out to be more than they bargained for. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Incredibles 2

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – This is a fun ride back into the world of 60s spy film and superheroes, the story does not always work but the animation and setting more than make up for it.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post credit scene

Content Warning – There are a couple of sequences that could be dangerous for people that suffer from epilepsy.

Incredibles 2. Image Credit Disney/Pixar

Review –

Back all the way in 2004 Pixar was in its golden era where each film released by the studio was better than the last and in that moment we got The Incredibles. It was a fun romp through the world of superheroes four years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched the flood of superhero film into the world. The original was this fun mix of a 60s spy film with the trappings of a modern superhero film and to this day stands as the closest we will get to a decent Fantastic Four film on the big screen. Now I quite liked the first film, but it wasn’t the huge cultural touchstone for me like it was for a lot of people. So when I heard they were finally doing a sequel to it I was less in an ‘it’s about time’ frame of mind but more ‘hmm that might be a bit of fun’ and overall I do think it was all a bit of fun.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – The Big Sick

Posted on by
7

TL;DR – Emotional, yet funny, Completely relatable, yet deeply personal, a look into what makes us who we are.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Big Sick. Image Credit: Amazon Studios.

Review –

So The Big Sick was one of those delightful films where I knew nothing about it before I went to see it, which is rare in a time where not only are movie trailers plastered everywhere, but they routinely spoil the films they are promoting. To be fair I had seen one clip, the Thanksgiving Day parade, and you could infer things from the poster, but in this day and age that’s as close to not knowing as you can get. Also, I was going to give this one a pass because I’ve not found the Rom-Com genre to be anything but rehashes of the same material, for years now. So I was completely surprised, because The Big Sick turned out to be nothing like the film I was expecting to see, I’ve not been this surprised since The Dressmaker (review).

Continue reading →