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Reviews
Doctor Who: Boom (2024)
Finally a good episode
I was initially so excited at RTD's return, and it's fair to say that, although better than Chibnells run, the episodes so far have been a bit on an anti climax.
I was cautiously excited when I found out Moffat had written an episode for this series, I've always enjoyed his contribution episodes more than his showrunning ones overall (yes, Heaven sent/hell bent aside).
This was such a tense compact story that threw in a few big themes to boot (the inference that there's no god is one I particularly enjoyed, brave move though).
Also, if anyone had any doubts about Ncuti's doctor, after this episode there can be no doubt. He was fantastic.
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)
Zach Snyder once again proving he's the worst 'talent' around
Where do you start with this? It's like kicking a baby after you've stolen it's sweets. Everyone involved in this truly awful two parter will have known it was going to be terrible. Most Zach Snyder films are.
Sure, in the early days we quite liked the endless slow mo, light flashing, action sequences in the rain trick that has become his one and only enduring characteristic (aside from making generally dreadful films) but this plunges new depths I didn't think possible.
Who gave this man that amount of money on a script that feels like it's been devised by one of the weird little 'adults living in mommas basement DC fanboys' that he seems to attract.
There isn't a single redeeming scene, effect, performance, edit, sound. It's one of the worst things I have ever seen.
The Gray Man (2022)
A really fun movie
Can I see where two HUNDRED M I L L I O N dollars was spent? Absolutely not, it's ridiculous.
That said I enjoyed Chris Evans playing against type (somewhat, I mean he's very pretty but his range is limited). I always enjoy Ryan, his action/comedy delivery is top notch and you root for him.
There's some good action sequences, some very good stunt work, it's paced well, and it's acted well.
Yes, it's a mishmash of all the actions film tropes/characters, but then so are almost all action films and we still lap them up.
Great 'switch off the brain' Friday night entertainment. Maybe they'll do another (cheaper hopefully) one.
Doctor Who: The Devil's Chord (2024)
Not as promising
People seem to like this more than episode one, and I enjoyed Jinxx and the general concept very much, but I'm only giving it 5 stars because of all the execution issues.
The music was such that at points it was genuinely hard to hear what Jinxx was saying.
It's far too early for the doctor to be using his 'i can't save you this time' lines. In fact, it's used so often in Who now it's annoying. We all know the doctor will save the day, stop trying to pretend otherwise.
The musical dance scene. It's too long, it just feels like it's thrown in there, it all feels a bit CBBC.
Gods. We're going to have the doctor fighting god's now? Pfft.
Trying to again, shoehorn in a bit of lore that again we dint investigate. The doctor who just said he was the last of his species because of a genocide let's skip that he had a grandchild living a mile away in 1963, and it all gets forgotten about by Ruby because a piano arrives.
Another companion who is 'not what they appear to be' and is something special (like Donna, Clara)
The effects were a bit dodgy, both the musical notes and the scenes of a devastated future/present London. I'm not sure where all the extra Disney money has gone. Salaries perhaps.
The Beatles. Could they genuinely have not got people who looked at least a little bit like them.
So, bonus points for Jinxx, negative points for everything else. I'm staying hopeful for ep 3!!
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
If the words 'Below Average' were turned into a movie
Such high expectations, with the return of the original cast to proper full time roles in this movie. Until I saw the trailers.
No, I said to myself, trailers can be misleading, they don't want to give anything away!
I was wrong. The original kids from the first film are back, as is Paul Rudd playing the one character he is able to play which I don't think anyone could have been excited by.
The originals! Dan Ackroyd have it a good shot, assuming he had a hand in the script to make him the only one with anything meaningful to say and a smattering of development, otherwise, all wasted.
The plot is paper thin, the comedy is base and badly executed. The effects are average, assuming they needed to save a bit of money after the bad box office of Afterlife.
It's just meh. It was the 24th best film I saw in April 24, out of 27 movies. It beat only Madame Webb and Rebel Moon 2.
I think this should at least signal the end of a franchise that has been dead since the 80s.
Ghostbusters (2016)
Ignore all the 32year olds still living at home....aced
...furiously review bombing this because it dared to put women front and centre. These silly little boys wouldn't know a good thing if it tapped them on the shoulder and said 'Hi, I'm a good thing'.
What we have here is a really good fun movie, with excellent comedic performances from the entire cast, giving their all to commit to the fun. The fact the cast they faced violence and death threats from this bunch of pathetic man-babies is a shocking insight into incel culture, but thankfully they rose above it all.
I would watch this over any of the other ghostbusters films (superior to 2, Afterlife, and country miles ahead of FE), with just the original pipping it to the post, because, y'know, it was an iconic part of my childhood.
So, if you want a good, fun, fast paced, funny, kind film to kill a couple of hours, you could do a lot worse than to give this a go!!
Fellow Travelers (2023)
Don't believe the hype
It's a turgid romp through time anchored by two leads who, certainly by episode 6 when I stopped watching, you really couldn't care any less about them or their boring love affair.
There have been many shows and films about gay lovers throughout history who have had to keep their love a secret, some are great, this is not.
There have been a number of gut punching 80s AIDS dramas, almost unbearable to get through because you care so much about the characters and their tragic demise. This isn't one of them.
Bailey is unable to rise to the material. Bomer cements why he's never made it big in Hollywood with yet another of his wooden performances.
I do like the black supporting cast, and the lesbian character, alas none of them get a fair crack at the whip.
I am genuinely at a complete loss as to how this has got such good reviews. Perhaps it's the 'edgy' sex scenes between two attractive men.
Twisted Metal (2023)
Just brilliant
I'm not normally a big Mackie fan, but in this role he really gets to play to his strengths. Quick witted, action man, and so funny.
I hadn't heard about this show until a friend mentioned it in passing, I went home and found it and could not stop watching it.
Really consistently engaging from the start, getting better each episode until a great finale.
Can not wait for season 2
Really consistently engaging from the start, getting better each episode until a great finale.
Can not wait for season 2
Really consistently engaging from the start, getting better each episode until a great finale.
Can not wait for season 2.
Mandy (2019)
Hilarious
Absolutely brilliant
If you are already a fan of Diane Morgan's work, then you are going to enjoy this. The character of Mandy plays to all of her strengths. Obscure, crude, deadpan, tragic but optimistic, Mandy is the antiheroine for our times.
The episodes are only 15 minutes long, but this actually really helps the show. There's no filler, just gag after gag, and most of them hit the mark.
Id recommend this show to everyone with a sense of humour..
Id recommend this show to everyone with a sense of humour
Id recommend this show to everyone with a sense of humour.
Id recommend this show to everyone with a sense of humour.
Asteroid City (2023)
Not his best, but still just beautiful
I love Wes Anderson stuff. Everything he's ever done has been on a scale from absolutely incredible down to 'still engaging and looks fantastic'
This is down at the lower end for me, despite really engaging characters, impeccable acting (looking at you there Scarlett) and quite simply some of the most beautiful looking sets, another thing we've done to expect from Wes and his regular collaborators.
It lacked some of the humour and depth of his other films, and some of the actors truly had thrown away non roles, but even at his worst, I still take a lot of joy from watching what Wes and his team put on screen!
Things You Should Have Done (2024)
Painfully unfunny
It's amazing what clearly passes as humour these days. I made it 20 minutes into the first episode where my husband and I sat in complete silence, when I paused and asked if it would be ok if I turned it off.
"Oh my god yes, this is terrible, I just didn't want to say" was his response.
It's weird, but perhaps not unsurprising that the lead character who is a big thing and often quite funny in her 30 second clips on tiktok, struggles to stretch out paper thin ideas and dead pan delivery into a 30 minute episode format. Perhaps it might've worked if it was done in 10 minute episodes instead.
Anyway, as it goes, this is a show without and redeeming feature. Unfunny, lacking any charm, badly acted. Avoid.
House Party (2023)
Can ANYONE explain how Tosin Cole keeps getting work...?
He is absolutely dreadful, in anything I've ever seen him in.
I thought maybe it was drama he couldn't do/anything that requires seriousness or integrity.
No, it stretches to comedy too. Dreadful.
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation
Tosin Cole is the worst actor of his generation.
The Queen (2006)
Turgid, dreary, cheap
How this film managed to attract such largely positive reviews is something that I don't think I'll ever understand.
The relentlessly smug thesp Mirren does a passable impersonation of the queen (though frankly most people's Grans do it better, mine certainly did) in a really cheap 'made for tv' looking melodrama that had a complete lack of style, a bog standard script, and largely serviceable acting.
This is a film that no-one will remember a few months after watching it as it has nothing to merit remembering, not least the main performer herself who somehow (one can only assume it's Americans obsession with our royal family) managed to bash an Oscar.
What a complete waste of time.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)
It's quite good
Not really much else to say. Good chemistry. Boring in parts. It isn't the film, so don't expect it to be. Love Parker posey! Just above average hence the 7*
Not really much else to say. Good chemistry. Boring in parts. It isn't the film, so don't expect it to be. Love Parker posey! Just above average hence the 7*
Not really much else to say. Good chemistry. Boring in parts. It isn't the film, so don't expect it to be. Love Parker posey! Just above average hence the 7*
Not really much else to say. Good chemistry. Boring in parts. It isn't the film, so don't expect it to be. Love Parker posey! Just above average hence the 7*
Abbott Elementary (2021)
Very very gentle comedy
It's the sort of thing that you largely smile rather than laugh, with the exception of the headteacher (who is thankfully used very sparingly) who says the occasional inappropriate thing and raises a chuckle.
There is nothing original about the show. Each joke you can see coming. All the stereotypes are there on display, doing what you would expect them to. There's a love triangle (ISH). There are kooky friends. Etcetera.
Maybe it's my Britishness, but I find this kind of veeeeeeeeery gentle comedy more like a meditation because you know there'll be no surprises, rather than watching it as a comedy.
I am around that the lead actress just won an Emmy as a Lead Comedy Actress, in a category where she faced both Rachel Brosnahan and Natasha Lyonne who were infinitely better in their roles than Quinta.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023)
Dull
I can't quite believe I watched the entire thing. I just really kept hoping that it would get better, and fundamentally in a show about Monsters, I expected them to play a large part in the series. They don't. Someone online did a count of the amount of time given to the titans during the 6hr+ runtime of the series, and it's less than 5 minutes.
The young cast are uniformity unengaging. I was actually rooting for them to get bumped off. I'd say 40% of the entire series are the tube cast moping about because either they resent each other, their parents, monarch, the system, blah blah blah. It's just so boring.
The only time for me that the series came alive was in the flashback scenes to the 50's, where it felt the cast had some chemistry (Anders Holm was totally undersized however, he hardly had any screen time).
Let's hope this is the end of it.
Line of Duty: Episode #6.7 (2021)
Dreadful
Imagine after 6 years of watching what had been uniformly great TV, the overarching mastermind (H) turns out to be this ridiculous, bumbling, idiot recurring character that you'd question would be able to tie their own shoelaces in the morning.
I think most people are living in hope that Jed comes up with one final series, hell we'll even take a special, where he can unpack this dreadful dreadful ending, as this was a right kick in the balls for the faithful watcher.
I think most people are living in hope that Jed comes up with one final series, hell we'll even take a special, where he can unpack this dreadful dreadful ending, as this was a right kick in the balls for the faithful watcher.
Vigil (2021)
Shame about season 2
Well, hopefully this'll be the last one.
There's far too much wrong with the second series to go into all the details, but we'll go with the main headings;
The supporting cast are uniformity poor. Even old hands like Dougray Scott, though no Olivier, here is reduced to panto bad guy. That female army boss (I haven't bothered to learn their character names) is shockingly bad, as are the rest of the army cast, but she gets special mention. Even Suranne Jones is phoning it in this time, clearly unable to wait to make her recently announced move to behind the camera.
The writing, dialogue, pacing is all over the shop. I won't justify it, just watch an episode and you'll get it.
Fundamentally this series has absolutely nothing new to say, and it says it in the most tepid fashion.
It gets the stars because the first series was a strong 7/10.
The Reckoning (2023)
Why does it look and feel so cheap?
Firstly, Coogan (who if anyone has seen that road trip show he did with Rob Bryson will already know how good he is at impressions) does a fantastic impersonation of Jimmy Saville. That is without question, he imitates him perfectly.
That's the end of what's good about this show. Otherwise the acting, the direction, the pacing, the production values are so poor, that you actually want the monster back on the screen.
In the first episode, Coogan (playing Saville as a 35yo man) had about as much warmth, likeability and charisma as a damp sponge and is apparently the talk of club land and the BBC. What is this we feel now? Emotional support for a monster who's mom never wanted him and to whose expectations he could never live up to, and so has turned into this predator?
Who is this drip of an interviewer? How did a man spend seven YEARS interviewing the perv, and get absolutely nowhere?!? The guy who portrays him is as insipid as I imagine the real Dan Davies to be.
Why is every frame so boring to watch? From the dance hall scenes of Leeds to the floors of top of the pops, there is no atmosphere captured anywhere. I assume this is because our focus is supposed to be on the monster, which is fine if he was written, acted and conveyed as such.
I can't begin to imagine why so much praise had been helped on this show.
I Care a Lot (2020)
Haters gonna hate...
...but I thought this movie had a lot going for it.
The storyline was challenging. After a bit of research though, it appears that technically the scan is a sound one under current US law, and people do act as government sanctioned 'caretakers'. Given the level of corruption in the US, it's really not that incredible that this could happen to people.
The acting is fantastic, universally, but by none more than Rosamund Pike, who gives it her all to create a truly evil character who you will be rooting throughout the movie to get her come uppance.
Hope you guys all enjoy this as much as we did!
Happy Valley (2014)
It can only be a 10
I don't understand how anyone who has watched this show can rate it anything else but a 10.
Quite simply it is a masterclass in efficient, involving, gripping, emotive, thrilling storytelling.
The acting, partic from Ms Lancashire, but also the rest of the accomplished ensemble is absolutely top notch.
Sally Wainwright, alongside RTD is the finest writer of her generation and one of the best the UK has ever produced.
No cash cow grabbing. They waited for 7 years before the final season, just to the child actor could grow up and the storyline could be believable. They didn't try to fit in another useless 6 seasons in the interim. They had a vision for the story from the start, and delivered only that over 9 years and 18 episodes.
Astounding tv.
Doctor Who: The Power of the Doctor (2022)
Fantastic Finish
After the series of largely forgettable stories, badly scripted with dreadful companions (looking at you Ryan), Chibnall demonstrated he hasn't the skill to showrun the series.
What he did pull off, presumably because he had almost three years to do so, was produce a rip-roaring final outting for the tragically underserved Jodie Whitaker.
Old doctors, old companions, classic villains, adventures through space and time, shocks and surprises, comedy, touching moments, great effects, there was just so much to enjoy in this episode.
Sure, it wasn't perfect, but then there almost no episode of doctor who that you couldn't poke so many holes in that itd resemble a sieve.
What was there though was genuinely enjoyable, and though I'm looking forward to what's to come, I'll miss the doctor Jodie could have been.
Black Adam (2022)
Everything about this film is average
Going into a DCEU film, everything you think this film is going to be comes to pass.
The effects are massive, but as is true for all the DC films, you can't ever forget they are effects. I can't quite put my finger on it, there's always just something unrealistically jarring about them. They are there none the less, and they are constant and big and loud and overpowering.
The scripting is poor. It's typical DC. The dialogue is heavy and obvious and is, after all, not the reason anyone is going to see this film.
The performances are average, including a disappointing one from the normally likeable Rock who is unlikeable and unengaging. Brosnan looks like he's had a bit of fun, but apart from that it's all phoned in, doing what they can with the rubbish on the page.
It will be a massive success, after a drought of blockbuster entertainment over recent months, but its success won't be as a result of anything it does well.
Overall, it's a shame that there will be more of this, but probably even worse the next time round.
Looking forward to Shazam though.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
Largely dreadful
A fundamental take with such a great big glorious backstory, yet after over 8 hours, if you can even name more than 25% of the principal cast id be astounded.
Literally all they've done is world build and introduce us to the main cast over 8 largely (bar episode 6) dreadfully tedious hours, yet I couldn't care less if every single one of them expired.
It looks pretty, but to think one billion dollars has gone into this boring vanity project of a silver spoon fed billionaire is sickening.
I've heard rumours that the series is continuing. That there is anybody left that would want to watch this is the most astounding thing about the entire series.
Werewolf by Night (2022)
Great stuff
What a refreshing change of tone and pace this was.
A really compact, self-contained curiosity, expertly paced short film. I'd happily watch many more of these.
What a refreshing change of tone and pace this was.
A really compact, self-contained curiosity, expertly paced short film. I'd happily watch many more of these.
What a refreshing change of tone and pace this was.
A really compact, self-contained curiosity, expertly paced short film. I'd happily watch many more of these.
What a refreshing change of tone and pace this was.
A really compact, self-contained curiosity, expertly paced short film. I'd happily watch many more of these.