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review

10 Jul

Stateless Review (Spoiler Free): Classy Australian Immigration Drama With a Stellar Cast

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“The title of the series refers to statelessness in a more poetic sense,” explains Cate Blanchett, creator of six part Australian drama Stateless, the latest acquisition for Netflix, which originally aired on ABC, Australia’s national broadcaster.  It also, of course, refers to some of the inhabitants of the immigrant detainee center at the heart of the show – many of whom are refugees who can’t be returned to country where they held citizenship (not necessarily stateless then, but as Blanchett also points out, the title is metaphoric rather than strictly legal). It’s a weighty but accessible drama that would have…
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10 Jul

Greyhound Review: Tom Hanks Adrift

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Tom Hanks has a knack for playing courageous captains who constantly beat the odds. He also has a habit of starring in or producing sterling World War II dramas. This holds true from Captain Phillips to Sully on one side of this paradigm, and Band of Brothers to The Pacific on the other. But for the first time since the one that started it all, Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, the two old reliable tropes intersect once more with Greyhound, a new naval thriller premiering on Apple TV+. Yet, to borrow from another famous World War II event, this might’ve…
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09 Jul

Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 5 Review: Finger Patrol

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This Doom Patrol review contains spoilers. Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 5 Well, that escalated quickly. After what seems like a fairly low-key episode where Doom Patrol lulls viewers into a false sense of security, all hell breaks out, and there’s no going back now. A stark shift from the party atmosphere of last week, “Finger Patrol” delivers betrayal, murder, and a severed finger. Oh, and a ‘70s-inspired opening credits for a show starring our robot cops. The episode feels like a little bit of clean up after the Danny party, and at first it seems as if our characters…
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09 Jul

Relic Review: The Horror of Fading Away

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Losing a loved one is tough enough, but losing them to Alzheimer’s disease is a brutal, harrowing, and truly heartbreaking experience. Family and friends watch as the person they knew slowly fades away, their memories, physical abilities, and even sense of self vanishing like smoke drifting upward from a waning fire. By the time death comes to claim the shell of the person you once knew, its arrival is almost a blessing. The horror film at its best allows us to experience our deepest real-life fears in metaphorical terms, which is what the excellent Relic does with specificity, empathy, and…
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09 Jul

Japan Sinks: 2020 Review (Spoiler-Free)

Netflix, New DVD release, , ,
This review is based on all ten half-hour episodes of Japan Sinks: 2020’s first season and contains no spoilers. “Fingers crossed.” Oddly enough, people seem to love the idea of the end of the world. Perhaps there’s comfort to be found in the escape to some alternate apocalypse scenario when the real world feels like it’s spinning off its axis. There’s been a growing trend in apocalypse stories where plucky survivors have to band together, form a family, and survive, whether it’s in movies, anime, or video games. Japan Sinks: 2020 strives to be different by its use of shifting…
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09 Jul

Palm Springs Review

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In Palm Springs, the new romantic comedy starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, things couldn’t be any better, but they certainly couldn’t get much worse. Have you ever been to a resort so idyllic that you never wanted to leave? Well, what if you couldn’t leave even if you tried? First-time director Max Barbakow and screenwriter Andy Siara are probably feeling that same “this could be heaven or this could be hell” dichotomy; on the one hand, the coronavirus pandemic kept their Sundance hit, which broke the previous record for the highest sale from the film festival, from premiering on…
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09 Jul

The 100 Season 7 Episode 8 Review: Anaconda

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This THE 100 review contains spoilers The 100 Season 7 Episode 8 Anaconda is almost entirely a backdoor pilot for a prequel spinoff set during and shorty after the first end of the world, over on dear old planet Earth. It rewrites the Grounder origin story and answers some questions you probably never had about the Second Dawn from way back in season 3, but mostly it’s great to see Becca in action again, to catch some early show Easter eggs, and to meet a couple of compelling new characters who are actually trying to do the right thing, however hard that…
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09 Jul

Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episode 7 Review: The Totally Excellent Adventures of Mack and The D

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This review contains spoilers for Agents of SHIELD. Agents of SHIELD Season 7 Episode 7 References to the 80s are all the rage in pop culture, from Stranger Things to The Americans, so it should come as no surprise that Agents of SHIELD wanted to have fun with its time travel storyline now that the team has reached the decade of excess. Unfortunately, although the movie allusions were entertaining and appreciated, the stylistic narrative choices felt very much out of place. The use of Deke’s perspective provided an explanation of sorts for the over-the-top antics, but the lack of a…
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08 Jul

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Review

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Psych: The Movie, when it was released in 2017, was clearly a love letter for the avid Psych-Os missing fake psychic Shawn Spencer (James Roday), his platonic life partner Burton Guster (Dulé Hill), and the rest of the Santa Barbara Police Department after the series wrapped in 2014. From a David Bowie-loving villain to a #TeamGrimmie T-shirt, it was the best kind of fan service. Psych 2: Lassie Come Home, then, is undoubtedly a love letter from the cast and crew of Psych to one of their own: actor Timothy Omundson and his grouchy yet heroic alter ego, detective Carlton…
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08 Jul

The Old Guard Review: Netflix Action Movie Showcases Immortal Heroes

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The overwhelming feeling in the early scenes of The Old Guard, director Gina Prince-Bythewood’s intermittently thoughtful take on the venerable trope of the superhero team, is one of exhaustion: on the part of the characters at first, and then perhaps just a bit on the part of the viewer, who realizes that they are watching a story that’s been told many times before. But even though it suffers from pacing and originality issues, The Old Guard still tells its story well enough to leave a more thoughtful impression than other typically superficial summer fare. Andy (Charlize Theron), the leader of…
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06 Jul

Stargirl Episode 8 Review: Shiv Part Two

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This Stargirl review contains spoilers Stargirl continues to prove it’s the best thing happening in superhero television right now, by following up its best episode of the season with an installment that’s every bit its equal. “Shiv Part Two” also manages to avoid many of the predictable tropes and narrative traps that too often plague this genre, blazing a new and intriguing path for the remainder of its first season. In so many other shows like this, the secret of Courtney’s identity would have been dragged out for weeks, as we all wondered what Cindy might or might not know.…
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06 Jul

Snowpiercer Episode 8 Review: These Are His Revolutions

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This Snowpiercer review contains spoilers. Snowpiercer Episode 8 The only thing keeping Snowpiercer in any sort of working order, aside from hard work and Third Class laborers, is belief. The belief that Mr. Wilford is up in the front of the train, guiding the eternal engine, making sure everyone has enough food, and space, and frolic to keep them all from going mad. Mr. Wilford, the benevolent genius behind the life-saving train, and the man single-handedly keeping the human race from extinction. For people like Ruth (Alison Wright), Wilford is next to God in their eyes. For people like the…
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06 Jul

NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 3 Review: The Night Road

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This NOS4A2 review contains spoilers. NOS4A2 Season 2 Episode 3 One thing that NOS4A2 did between seasons is tinker with its special effects. For whatever reason, Charlie Manx as an old man looks a little better than he did the previous season (and the exaggerated widow’s peak he had when he was young Charlie has been eliminated, too). All across the board, it seems, the special effects seem to be coming across the screen better, from the blood and guts of previous episodes to things like the scarred-up ghost living in the Manx house on the outskirts of the Manx…
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06 Jul

Perry Mason Episode 3 Review: Chapter Three

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This Perry Mason review contains spoilers. Perry Mason Episode 3 Perry Mason, episode 3, “Chapter Three,” thickens the plot and solidifies the characters while delivering the biggest twist from on high. Matthew Rhys’ Perry Mason is still taking it all in. He’s surrounded himself with an idiosyncratic crew who bring their own tangents into the work play. But beyond that there is a master villain type who is rigging the game at every step. Los Angeles district attorney Maynard Barnes makes the opening statements of the episode and Stephen Root delivers them with a dire glee. Oh, the things people…
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04 Jul

Iron Man VR Review: We Don’t Love it 3000. Maybe 1500?

New DVD release,
Early on, the PlayStation VR brought us Batman Arkham VR, which allowed us to be the Dark Knight. It was cool that you could play with those wonderful toys, but if you were going to take over for a DC hero using virtual reality, the real deal should really be someone like Superman or Green Lantern. Being the World’s Greatest Detective is one thing, but if we’re going to be truly immersive, then flying and shooting lasers is where it’s at. Luckily, the people at Sony Interactive Entertainment and Camouflaj realized that with the Marvel license, you could have your…
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03 Jul

Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 4 Review: Sex Patrol

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This Doom Patrol review contains spoilers. Doom Patrol Season 2 Episode 4 The theme of families is a constant one in Doom Patrol, but this week the show leans heavily into the notion that our loved ones, especially parents, are the reason we’re all so screwed up. In a 1960s flashback, we see Danny The Street (and not yet a brick) and Niles trying to protect Dorothy by keeping her separated from the world. But they effectively treat her like a prisoner, a choice that is certain to haunt them as Candlemaker appears to be growing in strength. Meanwhile, Rita’s…
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03 Jul

Ju-On: Origins Review (Spoiler-Free)

Netflix, New DVD release, ,
The Ju-On/Grudge franchise is one of the most acclaimed horror series to come out of Japan. Despite the series’ reputation, the more recent efforts have struggled to recapture the magic and they’ve stumbled through the franchise’s progressively dense mythos. Not every horror franchise can sustain the expansion to a six-episode television series, but in the case of Ju-On: Origins it allows the show to bring more depth to its characters and help solve a lot of problems.  More than anything else, Ju-On: Origins excels as a metaphor for how abuse can be learned behavior and that generational pain is a…
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03 Jul

The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 10 Review: You Might Also Like

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This The Twilight Zone review contains spoilers. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 10 The Twilight Zone was always a little bit hokey and that is a part of its charm. It was often stylized, sometimes funny, frequently heightened and not always realistic. We can’t criticize it for that. But season 2 episode 10 ‘You Might Also Like’ is a melee of all of the above in ways that largely speaking don’t work at all; the humor doesn’t land, the story requires Bond-villain-style exposition for it to even make sense and the satire is heavy handed and mean spirited. A…
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02 Jul

The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 8 Review: A Small Town

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This THE TWILIGHT ZONE review contains spoilers. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 8 In my spoiler-free review of Season 2 of the new Twilight Zone, I touched upon how the new iteration of the show struggles with delivering lessons. The original Twilight Zone stories were frequently morality plays, with deep themes that commented on current or evergreen societal issues, often in unexpected ways that packed a punch. The 2020 version of the series still attempts to warn viewers against the evils of being shallow or being careful what you wish for, but it never quite says anything deeper about our current…
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02 Jul

The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 9 Review: Try, Try

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This The Twilight Zone review contains spoilers. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 9 Time loops are awesome. Time loops are usually your favorite episode of any given sci-fi show, or, in the case of Russian Doll, the premise of a great sci-fi show. That said, because of the circular nature of time loops, it’s hard to do something new with time loops. In the penultimate episode of season 2 of the new Twilight Zone,  writer Alex Rubens tries—and mostly succeeds—in giving a new edge to a time loop story. In “Try, Try” the Zone presents a spin on the…
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DVD Guide reviews current dvd releases of movies and TV shows. The reviews of these dvd releases are my thoughts and understandings of the movie, dvd releases or TV show and not be taken as fact.

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