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Reviews
The Last of Us: Long, Long Time (2023)
It's difficult to remember when an episode of anything was written this well, let alone a zombie story.
I'm not going to waffle on and on why I think this episode has done something that few TV shows have managed to do over the years. To tell a story within another story that not only helps flesh out the world, but stands on its own without the need to be propped up by the main story and keep it relevant - is difficult to do. But somehow the writers managed. That is a testament to the current world of entertainment where everything seems like it was written by 10 year olds. Plot holes galore and illogical stories, filled with eye candy special fx that is intended to pass for good story telling. This is fresh and hopefully a sign of the quality of this story to come.
Carlito's Way (1993)
As a stand alone film, it doesn't get much better than this.
In 50 years people will look back and say this was one of the best movies of its kind.
I won't go over long and wax lyrical why I think this is one of the best, if not the best gangster films ever made, right up there with The Godfather and it's sequels. If you haven't seen this put it on your bucket list. AAA+
The Terminal List (2022)
Stunning. Totally absorbing. Doesn't insult your intelligence. Don't miss this one.
This series baulks everything Hollywood has tried to push down our throats over the past few years. Simply put, The Terminal List is unmissable. Hats off to Chris Pratt and Jack Carr for having the vision and seeing it through.
The only tiny nitpick is that the Colourist made it a little too dark and a little too muted, but that's not enough to take from my rating. It deserves every star out of 10 that it gets.
The Undeclared War (2022)
This series deserves your time.
The elephant in the room is that the subject matter of this series is very relevant and real. For those people who don't understand how the world works, this has probably flown over their collective heads. Yes, it's a drama series, but it's done very well. This is tight, clever, thought provoking writing. In today's ever changing world, it's refreshing to see something that takes chances and delivers. This definitely deserves your attention. Highly recommended.
The Offer (2022)
A Rare Gem in a Sea of Mediocrity
So much junk television to choose from these days. Every network, be it big or small, new or old is vying for your time. There is a lot of content being made, the problem is two fold: not enough hours in the day, and how to choose what to watch. But ultimately you are going to find something to entertain you.
The Offer really is a rare gem. It stands out amongst the crowd of shows and rewards you for your sacrifice of time spent. TV like this is becoming harder to find, especially in our world of go go go. I'm glad I found this show. And whether you're a fan of Mario Puzo's book or the original movies, (you don't need to be) or just looking for something good to watch, I think you will find this right up your alley. Television at its finest.
Doctor Who: Flux: Chapter Six - The Vanquishers (2021)
If it was possible to give zero stars, I would, but alas....
The problem with this show is that it has forgotten its humble beginnings. Back in its original run from 63-89, the show knew that it couldn't compete with bigger budget shows that existed, and so it relied on better writing to see it through. That was always a strength of the show. What it lacked in money, it more than made up for in quality writing.
So, in 2005 when the show was rebooted and showed great promise, both good, strong writing and a good budget to match, it was a marriage made in heaven. This marriage lasted until its then show runner, Russell T. Davies left and put his more than capable successor, Steven Moffat. Moffat was brilliant in many ways, but for some reason, I believe that he simply had too many things on his plate because it was under his gaze where we first started to see the chinks in the Doctors armour. For some reason it was in these years where we started to really see less quality writing come into the show. The money was there, but the writing was not. Let me just say that it was rarely from Moffat's own writing - his episodes are among some of the best episodes ever written for the reboot. No, it was more a case of writing that just didn't hold up to scruitiny. Very one dimensional writing that was becoming more and more prevalent as the seasons rolled on.
Enter Chris Chibnall. Having a very good pedigree behind him of many quality shows, such as Torchwood, Broadchurch and numerous Doctor Who episodes, it made perfect sense to replace Moffat with Chibnall. After all, here was a guy who grew up loving the show.
The problem was he took over the show when the cracks in the armour had already appeared and it seemed this was ok for him and offered nothing in the way of an antedote to repair that obvious damage of poor writing that had seeped into the show and seemed hell bent on destroying it.
Chibnall, having worked with Jodie Whittaker, on Broadchurch thought that the show needed a shakeup - and a female Doctor was the best way to do this. The problem being that nothing was being done to fix the poor writing. And so it continued, episode after episode.
I don't think it would have mattered if the Doctor had regenerated into a dog, bad writing was still it's number one problem and nothing was being done to fix this. And along with bad writing and poor formulae, the show seemed doomed.
Here we are now, 58 years into the shows history and it seems that the only hope for its continued existance lies in the return of Russell T. Davies and whomever gets the role of the next Doctor.
I truly believe that with the coming of the 60s anniversary, the next Doctor has to be of such quality as to be able to shine with the improved writing that will naturally come with the return of RTD. This season will be the most important season in the history of the show because it will be the telling mark of whether or not too much damage has been done and the show is simply too far gone to be saved or whether or not the show will not only live on, but learn from the lessons of the last ten years and thrive into the future.
Only time will tell.
If I could just put one actor forward as a potential repacement for the future Doctor - that would be the excellent, Rufus Sewell. I can't think of a better candidate of actor for the next Doctor. Maybe if someone out there reads this and they are in a good position to affect change, they might consider him.