Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is an odd movie. Full of so many very deliberate choices. I cannot confirm this, but I couldn’t help but feel the creators were going for a very specific homage, or were perhaps trying to replicate a distinct director’s style.
The Astronaut tricks you into thinking it’s a good movie. It’s not. God, is it not. I haven’t had a movie disappoint me so deep into its runtime in forever. The opening scenes hook you in with a cool mystery and then plays with expectations in a way that suggests solid writing is yet to come…and then it all goes speeding downhill.
Ash is a good movie in hindsight. The plot is full of interesting ideas and has lots of fun clues to analyze after the fact (though bright lights/flashing warning). But the first parts of the movie—despite its best efforts—are fairly dull for anyone who has some experience with horror storytelling.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Has Big Interactions Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a weak set, all told. As I went through the cards (and yes, I read every main-set card) I was only really impressed by the synergies, not the individual pieces. And while synergies are great for Magic, they don’t work well for a…
Cleopatra in Space is baffling on every level. Someone with deep pockets or a large group of people clearly loves this idea/story/concept so much that they have thrown an inordinate number of resources at it.
I wonder if episodes of Starfleet Academy took Star Trek concepts and tried to find ways to make them fit into generic college/high school plots, or if the show started with those tropes and then figured out how to make them fit the world building.
Hello Tomorrow! is perhaps one of the most unique sci-fi shows to come out in a long time. It’s got such an odd combination of factors that somehow come together to deliver an engaging drama and mystery revolving around a big, central question. But, unlike a lot of other dramas, there’s no hero. This is a show where almost everyone is a scam artist—though some of them don’t actually know they’re running a scam.
Paradise is one of the best-written shows I’ve seen in a long time. It’s intricate without being confusing. Multi-layered without pulling away from its core storytelling. And gives answers to its many posed questions at a good enough pace that it’s always surprising that there’s another layer of mystery to uncover.
The Gorge is one of the best cosmic horror movies I have ever seen—for the very short time that it actually allows itself to be one. The other (much bigger) part of the movie is a mess. Full of weird decisions, a baffling ending, and so much else wrong with it.
WondLa is what a children’s television series should aspire to be. It’s kid-friendly but doesn’t disrespect its audience. It uses tropes but doesn’t fall into them completely. Despite having a very fleshed-out world to build, it doesn’t stop and shove exposition. At every point in the first three episodes, you are expected to pay attention to small details and look for answers to its many mysteries.
The first issue I have with LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy—Pieces of the Past is that the title is pushing the limits of what I would expect from any piece of media, movie or otherwise. I’m going to call it Pieces of the Past for the sake of clarity, but it’s an absurd name. You have to know so much pop culture to not be confused by that cascade of nouns.
The Lazarus Paradox looked like it was going to be exactly my favorite type of show.
