Tag Archives: reviews

Star Trek: Prodigy – Ascension, Part I & Part 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – Honestly, wow, I was sitting on the edge of my chair for the whole episode.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The USS Voyager-A and the USS Protostar.

Star Trek: Prodigy Review –

Have you ever been sitting watching a show and suddenly thought, “Hey, whatever happened to [insert important plot point here]”, only to get slapped in the face with that plot point a few moments later? Well, if you have ever had that happen to you, then you will know what I felt like as we jump into the episode today.  

So, to set the scene, after getting the USS Protostar back into orbit during the Last Flight of the Protostar and a number of struggles, we finally get back into contact with the USS Voyager-A. While Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Chakotay (Robert Beltran) get a moment to reconnect, things go from bad to worse. First, Starfleet wants them back to Earth so that they can deal with the Protostar themselves. But before that can happen, a danger from the past comes back with a vengeance. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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The Delicate Cycle – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It makes the most of its one location to explore the emotions of significant life changes.     

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

A washing machine about to start.

The Delicate Cycle Review –

While a short film can be constraining, those limitations can be turned into strengths. You can concentrate things down into their core forms. For example, that transient information that gets passed down from generation to generation. Today, we are looking at a film that is working in that space.  

So, to set the scene, it is just a typical day for Lance (Fred Mancuso) as he gets into the laundromat as early as possible to get his clothes done. Usually, there is no one there, bar maybe Anita (Yassmin Flores), but today there was someone new, a young kid called Adam (Dean Norris Jr.) who is in the process of trying to win at Ms Pacman but also struggling with his emotions.

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Chained Together – Video Game Review

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TL;DR – A game that is as frustrating as it is fun. Just be sure it doesn’t end a relationship in the process.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for this game.

Skull of hell and a bone bridge.

Chained Together Review –

Today, we are looking at a bit of an odd game in that it is very purposely designed to cause grief. It’s like an old arcade game trying to take all your quarters, but instead of money, it is streamers yelling on Twitch. It should not have worked, but I was captured for the entire time.

So, to set the scene, Chained Together is the next in a long line of rage games that stretch back to Only Up! and Getting Over It! These use finicky controls and an odd visual environment to cause grief when you miss a jump and lose all the progress you have made. One step forward, and then a crushing fall back to Earth. The main difference this time around is that you are not climbing alone because you are chained together [said the name of the game]. Which can be a bonus or a great burden. You need to climb up all the puzzles and traps and escape hell, lest you fall back to the suffering below.

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Kill – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A bloody rampage of action that perfectly uses the medium of a train to tell its story of revenge.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Amrit, bloodied on the floor surrounded by bandits.

Kill Review –

There are times when you want to sit down and watch a bloody action romp on screen. Fists throwing, legs kicking, knives slashing, and all that jazz. But what if you could get that and get something a little new that you have never seen before? Well, that is what we are getting today with one of the bloodiest action romps I have seen in an age.

So, to set the scene, Amrit (Lakshya) and Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan) are captains and commandos in the Indian Army. When they return from the field, they find out that Amrit’s love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) has been betrothed to another. Amrit and Viresh try to rescue her from the engagement party, but there are too many families with assorted weapons. However, the next day, Tulika, her sister Aahna (Adrija Sinha), her father Baldev Singh Thakur (Harsh Chhaya), and the rest of her family are taking an overnight train back to Delhi. So, Amrit and Viresh tag along, hoping for a better chance there. The only problem is that Fani (Raghav Juyal) and his extended family are also on the train, and they are about to rob it.    

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Arena Wars – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is an ambitious film, and while I don’t think it ever reached that ambition, it was fascinating to watch.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a scene throughout the credits.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

The Big F##king City

Arena Wars Review –

Today, we are looking at a difficult film to review because you get pulled in two different directions. On the one hand, as a critic, I need to review what is on the screen, but as a human being, you can also see the potential that could have been.

So, to set the film, it is 2045, and in The Big F##king City, there is only one way that convicted felons can get out: by appearing on Arena Wars, a TV show that everyone watches, well everyone used to watch. The convicts have to fight through seven different rooms with seven violent killers in them to be able to go free. The brand is on life support, and they need to win back the audience that is becoming bored of death. In the Rodimus Federal Prison in the Washington DC City State, Luke Bender (John Wells) is sitting with a 200-year sentence, covering for their superiors who stuffed up. But they need a hero for the arena, and Luke is in the wrong place at the wrong time.     

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Breakwater – Movie Review

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TL;DR – There are a lot of elements here that work; the cast is fantastic, and the setting lands. It is just the narrative glue that is meant to hold all that together starts peeling off far too early in the film.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

A boat slinks through the sound.

Breakwater Review –

Today, we are looking at a film with two halves, a strong cast and setting, but then a narrative that misses the mark. Quite often, you will hear people say that a film really needs only one of the two. Well, today, we will see that feeling put to the test, and I am not sure it will hold up.  

So, to set the scene, it is Dovey’s (Darren Mann) last day at the St. Brides Correctional Facility and his mentor Ray Childress (Dermot Mulroney) gives him a mission. A storm washed an old ship mast up on the beach, and in the photo, Ray spotted his estranged daughter. As Dovey tries to reacclimatise to the world outside, he is haunted by what he had to do to survive. But Ray can’t wait for the year of parole to be up, so Dovey has to choose: not keep a promise or potentially go back to jail because he broke his parole conditions.

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The Mountain – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An emotional roller coaster that can have you laughing, crying, and uplifting all in the space of 30 seconds.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Mount Taranaki in poster form.

The Mountain Review –

After a long and challenging week, I thought I would stop in at the movies on the way home from work on a Friday afternoon. I had a number of options, but then I noticed what looked like a fun kids flick out of New Zealand and thought that would be the perfect way to round out the week. I mean, it was, but it was also emotionally devastating on multiple occasions. While also being a delight at every turn. Well, let’s dive in and unpack Rachael House’s directing debut.

So, to set the scene, we open in a hospital as Sam (Elizabeth Atkinson) prepares a sneaky escape with the help of her friend Peachy (Sukena Shah). There is one thing that she wants to do in her life, and that is climb Mount Taranaki. On her way, she runs into Mallory Potts (Reuben Francis), a boy who has just moved to the area with their father Hugh (Bryan Coll), and Bronco (Terence Daniel), who is struggling with relating with his father Tux (Troy Kingi). Together, they decide to climb the mountain, no matter the obstacles in their way.

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Kalki 2898 AD – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that had moments of dire boredom but also had me sitting on the edge of my chair. I wish we got more of the latter than the first.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

The Complex hovering over everyone.

Kalki 2898 AD Review –

Back when RRR came out two years ago, I realised that I needed to watch more Telugu Language films, and I have been found wanting on that front. Well, if I am going to dive back in, a substantial mythological/Science Fiction romp is 100% right up my alley. Today, we are going to come into this movie with a slight outsider perspective with all its strengths and weaknesses.

So to set the scene, back in the ages past, in 3102 BC, two groups, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, fought for the throne. But when Ashwathamma (Amitabh Bachchan) attempts to kill an innocent, lord Krishna (Krishnakumar/ Arjun Das) curses him to walk the world as an immortal, being never able to die until Vishnu’s last avatar returns. Thousands of years later, in 2892 AD, the world was scorched, and the only city left was Kasi, which lived under the shadow of The Complex, a vast megastructure in the sky. It is a brutal world where everyone is trying to make enough units to get into The Complex while they act with impunity, killing anyone and stealing all the women able to bear children. Bhairava (Prabhas) is a bounty hunter in this world, but when he captures a fleeing Luke (Harshith Malgireddy), little does he know the new trajectory his life will now be on and the dangers he might have incited.

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Trigger Warning – Movie Review

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TL;DR – When things click into place, this can be quite an entertaining film. Unfortunately, a lot of the connective tissue is full of awkwardness that holds it back.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

Parker mourns her father.

Trigger Warning Review –

Okay, so I am going to be upfront with you right from the start. The reason I sat down to watch this film is because it has been an age since I have seen Jessica Alba in anything. She was one of those tent pole stars when I was growing up, and I am always here for a new renaissance.   

So to set the scene, we open in the Bādiyat al-Shām Desert, Syria, as two pickup trucks with machine guns chase down an aid vehicle that clearly is not delivering aid. Instead, it is driven by spec-ops operative Parker (Jessica Alba), who is very handy with a knife. But when an apparent cave-in kills her father at the mine he works in, Parker travels all the way home to deep rural America to find out what really happened. However, one look shows that the cave-in might be a very convenient conclusion.   

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Delia’s Gone – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It just felt like there was a big struggle to take this short story and adapt it to the big screen. The cast and location help, but they can only go so far.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Rural setting.

Delia’s Gone Review –

Today, we are looking at a film that is full of potential, but it doesn’t quite come together. Which I do feel bad about saying this because you can feel everyone trying to grab onto something here, but it just doesn’t quite work.

So to set the scene, Louis (Stephan James) lives with a brain trauma that presents as someone living on the autistic spectrum. He lives with his sister Delia (Genelle Williams) and has a set routine in his life, including going to bed at 9:30. One day, after getting black-out drunk after some bad news, he wakes to find the room trashed, Delia dead in his house, and blood on his hands. He had hurt Delia the day before and assumed that the drink had made him violent and pled guilty to manslaughter at trial. Seven years later, while living in a home, Louis gets a visit from his hometown, a man named Stacker Cole (Travis Fimmel), who might have been the last one to see Delia at The Roadhouse and lets him know what happened to Delia might not have been his fault.  

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