Science Fiction

Doctor Who – Death in Heaven

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Doctor Who – Death in Heaven
  • wiki: link

Doctor Who - Death in Heaven

The end of Peter Capaldi‘s first season as The Doctor ends not with a bang but a whimper. In a storyline that puts the entire world at risk from a resurrected Master and an army of Cybermen rising from the dead writer Steven Moffat constantly cheats the audience with a story that never sums up the courage to sacrifice what’s required to make the finale work. The Doctor being made President of Earth against his will caps off a season of bizarre plot points that sound like fun ideas until you put them into practice. The reveal of Missy’s (Michelle Gomez) plan, which is a special kind of torture specifically designed for her lifetime frenemy, works well, but the show’s ending refuses to let there be any real cost to the entire affair undercutting the finale from the get-go.

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Super Secret Crisis War #5

/ / Comics

Super Secret Crisis War #5With the heroes unwilling to surrender, Aku continues to send his army of robot duplicates to pound the Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Ben Tennyson, and Dexter into submission while ordering Mandark to make good on the League of Extraordinary Villains‘ threat by destroying one of the heroes’ worlds should they fail to surrender.

Given Aku’s apparent disdain for his contributions to the cause, and believing his world has been targeted (which will make it impossible to rule if destroyed), Mojo Jojo switches sides and attempts to help the heroes stop Aku’s plans.

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Star Wars Rebels – Breaking Ranks

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Star Wars Rebels – Breaking Ranks
  • wiki: link

Star Wars Rebels - Breaking Ranks

Working undercover for weeks in an Imperial Academy, Ezra (Taylor Gray) caries the bulk of this week’s episode leaving the other members of the Ghost mostly sidelined or as support waiting to spring into action. Even the episode’s B-story involving Kanan (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Hera (Vanessa Marshall) on an unrelated attack on an Imperial supply run is more about how each reacts the kid’s solo mission that the immediate danger facing them. While offering a glimpse into the early lives of those who become Stormtroopers and Imperial Officers, “Breaking Ranks” also introduces several new characters who I’d expect we’ll be seeing again.

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Interstellar

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Interstellar
  • IMDb: link

InterstellarIf Christopher Nolan‘s sci-fi end-of-the-world epic feels a bit familiar it is. Borrowing obviously from 2001: A Space Odyssey and the recent success of an astronaut stranded in space in Gravity (both far better films), Interstellar showcases both Nolan’s strengths and weaknesses of the director when his subject matter lacks the originality of his best films.

An ambitious project to be sure, Interstellar‘s B-movie plot seemingly ripped straight out of 1950s sci-fi can only lead it so far. The strength of its cast can’t cover up the flaws in the nearly three-hour project whose length also effects the director’s decreasingly-effective bag-of-tricks such as the loud music blasts which may have worked in Inception but come off distracting and disorienting even obscuring dialogue in several scenes.

As a movie experience Interstellar has merit and is worth seeing. As a complete film experience I found it wanting and would compare it to the eerily similar Signs. M. Night Shamalan‘s equally ambitious project relied too strongly on performance, far-too-cute coincidences, and late twists (over a well-developed story) as well.

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Doctor Who – Dark Water

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Doctor Who – Dark Water
  • wiki: link

Doctor Who - Dark Water

The first-half of Doctor Who‘s two-part season finale begins with the death of a major character and ends with the return of a familiar foe (although not the one I was hoping for). Despite the mysterious set-up of 3W, a company providing afterlife for the recently deceased, “Dark Water” doesn’t work as well for me as it should since it relies so heavily on a relationship the season has never quite sold me on especially given the amount of foreshadowing about how important Danny Pink would be to Clara’s travels with The Doctor coming to an end.

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