Tag Archives: Military

Primitive War – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Few films can sell me on a premise alone, but what if Dinosaurs were in the Vietnam War is 100% the way to go about it.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Warning – Contains scenes with flashing lights.

A boat glides up a Vietnamese river.

Primitive War Introduction –

Every now and again, you find a film that has been laser-focused on your interests. For me, you must work to make me not interested once you have mentioned the word dinosaurs. Start with the premise ‘what if dinosaurs suddenly showed up in the middle of the Vietnam War’, now you don’t just have my interest, you have my full attention

So, to set the scene, it is 1968, and the Vietnam War is in full swing. In the middle of the war, a Green Beret platoon was sent into a jungle valley to find out what the Russians were doing there, only for none of them to return, and a final radio call was cut off halfway through. General Amadeus Jericho (Jeremy Piven) needs the information the recon team collected. Still, he can’t have it known, so he sends in the Vulture Squad led by Ryan Baker (Ryan Kwanten), as they are a bunch of misfits. They find the remains of the Green Berets, but also an unusually large feather. It is clear that the Green Berets were not able to finish their recon before they were taken out, so the Vulture Squad trek into the jungle to find the Russian base, not realising what might be waiting, hiding, stalking in the bushes.  

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Civil War – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A deeply haunting film that engaged you so you could not look away, even though you wanted to.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Civil War Review –


Today, we look at a film that I didn’t know if I was going to review or not. It had awkward screening times when it had its theatrical release, and the election happened, and things felt a little too real to dive into a film like this. However, as the year came to a close, I felt like this was one of the films of 2024 that I had to watch to be able to understand the year that was.

So, to set the scene, in the not-too-distant future, The United States has devolved into civil war again, with the forces of the so-called central United States government based out of Washington DC up against the Western Forces of Texas and California. It is a chaotic time, with competing narratives as to what is happening and scarcities of resources like water putting pressure on everyone. In the midst of all of this are the photographers who are documenting the war, including veteran photojournalist Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), who has been doing this long enough to know when a suicide bomber is coming. Everyone can see that DC is going to fall, and rather than being on the frontlines, Lee and her partner Joel (Wagner Moura) want to go into the Capital and interview The President (Nick Offerman) before he is murdered by whatever faction gets to the Capital first. The only problem, well one of many problems for them, is that the road from New York to the Capital is fraught with fighting, damage, and military forces looking to blow up anything that moves.    

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Reacher: Burial – TV Review

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TL;DR – Bookended by two fantastic action sequences, it shows that Reacher is peak-Dad Show Energy, but also more than that.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The American flag over a coffin.

Reacher Review –

Last week, we dived into the first half of Reacher’s Second Season, and it was fantastic. It hit the same energy of the first season, with the added bonus of getting the team back together. With all of that energy behind it, I wondered if its central premise could hold up to the end because righteous Reacher might need to get dirty.

So to set the scene, Reacher (Alan Ritchson) has stayed behind in New York with O’Donnell (Shaun Sipos) to help his family bug out and move to safety as they turn their focus on New Age Technologies. This company seems to be having a bad case of wanting to kill them all. Meanwhile, Neagley (Maria Sten) and Dixson (Serinda Swan) have made it to Denver, Colorado, to see just what is going on in the software division of this new missile company when bullets start flying. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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NCIS: Sydney – Blonde Ambition & Full Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – They may have saved the best for last with a banger of a season finale.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The surf off Sydney.

Well, we have come to the end of the first season of NCIS: Sydney. It has been an odd season, with moments of highs and also a lot of frustrations. However, things started to coalesce towards the end, and I wondered if the show could stick the landing.   

So to set the scene, we open at a kids birthday party where a deeply bad clown is performing for the kids, but things turn sinister when the clown steals the birthday boy. Meanwhile, they have the secretive woman Anna (Georgina Haig) they captured in Bunker Down, who has been a thorn in everyone’s side since Gone Fission. The team is wondering why Anna feels so secure even though she is in handcuffs and locked to a desk when the call comes in that the child that was stolen was JD’s (Todd Lasance). We will be looking at the episode and season as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Reacher: Season 2 – Part 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – They take the format that worked from the first season and bring in a team to elevate it.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Reacher walking away from the carjacker he just beat up.

Reacher Review –

Lee Child is an author that I know by name, but I have never gotten a chance to read any of their work. But I do get to see some of their adaptations from time to time. The films with Tom Cruise were fine, but back in 2022, they found the right combination when they cast a mountain of a man as Reacher and let them loose on a corrupt town. Today, we look at the first part of the second season to see if they can strike lighting twice.   

So to set the scene, it has been two years since Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) spent time in Georgia and took down a corrupt town and their money laundering program. Since then, he has continued to float around America, moving from town to town with nothing but his toothbrush holding him down. When he tries to get some cash out of the ATM, he first takes down a carjacker and then realises that someone has left an SOS in his bank account. One call later and he is on a plane to New York to meet up with Frances Neagley (Maria Sten) because someone is targeting their old MP unit. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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NCIS: Sydney – Bunker Down – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is the first episode where everything came together to make a profoundly entertaining episode.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The Sydney Harbour Bridge with Indegenous Flag flying.

NCIS: Sydney Review –

As we have gone through this first season, it has been interesting to see the strengths and weaknesses of bringing a media brand like NCIS and transporting it to Australia. On the whole, we have gotten a lot of fish-out-of-water comedy around Australian animals and locations around Sydney. However, we have yet to get an episode that worked entirely as a whole, well, that is until today.

So to set the scene, one day, a cleaner is doing her rounds at The Audley Hotel in Sydney. The Royle Suit is the first on her route, but as she goes to clean, she hears water running in the bathroom, then a trail of blood, and the body of a dead man, followed by a scream. The team is getting ready to go to a secret Gaiametric presentation after an invitation from the DoD. The only problem is the dead scientist also had an invitation that is now missing, and no one knows where the event is or how to contact Mackey (Olivia Swann), Cooper (Tuuli Narkle), and Blue (Mavournee Hazel) because mobile phones can’t reach down in the bunker. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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NCIS: Sydney – Ghosted – TV Review

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TL;DR – Alas, it is a quite predictable affair that produces some oddly wooden performances.  

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

The Syndey Harbour at night.

NCIS: Sydney Review –

As we continue through the season, we are starting to hit the episodes where people have had time to feel their characters and how they should be played. Here, you get to see actors start defining who they are. Just that is not always a good thing.

So to set the scene, it is the spooky season, and what else would you do during that time but take a late-night ghost tour of The Rocks in Sydney. In full costume, of course. We learn about all sorts of awful things, like the bakery that used unholy meat. But no one suspected a new ghost to be made in front of them as a body flew out a window, like the defenestration of Prague. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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NCIS: Sydney – Brother In Arms – TV Review

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TL;DR – There is nothing quite like a shark to ratchet up the tension in the water.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Waves crashing into the rocks.

NCIS: Sydney Review –

If you ask someone about Australia, the first thing they will likely mention is the wildlife and how it wants to kill you all. In reality, as long as you take some sensible precautions, you’ll be fine in nearly every case, bar drop bears. Oh, and sharks, because they are apex predators for a reason.

So to set the scene, it is a beautiful day down at the Malabar Ocean Pool, that is, until the swimmers discover a shark has made it into the pool from the ocean, even more so when a bloody hand drops out of its mouth. But what happens when you have a missing Navy SEAL but you have no missing SEALs? We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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NCIS: Sydney – Snakes in the Grass – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is time for NCIS Down Under to discover our wildlife kills.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Sydney.

NCIS: Sydney Review –

It would be best to amplify the oddnesses when you get into the weeds of collaborative work. It is here where the humour can be found, and why set something in Australia if you do not make the most of it? And I think we started to see some of that today.  

So to set the scene, along Cowen Creek in New South Wales, Australia, a couple of fishermen cast their lines until one catches a big one. A scuffle occurs until they land in the creek and discover a floating body under a tree branch. That body belonged to a staff sergeant running one of the most significant military depots in the southern hemisphere who found himself on the wrong side of a snake. But not a snake from this area. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Sisu – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An electric meditation on violence and the lengths people will go to survive.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

A horse rides over the Lapland countryside.

Sisu Review –

Violence can be used for many things in cinema. It can be shocking, used for humour, tell a moral, used to scare, or even offend. Recently, we have seen the popularisation of the reverse slasher film, where you rally behind those dishing out the violence. We can all rally behind John Wick as he takes down those who killed his dog, but can we translate that into a war setting? Well, this is what we are exploring today.

So to set the scene, in 1944, it was the closing months of WW2, and after Finland signed the Moscow Armistice, they were required to evict any Nazi presence from the country. The Nazis then start a scorched earth campaign as they retreat through Lapland to reach the Norwegian border. Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) lives in the Lapland wilderness, mining for gold with his dog and horse as the only companions. After finding a rich gold reef, he returns to Helsinki to deposit it at the bank when he comes across Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie) and his retreating SS platoon. This first group lets him pass, but carnage breaks loose when the second spots the gold.

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