Tag Archives: Science Fiction

The Kitchen – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A thoughtful meditation on identity, community, and family.

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.

Izi pears out from behind the slit in his door.

The Kitchen Review –

I am always fascinated by the techniques that filmmakers use to hit you with emotions. Sometimes, it can be pretty forceful, like a slap in the face. Other times, it is like a tide coming in, almost imperceptible, until you realise that you have been engulfed. Today’s film skews closer to the latter and is just as powerful for it.  

So to set the scene, in the not-to-distant future, Izi (Kane Robinson) lives in The Kitchen. A large, dense residential area on the outskirts of London’s centre. It is a difficult life because the police are trying to move people out of the slum, but most have nowhere to go. Izi works for Life After Life, a company that repurposes the remains of people who have died to become the support network for a new tree to be planted in a reclamation project. It is here when he discovers one of the names is someone deeply familiar to him from his past. A woman whose only griever is her son Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman).

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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters – Beyond Logic & Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – It may have left the best for last as it ratchets up the tension and the monsters.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Godzilla surfaces.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Review –

Well, we have reached the end of our first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and what a fascinating season it was. We got governmental intrigue, timey-wimey physics, and also some giant roar monsters. In our final update for the season, we are first going to take a look at whether they stuck the landing in this final episode and then also how well the season worked as a whole.

So, to set the scene, At the end of Axis Mundi, everything went wrong. The monsters attacked the old nuclear plant in Kazakhstan, setting off the explosions, and throwing Cate (Anna Sawai), May (Kiersey Clemons), and Shaw (Kurt Russell) into the portal and badly wounding Kentaro (Ren Watabe) and Tim (Joe Tippett). Cate thought she was going to die. The last thing she expected to find was herself alive in the underworld or that the person who would come to her rescue was none other than her grandmother Keiko (Mari Yamamoto), who had not aged a day. 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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Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Moments of interest in the middle of a sea of mess.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

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

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

Gas Giant.

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire Review –

Before we begin our best of 2023 list, there are a handful of movies that I want to catch up on, one of them being this new Science Fiction magnum opus from Zack Snyder. Snyder has always been at least an interesting director because he has a clear visual style, and that has worked for him in the past. The question is if this will work for him today?

So to set the scene, there is a large empire that spans across space, reaching out and conquering all they could find from the Motherworld. That is until assassins kill the King (Cary Elwes) and Queen (Rhian Rees) in a coup d’etat. There is a power vacuum filled by a Regent (Fra Fee) who sent his ships out to the edge of his domain to make sure no plant picks this moment to rebel against them. On the backwater moon of Veldt, things are proceeding as they always do until the ship commanded by Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) appears in orbit over their settlement. While some in the town see an opportunity, Kora (Sofia Boutella) knows the reality: they are here to take, and take, and take.

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Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road – TV Review

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TL;DR – It hit the energy that you wanted for the first time a Doctor and their Companion met – chaos, fun, with a hint of sadness.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post Credit Scene – Depending on which version you are watching, there is something before the credits proper start, but after the end of the episode.

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

The TARDIS flying through space.

Doctor Who Review –

We have just barrelled through the 60th Anniversary specials with The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder, and The Giggle; however, we are not done yet. There is a tradition that has been more or less followed throughout the years, and that is a special Christmas Episode. It has been a while since we had a Christmas special that was also our first proper introduction to a new Doctor, but let’s dive in to see if they can pull it off.

So to set the scene, one Christmas Eve, a stranger came to the old church on Ruby Road. A woman cloaked in black dropped her daughter off at the church at midnight and left. She was named Ruby after the street, but no one knew who her mother was or why a time-traveling Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) appeared. In 2023, Ruby (Millie Gibson) is just an average woman going through her life, well, almost normal. Because you see, there is a trail of bad luck that keeps following her around. The bad luck that spawns from tiny little hands pulling out electric plugs. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, 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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Doctor Who: The Giggle – TV Review

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TL;DR – A riot of dancing and murder as a villain from the deep past returns and carves up the screen.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Warning – Many, many messed up dolls.

The TARDIS flying through space.

Doctor Who Review –

Well, it has been a ride, but today, we have come to the end of the three Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials. We started with Donna (Catherine Tate) and The Doctor (David Tennant) getting back together in The Star Beast. Then we got weird with Wild Blue Yonder, which harkened back to a classic episode of the show. But all of these come to their fruition tonight when we get an old villain returning, some good friends, oh and probably a regeneration.

So to set the scene, in Soho in 1925, there was a toy maker who was unnerving in the extreme, with a German accent that seemed to slip. I mean, what could be the worst thing to be sent on the first TV signal but a burning doll head? Back in the Today, at the end of Wild Blue Yonder, The Doctor and Donna crash land back into the alley they left in The Star Beastto find Wilf (Bernard Cribbins) waiting for them. Because everyone else has gone into hiding as the world falls apart. Because everyone thinks they are right all the time, and they will not back down for anything. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie

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TL;DR – Asks the question, can you do an episode of Rick and Morty without Rick? And the answer is: sure.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Moments befroe the death of Q

Rick and Morty Review –

It can be hard to break when you have built your show around some bedrock principles, so you have enshrined them in your show’s title. Well, if this season of Rick and Morty is known for one thing, it is breaking with what they have established in the past, and this time that is, can you have a Rick and Morty episode without Rick?

So to set the scene, Morty (Harry Belden) has one of those rare moments where he is not out on an adventure with Rick (Ian Cardoni) and is instead at Harry Herpson High School in Mr. Goldenfold’s (Brandon Johnson) math class. After getting detention, he is held back, which is when Water-T (Dan Harmon) arrives because the Numbericons have invaded his planet and killed his father, Helium-Q (Ice-T). Now, only Goldenfold can save them. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder – TV Review

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TL;DR – it is all fine and dandy to declare that one should cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, but what it the universe was listening?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

TARDIS in time and space.

Doctor Who Review –

One of the things that defines Doctor Who is how it uses all its sci-fi gadgetry to solve all the many, many odd situations they find themselves in. But what if you striped that all away? Could they survive? But more so, does the show work?

So to set the scene, we open in England in 1666, where Isaac Newton (Nathaniel Curtis) is about to go out and have an excellent idea under an apple tree. When the Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) come crashing into the tree he is sitting under. For you see, at the end of The Star Beast, Donna “accidentally” spilled some coffee on the TARDIS console, and it is a little out of control. After a crash and some flames, the Doctor had to put the TARDIS in rebuild mode, so it was time to work out where they ended up. I mean it should be fine, they have air, light, mavaity, what could go wrong? Which is the point the TARDIS runs away. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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TV Review – Rick and Morty: Wet Kuat Amortican Summer

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TL;DR – A perfectly fine episode that leans into its Total Recall premise, but not a whole lot else.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

an Attribute Slider

Rick and Morty Review –

Since we last checked in with Rick and Morty in Air Force Wong, Rick (Ian Cardoni) met his nemesis Prime Rick (Ian Cardoni) after teaming up with Morty (Harry Belden) and Evil Morty (Harry Belden). Covered in blood, Rick reached a resolution to the main narrative arc driving him since the start of the season. Which asks the question, where do you go after that?

So to set the scene, Summer (Spencer Grammer) has spent quite a lot of time doing chores for Rick so that she could earn a doodah. In this case, an Attribute Slider lets her tweak her Strength, Charisma, Dexterity, and Intelligence. The only problem is that Morty wants in on this, and after a tussle and a fall into the pool, we get a Kuato situation. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Doctor Who: The Star Beast – TV Review

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TL;DR – We hit back to the joyful chaos of the past, and not even a couple of clunky moments hold it back from being a delight.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

The TARDIS flying through space.

Doctor Who Review –

Well, there are many constants in the universe, and one of them is Doctor Who getting a new regeneration, or well, in this case, an old regeneration, to prepare for a new regeneration. Look, this is the first time this has happened, but also, this feels like something that could happen all the time. This is also the moment Doctor Who takes a real jump across the pond with the global backing of Disney+. It is both a brand-new era and the return of what has come before, a very Doctor Who situation.

So to set the scene, at the end of The Power of The Doctor, The Doctor regenerated, but something odd happened. Instead of a brand-new body, he knew those teeth, he knew that face, and he was still not a ginger. For The Doctor (David Tennant) had regenerated into the same body as the Tenth Doctor [who technically already got a regeneration, but we don’t count that]. Something is very wrong, or it could be that this version of The Doctor has some unfinished business that he needs to take care of. Which is right when he runs into Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and her child Rose (Yasmin Finney) and then a spaceship crashes into the heart of London. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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