This is painfully bad. Why am I enjoying it so much?
Some proper dragon stuff at last, which was very satisfying. Unfortunately I can't really remember the story up to this point and the recap didn't fill in a lot of the details, only broad strokes.
The Dallas ending was so well done and a brilliant surprise.
I'm not sure what to make of this right now. This first episode was bizarre. A hazy kaleidoscope of unwanted memories and past trauma blurred with a lethargic present day investigation, if you can call it that at this point.
The characters are very strange, nobody acts like a normal person. That adds greatly to the atmosphere but makes this a very unwelcoming watch. Amy Adam's gives a fantastic performance from the start.
However, my main question right now is how far into Led Zeppelin's discography Camille is going to get.
An okay start, slow but effectively creepy. I'm glad it's not full of dumb jump scares. Hard to get much of a feeling about the characters this early, but it does feel like there are a lot of them. Notably, all the female cast members look alike (nice casting giving them all a resemblance to Carla Gugino) and I was struggling to tell them apart.
Henry certainly make poor choices (getting into a car with a stranger at night?). This is an intriguing set up but it's moving extremely slowly and my attention keeps wandering. I'd like it to get on with things. Still, I want to keep watching for now and I really like the actors.
Henry's conflicting memory of the assault by Clay is a confusing one - is she imagining scenarios that might have happened? Is she second guessing her own account of things due to the confusion surrounding her black out/teleporting? Is she trying to replace her memory with something less traumatic? I have no doubt that Clay did assault her but this is putting a bold spin on things and Maddie Hasson is doing a great job depicting it.
Klingons are fun! ...when they're well written. Here they definitely are not. This is painfully by-the-numbers and the resolution comes very quickly after a lot of slow build up. The only bright spots are the actor playing the Klingon captain, and Roxann Dawson showing that she's one of the best actors on the show when she's given more subtle material to work with.
This has all the ingredients to be a good episode: the Doctor as the story's focus, some great guest actors, a juicy ethical quandary. But it fails due to how generic and unadventurous it is. It feels like an episode that Trek has done numerous times before, a mish mash of overused ideas being recycled. The end result just has no spark and there is zero thrill in watching it. My favourite part was the final scene with Seven and the Doctor.
I hated the alien designs here, they were bland and obvious. And how come several of the alien doctors and patients looked completely human?
Also: damn it, Jerry! Why couldn't you just tell us where Gar is?!
I've been wanting to watch this for years and finally had the opportunity. Superman II was one of the key films of my childhood and so much of it is burned into my memories. I never knew of the turmoil behind the scenes as original director Richard Donner was replaced after completing around 75% of the movie.
This reassembled cut of the film has wonderful intentions behind it, and while the end result is FASCINATING, it's definitely not a whole piece. Only so much can be done with the fragments of an unfinished film, so I have to applaud the work that went into this.
The new version of the film follows largely the same story beats but consists of mostly new footage, and the tone feels significantly different. It's more raw, there's more emotion and a lot of the lighter comedy moments are gone. Some sequences are very different to what I was used to - for example, the entire opening in Paris no longer exists here.
What I was most struck by was Christopher Reeve's performance as Superman (and Clark Kent). Reeve was always and likely always will be the most perfect Superman actor. In this new cut, he gets to display much more powerful, emotional scenes than the original gave us. Notably, his scenes with Marlon Brando are captivating. I find myself always getting emotional whenever I watch Reeve in this role for obvious reasons, but this drives home the tragedy in a new way. It's quite wonderful.
Also, he plays Clark Kent so wonderfully on top of that. It's a shame that later films never allowed actors to have much fun as this alter ego.
Still, overall I do prefer the theatrical cut of Superman II. It flows better and doesn't feel as rough around the edges. The ending is better there, too. Plus the music cues are lined up in a much more satisfying way which is unfortunately lost here.
Nice to finally see an alien! The budget obviously didn't allow for much so the filmmakers managed to use a "less is more" approach. The two main characters were quite developed for such a short amount of time spent with them.
This is nothing amazing and has some really dodgy moments of acting, but it did manage to create that little bit of unease I associate with the Alien franchise. It's just a shame that this didn't try to do anything original.
Wow, this is more like it. I can't remember the last time a film actually scared me, and this managed to do just that. The sense of dread and impending terror runs all the way through this, and this is of a far higher quality in every area compared to the first short film.
Of all the previous Alien entries, this recalled the atmosphere of Alien 3 the most for me, and I even feel like the soundtrack music was inspired by that.
A strong lead actress really helps and the production values are great (some dodgy CGI the only weak link). Mostly, the story here is the real surprise. I had low expectations for these short films and this raised the bar in a big way.
Huh. This just took an unexpected and unique direction!
Was not expecting Stephen Merchant to turn up.
This has maybe the most gorgeous and realistic CG animation/art I've ever seen. It does pose the question of why not just use real actors instead of the time it must have taken to create the characters in this, but as an experiment in what is possible it's pretty mindblowing.
The story itself is excellent. I got a massive Wing Commander vibe from it all (and, now I guess it would be more apt to apply that to Star Citizen/Squadron 42 - this actually works as a pretty great trailer for that). Samira Wiley was instantly recognisable in the lead role and did a great job. What's most impressive is how engaging the story managed to be in such a short time, with the relationship forming between Colby and her ship.
The dogfight sequence above/under ground was just sublime.
A bit of a misfire here. The comedy:drama ratio was skewed all in the wrong direction (especially given how much comedy potential there is surrounding Bortas), but above all it was just a bit too boring. The holodeck simulations were amusing the first couple of times but became tedious quickly. I really enjoy the Bortas/Klyden relationship, but this became repetitive and seems to have pushed their characters a bit outside of what was established in season 1.
In fact, Bortas may have dominated the episode too much and an extra plot line following another character could have improved things. Either that or maybe The Orville would work better as a 25 minute show. I know it can do better than this, though.
There were some lovely special effects involving the supernova and the disintegrating planet, and I loved the new alien that provided Bortas with the holoprogram.
Almost a year after the US premiere, Future Man finally comes to the UK! And SyFy UK are showing it uncut, unlike other imports.
Would be a lot better without the low-brow humour (Seth Rogen's influence on the script is extremely apparent), but I really quite enjoyed this. It's silly and funny with a great cast, and I love the geeky premise. I'll stick with it for now, hopefully it's going to become a bit more refined in both dialogue and storytelling.
Nice to see that more elements from the old Expanded Universe are being brought into official canon.
I freakin' love the Porgs.
I was all set to enjoy this and then the awful Bill Hader showed up. Who's next, Ricky Gervais?
That may well be the lamest pre-credits sequence in Star Trek history. They're supposed to get you excited for the episode.
Quite terrible all round really. A lot of time spent down in a meeting hall with a bunch of aliens, and very little time spent with our main characters. The usually reliable Jennifer Lien doesn't do a great job as a villain, either. I take it that she and Neelix are on their way to finishing as a couple given that there was no resolution to the break up scene.
More crappy aliens with leaves in their hair. Awful rescue attempt by Tuvok.
This has slowed to a crawl and is full of uninteresting plot lines. It's not the same complex and thrilling show it was in seasons 1-3. This felt like a whole bunch of nothing.
This was like somebody attempting to do an imitation of a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode.
So, pretty much a Star Trek: Voyager episode.
I was bored out of my mind. It didn't make a bit of sense and not only do the actors not really seem to care about what's happening, it feels like the characters don't either. This was lazy beyond belief.
That digging sequence certainly did go on. And on. And on. And on.
And on.
There's a point where something becomes tense, and then a point where something is clearly just there to pad out time. We know that this show should be much better than resorting to that.
Otherwise, a solid but uneventful episode. A season opener should do more to grab your attention. I find myself enjoying the scenes at home with Paige and Stan, etc., much more than anything else. That's the core of the show's drama and in that respect everything else can feel lesser, so following Oleg back to Russia seems like an annoying side step. The teaser was the most shocking part, seeing Philip and Elizabeth with their new "son".
The Evolution of the Arm was not what I was expecting!
This is insane and I think I love it.
Wow! That ending!
Hello, Keith Mars :)
Convenient memory wipe is convenient. And poor writing.
Brida is the only sensible character. Why won't Uhtred listen to her?!
What?
That was terrible. Arty farty nonsense masquerading as entertainment.
Blinky and Toby surf out of a giant's butthole. This show has changed direction.
Sometimes I find myself appreciating the way this show is taking its time and giving us a very full story. At other times, like with this episode, I feel like it's just standing still.
Okay, potential BIG ISSUE with this episode.
They didn't make it too clear, but I got the impression that the guitar was supposed to actually be one that Kurt Cobain used - HOWEVER, Kurt was famously a lefty. That Jaguar guitar was right-handed.
