Sasaki and Peeps Season Overview

Summary

A man and his bird travel between a magical fantasy world and our modern world.

There is a lot to love about the first season of Sasaki and Peeps, it is wholesome has great character dynamics and a massive world that is just calling out to be explored. I think the mix between different anime genres works well, and that there is not jar between high fantasy elements and more action or horror elements set on Earth.

I think the show is accessible and relatable to anyone who has ever had a pet, as the bond between Sasaki and Peeps is strong and very heart warming at times. I would say the show is worth watching for that alone, in times like these you need all the wholesome content you can get.

The one thing I would say is that the show can be at times a little too high concept, there is not enough time given to either the fantasy or modern storyline, and because the show is introducing so much and moving quickly you can become lost at times. Moreover, by trying to do so much it means that certain aspects don’t get their proper due.

Overall, a good first season with a lot of promise but hopefully for season two it will slow down somewhat.

4/5

Pros.

It is funny

It has wholesome moments that are nice

The worldbuilding

A wide cast of likeable characters

Cons

It rushes through things at times

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Abigail: A Little Girl Taking Down Grown Men

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A group of people kidnap a little girl, and are met with bad consequences.

A preface, I do not support Melissa Barrea or her anti-Semitic nonsense, I have been very vocal about that. As such I did not see this film at the cinema, and debated even affording it this review as my coverage might give it and her undeserved attention, however, it was playing at an event I attended recently, post its home release, so I saw it there. I am glad to say I did not give any of my money to the film or her. There is no place in this world for antisemitism.

That aside let’s move on.

This film was an odd one, I went into it expecting it to be more of a horror film yet it played more like a horror comedy. There were certainly moments that you could see it attempting to be scary, but whenever it did this it then interrupted it by having a joke or a silly moment, it was like it was too afraid to take itself seriously.

Alisha Weir is good in the role of Abigal, both of the innocent victim and also as the monster. However, what I think is an incredibly odd choice narratively is that they undermine her by having her dad show up at the end, which makes her look a lot less powerful and secondary. The film is called Abigal she should have stayed the big bad.

Overall, it has some good moments and some funny lines, sadly the comedy undermines the horror somewhat as the two tones don’t match well here and Abigal who could have been a great villain is undermined.

2/5

Pros.

Some good moments

It is reasonably paced

Cons.

It undermines its villain

Tonally it doesn’t work

It feels a bit familiar

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The Death And Destruction Of Doctor Who As A Franchise: It Is Over Folks

Written by Luke Barnes

In this cinema issues article we are talking about how Doctor Who has become a sorry husk or shadow of its former self

Now a quick warning before we get into it, if you cannot handle someone else’s opinion, particularly one you disagree with then you need to stop reading this review and reflect on why that is and maybe get some help. I am allowed my opinion on Doctor Who as you are yours, sending me some death threats because you can’t stand what I am saying is not going to stop me and it just makes you look bad.

That out of the way lets begin, so a quick heads up I have not watched the first two episodes of the new season of Doctor Who and I don’t plan to, I have spoken to people who have and gleamed their opinions, and I have seen clips from it.

However, it seems my previous writing on Doctor Who and RTD was entirely right, I am have been quite vindicated with the latest episodes by all accounts. Doctor Who is no longer about time and space adventures but rather pushing a political message at the audience over and over again until they are begging for it to stop. Case in point there is a scene in the recent two episodes wherein one character brings another to task over their misuse of pronouns, why is this needed.

I have seen some commentary saying that this show is fighting in the culture wars and trying to fight back against growing right wing thought and all this, but I don’t think it is that deep, I just think RTD liked that he got attention for It’s A Sin so decided to keep doing that. My question ultimately with this show is who is it for now. What’s more where has the Disney money gone as the monsters and effects still look as bad as ever.

To add to all this the fanbase has been pretty split, but what is not helping is that we have already seen a number of people involved with the production calling out the fans and saying they are bigots of varying sorts. This does not buy you any good will and instead looks like a show that is insecure and knows that it doesn’t have the viewing figures to feel confident so has to try and shift the narrative. As again I predicted when these new seasons of Who not only don’t save the series but instead kill it for another 20+ years, they need someone to blame.

Despite it being all over my feed this will be the last I will be commenting on the show, but I will say this to you, why watch a show that doesn’t want you to watch it, are you a fan, if so the cast and creatives think you’re toxic, and personally I will not reward them with my rating figure and so will boycott the show. Expect more screaming about how evil the fans are before it gets cancelled for good next year.

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Spy X Family Code White: The Quest For Poo

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Forger’s head off on another family trip.

As a big fan of Spy X Family I was a little upset that rather than a second half to season two we were getting this, however, after watching it I can safely say that though I would have liked a few more episodes this was far more worthwhile than I had expected it to be.

I liked seeing the family come together both in terms of the family unit but also in terms of action, as this is the first time we see Loid and Yor fighting together, when they aren’t pretending to be something else or doing it in a comedic fashion, though I suppose they still don’t know about the other.

I also liked seeing that the promised Loid and Yor romance grows ever closer to happening, as a person who at times could be described as mushy it warms my heart to see Yor clearly having feelings for him. It remains to be seen if Loid has them back but it is still very interesting to watch.

The one area where I would say the film goes off the rails somewhat is with the long drawn out sequence of Anya needing to poo. I understand they were trying something there and with the different animation style I am sure a lot went into it, however, personally I felt like it didn’t fit the style of the show well at all and felt very disconnected.

Overall, a worthwhile follow up to the series but not without its off moments.

4/5

Pros.

The Forger family coming together

The romance grows

Anya steals the show

It is funny and sweet

Cons.

The poop stuff goes on for far too long

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Knuckles: Life In The Fast Lane

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Knuckles, voiced by Idris Elba, is back and this time he is patching up father son relationships, or trying to at least.

I was really, really looking forward to this and possibly I went in expecting a bit too much. I thought this was going to be the next chapter in the Sonic universe, I was expecting much more in the way of cameos and maybe even some more games characters being introduced that were more Knuckles centric. Alas we didn’t get that, and maybe I expected too much, this was an incredibly self-contained show and without the opening credits, the villains being vaguely tied to Robotnik, and a brief first episode cameo, you could watch this and not even realise it was related to the wider Sonic universe.

Another odd choice was that the main character of this series isn’t Knuckles, but rather Wade Whipple, Adam Pally. Now there is nothing wrong with Wade he is quite a funny character and you can easily relate to and root for him, but he isn’t the show’s namesake. I expected far more time to learn who Knuckles as a character was, learn more of his back story, maybe through flashbacks to before the Owls attacked, but again no. We don’t learn much more about Knuckles from this show other than he likes grapes. That said I did like Wade’s quest to become a warrior and to defeat his dad, Cary Elwes, who was comically evil.

I also thought the bond between Wade and Knuckles was quite endearing, they genuinely seemed to care about each other, in a sort of human pet way, or maybe even a father and son way.

The humour of the show was good and it was mostly funny, there were a couple of times were they let a joke drag on for too long or repeated an unfunny joke but for the most part it was funny.

A final word I would like to say that no doubt will get me hate, but hey I am not going to stop, is that I liked that this show gave an upfront portrayal of the Jewish Shabat dinner and had a lot of good Jewish representation without reducing the characters to stereotypes or having it be all they are. I think in these politically divided times, I am writing this in May 2024, where antisemitism is on the rise and more and more people seemingly hate Jews, for something that is not their fault, they are not responsible for state policy, it is nice to see positive representation, it shouldn’t be needed to combat all the hate as the hate shouldn’t exist but that is the world we live in.

Overall, a nice, fun self-contained series but one that left me a little disappointed

3.5/5

It is funny

Wade and Knuckles

It provides much needed representation

It sets up new adventures

Cons.

It is not as big in scope as I would have liked it to be

It repeats a few unfunny jokes

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Swede Caroline: Growing Wild and Free

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A mockumentary film about the world of competitive vegetable growing.

This may be one of the best surprises of the year so far, it seemingly came out of nowhere and had little to no fanfare but it was easily the funniest film of the year by a wide margin. Whilst I often say of comedy films that they had some good laughs but it was not a laugh a minute, I would argue this was. For the most part I was laughing consistently throughout.

I thought the characters were all very likeable and distinctive and that is a hard feat considering that for some of them we only meet them for about 5 minutes or so, yet still they manage to leave an impression. I think why the characters worked so well is because they are believable, as in perhaps it is a British thing, but I for one could see parallels between the characters in this film and to people I know in the real world.

I think the only area where it lost me somewhat was when it tried to hit into darker subject matter. I understand the parody was of true crime docuseries so it needed to have those darker themes but I thought that it would have been better served by maintaining a consistent tone throughout.

Overall, a hidden comedy gem.

4/5

Pros. It is funny

It is relatable

It is original

It uses its runtime and cast well, there isn’t any waste

Cons.

The darker moments and the inconsistent tone

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Back To Black: A Life Cut Short

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A biopic about Amy Winehouse

These musical biopics are all the same at this point, if things have gone as intended then this will be coming out the day after my Bob Marley review and as such I can really hammer home that point.

Much like the Bob Marley review said again this follows the same formula as all the rest, the rise, the reign and then the fall. I find that it is not until the end of the film that I begin to see any real difference beyond, nationality and music style. The difference being that with Marley the film ended on a notion of hope, he was a unifier, despite his pending death it is still a nice ending. Whereas with Winehouse the film ends on a rather black note, in a sense it becomes a tragedy and I think it is this respect that the film ends out on top of Bob Marley for the sheer fact it was able to make me feel something.

I would say that the acting was also a lot stronger here, across the board. Marisa Abela was terrific in the lead, she was both warm and likeable but could also reflect the tragic nature of Winehouse, the damaged side of her soul. I also think Jack O’Connell was very strong in his supporting role of a lad about town who ultimately proved toxic for Winehouse in the end.

This film certainly aims to be more than Marley and tries to have deeper themes and emotions, which is fine but in doing that it loses the crowd pleasing charm of Marley and makes it more of a selective experience.

Overall, an interesting biopic but one that makes for grim viewing

3/5

Pros.

The tragic nature of it

The cast

The songs

Cons.

It is depressing

The pace is off

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Bob Marley One Love: Music Conquers All

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A biopic about Bob Marley.

These musical biopics are all the same at this point, sure they are based on real life so they can’t do much to jazz it up, but it is always the same the rise, the stardom and then the fall. There is nothing to mix it up and the only difference is the songs that litter the films sound track, honestly I think we need to have a period of time without any more musical biopics to make this repetition sit better, but hey we are getting a Michael Jackson biopic next year that hopefully will address why he slept in bed with children. Hollywood doesn’t listen to its customers any more and that is why box office returns are only getting worse.

Kingsley Ben-Adir does a good job in the lead role and you buy the character. I would say he was the best actor in the piece by quite a wide margin. Lashana Lynch was fine, but mostly forgettable, one could argue that was not her fault as they didn’t give her much of anything to do.

Perhaps if I was a bigger Marley fan I would have gotten more out of it, I don’t know I just think that at this point we have seen similar narratives so many times over that it loses anything special it ever had.

The songs were good but you would expect them to be.

Overall, fine but easily forgettable.

2.5/5

Pros.

It is watchable

The songs are good

It is reasonably well paced

Cons.

It is the same the story you have heard before

Nothing is beyond average about it

They waste most of the cast

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The Coming Drought That Is The Summer 2024 Box Office

Written by Luke Barnes

This piece will talk about the dire issue facing Hollywood this year, the incredibly thin on the ground summer slate.

Now as any good movie fan worth their salt will tell you the summer is the key time to be making money in the film business, the kids are off school, people want somewhere cool to go to get away from the scorching temperatures, depending on where you live, it is the most important time of the year for Hollywood. This normally means that some of the biggest movies of the year are coming out during the summer months sometimes multiple a week, whereas this year there is a drought.

This drought is the result of a few things covid, the strikes, diminishing box office receipts that are making studios far more careful about greenlighting projects. However, it is plain to see, this year we have only a few true blockbusters coming out, with Kingdom Of The Planet of The Apes, Furiosa, Deadpool and Wolverine and really that is it. Add to that a few kids movies in Despicable Me 4, Garfield and Inside Out 2, and a few smaller titles like the new Alien film and Borderlands and you have a very thin slate. There are some weeks in summer where there are no major releases at all and it seems almost nonsensical for studios to be doing this.

Moreover, the films mentioned above, with no doubt a few others I have forgotten, are not all ones people are looking forward to, and that speaks to the problem. Hollywood is worried as they keep putting out films they think are hits, that aren’t, the idea of safe hits is becoming a thing of the past, now as those of you who have read my other Cinema Issues pieces will know this is in no small part due to consumers becoming more choosey as it costs more that ever to go to the cinema these days. Although in addition to that it is also because increasingly Hollywood is becoming isolated, out of touch, with the disconnect between what studios think people want and what they actually do growing by the day.

Why would people want a sequel from over 30 years ago, or a spin off from a film that came out 9 years ago and didn’t set the world on fire. Have studios not learnt that people are sick of prequels, sequels and reboots by now. It is not a huge surprise that a lot of the films that have done well in recent years Super Mario, Barbie, Oppenheimer have been original.

To close this out, things are only going to get worse for Hollywood and the box office. I think that there they may be no billion dollar films this year, for the first time in a long time, I think that Deadpool and Wolverine and Despicable Me 4 will do well and I think the rest will struggle or flop. If I am being really blunt about this, I think Hollywood’s time is done they have run out of good will and good ideas and I think that we need new studios, that operate outside of the California format. We need cinema to become more international and less American so that we can have something that is truly fresh and new.

Invincible Season 2 Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Mark picks up the pieces of his life after his dad rearranged this teeth.

I am mixed on this season. On the whole I lean to it being good but it was such a half measure.

I liked that they are finally starting to set up the Mark and Eve stuff, I liked that we got more time with Alen, and I liked seeing the return to Mars and the decimating of the remaining heroes by the Serpent Society. However, outside of that I think that this season missed the mark. It spends far too long try to be deep and emotional and work through its trauma, and whilst the Radiohead and Nick Cave solemn moments in the first few episodes were good I found it got a little self-indulgent by the end. I understand that Mark breaking his no kill rule is a big deal but there is a lot of time in the last episode dedicated to him dealing with it, it feels too much its like cool can we get back to it. They waste time. Nowhere is that truth more self-evident than with Mark and Amber, they spent a lot of time this season with them realising they can’t work out, too much time. Think about all the Spider-Man films you have ever watched how much time has been dedicated to his relationship with MJ or Gwen maybe 5-10 minutes total per film, maybe more in Spider-Man 3, because though it is important to the character it is not what people are here to see. Here we get multiple scenes that go on for far too long and then a drawn out scene of them both having heart to hearts with other people at the same time to make it stretch even more. My point is that it is good to develop your characters emotionally but when it is taking up the same amount of time as them being heroes then you have a problem .

The animation and world building was good, but again it feels like filler. We got the tease of the wider galactic war but didn’t see any of it, you’ll have to wait another 3 years for that. Honestly I was a little disappointed that we didn’t even get Nolan and Alen busting out of prison as a final sting on the last episode. I don’t know what happened if they wanted to stretch the story out more, if they didn’t have time to write further or if it was a rush job, but I left this season disappointed looking forward to the next, and that’s not right it should be I left this season thinking it was epic looking forward to the next.

Overall, a disappointment.

2.5/5

Pros.

Mark and Eve

Alen’s return

Setting things up that will be cool

Cons.

It doesn’t actually progress the story much

It is too emotional and into itself

It wastes time

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