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Reviews
Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing (2023)
Same Great Survivors and more
As someone who is interested in reality and survival shows and the previous XL challenges - here is my take.
The cast is the same and they all behave true to their character as seen in previous seasons, I don't see the pitfalls usually displayed in these shows when they are overdramatised. Not the case so far.
Personally I am really glad they have mixed up the format, to give an example of why that is; you see more activity given they are looking for survival items (nothing out of the ordinary), they also face challenges that help them display the survival skills they all have, to me that is the best part as more interesting things happen in general, which involve problem solving and survival skills.
As long as this show remains true to it's original XL style and focuses on the survival aspects then this will be a 10 from me.
Silo: Machines (2023)
Repair scene blunder
To get through the important bit the story starts off really well, only 3 episodes in and the cast, acting and script is compelling and gripping. I would say the set has more to desire and lacks the bustling cramped atmosphere you might expect living underground.
There are possible missed opportunities - from the first 3 episodes: the way they sustain themselves, manage healthcare, gather critical resources for survival.
At this point overall I would be at an eight as I really do like what they are going for. However the episode fixing the generator was an insult to common sense. I am not a mechanic but I know that you cannot grind a bent piece of metal straight, and that any metal glowing red is exceeding 100's of degrees and would cause water to boil and also creating steam burning anyone exposed. Literally children learn this.
6 because it is a good watch and I honestly hope it delivers.
Outlast (2023)
An awful expression of humanity
Different to most survival shows this involves multiple groups of survivors, which you would imagine may result in greater productivity, more things happening. This is not the case unfortunately, as I'm sure the producers planned general chaos ensues, nothing gets achieved from a survival perspective apart from contrived activities so if that's what you wanted to see you will be sorely disappointed.
There also were some truly awful souls on the TV show, almost none of the contestants finished with any integrity except the eventual winners which was possibly the only saving grace and reason this is not a two star review.
The location was poorly chosen, the survivalists were the most deplorable humans and I got no satisfaction watching this. It is a far cry from a survival show and nothing like the quality of Alone.
The Menu (2022)
Over baked, too rushed
There was some great acting, brilliantly conceived and executed characters.
Ralph Fiennes was bone chilling, Hoult was annoyingly funny and Taylor-Joy held her character together well if not a little one dimensional.
Set, cinematography all that was on point, however the main issue I found with this was how it dealt with the tension and pacing of the film.
It just seemed completely off to me, and sort of crass in its execution - no pun intended - of the first deaths / horrific incidents. It was dare I say it just shoved on a plate in front of you with no nuance or tension or thrill.
They completely dropped the whole hook so early, there was literally nothing left to the imagination, and there was an opportunity greatly missed.
They blew out early and the rest of the film was far less interesting because there is literally nothing left for the audience, felt like you're stuck there in the room as well and became painfully predictable.
Ultimately style over substance, shocking for the wrong reasons.
The Last of Us (2023)
Good start, getting worse
My initial thoughts of this series was good, the world building was immersive and believable. Being familiar with the source material the characters were cast well enough and the plot started to develop. Apart from some clumsy exposition about the world between the main characters it was good enough, however this initial indicator of lazy writing was not going to be the first. This takes us to the pitfall of episode 3 and the divergence from the plot, any relevance to it and a huge reduction in pace where it should have really picked up.
So after 2 episodes we have not seen the outside world properly, it is still an idea of the wasteland, a dangerous and scary place our characters are now venturing into, so the groundwork was built over a slow few starting episodes and now are thrust into their first real challenge as a new pair. What follows is a story within the story, now the link to the plot is important because well, this is meant to be part of the same story. The only link is that the main character has met them once a long time ago, so they have somewhere to stop and pick up weapons, which spoiler they don't even take!... So the whole basis of the plot in the story has no tangible effect on our characters or the main story. There was 30 mins wasted as the story itself did not take the great opportunity it had to show what the wasteland was really like, this new area of operation that the audience may need further context of that could play into the plot later. Instead we have an open an shut story that showed only the lives of 2 people within the confines of 4 metal fences, oh and one zombie couldn't forget that in a zombie show could we now.
Poor writing poor direction, thoroughly disappointed having been quite excited after the first episode.