mcminnjohn Reviews

Halo (2022– )

Great Sci-Fi Series

[10/10 · 21 May 2022]

I'm not a game player as such I'm not judging the series against the game as some reviews have done. I've watched most of the Halo films and Anime.

This series is really excellent the acting and CGI is great. I've really enjoyed watching it.

The storyline and characters work well and I really hope there will be a second series. The first series leaves so many questions.

I could see this going to at least three series.

Arcane (2021– )

Very Good

[9/10 · 27 November 2021]

I'm in my 70's so haven't grown up with video games or anime. I watched the first episode and just wanted more. Although some of the later episodes seem to strain the writers in coming up with a way to continue the story line it's still good and I'm still enjoying it.

Waiting to see what comes up in episode 10. Sadly, I can't see this running into a second season unless the writers get their act together and work out a complete story line rather than patching ones together to keep the story going. It does seem obvious in the later episodes that the writers are contriving events in the story to keep it moving along.

Raised by Wolves (2020–2022)

Truly Excellent Sci-Fi

[10/10 · 25 November 2021]

This is one of the best sci-fi series I have watched recently. Beats the latest Dune movie and Apple's Foundation series.

The Androids are amazing, the locations give a sense of isolation, the history of the characters is close to home with life on Earth under threat from religious bigotry escalating into religious warfare.

The story line is cleverly developed starting from an android mother and father figures whose purpose is to start human life over again on an uninhabited planet. As the story develops we discover that there is more to the planet than first appearances suggest. We discover that there is more to the androids than they first appear. The 'mother' android turns out to to be able to change into some sort of super weapon.

Both androids are programmed to be nurturing parental figures to the six children that the mother android nurtures from embryo into living babies.

The mother android then destroys an 'ark' that finds the planet. The 'ark' belongs to the main religious sect who worship Sol whilst the androids have been programmed by the atheist sect that are battling the Sol believers. The androids perceive the 'ark' as a threat to their mission and a threat to the children.

Have to admit that the series gets really weird, but in a good way, as it nears the end of the season.

I really hope that there is another season as there are a few threads left hanging in the final episode of the first season.

Lol, there is a scene in the final episode that is very reminiscent of a scene in Ridley Scott's 'Alien'. Watch the episode you'll see what I mean.

Foundation (2021– )

Good Production But Not Asimov

[6/10 · 24 October 2021]

I was excited when I first saw that a TV series was being made of Asimov's Foundation series. But was disappointed when I watched it. It doesn't follow the Asimov story and has changed the gender for some of the main characters. Why do makers of these types of iconic books change the gender of characters? The latest Dune movie has a main character with a change of gender. I would be all for it if it actually added something to the production but it doesn't. It's actually insulting that a gender change is made simply for reasons of PC rather than to add something to a story.

If you ignore the fact that it doesn't follow Asimov's books then it's an enjoyable well made series.

Dune (2021)

The Best Adaption So Far

[9/10 · 20 October 2021]

I've been a fan of he Dune story for many years. This movie is the best adaptation of the story so far. The only worrying thing is I can't see any details about the release of the second part. The movie ends halfway through the story. So, hopefully, there will be a second part.

The settings, the acting all make the story come to life. My only disappointment was that, for some, reason, they have changed Dr Leito Keynes, the imperial ecologist, from a man to a black women I don't understand why? The cast of the movie are multicultural anyway. Leito Keynes, while a prominent character is only in a few scenes so changing the character for PC reasons doesn't make sense.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Why?

[1/10 · 18 October 2021]

I lasted into the first 30 minutes of the film only because of Harley (Margot Robbins). "Disappointed" doesn't express how I felt watching this sequel. The first Suicide Squad was excellent and I looked forward to the sequel.

I can only assume this was made as a joke.

She Was the Deputy's Wife (2021)

Excellent and unusual western

[10/10 · 20 May 2021]

Really enjoyed this western. It has an unusual plot line for a western more reminiscent of a Shakespeare story. The basic story is about a women who feels trapped in her life and marriage until she meets a young horse thief. She falls for him whilst helping out at his brother-in-laws ranch where he is hiding horses that he has stolen. The women is enamoured by one of the horses, a white mare, not because of the horse itself but because of the lost freedom the horse represents.

The main part of the story revolves around an unscrupulous marshal who wants the white mare for himself and he is willing to do anything to get it.

The film is apparently part of a series of 12 films although I have been able to locate any of the other 11 so far.

Definitely a film to watch as long as you are not after a shoot-them-up cowboy film.

Altered Carbon (2018–2020)

Doesn't compare to first season

[1/10 · 8 March 2020]

Only managed to watch the first two episodes of this new season. Found it really disappointing compared to the first season. The storyline is weak and doesn't have the same feel as the first series. Poe is great and is the only good thing in this second season.

Cobra (2020–2023)

I enjoyed it

[19 January 2020]

Yes, it was a terrible storyline not quite sure what message, if any, the story was trying to get across.

Firstly lets deal with the premise of the story. The story starts with a Coronal Mass Ejection CME from the sun. This hits the earth as an Electro-magnetic pulse EMP which takes out the power supply countrywide, as well as across Europe. The effects of the EMP is so underplayed that I wondered why they bothered to use this as a reason for the turmoil the story uses. For example the transformer producing electric power to an area in the north of England is knocked out while other areas have a backup transformer this area is sacrifice as the spare transformer is on it's way from Germany. An EMP will knock out all electrical systems including power stations, cars, radios, mobile phones etc. i.e. anything that has a circuit board into will be fried by an EMP unless it's been 'hardened' to cope with the immense energy from an EMP. This fact is completely ignored by the story. So while the 'Red Zone' doesn't have any electric power the people who live there still have working mobile phones. Not sure how that works when an EMP would have fried everything electrical.

However, once you get past that major mistake the story is really about political in-fighting tinged with radicalism of the right and populist views. Manipulation by and of the press for political reasons all mixed in with a bit of romance and a cute dog.

To sum up it's a 'B' movie that's so bad it's enjoyable, at least I enjoyed it not sure you will.