southdavid's reviews

After a long gap between watching the first and second seasons of "From" I was able to power straight on into season three. I've talked before about the spectre of "Lost" hanging over this series, and as it delves more into mythology here, and less about horror and survival I do think that the show suffers.

Tabitha (Catalina Sandino Moreno) has seemingly found the way out of the village, having woken up in a hospital bed in Maine. She locates Henry Kavanaugh (Robert Joy), Victor's (Scott McCord) father. After convincing him of her story, they are in a traffic accident and being transported in an ambulance when it stops for a tree across the road. Life in the township is getting worse, the weather, that has never changed before, is turning cold, causing the crops to fail. This situation is worsened when the night creatures release the animals.

This might just be personal taste, but the shows horror aesthetic was what first encouraged me to watch it. Those began to dwindle in the second run, and I think are even less apparent here. The creatures themselves are sidelined somewhat by more psychological presences, particularly the desiccated corpse ghost that is trying to get Elgin's attention.

Instead, the show has increased its mythology element, to include a time travel aspect, but seemingly more important going forward will be the idea of reincarnation. Whilst it has answered some questions, for example we know now a bit more about who the night creatures are but still little about what the town is and whilst ever we're not getting those answers, I'm concerned that perhaps the show has headed off without knowing themselves what they are. Maybe this is a consideration that only has value when the show ends, and for now, Season four is on the way.

Regardless of what happens I'm less interested in this show now than I was previously.

I posted this review against the final episode of the season a few years ago when it felt like the series might return, I'm pretty sure that's not the case now, so I thought I'd add the review here too.

I really liked Robert Popper's "Friday Night Dinner" and seeing that he had a new sitcom on Channel Four I made sure to catch it. I can see why it's divisive, particularly with anyone who just knows Popper from "FND" but I really liked it, and watched all six episodes in one sitting.

Best friends Charlie (Tanya Reynolds) and Becca (Melissa Saint) live together in a London flat enjoying the sort of messy, antagonistic friendship that only true best friends would tolerate. Becca is a curtain saleswoman, for the abrasive Mrs. Plant (Chetna Pandya) and Charlie is the PA for professional autograph dealer and sometime narcolept Bob Oxygen (Jonny Sweet).

Where I can see it losing the "Friday Night Dinner" crowd is that it's a touch more surreal than that sitcom ever was. It was a farce, and characters were extreme, but it was always set in the real world. That's not necessarily the case here, particularly with a character like Bob Oxygen, or his Wife Miriam. I really like the two leads, I've not seen much of Melissa Saint before, but Tanya Reynolds I know from "Sex Education" and though the character is different she's just as good here. The various supporting characters are also great with a shout out for Jonny Sweet making Bob Oxygen have the best delivery of any character not played by Matt Berry.

Admittedly, it front loads the series a bit. With the first couple of episodes being the best, though the fall off isn't that pronounced and it does really pick up again at the end. There are some storylines that run through the series, as well as running jokes that come back and pay off later in the run.

It really won't be to everyone's taste, I can see that, but it was to mine, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Hopefully it won't be too niche for Popper to be allowed to make more.

Whereas Zach Cregger's "Barbarian" was a surprise that was allowed to find it's audience by strong word of mouth, his follow up "Weapons" is perhaps the most hyped movie of the year. Can it live up to it? Not really. Perhaps nothing could, but it's a good film and certainly enjoyable - particularly on it's first viewing.

In Maybrook, Pennsylvania at 2.17 in the morning, the entire class of teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) leave their houses and disappear, save for one boy Alex (Cary Christopher). Suspicion and anger fall on Justine, particularly from one of the fathers Archer Graff (Josh Brolin). She's ordered to stay away from Alex but follows him home one day to find his houses windows blocked out by newspaper and nobody answering the door.

I've got to be pretty careful talking about the film without spoiling it, particularly as it's such a recent release. The resolution to any film that sets up such a compelling mystery is, perhaps inevitably, going to have some anticlimactical feelings to it and I wonder whether that might affect my thoughts on repeat viewings.

"Stephen King's Magnolia" is the (slightly) reductive way I'd describe the film. They story is told in chapters focusing primarily on a different character each time, and we see the characters interact with each other, though sometimes with a different context at the second viewing. Despite overlapping timewise, each chapter also pushes the overall story on too. There is some generally unsettling stuff in there though I will say that most of that is focused in the first half of the movie and there's a transition towards violence and gore in the second half.

It's not as revolutionary as the hype might have made you believe, but it's another really strong horror film from Cregger and, if "Resident Evil" is to come next, I hope he's not hamstrung by studios and I. P. Managers. Add another point to the score if you're seeing the film for the first time.

Last night, I went to a preview screening of "The Life of Chuck". Whilst I suspect that the film is going to be a bit divisive, I can only give my opinion here and I loved it.

Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a high school teacher during what appears to be the end of the world. What began with the internet stopping working has become environmental disasters, chunks of California are falling into the sea and sinkholes are opening. Unable to maintain their routines people are starting to give up. He reconnects with his ex-wife, Felicia (Karen Gillan) as the sense of fear and hopelessness grows. Antithetical to this are advertisements around the world thanking Chuck Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) for 39 great years.

Cards on the table, Mike Flanagan might be my favourite current working writer/director. I've loved the Netflix horror series and the films that I've seen. Lately he's become a little less scare focused and despite both his and Stephen King's names in the credits, "The Life of Chuck" isn't a horror at all. To say what it is risks entering spoiler territory already, but I'd describe the film as a romantic fantasy.

There are wonderful performances, stand out for me was probably Mark Hamill but there's good turns from much of the regular Flanagan players, Karen Gillan, Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, Heather Langenkamp and Samantha Sloyan. Tom Hiddleston isn't actually in it as much as he might be but he's good, as are the young actors playing him, particularly Benjamin Pajak.

I can see the film being divisive though. Again, it's hard to talk about why, without spoilers but there is a reveal of what's happening to Marty and Felicia that you'll either go with, or you won't, and if you don't, I can't see that that earnest and romance of the other two chapters of the story will work for you.

That wasn't me though. I loved it. I've said it other reviews that, as I've grown older, I've become less interested in cool and stylish and much more interested in emotion and heart and felt that "The Life of Chuck" had that in spades.

A rewatch of the DCU with my son, continued with the three-hour extended edition of "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice". It's not a film I particularly enjoyed on the previous viewings and this proved no exception.

Having seen first-hand the devastation that the Kryptonian fight had on Metropolis and its citizens, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) sees Superman (Henry Cavill) as a potential threat to the human race. Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) also sees the Man of Steel as an opponent and manipulates both he and Batman into opposing each other. Wayne steals a shipment of Kryptonite and builds weapons capable of levelling the field in their battles.

Retrospectively reviewing the Snyder-verse era of DC is a difficult prospect because is there anything new to say about some of the most considered and re-appraised movies of recent time? There probably isn't. . . But I said I'd review everything that I watched and so this can't be the exception.

Whilst I do think the extended edition is better than the theatrical release, I don't really like "Batman v Superman". I don't think it's a good take on Batman in particular - though I don't think that it's Ben Affleck's fault and that he'd get better attempts at the character in other films. I think that he's too prone to excessive violence. It's never made clear why he marking criminals for death with his branding, nor his ambivalence to murdering henchmen with his car, which he does an awful lot. The "Martha" moment is one that has been ripe for parody since its' release, but its jarring just how quickly they go from murdering each other to "Did we just become best friends" in a matter of moments.

It's just a joyless film, with no heart and no amount of cool looking shots at night can make up for that.

The "Mad Max" films have been quite a big missing part of my filmography, with me only seeing the first film earlier this year. It's taken me a few months to cycle back around to the blu ray of "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" but it was worth it, as this was a film I enjoyed quite a bit.

Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson), still mourning the death of his family, travels the outback, with his pet dog, scavenging what food and fuel he can. With the help of the captain of a gyrocopter (Bruce Spence) Max learns of an operating oil refinery nearby. He surveys the refinery from nearby hills and discovers that it's besieged by the psychotic gang of Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson). Max rescues one of the workers when he's attacked outside the building, but once inside he offers them a deal, to return with a truck he's seen, capable of letting the workers get away with all the petrol they have.

Having come to this series a bit backwards, it was strange to me just how little the first "Mad Max" felt like what I'd already seen. Indeed, there was still a (admittedy crumbling) society existing in that film and not the feral marauders of "Fury Road". "Mad Max 2" is much closer to what I knew. Psychotic looking maniacs chasing vehicles across the outback and a mad passion for petrol.

Whilst not quite as taught as "Fury Road" this is very much an action movie, with lots of practical stunts, real explosions and vehicle destruction. The performances are extreme when they need to be, to reflect this crazy world, with Gibson allowed to be the stoic hero at the centre of the events.

"Fury Road" is still, for me, a better version of this story but this was great.

I have to admit that I'm a little annoyed that this film has gathered so much attention since I saw it a couple of weeks back. I don't think it's quite as awful as others, but it's pretty bad.

Homeland Security advisor Will Radford (Ice Cube) logs into his computer, abuses his privileges to spy on his children until numerous meteors hit the Earth's surface. The meteors contain machines, part of an alien invasion. Radford comes to learn that the aliens are targeting the worlds large data resources and that their invasion was kicked off by "Goliath" a surveillance operation on an unprecedented scale being activated.

I suspect a lot of your opinion might stem from the sorts of other movies you deal with. Compared to a cinematic release it's pretty terrible. The gimmick is that the film takes place entirely on the screens that Radford has available to him. He hacks security cameras and drones for footage. Or call his family or friend Dr Salas, played by Eva Longoria, who works for NASA. It doesn't really work. It makes the film inert even if some of the visual effects are actually not that bad. It is, however, a touch better than the sort of "Sharknado" style spoof movies its being compared too.

What's much more horrible and insidious about the movie - released as it was on Amazon Prime - is how pro-Amazon it is. Devon Bostick plays an Amazon delivery driver and not only is he not having to urinate in a bottle whilst driving, because of the time pressures, he gets to nip around to check on the family between deliver jobs. He also seems unduly proud of the fact that he's currently training on the drone technology which will eventually make him obsolete.

But it's all a bit weirder than that. The villain of the story is essentially big data, despite Amazon being the biggest of big data there is.

It's not good, don't get me wrong. But it's not quite as bad as its current reputation would have you believe.

Apple TV have really found a template for the comedy output with "Ted Lasso" and it's one they are mining again with "Stick", a golf themed family comedy starring Owen Wilson.

Having crashed out from the professional circuit following a personal tragedy, Pryce Cahill (Owen Wilson) spots Santi Wheeler (Peter Dager) hitting balls for fun a the driving range. Spotting his potential, Pryce tries to convince Santi to turn pro, with his help but Santi's mother Elena (Mariana Trevino) is sceptical of Pryce and Santi himself has already been burned by an overbearing golf coach father.

That formula is yet again "nice". Super nice characters, doing nice things for each other and generally being good people. There are some shades of grey to it in this series, as Pryce is capable of bending the truth to fit what he believes is the greater good. The niceness rolls into the supporting characters, even ones that might traditionally have been antagonistic. Pryce's ex-wife played by Judy Greer might, in another show, be written as a killjoy, but here she's very supportive. Similarly, Timothy Olyphant plays one of Pryce's former rivals in the later episodes and whilst he enjoys rubbing his success in his face, and seems prepared to date a character spectacularly too young for him, he comes good when he really needs too.

I wouldn't describe the series as a laugh riot, though both Wilson and Marc Maron, who plays his former caddy and mentor, wring as much as they can out of it. It struggled most when it's trying to do the generational comparison type stuff. But it's hard to not feel positively about the series, based just on its own upbeat and wholesome tone. I'll certainly be back to watch season two.

Perhaps sensing that there would be diminishing returns from another similarly structure season of "Agents of Sheild" the show made the wise decision to essentially produce three, shorter seasons, though with strong ties between them.

Investigating the "Watchdogs" an Anti-inhuman terrorist organisation alerts both Quake (Chloe Bennet) and SHIELD to the presence or Robbie Reyes (Gabriel Luna) and his all-powerful alter ego The Ghost Rider. This leads them to the Darkhold, a book of magical powers that corrupts anyone who reads it. This leads to them using Aida (Mallory Jansen) as an android as a conduit to the book's powers. But even she is not immune to power of the dark magic.

I like the move to three shorter seasons in one. I think it really helps to stop the show from pointlessly padding out it's storyline and allows for a reset. It' also means that we don't get a full season with one of my real dislikes within the MCU, the use of LMD's to retcon character deaths. There're only a few episodes that really focus on LMD's in the middle of the season. The agents of Hydra last "pod" allows for a return for Brett Dalton and BJ Britt as well as extending the stories of Radcliffe and Aida and given the characters a shake-up.

I do think, at this stage, this is the best season that the show has done so far. The performances are good and the visual effect, particularly of the Ghost Rider transformations are really good. My recollection of what comes next is much more sketchy though, but right now I'm looking forward to reminding myself what season five was about.

Having been released months ago in the US, "The Legend of Ochi" finally received a UK release at the start of August. How did I feel about t having now seen it? There's definitely quality there, but I think you have to be in the right mood to appreciate it.

On an island in the Black Sea, the humans have a combative relationship with the Ochi, a species of almost ape like creatures that generally only come out at night. The town defence (and offense) are led by Maxim (Willem Defoe) long estranged from his wife over his passion for his work, but who lives with daughter Yuri (Helena Zengel) and adopted son Petro (Finn Wolfhard). Yuri discovers an injured young Ochi and, without her father's knowledge, sets out to return it to its family.

I suppose where the film has probably struggled the most because it's a very earnest film and we remain in cynical times. I won't give away the ending here, but that in particular feels touching and sincere. I found it refreshing in a world that's more often cynical and ironic but I can see why other people might have struggled with it.

It feels like a film from another time, like a film from the 80's that somehow has been missed until now. I suppose that has to be down to the techniques used to make it, matt paintings and puppetry as well as shooting on location. I liked the performances, particularly from Willem Defoe. I'm not sure if it's just my cinema, but I did struggle with the sound mix a bit, particularly with lines spoken by Yuri - it's one of the rare times I wished I'd accidentally picked a subtitled performance.

Brilliant craft and a few strong moments but perhaps not quite enough for a real strong recommendation.

"Abbott Elementary" is becoming another show that I wish, perhaps, I hadn't started reviewing each season of individually. Not because it's not good, indeed because it's so consistently good that I'm struggling to find new stuff to say each year.

With the new golf course causing delays, attendance issues and bringing some unwanted gentrification to the area - Eva (Janelle James) sees the opportunity to improve the school's situation at the golf courses' expense. Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Eddie (Tyler James Williams) continue their relationship, making it work at school and at home.

So, to say again this is another fun, funny season of "Abbott". Nothing fundamentally changes across the run, there's some character growth, mostly with Eva. Perhaps the most high-profile aspect of this season is the crossover episodes with "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" which unfortunately is a show I've not really gotten around to watching yet. I did like the half of the crossover that I saw in this series though.

Good stuff. Looking forward for more.

The penultimate episode of this eighth season of "Rick and Morty" is perhaps the pick of the bunch so far.

Morty (Harry Belden) gets a call from his son, Morty Jnr (Maurice LaMarche) who is near death and wants only to meet his mother, a sex-robot that has been dumped in a pocket dimension of Rick's (Ian Cardoni) creation, exclusively used to dump rubbish and broken/useless tech. Rick and Summer (Spencer Grammer) have reservations to a precog restaurant, where the food is selected for you, based on what they know you will want. However, the precogs have prepared for Rick's arrival.

I don't think is a co-incidence that that two episode that have worked the best this season are the two that stuck to the classic "A" and "B" story format and this episode is genuinely good. Film parody's a bit a played out, I admit but the nods to both "Minority Report" and "The Lord of the Rings" and just enhancements to the stories here, rather than the actual stories themselves.

The best episode of this run. Lets hope it can finish strongly next week.

I've written reviews of each season of "The Missing" that you can find against the final episodes of each run but now I've finished it, I thought maybe I'd put something here to sum up my overall feelings about the show.

Two "cold cases" for child abduction revolving around British residents in mainland Europe are investigated by a talented French detective Julien Baptiste (Tcheky Karyo). Baptiste's commitment to these cases have cost him familial relationships and his own health but he focuses on bringing a conclusion to the families. The story is told utilising time jumps to see the key historical elements of the case.

So, a dark story of missing children, paedophilia, murder, police corruption and gang violence. It would be tough to say that I enjoyed it, but I can say that it's anchored by several good performances. Nesbitt is the star, and his fears and guilt is reflected in both time periods. He becomes an alcoholic who's stubborn, but understandable refusal to give up on finding out what happened to his son, has destroyed his marriage and his whole life. His wife is played by Frances O'Connor and she too is destroyed by what happens, though gets further into moving on, settling down with another detective who worked on the case. Finally, Tcheky Kayyo would play aging detective Baptiste who becomes the breakout character for the series, including his own spin off series.

My tolerance for the themes of a show like this is perhaps higher than most and because of those performances it's easy to recommend it.

Perhaps one of the most telling aspects about this second season is just how long it took me to get through it. It's only eight episodes, so should have taken me eight weeks, but instead it's taken the best part of five months to persevere. I'm not sure why. It's not the performances. The main cast of David Morrissey and Keely Hawes cast are joined by a string of recognisable faces from British television. Laura Fraser, Roger Allam and Derek Riddle are in the series, as is Olafur Darri Olafsson, from "Severence".

I guess the problem then was not following the case quite as well. Perhaps I rode with the time jumps a little easier that time. It just felt like harder work.

Overall though, I'd recommend giving the show a chance.

I quite liked the first season of "The Missing" brought to it, as I was, by the Guardian's "best of the year" rundowns, despite it not really being the sort of show I generally go for. The second season was alright but reminded me why I don't watch many crime series.

Set around a British army base in Germany, Captain Webster (David Morrissey) and his wife Gemma (Keely Hawes) are struggling on following the abduction of their daughter a decade earlier. In 2014, Alice (Abigail Hardingham) emerges from the woods and is returned to her family, but struggles to adapt back and is killed in a fire, whilst locked in her shed (the only place she can sleep). Julien Baptiste (Tcheky Karyo) has been haunted by the case of a missing french girl, taken around the same time and, despite a grave medical prognosis works to find the links between the girls, and the base.

Perhaps one of the most telling aspects about this second season is just how long it's taken me to get through it. It's only eight episodes, so should have taken me eight weeks, but instead it's taken the best part of five months to persevere. I'm not sure why. It's not the performances. The cast mentioned above are joined by a string of recognisable faces from British television. Laura Fraser, Roger Allam and Derek Riddle are in the series, as is Olafur Darri Olafsson, from "Severence".

I guess the problem then was not following the case quite as well. There were time jumps in the previous series too, but perhaps I rode with them a little easier that time. Also Baptiste has a trip to Iraq which takes up a lot of the early running and seems to be for very little.

It perhaps just felt like harder work this time.

I'm going to take the gamble and review "Ironheart" as a mini-series that won't return, though I'd hope that we'll see some of the characters from this returning to the MCU in the future. (If there is a second run, you'll see my review of that against the final episode of that season).

Riri Williams (Dominique Williams) is expelled from MIT, so takes the power suit she has been building back to her native Chicago. The armourt becomes her focus, as her best friend Natalie (Lyric Ross) and stepfather Gary (LaRoyce Hawkins) were killed in a drive by shooting and the suit is the only way of protecting the rest of her friends and family. To fund the development, she agrees to join a gang of thieves, led by Parker Robbins (Anthony Ramos) but her concerns about Robbins and his tactics quickly grow.

Reviewed bombed ahead of release, like everything with a black or female lead in the science fiction world, it should perhaps go without saying that "Ironheart" is actually pretty good. It's a solid story, with some fun characters and a couple of surprises along the way. However, also working against the show is that it was born in Marvel's "unfocused" era. A world that was slowly building towards a proper multiversal showdown with Kang, that fell apart as faith in that character was dissolved and projects were allowed to occur without thought of how they might continue. Hence there are franchises, post credit teases and flat-out characters that appeared and now exist without any obvious way of reusing them.

Taken out of that context though, as I say, this was good (if not perhaps great) stuff. Perhaps would have worked better as a two-hour movie, than a six-episode series. It's hard though to shake the idea that this is another cul-de-sac that Marvel have taken us down.

I think that Kevin Smith, in his podcast, about "Fantastic Four: First Steps" has probably nailed my feelings about the film too. It's fine, but I'm a bit underwhelmed compared to the top tier film I was hoping for.

On Earth 828, four astronauts returned to Earth having been exposed to cosmic rays and find their bodies changed. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) can stretch his body as if made of rubber, Sue Richards (Vanessa Kirby) his wife, can make herself invisible and create forcefields. Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) can fly and turn himself into fire and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is strong and made of indestructible stone. They have become heroes to the world and are the first line of defence when a silver alien (Julia Garner) comes to Earth to herald the arrival of Galactus (Ralph Ineson) who will consume the planet on his arrival.

Like Smith, the problem I had is that I wanted the one he had suggested this might be. One that ends with the family moving to Earth 616 having lost their world to Galactus and then the series would allow us to Richard's redemption from the guilt of that in the battles with Doctor Doom. So all the way through I was expecting their planet to be destroyed and for this to end in failure. I'll keep the spoilers away, but this is not that film.

But is it fair to criticise a film for not being the plot I expected. No, not really. Particularly one that's as all round good as this one. The performances from the central cast are excellent and I look forward to seeing them return. One of the other criticisms levelled against Marvel in the last few years is that the visual effects work has been patchy. That is not the case here, with everything including the several characters who are all CGI creations looking really good.

I suppose a better way to frame my criticism might be that it doesn't perhaps feel big enough to kick off a new reinvention of the MCU, which the returns of the Russo's and RDJ feel like they're part of. It's another good film in a series of mostly good films.

I'm not a great lover of spoof movies, even the acknowledge great ones like "Airplane" or "Scary Movie" I don't really enjoy that much. I have seen the original "Naked Gun" films and "Police Squad" beforehand, but it has been years, decades even, since the last time. I laughed a few times at this, the joke rate is too high for none of them to hit but it's not changed my mind on the genre.

Frank Drebin Jnr (Liam Neeson) works for Police Squad, a division under scrutiny for its inability to stick to the rules. Having violently broken up a bank robbery, Drebin is given the death of Simon Davenport to investigate. He rules it a suicide but Davenport's sister, Beth (Pamela Anderson) doesn't believe it. As the pair grow close, they investigate Richard Cane (Danny Huston) Davenport's boss as a potential suspect.

Comedy is perhaps the most subjective genre there is and certainly there were some laughs in the room I was in. Indeed, I laughed a few times, though at sections that perhaps didn't get big laughs from the rest of the room. The "Buffy" bit, for example, only seemed to resonate with me. When it was broader it did better with the room, but I liked it less. It also suffers a bit from the better moments, the self-driving car, Manslaughter and the OJ Simpson joke having all featured heavily in the trailers and adverts.

I will say that I thought the cast was always good though, particularly Neeson and Anderson both of whom were game for anything and having a great time. Neeson has shown himself to be a solid comedic presence before, in the "Lego Movie" and "Lifes too short".

Whilst I certainly laughed a few times, generally my thoughts were that the film was all a bit rubbish.

As I'm trying to see as many films as possible at the cinema in 2025, "The Bad Guys 2" feels like an easy film to slot into a daily schedule ahead of something I'm actually more interested in seeing. However, I'd not see "The Bad Guys" before and decided it was probably worth seeing that one first.

A gang of criminals Mr Piranha (Anthony Ramos), Mr Shark (Craig Robinson), Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), Mr Snake (Marc Maron) and Mr Wolf (Sam Rockwell) have achieved notoriety for their daring and skilled heists. They are caught, in part because Mr Wolf does something "good" for the first time, and starts to understand the appeal. Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade) senses their potential, so offers them a chance at a pardon, if they can learn to be good.

One aspect of the film I particularly enjoyed was the animation style. It's definitely a touch more stylised than the previous DreamWorks animations, with almost a cel shaded look to the drawing at times. Performances are good too, particularly from Rockwell and from Richard Ayoade and the script ahs quite a few funny elements.

Whilst it sounds hypercritical to pick faults, I would say that the films twist elements are both really obvious, though perhaps that comes from watching the film as an adult and not the target audience, and also that, perhaps the human characters aren't as interesting as any of the anthromorphic animal ones.

That said, I've sat through family films that were a lot more painful than this one and if I do get the oppo.

With "Superman" in cinemas, I decided to head back to the Snyderverse and all the way back to the beginning with "Man of Steel". Whilst my appreciation of this era of DC's film has been. . middling, at best, I did, at least, used to the think that it got off to a good start with this one. After this viewing, I'm not so sure.

Ahead of the imminent destruction of Krypton, the infant son of Jor-El (Russell Crowe) is sent to Earth with a codex of Kryptonian genetics. Adopted by Jonathan (Kevin Coster) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane) Kal-El, renamed Clark (Henry Cavill), is provided with superhuman strength and speed by the planet's yellow sun. Urged to keep his powers a secret, he keeps his profile low until General Zod (Michael Shannon), another Kryptonian, arrives and demands the codex, so Earth can be transformed into a new home world.

The trouble with reviewing this film again now, is that it comes with a decade of history and baggage, one where (for some reason) battle lines have been drawn and sides taken. I suppose the only thing to do is ignore all that and give my opinion as it is, which is that I find the film to be a dour experience, that it's tough to ring any enjoyment out of. The visuals are good, if perhaps desaturated and dark to the levels that Zack Snyder prefers. I think I liked the story in principle and didn't rub up against a distraught Clark forced to kill near the end, in order to save a human family.

Whilst nobody's performances are bad, there's not really one offering anything different other than brooding, quiet cynicism. Again, dour is the word that occurred to me the most. What I may have considered cool a decade or so ago, now feels po-faced and cynical.

I'm going to keep going with this era of DC's films, but I'm already glad that we don't live in this era anymore.

Netflix's "Love, Death and Robots" returns for a fourth season. Overall, I've enjoyed the first three runs and have written individual reviews for each episode. I think I'll continue that approach with this set too.

Lydia (Emily O'Brien) lives in an asteroid ring, trying to trade with passing ships. Lydia is planning revenge against Jade (Feodor Chin) but has so far only been able to kill his clones, and not Jade himself. She is temporarily left with the pet of one of her trading partners, a creature that absorbs the DNA of those that it eats. She bonds with the creature, nicknamed Nosey, but Jade has discovered her location and is planning an attack.

We're back with Blur Studios here, and their level of near photo realism animation is back too. To be fair, this is not quite at the highest level of graphics we've seen, but a strong contender. Unfortunately, many of these visually splendid efforts are pedestrian with their stories and I'm afraid that "Spider Rose" felt like another one of those to me.

There was a gory battle scene, which was intense, but nothing else particularly memorable about the episode.

Netflix's "Love, Death and Robots" series returns for a fourth run. Overall, I enjoyed the first three seasons and wrote short individual reviews for each episode, and I think I'll take the same approach here.

This fourth season begins with a spiritual sequel if not an actual one. Identical in style to the "Night of the Mini Dead" episode that had come before and using the same isometric visual style. This sees aliens land in the desert and a misunderstanding lead to a war between the humans and an invading alien force. The aliens have the upperhand until the humans bring down a tripod and begin to use their weapons against them.

It's almost too short to really form that valid an opinion about it, but it's a funny short that tells a full story without any true dialogue and has all the references to the wider world of alien invasion films that you might expect.

Fun, hopefully there's another one of these types of episodes next time.

Like all (mostly) good things, "Big Mouth" comes to an end after 8 seasons, a special or two and a spin off. Generally, I've enjoyed "Big Mouth" brand of crude but educational humour and, though maybe there was a wobble a few seasons ago, I think it's recovered to be back near its best by the end.

Nick (Nick Kroll) finally undergoes his growth spurt that makes him instantly more desirable to girls and particularly to Devin (June Diane Raphael). Missy (Ayo Edebiri) returns to school and makes friends with the robotics group, particularly the leader Nate (Nathan Fillion). Andrew (John Mulaney) is happy about Missy's return, but jealous of the budding relationship with Nate. Jessi (Jessi Klein) continues to hang out with the stoner kids, and has a boyfriend in Camden (Whitmer Thomas) but depression and anxiety are never far away.

It's hard, after eight seasons and 81 episodes to find much new to say in a review. I would say that the show remains funny and, distressingly, probably the most useful, healthy and comprehensive sexual education that most people will ever get. There was a dip in quality, a few seasons ago, I wonder if the spinoff "Human Resources" was perhaps spreading themselves a little too thin and it effected the writing, but this season s as good as the show ever was.

There are only a few guest stars for this run, most notably for Holly Hunter, as a compassionate elephant that arrives when needed in the kids lives and Cynthia Erivo - who essays the seminal role of Missy's vagina. I have the same complaint with this season that I have had with a few of them, that unquestionably the best character, David Thewlis' Shame Wizard doesn't feature as much as he should.

Overall it's a really strong series, whose heart and importance is glossed over by the crudity and vulgarity. Very good.

As I couldn't make it opening weekend, I really had to see "Superman" this weekend before any more of it was spoiled on Twitter. I've enjoyed, with varying degrees, James Gunn's previous work in the superhero genre and I felt this was as good of a film as he has produced so far.

Superman's (David Corenswet) intervention in the military operations of American ally Boravia is an ethical chink in the otherwise flawless persona of the heroic Man of Steel. This worsens when Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) exposes a message from his Kryptonian parents, that Superman has never seen before, urging him to enslave humanity to bring about a new Krypton. Superman turns himself in to the US Government, who turn him over to Luthor - it's up to Lois and Superman's friends to save him.

I liked that there is no origin story business in this one. Superman is here and known to the world. Luthor already hates him. The "Justice Gang" is already together and working with him. He's already at the Daily Planet and already in a relationship with Lois Lane. The film trusts that you know enough about the major characters that you don't need all that establishing stuff again - and the characters that you're perhaps less familiar with, such as Mister Terrific or the Guy Gardner incarnation of Green Lantern, the film still doesn't go for an origins, but in making them feel established and uses the plot to get their characters across.

I thought that it was fun, and funny, without straying too far into the comedy genre and risking parody. I thought it did an excellent job of balancing all the characters without ever being overcomplicated or sacrificing too much time with the central themes of the film, that Superman's humanity, is his biggest strength and stems from his relationships with his adoptive family and with Lois.

The future finally looks bright for DC after some dark years, both literally and figuratively.

Episode eight of a patchy season of "Rick and Morty" was, for me, another one that took its premise forward without being particularly clever or funny with it.

Jerry (Chris Parnell) is introduced to the concept of "The Road" by Jerry from another dimension that he discovers eating his cereal one morning. The Road is a path between dimensions, that the various Jerry's have chosen to use to get around a multiverse leaden with wormholes created by Rick's (Ian Cardoni) work. All is smooth until they miss a connection and have to use "Grand Central" a universe controlled by boss Jerry.

One thing I've regularly bemoaned about this season of "Rick and Morty" is the abandonment of the A-Story, B-Story structure. This episode's whole plot, whilst fine, should have (with some of the beats cut obviously) been the B-Story to almost any of the other ones in this run. It would have taken the pressure of both episodes and made the characters feel less isolated from each other that I feel they often have done this season.

Again, it's not that this is bad. It's just that it's never funny or clever enough to really justify the way it's been delivered.

Very long after the series first aired, the Guardian's best of list turned me on to "Halt and Catch Fire" which is currently available on the ITVX streaming service in the UK. Whilst it's not perhaps at the top of the list of my favourite shows, I would definitely say that I thought it was a show of real quality and that I enjoyed it.

Joe MacMillan (Lee Pace) a charismatic salesman with a dark history joins Cardiff Electrical in 1983. He convinces engineer Gordon Clark (Scoot McNairy) to reverse engineer IBM's BIOS system and then use that as the basis for entering the home computer market themselves. To help them achieve this, Joe brings in Cameron (MacKenzie Davies) a prodigious and volatile coder, whom he is in a relationship with. Through legal and ethical constraints, they attempt to bring their revolutionary PC to market.

Whilst existing in the real world, "Halt and Catch Fire" is inspired by, rather than telling an actual true story. The advantage of this is that it lets the characters be pretty messed up without having to worry about offending real families. And messed up they certainly are, none more so than Joe, who is, pretending to be a real person when he is, in truth, empty and hollow. Cameron looks to lash out as a defence mechanism against rejection and Gordon is perhaps the most damaged of all, having become accustomed to failure be breaks mentally the most when it appears like their work is for naught again.

Performances are really good as is the script. The plot is interesting as it tends to move at a rapid pace, which means that things that feel important for an episode my then be ignored and never spoken of again and some aspects, particularly of the relationships move on quickly without perhaps explaining exactly how we got here. It's not a problem, as it does give you everything you need, but occasionally it's slightly jarring to find something has been fixed or developed between the episodes.

I liked it though and will run straight on into season two this week.