iCarly: iMLM

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Carly and co become obsessed with a a new miracle product called sand, which can help with things like courage, calmness and feeling emotion.

This might be the funniest episode of the revival so far; it was not a laugh a minute or anything but there were a good few solid jokes that actually made me laugh out loud.

This episode has further convinced me that Freddie, Nathan Kress, is the best and most well written character on the show, as his character seemingly gets character work in nearly every episode and we know far more, and care far more about him and his life because of it. I think Carly, Miranda Cosgrove, could do with some more character work in the rest of the season as so far all we have learnt about who she is now, post revival, is someone who is scared of celebrating her birthday and that’s about it.

I enjoyed the gimmick of sand and thought the reveal of what it actually is was well done and actually smart in the context of the episode. Furthermore, I like that the show finally gave Harper, Laci Mosley, something to do. She gets to be the one that doesn’t fall for what turns out to be a scam and eventually expose it, which feels very true for her character and in keeping with the personality established.

Overall, a strong episode.

Pros.

It is funny

They finally give Harper something meaningful to do

Freddie

Cons.

Carley as a character needs fleshing out more, she is staring to become a secondary character on her own show

Not all the jokes land

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iCarly: iLoveGwen

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Millicent’s mum re-enters the picture prompting hopes that her and Freddie will get back together.

I think the only character that this series seems to understand is Freddie, Nathan Kress, as this and the previous episode proved. He is the only character that the series seems interested in exploring and developing; the rest they don’t really seem to know what to do with.

I enjoyed, once again, seeing the Freddie storyline here I think his relationship with Jaidyn Triplet’s Millicent is easily the best thing about the revival so far, or certainly the most meaningful at least. I thought the idea of having Millicent constantly seeing things that suggested her parents were getting back together, only for them not in the end was both maturely handled and surprisingly heart-warming.

As I said before this episode doesn’t know what to do with any of its characters other than Freddie and Millicent, Carly, Miranda Cosgrove, is awkwardly along for the ride and Spencer, Jerry Trainor, and Harper, Laci Mosley, are forced into a competition for no real reason at all. With Carly you can’t ignore the fact that the way she is behaving is not charming or funny, as she is too old to behave like a child and with Harper and Spencer it is just a joke that you have seen before- still not funny. Harper seems to just be mean to every one of the male characters in the show for some reason, I don’t understand why she has been written this way?

Overall, perhaps a more mature episode of iCarly which is appreciated but is really wastes most of its character and that can’t be ignored.

Pros.

Freddie and Millicent

Further emotional and character growth

Well intentioned

Cons.

Harper

It wastes most of its characters who aren’t Freddie and Millicent

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Fear Street Part 3: The Worst Irish Accents Ever

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The survivors of Sarah Fier’s murderous rampage are transported back in time to see her origin and the truth behind the curse.

There is a twist. A really obvious and blatant one from the start of the film. I won’t spoil it here but suffice it to say that it will hit you in the face several times before it is finally revealed.

Moreover, the Irish accents that our cast are doing in these flash back scenes are particularly bad. They use a lot of the same cast from the previous films to flesh out the residents of Sarah’s township in this one and not a one of them can do an Irish accent, to a point where it becomes laughably bad.

However, therein lies the charm. This film much like the others is dumb fun. There is poor writing and silly moments that are supposed to be scary a plenty, but again it only adds to the charm.

I thought the final showdown was fairly well done it managed some scary moments and it gave everyone what they didn’t know they wanted…… A showdown between all the undead killers for some reason. I did think this final sequence could have been bloodier, but I suppose it is intended for a younger age group.

I thought the flashback storyline with Sarah Fier was interesting as it gave us a good look into the paranoia of witch hunting and provided the most chilling scene of the series with the church mass death sequence.

Overall, a slightly disappointing ending to the series, but still dumb fun.

Pros.

The church sequence

The killer battle royal

The dumb fun

Cons.

The accents

The ending is somewhat disappointing

The twist is super obvious

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iCarly: iNeed Space

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Spencer’s new girlfriend tries to lure Carly and Harper into a cult.

This is a very average episode of iCarly, there really isn’t much more to say about it than that. It is neither particularly good nor bad, rather it is just bland. However, it does say a lot that the B plot revolving around Freddie, Nathan Kress, and Millicent, Jaidyn Triplet, bonding over their own version of the girl scouts, is far better than the A storyline revolving around Carly, Miranda Cosgrove, and the Cult.

I think the reason for this is because the show has been building the relationship between Freddie and Millicent for a while now and it is nice to finally see them share some emotional scenes together. Personally, I thought the scene where she finally called him dad was sweet and very well done. As such this storyline feels weighty to the audience, whereas the Carly in a cult storyline feels the opposite, incredibly throw away.

I do like however, that the series is moving away from ‘internet culture’ based jokes and commentary and is instead dipping it’s toes into more out there storylines where we actually get to know these characters between.

A big issue within the episode for me was Harper. For the most part Harper, Laci Mosley, has been a very so, so character but at this point in the series she is starting to become annoying- I imagine this will only get worse as the show carries on. The reason for this is that all of her jokes fall into three categories ‘straight people are weird’, race jokes, and I don’t know what that is, none of these are particularly funny, at least to me, and as such become irritating the more they are repeated.

Overall, a fine episode, nothing more.

Pros.

Freddie

Millicent

The emotion

Cons

Harper

The A story is boring and throwaway

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Fear Street Part Two: What Is More Cliche In Horror Than A Summer Camp

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Fear Street saga continues as we go into the past to follow the story of the only person to ever have survived a run in with the witch, and her undead minions.

Though this is a good film in its own right, it is also certainly a step back from the previous film. Maybe the American summer camp has been done to death as a horror location, in fact there is no maybe about it. So seeing it in all its cliched infamy here hurts the film as it lessens the quality and the originality.

Moreover, I found Sadie Sink to be a fine lead. Though she does get more than her fair share of the lime light and a lot of the side characters including her sister are given very little and are deeply underserved as a result. I enjoyed the few scenes we get with Gillian Jacobs she is very talented and brings a lot to the film, hopefully we get to see more of her in the final entry.

In terms of scares this is quite on a par with the first film with each of them having a few good scares here and there without feeling scary as a whole. Honestly, I found the horrific bullying in this film more traumatic than the undead killers. I will assume that was not how the film wanted it to be.

Overall, though this film is good the cracks and crucially the cliches are starting to show through.

Pros.

Gillian Jacobs

Sadie Sink

A few good scares

Cons.

For the most part not scary

The side characters, even those important to the plot, are pushed to the side

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iCarly: i’M Cursed

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Carly has trouble celebrating her birthday as she believes she is cursed with yearly bad luck.

These last two episodes of iCarly have been the best of the series so far, they have been less interested in trying to lampoon online culture and have instead focused on our characters as people having fun together. It turns out when they are not trying to force an outdated meme reference into every episode, the series works a lot better.

Moreover, Miranda Cosgrove is finally starting to get back into the groove with the character managing to hit the sweet spot between being likeable and being self-involved. You actually root for the character here and want to see her have a nice birthday, this episode does a lot to make her sympathetic.

Though I enjoyed the main Carly storyline, I thought the Harper and Freddie side stories were on the weaker side and could have definitely done with being further developed because as they stand they seem incredibly throw away. Freddie reverts back to a partying student as he worries that he has wasted his twenties being too serious and mature and Harper can’t talk to someone she admires, both of these sub-plots feel simply written to give these characters something to do as the show clearly doesn’t know what to do with them.

Overall, a good, fun episode of iCarly with some story issues but nothing too bad.

Pros.

Carly’s curse

Miranda Cosgrove

Moving away from referencing/mocking memes

A few funny moments

Cons.

The side stories feel throw away

The episode is badly paced

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Fear Street Part One: Nothing Is More Of A Turn On Then Being Hunted Down By Undead Serial Killers

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A long dead witches’ curse turns mild mannered residents of the quiet town of Shadyside into vicious killers.

I remember loving the books of R.L Stein when I was a kid, I must have read them all hundreds of times over. This film not only manages to capture the spirit, but also does a much better job of being a ‘Goosebumps’ esque film that the one staring Jack Black that came out a few years ago.

I found the film to not only be scary, but also surprisingly well done. The scares were built through atmosphere and tension rather than through forced jump scares. I found the wider mystery of all these small town serial killers to be quite unnerving, and I think the film does a good job exploring that: with the answer given feeling satisfying and making sense.

Though usually I find teen characters, especially in a Netflix film, to be grating, vapid and deeply unlikeable I didn’t mind the line up here and almost warmed to them by the end of the film. The one thing I would comment on though is the asinine and cringe story choice to have the kids hook up whilst having the killers chasing them, there is a time and a place guys. I understand that the higher ups at Netflix clearly wanted some form of titillation put into the film, but this just feels forced in.

Moreover, the dialogue is cringe as hell and often there are lines where you’re baffled that someone actually got paid to write that.

Overall, a good film that suffers from a lot of familiar Netflix teen cliches and draw backs, but manages to overcome them in the long run.

Pros.

The mystery

The scares

The ending

The world and the characters therein

Cons.

The forced-in needless teen romance scenes

The dialogue

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iCarly: iRobot Wedding

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Carly and co head to the wedding of her nemesis. Whilst there Carly becomes convinced that the bride to be is a robot.

I would say barring the first this is the best episode of the revival so far. That is mainly because this episode moves away from mocking internet culture, whilst also in some ways embodying everything it is poking fun at, and instead decides to just tell new stories involving these characters- with only a slight amount of nostalgia baiting.

I enjoyed the robot storyline and the absurdity of it, for a minute I genuinely believed Carly was right and that the bride was in fact a robot. Moreover, I thought Carly was at her most human and most likeable here and the romance they are trying to set up between her and Freddie seems like it will take the show in a wholesome positive direction.

My main complaint of the episode would be all the jokes from Laci Mosley’s Harper, that basically boiled down to ‘straight people are weird right’, not only did they feel out of place and weirdly jarring but if flipped the internet would break out in a huge outcry. As I have said previously you don’t solve issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia etc by just flipping it so its now the other way round. What made these series of jokes worse was that though they were not funny at al the first time around, they are repeated over and over again, which can only make them more funny right?

Overall, a close second best episode of the series so far.

Pros.

Carly, and her robot theory

Carly and Freddie

A few nice human moments

Enough nostalgia to be fondly remembered but not used as a crutch

Cons.

Harper’s straight people are weird jokes

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iCarly: iGotYourBack

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This episode did what I have been saying for a while the series needed to do and that is to feel more human. This show seems to exist to do one purpose and that is to mock the modern internet/influencer landscape, which is fine, but the show also runs the risk of becoming just as bad and as vapid especially in a lot of the moral teachings of the show. However, this alarming trend is somewhat postponed here as this episode moves away from all that and instead focuses on the lives and friendships of the characters.

Spencer and Freddy have an arc about Freddy getting back into the dating saddle, and Carly and Harper have a storyline about Carly needing a new dress and Harper trying to design one for her. Both story threads are not perfect, but they do at least produce warm moments to make us like these characters a bit more. I still think far and away Jerry Trainor’s Spencer is the best character on the show, and he is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, often having to make up for the growing unlikability of Carly.

I thought the jokes about Spencer hiring Freddy a prostitute unknowingly were a little juvenile, and though it does produce one or two funny moments by and large it left me cold. Laci Mosley’s Harper was by far the comedic standout of the episode and is at times overshadowing Carly herself.

Overall, better but still plagued by issues.

Pros.

A more human approach

A few funny moments

Spencer and Harper

Cons.

Carly is incredibly self-involved and is becoming everything the show is mocking

The humour is quite juvenile

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Chaos Walking: Yet Another Miss For Tom Holland

Written by Luke Barnes

Chaos Walking is a science fiction coming of age film directed by Doug Liman. The plot envisions a soul astronaut (Daisy Ridley), survive her spacefaring expedition to a previously colonised world that has gone dark. Said world is heavily gender skewed as all the world’s women have seemingly been killed, and the males are inflicted with something that allows their thoughts to exist outside of their body, being able to be heard by anyone.

This film will be historic, it will be remembered. Why? Well as the film that proved that the YA genre is well and truly dead. This film reminded me of the worst parts of that cinematic movement, on a par with Divergent and The Fifth Wave.

Both of the leads in this film Ridley and Tom Holland, are unlikeable and milk toast to say the least. Neither of them seem to have a personality and they have even less chemistry together on screen together.

The plot is pap that you have seen before in other better YA and Science Fiction films- here it is at its most generic.

With this and Locked Down in his recent filmography it might be time to start worrying about Liman’s skill and stop handing him 7 figure deals, less we end up with more mediocre nonsense.

Overall, a very weak YA film that reminds you of the worst the genre has to offer.

Pros.

Mads Mikkelsen

Cons.

Holland

Ridley

The plot and where it goes

The cringe

1/5

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