The Sandman: Bring Me A Dream

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Morpheus, played by Tom Sturridge, the Lord of the Dreaming is captured and kept in isolation for a century, once he escapes he finds things have fallen apart in his kingdom and need to be restored.

I am a big, big, big fan of the Sandman comic, and also of its author Neil Gaiman as such I have been eagerly awaiting this show for a long time. The reason this review is quite past the time of the series release is because I wanted to reread the comic run along side watching the episode of the show, as such things were slowed down but I don’t regret it for a second.

Never before have I seen an adaptation which so perfectly brings the comic book it is based on to life. As I was reading the comics in between watching episode I saw whole series of panels be brough to life almost identically and I think that is one hell of an achievement. Likewise the casting is spot on, Sturridge is a fantastic Dream, Boyd Holbrook perfectly captures the Corinthian and Jenna Coleman and Gwendolyn Christie bring fantastic new takes on characters that I was really quite attached to in Sandman but also their own Vertigo comic runs.

My only criticism of this show, and it is minor, is that some of the new additions for the show that veer ever so slightly away from the comic do produce somewhat of a jarring effect. Like I said before most of the changes, updates and swaps work incredibly well but a few don’t luckily I could ignore it for the most part. Furthermore, the first episode is quite slow, but I suppose it had to be to be able to bring in a casual audience that knew nothing going in, I was expecting it to hit the road at full speed but that was perhaps a little rash of me.

Overall, easily the best thing on Netflix in years.

Pros

The casting

A new take

Bringing over panels seamlessly

The ending and things to come

Cons.

Some of the changes don’t work

The first episode is quite slow

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Ticket To Paradise: A Holiday To The Cinema

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Two bitterly divorced parents, played by Julia Roberts and George Clooney, must team up to try and prevent their daughter, played by Kaitlyn Dever, from getting married.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this film. It was nothing new or particularly surprising, but it was comforting. It was like a warm mug of soup on a hot day, you have had it before but it provides a nice escape from the winters day outside. In my mind this film did what all good films should do, it provided you with a nice breezy escape from reality. It entertains you for a few hours and ultimately it doesn’t need to do more than that.

I think George Clooney and Julia Roberts have great chemistry together, and the formers case it made me realise just how much I had missed seeing him on-screen. I think if the film had different leads it would have worked a lot less and the cornier elements of the narrative might have stuck out more for the wrong reasons, as it is the two bring a lot to the film. An interesting thing to note in terms of performance is that Dever gets totally out shone by Billie Lourd who plays her best friend. Dever doesn’t bring much to the film and could have easily been replaced by a number of other actors to minimal effect, Lourd though however is a scene stealer across the film.

Overall, this film feels like a warm hug from a friend you haven’t seen in a while.

Pros.

Roberts

Clooney

Lourd

It is a lot of escapist fun

Cons.

It is nothing new

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The Munsters: Use My Body To Keep You Alive

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rob Zombie brings back The Munsters.

I saw a few episodes of the original series when I was a kid, but outside of that I have come to this project with very little familiarity with the IP. Mainly I came because I am a big fan of the films of Rob Zombie, also I wanted to see how his first foray into the world of family filmmaking went. In all honesty this film is a mixed bag, and if you aren’t a fan of Zombie’s style then you will almost certainly not like it.

I think that Zombie’s sensibilities work better outside of the family genre, I think now after watching this that Zombie needs the gore and the mania as compliments to his work. That is not to say that this is entirely without charm, to the contrary I found myself quite enjoying some of the more out there nods and jokes here and Sheri Moon Zombie is as delightful as always. However, on the whole I would say the film’s comedy left me freezing cold.

I do question who this was for, was it for the original fans? New ones? Who? I don’t think the film at all justifies its existence, even though it has many opportunities to in as the film is seemingly on for eons- maybe it just felt that way.

A saving grace of this film was the score, it gave me something to latch onto.

Overall, the only reason this film gets a slightly better than average score from me is because I am a Zombie fan and really appreciate his signature style, most other people would rate in lower.

Pros.

Zombie’s direction flair

The zaniness of it

The score

Cons.

It is too long and doesn’t justify its existence

The comedy doesn’t work, and the family friendly feel holds the film back

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She-Hulk: Just Jen

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Jen, played by Tatiana Maslany, goes to a wedding.

Compared to a lot of the other episodes of this season I actually thought this was somewhat better. I liked the focus on Jen rather than She-Hulk and thought that Maslany got a lot of moments to shine wherein her charm really did come out. I think it is hard to watch this episode and not like the character of Jennifer Walters.

That said it is far from perfect. They bring back the dumpster fire that is Titania, played by Jameela Jamil, who ruins the wedding scenes which she is in and also gives us one of the worst fight scenes ever in the history of the MCU. Moreover, they also have a b plot about a guy being sued by a bunch of his ex-wives and the joke is that he is terrible. To me this just came across as man hating plain and simple, it seems that it is very hard for this show to have any male characters, that isn’t already an established part of the MCU be shown in a good light.

In addition they also draw attention to the fact that even though last week’s episode ended with a tease for Daredevil that this episode would just ignore that. As I have said before drawing attention to your bad writing doesn’t suddenly make it good it is just doubly bad and lazy. I really do think that this show has to use the promise of Daredevil as a crutch to get people to keep watching, if they announced tomorrow that Daredevil had been cut from the show I bet the viewership would quickly nosedive.

Overall, better than the last few episodes but still troubled.

Pros.

Maslany is very charming

A lot of the jokes land

It makes me warm to Jen as a character

Cons.

Titania is still awful

The b plot is just garbage

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Confess Fletch: Who Doesn’t Need A Whole Bunch Of Fake Identities

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Retired investigative journalist Fletch, played by Jon Hamm, explores an art world mystery.

I will open this review by saying that I have no fondness for the Chevy Chase Fletch films. They were before my time and upon watching them in a more modern context the humour just didn’t land for me at all. However, I am pleased to say I enjoyed this film much more than the older Chase films.

I thought all of the performances across the board were great most noticeably Lorenza Izzo and Jon Hamm, but all of the characters were very easy to warm to. I thought this film had a lot of old school charm and reminded me of comedy crime films of yore, the sort that someone like Steve Martin would have made. However, unlike those movies a lot of the more toxic and problematic elements of those films were cut out here, much to the betterment of the film.

Moreover, the central mystery is pretty solid I did not guess it which is a sure sign of quality. In addition the humour of the film was more hit than miss for me and quite often made me laugh, I think Hamm in particular has great comedic timing.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable film that won’t set the world on fire.

Pros.

Hamm

Izzo

The humour

The mystery

Cons.

A few pacing issues

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Rick and Morty: Bethic Twinstinct

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Beth, voiced by Sarah Chalke, begins an affair with her clone and the rest of the family try and process it.

I think that for a while now Rick and Morty has become more and more mean spirited and depressing, I know there has always been an element of it in the show, but now it is getting hard to watch. The way non-space Beth treats her husband her is really quite unpleasant and makes the whole thing hard to watch.

I enjoyed the Summer, voiced by Spencer Grammar, and Morty, voiced by Justin Roiland, b plot slightly more. I thought the idea of hyper realistic videogames was cool and I enjoyed how the episode showed them reacting to their mum’s affair. I thought they became great stand-ins for the audience here.

Overall, mostly just a depressing episode.

Pros.

The videogame stuff was interesting

Summer and Morty had some good moments

There were a few funny jokes

Cons.

It feels mean spirited

It is quite uncomfortable viewing

It isn’t enjoyable

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Andor: The First 3 Episodes

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, searches for answers in the early days of the Empire.

This review will be a little different from my standard pattern, rather than review the first batch of episodes individually this will instead review them all together.

I think if you compare the first episodes of this show to Obi-Wan Kenobi or God forbid The Book Of Boba Fett then it is night and day. Where they felt cheap and low rent, with a seeming fear of anything approaching moral ambiguity, this show feels cinematic and asks some hard questions making us reflect on whether Cassian is a hero or not. In truth he is what modern Lucasfilm seems terrified of, an anti-hero.

I heard on a Youtube review on these opening episodes that some people are annoyed that within them there is no mention of the Force or of the Jedi/Sith. However, I for one think that is a great thing, I want to see what the wider Star Wars universe looks like, I am bored of the same old same old and would like to see other aspects of the Rebellion.

I also really appreciated the moody tone of these episodes with their being an almost Peaky Blinders esque feel to it at times. I think that Luna is already doing a terrific job and I can’t wait to see more from him as the series progresses.

Overall, the best thing Lucasfilm has done since The Mandalorian

Pros.

The moral ambiguity

The tone

Luna

The wider Star Wars universe

It feels fresh

Cons.

A bit slow in places

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Leakers And Scoopers: The Battle For Expectation

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about leakers and scoopers on the internet, especially when it pertains to big franchise films like with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Recently Disney had their latest expo and I went online after the fact to check out what had been announced, whilst there I was met with a sea of disappointed videos from various pundits and scoopers saying how they were disappointed with what Marvel brought to the convention. These people expected full casting for the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and a whole lot more besides, and whilst this piece won’t be saying how bad scoopers are, it will examine their impact on expectations.

Within the modern film coverage landscape whoever has the latest scoop or reveal is king, especially when it comes to video content. This can lead to all sorts of things including people just making stuff up. A lot of the people who cover Marvel claim to have insider sources, but often never have to prove they actually do, and as such say their sources have told them x and people jump at it being true. However, the issue is that the source may not be real, or the source might have bad information, or the film and or project might have been changed since the source saw it meaning what they say is false. As such you can’t trust these insider’s sources.

Now for most people they accept that these leakers and scoopers might get the odd thing right here and there but that they make mistakes just like everyone else and as such don’t take each one of their scoops as gospel. However, there is a loud subset of people who seem to take everything at face value and believe it all, and these are the ones complaining when Marvel doesn’t reveal their X-Men cast 5 years before the actual film is likely to come out. If you think about it, it is not in Disney’s interest to release any of that information any time soon as they need something to keep people tuning in for the various conferences.

Like with other things on the internet people need to practice greater critical thinking. A lot of the time users online are not able to see through fake news or clearly misleading information because they want it to be true, the same thing is happening here and then folks are saying oh Marvel suck now or that their latest showcase was disappointing. Use your brains and think about things from Disney and Marvel’s point of view.

My takeaway point here is that leakers and scoopers are cool but they are rarely completely right on everything and people need to temper their expectations when it comes to things like this otherwise they are in for a bad time.

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Goodnight Mommy: Kids Are Freaky Man

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Two young boys, played by Cameron Crovetti and Nicolas Crovetti, begin to suspect that their mother, played by Naomi Watts, isn’t actually there mother. Based on an Austrian film of the same name.

Before watching this I hadn’t seen the Austrian original, I had heard of it but not seen it, as such I went into this not knowing the twist or where it was going. However, a short while into the film I guessed the twist completely correctly and the rest of the film then proceeded exactly as I was expecting it to. My point is that the film is predictable, the twist has been done frequently before and done better at that.

The horror elements work to an extent and there are a few creepy sequences but by and large they are few and far between meaning that you spend more of your time bored than scared. Watts is trying her best but I would say the film really doesn’t give her much to do and that is a crucial missed opportunity.

Overall, generic and done before, but watchable in a pinch.

Pros.

It is watchable

A few good scares

Cons.

It is predictable

The twist has been done better before

It has pacing issues

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House Of The Dragon: We Light The Way

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Rhaenyra, played by Milly Alcock, gets married and battle lines are drawn.

I think this was another great episode of House Of The Dragon. The opening of Daemon, played by Matt Smith, killing his wife was absolutely chilling and reminded us of the monster that he really is. Couple this with the marriage brawl murder later in the episode and we really get quite a lot of violence and mayhem here.

I thought the courtroom intrigue was possibly stronger here then it was last week. I like that the show is very clearly laying down roots, you can see the future planning happening. I think the character work here is also really strong and several characters get a nice amount of development.

If I had one criticism of this episode it would be how much focus they give to Alicent, played by Emily Carey, and her fixation on Rhaenyra’s virginity. I feel like in GOT the character would have used this information to their advantage and not acted shocked for the whole episode, which came across almost as a mixture of naivety and slut shaming. It made Alicent very easily hateable.

Overall, the show is really hitting its stride.

Pros.

The opening Daemon scene

The wedding sequence

The future set up

The ramping tension

Cons.

The way they write Alicent

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