Tag Archives: Travis Fimmel

Dune Prophecy: Season One – TV Review

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TL;DR – A fascinating look into the Dune world when it was just starting, but it felt more like half a season than a full one.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Dune Prophecy Review –

Before we dive into our best of 2024, there is one final review we have to finish, and that is for a TV version of one of my favourite novels and movie series: Dune. I have always loved diving into this world, even if I would never want to live there. Today, we have had the chance to catch up with the entire first season of Dune Prophecy, so it is time to see if it all worked.

So, to set the scene, in the years after the Butlerian Jihad against the Thinking Machines, humanity had to find a new way forward. There were many competing forces during that time, one of which was the witches of the Bene Gesserit. On Wallach IX, those same sisters are grieving the death of their first Reverend Mother. The sisterhood is at a future point. Which way forward would they proceed? Shall they point people in the right direction, or should they be the ones controlling things from the shadows? Thirty years after, blood was shed in the Bene Gesserit cloister, 116 years after the end of the Great Machine Wars, and 10,148 years before the birth of Paul Atreides. It will be time to see which direction the sisterhood takes. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Dune Prophecy: Two Wolves – TV Review

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TL;DR – Games with games, betrayals with betrayals, prophecies with prophecies.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Spacing Guild Liner.

Dune Prophecy Review –

Now that I have watched the first two episodes of Dune Prophecy, I can see what sort of vibe they are going for. It is safe to say that this series is not going to be for everyone. Indeed, it is tonally quite different from the two Dune Films, but probably not so different from the next Dune Film, whenever it happens. However, I will say that the one person this series is for is me, and I am pleased about that fact.  

So, to set the scene, in The Hidden Hand, we see that many different factions are moving in secret to find power in this new empire. The sisters of the Bene Gesserit are at a crossroads, wondering where their future will lead. Spice mining is becoming more difficult, but that might be one of the Great Houses moving for power rather than rebellion from the local population. Also, political marriages are becoming tense when child husbands end up dead. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Dune Prophecy: The Hidden Hand – TV Review

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TL;DR – This first episode is mainly about the vibes, but if you click with it, you will be there for the long haul.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

A lone figure in a red dress appears during a nightmare.

Dune Prophecy Review –

One world that I have always loved diving into is the world of Dune. It is a weird and wonderful world full of texture waiting to be explored. It also has a history that stretches for tens of thousands of years, giving you a wide range to place a story without banging up against the story of the films. A world of intrigue teetering on the edge of the abyss for many.   
So, to set the scene, in the years after the Butlerian Jihad against the Thinking Machines, humanity had to find a new way forward. There were many competing forces during that time, one of which was the witches of the Bene Gesserit. On Wallach IX, those same sisters are grieving the death of their first Reverend Mother. The sisterhood is at a future point. Which way forward would they proceed? Shall they point people in the right direction, or should they be the ones controlling things from the shadows? Thirty years after blood was shed in the Bene Gesserit cloister, 116 years after the end of the Great Machine Wars, and 10,148 years before the birth of Paul Atreides. It will be time to see which direction the sisterhood takes. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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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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C*A*U*G*H*T: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – While it never truly commits to its absurdist premise, there are moments when it shines.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

The Hostages.

C*A*U*G*H*T Review –

There is a version of Australian comedy that takes a very irreverential look at power structures. Where no one is immune from the castigation, it is within this space that we find ourselves today, delving into a geo-political quagmire that only Australia could do.   

So to set the scene, we open on a hostage video in progress as four captured Australian soldiers, Rowdy Gaines (Ben O’Toole), Albhanis Mouawad (Lincon Younes), Phil Choi (Alexander England), and Dylan Fox (Kick Gurry), on the island nation of Behati-Prinsloo plead for their lives. It is heartbreaking as the prisoners are attacked on camera when they don’t follow the script, even more so for the Australian government, which officially states that it has no armed forces in the region. It is a simple call for help … help to survive … help not to be murdered … until the cameras cut, and the four celebrate how good the take was. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Kandahar – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a solid action film that is, unfortunately, not really sure what it wants to say.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

Fighters line up with guns.

Kandahar Review –

Some artists get known for periods in their career. Picasso had his Blue Period,  Monet had his Water Lilies, and James Cameron has his Avatar saga. But one new era that I have been particularly interested in is Gerard Butler’s one-word action films. So far, we have gotten Geostorm, Greenland, and Plane. Today, we look at the next entry with a spy mission that goes very wrong.   

So to set the scene, we open in Qom, Iran, where a team works on a telecommunications substation under heavy armed guard. But this is a secret CIA project led by Tom Harris (Gerard Butler) to monitor and disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. However, this gets leaked to a journalist, Luna Cujai (Nina Toussaint-White), from someone in the Pentagon. Tom is stuck in Herat, Afghanistan when the news is released. In Herat, the Taliban have taken over, and foreign spies from Pakistan, Iran, India, China, Pakistan, ISIS, and more roam the streets. There are no good options, but he needs to escape before he is publicly executed, and the only escape is MI6 black Ops pick up in Kandahar that will be on the ground for one minute in 30 hours.   

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Movie Review – Warcraft (Warcraft The Beginning)

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TL;DR – A film with a lot of promise, held down by too many competing demands.

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Warcraft (Warcraft The Beginning). Image Credit: Legendary.

Review –

So there is this stigma about movies based on Video Game franchises, that they simply will never be good, indeed Good Game did a whole episode on this very issue. To be fair, at best we have only ever got passable Video Game movies, and the only good film in this genre was Wreck-It Ralph and it only used Video Games as a setting, and of course the less said about Pixels the better. So with all this, is Warcraft the movie that will break the curse? No, no it won’t. So before we go on I should qualify that I never played World of Warcraft, so I am coming to this movie with only the knowledge that you get from being on the Internet, Alliance and Horde and all that jazz. That being said, for a movie to be good I should be able to understand everything without playing the source material, and a good adaption would make that happen.

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