Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is inescapably a nostalgia grab of a movie, relying on people like me and our fond memories of the original film. If it weren’t for that history, I’m not sure it would’ve been that big of a deal for there to be a new kid’s movie about chickens attempting to escape being eaten.
I always look forward to the newest Doctor Who Christmas special—and this episode, “Joy to the World” was no exception. It has already been too long since that last episode. Already too long since I got to see some adventure with the Doctor.
Crypt of the Moon Spider Abandons Its Plot In Its Own Wordbuilding Chaos I went into Crypt of the Moon Spider not knowing two important things about it. The first is that it’s not a monster story, not really. It’s a medical horror book tinged with cosmic horror elements. Perhaps in the sequel, it’ll swing…
The Church on Ruby Road marks the beginning of Ncuti Gatwa’s tenure as the Doctor, and while the episode was a mixed bag, Ncuti did such a good job.
Lucky Girl, How I Became A Horror Writer (I’m shortening that to Lucky Girl) is a story that purports to be about Krampus. It’s not really. Its genre is horror—but it’s almost never scary. And the tagline about a person becoming a horror writer is a portal to so many other issues I’ll rant about later.
Let’s make something clear about my reviewing Transformers One: I have no horses in this race. Transformers is not my fandom. I have no notable history with it. I am aware of it through other people talking about it, but that’s about it. So, I can speak on it without nostalgia, without a sense of fan betrayal for whatever aspect they changed. I am not objective—this is a critical media review—but I’m judging it as a standalone movie.
The Wild Robot is, simply put, almost as perfect an animated movie as there could be. I am in awe of it. The writing, the character work, the multiple incredible scenes. If you have not yet experienced this movie—even if you’ve been spoiled on the plot—you should seek it out immediately.
I fear repetition in my review of Rouge Protocol. At this point, it’s clear that the series is a continuous stream of one-off adventures. SecUnit goes to a place—usually to find out the answer to something—and meets some humans and is then pushed into an action scenario where SecUnit has to save those humans.
I Found a Circus Tent in the Woods Behind My House is a stark contrast to the first book in the “I Found Horror” series. It’s technically the second book, but was published first. I’m unsure of why it’s set up that way, except perhaps to give a better starting impression.
“Maiden Mother Crone” finally, fully, completely confirms the name of this show. While I’d argue Billy did a lot of it, it was Agatha’s actions that kicked off everything. The song she and her son sang, the schemes she managed to pull off: everything comes back to her, her relationships, and her mistakes. It lends cohesion to the series. It makes this twisty story more than the sum of its parts.
“Follow Me My Friend/To Glory at the End” is an episode almost defined by its last few minutes. But the rest of the episode is also really good. It’s a chance for several very good actors to flex their dramatic muscles, delivering impassioned, desperate, and emotionally resonant performances.
“Death’s Hand in Mine” confirmed what I had suspected: that this story was going to progress by standard story rules. And, also, seemingly my main plot theories were correct. Despite the wholly unnecessary death fake-outs that ruin some of Agatha All Along’s rewatch value, each witch will get their trial, and through each trial, they are given “back” their powers.
