The Trip 1-4 Overview: Life On Earth

Summary: Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan play fictionalised versions of themselves and go on holiday together.

So we are trying something a little different here, this is the first time a writer on Another Millennial Reviewer has tried to review multiple films at the same time in one piece. It is not the first time a TV series has had multiple seasons reviewed in one piece with that rubicon being crossed last year with the Strangers Things 1-4 retrospective.

In some places the Trip came out as a series in others it was a series of films.

That said on with the show.

The Trip is a strange mix, it is a dramedy that thinks of itself as a comedy. There are funny moments in it and the two men are clearly trying to be funny doing impressions and being silly, however there is also a layered sadness to the show. This is there right from the first episode and hangs over the show. This sadness comes from loneliness and increasingly the personal circumstances of both men it makes for uncomfortable viewing at times.

One questions the appeal of this show/film outside of the UK market as if you do not have familiarity with the two men there is a number of jokes and bits that would go right over your head. For example the a-has’ that follow around Coogan due to his time as Alan Partridge may be met with glassy stairs from the American audience.

A thing to note about the series/films is that unlike other films/TV shows that revolve around the action of travel this does not show you much of the world and the locales do feel similar as the Trips go by. The only one with a real difference is the first season that travels around the north of England that has more of a gothic feel that the others really don’t. That is a key difference between something like this and say something like The Long Way Home, which does feature more travel related content and where the locations feel different, although the latter is presented as real whereas the Trip has Brydon and Coogan playing versions of themselves.

Overall, if you enjoy Coogan and Brydon then you may get something out of this, however if you’re looking for a travel show or even something that is consistently funny then this might not be the show/film for you..

3/5

Pros.

Funny references to Coogan and Brydon’s past work

Good chemistry

Easy viewing

Cons.

Depressing at times

The locations aren’t explored much

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The Burbs: The Neighbours Are Racist Yet Again

Summary: So for some unknown they decided to remake The Burbs, as a TV show done in the style of a Jordan Peele film. You can see where this is going can’t you.

Interracial couple, racism, social commentary etc. It’s about as subtle as a brick thrown through your window with a note attached telling you the sender hates you.

The worst part of the show is just how played out it is there is nothing new about it, the social commentary has been done before, the plot is recycled likely AI slop, and of course Keke Palmer is there as any opportunity to behave like a stereotypical black woman calls for Keke Palmer.

Who could forget it was supposed to be a comedy except anyone watching it. There have been funnier funerals.

Overall, if you have Peacock cancel it and tell them it’s because of this show.

0.5/5

Pros.

It made me appreciate the original film more

Cons

Palmer

Whitehall

It’s not funny

It been done before

It’s predictable

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IT Welcome To Derry Season Overview: Forgetting Who The Star Is

Summary: Years before the Losers club do battle with Pennywise a different group of kids are targeted.

In the great war between this and the finale season of Stranger Things I would say this is comfortably the winner. This was far more engaging and better done from a production stand point.

I would say the issue that the two have in common was the need for filler, there is a lot in the last season of Strangers Things that could be cut and likewise here they try and have lots of different stories going at once, which dilutes things.

I think bringing in Pennywise full in his clown form only near the end of the show was a mistake as that is who a large portion of the audience are watching for. I liked that the show dived deeper into Pennywise’s backstory even if it does lead to continuity issues. For example where were the native americans when IT reawakens in the 80s, yes some of them may have left the area at the end of the series but not all.

Secondly I think seeing the destruction of the Black Spot was cool but I might have saved it for the next season as it is one of the defining moments in Pennywise’s history.

I thought the inclusion of Halloran was a mixed bag, it was cool to see references to other King projects within the show, but also he got far too much focus for a side character.

Overall, a good if imperfect show.

4/5

Pros.

Pennywise’s backstory

Connections to other King projects

Engaging characters

Good gore and horror

Cons.

Not using more of Pennywise

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Starfleet Academy: Episodes 3+4

Summary: the cringe intensifies.

So, I didn’t intend to cover these, I was going to walk away from the show after the first two episodes, but due to people writing in to the site to ask me to cover the latest two episodes, here we are.

For a lot of these episodes very little of substance happens, lots of crying, lots of emotions lots of roll your eyes scenes but not much of substance. We do get a look into Klingon culture where we are told that one character played by a black actor has two dads that both abandoned him. This feels like they are deliberately trying to play into the deeply racist stereotypes of black children being abandoned by their fathers. At times much like with Iron Heart last year it feels like the progressives who make these shows are actually more racist than anyone else.

The one thing I couldn’t ignore as I watched the two recent episodes was just how this show feels like parody. It feels like it was written to spoof other seasons of Star Trek, yet whilst something like the Orville did that well here it just feels lazy and cheap.

The characters are also black holes of charisma.

Overall, it is not worse than the first two episodes it is more of the same.

1/5

Pros

It’s unintentionally funny

Cons.

It feels racist

It’s a bad parody

The characters are awful

It is cringe

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Starfleet Academy Episode 1+2 Review

Summary

They said this wasn’t your parents Star Trek and it isn’t, that was good, competently done science fiction. This is feeling porn. Feelings Porn is a new phrase that I am coining, it is when every episode has to have a character cry, when everyone talks about their feelings, when all the male characters are soft and when masculinity is dead. This show is that in spades..

Honestly I am bringing you my review of these two episodes rather than the series as I don’t think I’ll be watching anymore. As many of you know I didn’t like Discovery but thought Strange New Worlds could be okay at times, but this is just YA slop. I don’t know why Kurtzman is still in a job I really don’t.

It is exactly what you would expect, minimal to no action, lots of quirky one liners and awkward comedy and of course every character is LGBTQ+ something. It is so stunning and brave that you won’t be able to tolerate more than about two episodes of it.

It feels like glee in space, minus some of the singing. I don’t know who thought that this was the way to push the franchise forward rather than you know Kirk and Spock and actual science fiction.

No doubt this show complete it’s 2 season run and then disappear. Hopefully the Kurtzman lead vandalization ends soon.

Overall, not for fans of Star Trek

0/5

Pros.

None

Cons.

It is cringe

It is preachy

They hate the fans

It feels like parody

It is badly paced

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Man VS Baby: Putting The Christ Back Into Christmas

Summary

Rowan Attinkson puts the Christ back into Christmas.

I mean that in several ways, he calls the Baby Jesus, this show features a school nativity plot line, and also it has moral lessons about helping the less fortunate at Christmas. This is a million miles away from other recent TV heroes such as LGBTQ+ rapist Carol on Pluribus, or the sea of other morally grey protagonists.

This short series is the short of slapstick you would expect of Atkinson and some times it does get a bit long in the tooth it is quite true particularly as it starts to escalate with the introduction of a dog later on in the run, however, for the most part it lands. Atkinson here, much to his personal chagrin, is probably one of his nicest and most self-less characters and goes out of his way to befriend and be nice to nearly everyone he meets, as referenced by the end feast scene.

Whilst this is more of what you would expect from Atkinson it is a nice winter warmer and does a lot to restore your sense of hope in your fellow man, and gives you a nice positive glow that few shows these days do. Just think of what Netflix could achieve if they made more things like this and less CGI slop about gay kids and monsters.

Overall, one of the better Christmas programs from the season.

4/5

Pros.

It is watchable

It is funny

It has charm

It has old school appeal

Cons.

It gets a bit repetitive in the end

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All’s Fair: Ryan Murphy Shouldn’t Be Allowed In Hollywood Anymore

Summary

For a while I have been on the precipice of cancelling Disney +, but this show pushed me over the edge.

So you have a girlboss show about female divorce lawyers, who all of course have messy person lives. Because in the year of our Lord 2026, we need Hollywood to show us that women can be anything, even though this was already established years ago by Legally Blonde with regards to the Law.

It is very clear this series was created by Ryan Murphy as it feels like his sort of incredibly vapid writing, that reflects how no one really talks. Murphy seems to have a real issue writing for women and really doesn’t seem to understand them, the way the heroines? Behave herein makes them instantly dislikable from the off and over the course of the show you actively root against them.

I don’t know why Murphy is trying to force Kim Kardashian on us as an actor, but I will say she gave a better performance in the ‘leaked’ sex tape than she does in any of the projects Murphy tries to stick her in. In many ways Kardashian is like a black hole, her inability to act also ruins the performances of people who actually can act like Naomi Watts.

Overall, who is this for?

0.5/5

Pros.

It helped me fall asleep

Cons.

The characters are dislikable

The writing is awful

It is cringe

Kim Kardashian

It is slop designed to destroy your brain

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Stranger Things: The Final Episode

It is a shame we didn’t get more of this across the season. It would have been nice to have had this set up better, rather than have a 30 monitor Will coming out scene.

The action was good and the scope was good, for the first hour, it was fun seeing the gang fighting the military and Vecna, although the latter didn’t get to do much. Having Eleven’s friend die gave us some stakes. It is a real shame more characters didn’t die to give the finale a more final feeling rather than just to be continued.

I had issues with the ending, it makes no sense that Sarah Hamilton would just let them go, it makes no sense that the show wants you to believe that even with an 18 month time jump Nancy and Robin are good friends despite never sharing a scene together, it is also horribly paced and the ending wrap up takes longer than it does to beat Vecna.

I am glad they didn’t go down the road of oh Vecna was actually a goodie all along or try and redeem him, the scene of Joyce cutting his head off was earned. I really hated that we had to have a follow up scene to Will’s coming out between him and Mike that just added to the needless subplot, but hey they didn’t have him kill Vecna with a rainbow so that’s progress. Also I really hated the Jonathan and Steve scene wherein they set up Jonathan saving him hence why they have been quarreling all season.

It is also incredibly telling they gave Mr Wheeler nothing to do and made Hopper incompetent meanwhile Nancy was a deadeye.

Overall, it was better than the rest of the season but not hugely, they also forgot that Demegorgoans exist in the finale battle.

2/5

Pros.

It had some epic moments

It brought it to an neat end (this won’t be the end they’ll do a sequel series)

Cons.

The Will’s gay plotline went nowhere

Vecna didn’t have much to do

The plot holes

Emily In Paris Season 5: Making You Want To Burn A US Flag

Summary

The cultural cancer that is Emily In Paris is back for a 5^th season.

I thought that after reviewing the earlier seasons and then taking a break I was done with this show, but I decided to revisit it.

In light of modern events, the idea of American Exceptionalism particularly in Europe is more than a bad joke. Rather than help its allies out The US government would rather hangout with dictators and white supremacists, as such the US is pretty loathed right now by most of thinking Europe. The fact that the US thinks it can lecture Europe on policy, and encourage extremist parties in Europe , and maintain friendly relations is a joke, once again it is bad.

Europe didn’t need Emily’s brand of loud over the top, omg look at me energy, back when the first season came out, but now the idea of an American coming to Europe and telling them how to be, and being met with anything other than hostility is ridiculous to the point of being absurd. Emily doesn’t just spit on the French but the Italians get it this time as well. Every negative cultural stereotype you can imagine happens to Emily almost as soon as she arrives, seems nowhere can be as great as the US which seems to have multiple school shootings per day.

This show was conceived as mindless slop but has become so culturally loaded that I am surprised Netflix even allows this to air in Europe anymore.

Overall, this is why the US is loathed globally at the moment.

1/5

Pros.

At times this almost read like a knowing self-aware parody of American’s abroad, but that would be too clever for this show.

Cons.

American Exceptionalism was never real.

It is a hurtful collection of stereotypes

The characters are unlikeable

It is slop

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Marvel Zombies: The Woke Zombies Of Disney Marvel

Summary

Marvel Zombies, a cool comic book, becomes yet more girl boss Marvel fare.

In the classic Robert Kirkman comic run, the Zombies were made up of people like Reed Richards, Ant Man, and Captain America. Here they are made up of Okoye, Wanda and Carol Danvers, can you see what is going on.

Perhaps this will help.

We begin this series following Ms Marvel, Kate Bishop and Riri Wiliams, we then meet Blade, Yelena, and the Red Guardian. Following that we meet Shang Chi and Katie. Do you see it yet. Two things are happening here, firstly it is a girlboss show which ends with Riri, Kamala and Wanda, and secondly that there are close to no popular male heroes from before phase four, amongst the ranks of the living.

They also can’t quite seem to decide what sorts of zombies they want to have, intelligent zombies that can talk or mindless zombies that can’t. You’ll notice that zombie Clint Barton and Zombie Cap don’t say a word, whereas Okoye has many a monologue. Do you get it yet.

I feel like I am just repeating myself at this point. One thing I can say with certainty is that Disney + killed Marvel dead. Whoever is in charge of Marvel’s output on Disney + needs the sack.

0.5/5

Pros.

It has a few good moments that lean towards horror

Cons.

The characters are all phase four wash outs

It is a girlboss show to it’s core

It makes pops at legacy characters

It has awful Marvel humour in it

It ruins a great comics run

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