Tag Archives: War

A House of Dynamite – Movie Review

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TL;DR – As divisive as it is fascinating, anchored on understandable tension, and character performances that rocked me at times.

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.

Sun rising behind the Washington Monument.

A House of Dynamite Review Introduction –

We are getting to the pointy end of the year, and that means it is time to start catching up with a bunch of the films that I missed this year. This is made more apparent because I just spent a month away in Japan, and there are a bunch of films that I missed while I was away. The first cab off that rack is a political thriller that explores the calamity of nuclear weapons, which means that this is already 100% my jam.

So, to set the scene, it is just a typical day for people around the world, including those in the missile defence systems in Fort Greely, Alaska and those in the Situation Room in Washington DC. But tensions have slowly been growing around the world, and when you have a fuel around, all it takes is one match for it all to explode, which is when a ballistic launch is detected over the Pacific Ocean, heading right to the USA. A nuclear event that everyone has feared is now a reality.   

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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – What is Starfleet? [S3E7] – TV Review

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TL;DR – An experiment that has its frustrating points but is made better with one of the best performances in Star Trek history.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ streaming service that viewed this episode. 

In Accordance with the United Federation of Planets " Freedom of Information Act" This documentary includes security footage that has been declassified by Starfleet Command in the spirt of Transparency"

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Introduction –

One of the lingering plot points that has been bubbling away since Wedding Bell Blues is that Beto Ortegas (Mynor Luken) is going to film a documentary. What kind of documentary he’d make has been debated. In a world where ‘following orders’ faces growing scrutiny, it feels like a timely reminder.    

So, to set the scene, the USS Enterprise has been tasked by Starfleet to lend aid to the Lutani, a people that had been previously hostile-adjacent to the Federation, but who are now under attack from the nearby Kasar people trying to lay claim to their home system and all its resources. Millions have died. However, there is a quandary with The Enterprise’s orders; they have to deliver ‘supplies’, obviously weapons, but also help escort the Jikaru, which is an ethical time bomb waiting to go off. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Primitive War – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Few films can sell me on a premise alone, but what if Dinosaurs were in the Vietnam War is 100% the way to go about it.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Warning – Contains scenes with flashing lights.

A boat glides up a Vietnamese river.

Primitive War Introduction –

Every now and again, you find a film that has been laser-focused on your interests. For me, you must work to make me not interested once you have mentioned the word dinosaurs. Start with the premise ‘what if dinosaurs suddenly showed up in the middle of the Vietnam War’, now you don’t just have my interest, you have my full attention

So, to set the scene, it is 1968, and the Vietnam War is in full swing. In the middle of the war, a Green Beret platoon was sent into a jungle valley to find out what the Russians were doing there, only for none of them to return, and a final radio call was cut off halfway through. General Amadeus Jericho (Jeremy Piven) needs the information the recon team collected. Still, he can’t have it known, so he sends in the Vulture Squad led by Ryan Baker (Ryan Kwanten), as they are a bunch of misfits. They find the remains of the Green Berets, but also an unusually large feather. It is clear that the Green Berets were not able to finish their recon before they were taken out, so the Vulture Squad trek into the jungle to find the Russian base, not realising what might be waiting, hiding, stalking in the bushes.  

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Civil War – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A deeply haunting film that engaged you so you could not look away, even though you wanted to.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

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

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Civil War Review –


Today, we look at a film that I didn’t know if I was going to review or not. It had awkward screening times when it had its theatrical release, and the election happened, and things felt a little too real to dive into a film like this. However, as the year came to a close, I felt like this was one of the films of 2024 that I had to watch to be able to understand the year that was.

So, to set the scene, in the not-too-distant future, The United States has devolved into civil war again, with the forces of the so-called central United States government based out of Washington DC up against the Western Forces of Texas and California. It is a chaotic time, with competing narratives as to what is happening and scarcities of resources like water putting pressure on everyone. In the midst of all of this are the photographers who are documenting the war, including veteran photojournalist Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), who has been doing this long enough to know when a suicide bomber is coming. Everyone can see that DC is going to fall, and rather than being on the frontlines, Lee and her partner Joel (Wagner Moura) want to go into the Capital and interview The President (Nick Offerman) before he is murdered by whatever faction gets to the Capital first. The only problem, well one of many problems for them, is that the road from New York to the Capital is fraught with fighting, damage, and military forces looking to blow up anything that moves.    

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is not a perfect film, but goodness, it was a joy to jump back into this world with all its horns blaring.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Héra befriends an eagle.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Review –

Few things get me excited as hearing the words ‘there is a new Lord of the Rings film about to be realised’. It is a world that brings me back to my childhood, back to reading The Hobbit and seeing those Lord of the Rings films for the first time. Well, today, I get to capture that joy because while I might not hold space for Defying Gravity, I do keep a place in my heart for The Ride of the Rohirrim.

So, to set the scene, there are many stories in Middle Earth about wizards and dragons or great wars and clashes of good and evil. But as Éowyn (Miranda Otto) explains, many stories are just as important and don’t get told made into songs but get talked about around the campfire. Almost 200 years before the War of the Ring, on the plans of Rohan lived Héra (Gaia Wise), the only daughter of Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), ruler of all the Rohirrim. She rode a horse like it was an extension of her wild fury, charming the people and frustrating her father in equal measure, those secretly he delighted in her wildness. But when of the Lords, Freca (Shaun Dooley) demands a meeting of the Lords of Rohan and tries to position his son Wulf (Luke Pasqualino) as the rightful husband for Héra. Helm would hear nothing of it and strikes Freca down with a single blow and chases Wulf away. He did not mean to kill Freca, but sometimes unexpected actions create unexpected outcomes.

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The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Big personalities and a lot of action, but not a lot more than that.

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.

Anders Lassen looks through a porthole covered in blood.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare Review –

If there is one film that people have asked me for, it is what happened to The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare? It looked like it was everywhere, and then it disappeared, but that cast and director should have cut through. Well, today, we have a chance to answer that question and give it a look as it finally got a release here in Australia.   

So, to set the scene, it is the height of WW2, and things are not going well for the Allies. In the middle of the Atlantic, patrolled by German U-Boats, a sailboat is being inspected by Nazis. The Nazi Commander does not like the laughing Swedes, even less when those Swedes mow down all his men. It is here that we discover just what is going on. The UK is the last significant power in Europe, not occupied by Axis Powers, and they are being cut off from the air and sea. Hitler is not playing by the rules, storing the rearming operations for the U-Boats in neutral territory. Well, then, it is time for the UK to retaliate with a group of soldiers who do not play by the rules. Led by Gus March-Phillipps (Henry Cavill), Operation Postmaster, all they have to do is sink an Italian Ship in neutral territory before the Nazis move it. To do this, they need a team: Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), the navigator; Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), the explosives expert; Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson), who is good with wet work, and Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer) intelligence. With Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) and Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) embedded on the island of Fernando Po, it should all go fine … right …?   

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Doctor Who: Boom – TV Review

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TL;DR – An episode that was both profound and frustrating in almost equal measures

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

The face of an ambulance.

Doctor Who Review –

Oh, okay, I think today’s review is going to need a little bit of a preface going in. I honestly think the best work the renewed series of Doctor Who has ever done was when Steven Moffat was writing during the first Russell T Davies era. That is not to say I didn’t like Russell T Davies’ work. The recent Space Babies & The Devil’s Chord were a blast, and what Steven Moffat did when he was showrunner wasn’t terrible. Rory and Amy are my favourite companions that had ever been in the show. But the combination of the two was always fire, so I came into this episode with very high expectations and left it with some pause.

So to set the scene, we open on a battlefield as two soldiers are trying to get back to base, concerned about the landmines, understandably, and the ambulances, more concerningly. However, as John Francis Vater (Joe Anderson) is captured by the ambulance, we understand his fear. The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) arrives just in time to hear a scream and runs to the call, only to step down and see a landmine under his foot. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Halo: Reach – TV Review

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TL;DR – The Halo series has done something I never thought it would or even could do. It made me care.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Warning – This episode contains scenes that may cause distress.

The fall of Reach.

Halo Review –

When I think back to the first season, sure, there were the significant changes everyone talked about, Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) taking off his mask and all that. But that never bothered me because adaptation to a new medium necessitates making changes. After all, it is a new context. My biggest problem was that the story, while satisfactory, did not make me care all that much about the characters in the show. Well, if nothing else, Season Two has fixed that problem.  

So to set the scene, in last week’s Visegrad, we discovered that not only does The Covenant know where Reach is, and that the authorities know that The Covenant knows where Reach is, but they are already on the planet and their main invasion is imminent. Queue the explosions. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Leave the World Behind – Movie Review

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TL;DR – What happens when the world slips away from you but only fragments at a time until you don’t even realise you ran off a ledge?

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.

An Oil tanker crashes into the beach.

Leave the World Behind Review –

The disaster film is such an intriguing genre, especially when you are not sure what disaster you are in or even if there is one going on. For me, it is not the disasters themselves that bring the core of the work, but how people respond to the crisis. This week, we look at a film that focuses mainly on that, and I found it to be deeply compelling.  

So to set the scene, Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) and her husband Clay (Ethan Hawke) have had a long, stressful year, and one morning, as Amanda was up not sleeping, she decided to randomly book the family for a trip away in a hamlet by the beach. The aim is to leave the world behind for a time, and the house absolutely provides all of that. All is going well until an oil tanker crashes into the beach, and the TV and Wi-Fi stops working. Which is when late at night, there is a knock on the door when the purported owners of the house, G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la), arrive and decide to stay.   

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Godzilla Minus One (Gojira Mainasu Wan, ゴジラマイナスワン) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A visual riot and fascinating story that shows that Godzilla still has it after 70 years.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Godzilla stalks a boat underwater.

Godzilla Minus One Review –

Few icons can last 70 years and still feel fresh and engaging, but Godzilla is very much the exception. There is something so iconic that even a single frame can invoke an emotion. It is in this space that we look at today’s film, which goes back in time to tell a very modern story.

So to set the scene, it is in the closing days of World War 2, and Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) feigns technical issues with his kamikaze plane and lands on Odo Island. The mechanics humour the boy and check out his plane before he is sent on his way on the inevitable suicide mission. However, that night, a siren goes off as something attacks the beach. But it is not the Americans, island hopping their way to the mainland. It is Godzilla. Shikishima is given a second chance to prove himself, only to fail again, with a shame that follows him all the way back to the ruins of Tokyo.

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