Futurama Season Twelve Overview: Pulling A Lazarus

Summary

Futurama does something I never thought possible, it turns things around massively in the space of just one season.

I will be referring to the season by both its production and broadcast season numbers in this piece so if you are confused why I call it by two separate names that is why, I will try to keep it to a minimum.

As some of you may know I was sorely unimpressed with season 8/11 whereas this new season 9/12 is a massive improvement. This latest season has a lot of what you would call classic Futurama charm, and ditches a lot of last seasons need to be topical and mention everything from cancel culture to bitcoin.

In my mind there are only two bad episodes this season out of a run of ten. These for me were The One Amigo which felt like a poor Bender, voiced by John DiMaggio, introspection episode. As well as Attack of the Clothes for how much it pushes Cara Delevingne in a way that would make The Simpsons blush.

The rest of the run was either watchable or good, Quids Game which you might imagine I’d have an issue with as again it is trying to mimic something new and popular rather than tell a new story is one of my favourite of the season. The reason for that is that though it’s premise is based on parody there is a strong emotional core there that taps into Fry’s, voiced by Billy West, time in the eighties/nineties.

I am still not thrilled with how the season deals with Leela, voiced by Katey Sagal, and Fry as a couple, they aren’t even shown living together as they were last season, but I did like that the end of the season does push their relationship forward somewhat, even if it does later kill them.

Overall, I would say of this season that it feels at times as though it is almost back to form, it is a million miles away from the husk that was the previous season and shows that the series still has good bones underneath a desire to be topical. Hopefully next year’s batch of episodes continues to refine the formula.

4/5

Pros.

Almost back to classic level

Some good new episodes that add to the wider cannon

A character focus and emotional core

It meaningly moves Fry and Leela as a couple forward

Cons.

It pushes Cara too much

It has two naff episodes

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Time Bandits Season One Overview: Scraping The Bottom Of The Nostalgia Well

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Another classic of yesteryear is vandalised.

I am a big fan of Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement however, this was unnecessary and doomed from the start. I am going to say something revolutionary right now so hold onto your hats, not everything needs to be remade and brought back for audiences of today to watch you can just watch older media.

I think part of the doom of this show was that it was not a well-known IP outside of some diehards, and the good will around Waititi after his breakthrough into Hollywood has fully waned. It also is coming out in a time where people need things to hit immediately and can’t give a show a two season run to see if it can find an audience, it either performs well immediately or it dies, that is the way of things now.

Moreover, the addition of modern day elements, race and gender flipping characters, is going to create enemies from the off and again is needless. Why not create new characters within the Time Bandits story and make those roles diverse why does it need to be handled like this?

Finally, and I get no joy from saying this what were they thinking casting Lisa Kudrow? She has not been relevant in about ten years and hasn’t been popular in a mainstream sense in over twenty. I like The Comeback but even I have to say that she was the wrong person for this role.

Overall, a needless remake of a beloved classic. Stop it.

1/5

Pros.

There are a couple (and I mean 1 or 2) good moments

Cons.

It wastes the cast

Kudrow is miscast

It doesn’t have the spirit of the original

It feels soulless

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Afraid: A Screen Writer Terrified Of The AI Future

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

AI is scary.

Yet another hit piece freakout about AI in the form of a film. The idea that an AI could become sentient and then have an army of human proxies to do its bidding in the immediate future is nothing short of drivel. It just reads as yet another old person scared of the future and trying to craft a script around that.

There is nothing scary about this film either, the AI kills a scumbag who deserves it which doesn’t make you go oh no its terrible but instead go eh okay I guess. It feels less like a horror film and more like a science fiction film at times and not a very deep or well crafted, narratively speaking, one at that.

It is a complete and utter waste of time and money.

Overall, this is a cheap lazy science fiction horror that is not even a good way to mindlessly kill a few hours, avoid it.

1/5

Pros.

Riki Lindhome is in it and she’s always good

Cons.

It is bad science fiction

It is bad horror

It is boring

It isn’t scary

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Star Wars Episode 2 Attack Of The Clones: Everybody Hates Sand

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Galaxy stands on the verge of civil war and a senator life hangs in the balance.

When I first watched this as a kid many years ago, I thought it was boring and long and I didn’t really like it. However, as I have rewatched it over the years I find myself growing to like it and find a renewed appreciation for this part of the saga.

There still are pacing issues, and the film does too much but aside from that it is a pretty enjoyable ride. Christopher Lee is great as Count Dooku in the small amounts we see him, and Ewan McGregor really comes into his own in the role of Obi-Wan here, sadly the acting is only really let down by Hayden Christensen and his emo Anakin. Though it is debatable how much is actually Christensen’s fault.

The writing of Anakin’s fall into being an emo teen is quite poorly done and makes you feel at times quite jarred as it seems to come out of nowhere and be quite over the top.

All that said the Jedi fighting in the gladiator ring at the end against the droids/creatures, was a cool visual and will certainly bring joy to most Star Wars fans.

Overall, not as good as The Phantom Menace or Revenge Of The Sith, review coming soon, but still has some charm.

3.5/5

Pros.

The ending

Natalie Portman

Dooku

Some funny and enjoyable moments

Cons.

The writing especially around Anakin isn’t great

The pacing

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Cinema Issues: The Postmortem Of Doctor Who

Written by Luke Barnes

In this cinema issues article we are dissecting the first season of New, New Who and doing a post mortem to see what went so badly wrong with it.

So lets get something out of the way right quick, the series is in a bad way, I don’t care if you think it was some of the most stunning and brave Who ever, the ratings are a slow death. The Legend Of Ruby Tuesday and another episode this season both posted record low viewership numbers for the show, some of the lowest in the shows history. Look it up. Things are bad, and there is even talk that the filmed season batch of episodes may not get released as the BBC debates what to do with them, likely they will get released and the show will just be put on ice come this time next year.

Anyway, as the BBC starts to question everything and panic about its in development Who spin-offs, we will look at what went wrong with these episodes.

I think the main issue a lot of people had with these season was that fundamentally it wasn’t Who, never before have I seen the Doctor have so many dance numbers and act more like a local tiktoker trying to make it big than an alien. In addition the fact that the Doctor called everyone ‘babes’ constantly didn’t make it feel like Who it made it feel as though the Doctor had suddenly become another person.

Moreover, the series was heavily political with a number of controversial hot button issues forced in, just for the show to keep a desperate hold of its increasingly radically progressive audience. Some of it didn’t even make sense like when those people who not be saved by the Doctor because he was black and would rather die, what horribly on the nose message was that supposed to be pushing as it felt like a straw man argument. These ideas where repeated over the course of the season, the issue with clearly taking a side politically is that it then alienates your audience and makes you start to loose chunks of people. It is always better to present two sides and let the audience make up their own mind.

Furthermore, who at Disney or the BBC thought it was a good idea to allow cast and creators to attack the fans, whoever it was I would say is the most responsible for the bad feeling and reception to this season. This is mainly due to the fact of actors telling fans to screw off and then being shocked when their show has bad viewership, you do not treat your fans like that you just don’t. Yet these people look down on their fans and think they don’t need them, how wrong they are.

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The Beast: Love Is An Often Remembered Thing

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A love story is tested against the ages.

This film is not going to be what people expect, in one sense it is a science fiction dystopian film and in another it is a romantic tragedy. The idea of the romance that is central to this film is one that is both engaging, but also deeply unsettling, one could view this film as a horror quite easily.

Lea Seydoux gives a terrific performance as a woman who wants love but can’t remember what it is and is haunted by that fact, she obsesses over prophecy when it is her own memory she’s trying to regain. George Mackay gives an often disturbing performance whilst maintaining a great deal of screen chemistry with Seydoux. If I had to single one out for praise it would be Seydoux she is the anchor of the film.

It is worth saying that this film is not for everyone it is long, bilingual, and it deals with a lot of heavy and complex themes and subject matters. At close to 2 1/2 hours the film can at times suffer from significant pacing issues, however in my opinion these issues are made-up for by the engaging plot which is easily one of the most intellectually stimulating of recent memory.

The ending of the film perfectly subverts expectations, with the audience being totally in the dark as to where the film will leave off. I found the ending both tragically comedic and also strangely affecting.

Overall, a film that will not be to everyone’s taste but one that is well worth the watch if you are a fan of thinking science fiction. This is not for the faint of heart.

Pros.

The themes and ideas explored

The performances

The ending

The dark comedy of it all

Cons.

Pacing issues

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A Quiet Place Day One: You Don’t Care How Many Humans Die Just As Long As The Cat Is Okay

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

We learn how the world went silent.

I don’t think there was a need for this film beyond corporate greed. What worked so well about the first film was the layers of mystery it had, we didn’t need to know how the world went silent and that is something this film cannot reckon with.

Moreover, where in the other two films the thrill of it was the hunt, will the monsters here them, will they catch them? Whereas here people are just being killed in seconds there is no build up anymore it is just happening and it is ultimately boring.

The characters of the film are some of the most poorly realised I have seen in a long while. Whereas the first film had the family that you cared about, this film has a dying woman, Lupita Nyong’o, her cat and a hysterical man, Joesph Quinn. Whilst Nyong’o is probably the best of the grouping she isn’t given much of anything to work with and her character is mainly just a person obsessed with their own morality which could have been made interesting but isn’t. Her quest to get some pizza in the hellscape is supposed to be charming and relatable but rather it is just irksome. Quinn’s character is much, and I mean much, worse he basically spends most of the film following around Nyong’o like some sort of creep, and then constantly cries and breakdowns because he doesn’t know what to do. The character is little more than hysterical crying. They try and give him a bravery arc but even by the end he is just the same.

The cat is wonderful and you care about it but that’s it on the likeable character front.

Overall, a needless sequel that is clearly the inferior for having lost the talent of the first two.

Pros.

The cat

Nyong’o is trying her best but they give her nothing

Cons.

It is boring

It is anti-climatic

It has serious pacing issues

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The Acolyte Episode 5: It Would Have Been Better If The Sith Had Killed Every Character

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A lot of characters die, the show wants you to care but frankly you’re happy to see them go.

So this was the big action episode with all the fights and the lightsabers that had been teased for a long time. If you are the kind of person who just seeing some lightsabers is enough to make you happy, then good news you’ll love this episode, however if you require more substance than I can safely say you will be disappointed. The action choreography was weak, they have clearly taken influence from martial arts films and what not and that is fine but some of the actors they have trying to pull off these moves look like there is no way in hell they actually could. The action is pretty fake looking at times too, it looks like something you might see on a better than average Youtube channel that recreates movie fights, not the sort of thing you expect for a show with 180 million dollar budget.

Moreover, as I said in the summary a bunch of characters die, and you either feel indifference or kind of want them to. The show and its terrible writing has done such a bad job of making you care about any of the Jedi, even at sometimes making you hate them for how not like Jedi they are, that when they die it has the wrong emotional effect. I also thought it was cringe as hell that it was only the Padawan that gave the Sith a fight, as the rest of the Jedi’s were easily chopped down and they were experienced Knights, but because the Padawan is a know it all girl boss, played by Dafne Keen, she could go toe to toe with the Sith fighter. It is silly and stupid and the perfect reflection of modern Star Wars

Oh the twist, the dude from The Good Place is the Sith, yes that’s right folks the most obvious and laziest choice is the correct one. Everyone guessed from the minute he showed up that he was and as the show has gone on people were like it can’t possibly be him that would be too obvious and yet the show gave you just that. The issue is people don’t seem to understand just how poor the writing actually is so of course they can’t misdirect you or give you a good twist it is far too hard for them.

Moreover, Mae, Amandla Stenberg, continues to be the most schizophrenic character in Star Wars history flipping between emotions every few seconds. In the flashbacks she cares about her sister, then she wants to kill her, she is on her mission to kill all the jedi, then suddenly gets bored and stops, she wants to escape and live with her sister then knocks her out and leaves her with a Sith who likes killing Jedis. This is not good writing, it is as though they cannot decide on how they want the character to be so they keep having her do different things that are entirely at odds with each other it is hard to follow. Moreover, the fact they had to strip the sister down so Mae could switch clothes with her feels like some odd pervy fan service, though there is no nudity you know that scene will feature heavily in deviant art for years to come.

Overall, though this episode is more interesting that last weeks I would say the baffling character decisions and the stupid writing makes it worse.

0.5/5

Pros.

The new Sith could be interesting

Cons.

Mae and her mood swings

The terrible writing

The reveal is obvious

You don’t care about any of the deaths

Girl boss X-23

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The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes: Rachel Zegler Before She Imploded Her Career

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A franchise that ran out of steam a decade ago is brought back because Hollywood is creatively bankrupt.

Why do we need to know more about the world of the Hunger Games it was a ripped off western Battle Royale with some added dystopian ideas. Honestly, I thought when they ended that franchise after its two part finale that it was dead, evidently not.

Where I think this film suffers when compared to the main saga is in the acting, on the one side you have a dude so bland and forgettable that you will find it hard to remember his face scene to scene let alone when the film ends. On the other hand you have the internet’s darling Rachel Zegler doing her best girl boss impression, by looking smug in every scene even when she is in danger. Clearly she was remembering how she alone is updating and bringing about world wide change with her new Snow White film and that is why she looks like that.

They name drop characters and ideas from the main series of films here, and you just feel like cool okay do you have anything else. Throwing a few oh remember this person or thing from the other films isn’t a substitute for good story telling or worldbuilding.

Overall, a pointless unneeded film.

2/5

Pros.

An interesting idea

It is relatively short

Cons.

The acting is awful

It is unnecessary

It uses cameos in place of world building

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I.S.S: For All The Insomniacs Out There.

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Life in space.

This was one of the recent films that just came and went, did you even know it existed before this review? Maybe you did maybe you didn’t.

For me catching this film on streaming I just think to myself that when Hollywood wonders why no one is going to the cinema anymore it is because of films like this. Boring, forgettable films that have similar premises to others that have come out in the not too distant past and which you remember more fondly than this.

Honestly even after watching this mere hours ago I can barely remember any of the main story points about it, that is how much it stays in the mind. It is just deeply forgettable.

In terms of the acting they have a pretty mixed bag of a cast mostly new people who have yet to cut their teeth or older TV guys still trying to become leading men in actually big films. They are fine if forgettable.

Overall, forgettable dross that will clog up the Netflix algorithm.

1.5/5

Pros.

It is a good sleep aid

It has some unintentional laughs

Cons

It is unoriginal

The cast do nothing

It is boring

It is too self-serious

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