darkneal Reviews

Ahsoka: Part Three: Time to Fly (2023) Season 1, Episode 3

Wanted: any male heroes

[5/10 · 2 September 2023]

I can't relate to this show. I can't relate to any Disney content atm. Do you know why? Cause I'm a middle aged white male. Every.single.character is female. I'm all for strong female characters but I'm also all for women that don't desire to be a girl boss at everything (y'know like real life) where's the balance? The only time you get a white male is as a bad guy...where are my heroes gone?

As geeks growing up it was in science fiction and superheroes we could escape from the alpha males and females that made so many lives a misery. And now it's all being taken away, we have to watch alpha females take over every single geeky IP, all based on some idiots impression that they're making a difference, the alpha white males you hate so much don't watch this crap! It's the ugly girl, the ginger girl, the fat guy, the spotty guy...they're the ones that found hope in Star Wars, in Marvel. And it's all being taken away to teach people who don't watch these shows and films a lesson. And we're just left with terrible shows that appeal to no one.

This show isn't as inept as obi wan or Boba Fett but it's not quite as good as the bad season of Mando either (3). These are the same characters I loved from Rebels, but with the strong male heroes from the animated show gone there's no one to aspire to, and it makes the females look so much weaker as a result. It's the exact opposite result Disney are intending.

The spiteful agenda has gone to far. Its time all races and genders were treated equally. I know it hasn't been that way before but it's certainly not that way now either, just another giant pendulum swing in another direction. It's time for everyone to grow up, and to bring balance to the force.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 23: The Spies (2023) Season 3, Episode 7

It's all Dave Filoni

[10/10 · 12 April 2023]

Many people have been questioning the strange dip in writing quality this third season of the Mandalorian compared to the first two seasons...but it's not that hard to work it out.

The only person on the entire Lucasfilm writing team that knows what they're doing, that KNOWS Starwars (even more so than hardcore fans) is Dave Filoni.

After taking a backseat on the writing for this season to concentrate on Ahsoka, Filoni finally writes an episode for Mando, taking over from the mess Favreau has been creating..and lo and behold, we're back to season 2 levels of mando greatness. It's a great, tight episode, full of action and excitement. It FEELS like Star Wars again.

With KK still in charge Star Wars will continue to be a mess, focusing on the wrong characters, on forceful identity politics...BUT we do have Filoni. All is not lost.

Bob Iger would do well to finally do the right thing. If you want Disney to start making money with the Star Wars brand once again, put Filoni in charge! But even that could be too little too late..,

The Last of Us (2023– )

Game adaptation finally done right

[9/10 · 16 January 2023]

See, it's not that hard is it Hollywood? Who would have thought a mostly faithful adaptation would turn out to be acclaimed by critics and fans alike?

The pacing is just about right, and the well written characters are beautifully brought to live by the actors.

Will the success of this show finally convince the idiots with the money that maybe, just maybe they can actually make more money and generate more acclaim by having the actual games creator write the adaptation? Without that awful age old excuse that a game writer couldn't possibly handle the job of writing a tv show/movie...

Just imagine a Resident Evil show that was actually faithful, imagine God of War with this level of competence. Imagine Hollywood keeping the creators of these successful IP's in charge, and you'll imagine a better more entertaining world.

So will Hollywood learn their lesson? Don't hold your breath but let's hope so.

Scream (I) (2022)

Ugh

[3/10 · 25 February 2022]

Ugh, I guess millennials are the ones who are rating this movie highly? It makes no sense, characters consistently doing stupid crap despite the movie trying to be meta enough to point it out, stupid woke crap women who are 5ft tall overpowering grown men...not once was ghost face shorter than the characters she killed/sure some were killed by the super obvious male ghost face but her kills(Dewey for example as she specifies it) it's quite obvious that's a man in the costume. It's lazy lazy rubbish, the last Scream movie this movie goes out of its way to ridicule is twice the sequel this could ever be. This is the worst of the sequels, but millennials seem to be content with mediocracy.

Halloween Kills (2021)

Best Halloween since H2O.

[9/10 · 6 November 2021]

Im a huge fan of 70s/80s horror icons and this is a massive improvement on the 2018 movie. There's more focus on Michael, and what propels him and some interesting new theories into why he is. The focus is moved away from the annoying Strode family, yes they're still a part of the overall story but there's more attention to what happens around Michael's killing sprees, it's not just the main stars who are affected in this movie. This is important in expanding the universe around the character, it helps makes his actions more real. They are having realtime consequence. Consequently the film feels more like lots of little Halloween stories within the overall strode arc. Of which i approve!

Halloween has never really dealt with that before but they handle michael with respect, without hurting the mythos. This is vital. Yes, there's an annoying subtplot about what humanity is capable of outside of pure evil like Michael, it's an important point to make but it's handled a bit ham-fisted here.

Michael is far more brutal here, he doesnt just stab and move on, he seems to enjoy the killing, hes not so cold. Im not saying this is a better version of him, in fact it isnt quite him. But its done again without hurting the mythos. (Unlike the Rob Zombie versions)

Overall the most fun and most most respectful Halloween movie in a long time. Watch it with friends, have a drink and a laugh or a scream and just enjoy the journey.

Evil Under the Sun (1982)

Fun, but flawed mystery. Spoilers.

[3/10 · 5 April 2021]

Ok, I have to write this review to counter all the reviewers blindly gushing in the movies brilliance. I would have really enjoyed this movie, I love a good murder mystery, but they're almost impossible to find. There's always a flaw. Dont get me started on Branagh's last remake and the insipid Knives Out.

The flaw in this movie is in the reveal. The whole aliby from the killers falls to peices because for it to work the guy needed a witness to the found dead body, in this case the American woman. Everything revolves around it, with so much effort from the accomplish to achieve this result.

BUT she was never meant to get the boat ride with the killer, she turned up at the jetty and forced herself on him, he seemed pretty put out by it at the time, it was impossible to plan her turning up.

So, their plan had to have a witness, but there had been no plan to have one. By having this scene it makes figuring out the actual killer impossible, and thats cheating the audience.

I really enjoyed the movie for what it was, but cannot give it a decent score based on such a huge part of the alibi basically being non-existent.

The Matador (2005)

Brosnan's coup de grace

[9/10 · 2 June 2010]

Brosnan's performance of a lifetime. Utterly compelling, beautiful and tragic. If only more people would give this movie a chance. Comparable to Grosse Point Blank on many levels it contains the same multiple layers of character detail and deeper message behind the surface detail, minus the action. The movie's title may have contributed to its relative quiet box office performance, acting more as a metaphor for the movie's protagonist than an exciting description of the splendid script. Real, honest performances grace this movie and even gives us an ending John Hughes would have been proud of in his 80's pomp. I would have loved to have seen Brosnan receive the big accolades for his performance, and to be honest it exasperates me to know it was largely ignored by the big awards, a best supporting actor nomination at the Golden Globes the only real acknowledgement.