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arangibbs
Reviews
The Acolyte (2024)
2 episodes of fan fiction so far.
There are lots of haters of Disney era Star Wars but being of the age to have seen the originals in the cinema I can say I've enjoyed most of what's been done so far.
However this new show just feels like some cheap knock off or fan fiction. The writing is clunky, the acting is wooden and even the production in terms of set and lighting. The big reveal in episode 1 was obvious from 5 minutes into the show.
Hopefully it will improve but I have to say that at the moment I'm not hopeful. Between this and Skeleton Crew it was the one I was most looking forward to but now I feel like I did when Chewie was killed of saving Jacen Solo in the novel starting the new Jedi order books, maybe it's time to step away.
Road House (2024)
It was ok but McGregor was dreadful
As movies goes this was your average no brain required watch fun outing. Jake G did a good job with what he had to work with and the fight scenes were well done.
However it would have been better if McGregor didn't open his mouth to try and act... it just came across as extremely wooden and untrained so hopefully we won't see him cropping up elsewhere.
In terms of it vs the original, apart from the title there is no comparison in either story or quality. Some throw backs if you know the original but other than that this is just trying to trade on the name for nostalgias sake. 4 out of 10 is a fair rating.
A Real Bug's Life (2024)
Concept and camera work is amazing but...
The narrator and script really let this production down. It is clearly aimed at 8-10 year olds (not surprising for Disney) but the voice over track was very annoying to the point where muted it half way through series. The script lacked proper facts and any depth of detail.
Captions for the names of the bugs including common and scientific names along with a fact sheet would have enhanced the educational nature of the programme. And instead of sitting on the fence 'suggesting' bugs are good and necessary it should have been at the forefront of the narrative.
This would have gotten 2 star if it wasn't for the amazing camera work and my love of bugs as macro photographer.
2036 Origin Unknown (2018)
Dreadful Story, Shocking Special Effects
What a disappointment but at least you know from the opening 5 mins that it's going to be a terrible movie. The special effects, bad acting, bad script all make it seem like the thrown together cut scenes of some 90s PC game.
The premise... mans FIRST mission to mars in a ship that looks like its come from an Aliens movie is lost on landing on the red planet. Some years later Mackenzie 'Mack' Wilson (Katie Sackhoff) is locked in some top secret basement with an AI and they are reinvestigating the crash through the use of a real time connection to remote equipment on Mars.
Main contact with the out side world is Macks sister via video call (on the worst 1980s movie quality video - more Aliens reference here) as Mack and Arti (the AI) find a mysterious 'Cube' on Mars before it vanishes and turns up closer to home.
The last 15 minutes of the film are totally pointless and would have ended better if they had just been left on the cutting room floor.
Katee Sackhoff must have needed the pay check really badly to go through with this one.
The Grand Tour: The Grand Tour: A Scandi Flick (2022)
Back to where they should be...
It's formulaic.. it's immature... it's best watched drunk... BUT...
it's back to what the trio does best!
Making you feel like you're joining 3 mates on an ill conceived, unplanned lads week away! I mean 'Richard's'ski lift' experience had me laughing harder out of sure knowing what was coming than the actual scene was worth the Amazon Prime subscription this month...
What I would say is Amazon needs to adopt the BBC 'behind the scenes' documentary approach and tell 'Chump & Co' to lift the curtain and just add on or make a separate little add on 5 mins of out takes, what it rally took, or comments that didn't make it section...
Morbius (2022)
Good story... ruined by the edit
Great concept, good story but the editing was so bad it ruined the flow.
Clearly had big chunks cut out of it, lots of little sequences clearly out of order making it feel like a bunch of scenes thrown together.
Artemis Fowl (2020)
Unbelievable wooden
The story feels hollow and disjointed like too much has been cut out from the source material. It makes what a meant to be deep meaningful scenes into disjointed out of place ones. These are brought down even further by some of the most wooden acting I've seen in years.
No doubt it will get a sequel but it really shouldn't!
Special effects are up to modern standards though.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Honestly... ignore keyboard warrior haters
GO SEE THE MOVIE, it was a fitting end to the Skywalker saga, closing the door on the family and leaving the universe to go off new directions rather than being constrained in timelines.
Ok so this was movie was never going to please everyone... those of us who have been with the Star Wars universe 40 years and loved the original trilogy hang on to those as the holy grail of what a Star Wars movie should be (ESB top of the list) and people are quick to say this movie wasn't that.
However I think differently, I've enjoyed the last 2 episodes, yes TLJ had issues (it nicked battlestar galactica premise, rag tag fugitive fleet) but they were Star Wars for the 21st century and this movie closes out that.
With massive nods to everything that's come before it had me laughing, crying (Chewie on his knees) and whooping at some of the cameos (not going to spoil them but I counted at least 6 that were so clever and important Yet subtle to not confuse non die hard fans even if they amounted to a fleeting 2-3seconds of screen time). I'd have liked 5 more minutes of flashbacks around Reys lineages but I know that book will hit the shelves mid next year and the movie had enough to satisfy the story.
Ignore those who are so bitter they are writing negative review full of spoilers and well we knew that was the case comments... every possible scenario about Rey has been discussed in the last 4 years so of course some of them had to be right. Enjoy it and watch out for ***** and ****** and ***** ;)
Another Life (2019)
It had potential but failed to deliver
So... I wanted to be able to come on here and write a rave review of this show... unfortunately I watched it and can't honestly do that!
Ok so the premise, alien 'artefact' arrives on earth, humans go in search of source and then spend 9 episodes just running into every space sci-fi horror movie cliche going.
*** Spoiler Alert ***
We have:
Mutiny
Ship damage
Oh we're not where we are meant to be
Alien virus
Alien bug
Alien brain parasite (yes they are different things)
Water/food supply issues
Person stuck in dream/vr that's going to kill them
Glitchy A.I.
The list goes on....
All those things are well and good but (a) the writers tried to pack way too many into a short season which in its main objective was meaty enough with out the extras and (b) left no time for try character development. In fact the most developed role in the whole show is that of the A.I. William.
They could have easily cut out 5 episodes from the middle of the season and used that time for character and better world build, backstory, even an early explanation of the ship and how it has lots more crew in freezers waiting to be revived if someone dies!
As for the acting... well Katee Sackoff is what drew me to this and she is as good as she was as Starbuck in BSG but the stand out award goes to Samual Anderson as William. The rest of the cast... over acted and unconvincing is an under statement and with the lack of character development I couldn't careless if they were all killed off.
Overall, I'm disappointed however damn cliff hangers makes me want to sit through 10 more hours of a season if they actually stop messing about and get on with wrapping the story up.
Chernobyl (2019)
Interesting from a history point of view but not worth the hype
Ok so from the point of view that this is an important piece of history and it's an interesting telling of a tragic event. However, I don't see what all the hype is about. Best thing I can say is that I'm glad they didn't force the actors to put on accents for the parts.
Creed II (2018)
Best since Rocky IV..
I remember going to the drive-in when I was just a kid to see Rocky IV and seeing people literally standing on the roof and bonnet of cars cheering on Rocky in the final fight.
After that the franchise went down hill and when Creed came out I felt it was the final nail in the coffin (if Rocky V wasn't). However Creed II just pulled an underdogs knockout punch in the dying seconds of the 12th round. I know there is talk of a Creed III but I feel this movie just wrapped up 40 years of story telling. From the iconic scene of Rocky and Adonis fist bumping at the end of the fight and Rocky saying 'it's your time now' to the roll of the credits was the most powerful ending since 'there ain't gonna be no rematch'
Nicely done!
Star Wars Resistance (2018)
3 episodes in and I have a bad feeling about this...
Ok so I know it's only been 3 episodes but so far it's got to many things that are just not right.
Animation style / lighting makes it feel disjointed and unfinished and not part of the Star Wars 'gritty' universe... it worked ok for the 'blips' but not good for a full on series.
So far the story lines are shallow and and don't build connection to the characters.
Really hope if picks up and gets darker like Clone Wars or Rebels otherwise it might be a price of Star Wars that I have to write off as a bad idea...
Black Panther (2018)
Painful
Worst marvel movie yet... it's slow and dull with poor dialogue and wooden acting.
People say Solo & The Last Jedi 'ruined' Star Wars but this movie is more painful than a 2 hour Jar Jar backstory.
Krypton (2018)
High hopes but disappointed
I had high hopes for this show when I started watching it but was quickly disappointed. Just finished season 1, characters are wooden, script is poor and when you compare to similar level shows like The Flash, Agents of Shield and even KillJoys it's seriously lacking any appeal.
Then for them to turn around and make it non canon just makes it even less appealing to stick with.
Season one jumping straight into a tired and complicated time travel storyline to bring in to future known characters (General Zod) and the knowledge of Superman is really just rehashing what other shows have done in the past. Would have been much more interesting to get at least a couple of seasons in just exploring the world and society of Krypton highlighting the struggles of a dying world.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that season 2 improves but not holding my breath for it.
Lost in Space (2018)
Less Lost in SPACE and more like Earth2
So don't get me wrong having watched the first 7 episodes I am enjoying the series however the 'space' part of the title is missing.
Being all based on the plant so far it reminds me of the series Earth2 from the early 90's, it's got the strong female lead, the character who wasn't meant to stay on planet after dropping the colonists off, a Dr hiding a secret, lots of hazardous terrain, a robot and all focused around a base camp.
Hopefully unlike Earth2 this will get a 2nd season rather than leaving us all hanging!