TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 3 Part 3 - Mona Lisa's Revenge/The Gift

We’re back with the final 4 episodes of the Sarah Jane Adventures

#48 - Neeson Month - A Million Ways to Die in the West

It’s Neeson Month

And I don’t know about you, but I’ve gotten a bit sick of this mediocrity, we need some good old-fashioned cr*p. But I’m too lazy to find anything obscure, so just give me an easy target

He’ll do very nicely. Yes Seth MacFarlane, the guy behind Family Guy and cavalcades of Cartoon “”””””””Comedy.”””””””” I’ve watched maybe 5 minutes of Family Guy and I already know I can’t stand it. Especially when they come up with Screams of Silence, an episode which managed to be more offensive than Kill the Moon, BY INTENTION and better yet as an attempt at shock humour. Here’s the thing about offensive comedy, you can make people laugh by offending others, but it has to be a 2-sided issue with valid arguments on either side, which is why political and religious comedy can be funny. Domestic abuse isn’t funny! Or at least you have to be very clever to make it funny, and it’s a few IQ points above MacFarlane’s. He also did Ted and its sequel, both about a man and his relationship with his teddy bear. I’d rather eat the goddamn bear than watch those.

Thankfully we’re not here to look at that today, this is a Million Ways to Die in the West

Released in 2014, this movie decides to try and parody how dangerous is to live in a western. In theory, this could be the key to a lot of comedy, but it falls short there and in various other aspects too. Neeson stars in this, but is not the lead, instead we have to make room for MacPharlane’s ego as HE plays the main character.

The movie made $87m on a $40m meaning it only barely broke even, and would be considered quite the downgrade from the Ted Movies, which made over $200m each for some reason. The movie garnered a mixed reception, with a 33% rating on rotten tomatoes and a 40% audience rating.

But this intro’s getting long, let’s just dive in.

Neeson Month - MIni Review: Batman Begins

It’s Neeson Month

So, let’s talk about Batman. Batman is my favourite DC character, in case the fact that reviewed stuff with him in it more often than more-or-less anything isn’t a clear indication. And I think the Dark Knight is the best live action Batman movie. Combining all the elements I love about the character, reasonably grounded with emotional gut-punches to boot. The Dark Knight Rises that came after I also enjoy, in spite of its many flaws (plug) but today we’re going to be talking about Batman Begins, the one I like the least of the 3.

Released in 2005, this movie was a critical success with an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though its profit was modest, I suspect possibly by fans reluctant to watch a reboot after the disaster that was Batman and Robin, the movie did make a modest profit and paved the way for a series that grossed over $2bn overall

TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures series 3 part 2 - The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith/The Eternity Trap

 We’re back to looking at the Sarah Jane Adventures and… it’s time. Let’s begin

Neeson Month - Mini Review: Run all night

We’re back in Low-budget B-movie territory which is where Liam Neeson tends to shine, next up in Neeson Month

We’re looking at Run all Night

Released in 2015 by Warner Bros, unfortunately around the same time Disney released the Cinderella remake, Run All Night had a mixed but positive-ish reception with critics, a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but sadly that didn’t save it at the Box office, where it may a dismal $80m on a budget of around $50m. Taking out theatre cuts and marketing that’s a dismal loss for the movie.

But that doesn’t necessarily make it a bad movie, does it? Here’s my take

Neeson Month: Mini Review - Wrath of the Titans

It’s Neeson Month

And today we look at the sequel to my previous Neeson Month review Wrath of the Titans

Critics were no kinder to this movie than they were the last, holding a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were less kind and this movie $305m on a $150m budget, in real terms they’ll be lucky if they broke even on that. Why was this movie the final straw? Here are my thoughts.

Neeson Month - Mini Review: Clash of the Titans

Oh goody, a remake. Sh*t

It’s Neeson Month

And time to watch Liam Neeson ascend to Godhood in Clash of the Titans

A remake of the 1981 Clash of the Titans movie, or at least in the way that it’s called ‘Clash of the Titans’ and has a protagonist named Perseus, who’s the son of Zeus. This movie was reasonably successful, making a profit at the box office, but the critical reaction was quite mixed… and by that, I mean it got a pathetic 28% on rotten tomatoes.

What went wrong?

Neeson Month: Mini Review - Unknown

So, what was this movie again?

Oh yeah, it’s Neeson Month

And today we’ll be looking at Unknown

That one doesn’t have Liam Neeson in it

Better. Unknown was released in 2011, it made $136m at the box office, a modest profit on its $40m budget. Critically it holds 55% on rotten tomatoes, with an average 5.6/10, so mixed reviews I think. But what do I think. Well, here are my thoughts

Neeson Month: Mini Review - Taken 3

So, time to do Taken all over again?

Taken 3 came out 2014 and received scathing reviews by critics with an 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 3.5/10. The movie was not as profitable as the last one, but still made a decent profit earning $326m on a $48m budget.

So, why do the critics hate it? Here are my thoughts

Editorial - The Best and Worst of Doctor Who series 10

Series 10 of Doctor Who was probably the strongest series of the show to date in my opinion and a great Swan Song for Steven Moffat's final season. Still, it's not without its flaws and I'm here to count down the top 5 best and worst moments of Doctor Who series 10. This editorial contains spoilers. You have been warned

Neeson Month: Mini Review - Taken 2

It’s Neeson Month

And we continue our look at the Taken series, we will move onto other things Neeson starred in but Taken is the one that defined his role in the action genre, and since we’re not looking at Schindler’s list this month, it’s an apt starting point.

Taken 2 came out in 2012 and once again made a decent profit making $370m on a $45m budget. Unlike the first movie though, it only holds a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, that’s an intense drop, let’s see if an analysis can work out why.

Neeson Month: Mini Review - Taken

So, it’s July, you know what that means

Neeson Month!

Liam Neeson, the man with a very particular set of skills, we’ve seen crop up in a couple of movies already. He had a cameo in the Dark Knight Rises and he played Good Cop/Bad Cop in the Lego Movie, but we’re going to look at a few more examples of his work, both the good, and some of the bad too. But why not start with the movie that coined the phrase I used earlier in this paragraph, Taken

Released in 2009, Taken was a huge hit, making over $200m on its modest $25m budget. It’s reception critically was a little more mixed, holding 59% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 5.8/10 and a 50 on Metacritic. It was also involved in some very strange controversy when someone fraudulently said this was based on a true story. Turned out to be all lies of course, but still kind of intriguing. But to the movie itself.

Doctor Who Series 10 Finale review - The Doctor Falls