Change Your Image
bobcat333-287-597020
Reviews
Starcrash (1978)
Halfway to a decent film
Watching Starcrash for the first time ever, in 2021, I could see past the hokey effects, the budget, the airfix-kitbash spaceships, the overacting...
What stuck out to me was the potential.
There are a lot of potentially interesting characters and ideas being thrown around, but they're often either underutilised or ignored entirely.
It's one of those things where, if someone where to take the script, polish it up some, and give it to a studio with an actual budget...
*gestures vaguely towards Battlestar Galactica...*
At times it's like watching the bonus scenes from a TV series without watching the series itself. So many plot elements seem to come out of nowhere, or aren't properly explained.
It's definitely a movie of its time, made for a specific purpose, for a certain demographic, and it's definitely a "park-your-brain".
But I can't help but think it could have been something a lot bigger and better, if given a better chance.
Black Box (2020)
Solid, if bleak.
This is the kind of film that would be great on stage or as the setup for a computer game.
For such a minimalist film- crowdfunded, one actor in one set for the majority- I found it quite effective and engaging, with enough of a slow burn to keep me invested.
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Muddled, but entertaining.
Overall a good decent movie, but falls a little short of greatness.
The core cast are for the most part well played and written, and the new characters provide a solid gateway to the plot and setup.
But it's one of those movies- like 2017's Power Rangers- that spends a little too much time setting up the characters and the world and why they're fighting, rather than just getting to it.
There are a couple of scenes where the bad guys just show up, glower menacingly, then leave, with little to no progression to the plot.
SPOILERS:
Adding "Arcana" as a way of explaining why the hero characters have superpowers is an interesting idea, but IMO it isn't properly explained or utilised- it's just a mcguffin to give certain characters their in-game abilities.
Not quite as good as the first Mortal Kombat, but certainly better than Annihilation.
Doctor Who: Rosa (2018)
Powerful, poignant and much-needed.
This is what Doctor Who should be.
Many people don't seem to realise that Doctor Who was SUPPOSED to be as an educational series at its start, and finally we see it coming back to those roots with Rosa.
Powerful moments, great acting, and a Doctor who knows when to step back and let history unfold- without the overblown theatrics of Tennant's era.
It highlights the problems of its setting- many of which are still present today- without being overly preachy, and feels ever more relevant today.
Some of the humour between Graham and Ryan does seem force in one or two places, but weighed against the rest of the episode and its message, it's inconsequential.
We need more like Rosa.