Tag Archives: reviews

Talk To Me – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A completely fraught film that captivates and terrifies you in equal measures.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Mia holds the hand.

Talk To Me Review –

As I do this final wrap-up of 2023, there is one film that I tried to see multiple times, but life or odd showing times always got in the way. I knew I could not do my end-of-year lists without seeing it, so I was happy to see it had slipped onto Netflix while I had my back turned.

So to set the scene, there is a part roaring in a suburban house, but cutting a swath through the gathering is Cole (Ari McCarthy) looking for his brother Duckett (Sunny Johnson). Cole is concerned but is shocked when he finds Duckett under the influence of something. Trying to get him to safety, he confronts all the partygoers filming the pair out of amusement when Duckett pulls a knife from the counter and stabs Cole in front of the gathering. Later, Mia (Sophie Wilde) is still reeling on the anniversary of their mother’s death when she takes her friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and Jade’s Brother Riley (Joe Bird) to a party where the kids are playing a new game, Talk To Me. It is a porcelain hand covered in words that, if you say the right words, you can see a visage of the other side and let them into your body. Just don’t let them stay more than 90 seconds.

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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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Tetris – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An absolute fun blast of a film that might not match entirely with history, but it wears all of its influences on its sleeve.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

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

Soviet Military Parade.

Tetris Review –

I think, like most people, I rolled my eyes when I heard that there was going to be a Tetris film. That is because I thought they were going to try and turn it into some sort of Battleship situation. I am not sure that we were ready for a dramatized retelling of how the worldwide video game rights made it out of the Soviet Union or for how good the story would be.  

So to set the scene, it is 1988, a precarious time in world history. The Cold War was rapidly coming to a peaceful end, and the first big computer boom was in full swing. It is in this world that Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton) of Bullet-Proof Software sees someone selling Tetris at the Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas. The problem is that Henk does not have the money to buy the game, let alone license it for Japan, which means that he must sweat-talk his Banker (Rick Yune) into letting him do what he has already done. Because a deal with Nintendo only comes around once in a blue moon, all he must do is bet the house … literally.   

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Miss Shampoo (Qing wen hai you na li xu yao jia qiang/請問，還有哪裡需要加強) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a genuinely odd film, sometimes weird, sometimes wondering, often fascinating, but it also has moments where you wonder what it is that you are watching.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes and a slightly mean audio commentary at the end of the credits.

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

A pair of scissors in someone's hands.

Miss Shampoo Review –

Tonight, as I was sitting here cursing the heat and the humidity, I thought I would take my mind off it by watching something different. It was at that moment that I realised that it had been a while since we dived into Taiwanese Cinema, and a new romantic comedy just dropped on Netflix.

So to set the scene, it is a rainy night as Fen (Vivian Sung) is practicing her haircutting technique in the salon. When Tai (Daniel Hong) crashes into the salon badly wounded. Thai mercenaries are chasing him, but some quick thinking from Fen saves his life. All the bosses in town are trying to work out who killed Tai’s Boss. But the last thing that Fen was expecting was to see Tai walk back into her salon to ask for a cut when she is only able to wash hair. Nor was she expecting the world she was about to enter.

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Letterkenny: Season 12 – TV review

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TL;DR – Like all endings, it is bittersweet, with moments of longing, frustration, and sadness, all there with the joy of seeing people being able to stick the landing.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I watched these episodes on SBS.

Katy talks in front of the Letterkenny sign.

Letterkenny Review –

Well, like death and taxes, all things have to come to an end at some point, and today, we are looking at a series that made it to twelve seasons, a rarity in this day and age. If you want to have a look at the series as a whole, you can read our review HERE. But today, we are going to jump into that final season. One of familiarity and change.  

So to set the scene, there are a couple of stand-up comedians in town, and that has the whole gang thinking that they could take a swing at it. Wayne (Jared Keeso) is not that great at crowd work, Dan (K. Trevor Wilson) is as funny as ever, Daryl (Nathan Dales) is the big surprise of the evening, but when Katy (Michelle Mylett) comes out to roast the town, she brings a flamethrower. This creates a vibe that has people thinking about their place in the world and if they are stuck. Some flirt with moving, others explore new life choices, but then others find new friends and pull at the fabric of the town. We will be looking at the series as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: Fear No Mort & Season 7

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TL;DR – A  reasonably strong end to an interesting season of experimentation.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this episode.

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

Rick and Morty take fear advice from a random dude.

Rick and Morty Review –

Well, we have reached the end of what might be one of the oddest but possibly interesting seasons of Rick and Morty that I have seen for a while. So, in today’s review, we are going to first look at the season finale, which feels very much like it is having a dialogue with its viewers. Then, we will look at how the season works as a whole.

So to set the scene, Rick (Ian Cardoni) and Morty (Harry Belden) are off on a planet that is like one large haunted house, but nothing really scares them anymore, given everything they have seen in their lives. This is when they run into a Dude (Liev Schreiber) who tells them about the scariest place in the Universe is on Earth. At first, they are sceptical because they have to go to a Denny’s. However, when they find the fear hole in the men’s bathroom, things change really quickly. 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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Jet Lag: The Game: Artic Escape – We Raced From America’s Northernmost to Southernmost Town – Nebula Review

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TL;DR – This is the start of a fantastic time as they race across America.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

The first Flop.

Jet Lag: The Game Review –

One of the joys I have discovered the past year [thank you to my brother for recommending it] is the wonderful Jet Lag: The Game. This is a weird geography game starring Adam Chase, Sam Denby, Ben Doyle & guests. Geography, Maps, Chaos, and Chasing, count me in. Each new season is a different game, and with the new one starting today, well, we thought it would be an excellent time to explore just why this series works as well as it does.

So to set the scene, Jet Lag: The Game is always some sort of geography competition. In this season, the two teams are racing from the most northern town in the United States of America, Utqiagvik, Alaska, to the southernmost, Key West, Florida. The way the game works is that to go anywhere, you have to unlock a mode of transportation by performing challenges. Once a challenge has been completed, it is locked from the other team. Oh, should I add that there is only one ticket out of Utqiagvik today. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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The Boy and the Heron (Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka, 君たちはどう生きるか) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A heartbreaking and devastating exploration of grief set to a beautiful backdrop and wacky characters.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Mahito walks through grass.

The Boy and the Heron Review –

When you look at the great animation studios of history, one name does tend to stand out, so much so that we wrote a whole article about The Beauty of Ghibli. For a long time, we thought that there would be no more films because creator Hayao Miyazaki had retired. However, it seems like Miyazaki-san does not like to take it easy, and it means that we get another of his movies, and who am I to disagree?

So to set the scene, Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki/ Luca Padovan) is a young boy during WW2 who is haunted by the day he watched as the hospital with his mother inside burned to the ground. He has not really had a chance to process this when his father Shoichi (Takuya Kimura/ Christian Bale) marries his late wife’s younger sister Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura/ Gemma Chan) and moves into her estate in the countryside, where a Grey Heron (Masaki Suda/ Robert Pattinson) pays a particular notice to the new arrival.  

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Silent Night (2023) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – I respect this film for trying something new, even if they don’t actually pull it off.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Silent Night Review –

There are some directors that you have to watch when you hear they are attached to a project, and if you are a fan of action, then you know that John Woo is one to get yourself into a cinema. Add to this is a hook that I have not seen played like this before, and I was intrigued, well, at least I was when I walked in.  

So to set the scene, we open with a man running, hands covered in blood, as tires screech and bullets fly. Two cars are in battle as bullets fly around, and the man is chasing them down. You think he might be succeeding as he flings a metal bar into the window, crashing the car. That is until Playa (Harold Torres) gets out of the crashed car and shoots Brian (Joel Kinnaman) right in the neck. Brian can speak, but that is only the start of his trauma, and he decides that he has to do something about this.

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