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Reviews
Batwoman (2019)
The Bat is back
In this alternate Earth Bruce Wayne is missing and his cousin Kate reluctantly puts on suit to solve the mystery of her missing sister and the sinister Alice-in-Wonderland inspired nemesis, Alice.
Clever writing, well developed characters, mystery and cool Bat-tech has this modern take on the 60s TV trope flying high into 21st century adventure.
Fear the Walking Dead (2015)
Season 4 reboot
As much as I love Morgan I was not expecting the main characters to be abandoned so badly in the opening scenes. Watching Morgan travel is like watching paint dry - I just started to care about Madison and now I have to watch this crap. Wtf ?! How can AMC keep making a horror show so f#cking boring?
Doctor Who: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (2018)
Getting better
The stories are getting better this season. The character for the Doctor is much improved and the sets. Locations and special effects are much better. But, there is too much exposition going on, especially from the doctor. Instead of trying to work out what's going on and enjoy a bit of scifi mystery we're being told nearly every minor detail. In this episode Graham should never have revealed his intention until his argument with Ryan in the wreckage- that would have made a much better reveal. The Doctor is spewing out so much crap i feel like i need to take notes - we're getting jokes and too many explanations- cut out 80% of the explanations- keep the quirky jokes and let the conpanions do the exposition from the human perspective and leave the Doctor with more mystery. Lift the science & intelligence level instead of making up stupid pseudo science nonsense. Yaz is perfect, her interactions with the Doctor are very warm and wide-eyed at times which is charming.
I love WHO and always look forward to watching but i need a WHO that respects itself and it's intelligent audience.
Doctor Who: The Witchfinders (2018)
Messy mud aliens
Travelling back to Stewart England the Doc and gang get entwined in a witch hunt led by King James I. Sadly the story goes south from there with typical aggressive aliens plotting to take over the world.
I desperately want to love Dr Who but it keeps delivering gimmicks instead of good stories. I think Whos biggest problem is the time format - trying to setup, explore and resolve these stories in 40 minutes seems past BBC writers. I think of great scifi series like Stargate which had virtually the same mechanism, a doorway to anywhere, and I'd argue stargate had over a 90% success rate with delivering brilliant stories. Dr Who hasn't really excelled in story
Telling since The Doctors Wife - when it explored and expanded upon itself brilliantly. Again, series like Stargate sourced their plots in current scientific theories and turned them into emotional, clever, engaginng science fiction. Dr Who seems to want to squander the possibilities the tardis offers the writers. It's a mystery to me as there is so much good British television; shows like Being Human, Misfits, Humans, Red Dwarf have all managed what Dr Wbo cannot - meanwhile there are shows like Prineval that like Dr Who simply squander thier resources while retreading old ground and playing the monter of the week game. It's low brow tv. After watching American Horror story with it's insanely clever stories and well planned plots it's almost painful to see my childhood favourite being dragged about and tossed around for the sake of spectacle. We're talking about the most advanced race, the most advanced ship and the most advanced technology and week after week we're treated to jibberish. Ok, there were a few good scenes this week, the Doctor talking to King james about mysteries of the heart was good, the historical references and settings were great and even the acting was excellent. But then theres the story- mud alien prisoners escaping through a broken lock - poorly executed zombie looking cgi creatures. I have said this many times about Who, it needs to decide what genre it is and what age group it's for because if this is a show for kids then fine drop the gay sexual inuendo and make a kids show but if this is for families then please have layers adults can enjoy. And decide if this show is educational or fantasy- because if you want to use history then using a time machine you should have much smarter stories and decide cause and effect rules now and stick to them. Use real science instead of jibberish. I don't want Dr Who to be cancelled- it's my favourite show from my childhood, i want it to find itself and to be interesting, inspiring and engaging without relying on silly cgi gimmicks - that Punjab episode was spot on the money- you need more episodes like that where you balance heart with science and history (future or past) but so far this season is only mildly better than last season- and that's pretty sad.
Doctor Who: Demons of the Punjab (2018)
A marriage made in History
The Doctor and crew head back into the personal history of one of the companions and all is not as it seems.
This is the Doctor Who i've waited 11 years to see. A fantastic story where the special effects serve the story and don't have to compensate for lack of one.
A must watch. Faith restored.
Doctor Who: Arachnids in the UK (2018)
Refreshing cgi romp
The wibbley wobbley timey wimey science and laboured 4th acts of WHO have irked me for a few seasons now but this story was really good and i was really surprised and impressed by the
Science, the humour, the special effects and character development.
Apart from the door with the 100 keep out stickers and the Doctor choosing a long painful death over a quick death for the spiders, this was a fantastic episode.
We received all round character development, excellent cgi, a believable plot based in science and reality and a couple of good scares and laughs.
This was a proper bit of SciFi. And Jodi's take on the Doctor is remarkable- i like this new style of Doctor; she is heart and smart, fun and deep. A more connected Doctor who is no longer above the "insect" humans she drags along for adventures- now she's there parental equal. Bradley Walsh was a standout with his grief stricken emotion - his performance rings true for anyone who has suffered a a great loss.
I'm sorry but i can enjoy a show regardless of the supposed PC agenda - maybe i'm just mature enough to enjoy something good without looking for selfish reasons to complain.
If this keeps up this will be the revival who has desperately needed for several years
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Exciting, clever and complete fun
Incredibles 2 delvers as a perect sequel to the original. This is a film made for all ages (except it seems some bible-belt Americans who think "hell" and "damned" are swear words - i hope these people never visit Australia as they will drop dead at the language used in every day conversation here!"
Taking a more Elastigirl-centric perspective we get plenty of action and the whole Incredi-family gets involved in saving the day.
Very exciting and clever I particularly loved the Jack-Jack scenes with the raccoon.
Great fun for fans of the original and kids alike. A worthy entertaining sequel
Doctor Who: The Woman Who Fell to Earth (2018)
subtitles required
While Jodie Whittaker delivers a much needed happier, funnier, clever doctor the techno gibberish, while not completely absent, is largely replaced with optimistic platitudes and a strong welsh accent that causes just as much confusion.
The forced sympathy that we're meant to feel for the companion making the video message misses it's mark and while the story is much improved over the past 4 seasons it was still clunky and laborious at times.
I hope this isn't the tone for the entire season as it only succeeds in engaging the viewer in isolated scenes - jodie whittaker did get a laugh from me when she slams into the wall and remarks about having a good nap and the train scenes were impressive, engaging and even thrilling.
Overall not a bad start but hopefully this is just Jodie finding her footing and by mid season we see a less erratic, less chatty Doctor. "Brain scrambling re organising... blah blah meh" has been done and was way too forced. I am excited about the TARDIS reveal yet to come.
Star Wars Resistance (2018)
finally a Star Wars i can hate
I love SW, in all it's forms right until this series. It's boring, basic and cheap animation. It reeks of "filler" for the Disney channel. If this is supposed to get kids interested in SW i'm really not sure how. An undercover teenage racing enthusiast is recruited by Poe to spy on the First Order by posing as a mechanic. He of course has no mechanical skill, has BB8 for his sidekick, is clueless to obvious and completely fails as its a prequel to force awakens - and we already know the new republic is destroyed in a single afternoon with one shot. So why are we bothering to engage in this desd-end?
After Clone Wars and Rebels this is a travesty. Where is the desired Ahsoka series? Where are the force users which fans want to see? Where is the fantasy? In one scene one supporting character is talking about how his pet died and he ate it - really bottom of the barrel stuff here. Way to uninspire an entire generation. But hey, obvious visual references to games so Marketing is at least in full swing.
With the Skywalker sequel trilogy failing to take advantage of the expanded universe we've now been given more unimaginative drivel. I could write better stories in my toilet breaks.
Fear the Walking Dead: No One's Gone (2018)
Fear of the Walking Dead - Review
SPOILER: I give up. They killed off the best two characters in a pile of crap storytelling. I'm done with this series
Fear the Walking Dead (2015)
Season 4 reboot
As much as I love Morgan I was not expecting the main characters to be abandoned so badly in the opening scenes. Watching Morgan travel is like watching paint dry - I just started to care about Madison and now I have to watch this crap. Wtf ?! How can AMC keep making a horror show so f#cking boring?
Lost in Space (2018)
You'd better buckle up - it's a crazy thrill ride.
Lost in space has reclaimed it's place among science fiction classics, almost 60 years after it first aired.
This reboot of the classic series takes the original ideas for the show, The Swiss Family Robinson (in space), and given it a much needed 21st Century spin.
We find ourselves marooned with a reinvented Robinson family; this one a little more dysfunctional and a lot more realistic and relatable.
The new Robinsons' have marital issues, Will is the boy Genius but no longer perfect, Penny is still the heart of the family and Judy, along with Mrs Robinson contribute just as much as the rest of the family instead of being there just to load the space dish-washer. Dr Smith, or June Harris (sly Easter egg there too) makes for a manacing villain and let's not forget the morphing alien "robot" - Danger Will Robinson, mild spoiler here! Keep an eye out for a brief cameo by Billie Mummy (the original Will).
Impressive & amazing special effects, the characters' dynamics , the multitude of Easter eggs and nods to both the movie and original series plus the clever pre-planned plot arc, which is almost reminiscent of Earth 2, makes for a brilliant piece of space fiction.
With a witty & natural dialogue, the show plays it cheeky at times for adult comic relief but it is squarely aimed at a cleaner family audience.
It also appeals to sci-fi fans by incorporating cutting edge real science with adventurous fantasy and plain old fun. It's almost space MacGuyver which is pretty cool. There's even some dinosaur like creatures to keep things interesting.
Truely unique and wonderful this quality NETFLIX production is packed with breathtaking cinematography - a real triumph that both respects and surpasses the 60's classic.
Make no mistake, this is a reboot, not a remake. So if you want a clone of the movie or series then you'll be disappointed- as JJ would say, this isn't your dads Lost in Space, it's so much more!
Stargate Origins (2018)
Origins: unoriginal and underfunded
What feels like a fan made web series Origins, although having a sound premise and decent acting, is a simply terrible reboot for a once mighty franchise.
Uninteresting, underfunded and unoriginal Origins cannot be saved by the talents of a Conner Trinneer nor the fascinating era it's set in.
The over-use of subtitles to create authenticity really just make it almost unwatchable.
Anyone seeing this would be forgiven for thinking Stargate is an absolute joke of a franchise. For MGM to spend the $5.00 it obviously spent on post production is shameful.
This is not worth wasting your time watching.
Terrible editing. terrible dialogue. terrible idea.
Z for Zachariah (2015)
A pocket of life remains after nuclear disaster
A pocket of life remains after nuclear disaster
The original novelisation is excellent; a young lone female survivor of the apocalypse who's sanctuary is intruded upon by a stranger with radiation sickness.
Ultimately, the stranger goes mad and the two struggle for survival in a game of wits and cat and mouse.
The film focuses on desire and a love triangle - with a woefully boring anticlimax.
It departs from the novel after the first few minutes and fails to generate any of the excitement and desperation the novel conveyed, opting for sexual tension and drama instead.
I have waited for years to see this book made into a film, and stumbling across it with the likes of Chris Pine i really expected so much more than was delivered.
I'll keep waiting
San Andreas Quake (2015)
Able to predict quakes a professor tries to save her daughter
As far as B movies go this wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Yeah, the acting is cheesy a lot of the time and the special FX are from the 90's but even as this latest installment of slightly differently names rip-offs goes its better than any of its predecessors.
Get past the introductory scenes and forgive the cgi hippo and maybe, like me, by the half way mark you might be connecting with the main characters.
All in all this is a B movie rip-off of a big budget film with virtually the same name, but its passable and suitable for kids 10+