Tag Archives: movies

Creature Commandos: The Tourmaline Necklace [S1E2] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A solid follow-up that delved deeper into the lives of the characters while mudding the waters on many moral issues.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Frankenstein pouts.

Creature Commandos Review –

In many ways, the first episode is the easier one to pull off because the audience is prepared for the fact that you are mostly setting the scene. But it is the ones that follow, especially episode two, that doesn’t get a free pass and needs to be able to stand on their own feet, and here is where many falter. Will that happen today? Let’s take a look.


So, to set the scene, a long time ago [1831], in a land far, far away [Pokolistan], a bunch of body parts are being fused together in a lab. For you see, Frankenstein (David Harbour) wants a bride, and even though Dr Victor Frankenstein (Peter Serafinowicz) has reservations, he relents when Frankenstein finds the perfect skull. But back in the present, the castle is a ruin of what it once was, with graffiti on the walls. But there is one thing that The Bride (Indira Varma) needs to feel whole again. Unfortunately, everyone with issues with Creature Commandos now knows that two of them are by themselves. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Creature Commandos: The Collywobbles [S1E1] – TV Review

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TL;DR – While this first episode does not give us much to go on, it was still a fun blast and has given me hope for the rest of the season.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Creature Commandos walk off a helicopter in a perfect line.

Creature Commandos Review –

Well, I don’t think you need to look hard to see the issues that the current DC slate of products has had in recent years. The DCEU never quite got on its feet and then floundered when choice after choice held back even well-performing films. Even their Elseworlds experiment has had issues with Joker: Folie à Deux floundering while The Penguin thrived. However, we are at an official turning point in the comic world. The DCEU is dead; long live the DCU.

So, to set the scene, the Belle Reve Correction Center is many things, including the Non-Human Internment Division. It is here where Waller (Viola Davis) and Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) watch as the Sons of Themyscira, led by Circe (Anya Chalotra), cross into the country of Pokolistan and start causing trouble. Waller cannot let that happen because America needs their oil, so it is time to activate the Creature Commandos, including The Bride (Indira Varma), GI Robot (Sean Gunn), Weasel (Sean Gunn), Dr. Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), Nina Mazursky (Zoe Chao), to lend Princess Ilana (Maria Bakalova) a hand. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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How to Make Gravy Review: A Deep Dive into Generational Trauma

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TL;DR – I was not sure what to expect with this film going, but a deep exploration of generational trauma was the surprise that the film needed, that and gravy.

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.

Art of rescuing his dad from jail.

How to Make Gravy Review –

One of the many odd traditions that happen in an Australian Christmas, along with seafood for Christmas lunch and the need to make Santa learn how to surf in his winter outfit for some reason, is that a song about making gravy becomes fantastically popular. It is a sad song of regret and longing for the family at a time when connections are fraught, and it has always felt like an odd choice for a Christmas song, but I didn’t get a say in that collective cultural choice. But will that song make a good film? Well, that is the question we will look at today.

So, to set the scene, last Christmas, everything changed, especially when it was the first Christmas without their grandmother. But no matter what happens, the family comes together and quietly judges that Joe (Daniel Henshall) lost his job. There is the joy of all the family coming together, but then the undercurrent of loss because one person is no longer there. Joe was struggling with everything and just does not want to talk to everyone, even though wants him to speak. Soon, a tipping point was reached, and Joe didn’t come home. Now, all his son Angus (Jonah Wren Phillips) wants for Christmas is to see his dad again.

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Rumours Review: A Surreal but Flawed Experience

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TL;DR – A film that had a premise for half an hour that is stretched out to a feature and even a cast list like this can’t fix that central issue. Surrealism for just the sake of being surreal.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

The G7 leaders standing for a photo op.

Rumours Review –

Before we start, a little history about me. My professional qualifications are in International Relations and the exploration of politics on a global level. So, when I got invited to a horror/mystery/comedy/weird film set during a meeting of the G7. You can imagine I was excited because this was right up my alley. Well, that was until I actually got to watch the film.

So, to set the scene, several calamities are happening in the world, so the G7 leaders Hilda Ortmann (Cate Blanchett), the Chancellor of Germany; Edison Wolcott (Charles Dance), the President of the United States; Maxime Laplace (Roy Dupuis), the Prime Minister of Canada; Sylvain Broulez (Denis Ménochet), the President of France; Cardosa Dewindt (Nikki Amuka-Bird), the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Antonio Lamorte (Rolando Ravello), the Prime Minister of Italy & Tatsuro Iwasaki (Takehiro Hira), the Prime Minister of Japan. As the leaders walk to a private dinner to discuss the proposal from the meeting, they discover a bog body has been found on the property. But as they sit for dinner, suddenly, they can’t contact any of their staff and soon realise that they are all alone.  

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Lucky Baskha Review: Dulquer Salmaan Shines

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TL;DR – While the film could have been tightened up in the edit, some strong character development and charisma from Dulquer Salmaan helps pull you through.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Baskhar walks out of a jewellers in triumph.

Lucky Baskha₹ Review –

Today, we are looking at a film set in Mumbai that was produced entirely in Telugu. This is a combination that I have not explored before, so it immediately piqued my interest. I have been wanting to explore more of what Indian Cinema has to offer, so studying how the different language-based productions explore other parts of the country is fascinating to me, as was the film itself. Well it was once I realised that Netflix had defaulted to the Hindi dub, and a quick fix putting back to the original Telugu.

So, to set the scene, it is the 29th of March 1992, and an alarm wakes the house. As he does most days, Baskhar Kumar (Dulquer Salmaan) starts his day off with a run along Mumbai’s coastline. There are many ways to make money in the city because Bombay is the money capital of India. He lives a mostly quiet life until one day, when he is picked up by government officers and taken to the Magadha Bank. He is alleged to have committed bank fraud, a serious offence that could bring his whole family down. But then it is time to jump back to the 11th of August 1989 to find out a humble bank clerk who is in debt to just about everyone got into this position.

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Nugget is Dead: A Christmas Story – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A wild story of a family that will probably be recognisable to you even in this crazy situation.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Chaos in the Stools family.

Nugget is Dead Review –

Many things foreshadow that the end of the year is near, the temperatures rise, the rains come in, people care about turkey for some reason, there is tinsel everywhere, and Stan will release their Christmas film. Back in 2023, we got the fascinating Jones Family Christmas. In 2022, we got a Christmas Ransom. And all the way back in the past of 2021, we got the film that started it all: A Sunburnt Christmas. They have all been fun, charming events, and the question is: can that follow that trend in 2024?

So, to set the scene, back in Christmas 2010, the Stools family introduced a new member of the family, the puppy Nugget. Many years later, as the family has grown up and moved out of home, it is once again three days before Christmas. However, as their eldest, Steph (Vic Zerbst), has made the decision not to come home for Christmas, one problem is that she didn’t tell her family. They don’t seem like the listening type anyway, and also Nugget (Reuben) is sick. So, now Steph is going down to visit her family, who does not know she is not staying, and they are A LOT. She just needs to deal with them for 24 hours and escape … if everything goes to plan.

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The Boy & the Octopus – Movie Review

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TL;DR – For what is essentially one big ad, it is still charming to boot.     

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

The Octopus.

The Boy & the Octopus Review –

Can an advertisement have artistic merit? That is the question that we are asking today as we explore a short Christmas film from Disney that is crammed with product placement to the point of rupture. But does that make it not worth the watch?

So, to set the scene, one day, a small boy (Solomon Horta) went swimming in the reefs and found an octopus friend who refused to leave his head. Even when they fly home, it is still there. Now, it goes with him wherever he goes, including the Christmas markets.

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Gladiator II – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It has a strong cast, all the bombast you need, and a solid narrative. It is just frustrating that it has these creative choices throughout that just rip you out of the film.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

The Battle of Numidia.

Gladiator II Review –

Well, 2024 has been the year of the legacy sequel, with Alien: Romulus, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and Twisters all trying their hands on it to a mixed success. The next cab off the rank might have the most significant legacy of them all, or at least the most attempts in the past to make a sequel because there have been many. But it has been 24 years since our last outing of Gladiator, and we have to ask, was this the film we needed, or should it have stayed contained in the past?

So, to set the scene, it has been 20 years since the death of Marcus Aurelius, and Maximus Decimus Meridius’s slaying of Commodus did not bring about the grand return of the Republic. Instead, it drove it deeper into tyranny. Rome is now ruled by the Twin Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), who care more for blood and entertainment than the people’s health and happiness. Looking to secure their reign, they lashed out at any place defying the Empire using their dutiful general Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). The last free city on the Mediterranean was in Numidia, where a young man (Paul Mescal) and his wife, Arishat (Yuval Gonen), live. It is a pitched battle, but the Romans win, and the young man who is versed in Roman poetry is carted off to die in the games after watching his wife fall to an arrow. But he stubbornly refuses to die in the arena, which brings the attention of Macrinus (Denzel Washington), who has the want to change his position, and now he has the means.

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Gladiator (2000) Review – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR –. When the bombast hits, you still feel what made it a special film all those years ago.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

A hand in the wheat fields.

Gladiator Review –

In this day and age, companies are trying to find a way to get people back into the cinemas, and the current plan has a lot to do with bringing back classic films with sequels decades later. That means this week we get a new Gladiator film, which I am honestly looking forward to. But as I was sitting there, I realised it had been a decade since I had watched the first film, and that is something that I had to fix, and there is no better time than the present.

So, to set the scene, it is at the height of the Roman Empire, and the Romans controlled everything from Britain to the Deserts of Africa and Arabia. In the north, Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) was fighting a campaign against the tribes of Germania, led by his one trusted general, Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe). But when Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), the son of the emperor, discovers that his father wants to restore the Republic, he kills him. He has Maximus arrested when he won’t declare loyalty to the new emperor. Maximus escapes, but before he can get home, his family is murdered, and slave traders capture him. Now, he has but one choice: die in the arena or win and get revenge for his fallen.

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Red One – Movie Review

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TL;DR – If it was not for a strong start, you probably could have dumped this on Netflix, and no one would have noticed.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Santa Clause lifting weights.

Red One Review –

It is that time of year, and it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The shops are dressed up, there is the looming pressure to finish things up before the end of the year, and walking outside feels like taking a shower with this humidity. It is here that a new flood of Christmas Films will be launched, trying to make the most of the holidays, and that is what we are looking at today.

So, to set the scene, it is a cold Philly night just before Christmas, and at the mall sits Santa Claus (J. K. Simmons), listening to all the kid’s wishes for presents and being protected by Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson). But this ain’t no average mall Santa because Santa Claus is real, and there is a global military/political/intelligence apparatus keeping him safe. Well, that is until Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) is paid to hunt down a disturbance in the polar region, and some kidnaps Santa right under the head of North Pole security’s nose on Christmas Eve.

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