skydragon-4 Reviews

The X-Files: Familiar (2018) Season 11, Episode 8

Best episode of the season

[10/10 · 13 March 2018]

As many other X-Files fans, I've been watching this show from the very beginning back in the early nineties. Season 11 hasn't been bad or anything but this episode, with your classic X-Files style Monster of the Week, just blew me away. Completely gripping from start to finish and the entire episode seemed to pass just like that because I was so hooked. A++

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Great flick as long as you don't expect too much

[9/10 · 3 August 2016]

I was 16 years of age when the original Independence Day movie was released in cinemas. I had watched all the awesome TV spots and was hyped to see that movie. Sure, the first hour or so was epic but, in my view, it was all downhill from there. I persisted and watched it right to the really lame ending whereby a virus is uploaded to the mothership. Bought the VHS copy as soon as it released (So my parents and all could watch it) and it's safe to say that, after the initial explosions and stuff, we forwarded large parts of the rest of the movie because it was, to be frank, boring. At this point, I accepted that I expected too much from this movie. I expected something coherent when watching it but all it turned out to be was a movie with lots of explosions and action and stuff which isn't a bad thing but I expected something more realistic and that was my mistake.

Fast forward almost two decades later and a sequel was announced. Can't say that I was particularly fond of the news but nevertheless accepted it. However, the first trailer blew me away with the immense scope (The size of the f'ing mothership.. Jesus). As the release date came, I booked and watched it in the cinema. I can honestly say that it surprised me because, for some reason, I was hooked from beginning to end. Now, let me tell you, I've watched many Sci-Fi movies and TV series and my favourites include Stargate, BSG, TNG etc so I was actually taken aback by just how much I enjoyed this movie. I shouldn't be enjoying it but I am - Why? I just didn't know. The scenes showing the motherships arrival was jaw-dropping, literally, and I can't wait to watch all that stuff on BluRay in the future. I only realised that my mouth was open at the end of that entire segment because it just looked so damn awesome seeing the mothership landing on Earth, especially the bit with it extending its "legs"(?) but wow. I left the cinema completely satisfied.

As I arrived home, I thought about why I enjoyed the movie. Sure, it was cheesy and made me roll my eyes sometimes but then I realised something crucial - I didn't expect much to begin with. I expected some rehashed trash of the original Independence Day and unoriginal stuff like the new Star Wars movie. If your bar is set low to begin with - At worst, you leave the cinema just as you entered and, at best, you leave surprised. I was the latter. I didn't expect an intelligent plot like Blade Runner or Inception but expected some interesting things to see but even that surpassed what I thought I would see visually. I didn't sit there looking for plot holes or inconsistencies - I just sat there watching a movie and turned my brain off while doing so. And it turned out to be the right decision because the movie isn't trying to be something that the majority of whiners are complaining about. It's like going to watch a Transformers movie and then complaining about how unrealistic Transformers are to begin with. The movie is just a summer blockbuster that's just interested in showing some over-the-top CGI, big explosions and some overarching story about defeating the bad guys again. End of. Haters need to grow up and accept it.

I, for one, am looking forward to Independence Day 3.

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)

Underwhelming

[1/10 · 23 March 2016]

tl:dr - Watch once but doubt you'll bother watching it again.

Main review: Similar to others, I was happy to hear that Abrams would be directing this sequel but I should've known better. Also, just like others, I became a fan of Abrams with Lost and Cloverfield. However, as time has gone by, I'm now of the opinion that he doesn't actually do anything special with any of the movies that he directs. And this is just the latest example.

I mean, how can you not get Star Wars right? The immensity of the lore gives you endless possibilities to work with. Unfortunately, it feels as if he just wanted to play it safe by using the same old formula and just not willing (Or able?) to think up anything original. Iconic characters from the original Trilogy just seemed so out of place in this movie. It's almost like he didn't have a clue as to what to do with them. Don't get me wrong, some of the scenery and effects in this movie were good to see. Kylo was okay and some of the sequences were good to watch but it just didn't save the movie. If you removed the Star Wars name and all lightsabers, this probably would've been seen as a terrible movie and be going at 2/10 on IMDb but, because it's Star Wars, it's rated highly. There was just something that.. I'm not sure what it was but something was missing. I still can't put my finger on it. The plot started off okay but seemed all over the place as the movie progressed. Okay, a planet got blown up - So what? I couldn't care less. Snoke? Don't care. Kylo? Apart from some stuff he did, who cares? The First Order? Don't care. Why even have Phasma there if you can't make her seem cool or do anything useful? To be honest, I had a hard time caring even when Han, Leia or even Luke made an appearance. Barely anything made me care about any of the characters, even the original ones - And I LOVED the Originals and Prequels. The whole thing seemed bland, dull and boring for the most part. And Abrams, in my view, is to blame. I have no idea why this is 8.4/10 on IMDb as I type this.

And that's excluding all the problems with the plot, some of which are below: - A planet-sized "Starkiller" was made within 30 years? Using what resources? How? Where did they get the people from given the size of the First Order? - Finn just happened to walk in the right direction in the desert and meet Rey? Er, okay. - Oh, how convenient that the Millennium Falcon was there to help them escape. - Oh, Poe died? Hmm. Oh wait, now he's not? Oh.. okay? - How convenient that Rey seems to fly the Falcon so well and take out the bad guys. - How convenient that Han finds their ship at the perfect time. - How convenient that Han has gone back to who he used to be and Leia is in a similar position as in the original movies (omg look! she is a born rebel!! omg). - How convenient that they find Luke's lightsaber. - Rebels save the day at the perfect time! - Let's blow up a planet that we don't care about to show how powerful this new weapon is. Oh, you were targeting the Senate.. Er, okay? Who cares? - How convenient that Finn et al sneak into the enemy camp ("Starkiller") and walk around without being caught. You'd think something of that size would have millions of troops. - Yes Rey, escape but not do the obvious and wear a Stormtrooper uniform to blend in. - Oh look, Rey can now climb walls and knows what button to press to go wherever she wants because.. Well, who cares. - Oh look, let's kill Han for shock value in one of the lamest ways possible. - Let's also shoot random stuff to blow up the Starkiller as Poe did. Because shooting at random stuff always works if you don't know what you're doing. Rest assured, as always, it's all good because the good guys will get away because that's how below average movies work.

Please.

All that I thought at the end of the movie was that Disney made a mistake by not allowing Lucas to work in some major capacity on the sequels. At least the prequels, even with problems, were good to watch. TFA wasn't good to watch but actually boring in various places.

I'm hoping Rian Johnson learns and improves on the below-average plot for Episode VII as he directs Episode VIII otherwise, if I were Disney, I'd seriously start reassessing how to proceed forward with the franchise.

The Expanse (2015–2022)

Amazing series! Highly recommended!

[10/10 · 23 December 2015]

I barely write reviews but felt that I definitely had to this time. I was totally hesitant on watching this series. After being exposed to many "Syfy" shows that didn't live up to my expectations, I was thinking of letting this series run for a season or so before checking on what people think. I've watched (On Syfy) Battlestar Galactica (Loved it), all the Stargate shows (Loved it) and tried other shows like Killjoys and DM (They kind of sucked) so had been waiting for a good, scripted space-based Sci-Fi show on Syfy for a long time. I had almost given up.

I was just going to watch Episode 1 of The Expanse yesterday. Unfortunately for me, it was so good that I watched the next 3 in succession today but that means I now have to wait for new episodes to air on Syfy since I watched them all online (Syfy website) and Syfy only just aired Episode 2 on TV! The storyline is fantastic and the mystery elements are welcome and will make me come back time and again to continue watching. The CGI is top-notch stuff and I'm incredibly happy with this - Reminds me of SGU. The actors play their roles well and were well chosen. Can't really fault this series.

I hope we have many seasons of The Expanse! It's hard to please me and you can consider me thoroughly pleased. Can't wait to see where the story takes us! Highly recommended. If you haven't started watching the show, I recommend that you start now. I've seen a couple of people whining in this reviews section about trivial and stupid things but I'm sure that as long as you have at least a single functioning brain cell, you'll be fine!

Poltergeist (2015)

A good movie but not perfect

[7/10 · 21 June 2015]

I watched the original Poltergeist movie for the first time in the early 90's. I was only around 10 years old but found it pretty damn scary. As I grew up and watched it several more times it became less so and, having just watched it again last year, looked dated.

So obviously I was happy that a remake had been announced but I was cautious because Hollywood has a knack for screwing it up. After eventually watching it earlier this year, I'm not sure what to think. People inevitably are going to compare it with the original. Others are going to try and forget about the original and watch it as a modern day movie which is what I did. I can honestly say that it did have its moments but I just couldn't help feeling as if it could've delivered more somehow. That's not to say that I'm disappointed or anything because it was a decent movie to watch. Would recommend watching it although people who liked the original may walk away a little disappointed. Definitely better than a lot of movies in this genre that get higher ratings for some strange reason when they're rubbish.

Stargate Universe (2009–2011)

A series ahead of its time

[10/10 · 14 June 2015]

I was one of those people back in 2009 who was furious that Stargate: Atlantis had been cancelled. The replacement? Stargate: Universe. I was very vocal in my dismay over what I had deemed as a bad decision to cancel SGA. We constantly called this series Stargate: Galactica or Stargate: Voyager as a way to poke fun at this series and show the producers just how annoyed we were. However, I decided to see how it goes.

The first episode aired, and it was good. I liked the characters (Particularly Eli and Rush), ship and various other things. The story lines were bland though and I got so bored by the time Season 2 came that I started skipping through episodes. There was also barely any humour in this series compared to previous SG series. Once it was announced that Season 2 would be its last, I was happy. Unfortunately, it also meant that there would be no more Stargate on TV. Good riddance, I thought. The only thing I wanted a resolution to was "the message" storyline but that's about it.

Fast forward 4 years. Because of a lack of Sci-Fi shows like B5, Star Trek, BSG etc, I went back to Stargate: Universe. It may have been because of the "spaceship TV show" drought or some other reason but I LOVED IT. It felt so good to watch it and I was hooked from the get-go. After two seasons were up, I sat there in quiet contemplation asking myself why I played a hand in getting this show cancelled. And now I feel sad while typing this review. It was a show far ahead of its time and I'm certain that there was a lot of good story lines that were in the pipeline. I still especially wanted to see a resolution to what "the message" was but we may never find out since Brad Wright isn't interested in spilling the beans on that which is a shame.

Dark Matter just recently started being shown on Syfy which uses props from SGU. My first thought was why they couldn't have just continued SGU with a reduced cast based on the events at the end of season 2. I'm sure millions would tune in now after having realised, like me, that SGU is actually quite good.

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

The best Comic-Book-Based Time Travel Movie I've ever seen

[10/10 · 7 September 2014]

Where do I begin with this movie. I watched this movie twice in two days back in May when it was first released. I had heard some good things about the movie but it far exceeded my expectations.

First of all, I'm a huge X-Men fan. I've read the comics for years and most previous X-Men movies have taken a fair stab at trying to bring these Comic-Book superheroes to life on the big screen. Despite what others have said, X-Men 3: The Last Stand wasn't that bad of a movie in my opinion but I was really annoyed that they killed off Cyclops and Jean Grey. 'First Class' (The previous movie to this one) was a breath of fresh air.. A chance to have a new beginning if you will. It was a fantastic movie and I didn't think DoFP would be better. I was wrong. By miles.

As you may have heard, Days of Future Past is a time travel movie. I was wondering when they'd bring the future into this series (Being such a big part of the comics) and I'm happy that they finally decided to do so. However, the 'time travel' aspect of the movie is done so damn well that everyone I was watching the movie with (Who don't understand this kind of stuff) understood it all for once. It's a simple story and everything is easy to follow.

The movie is set in the near future and mutants are being hunted to near-extinction by powerful machines called "Sentinels". The few survivors realised that they can send the mind of a person back in time to influence events so as to change the future. This was initially done short-term to avoid Sentinels, but it was suggested that if someone's mind could be sent back far enough, they could stop the idea of Sentinels from ever having been conceived (The roots of the idea stem from a Scientist in the 70's). However, sending a mind back that far in time tears it apart, but there's one mutant who we know of who seems impervious to anything that you can throw at him - Wolverine. And thus, Wolverine's quest begins to change the past so that everyone can be saved in the future and we can all live in a better world.

I have to admit, the movie was tense in a lot of places. There was humour, lots of action, brilliant CGI, amazing character development and a story that kept you hooked from beginning to end. You just weren't sure what would happen and the last third of the movie was amazing to watch. There were some parts that stood out and literally made my jaw drop such as watching Blink do her thing during the first few and last few minutes of the movie (The one that can shoot out these purple portals). I really wish they had put more of her in this movie; Quicksilver busting out Magneto from the Pentagon; Old Professor X talking with the younger one; Magneto lifting the stadium; Actually, I'll stop there..

You can understand the story and you can relate to the characters. They all have their own reasons for doing what they do, from Professor Xavier taking the side of Humanity to Magneto thinking that a war is inevitable and that Mutants have to strike first. Then, there's Raven/Mystique who wants to avenge her fallen friends but is she willing to do so at the expense of the future?

I can't wait for the Blu-Ray for this movie to be released so I can watch it again in High-Definition. When watching this movie, remember to watch the after-credits scene that sets up the next movie which will be released in 2016. All I'll say is - About damn time that that character made an appearance!

10/10

Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009)

One of, if not, THE best Sci-Fi Show in recent times

[10/10 · 22 August 2014]

I was one of those who didn't get the appeal of Battlestar Galactica back in 2004. I was a huge Star Trek fan and didn't like the initial Mini-Series all that much. I only started watching it again when Season 3 started airing in 2006. With all the hype, I decided to watch the Mini-Series again, go onto Season 1 and continue until I reach the newest Season 3 episodes airing at the time. I'm extremely glad that I did because it was one of the most satisfying series I have ever watched.

The reason I decided to review the series now is simply because I just watched it again in its entirety over the last few weeks. And let me tell you - I was hooked from start to end and loved every single second of it. The characters are brilliantly written, the actors are superb, the storyline is awesome and the graphics are top-notch.

As with all TV shows, there are some haters who I've seen whining about things. I don't understand their mentality because the series has stayed consistent since the start of Season 1 with the underlying religious themes, so I'm not sure what those people expected from the series. Maybe they can enlighten me now because I never seem to quite get their stance and why they expected the series to go off on a tangent towards "reason" and "logic" which seems absurd. It's like incorporating "Science" into another brilliant series - Supernatural, and explaining everything using scientific means. It just wouldn't make sense because that's not what the series was trying to be.

But anyway - If you want to watch a brilliantly scripted series, then this is the one for you. In a nutshell, Humanity inhabits the Twelve Colonies of Man, somewhere out there in the galaxy. They created robots, "Cylons", who did everything we wanted until they rebelled. A massive war broke out which ultimately ended in the Cylons leaving the Twelve Colonies. No-one had heard from the Cylons in 40 years until the events of the Mini-Series where they come back and completely destroy Humanity. The survivors (Around 50,000 people) are forced to flee the Colonies where billions have already died and forced to find a new home with the Cylons constantly in pursuit. The idea is to follow the route of the "13th Tribe/Colony" who went out into the stars and settled on a planet named "Earth". That's the basic premise of the story but so much happens over the 4 seasons that I'd feel ashamed to spoil it for others. It's hard to say what parts of BSG really stood out because all of it was so frakking good but some notable parts are the entire "New Caprica" occupation storyline at the end of Season 2/start of Season 3, the big reveal of 4 out of 5 of the "Final Five" Cylons at the end of Season 3/start of Season 4, the hopelessness that is felt after "Earth" is actually found mid-Season 4 and the final battle at the end of Season 4.

Something interesting that you may not have known is that BSG was supposed to be 3 seasons long but because of the popularity, they extended the series by one Season. This can be evident at times with a few "filler" episodes, but some of the main storyline is also thrown into those episodes so it isn't all that bad.

The storyline can be bleak at times and sometimes you do think whether you'd have the strength to carry on if you were in their position but that's what makes it so interesting to watch. Add in a dash of "God", "Angels", "Prophecy" and "Destiny" and you have a perfect recipe for a great story.

Highly recommended!

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Worst movie yet

[1/10 · 2 August 2014]

First off, I'd like to say something - I loved the original Spiderman trilogy that Sam Raimi directed. I had watched Spiderman cartoons in the 80's and 90's and the older movies so had some exposure to this Marvel icon but was never too interested in the series until Raimi's movies came out. I was blown away by those movies and was saddened to find out that there won't be a fourth movie.

Then, The Amazing Spiderman was announced. Eventually, the trailer was released and I was cautiously optimistic for this reboot that seemed to promise better things. TASM was released, and it turned out to be a massive disappointment in my eyes. I didn't care at all about the actors, the story or the characters. It felt like a chore to watch and I'm still surprised that I didn't walk out of the cinema in disgust. I watched it later on BluRay thinking that maybe I was tired so should try harder to like it. It was still the same bad movie that I watched the first time around.

Then, TASM 2 was announced. A trailer was revealed and it looked good. So, there I go to watch TASM 2 at the cinema. It was even worse than the first movie! Long periods of boredom and I did not feel anything for Max Dillon or his (Later) Electro character. I didn't care about Peter's parents, Gwen, Harry (Well, I did care a little about him but that was because of DeHaan who was awesome to watch) or a lot of other things. Everything felt silly and pointless. Peter's parents' storyline was lame, there was way too much CGI and there was too many irrelevant parts of the storyline. All of this together made for, what was in my opinion, one of the worst movies that I've ever watched. And that's quite shocking for me because it's Spiderman.. How can any director make a bad Spiderman movie in this day and age when there's so much material to work with? I just wanted the movie to finish so I could leave and watch better things to get the sour taste out of my mouth over the fact that I had fallen for this a second time.

If you loved this movie, so be it. I personally thought it was terrible and I won't be watching another Spiderman movie while Marc Webb is directing whether it's the Sinister Six, Venom or TASM 3 because I won't fall for this again. In my opinion, Kurtzman and Orci should be removed as writers as well since they're to blame for the terribly silly script as well. I really wish Raimi would return and give another instalment for the original trilogy but I doubt that'll happen. In that case, the glory days for Spiderman ended at Spiderman 3 for me.

The Bay (II) (2012)

Sit back, expect a good movie, then be sorely disappointed

[1/10 · 27 November 2012]

Now, don't get me wrong, I love "found-footage" films. Read the summary and thought "Yeah, let's give it a go". Seen Blair Witch, The Tunnel, Rec and all those films.

This is quite possibly the worst of the lot. After half an hour, I couldn't stomach the cheap "scare tactics" any longer, the music was silly, the actors weren't that good and this looked like a film that my kid sister would make. I'm not going to spoil anything, but the only thing going for it was possibly the plot. However, everything else was so bad that I started skipping through the movie after half an hour. All I can say is that I'm glad I did.

Boring.

1408 (2007)

How did this get a 6.8?

[1/10 · 27 November 2012]

I grew up watching Stephen King's TV mini series "It", "The Stand" and "The Langoliers" amongst others and have read various books. Not going to spoil anything, but I had high hopes for this movie and was very disappointed. I sat watching this movie with my little sister and I have never turned a movie off before it ended. Both of us were bored and literally sat there predicting successfully what was going to happen next. After a while, it became boring because nothing was interesting about this movie at all - It had a predictable plot, the characters weren't that interesting and nothing scared anyone. It's a shame because I like the actors, just that the screenwriter did a terrible job and there's no way anyone could ever get me to watch this movie again.