Tag Archives: novel-adaptation

Project Hail Mary – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Project Hail Mary is everything a sci-fi film should be: bold, evocative, immersive, and wonderous.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Some scenes contain flashing lights.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

The Hail Mary floating next to a much larger alien ship.

Project Hail Mary Review Introduction –

As I sit down to write this review, I feel like I am floating a touch on air, as if I had just witnessed something glorious to behold. Something I hoped would be good, but which delivered in ways not even I was expecting. It’s a rare film that not only meets expectations but exceeds them.   

So, to set the scene, a man wakes up sealed in a bag, not able to talk, and is accosted by some persistent medical device. He does not know who he is. He does not know where he is. He does not know why there are two dead bodies with him. And you better believe he does not know why he is on a spaceship, or why the star he is looking at is not Sol. There are flashes of memory, of a dying Sun, a Petrova line to Venus, and microbes called Astrophage eating it away. But the man whom the computer says is Dr Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) doesn’t have much time to think about things when the computer alerts him to Blip-A, and he realises he is not the only spaceship out here.     

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – A concise, character-driven return to Westeros that proves how powerful focused storytelling can be.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

A horse walks through a forest at dawn.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Review –

I am going to admit up front that I came into this series quite cautiously. The Game of Thrones universe has brought me much joy in the past. However, we have seen in the past with Season 8 of GoT and Season 2 of HotD that it is a very precarious world that can fall apart at short notice. Was I willing to let my heart be broken for a third time, because I think that makes it shame on me? Well, like a fool, I gave it a go, and I think that was the right choice.     

So, to set the scene, we open with Duncan (Peter Claffey) burying his Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb) in the ground, now all alone, no real skills to call his own. While he may not have skills that would earn him honest employment, he could be a knight. Taking on the moniker of Ser Duncan the Tall, claiming that his master knighted him in his dying moments. There is a tournament in Ashford, which is a substantial risk, because he does not have the money to ransom back his horses even if he fails once. But maybe the young, orphaned Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), whom he meets along the road and cons his way into being a squire, might bring the luck he needs. Or a complication that will completely change his life. One of the two probably … or, more likely, both. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Slow Horses: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a weird and wonderful delight, where you never know if a character will get a bullet to the head or fart themselves awake.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Hodded man holding up the day's newspaper.

Slow Horses Review –

When I dived back into the catalogue of AppleTV+, there was one show that more people had recommended to me than any other. “You have to watch Slow Horses” was the call, and well, I am always one to take a recommendation when it comes as strong as that, and well, I am glad that I did because I am not sure I have ever watched something quite like this.

So, to set the scene, we open in on an airport in England as River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) is on-site leading the hunt for a terrorist. But when a bad call means that information got mixed up and the terrorist got away, River can only watch as the bomb is set off in the middle of peak hour traffic. It was only a training exercise, but it is a stuff up so bad that Cartwright was jettisoned to the worst job in MI5: Slough House. Led by the ever-flatulent Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), there is one word to sum it up: dull. But while Cartwright is looking to find a way out of this purgatory, they may have slipped onto something bigger than anyone that could get them all disappeared. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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