The Mandalorian: The Pirate

Summary

The Mandalorians are called upon to serve.

I think for the most part this is a great episode of The Mandalorian and showcases the show at the top of its game. Having a fairly large urban warfare sequence wherein we got to see the Mandalorians fighting pirates in the streets was quite cool. I would have liked to see a bit more variety in the armour worn by the Mandalorians, in terms of colour and different elements but clearly the costume department had a budget.

I also thought the final tease that Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito, has escaped was nice. I have a feeling that he won’t be the big villain of the season as everything is quite clearly building to the return of Thrawn. Maybe Gideon will have been captured by acolytes of Thrawn or maybe Gideon will have been working for him all along. Either way knowing that Esposito will be coming back to the show in the future gives us something to be excited about.

My one issue with this episode was the stuff with Bo-Katan, played by Katee Sackoff. I don’t understand how she can be the one to reunite all of the Mandalorians despite her not having the dark sabre or even wanting to rule, it seems totally alien to her character to want to go back to a leadership position after how badly things have gone in the past, but maybe the show will address that.

Overall, a good episode but the stuff with Bo-Katan at the end dragged it down for me as it didn’t seem to fit her character.

4/5

Pros.

Seeing the Mandalorians in action

The teases of things to come

Moff Gideon’s escape

Din’s speech

Cons.

Where they take Bo-Katan by the end of the episode and the fact it feels totally out of character for her

Also the New Republic are just awful

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Plan 99

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Bad Batch faces their darkest day.

I thought this episode felt very impactful, but at the same time I can’t help but be a little let down by it.

The good first. It was nice to see Tech get one final hero moment, it was so clear the season was building to his death, but I didn’t see that until after it had happened. The death was quite emotional and had me welling up a bit whilst watching it, for what it is worth I don’t think he is dead and think he will be back next season. Look at Echo and Maul.

I also thought it was nice to see the Batch finally get their will to fight back at the end of the episode, even if it did take them being betrayed and having Omega kidnapped in order to do it. I think the next season really does need to have the Batch be fighting back against the Empire and less focused on this idea of retiring, they need to accept that Echo was right.

Now the bad. I didn’t like the fact that other than a quick look in at the end of the episode Crosshair barely appeared in this two part season finale. In my head I thought he would escape with the Batch or at least die saving them but no he just stayed strapped to a table the whole time. I found the whole thing very disappointing.

Overall, a good season finale that sets up a lot of interesting things to come, but I found the lack of Crosshair disappointing.

4/5

Pros.

What it sets up

The emotional impact of Tech’s death

The Batch finally getting their groove back

Sid’s betrayal

Cons.

A distinct lack of Crosshair

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: The Summit

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Bad Batch attempt to rescue Crosshair and the other imprisoned clones.

In many senses this episode was anti-climactic.

My main issue with this episode is how it can’t stand on its own and exists almost only to prop up the final episode. Adding to that is the fact that a lot of the things that happen in this episode feel forced, it feels like plot contrivance after plot contrivance all to get the Batch to a specific point despite the fact that they aren’t behaving like they normally would do at any point along the way.

I quite like Saw Guerra as a character and think there is a lot to explore there with his ideology, as such I was happy to see him show up in this episode. However, his whole attitude towards the Batch and how he just happened to be there at the exact same time felt incredibly poorly set up and again to repeat the word of the day contrived.

Overall, a weaker episode made to set up what comes next without having enough to stand on its own.

3/5

Pros.

Returning faces

Hemlock and Tarkin

The things to come

Cons.

It feels contrived

The characters aren’t behaving like themselves

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Kill Her Goats: Softcore Porn Posing As A Slasher Film

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A trio of girls spend almost all the run time posing nude in front of the mirror or taking showers and then at the very end a goat slasher guy shows up to kill them.

Though that summary is a slight hyperbole it is pretty much true. This film is soft core porn, which hey no judgement if that is what you want to watch it for, but in terms of it being a horror film it really isn’t one. For me I found this film to be an act in awkwardness and uncomfortability, I found it to be fairly tasteless and felt a little seedy after watching it all the way through.

The actual slasher segments, which makes up hardly any of the films runtime are fine they are perfectly serviceable and much of what you would expect. Some of the kills do feel a little fetishised, which again added to the ick factor for me, and what I mean by that is that the camera will zoom in on the woman’s boobs as she gets run through or something like that. This film it is pretty clear only has one focus.

The only thing I can give this film props for is that they named the town after the late great Wes Craven which I thought was a nice touch.

Overall, you’ll need a shower after watching it.

1/5

Pros.

The Wes Craven thing

Cons.

It is pervy

It fetishises the kills in an uncomfortable way

The story is largely nonexistent

It makes the slasher sub-genre look bad

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Marlowe: Neeson Appears In The Golden Age Of Hollywood, The Every-man As Ever

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Liam Neeson does his best Humphrey Bogart impression

I feel that as a long time Neeson fan I will be kinder to this film than a lot of people but even for me it never really gets beyond passively watchable. It is fine.

The truth of the matter is you have seen this film countless times before and there is nothing new or exciting being put forward here for you to be interested in. The mystery is entirely predictable and goes on exactly as you would expect. Moreover, something I thought was odd was the fairly light and fluffy tone this film has when compared to other Neo-Noir film, and yes some dark things do happen but by and large this film is almost goofy, having Neeson able to knock people out in one punch.

The films cast is impressive, there are a number of well-known faces who come to call. However, none of them are really given enough to do to elevate them beyond a glorified cameo, but hey everybody has to eat and they probably just came along for the paycheck.

Overall, you will get something out of this if like me generic Liam Neeson action films are comfort viewing and you can almost always get some kind of corny enjoyment out of. However, if you want a serious Neo-Noir film that is good in its own right then look elsewhere.

2.5/5

Pros.

It is watchable

It has a goofy charm

Neeson is always excellent

Cons.

It is generic

It is incredibly predictable

It wastes its supporting cast

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The Donor Party: How Many Different Bathrooms And Bedrooms Can One House Have?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A woman’s, played by Malin Akerman quest to have a baby makes for one hell of an awkward party.

The morality of this film is quite questionable. On the one hand we have a lead who is tricking men into having unprotected sex with her, on the other hand there is a pervasive feeling across the film that Akerman’s Jaclyn is being slut shamed for having random hook-ups as her rich fellow partygoers look down on her. The whole area is quite murky and though the film does have Jaclyn’s activities be revealed and have her be criticised for it, it for the most part glosses over the consent issues which is problematic.

At the same time there is something incredibly satisfying in the third act where it seems as though Jaclyn has been bullied from the party and she re-enters and gives the partygoers a piece of her mind. The film designs it so that despite her problematic behaviour you root for Jaclyn and as such it is nice to see her stick up for herself in the end, she makes a number of good points in doing so as well. This scene could easily have come off as preachy, but for me it worked well.

In terms of performances this is Akerman’s film, which is both a pro and a con in and off itself. For the pro she easily carries this film and helps make the viewer feel at ease, as I have previously said she is very likeable and easy to relate to, however, for the con it means the supporting cast are mostly overlooked or used to further Jaclyn’s story without having much to do themselves.

Overall, a fairly by the numbers middle aged comedy film, however Akerman does manage to elevate it.

3/5

Pros.

Akerman

It is watchable

It feels very cathartic when Jaclyn lets loose at the end of the film

Cons.

The iffy moral quandary

The wider cast is largely wasted

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Servant: Series Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Turners, played by Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell, have their lives turned upside down when a nanny, played by Nell Tiger Free, turns up on their doorstep and performs the impossible.

This will be a review of the entire 4 season run of the show as it is intended as a series overview.

There was a time when I couldn’t stop watching this show and watched the first few seasons back to back over a number of days, the supernatural mystery and not being able to guess what would happen next kept me on my toes and kept this show as being a must watch. The chemistry between the cast was really quite hard to look away from and I don’t think there was a single bad performance in the show’s whole run, additionally it may be this series that saved the career of Rupert Grint, Ron from Harry Potter.

However, then came the final series and the cracks began to show in a massive way. An argument could be made that if the show had stopped after season 3 it would have been much better, as the final series didn’t seem to know how it wanted to end things and this then resulted in a deeply disappointing finale that felt frankly like a cop out, with character behaving in ways that made no sense to how they had been previously.

The central question of the show was, who is Leanne, played by Free, what is she and ultimately will she win. Over the course of the show these questions had been given slight answers but never anything concreate and the final series tried to address them more but ended up ruining the character. It made no sense for Leanne who was embracing her cult leader status just a few episodes earlier to set herself ablaze in the final episode, it reeked of convenient writing to me.

Overall, the high score I have given this show reflect how good it was in the earlier seasons, if the last season hadn’t ruined the character of Leanne and missteped so badly on the ending then it may even have gotten higher.

3.5/5

Pros.

The chemistry

The mystery

The supernatural tease

The world

Cons.

The answers we got made no sense

The series ruined itself by the end

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The Mandalorian: The Foundling

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Grogu trains and a giant bird attacks.

I don’t know what it was about this episode but something just felt off with it for me. I think after the first two episodes of the new season were so good the third and now this one have just failed to get me to the same level. I think what bothered me about this episode was that it felt like filler, the story didn’t advance much, beyond the one area that I will get to, and the giant bird rescue felt very needless and forced in to pad for time.

However, that said I did really quite enjoy learning Grogu’s back story and getting to see more of what went down when the Jedi temple fell. Jedi Master Kelleran Beq, played by Ahmed Best was a cool addition and I will be interested to see where his and Grogu’s story goes. I hope the show doesn’t just kill him off to give Grogu some more trauma to deal with.

I also thought that once again Katee Sackoff’s Bo-Katan was a scene stealer. The final scene at the end of the episode where she is talking about the mythical Mandalorian beast was super interesting and it will be fascinating to see if she tries to capture it later in the season.

Overall, a good episode if somewhat lacking.

4/5

Pros.

Bo-Katan

Grogu’s development

The teases for the future

Learning more about Mandalorian culture

Cons.

It feels like it is missing something

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Star Wars The Bad Batch: Tipping Point

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Crosshair sends a warning to his old friends.

I thought this episode was one of the best so far, and it was so, so nice to have this after last week’s incredibly slow episode. I think this was a powerful episode on a number of levels, as it showed both the evils of the Empire but also how far the character development of Crosshair has come as not only does he defy the Empire but also tries to warn his old teammates.

Moreover, I am also very excited to see the return of Echo and see further insights into the clone rebellion and how they are fighting back against the Empire. I would like to see a spin off focusing on Echo or Rex and the clone fightback, or failing that I would like to see the Batch at the end of the season join the fight back against the Empire.

The one thing I would say about this episode in a negative sense is that it is very heavy and depressing. Which for me worked as I prefer the episodes of this show where they try and take a darker tone and deal with deeper issues, but could also be quite off putting to some, The torture scenes involving Crosshair were quite surprising in how far they went with it.

Overall, another great episode and it is nice to see a return to stakes after last week’s diversion.

4.5/5

Pros.

The darker tone for me

The emotions

Crosshair’s character journey

Seeing the clone rebellion

It is nice to have the Batch back together again

Cons.

It was quite dark and some people might find that off putting

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Marvel’s Week From Hell

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about Marvel’s week from hell, with Victoria Alonso being fired and Jonathan Majors being accused of domestic violence.

An argument could be made that Marvel has been circling the drain for some time now, things have been getting worse and worse over the last phase as we know because Marvel Studios has been favouring quantity over quality, supposedly on the orders of the former Disney CEO. However, this week the drama has seemingly really intensified and I want to give my take on it, what it means for Marvel and what I think they should do going forward.

Regarding the situation with Alonso, I would argue they made the right call, she is threatening to take Disney to court now so it may continue to be a headache but no doubt it will be easily snuffed out. However, I think removing Alonso was a good call as she has said some culture war type tripe before, see her comments about the X-Men, and could be seen to be one of the main voices, allegedly, pushing for wider social commentary and identity politics in the films. More of that is not what the MCU needs right now, it needs to bring back audiences from both sides of the political divide. In addition there is the talk of Alonso, again allegedly, being a highly toxic force when it came to the VFX departments as she seemed to be a cruel boss who would favour those loyal to her and punish the rest, now this is unsubstantiated beyond a few people’s alleged first person accounts but if true its probably why the VFX work of late has been so bad within the MCU.

Regarding the Majors situation, everything is still quite up in the air but things don’t look good and it looks like Majors may have done some bad stuff, again all alleged at this moment. They are trying to paint it as the accuser was having some sort of break and that’s what happened and Majors is innocent, but I smell trash and think far more likely Majors and his team are trying to destroy the credibility of the witness in order to get him off and that the alleged retraction she has written is most likely being done after she has received a pay out or possibly something stronger, a court battle she probably can’t afford. Again all alleged and my opinion. I think this proves that movie studios need to better vet their actors, especially as a history of violence is starting to emerge online with regard to Majors’ past. I think regardless of where the arrest goes Marvel Studios and or Disney should conduct their own investigation and if this story is even slightly true, then Majors should be fired and the role of Kang recast.

I really think and have said many times before on social media that I think the best thing for the MCU right now would be for them to step back, delay all their productions, except maybe Guardians,into next year and rework things. Go back to the basis and quality check every project, cancel somethings that don’t need to be there and course correct as currently the MCU seems to be in freefall. I would still imagine that Guardians will do well in the coming months, but I think the Marvels much like the recent Ant-Man will do terribly for Marvel Studios and push the need for change.

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