Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (HYDRA) season 4 episodes 18-19 review - No Regrets/All the Madame's Men

#44 - Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again

Well, if you’d seen my Facebook page, you knew this was coming. I’ve made no secret that I really enjoyed Mark Waid’s Archie reboot. A modernisation of the classic characters, which maintains the humour from the regular books and combines it with a certain amount of drama. Riverdale, I show I’m getting more into ups the drama and downs the comedy, honestly to its detriment.

Speaking of detrimental, this sh*t, Archie: To Riverdale and Back again was released in 1990 as potential TV pilot. It flopped in the ratings despite some praised performances and ultimately people lost any ability to care about it, I totally understand this. As I shall now demonstrate.

TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 1 Part 2 - Eye of the Gorgon/Warriors of Kudlak

Welcome back to my retrospective on the Sarah Jane Adventures – not much point doing recaps since the show is not heavily serialised. They’ll follow up on things occasionally but it’s rare to see a story that actively requires knowledge from another episode.

So, let’s start today by looking at Eye of the Gorgon

Mini Review - Superman II

When I decided to review the Superman movies, I decided to vow not to have them as far apart as I did with the Batman ones. So, yes, this sequel got arranged for April, I’ll be covering III in August and I intend to have IV by year’s end, with Superman Returns in 2018. Batman Begins I’ll be reviewing as part of Neeson month in July and I’ll review the Dark Knight at some point too, Batman vs Superman will be reviewed as part of sequel month in June and I’ll review Suicide Squad in August, which will bring me more or less up to date with the DC movies. I know I’ve barely reviewed any Marvel ones aside from Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3, bear with me, is all I ask with that.

But today we’re looking at Superman II, released in 1980 after the success of the original Superman movie. It enjoyed somewhat financial success making $190m on a $54m budget and is widely regarded as the best Superman movie, or that might just be me, I can never tell. Production wise, Richard Donner was replaced after filming a large proportion of the movie owing to poor relationship with the producer and was replaced by Richard Lester, who conducted vigorous reshoots so he could gain director’s credit. Complicating that was Gene Hackman’s refusal to return for reshoots. Does this patchwork of directors result in a patchwork movie?

Sequel Baiting #2 - Nanny McPhee vs Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

When I think Nanny McPhee I think of a refined version of the Mary Poppins formula. Children who misbehave too badly for conventional nannies to deal with are taught by a stern, female, magician who uses her magic powers to induce delight and wonder as well as to teach. Where I felt Mary Poppins went wrong is by having the ultimate arc be Mr Banks’. Sure, he was stubborn, stuck up and in many ways looked down on his children but it felt like the ultimate resolution was him having a mental breakdown. Nanny McPhee focuses more on the children learning, all whilst incorporating some kind of mischief that’s afoot.

Based on the Nurse Matilda books, Nanny McPhee and its sequel, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang have both enjoyed moderate critical and commercial success. So why did it end at 2? It had the higher budget and made less money. But the question is, does that mean it’s worse than the original. Well, I’ll be judging on 6 categories

Doctor Who Series 10 Episode 1 review - The Pilot

Doctor who has finally made its return to our screens, it’s been a few years, and a few reviews since his last but he’s back, he’s rested and now it’s #TimeForHeroes *sigh* anyway, let’s take a look at the first episode of the series

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (HYDRA) Season 4 episode 17 review - Identity and Change

Guilty Pleasures #37 - The Pirate Movie

Pirates are a fun topic for a movie, swashbuckling, sword fights, exotic locations, everything you could dream for in a movie and one that doesn’t get bogged down by realism. Pirates of the Carribean, whilst far from perfect movies that often get a little too convoluted for their own good, are a shining example of what you can do with it.

Captain Sabretooth was an attempt to market an icon, it fell largely from trying to make the hero the resident good guy, despite the fact he really isn’t.

But then we have the simply titled ‘The Pirate Movie’ which is a movie adaptation of the musical, The Pirates of Penzance. The film had a budget of only $6m (in Australia) and was rushed into production when another adaptation of the play was announced. It wasn’t exactly successful, only managing $9m at the box office, although far more than the film it was rushed to beat. It holds a paltry 9% on rotten tomatoes. So, why is this under guilty pleasures? Let’s take a look.

TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 1 part 1 - Invasion of the Bane/Revenge of the Slitheen

It’s been a while I know, but it’s time for another TV retrospective.

There have been a few Doctor Who Spinoff’s over the years, but there’s one I’d define as the best

In your dreams. This is the Sarah Jane Adventures

The series premiered in 2007 and ended in 2011 thanks to the tragic passing of Elizabeth Sladen. But it had a decent run of 1 tv movie and 52 episodes across 5 series. I’ll be covering the show 4 episodes at a time, counting the TV movie as 2 episodes.

Also, because of scheduling issues I’ll covering the first 2 series during April and May, the 3^rd in July and 4-5 will be covered from September.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4 Episode 16 review - What if?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is back and after that whopper of a cliffhanger to the last story arc, I'm excited to see what's next

Sequel Baiting #1 - Ghost Rider vs Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

It’s new format time once again, actually the first time since the 4 issue test. Anyway, this is sequel baiting and up first is Ghost Rider vs. Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance.

Released in 2007 and 2012, neither film was massively profitable, leading to the rights reverting to Marvel and their use of the character in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Both films have received critical lambasting but which is better? There’s only way to find out…

Judge them by numerous categories!!!

What? You can’t get 2 movies to fight, that’d be stupid.

I’ll be rating the films on 6 categories, these may change depending on the film being judged, each one will get a rating out of 5 stars, whichever has the most stars is officially the best of the two.

So, let’s get started and look at the plot.

Editorial - Catching up with Riverdale

It's been a while since I've talked about this series, because I simply haven't had the time to give it full reviews. But I have been keeping an eye and have skimmed all of the episodes that have aired to date, the rest I've found kind of uncomfortable to watch but I'll get to that.

Just a heads up, I have not rewatched every episode for this, I'm just basing this on my thoughts from initial viewing. I'll divide my thoughts into sections because why not