roland-rockerfella Reviews

Shōgun (2024–2026)

Did I Miss Something?

[2/10 · 13 May 2024]

I must have done because I found Shogun one of the most tedious shows I have ever had to endure. You know a show is good when the time flies by and the episode is over before you realise it, well the exact opposite happened with Shogun. By the time I reached the end I felt I had climbed Mount Everest barefoot and blindfolded. The first 2 episodes are interesting enough with Blackthorne becoming stranded in medieval Japan and having to find his way through an alien land, all fair enough.

Then the reming 8 episodes gets bogged down in intricate and tedious political manuvers of Japans feudal lords with endless loooong winded scenes of people sitting about yapping endlessly as the subtitles flies by. The translator girl was so gloomy with her endless whining about wanting to die I literally yelled with joy when she finally got her wish towards the end. If you have insomnia I can't reconnect Shogun enough, it will put you to sleep quick smart.

Outcasts (2010–2011)

Deserved More Time To Grow.

[8/10 · 23 February 2024]

Outcasts is the kind of shows that is never going to be able to tell it's story properly in a short run, it need time to grow and mature. Sadly it was not given that time and axed after only 1 season. While I do admit the first season was a bit wonky and all over the place with its story telling there was defiantly enough foundation put in place for a very gripping tale. The cast is outstanding and the backdrop of the rugged South Africa landscape make for a very alien feel. The alien menace, the AC menace and the menace from inside their own walls made for a riveting and mature sci-fi drama. Pity it had to end so soon.

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities: The Viewing (2022) Season 1, Episode 7

Style Over Substance

[4/10 · 28 January 2023]

Interesting setup. 4 high achievers in different fields attend a secret viewing of an unknown object held by a reclusive millionaire. We have a scientist, a novelist, a medium, and a music guru. The set up was good, the execution was not.

The question, why these particular individuals were invited?. What was their connection, what did they bring to the evening, was all the substance abuse they were partaking in necessary to what followed?

The answer, who knows, none of these questions were ever answered. They just sit about talking crap for 40 minutes before looking at a rock that turns into some kind of demon killing 2 of them but not the other 2 for some reason before stalking off into the night....yea ok.

Not quite sure what the director was trying to do here but it didn't land. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed watching expecting some kind of pay off it but when the dust settled I realized it was all kind of about nothing. 90% style, 10% substance.

The Rig (2023– )

Could have been great.....sadly wasn't.

[3/10 · 11 January 2023]

This show had enormously potential. Good cast ( mostly) spooky setting, unknown danger, what could go wrong?. Well sadly almost everything. The cast were given little to do. Ian Glenn comes across as a rather clueless boss who has no idea about what to do about anything, while poor old Owen Teale has to stomp about for 6 episodes and be angry all the time at everyone for no reason. Also the CGI was pretty atrocious with the whole thing having a very fake look about it.

The "plot" if you call it that meanders all over the place with seemingly no real idea of where it's going. Naturally they had to inject modern politics into it with "oil bad, renewables good" message that was a subtle as a sledgehammer. Needless to say I thought this was going to be a great supernatural/monster story, it wasn't, it was mediocre at best.

House of the Dragon (2022– )

"I'm in charge, no I'm in charge, no I'm in charge, no I'm in charge" etc, etc etc

[4/10 · 25 October 2022]

Sadly that pretty much sums up the "storyline" of House Of The Dragon. I have never been particularly interested in watching so called "noble" families squabbling over power and now I remember why, its rather dull. GOT had multiple storylines running parallel, this show has only the 1.

Game Of Thrones had a its fair share of noble squabbles its fair to say but it also had the overall menace from the White Walkers returning from the North while the seven kingdoms was engaging in its usual petty squabbles over who was in charge. They failed to see the great menace approaching ( not so great after all ) and continued to fight amongst themselves.

Also the time jumps makes it very hard to get attached to many of the characters and the actors playing them as they are quickly replaced after a handful of episodes by an older version. For example I loved the actress playing the young Rhaenyra, yet she was gone mid season and the attachment I had developed for the character went with her. Anyway its no GOT to be sure but many will sing its praises simply because its set in the same universe.

The Many Saints of Newark (2021)

Not quite sure why this was made?

[5/10 · 10 August 2022]

This film was marketed as the backstory to a young Tony Soprano, sadly it isn't. The majority of the film follows Dickie Moltisanti and his crew and they wander about on random business, and spends more time on the black riots of the 1960's than anything else.

There are some familiar names like a young Sil and Paulie but their presence is unspectacular and limited. Yes Tony does appear in the film as a young man but he just loiters about for a while acting sullen and has zero impact on the film itself. Also it was very hard to believe this guy would grow to become the dreaded mafia boss in a few years time. Overall a lukewarm addition to the story of the Sopranos.

Foundation (2021– )

Not Asimov's Foundation But Still Well Made.

[9/10 · 28 July 2022]

I have read the Foundation books many times so lets be honest here, there is very little of Asimov's story in this adaptation, perhaps 5%. The basic concept of a crumbling empire and a Foundation established to help in the rebuild are there. A few character and world names are kept are but virtually everything else is changed.

The "new" story is interesting in its own way with the Cleon's and the genetic dynasty being the major improvement. These is sadly also a major WOKE element in the story with many of the characters changing sex and nationality to make for a more "diverse" production. Overall it isn't bad but don't call it Asimov's Foundation because it simply isn't.

Vikings (2013–2020)

Not The Same Without Ragnar and Rollo.

[8/10 · 5 February 2019]

The first 3 seasons were amazing, loved not only the power struggles but the spirit of adventure and exploration. However now that they have killed Ragnar and Rollo has been pretty much written out the show simply isn't the same anymore. Ragnars sons don't interest me, Floki's story in Iceland is kind of bizarre, and the English side of things also declined with the death of King Ecbert. Time to bring Vikings to a close I feel.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

What The Heck Was That???

[3/10 · 10 January 2018]

Just got back from seeing TLJ. I thought it was rubbish, zero plot, zero character development, they killed off Snoke, we knew nothing about him, they killed off Phasma, we knew nothing about her. Lots of rushing about and shooting stuff but they advanced the story about 1 inch. I wont be bothering with the final installment of this new trilogy as it has totally failed to grab me in any way and i'm a 40 year Star Wars fan. I will simply stick to the stand alone films from now on.

Passengers (I) (2016)

Chick Flick In Space

[4/10 · 20 December 2017]

If you like a good chick flick then Passengers is the film for you. One unlucky fellow on his way to another star system gets woken up due to ship damage only part way through his 100+ year voyage. Unable to get himself get back into cryo sleep for the rest of the voyage he does what any red blooded male would do, he finds the hottest chick on the passenger manifest and wakes her up too. This brain box however doesn't wake up someone with some technical skill to help him fox the problem however, no he wakes up the hot chick writer with zero skills.

Anyway the chick flick part kicks in full for now, first she loves him, then she hates him, then she loves him again, then they live happily ever after after fixing the ship thanks to a five minute part by Laurence Fishbourne. Anyway its predictable as all hell and try not to laugh, or yawn at all the clichés.

Churchill (2017)

So Deceiving Your Audience With Fake Trailers Is Now Normal Hollywood?

[3/10 · 9 August 2017]

After seeing the preview I was very excited to see this depiction of the UK's greatest leader during world war 2. The " We will fight them on the beaches " speech, the Dunkirk evacuation, the dire times of 1940-41, the Blitz, all enticingly covered in the trailer, there is only one problem, virtually none of those scenes are actually in the film.

Instead we get 100 or so minuted of grumpy Churchill moaning about D- Day and how it will all go wrong. I find this kind of deception from Hollywood disgusting, where they lure audiences to films with exciting previews that show many scenes that are not even if the final film. No doubt you will have to buy the " extended edition " to get this material. No thanks Hollywood, you have tricked me for the last time.

Dunkirk (2017)

Good Attempt But Lacks Impact

[5/10 · 25 July 2017]

This was a good try to be sure, but in truth I felt underwhelmed when I left the studio. The film is technically near perfect but it fails to show the true scale of the evacuation or the civilian and military fleet that pulled it off. Also it totally failed to show the heroic defense by the French who held the Germans back for those vital few days and allowed the British to escape.

Early on Kenneth Branagh's character states that there are over 400.000 men on this beach yet we fail to see any more than 200 or so in any shot, the rest of the time the beach feels near deserted. Now I understand that hiring 400.000 extras for a film would be financially and logistically impossible yet without this kind of scale or even some clever CGI work this film feels like a few dozen guys running about on a beach being rescued by a handful of boats. Anyway, it was still a good try and the aerial dogfights with the Spitfires was magical, that alone made it almost worth watching, almost.

Extraordinary: The Stan Romanek Story (2013)

What The * beep *

[1/10 · 17 July 2017]

This kind of garbage damages serious UFO research in a major way. I'm not sure what the worst part was of all this " evidence " he was showing us, someone running about his backyard with a flashlight, the shaky cam UFO footage that literally could be anything or that absurd rubber headed alien looking in his window. I turned it off after 20 minutes. I was hoping to see a serious piece of UFO research instead i got a pile of fake garbage that should never have made it onto Netflix in the first place.

Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things (2015)

A New Way Of Living

[9/10 · 27 March 2017]

I discovered minimalism a few years back so coming across this doco wasn't unexpected. I realized a while back that in order to work less I had to consume less, in order to have more time doing things I wanted to do I had to lower my need for stuff. Its not rocket science, its simple common sense.

Now instead of working 5 days a week I work 2, simply by reducing the need to buy lots of stuff I don't actually need. Unless you love what you do so much that you want to be living at work then look at what you truly need when it comes to material possessions. You will be amazed at what you can do without and never miss it, life is simpler and you will be happier for it. Give it a try, what do you have to loose?

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

Fallen A Long Way Since Hunt For Red October

[2/10 · 21 July 2015]

When I first saw this title I thought cool, a young Jack Ryan during his early days, could be interesting seeing how his thinking and strategic mind evolves, right?, wrong.

Instead of the wounded full military/ drama stories we got with Red October and Patriot Games we end up with a standard Hollywood over the top action flick with analyst with no field experience Ryan and his clueless snooping girlfriend pulling enough moves on the streets of Moscow to put 007 to shame.

The story had some good actors and cIearly had a decent budget yet as so often in the case of Hollywood they coudn't be bothered to hire a decent script writer. I think the girlfriend part bugged me the most. She turned up in Moscow having apparently talked her way into Russia without a visa ( like that's going to happen ) lands at Ryan's hotel room accusing him of having an affair then BOOM they suddenly include her in a CIA secret mission to save the country? wtf, am I missing something here?. Anyway was glad when it ended, I won't be watching anymore of these if they make them.

Interstellar (2014)

The Next 2001 Or A Muddled Mess?

[8/10 · 9 November 2014]

This is a really hard movie to review as some parts are absolute gems while others leave you scratching your head and wondering what the heck the writers were thinking. I think if they had just stuck to making an exploration film about searching for other planets to save Humanity from extinction this film would truly have become a classic, for on the positive side I really loved the parts where they are exploring the alien worlds as they were fantastic.

However towards the end of the film Interstellar takes a huge U-turn and turns into some kind of cross between 2001/ The Black Hole and Dr Who with the main character falling into a black hole and lots of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff happens and he ends up being in his own past and saving everyone in a not so clear way. Anyway it is what it is, I did enjoy this film but at times it tries to be a little to clever for it's own good.

Doctor Who: Victory of the Daleks (2010) Season 5, Episode 3

Having Problems With Season 5

[4/10 · 24 May 2010]

Don't get me wrong, i'm a huge Dr Who fan, have been for more than 30 years but I have to admit to having problems with the current Dr and his stories. It's not Matt Smith as such, he is a fine Dr and in another time and place he would be brilliant. The trouble is that he is exactly the same as David Tennant, same look, same hair, same mannerisms, same kind of companion, same stories......same everything.

When Tennant left they had the chance to take the show in a totally new direction, they have done exactly the opposite and made the show exactly the same as it was before. The Dr is the same, the companion is the same, the stories are exactly the same. The stories feel totally rushed with the Dr speaking so fast at times you can barley understand what he is saying. I know it will never happen but i'm a fan of the 4-6 part stories that made up the old Dr Who, in that format you had time to develop the story, the characters, today's stories are so rushed, and you can't build a classic story when rushed. Victory of the Daleks is no different, given time it could have been great story, but because everything needs to be crammed into 40 minutes it isn't, and never will be.

Blake's 7 (1978–1981)

A True Classic

[9/10 · 14 January 2010]

I have been watching Blake's 7 for more than 30 years, and it only keeps getting better with time. I remember watching this show as a kid and thinking, wow. As an adult I came to appreciate the true magic of this show. Sure the sets and special effects are basic, even comical at times (one spaceship was 2 hairdryers glued together and spray painted red).

But all that doesn't matter, the stories and characters are timeless. The first episode "The way Back" is a real nut buster covering such dark material as mass murder, child abuse and lifelong sentence's on prison planets. The main characters of Blake and Avon are 2 of the best characters ever to reach the small screen. A must see for dark gritty sci-fi.

Avatar (2009)

Pretty Pictures & That's About All

[1/10 · 18 December 2009]

The film looked beautiful, you can't really deny that. Cameron has created a fantastic world to visually immerse yourself in. But that's about as far as it goes. The storyline is totally predictable, and as a result totally un enjoyable.

The old song of soldier getting captured/saved by natives, coming to love their customs and ways, then defending their way of life is a very old one. Dances With Wolves, and The Last Samurai all did it better that Avatar. The bad guys are as stereotype as they come, the hero isn't a particularly good actor with the emotional range of Stephen Segal.

This film has lots of pretty pictures, and that's about all.

2012 (I) (2009)

Another Hollywood CGI Bloated Mess

[1/10 · 12 November 2009]

Well what can you say about a disaster movie when the biggest disaster is the movie it'self. I'm not even sure where to begin summing up this turd. The bad acting, the corny duologue, the endless clichés, oh yes and let's not forget the nail biting escapes.

In fact there are so many nail biting escapes made by our heroes I think I will just focus on those. The trouble is i'm not sure which nail biting escape to focus on. The nail biting escape from suburbia, the nail biting escape from Yellow Stone, the nail biting escape from the airport 1, the nail biting escape from airport 2, the nail biting escape from the cargo plane, the nail biting escape from the arc.........etc,etc,etc,etc.

Man what a waste of 3 hours.