iCarly: iBuckled

Summary

Carly, played by Miranda Cosgrove, finally comes to terms with her feelings for Freddie, played by Nathan Kress.

Yes folks they are finally doing it, after constant hints since the revival the show looks set to soon make Carly and Freddie a couple, or will it? I think this can go one of two ways either they get them together soon and have the awkward nature of their romance play out this season, which is what I want, or they drag it out throughout the whole season, which I think after all the hints in the second season would just be irritating.

This episode on the whole was a fairly mixed bag, I liked a lot of the Carly/ Freddie stuff and the jokes therein, I thought there was a number of laugh out loud moments towards the end of the episode, but I also thought there were a number of really awkward and cringe moments in the episode as well. The whole reality show sequence is bad and it makes no sense that Pearl, played by Mia Serafino, would just sit there as everyone is talking about how Freddie and Carly should get together.

The subplot about Freddie’s mm getting engaged was fine, but honestly when thinking about the episode I barely remember the subplot at all that’s how forgettable it was.

Overall, it is nice to see Carly and Freddie finally seem as though they are getting together.

3.5/5

Pros.

Carly and Freddie

A number of good jokes

Josh Peck shines

The ending

Cons.

The teasing and the will they wont they stuff

Some cringe moments

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Across The Spider-Verse: Spider-People Overkill

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Miles Morales returns to the Spider-Verse.

I was very excited for this film going in, but have to say I was a little disappointed with what we got.

First the positives, I thought the character work was great particularly as it applied to parent child dynamics and the idea of finding a home/family, in this regard the film really nailed some deep emotional scenes that were genuinely moving. I also liked the addition of all the new Spider-People especially Spider-Man India, I did think they went a little cameo mad especially when they got to the clubhouse near the end of the film, but for the most part I liked seeing all the different variants I remember from the comics. Of course another pro of the film was the animation, which was incredible and a real feat to behold, the fact that the animators were able to blend so many different styles of animation so seamlessly together in one film highlights the artistry of Sony Animation and is really a big boon for them.

Now despite all of that, this wasn’t a perfect film. I disliked the act structure and thought it felt like one of the Hobbit films, this was mainly due to the fact that it didn’t have an ending or third act but rather one long second act that will then lead into the next film. I understand this film was written to end on a cliff-hanger, but I think that it could have had a degree of resolution within its own narrative as well as doing this rather than just abruptly cutting away. Due to this structure decision the film feels like it has quite bad pacing issues. I also didn’t like what they did to Miguel O’Hara, and admittedly this one hit me harder than most as outside of Peter Parker Miguel O’Hara is my favourite other spider-person, I think making him a villain was a bad call. I understand that in the third film it will be revealed that he was taking orders from/ coerced to work for Morlun and the Inheritors and he will redeem himself, but I just think that by making him so outwardly villainous here it takes away from a lot of his heroic potential in the future.

3.5/5

Pros.

Spider-Man India

Miles

The animation

The emotional beats

Cons.

The pacing issues

The ending

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Ted Lasso: Season 3 Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The friendly American football coach, played by Jason Sudeikis, goes home.

The final season of a much beloved show like Ted Lasso was always going to be sad and this was sad but it was also disappointing. As the credits rolled on the final episode of the third season I released that in a sense the show had peaked with the second season and maybe should have ended there.

Though I enjoyed most of the character work this season did, and the endings that most of the characters got, I also thought that at times it was overly indulgent. By that I mean it would go to a place of being overly sentimental, it would spend vast sections of episodes dedicated to the fate of a very minor character in the scheme of things and yes whilst it may have been well done it felt like filler as the actual story of the season was relatively short.

Moreover, the decision to make Ted sad, which really was a second season development, came back to hurt the show as it could no longer really pull off the quaint small town charm and positivity that had worked in the first season so well. Giving the character depth and complexity was a good thing and I am not saying he should have stayed a one note caricature but I think they took Ted’s sadness too far, so much so that it gives the third season a real sense of heaviness that sits within until its closing moments.

Overall, the third season was still good don’t get me wrong, but it was a noticeable step back from the other seasons and clearly evidenced at times the need for the show to end as it was becoming long in the tooth.

3/5

Pros.

It does some good character work

It has a number of sweet moments

It has some of the same charm as the earlier seasons/

Cons.

It is overly sentimental at times to the point of feeling indulgent

There is a lot of what can only be described as filler

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Reality: The US’s Further Edging Towards Fascism

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The story of Reality Winner, here played by Sydney Sweeny, and her arrest.

This film made me angry. It so perfectly points out and captures the American hypocrisy with their love affair with free speech only ever extending out to what they agree with. I think the film wants you to be angry at what happened to Reality, who at the end of the day was leaking information that was in the public good, not selling nuclear secrets to the North Koreans.

It is a thoroughly uncomfortable watch from start to finish as the film ramps up the tension and the claustrophobic nature of the raid. You like Reality within the film feel the walls closing in and increasing escalation.

Sweeny is terrific here and really gives a layered and nuanced performance, I think there is something so heart breaking about the fact that her life is over essentially and she just wants to make sure her animals are okay. Perhaps it is because I am not American and am fairly detached from their news cycle, but this film made me feel bad for Winner in real life and think that the US government want to bully their own citizens into maintaining this image of them being infallible when that just isn’t true.

Overall, this is a great anti-US protest peace illustrating the US’s increasing slip into being an authoritarian fundamentalist nightmare.

4/5

Pros.

Sweeny

The tension

The emotion

The core of the story and the message it has

Cons.

It is unpleasant to watch at times

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Star Wars Visions: The Bandits Of Golak

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A brother and sister duo try to escape Imperials and Inquisitors whilst fleeing the Galactic Civil War.

There isn’t a whole lot wrong with this episode, it has some okay action and at times knows how to use its tension, but I think that is just it, this is an episode of half measures it is fine but doesn’t push for more than that.

I think the major issue with this episode is that the plot idea has been done before and done better, not the exact same plot but the idea of force sensitives having to run away from the Empire whilst being hunted down and having to make sacrifices to go into hiding. I feel like I have seen the episode so many times before in different areas of Star Wars media and for me that is a problem.

I also think that it is time to stop having all these survivors of Order 66 as it totally ruins the moment within the lore. Order 66 was impactful as it killed off most of the Jedis, it was a big deal, to have more and more of them surviving just takes away from it. Before you say it I know this show isn’t cannon, but I just wanted to say as it plays a role in the narrative of the episode that it is a plot crutch I am not enjoying from current year Star Wars. If they want to have more Jedi they could establish that there was a temple of some kind in the Outer Rim or beyond that was a splinter group from the main order and which didn’t get involved in the Galactic Civil War for whatever reason. That way you can have more new Jedi’s pop up without the question being where were they in the original trilogy.

Overall, a fine episode if one that felt very, very familiar.

2/5

Pros.

The action was okay

It was watchable

Cons.

The lazy plot crutch of another surviving Jedi

I feel like I have seen it before

The emotions weren’t developed enough to be impactful

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Rabbit Hole: Season Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Kiefer Sutherland finds his post 24 hit, in a paranoid thriller series all about narratives and optics.

I was taken by this show from the first episode, it is an immediate hook kind of show. The twists and turns are numerous and frequent and you never quite know what is going to happen next, the show pushes this further by playing around with the idea of unreliable narration and suggesting that we cannot trust what our eyes are showing us.

The themes and ideas of the series such as the ability to shape optics and media narratives and how the right line or even posture can greatly change the outcome of an event feel very timely within the current climate, and should give food for thought to us all.

I think the show wraps up quite nicely and doesn’t need to come back, though they do tease more in the final episode. In many senses if they left it here it would be a near perfect mini-series. My only issue with the show is the romance they force into between Kiefer and one of his associates which feels a little gross, as she is much younger than him, and also needless and unbelievable.

Overall, a good replacement for Homeland

4/5

Pros.

The tension

The twists

The timely nature of it

Sutherland

Cons.

The forced romance

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The Little Mermaid: The Opening Salvo Of The Summer Movie Season

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Little Mermaid gets the live action remake treatment.

So I went into this with pretty low expectations and thinking it wasn’t really going to be my sort of thing but I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I will preface this review by saying that I haven’t seen the animated original so I wasn’t attached to one version of this story.

I want to say right off the bat that Halle Bailey is a great Ariel and really helps the character to feel likeable and rounded in a live action format. On top of that she also has a very believable and strong romantic chemistry with the male lead, played by Jonah Hauer-King, which helps the film to really work as a date movie. Bailey of course also has a great singing voice and pulls off all the songs truly very well, or as well as can be done with the woeful new songs.

However, the strong cast doesn’t extend across the board Awkwafina is terribly miscast as Scuttle and has a groan inducing rap sequence that also doubles as one of the terrible new songs I mentioned earlier. It is such as a shame the film felt the need to introduce a few new songs as the old ones are still great and are what the audience want, but hey they have to have new songs to try and enter them into awards races later in the year. Awkwafina’s miscasting is somewhat offset by Daveed Diggs as Sebastian who is damn near perfect casting and who makes that Crab the stand out character of the whole film, bring on the Sebastian Disney + show I say.

A final point I want to flag up is that the effects and pacing of this film are both noticeably off and that on a technical level these things hold back the film. The underwater effects look bad and unfinished and I know Disney has bad relations with effect houses but they clearly needed to fix this if they want to improve their CGI, because at times the CGI hear was shocking, especially compared to what The Way of The Water was doing at the end of last year. Moreover, the extra story for Eric and a few other characters is nice but it really doesn’t need the film to be an extra half an hour longer than the original, at the length it is being shown at this film has a second act that drags by at a glacial pace.

Overall, a better live action remake than most of Disney’s others

3.5/5

Bailey

The classic songs

The romance

Digg’s Sebastian

Cons.

The effects and pacing

Awkwafina

The new songs

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Love Again: Reading The Texts Of A Deadman

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A music journalist, played by Sam Heughan, finds himself in possession of a phone that is receiving texts from an unknown number, little does he know that he will end up falling in love with the mystery sender, played by Priyanka Chopra.

This film was strange, in many senses this misjudged a lot of things. Most noticeably was the tone, there are things in this film that are big deals like the male lead using the texts send to him unknowingly by the female lead, who thinks she is sending them to her dead ex, to track her down and pursue her, but rather than treat this as the red flag it is it is instead set up as a quirky meet-cute.

Moreover, Sam Heughan was entirely miscast with the film wanting more of a bumbling Hugh Grant sort but instead has a brooding and quite intense lead that doesn’t meet any of the boyish playfulness his role is clearly written to have. Additionally, the romantic chemistry between Chopra and Heughan is fairly non-existent.

Don’t even get me started on how much this film goes out of its way to plug Celine Deon, who no doubt Sony owns the rights to her music catalogue, it was off putting and made me feel like I was watching an advert rather than a film.

The film is passably watchable in a pinch and I did think the sequence in which Chopra’s real life husband Nick Jonas showed up was quite funny. Jonas shone in his little cameo role and it really was a shame he didn’t get more time or a bigger part as his character was far more interesting that Heughan’s.

Overall, Jonas is good for a laugh and it is passable if fairly generic and forgettable.

2/5

Pros.

It was passable

Jonas was funny in his brief cameo

Cons.

The leads have no chemistry

Heughan was miscast

It is generic

The tone is off

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Yellowjackets Season 2 Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Mysteries from the first season are tied up and new ones are born as the Yellowjackets sink further into the darkness.

This may be the first time I have written about Yellowjackets, I really got into the series last year and was eagerly awaiting this season, I was going to do an episode by episode series of reviews as I do with some shows but instead decided to do a broader season 2 retrospective as I don’t know how many of you would be interested in me doing weekly coverage. Do let me know if you are and I will do it for season 3.

For the most part I thought this second outing was more of the same, in the best way. It delivered on the character moments we had wanted to see since the first season, mostly noticeably getting together all the survivors, that we know off in the present day scenes. It also flushed out many of the mysteries from the first season in both the past and the present and it was nice to get those answers. Of course this is the kind of show wherein whenever they give you an answer hundreds more questions are posed.

The performances across the board were great throughout the season and that goes for both the flashback wilderness and present day scenes. If I had to pick a best for the season I would be split between Christina Ricci who does a lot more with Misty this season even getting a full on musical number, Elijah Wood who enters as a new character but by the end of the season immediately becomes a favourite or Sophie Nelisse who acts the hell out of her scenes this season.

My one complaint of this season would be that some of the storylines overstayed their welcome. Mainly I am talking about Shauna’s affair, and don’t get me wrong Shauna, played by Melanie Lynskey, is one of the best characters on the show and her storyline was interesting I just thought that they dragged it out for far too long. I think that it could have been condensed down and then the extra screen time could have been given to the other non-Misty Yellowjackets in the present day who needed a bit more attention.

Overall, one of the best show’s on TV, but a minor step back from the heights of the first season.

4/5

Pros.

The characters

The mystery

The style of the show

The ending

Cons.

Shauna’s present day storyline got a bit too much screen time

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Robots: Jack Whitehall The Rom-Com Leading Man

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

In a near future wherein people can have robotic doubles a pair of low lives use their doubles for depraved means only to have them then run off together and the low lives have to go and chase them down.

Whilst perhaps not the most original, I found there to be a lot of charm to this film. As it progressed I found myself caring more and more about the characters and the world itself.

The romantic pairing of Jack Whitehall and Shailene Woodley works surprisingly well and the two have great chemistry and by the end do feel like a believable couple. I never really viewed Whitehall as a rom-com leading man before but I have to say this film sold me on it.

I thought the comedy here was fairly hit or miss, there were a few jokes that hit hard and landed but also a lot of others that missed the mark. However the gaps in humour were more than made up for with the heart of the film which is big and quite effecting. By the end of the film I fully cared about the robots and wanted them to have a happy ending.

Overall, a sweet rom-com and a promising new career path for Whitehall.

4/5

Pros.

It is sweet

It is funny

Woodley and Whitehall have good chemistry

You care about the characters

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