Tag Archives: Netflix

TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Vaulting Ambition

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – Just when you think Star Trek Discovery is done surprising you, it pulls out an emotional punch followed by a 2 by 4 to the head

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

Vaulting Ambition

Review –

I have to take my hat off to the team over at Star Trek Discovery, tonight had a reveal that spent episodes building up, the reveal felt completely justified and not contrived, and I did not see it coming at all. That is such a difficult difficult task to pull off and make it feel natural, it was magnificent to watch. Now we will get into that a bit later when we can get into spoilers, but wow, this is one of the best episodes of Star Trek I have seen in a very long time.

Continue reading →

TV Review – Black Mirror: USS Callister

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – This is a bleak dissection of fan culture and what would happen if you were given ultimate power, and it is a problem we need to talk about

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

USS Callister

Review –

So Black Mirror is one of those shows I have heard about and had full intentions to give it a watch, but whenever I went to take a look something else came up. Well, Season Four just came out on Netflix, so now is the best time to dive in. It does help that their first episode is examining the fan culture created around science fiction shows like Star Trek, a subject very dear to my heart. Now of course, just like I had been warned Black Mirror then took a knife and stabbed it in my heart and then held up a mirror to show me that I was the one doing it, so some complicated emotions happened during the watching of this episode. Look this is one of those episodes where it is best to go in knowing as little as possible and even my setting the scene is probably too much. So quickly before we move on, the acting is superb, they capture the essence of classic Trek warts and all, and it has something very important to say about how we relate to the media we consume, especially power fantasies. I do recommend.

Continue reading →

TV Review – Ultimate Beastmaster: Season 2 (No Surrender)

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – The second outing is a much more streamlined production, learning from the mistakes from the first season, but falls a bit in its casting.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Ultimate Beastmaster Season 2

Review –

So at the start of the year a small little gem dropped on Netflix called Ultimate Beastmaster, a show clearly inspired by Ninja Warrior but with a big twist. This time around it was a multi-national competition with competitors and hosts from six different countries, with each country getting a different final cut. Some hailed it as the beginning for a new age of global television, I wouldn’t go that far, but it was a nifty concept. Well, it is the end of the year and Netflix has given us a little end of year surprise with Season 2 dropping much earlier than I expected it to. So today we are going to take a look at the highs and lows of Season 2 of Ultimate Beastmaster.

Continue reading →

Movie Review – Bright

Posted on by
4

TL;DR – It is only the power of Will Smith and Joel Edgerton’s acting, plus some great makeup and prosthetic work, that drags this film out of being a complete write off.

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Bright. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Ok, I want to start this by saying smashing genres and worlds together is kind of my jam, I love the worldbuilding, and taking something familiar and twisting it into something new. So when I heard the setting for Bright I was really excited. Taking those familiar fantasy setting, themes and races and transporting them into the modern world, it’s like Max Landis wrote a film just for me. But, and oh it is a big but, for the most part, it just does not work, and at best we get a mediocre C-List film with a B-List budget and A-List leading stars.

Continue reading →

TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Lethe

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – What is the future of the Federation going to be? As the war drags on we get a glimpse of two possible directions.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Lethe banner

Review –

As the season draws on, we are seeing more and more a growing divide into the future direction of the Federation and Starfleet during the war. Should noble ideals be cast aside in the name of survival? Should the rules of Starfleet be ignored on the front line? This divide is important because as we see here it will mean everything for the next generation of officers.

Continue reading →

TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Choose Your Pain

Posted on by
3

 

TL;DR – Today we meet our final main cast member, and delve into the lives of some of the others, oh and maybe a new villain.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Choose Your Pain Banner

Review –

This was an interesting week for Star Trek Discovery, and not just because it is episode five and one of the main cast only just showed up. No, it was interesting because we got to see a deeper side as to what drives a number of the leading characters. So let’s dive in, and as per usual just a warning that there may be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

Continue reading →

TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: The Butchers Knife Cares Not for the Lamb’s Cry

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – We start to see the beginnings of redemption arcs and internal conflicts, but we are still hitting the same tone each week.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Butchers Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry

Review –

It is the fourth episode of the new season, and if nothing else it has been such a great feeling being able to nerd out with other people over new Star Trek. This week is an episode where we get a bit more of the same, but we also get to see a bit of the direction the season is heading in.

Continue reading →

TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: Battle at the Binary Stars

Posted on by
10

TL;DR – A great follow-up, showing up the direction the show is going to go, and the coming conflict.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Battle at the Binary Stars

Review –

So this is part two of our two-part opening entry into Star Trek Discovery, and if you want to know more about part one, you can read up on our review of The Vulcan Hello Here. Battle at the Binary Stars, not only has the battle that the title suggests, but it also takes the groundwork of the last episode and propels it forward. Now because we are starting to getting into the heart to the season just a warning that there will be [SPOILERS] ahead if you have not seen the show yet.

Continue reading →

TV Review – Star Trek Discovery: The Vulcan Hello

Posted on by
6

TL;DR – A good intriguing start, looking forward to seeing where we go from here

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Star Trek Discovery

Review –

So here we are, and boy is it great to be talking about a new Star Trek episode again, it has been too long. This is a universe that is so full of potential, it was just unfortunate that it all kind of fizzled out in the 2000s, but it is a new decade and a new time in TV, so maybe like the original series in syndication Star Trek can finally find a home on TV that helps it flourish. Now I have only seen part one of this two-parter before writing my review, so some of the things I say here may be fixed in the 2nd part or later in the season.

Continue reading →

TV Review – The Defenders: Season 1

Posted on by
7

TL;DR – a concise story, with strong action, and continues builds upon the world that has been created across the different boroughs of New York.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Defenders

Review –

After five seasons we have got there, the big team up in New York, as Daredevil (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and the Iron Fist (Finn Jones) come together to battle The Hand. Now The Defenders was always planned out to happen, so in one respect it has had a smoother road to creation, but it has also been a rocky one at times.

Continue reading →