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Doctor Who: Midnight (2008)
Russel T davies Captures true fear
Midnight is a true masterpiece of television. This is an episode where everything came together to make an unforgettable 50 minutes and in just that runtime and one location, it take the viewer to hell and back.
We start out in a funny awkward environment with just a handful of characters as they venture across the diamond planet midnight. It starts out similar to a sit com with the charterers interacting and making jokes with each other. Then the bus suddenly stops and the entire atmosphere of the episode so far completely changes.
What happens next is something out of a horror movie as the crew and passengers have an encounter with an alien entity that should not exist. It kills the drivers and takes over a passengers body leaving the doctor, hostess and other passengers not knowing what to do isolated with it.
What I love about this episode is the fact that the doctor is usually the person that people turn to for help in a crisis situation and people naturally gravitate towards him and see him as the leader to save them. This starts that way but soon that concept gets compltelty flipped on its head as his words and actions causes everyone to turn on him one by one until everyone is against him. First the two parents turn on him, then the hostess, then the professor, then Dee Dee and finally Jethro. Watching everyone turn on the doctor is the scariest part of this episode and leaves the viewer thinking about it for many days after watching it.
It makes the audience ask what they would do in a situation like this. I'm sure many people would like to think they would take the doctors side but the entity is just so unknown and scary that it makes the viewer second guess if they would. Its perfect that we never truly learn what the entity was or what it was doing and whether or not there was another solution to throwing it out.
While Moffat was often the one delivering the scary episodes in this Era of the show, Russel shows that he can do horror too and gives us this masterpiece.
This has got to be in my top 3 episodes of the new series and the best of series 4. This episode just proves that you don't need a big budget to create something amazing too. And the soundtrack by Murray Gold is just stellar in this episode.
10 starts out of 10.
Prometheus (2012)
Mixed bag
Prometheus is an interesting watch. It does some things very well and other thing absolutely terrible.
Lets start with some positives, I really enjoyed the visuals of the film, this is Ridley Scotts best area of directing and he does not disappoint here. There are shots here worthy of an art gallery. I liked some of the charterers. While most are pretty one dimensional, the actors all round did an amazing job here and make them more interesting then just what was written for them. Idris Elba, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce and Logan Marshall Green have pretty shallow writing, but they perform well enough to make them seem a lot more interesting and deeper. Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are the stand out however and play very interesting characters.
There is no denying however that this movie is plagued with bad writing, poor creative decisions and an extremely tacky connection with the alien franchise. I don't think I need to address the poor decisions made by characters as these complaints have been made many times beofre, I'll just say they are all valid complaints. Also I hate that nothing of the mystery of what happened on lv 223 is found out. I don't mind not knowing why the engineers wanted to destroy earth, in fact, i like not knowing as this gives the viewer something to think about long after the movie is over. But what I think we needed to know, or at the very least, get some more information on, was what actually happened on the planet. Questions like, What were the engineers running from in the hollow gram? Were there xenos on the planet? Is this the last engineer on the planet? What burst out of all those skeletons? What lifeform was that probe picking up? Did the engineers creative the xenos? What was the liquid in the caves? Was this the meeting point that they found on Earth?, needed to be answered in the movie. These are just a few of the questions, the movie leaves many others too.
But the biggest crime of this movie is how it handled the space Jockey. What was such an iconic alien creature with so much mystery and wonder behind it is dumbed down to just a humanoid in a spacesuit. That is unforgivable to me. The fact that it is just a humanoid is a massive let down and many things actually don't add up when comparing Prometheus to the original alien. For one, the engineers look much smaller, the design of the spaceship interior is different, and the spacesuit doesn't make sense for what the engineers are revealed to be. If you look at the orignal space Jocky and go by human standard of size, it doesn't actually have room for any legs in the chair its sat in. They are a cool sci fi concept but I just don't think they were a fit for the alien universe. If scott wanted to create a god like race in a sci fi setting, this should have been a separate movie unconnected to the alien franchise. Its an interesting idea but just not right for this universe.
I actully think that this movie could have heavily benefited from an actual xenomoroh rather then just a few camoes of alternate forms of them. Having a character get lost and get face hugged in the caves scenes and then when the 2 guys are lost in the caves, have them both picked off by one could have been some great horror moments and the atmosphere was there. Being trapped in an abandoned alien temple with a Xenomporoh somewhere in the dark could have been amazing. But instead we just got them killed by some alien worms. Then a seach party could have enoutered them after the storm and got killed by them, this would have been a better ending then them simply being killed by a zombie.
Overall this movie ends up pretty average. Its no where near the heights of alien and aliens but its still far from the bottom of the franchisee. I would consider this far better then AVPR and Alien Resurrection. Its just such a mixed bag. I would say its definitively worth a watch if you like the Alien series. Although there are no Xenos, it still feels very much in the alien universe. Its still an entertaining film.
I give it 6 stars out of 10.
Doctor Who: Checkmate (1965)
Great ending!
The time meddler ends with a great episode and a good way to end seaosn 2. William Hartnell was on great form in this episode and the character of the 1st doctor has come along way since the first seaosn and is much more accepting of his human companions, its nice to see his character grow. Steven makes a great addition to the crew( or I should say makes a great passenger). The monk makes an interesting foe for the doctor as hes not really an evil villain more just a menace. Loved seeing another TARDIS too. Just a shame the monk only had one other appearance in the show after this. Maybe he'll be back some day?
Aliens (1986)
Perfect blend of action and horror
Aliens is a worthy sequel to Alien and doesn't fall into the trap of simply remaking the original. This movie is an absolute classic that has aged extremely well. The characters are memorable and have some iconic lines that you will never forget after watching.
This is different to the original as Alien was more focused on horror whereas here it is more focused on action while still having some horror scenes thrown in. It get the balance perfect and has some tense, atmospheric, suspenseful scenes that build up before getting into the action. While the aliens in this movie may be different to the original alien and seem far less, well "alien", they still are similar enough and look amazing to get a pass.
While kids in movies like this can often be very annoying or unlikable, Newt does not fall into that mistake and is one of the best charterers. Hudson,another fan favorite character, is extremely likable. Sgt Apone, who had a much smaller role is still a memorable character which shows how strong the charters are in this movie. Ripley continues her story and grows as a character in this movie also which is nice to see.
(minor spoilers ahead)
My favorite part of this movie is when Ripely goes into the processing plant in the elevator, saves newt, meets the queen and burns down the nest. Perfect reveal and epic action with the iconic pulse rifle that feels like a redo of the original alien sequence but on a much bigger scale.
Overall close to perfect movie that is one of my favorites.
10 stars out of 10.
Alien³ (1992)
Alien 3 fails too much on what it could have been
Alien 3 to me is a massive missed opportunity. The movie itself has its moments but falls flat and fails in many areas. The key word I would describe Alien 3 with is frustration.
What I mean by this is that when you look at the behind the scenes and original ideas of this film, it's clear that the end product was just the shell of what is was suppose to be. This isn't really surprising based off of the production of this film as it's common knowledge now that this was a nightmare for everyone involved.
I think the reason why this has a sort of cult following now of people claiming its the underappreciated masterpiece of the alien franchise is due to a lot of the things that didn't make it into the movie. The movie itself is average at best. While the assembly cut fixes some of the problems with the original, it still wasn't enough to salvage the movie unfortunately.
Lets take the alien for example. Many people love to say this movie introduced the idea of a queen face hugger that can impregnate two hosts, a scavenger alien and a queen. It even has armor and a bladed tail and the design looks good too. This was something that would have been a great addition to the alien lore and explains how queens are made as this was something we hadn't seen yet. Many give credit to this movie for adding this into the lore however the problem is this was cut pretty much entirely from both cuts of the film. The facehuger seen at the beginning of both versions is just a regular one and not the new design. In fact the only time we see the queen facehuuger is when a prisoner picks it up, and unless you knew about the alternative design before hand, its pretty much impossible to see its even a diffrent facehugger to the normal one. So this interesting idea of this new alien is pretty much cut from the film entirely.
I know its clique to complain of the death of the charters form Aliens but that was just a terrible move. Many people have defended this action over the years since it shows that anyone can die in these movies and that the xenomorphs are a force of nature and it makes the moive more realistic and not like a kids movie. However to me it was just lazy and killed all the potential for future alien movies and ultimately lead to the creation of alien resurrection which was the worst films of the franchise. Just to think what better movies we could have had down the line if these charters were still alive. Also defending this by saying its in keeping with the alien franchise is not a valid argument either. The previous two movies both had an optimistic ending and this was the first to have a sort of bleak ending. That was one of the biggest positives of the first two was that you should never give up and overcome adversity, but with this, that kind of evaporates. In terms of the xenomorohs being a force of nature argument that people have made that also doesn't work either. The movie doesn't even attempt to answer how the egg got there or whether it was even the aliens that put it there in the first place. The leading theory of how it got there is that bishop somehow put it there but there is no evidence in the movies that support any of the theories. Even if bishop did but it there, its hard to really credit the xenos for this action. Its just lazy writing and a massive plot hole. But even if you could somehow prove that the egg got there it still doesn't work in the movie or fit with whats been established in the franchise. The egg is deep in the Salaco and far away from the humans who are asleep in cryo pods. So why would the egg even release the facehugger if there were no hots around? The eggs we see in the first movie lay dormant for maybe thousands of years before the humans arrived and none had hatched. The same thing happens in Aliens. There are no face huggers running around the colony. It just makes sense that the eggs would only open when there was a potential host around to maximize the chances of creating an alien. So why did the egg open in alien 3? Also when ripely uses bishop to see if there was an alien on board the Salaco later in the movie he reveals that there was. So they had the technology to locate an alien presences but didn't bother to use it when they were taking off? Based off of this I just cant see how people defend the egg by saying the xenomorphs are a force of nature when the events that lead to the alien being on board is just so flimsy. The egg pretty much magically appeared. Even the leading theory doesn't support the aliens being a force of nature as bishop is the one that put it there.
But there are some positives here. I thought the charters of Clemons, and Dillon were interesting and the speeches made by Dillon throughout the movie were very good. The soundtrack for this movie was incredible. Although the stop motion used for the alien looks terrible and has dated far worse then the previous movies, the up close practical effects for the alien looked good.
However, these things could have been so much better in the monk colony script that was the original idea for alien 3. So while there are positives here it brings me back to the idea of frustration of what this movie should have been. They even got David Fincher,who would later prove himself to be an amazing director. In his other movie, seven, we are shown that he can make some terrifying horror scenes. Seeing this style of directing for an alien movie would have been perfect. But he wasn't given the control he wanted. They even got H. R Giger back to come up with some new designs for the alien but in the end they only used one of his designs for one scene of the film.
Overall Alien 3 just feels like such a missed opportunity that was dragged down by lazy writing and poor creative decisions. But some good moments and characters thrown in there to not be a total disaster.
I give alien 3 a 4 out of 10.
Doctor Who: The Ghost Monument (2018)
forgetable and bland
The ghost Monument wastes its on location setting with a boring story that is essentially just a hike though the desert with some cloth monsters and some robots as enemies.
It would have been much more fun if there were many people trying to get to the ghost monument and different teams all battling each other and we see the doctors new doctors companions help the doctor win the race as opposed to just blindly following her. They could have even gone full star wars and had a drag race. Instead we got everyone staying together just walking through a desert.
The whole thing feels like its a tease to reveal the new TARDIS Which will only you keep you watching this boring slog on first viewing. The new design looks awful and a massive downgrade from the Capaldi TARDIS. Its genuinely hard to look at and is one of my least favorite designs.
There's also a moment at the end where the doctor just gives up and tells the companions that they are all going to die and none of them even seem to care despite this being their very first trip in time and space.
1 star out of 10.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
All the waiting for this?
I was a big fan of the original Avatar. I remember watching it at the cinema upon its release and loving it. I got the DVD and watched it many times too. When the internet sort of turned on Avatar and it became trendy to crap all over it, I was still in the camp that supported it and was always looking forward to the sequel.
When the official trailer dropped after 100s of fake fan made trailers, naturally I was excited. I went to my local cinema on the first day it was available and was ready for another epic movie. However I left feeling as though I had seen one of the worst sequels ever made.
Its clear that James Cameron was so focused on the cinematography and special effects that he neglected the writing. The plot of this movie was probably thought up in half a day or less. The action of this film is just generic and boring to watch. In many of the fight scenes at the end of the movie, its not even clear who is fighting who since all the avatars look exactly the same.
I will admit the first hour was enjoyably and I did actually like it. But it feels like Jake does a complete 180 after this and just abandons his tribe and runs away to the ocean leaving his people to just fend for themselves against the humans I guess.
I thought that the Colonel was a good villain in the first movie but I didn't need to see him again here and for the next movies. It also makes any death in avatar now feel pointless since they can just bring them back in a new avatar body. What made him a good villain in the first place was that despite being in a deadly world, he was still a threat without the need of an avatar body. Also what about the unobtainium? It never gets mentioned once in this movie despite that being the main reason for the humans being on Pandora in the first place. I get that they are trying to colonize the planet now, but nobody is interested in unobtainium now?
Avatar 2 is just a long boring movie that has no plot and distracts you with the special effects. The characters are just bland and forgettable and I have no desire to see where they go in the next sequels.
1 star out of 10.
Doctor Who: Heaven Sent (2015)
Second best episode of all time? surely not
I first watched this episode in April 2016, a few months after its release. I was catching up on the show since I was really not enjoying series 9 and was growing tired of the Moffat era. While I though the under the lake 2 parter had been decent, every other episode had felt like a slog to get through. However I did think that face the raven was an improvement and I was excited to see the rest of this sort of loose 3 part finale.
So I put on heaven sent and started watching. I left feeling although I had seen one of the worst episodes of the revived era. I went online to see what people had said about this episode upon its release and was shocked to find that people were claiming it to be a huge return to form and one of the best episodes of the show.
At first, I thought that maybe it had just been a decent episode in a very poor season and that people were overrating it. But seven years later I see that it is the second highest rated episode of the show only behind Blink. So I decided to give this a second chance and re watched it with an open mind. And after re watching this, I still hold my belief that this is a bad episode.
This is essentially just Peter Capaldi wondering about a castle talking to himself for 45 minutes, and not only that but at the end it just keeps repaying the same thing you just saw about a dozen times. This makes the episode have little to no rewatchability as after one viewing you've basically seen the episode 10 times. While I do like episodes that don't feature a companion, such as the deadly assassin and midnight for example, those are interesting since we get to see the doctor interact with other people without a companion. This is just the doctor on his own locked into one location.
In the context of series 9 this episode doesn't hold up either. So hes trying to get over the death of Clara in this but decided to go back and save her in the very next episode making all of this feel pointless.
The solution the doctor comes up with for breaking out of the world hes locked in is to punch through a diamond wall, and then when he dies, go back to the teleporter and burn himself up to create a new version of himself to do it all over again. So that's a kinda neat solution, and yes I can buy it. But the problem for me is that they play this off as the doctor doing this over and over again and remembering everything, but in fact, he only had to do this once since the only memory the current doctor would have is the most recent run though where he broke out. So its not really as heroic as it may seem on the surface. Its a very interesting solution and in character for the doctor to come up with this kind of solution. But the episode plays it as this grand sacrifice when it really is essentially the doctor just figuring it out in a few hours.
But that's not to say this is all bad, I think the soundtrack is pretty good, Murray Gold did a great job here. The visuals of the diamond wall and castle in the ocean looked nice. Peter Capaldi puts in 110% effort despite the material given as usual.
I know people love this episode and Ive seen some people even going as far as saying its the greatest doctor who episode of all time. This is something I will never understand. Series 9 just doesn't work for me and even this, which is supposedly the best episode of the season, falls flat. Its made even worse when pretty much everything this episode was trying to do (but failed to) is undermined further in the next episode, Hell bent. The visuals and soundtrack aren't enough the save it either.
1 star out of 10.
Doctor Who: Love & Monsters (2006)
Overhated and Underrated
When people think of series 2, they often cite Love and Monsters as the worst episode of the series. This episode got a ton of backlash on release and went down like a lead balloon. However this has always been one of the episodes I come back to revisit in series 2.
Yes,if taken seriously this episode does not work and has many flaws. But its one of my personal favorite episodes of the new series of Doctor Who. I love seeing the doctor from a third party perspective from somebody who doesn't know the bigger picture. This episode, and the famous blink episode in series 3, have always stood out to me because of that, and I wish we would get more episodes in this way from a character who isn't linked with the doctor or a companion. Marc Warren did a great job with the character of Elton and is very likeable in this story.
I was only five years old when this story aired and I remember being very scared of the abzorbaolf. To me, being absorbed by a hideous green alien and still being alive is a fate worse then death and much scarier then simply being killed by a dalek or a sontaran. While it may seem silly now it was much scarier as child.
This episode has some great comedy in it too. I think it fits well where it is in the season as we just had the devil in the last two parter and have much more serious episodes to follow with fear her and the army of ghosts/doomsday. So having an episode more focused on comedy is a nice change of pace.
If you haven't watched this in a while, I urge you to give it a rewatch and go in with the mindset that this inst't supposed to be taken too seriously. Its honestly one of the most entertaining episodes.
Alien Resurrection (1997)
The quadrilogy goes out on a whimper
I am a huge fan of the original Alien. The first alien is by far my favorite movie of all time. The second, Aliens, is another classic which I have enjoyed many times too. While the third movie isn't exactly what I would call good, it still had some great moments in there, memorable characters and an epic soundtrack for me to appreciate it. This movie however is a complete train wreck.
Alien resurrection feels like it tried to be more of a comedy movie but didn't commit to being one and attempted to be a serious sci-fi horror movie at the same time. This makes the movie feel very disjointed and awkward to watch. Even if they had committed to this being a comedy, that direction for the alien franchine truly baffles me.
Alien resurrection also thinks that gore and slime is a substitute for horror. There have been many people claiming over the years that half this movies budget was spent on slime and after re-watching this recently, I am inclined to believe it. Gore can be used to make things more scary, but too much is just being disgusted. The previous movies got this idea and used gore sparingly to make things more tense whereas here it just throws gore out whenever possible.
There are many things that don't add up in this movie also. At one point in the movie the scientists state that the planet in alien 3 where Ripley died was fury 16, when it was in fact Fiorina 161. The alien human hybrid doesn't begin to make scene when the original alien was pretty much that already. The special edition of the movie only makes things worse. The whole movie they are trying to save earth from the alien infestation but at the end we see that the earth was destroyed and a wasteland anyway. Also in the special edition we learn that Weyland Yutani was bought out by Walmart despite the three movies prior establishing that they were a super corporation.
Overall this movie is just a mess and an embarrassment to the series. Some fans say that this is their guilty pleasure alien film but to me its just not enjoyable in any way. But credit to those people that could find something enjoyable in something that I couldn't.
1 star out of 10.