Books I've Read 2017

I am not a big reader, it’s one of those things that I’ve always wanted to improve about myself but seemingly never do. My desires to read can come in very sporadic bursts, I remember about 5 years ago I was in sixth form college, having no friends and insanely bored I decided to just go to the library whenever I was free and just read. Within a year and a half I read roughly 20 books, including all of A Song of Ice and Fire and boy howdy are they looooong books! But ever since then I’ve read maybe a couple of books a year. However this past year I noticed myself improving and reading roughly a book a month, now this is nothing to boast about as some people out there can read over 100 books a year, but still, for me, this was a pretty good consistency and I hope to continue it into 2018-if not improve it-so, I thought I’d celebrate by giving quick mini-reviews of all 12 books. Also remember, I am not a book reviewer, so if my analysis seems uninformed or repetitive…well that’s why. Let’s go!

Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire – Derek Landry

The second book of the Skulduggery series, I was recommended these books by my two best friends and after reading the first one last year and enjoying it a fair amount, it had highly creative, had witty dialogue, likeable characters and a unique fantasy world, I was looking forward to the sequel, which my friends told me was even better. Which, they were right. It continued the great traits of the first book, that being the entertaining characters and dialogue but improved upon them, giving our protagonists more depth, particularly with our main character Stephanie/Valkyrie and her slow estrangement from her own family; as well as dealing with darker themes and having better described action sequences. My only real quarrel is that the main villain is basically the same as the one in the last book only…eviler, because reasons. But in my mind this was an improvement of an already good first book and I’m told each book in the series just gets better and better, I’ve already purchased the next two books in the series so hopefully I’ll be reading at least one if not both of them next year.

The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett

I have never read a single Terry Pratchett novel, everyone always says he’s one of their favourite authors, so I felt it important for me to get round to him sooner rather than later, starting with his most iconic series, the Discworld books. With just the one book I can instantly tell why Pratchett is often chosen by people as their favourite author, the man seemingly has endless creativity, his craftsmanship for the medium is impeccable as these are stories that can only truly be told in book form (Though apparently the adaptation isn’t half bad). His worlds are distinct, his writing is funny, and if it wasn’t for the fact that there are over 40 books in the Discworld series (Not including spin-offs by other authors) I would love to read more of the series. I probably will return to it sometime in the future, but it’s a bit too daunting for me right now. Nevertheless if this book showed me anything, it’s that Pratchett certainly had a talent and deserves the praise he got.

Nerd Do Well – Simon Pegg

Something I discovered about myself this year is that I really love autobiographies, particularly in audiobook form. They have such a vulnerability to them as people reflect on their lives and have to try and structure random and interesting events into some form of a narrative, and in order to do that they have to truly dig deep into themselves and expose the good and the bad. Simon Pegg does this through a spy parody taking up half his book to create somewhat of a funny narrative that reflects on the difficulties writing a book of such magnitude; and the other half is delivering on said promises. Though if I’m being honest, it’s been nearly an entire year since I listened to the story so I’m struggling to recall particular events that stuck out to me, I just remember how I felt, and how I felt was comfort. Comfort in someone I could connect to through pop-culture and nerdy goodness while also having him describe it in such an intellectual and sophisticated way. I remember chuckling at the silly anecdotes of this dorky comedian and his deadpan delivery, proving to me that audiobook was definitely the way to go.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – Phillip K Dick

Blade Runner is one of my all time favourite films, however my main reason for loving it is mostly due to its visuals, not necessarily the plot, meaning reading the book it was based on, which is no visuals and all plot, I was a tad worried. I’ve stated before that stories that question intelligence in robots is a boring subject for me because often they all feel the same and ironically feel quite soulless. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is actually a fantastic book. Unlike a lot of stories that tackle this subject matter, Dick was able to personalise the story, have his audience connect to the characters before introducing the themes, even if you can see it coming from a mile away. While there are certainly a lot of differences between book and film, I don’t think they’re differences that hinder either product, but rather elements that aid one might not aid the other. In this case its having a second protagonist who suffers from physical and mental disabilities and is completely changed for the film, even though in the book he’s sympathetic and makes for a good read, but I can understand why they left him out of the film. Another example-and one of the best chapters in the book-is the torturing of a spider, a moment that is told in such excruciating detail that it was uncomfortable to read, and frankly I find it much more challenging to write about that than to show it, as a moment like that visually could come across as exploitative. It also strengthens the film’s narrative, it has you sympathise with the androids by asking why there lives are worth less than that of a crippled man or an animal, but never lets you forget, their main flaw is a lack of empathy and that makes them dangerous. I’m comfortable saying I love this book almost as much as I love the film and highly recommend it.

Mass Effect: Revelation – Drew Karpyshyn

Continuing the trend of exploring more work of things I love, Mass Effect: Revelation, written by acclaimed sci-fi author as well as writer for the first two Mass Effect games Drew Karpyshyn makes for a good companion piece to the main series, if you heard of Anderson’s history with Saren and wanted to learn more about it. It’s a fairly short read and has a fairly simple plot to follow, but it’s not meant to be the bulk of the series, just the equivalent to a side story. If you’re not a Mass Effect fan, don’t bother, even though they try to explain the world for any potential newcomers, this is clearly a book meant for people who are already fans. As a fan, I enjoyed it enough, like I said, it’s nothing too heavy to wrap your head around, so it was worth the read.

Where Am I Now? – Mara Wilson

I was never really a fan of Mara Wilson, I really liked Matilda as a kid but as an adult I mostly just liked her because she has a funny twitter account. She was never someone I cared much to learn about her life story, but boy was I glad I read it (Or listened too it, again audiobook). Hearing the stories of a child star and how being in the limelight can shape a person, it’s no wonder so many child stars go down a dark path and it’s a miracle that Mara never did. She also has such a way of recapturing her exact feelings during important moments of her life that I fully felt like I was there, both the good and the bad. My only real issues are that I found the structure of the book to be confusing, rather than telling the story in chronological order, or by topic she seems to just jump around at random, making it difficult to put everything into context at times. Also the amount of times she uses phrases describing how she started to cry become rather stale, I know it seems cheap to criticize things like that when she’s just telling the story of events how they happened, but the overuse of it weakened the effect for me.

Backwards & In Heels – Alicia Malone

Alicia Malone is someone I’ve admired for a long time, she’s always been very knowledgeable about film and has a clear passion for women in the industry, so it makes sense that her debut as an author is a book all about women in film. The book covers dozens of stories of some of the most prolific and important women to work both in front of and behind the camera, making for some fascinating stories that could probably take up an entire book, but putting them all back to back shows just how much these people helped shape the industry as a whole and often their work goes unrecognised, or even when it does the amount of personal issues they suffered along the way in order to get there. While granted having the book segmented like this does lead to some stories not being as interesting as others, also some of the stories I already knew about, but that’s not really something the book can account for. Overall if you’re interested in learning about an important part of both film history and issues still facing modern day female filmmakers then I’d say this is definitely worth the read.

The Martian – Peter Weir

This book can pretty much be split into two parts: The funny parts, and the science parts. The funny parts are great because-well-they're funny, no deeper insight needed there, funny is funny. The science parts are more hit and miss. They're hit when they're both interesting and educational-even though I have no idea which parts are accurate, they certainly feel accurate. They can also be quite intense, something goes wrong for our protagonist and you're not sure how he'll fix it, but of course he fixes it with science! Unfortunately, this gets repeated numerous times throughout the book that it became kind of boring and repetitive and by the end I just found myself going "Oh my god! Will things stop going wrong and get off this stupid planet already!". Which is also what the main character is feeling so...I can't honestly decide if that's a good thing or not. I'm sympathising with Mark Whatney, but at the same time, feeling frustrated is not usually a good thing you want to be with a story.

Turtles All the Way Down – John Green
John Green is someone I absolutely love, I think he and his brother Hank have some of the best YouTube channels, podcasts, merchandise, etc out there that you can expose yourself to; but I'm not a big fan of him as an author. Don't get me wrong, when I first read The Fault in Our Stars I loved it, but after reading several of his books since then, they all feel very samey and uninspired. One thing I do like about his work is that his stories become less romanticised and more emotionally vulnerable as they go along. The best scene in TFioS most would agree is the gas station scene, and this book has several moments just like that, seeing the protagonist hit rock bottom, will full humiliation and consequences that come with it. It's also his most personal book, being familiar with him as a person through Vlogbrothers, I could see which parts of the story were based on his own life, everything from the location to the mental illnesses the protagonist suffers through. All of this certainly makes the book feel very honest and realistic, but the typical John Greenisms are still prevalent. The angsty teen protagonist who sort of loves and is belligerent to those closest to them, the awkward obsession over a romantic interest. If you don't mind those cliches then I completely get it, they're just personally not tropes or styles that I find particularly enjoyable. If you like John Green's other books then you'll like this one all the same, if you're like me then there will definitely be parts of this book you really enjoy, and others that are kind of a drag. Also I know they were always just a metaphor, but as a turtle enthusiast I am severely let down by the lack of turtles in this book.

A Life in Parts – Bryan Cranston

Well, out of all the autobiographies I read this year, this was certainly my favourite. Bryan Cranston-like many-is an actor I adore, he's been in plenty of things I love, most notably Seinfeld, Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad, so hearing him discuss his time on those shows was certainly the initial draw; but it was everything I didn't know about him that I found to be the most interesting. Whether it be his discussion of his personal life and all the fascinating things that happened to him, including travelling the country with his brother, dealing with a psycho ex-girlfriend and saving a man's life after attempting suicide. Even more so was his analysis of his craft; he never took a job for granted, and never half-arsed it, he always tried to give a performance something unique to him. He never believed he was too good for anyone, and likewise never thought he was beneath anything, he was a man that you'll never hear the words "I can't do that" be said aloud. There are plenty of autobiographies that I can say are interesting, but there are few that I can say were inspiring. This book was genuinely motivational, endearing to read and made for what is possibly my favourite book of the year.

Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll
It shows how far I've come as a reader, the first Alice book-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland-despite being a short book, I read through roughly 2 years ago and it took me about 2 weeks to read. Through The Looking Glass however only took me 2 days. In typical fashion, the book doesn't stick to any traditional narrative, or even carry on plots, ideas or characters from the first book (Minus Alice) and is very much just Alice going to Wonderland, talking to different people in Wonderland, and then leaving Wonderland. Now granted while the first book I found to be rather enjoyable, this one for some reason dragged. It's hard to say why, it could just be because the concept was getting old at this point, or maybe the characters Alice interacted with weren't as interesting as a whole as the ones in the first book. Now there were certainly some characters that were entertaining, The Red Queen and Humpty Dumpty stand out in my mind, overall the charm of the first one just sadly didn't carry over into it's sequel.

So those were all of the books I read (Or listened) to in 2017, overall they were mostly good, some great, and my hopes are for next year to read even more, don't know how many exactly, but at minimum 13 would be a good number.

-Danny

Best Things Of The Year 2017

Did one of these last year, might as well do another one this year, where I just get to talk about my favourite pieces of entertainment that I was exposed to over the past 12 months, doesn't have to be released in 2017, I just have to have seen it for the first time in 2017. Let's get to it.

Films
This was a strange year for me in terms of cinema, I had somehow broken my previous record of most films watched in a year, with a total of 180. I got to cross off a lot of "must see" films that had been on my watch list for years, and overall I saw more good films than bad. But with that being said, I didn't see any films that blew me away. On one hand it makes sense, the more you expose yourself to, the harder you become to impress, but this was the first time this decade that I didn't see at least one film that I would have given a 10/10, and only two films received a 9/10: La La Land and Mudbloods. However neither of which I feel can claim this top spot. La La Land is a film I'm sure everyone has probably seen and has their own opinion on it. I personally loved it for it's beautiful visuals, brilliant acting, great soundtrack and one of the best endings to any film I've ever seen, but there's really no point in recommending a film everyone has already decided their views on. Meanwhile Mudbloods is a very personal film to me, it's a documentary exploring the real life sport Quidditch, a sport that I in fact play, and even though I've spent the last year studying documentaries and being told to question everything I see, I know from personal experience how much of the film is based in truth. With that being said, I can't imagine any non-Quidditch players getting that invested, they might find the concept interesting (Everyone always does) and be curious to know how the sport works, but I don't think that curiosity is enough to hold them for an entire film. However if you're one of those awesome people who does play Quidditch, definitely give it a watch, it's right there on Netflix for you to enjoy.

Television
TV had the completely opposite year, while I didn't see much, what I did see impressed me to no end, and the big takeaway was Bojack Horseman. A series that judging by the pilot, comes across as another crude adult aimed cartoon with little depth and mean spirited humour. Once you get passed that, I saw it for what it really was. An in depth analysis of depression and the various forms it can take, with different characters experiencing it to different yet equally valid degrees, whether it be co-dependency, denial, abuse amongst others. The show doesn't hold any punches, and has some of the smartest, honest and most thought provoking writing on the subject matter. In fact, the 11th episode of the show's latest season (4), I am firmly in the belief that it is the single most depressing episode of television I've ever seen. And the show does all of this, while simultaneously being a silly cartoon about a horse that can somehow make me burst out laughing every few minutes. It's truly a masterpiece of it's kind.

Music
This was the year I finally jumped on the Hamilton bandwagon, a stage play musical that I had heard nothing but rave reviews for, and you know what? It really is that fucking good, and I am now one of those annoying friends who constantly tells people to listen to Hamilton. Lin Manuel-Miranda is one of the most talented musicians of our time, his lyrical compositions are clever, his use of musical motif's for each character and blending them in different variations for each song are catchy and unique, and he somehow made a hip-hop musical about the American Revolution interesting for a British millennial who had no interesting in either hip-hop or American history. Again, talking about Hamilton feels rather redundant, because at this point, you either love it, or you're so sick of people talking about it that you've decided to never listen to it, and every time someone mentions it you hate it all the more. Oops.

Others
Let me paint you a picture of my life at the time of reading Giant Days for the first time. I was just about to finish my final year at university here in Sheffield, I had just spent the day hanging out with some of my closest friends, thinking it was the last time I was ever going to see them. Then I go home, I decide to read some comics, and I end up reading Giant Days. A comic about best friends who go to university in Sheffield...so I related to it quite a bit. While my experience to it was certainly a personal one, and who doesn't love it when a piece of media reveals itself to you at just the right time? Giant Days is a book I think everyone will love. It's one of the funnier books I've ever read, with hilarious and charming art work, likeable characters who are the perfect blend between realistic and cartoony, with genuine heart behind it all that makes you care about the characters. For the most part the stories are low stakes and endearing, but they can be so comforting that you just never want to leave, making it quite an easy read, and I blew through most of the issues within a matter of days. Also, it's just fun seeing actual places I've been to be in a comic book (And yes, walking up hills in Sheffield is a bitch).

-Danny

DC TV Weekly #32

Supergirl 'Reign' Review
Well what do ya know, they somehow took probably my least favourite episode of the season (The Faithful) and made it relevant. Granted, the idea that this one human religious fanatic somehow knows stuff about Krypton that an actual Kryptonian supercomputer doesn't is rather...dubious, but hey, it gave the character purpose, so I'll allow it. It also means Sam's story has finally had some relevance, I was optimistic about it as first, but as time went on it just seemed to be a generic origin story that was disconnected from the main plot. Now however, the two finally converge in the creation of the villain Reign, who is basically Krypton's Satan and boy howdy does she get one heck of an introduction. Her first real scene where she attacks a group of thugs was creatively shot in a way to actual strike dread in the audience, and her final fight scene with Supergirl was superb (Puns!). The lighting and ironic contrast with the music helped create an intense atmosphere, and the choreography showed Supergirl able to hold her own, but is very clearly outmatched, also the make-up and blood effects were probably the most visible damage we've ever seen Supergirl sustain. It's nothing gory at all, but I can't think of a time we've seen her that bruised and bloodied. They really did a good job selling the power and danger of this character, and considering Supergirl has never had a great main villain, I was rather impressed with this one. They took their time developing her, gave her a lot of great action in her change and leave it on a cliffhanger of what she's going to do after the mid-season break. Oh, there was also some stuff about James & Lena having a romance which is incredibly dumb, Carl Lumbly is back which is incredibly great, and Mon-El and his wife were...there. 8/10.

The Flash 'Don't Run' Review
Surely STAR Labs has enough resources to search for two people at once? Not to mention you have two super geniuses AND two detectives on your team. I understand the reasoning behind it as it makes for a good conundrum for our heroes to face, two of their teammates have gone missing and they can only find one of them, but it seemingly comes at the expense of logic. Also Wally is missing, again, for seemingly no reason. Oh well, a flawed set up, but with pretty good execution. Caitlin taken hostage by Amunet, a character I haven't really spoken much about, but I really like her. Katee Sackhoff is giving a delightfully over the top performance, making the character a ton of fun to watch, particularly in this episode where they also delve into her backstory, giving her a tad more depth. Likewise DeVoe still proves to be a strong villain for The Flash, giving himself a stronger new body while also framing Barry for a crime he didn't commit. Finally there is the storyline given to Caitlin, spending so long being afraid of Killer Frost and yet now apparently everyone loves her, making Caitlin feel rather obsolete. Also the image of Team Flash just hanging out with Killer Frost and having inside jokes is an image that is so funny, I desperately want to see it. But thankfully Caitlin is given a change to prove her own worth in this episode without the help of ol' Frosty. Put all that together and I think I pretty much described this episode, a flawed set-up, but with good execution. 7/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'Beebo the God of War' Review
You think the writers of Legends reach a point where they just play madlibs to come up with their stories? "The Legends have to fight Vikings who now have a Stuffed Toy as their new god" I can't think of any other scenario where you come up with this plot. This episode starts off with a young Martin Stein being chased through a store for the hot new Christmas toy, then cuts to nice Leonard Snart trying to help the team grieve with a Martin Stein puppet (Where did he get that!?) and then we go back to young Marty who has now been captured by vikings who mistake his toy for a god...fuck it, it's Christmas, go nuts. Everything about this episode is just silly goofy fun, up until Damien Darhk shows up halfway through the episode...with no build up whatsoever. I've already said my piece about Damien, but seriously, it's like they realised the Beebo thing only gets them so far so they just throw Damien in there, it's rather jarring. Thankfully the second half is saved with some underlying emotion as Jax is finally able to grieve over the death of Martin by getting to say goodbye to his younger self, and comes to the conclusion that he himself needs to move on and leave the team. I don't know if his departure is permanent, if so I understand why, it's a good place for his story to end (Unlike Wally West who keeps getting thrown to the side). Oh, and John Constantine has an appearance, is he going to become a team member? Unlikely, but I sure am excited to see him make a return, because Matt Ryan is superb as Constantine, and you can tell the DC TV team wants any excuse possible to use him, so I look forward to his adventure. At this point you know what you're getting with Legends, if you like it when it gets super silly, this is just the episode for you, even if the second half isn't as strong, it sticks the landing with a solid arc for Jax. 7/10.

Arrow 'Irreconcilable Differences' Review
Huh, what do ya know, all those one off villains weren't...one off. Instead of having just one big villain this season, we apparently have a whole gaggle of medium villains; I guess that's different? Although this episode barely focuses on them, but rather the internal conflict between Team Arrow. Curtis begins having doubts joining the Team was the best choice for him, Rene is forced to sell them out over blackmail, Dinah kept a fairly large secret from them, and Oliver begins spying on the others, yeah, those are all good conflicts. Mind you, the thing with Rene I feel should have been established prior to this episode, or at least hinted at, as it feels like it came out of nowhere. There's also some long overdue development between Lance and Laurel, which certainly intrigues me on where that's gonna go. Also hey, Thea's actually in an episode, and actually does something, even hinting at Roy's return, which I am very excited for. Finally, I enjoy the fact that the first 10 minutes of the episode is just the team hanging out at Oliver & Felicity's reception, it makes for a refreshing change of pace seeing them in such a normal and happy situation. Summary: Good emotional conflict between the team, one off villains teaming up doesn't make for an interesting team, and out of all the mid-season finales for DC, this one feels the least impactful, so, 7/10.

-Danny

Crisis on Earth X - DC TV Weekly #31

I really don't know where to begin. I guess a plot summary? Yeah, a plot summary is good. Barry & Iris are getting married, which means all the superheroes from across the shows are coming together. However, evil parallel versions of them all crash the wedding, revealed to be from an Earth where the Nazis won, thus, a fight ensues between our heroes and an army of Nazis. Because no matter what, you can always rely on Nazi's to be the definitive evil, awful, no redeeming, no guilt over punching in the face bad guys. In this crossover's case we get to see a group of gay, bi, black and/or Jewish superheroes get to beat up Nazis, so yeah, that's pretty much everything I could ever hope for.

One criticism I heard about last year's crossover is that each episode felt very segmented to it's respective TV Show, that is not the case here, apart from maybe the supporting cast of each show appearing briefly, this flows like one continuous narrative, and that each show and cast blend perfectly together. I know it's already a cliche to say this crossover was a better Justice League movie than the actual Justice League movie, but it was. Each episode featured a lot of fantastic action sequences, taking advantage of the different fighting styles of each character. The entire cast got a decent amount of screen time, and that includes the guest stars who only appeared in one or two parts of the crossover. We got to see new interactions between characters we don't normally get to see. We even got some new characters, including The Ray and Citizen Cold, in what is quite possibly the best performance Wentworth Miller's best performance as Leonard Snart, he's still behaving the exact same way, but is a good guy now, the contradiction between script and performance is hilarious. Speaking of performances, Paul Blackthorne, I swear to god this guy has been waiting to play an over the top Nazi his entire life, every line he delivered with such ferocity and pretty much ate the set, that's how much scenery he was chewing.

Thing is, this crossover very much could have gotten away with just being a big fun crossover event, hell, that's what last year's was, and it looked like that's what this one was going to be. Although, they actually went the extra mile by having major plot points occur, some obvious things like Barry & Iris do in fact get married, but so does Oliver & Felicity. But the biggest event was Martin Stein dying, which saddens me, true, we all knew he was leaving because the actor is busy on Broadway, but with the way his character had been written this season, I just assumed he was going to retire so he can spend time with his family, to actually kill him off (Thankfully dying doing something heroic), and getting some great performances from Victor Garber and Franz Drameh, it added a lot more depth and purpose to this crossover than what last year had.

Basically, I look at this crossover event, and I see everything that an event comic should be, but doesn't. It gives itself a purpose in existing, makes good use of it's entire cast, is well paced, has plenty of great moments of action and levity, tells a large scale story, proper impactful moments that will effect the status quo after the events over, give dying characters a heroic sacrifice and emotional goodbye; it is an ideal example of what a good crossover is supposed to be. Sure, there are plenty of things I could nitpick about this, like I'm upset Martian Manhunter wasn't in it, or that Reverse Flash is becoming even more of a confusing paradox with each appearance, or that the explanation for why it's called Earth-X is stupid. However, in terms of actual criticisms? Things that matter, that would be a hindrance on the story? Or one episode being the weak link? No. Also, final note: So many awesome shots of superheroes standing together and looking badass!

Yeah...it was a really friggin' good crossover. 9/10.

DC TV Weekly #30

Supergirl 'Wake Up' Review
First thing to stick out to me in this episode was the reference to Superman: The Movie, which is fitting, as that movie's tagline was "You'll believe a man can fly" while this episode's tagline should be "You'll believe Mon-El can actually be an interesting character". Okay that wasn't the smoothest of openings, but you get my point. Mon-El was never a character I hated, but I also never cared for him, and I certainly never saw why the characters in the show cared for him. Now with his return, 7 years have passed in his time and it shows, he's changed. He's responsible, caring, humble, you know, likeable traits in a character. He's for some reason sneaking around even though I feel he could have just told the others what he needed to do, but let's overlook that for now. The relationship between him and Kara was probably the most engaging its ever been. The two have gone on such different paths since the last time they saw each other, there's still clearly a connection, but it's completely unsalvageable, especially with the inclusion of Mon-El's wife...you know, in case it wasn't absolutely clear the two weren't getting back together. I would criticise them for this inclusion, but if shipper culture has taught me anything, people will ship regardless of how dumb it is. Also Carl Lumbly is back, so of course I'm gonna give it a positive review, because I love Carl Lumbly and every scene he's in is perfect. Oh, I guess I should talk about Sam's story becaus-Whoops! Outta time! Guess I don't get to talk about a storyline that I am so very clearly interested in. Oh well, 7/10.

The Flash 'Therefore I Am' Review
Part of me has to feel this guy is way OP. A villain who is so unbelievably intelligent that he can predict every possible outcome, what exactly are Team Flash gonna do to get around that? I say get around because let's be honest, conundrums like this are not the writer's speciality. That being said, he's a different villain. An actual goddamn different villain, thank Christ! There is no mystery behind his personality, no pretending to be an ally. We just get an episode explaining the man's backstory, having us understand his motivations, giving him a strength, giving him a weakness, and we get some great scenes between him and Barry. Already he's the best main villain we've had since Eobard Thawne. Unless they put him in some sort of robosuit that gives him super speed which...I would say would be really dumb, but this show has had three speedster villains in a row and they didn't seem to realise that was dumb, so I honestly wouldn't be shocked. Oh, and Wally's back; I did not miss you. Oh well, just focus on the positives, as for right now, he's a great villain, great episode, 8/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'Welcome to the Jungle' Review
Eh, you know what? If I was in charge of these shows, I'd want to use Gorilla Grodd as much as possible to. Cause apart from his appearance in season two, the guy has had a pretty solid record for being a great villain, and you know what? They continued that record. Grodd becoming somewhat of a god like figure who then tries to steal a time machine to erase humanity from ever existing is quite possibly the most Gorilla Grodd thing ever. So they've clearly got the fun and wacky side of Legends down, but it's one of those rare episodes that does equally well with the emotions. Mick meeting his father, a man that he hates-And I swear to god the actor playing his dad is the most entertaining performer ever, I want this man to read me a bed time story!-and get to see him from a new perspective, learn about him, develop as a character, solve his problems and doing it all in a way that never betrays the stoic, uncaring nature of Mick, it was really well done. So to recap: Super fun episode that does a really good job with the emotional stuff, yeah i'd say that's worth an 8/10.

Arrow 'Thanksgiving' Review
So are Black Siren and Cayden James the big baddies for the season? I'll give the show points that up until now I didn't realise that they never set up a main villain for the heroes to fight, they usually do that within the first episode or two. Instead the rest of this season so far has been several medium plots instead of just one giant plot, which in a way I think I liked, because it meant if one plot wasn't working for you then you had several others to connect to. If they are the closest thing we get to a main villain then I'm fine with it. Katie Cassidy is just so much better as Black Siren than she was Black Canary, in the same way Danielle Pannabaker is better as Killer Frost than Caitlin Snow. They're just clearly having so much fun playing villains that they so much more entertaining to watch. Cayden James I'm not so sure about, he's the smug super genius that we've seen a million times before and his motivation is literally the reverse of Prometheus last year. But he's not the worst foil for our heroes that is still Agent Watson, who my god, every time she appears on screen the episode suddenly becomes 1/10th as interesting as it was before. She's just a generic character that has been seen in a million other things. Moving on to some more interesting developments, Oliver is now officially back in the Green Arrow suit, and hey, just in time for the big crossover next week. Also Thea is back!...Okay seriously where the fuck was she. She was hardly in last season and for the first half of this season she's been in a coma? Does Willa Holland just not want to be in the show anymore? I'm getting distracted by little things. But to be fair, this episode, like this season isn't really about one thing, it's about several small things, so I can only give small opinions on them. Sooooo...Oliver getting arrested: Stupid. Team Arrow dealing with Siren and James: Decent. Diggle and Oliver's fight: good. The episode over all: Decent. 7/10.

DC TV Weekly #29

Supergirl 'Midvale' Review
It's true what they say, limits do cause artists to be more creative. I'm guessing this was around the time when Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh were filming the big crossover event this year, seeing as they're barely in this episode. But what we get in return is certainly a strong episode to hold us over, even if it is technically filler. Seeing more of Alex & Kara's relationship as kids and how they didn't get along shows a new side we haven't seen before. All other flashbacks have shown them to be idyllic siblings, which is probably not what would happen if your parents brought home an alien one day and said they were going to live with you. On top of that, we get to see Kara's first real friendship with a human, and how losing them changed her as a person, seeing more of how she became who she is today. Also, Smallville reference, that's cute. Even though this is technically filler, it's damn good filler, with a lot of focus on the character's relationships, expanding on their history and considering the writers were basically forced to write an episode without their two main leads, I'd say they did a damn good job of it. 8/10.

The Flash 'When Harry Met Harry' Review
Can strangers just...visit children in hospitals? I know that's just one of those small suspension of disbelief things, but it's just rather odd. Just wanted to get that out of the way, because this might just be the best episode of The Flash this season. The main plot of the episode has Barry continuing to train Ralph to be a superhero, which leads to a lot of funny moments, including an attempted mugging. But it also has strong emotional moments to balance it out; Ralph's actions lead to a child getting injured while trying to capture the villain, and we get a look into his character and why he is the way he is. He went into the private detective business because he still got some vague sense of performing justice, but without having to stick around to face the consequences when things got tough. It also lends itself to creating interesting conversations between him and Barry, Ralph thinks it's more important to catch the bad guy, Barry thinks it's more important to save civilians; neither are wrong, and that's what makes the debate so engaging. We even got a funny B-Plot to back us up with Harry bringing together a Counsel of Wells, including a bunch of wacky personalities from other worlds to give us a good laugh. The only weakness of the episode is the villain is yet again lacking, but it was clearly only there to be a means to an end. What the episode wanted to do, it did really well. 8/10. God, I can't believe that's the first time I've given that rating to a Flash episode this year...

Legends of Tomorrow 'Helen Hunt' Review
Heh, nice pun. I understand that it's very difficult to understand what I mean when a "standard" episode does or doesn't work, after all, I've both complimented and criticised episodes with the exact same comments. Really I think it just comes down to how much fun the show has in their environment, if they take full advantage of their setting and play with it how they can. In this case, going back to the golden age of cinema, and everyone talks in stereotypical 1930's accents, everything looks sleek and romanticised, the show fully becomes what they're trying to represent. They even manage to take the cliche body swap episode and have fun with it, Stein being put into a younger body, one that can flirt with his childhood crush and actually have a chance (Also Stein in the Firestorm suit). Also, Themyscira makes an appearance, and any nod to Wondey is a positive in my book. My only negatives is that if Helen of Troy is so beautiful that no one can resist her beauty, then how come Sara-the self proclaimed "You know I prefers girls" doesn't falter the same way? I get that it's a nitpick, it just seems weird that the show likes to play up her as being sexually promiscuous, and yet this is the one time they don't mention it? Oh well, it's still a fun episode nonetheless. 7/10.

Arrow 'Promises Kept' Review
Wait...they were playing Injustice 2...how does that even work?? Sooooo how to write this review where I don't just repeat what I said last week? It's a continuation of Deathstroke's story, I already said he was awesome, it just continues to be awesome here. In particular that shot of him bloody after killing all his men in the flashback, such a cool shot. There are some rumours of a Deathstroke show coming out in the near future, if so then I could definitely see this as a backdoor pilot, he got the majority focus and they ended it without a full resolution for his story. However, I'm not sure I like the idea of a Deathstroke series. He's an amazing character, but he's also an anti-hero, one we don't always root for, and I doubt the CW will go full Punisher will him, so if giving him a full series means making him more "likeable" then I'd rather we keep him as a supporting character. I even have positive things to say about the B-plot this episode. Structurally it was still a basic stop the bad guy plot, but at least this one was connected to Diggle's story and his own personal struggles that he's dealing with this season, meaning we got a lot of progress there and it prevented it from being boring. Overall, another great episode. 8/10.

-Danny

Star Trek Discovery - Mid Season Thoughts

We are currently halfway through the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, so now feels like the right time to talk about my feelings on it so far. I'm rather glad I didn't do a first impressions on this series because wow talk about a show that is bad at first impressions. Though it's hard to place why exactly the pilot was bad-the main issue being its poor pacing and lack of vital plot points that carried over to the rest of the series-but it still somehow felt hollow. Like a robot that just learnt what this pesky thing called 'human interaction' is, and tried to write a script around it. Thankfully-as many others can attest-the show does get much better with each passing episode. The best thing one can say about the show and the element that certainly feels the most "Star Treky" of it, is its desire to push boundaries. Star Trek has always been a franchise about embracing the new, doing what had never been done before, all the way back to the original series when it was the first show to feature an interracial kiss. Because Star Trek is both a thinking man's sci-fi, as well as a liberal's sci-fi. In the case of this show, one: having a black female protagonist who isn't the captain, two: featuring an onscreen homosexual kiss, three: using the f word...well two out of three ain't bad.

While I compliment the show on it's forward thinking approach and giving us things that had never been done in Star Trek before, there are somethings that I just don't need from Star Trek. I don't need to hear someone say 'fuck', but more importantly I really don't need to see Klingon boobies...seriously guys, why on Earth did you make Klingon boobies a thing? Funnily enough this does come from one of the more interesting sub-plots of the series, tackling the subject of male rape, as one of the characters Ash Tyler was a prisoner on a Klingon ship and now suffers from PTSD from the torture he experienced. It's a subject that is almost never explored in any medium, so for a series as important as Star Trek to tackle it, is a very bold move.

In my mind the ensemble of a Star Trek series has always been the most important, and thankfully this series has a great and interesting crew on board. Captain Lorca is a much more controversial captain than the usual pure good captains we've had in the past, he's a man that though still believes in Federation values, is also a man that wants to win, he's not naturally trusting, is harsh when someone screws up and one way or another will always get what he wants. Saru is an alien who comes from a species of cowards, meaning they often take the path of least resistance, but as seen in the series, while he is a genius and wants to do the right thing,  he will go to extreme lengths to protect himself, even when it's not logical. Tilly-though hasn't been given any significant character development, her initial characterisation as a bubbly optimistic but still inexperienced cadet makes her a fun character. Stamets I've already briefly touched upon as the first openly gay character in a Star Trek show, and the relationship between he and his partner is very much played down to Earth and relaxed, you really get the sense that they've been a couple for years and this is their version of settling down. On top of that he's also a genius but easily frustrated engineer who has no problem letting you know how smart he is.

You might notice there is one character I failed to mention, and that is our protagonist Michael Burnham. And there's a very simple reason why...she's just not that interesting. She's a human raised by Vulcans who later went on to be the first Starfleet mutineer, that is an insanely interesting backstory! But she herself just simply isn't! The human raised by Vulcan's angle ends up making her just a stick in the mud, not purely logical like a Vulcan and not emotionally vulnerable like a human, instead just a neutral blob with no defining characteristics. Even the mutineer angle feels like it's basically been dropped, starting out as a reason for everyone on board the U.S.S. Discovery to distrust her, but after several episodes she's basically one of the crew with no explanation.

The series also suffers from some major continuity issues between itself and the other Star Trek shows, mostly how so much technology and aesthetic designs will somehow disappear within 10 years as if they never existed. The main theory behind this is that the show exists within the Mirrorverse, a universe in Star Trek where everything is dark & gritty, and if so that would actually be amazing. It would explain the continuity issues, the focus on a darker tone, be a very original premise, and considering the mid-season ends on a cliffhanger of the ship being lost in space (and possibly time) it's looking more and more likely.

Overall while the show had a rocky start, I'm glad I stuck with it, because it is truly getting better and better, the characters are interesting, the plots are engaging, and production design is beyond incredible! Without a doubt the best looking Star Trek series we've ever had! So if you were someone who watched the pilot and dropped it immediately, i'd recommend giving it another try.

-Danny

DC TV Weekly #28

Supergirl 'Damage' Review
Supergirl has done many episodes drawing parallel to the Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump election. Most of them being emotionally fair, but also so direct it is slightly cringey. This episode is quite possibly the best they've ever done. Children getting sick and the Trump reflection-Yeah I know he has a name, but I don't remember it and neither do you-accused Lena Luthor, despite having no evidence to prove it. Yet the media of course cobbles it up and thus the narrative is created that Lena is to blame, leading to harassment, abuse, even death threats, and not even given the chance to defend herself because there's nothing to defend against, just false accusations made by a charismatic lunatic. And you know what? They did all of this without once turning to the camera and going "Wow. It's just like that thing that happened in real life". Unfortunately you then do have to question why they're mimicking a real life event that happened a year ago, but on the other hand, the idea that the media is going to twist narratives and scrutinise women for ridiculous reasons is never not going to be relevant. Oh, and I guess there were other characters in this episode...they probably did something...right?...7/10.

The Flash 'Girl's Night Out' Review
If this episode succeeds in anything, it's showing that complete lack of depth Iris has outside of her relationship with Barry. She has her bachelorette party, and who does she invite? Felicity and Caitlin...both of whom are...Barry's friends. Which is definitely something the show addresses, but then just says that doesn't matter? Even though the show does focus on Barry, everyone else gets at least some resemblance of a life outside of him. We see what Caitlin and Cisco's families are like, Joe has a girlfriend, Harry has a daughter. Iris doesn't have that; everything revolves around Barry, even her job as a reporter hasn't been acknowledged since season two. Having an episode focusing on Iris: good idea, but the emotional connections between her and the other characters don't feel genuine and the action scenes are dull, apart from Killer Frost and Amunet, because then we get to see both Danielle Panabaker and Katee Sackhoff be over the top, fun and badass. If anything, Barry still somehow stole the spotlight with his drunken ramblings. It was something we haven't seen from him before, and it was really funny. Also because the people he went out with on his bachelor party are people he would already hangout with. Except for Ralph, but that's kind of the point, they don't want him there. At best this episode was an okay plot with underwhelming execution, filled with decent action and some funny scenes, but nothing special. 6/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'Return of the Mack' Review
Oh hey, Damien Dahrk is back...you know, he might have been a great villain last season, but that was A: Teaming him up with two other villains where he had good chemistry, and B: Bringing him in from a different show. It was a different dynamic and frankly, it worked great. This is overkill at this point, or...overliving? This character has run his course, stop bringing him back, honestly, he's boring now, especially on his own. In fact, the entire episode was kind of dull, it was another basic Legends episode, but we've had so many of them so far this season that I'm becoming less forgiving for them. The only point of interest is Rip's semi-betrayal. Trying to prove that he's right and can fix everything so he goes behind everyone's back and...of course he's proven wrong and suffers the consequences for it. That's interesting, that's different and that's believable. In fact I'd say is just barely saves this episode for me to give it a positive rating. 6/10.

Arrow 'Deathstroke Returns' Review
Do you wanna bet that the writers had no plans for Vigilante when they introduced him last season? He was very clearly a red herring for Prometheus and was never again addressed. Eventually someone went "I guess he could be this guy" because, y'know, superhero stuff, no one is ever really dead. And of all the people to waste immortality on, one of the A-List powers on a B-Plot villain. Also the FBI Agent is a character that I've failed to talk about because she is simply dull. She's a generic stick in the mud no nonsense fed who's going to be a thorn in the backside of our heroes, but lead to no actual important acts. Of course the only reason why I start with this is so I can spend the rest of this review gushing because while the side story was lacking, the main event was friggin phenomenal. Not to repeat myself too much, but Manu Bennett as Deathstroke can not be overstated how much good he has done for this show. He went from their best villain to one of Oliver's allies so quickly yet their relationship has been surprisingly believable. On top of that, the fight scene in this episode is one of the show's best. Most fight scenes have to be played down in some regards as our heroes don't kill, but in this case, they don't have to hold back. Deathstroke taking on an army of soldiers, slaughtering them left and right was brutal, well shot, well choreographed and unlike anything else in the show's run. If only the b-plot was completely skippable then I might actually like it more, but seeing as it does hold relevance to the plot yet fails to be at all interesting, it actually hurts the episode. But, it's a B-Plot nonetheless, it doesn't matter at all in comparison to the A-Plot, which in case you can't tell, was brilliant. 8/10.

I just realised each episode this week had a recurring theme of returning villains, which is nice, it means we get to see it done well, it done alright and done poorly.

Nit-Fix

Two of the biggest movies of the year were the remake of Beauty & The Beast and the reboot Spider-Man: Homecoming. Both were insanely huge at the box-office and were lauded by critics and audiences alike...And I didn't like either of them. But the reasons as to why are not the main focus of this post, that would be the reasons why others seem to like them. Whenever I speak to someone who enjoyed them, often the same few points would come up for each film. For Beauty & The Beast they would say "It actually explains why the servants got cursed as well!". Meanwhile for Spider-Man: Homecoming they would say "I like that they cast actual teenagers to play high school kids!". Now these are technically true, these are both things that were improved upon from these films over their predecessors; but they're not actual problems.

Did you honestly watch the original Beauty & The Beast and go "NO! I just can't accept it! There has to be an explanation as to why the servants were cursed as well!". Or when watching any of the other Spider-Man films, regardless if it was one of the good ones or bad ones, was that really the straw that broke the camels back? That none of the other high school kids looked like they were in high school? No. These are nitpicks at best, small problems that we notice and make fun of, but are hardly going to hold against the films. Instead we focus on the things that matter, the visuals, the characters, the music, etc.

However Disney it seems took note on the fact that we like to make fun of these points and decided to base the entire motivation behind these news films around those nitpicks as if they actually mattered. And somehow, people fell for it. They were actually convinced that these were major flaws in the prior films and this is all that matters. Now the Beauty & The Beast remake I admit has a hard time having a purpose in existing, the original is a near flawless film, one of Disney's best, there's almost nothing they can do to improve upon it, so all you can do is emphasise the nitpicks and point out how you're fixing them. Meanwhile forgetting about all the important stuff in a film and letting it falter at the expense. I don't know about you, but I'd say it's more important for a musical to have a lead who can actually sing! Than give a half-arsed explanation onto why the servants got changed. Even then it's a terrible explanation, the witch cursed the Beast only after giving him a chance, none of the servants got a chance, and even then, why are they bad people? Because they didn't stand up to a malicious king. Then spend the rest of the film on auto-pilot where they retell the exact same story note for note...The fact that Disney was able to make a billion dollars just reminding people that they like Beauty & The Beast is quite impressive.

Then with Spider-Man: Homecoming, I already did a post talking about how that film lacked any form of a character arc, stakes in the plot or any form of actual tension. But hey, they cast teenagers! So it's all great! That completely makes up for the lack of even the most basic storytelling functions! Who frigging cares if the characters are played by teenagers when the characters themselves are not interesting!?

I don't want to see this become a recurring thing, where mediocre movies are able to get away with being mediocre through the cinematic equivalent of jingling keys in front of their audiences' face. We deserve better, and you know what? These properties deserve better! Like I said, Beauty & The Beast is one of Disney's all time best, and Spider-Man is one of the greatest fictional characters. They deserve some goddamn effort!

-Danny

DC TV Weekly #27

Supergirl 'The Faithful' Review
Yeah I guess this is a clever idea, DC Superheroes have always been written as godlike beings, having a story about people forming a religious cult around one is a smart place to go. Heck, even the fact that they become so obsessed that they intentionally misinterpret what their deity is saying despite being obviously wrong is still accurate to a lot of people. The problem is, a group of religious nutbags isn't really a threat for Supergirl. Hence why at the end of the episode they had to bring in the deus ex of all machinas-Kryptonite. There had to have been a more interesting ending than this, in fact, during the episode they showed people intentionally putting themselves in danger just so Supergirl would save them, couldn't they have had that on a larger scale?

I should probably also talk about the other plots being established for this season. The first one being Alex & Maggie most likely going to break up. I'm not a fan of it. It could just be because the number of LGBT relationships in media that end happily is far smaller than the ones that end tragically so I kinda hate it. But it's too early to tell, maybe it'll turn out better when we get some more episodes detailing the break-up. Then there is Samantha, a new character who works alongside Lena Luthor and is learning she has superpowers. This is...interesting? I think? I can't really tell because we don't know a whole lot about her yet and apart from a basic connection to Lena, her story so far is very much standing on her own. Which I kind of like, getting us invested in this standalone character and then making her part of the main story is a challenge but if done well comes with a big reward. So we'll just have to wait and see which one it is. 5/10.

The Flash 'Elongated Journey Into Night' Review
How dare you sir, how dare you insult the good name of Plastic Man! Like 'Elongated Man' is any better. Of course I could just be biased because I have a deep love of Plastic Man and have absolutely no connection to Elongated Man, so I have no idea if this is a good representation of the character here. That being said, what we do get, I like. Ralph Dibney is represented more like an anti-hero, and not in the constantly scowling angry violent Punisher type, but more of someone who has their heart in the right place, but they're also kind of lazy and selfish and try to find shortcuts to the answer. I've gotta be honest, that's a much more interesting idea of an anti-hero than just the brooding action star. I'm excited to see where things go with the character, though if I'm honest the effects aren't really working for me, even on a TV Budget, and perhaps Barry was a little too mean spirited towards him? He literally labelled him a villain! But overall, still an enjoyable episode. 7/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'Phone Home' Review
I'll give the episode this, out of all the pastiches Legends has done in the past, this is probably the closest to being an accurate replication of the original material. After all coming of age sci-fi films of the 80s isn't exactly scarce in material. E.T, Explorers, Monster Squad, Flight of the Navigator. It's a subgenre that's always has a certain charm to it, even when the stories didn't always make sense or the product looked kind of cheap; and that's a description that fits perfectly at home when describing a show like Legends of Tomorrow. Even down to the final shot of the entire team trick r treating with young Ray, it's silly, but sweet. But then there's the problem of focusing on one character specifically in an ensemble show means others don't have as much to do. In this case, Jax & Mick thinking Stein has betrayed them. Really? Are we actually meant to buy this? This is clearly just a time filler, and to give the characters something to do because they're not involved in the main plot of the episode. Making the episode feel rather disjointed when a large portion of the cast have nothing to do. 6/10.

Arrow 'Reversal' Review
Points for trying to put the same product in a different package at least. I can't really say this is exactly like all the other generic villains having generic evil plots because this technically does have recurring villains in the centre of it, though being completely honest I had to google who the heck this big baddie was-apparently he's been in the show before, do you remember him? I don't. I just saw it was Michael Emerson and thought "Okay, this has to be an important bad guy to get an actor that calibre to play him. Also having Black Siren as his second in command adds some credibility to his actions. But even still, it's just another basic villain plot, do you remember what they were stealing? Or why? Of course you don't. The big draw for this episode is having Felicity in the leadership role, which adds a new flavour to the whole thing, even Ollie in the role of tech support is kind of entertaining. It's not enough to make it a great episode, but it's enough to redeem it a little bit. 6/10.

DC TV Weekly #26

Supergirl 'Far From The Tree' Review
Okay let's check the register: Martian Manhunter driven episode? Check. Silver Age levels of silly fun? Check. Hard hitting emotional B-Plot? Check. Carl Lumbly guest starring!? Check Check Check Check Check!
...I really fucking liked this episode. Starting with the B-Plot, everything about it worked, the estranged relationship between Maggie and her father, trying to rebuild the relationship but his own prejudices just get in the way, but you know what? I like his motivation behind the prejudice...okay that came out wrong. What I mean is I respect that they gave him actual development and reasoning behind why he is the way he is, most shows would just take this one-off character and have him be an ignorant jerk, but by giving him very believable reasoning makes the drama between the two that much more emotionally effective.

Then there's the main plot of the episode which is equally brilliant. Another estranged relationship-except this time between J'onn and his father M'yrnn, their first scene together where he doesn't believe it's his son was heartbreaking, and their eventual reunion proper where they share a memory was so honest and joyful. Sprinkle in some of Supergirl having fun with the space car-and ya know I love it when these shows go all Silver Age on us. But to top it all off, having Carl Lumbly-the original Martian Manhunter appear playing the father is quite possibly my favourite guest star this show has ever had. The only issues are minor, mostly being that the drama in this episode was so good, I was kind of not looking forward to the action scenes because it prevented more great conversations between characters. But that is the nittiest of all picks, really well done guys, brilliant job. 9/10.

The Flash 'Luck Be A Lady' Review
Crap...I can't believe this is happening...I really don't wanna say it...I think this show is getting too silly. But I thought you love it when The Flash is silly! I know! I do! It's when the series is at its best and they were finally embracing it! But I was watching this episode and thinking "Wow, that was too dumb". Barry slipping on coins and then a sign falling on him? Really? That's supposed to stop The Flash? It's important to note that yes-Silver Age is one of the best ages in comic books, not every comic from the time is incredible, sometimes passing something off as silly is just a disguise for bad writing. To top it all off, I just found this villain to be annoying. She really didn't seem like she had the right motivation to be a bad guy, and the actress just played the character to be more irritating than a threat. 4/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'Zari' Review
Of all the shows in this franchise to have a "by the numbers episode" Legends of Tomorrow should not be one of them. With each episode having them travelling to a new location, new time, new characters, it should always feel fresh. Even with the first episode of the season, at least that still had some new stuff in it with the time bureau and the Legends trying to have normal lives. I guess we got a new thing with the new teammate Zari who is...fine. Oh, and Nate going on a drug trip was funny as hell. So I guess I did have some fun with the episode, but as I'm writing this, I am struggling to remember 70% of the episode, it's just one of those eps I guess. 6/10.

Arrow 'Next of Kin' Review
Oh wow, the same thing happened two weeks in a row, thin plot-great action, they really do have this down! And hey, one giant fight scene going from outside the car to inside is pretty creative, granted it very obviously wasn't one shot, but I appreciate the effort on what I'm guessing was a tight schedule. To be fair, the plot isn't completely thin. Diggle's arc which is being set up for multi-episodes is always something I appreciate and he's a character that very rarely is seen to be the insecure one, most of the time he's the one that gives people advice. Even ending the episode by introducing a new element of whatever that drug he's taking. So he's got mental problems, physical problems and now a drug problem, way to beat the guy down guys. Sadly the dressing around the main course is just stale, boring villains, generic plot, all of it is just not very interesting. But not completely irredeemable thanks to the action and Diggle. 6/10.

-Danny

DC TV Weekly #25

Supergirl 'Triggers' Review
I have to say, while I may not have enjoyed Mon-El as a character, I sure enjoy the impact he's left on the series. What do I mean by that? Well, usually in shows like this *cough* Flash *cough* the protagonist will go through a life altering event that supposedly changed everything, even though the effects only last for one episode so they can go through a one episode arc and then it's back to the status quo. Yet here we are, two episodes in and Kara still hasn't recovered from losing Mon-El, but it's not just a repeat of last week, they're cycling through the different emotions. Last week she had completely shut herself in, refusing to feel any emotions at risk of what might happen, and here, we see why, she suffers from survivor's guilt and paranoia over possibly killing Mon-El, and it doesn't seem like this is the end of it either. Again, while I personally never liked the relationship, I can at least appreciate the effort the show is going into in exploring the consequences of it. So good for you Supergirl, have a positive rating! 7/10.

The Flash 'Mixed Signals' Review
Woohoo! Fun Flash is back! Ever since Serious Flash basically went down the shitter back in season 2, the only Flash I can enjoy anymore is Fun Flash. The best episodes last season in my opinion were 'Escape From Gorilla City' and 'Duet' both of which were fun, silly, over the top episodes that embraced the silly nature of the property. In this episode's case we have...something that is similar to that, in the sense that it's very silly & fun, but maybe not in a comic book sense, more of in a Judd Appatow film sense. Barry & Iris going to couples therapy: That's funny. Barry's new Flash suit breaking down: That's funny. Cisco & Gypsy trying to be a superhero couple: That's funny. No matter what the show never lost that sense of fun, so I think it's smart to focus on that strength. Even past that this episode was still able to continue setting up the plot line for the season, introducing a mystery of how the villain of the week got his powers, and how he's connected to DeVoe AKA Thinker, the main villain of the season. Overall: Solid episode. 7/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'Freakshow' Review
This might come across as a bit hypocritical considering last week I used it as a criticism: But this episode felt like basically a standard Legends episode, and I think it worked a lot better here. Last week was the first episode, it should really better establish the main story of the season, and I feel it didn't. This being the second episode, has a lot more freedom to just tell a fun story, which it does. PT Barnum and his merry band of circus freaks is certainly a creative foil for our Legends, as well as Nate getting drunk makes for a fun scene. Not only that, it goes ever further. It brings back Amaya and has some good drama between her and Nate, as well as hinting at the main villain of the season, so this not only works as a middle episode, but it does better as an establishing episode than the actual establishing episode. 7/10.

Arrow 'Tribute' Review
Oh hey look at that, Ollie is proven to not be the Green Arrow...for the third time in the show's run...why did they bother with this again? On top of a repeated plot element that has no tension to it, this is the worst type of episode to write about because nothing of importance happens! Sure, Anatoli coming back is a big deal and will probably lead to big things, but as for this episode? His actions are of no consequence, he's basically just a boring villain of the week mafia gang. Not only is that barely interesting to watch, it's even less interesting to write about! The best thing I can say about this episode is that it had some incredibly action sequences, long takes, creative environments, clear shots of the actors performing the action. But it kind of made me notice a trend, whenever the show is aware that an episode is thin on plot, they try to spice it up by going all out on the action in hopes of having something redeemable. I guess it's better than nothing, 6/10.

-Danny

DC TV Weekly #24

Wasn't entirely sure what to title this one. It's a brand new season, and going back to #1 is the comic book thing to do...But that also makes it very confusing to organise these reviews, so continuing with the original numbering it is! In any case, new year, new DC Shows to talk about.

Supergirl 'Girl of Steel' Review
I wish this wasn't the first of the shows to premier this season, because honestly it kinda put me off watching the others, because man what a dull start! I understand the idea of not wanting to jump into things and having characters reflect upon the prior season seems like the smart thing to do, but this very much feels like slow burn of a very thin candle. Supergirl throwing herself into work after losing Mon-El is a strong concept, and Melissa Benoist does give a great performance, but it just doesn't feel earned, mostly because the relationship between the two was never that strong. On top of that almost every other character is given very little to do in this pilot, the villain was incredibly lame-both the one off villain as well as this walking business tycoon trope, and is it me or has Katie McGrath's accent gotten even worse between seasons? Honestly after the mixed reception season two got from fans, if they were expecting to win anyone over with this first episode, it didn't really achieve it. The reflection upon the last season didn't feel earned and there was very little to set up this season's plot lines, leaving a lot of meandering middle for our cast of characters. 5/10.

The Flash 'The Flash Reborn' Review
Guys. Please. For the love of god. Stop trying to make Iris important! She's not meant to be leading Team Flash, she is not a scientist, she is not a superhero, she is not a police officer. She is literally the least qualified person to be on the team, let alone leading it. This is very much the show trying to make her important because she's important to the protagonist. The evidence is crystal clear when by the end of the episode she gets herself captured in hopes that this will cure Barry of his mental state because...well she has absolutely no reason to think that. They have no idea how to define Barry's mental problems, and no way to solve them, her reasoning here makes no sense except that the script says so. Shame as well, because if they weren't going to keep Barry in the speed force for at least several episodes minimum, the deteriorate mental state angle was actually fairly engaging and any chance to give Grant Gustin a chance to flex his acting skills is always appreciated. Just please, for the love of god Flash, be good again. Of all the shows I want to like, this is the one above all else, please, be good again. 5/10.

Legends of Tomorrow 'Aruba-Con' Review
Yep. That is definitely an episode of Legends of Tomorrow. Got time travel, wacky shenanigans, fun character interactions. Admittedly the Time Bureau is a concept I'm not all too excited about because I feel like it negates the point of the Legends, but whatever, flimsy logic is this series' bread & butter. Mind you, they can stretch it too far, like how Julius Ceaser is somehow able to best or even be a challenge for a bunch of time travelling superheroes/government agents! And...that's frankly all I have to say. Which seems about right seeing as all this episode had to do was explain why the Legends will still be going on adventures, and the rest of the episode was just your standard Legends adventure so...overall, pretty decent. 6/10.

Arrow 'Fallout' Review
Seriously, does Willa Holland just not want to be in the show anymore? Thea barely did anything last season, and this season opens with her in a coma? What the heck. Oh yeah, the rest of the episode...uh...it's fine. It's kind of like all the other episodes this season, they don't really feel like they established any new status quo for the season or long running plot lines, instead they just come across as...regular episodes. There's not much harm from that, but it also means very little stands out. The only real standout is Oliver now has to raise his son, which can definitely lead to some interesting stories during the season. Diggle seems to have some kind of physical issue, but let's be honest, that'll last maybe 2-3 episodes, not the whole season. Oh, and Oliver has been revealed as the Green Arrow, I can't wait to see how they'll weasel their way out of this one! 6/10.

Kind of a slow burn to the first few episodes of the season, not much feels achieved. Flash seemed to be the only one who actually established a season long plot line, the rest either didn't know what they were doing or just told average stories. We can only hope it can get better as the year goes on.

Why Kingsman's Negative Reviews Are Upsetting

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is the sequel to the smash hit Kingsman: The Secret Service released in 2014 and was one of my favourite films of that year. So naturally I was very excited for the sequel, and while granted I doubt Golden Circle is going to make my top 10 films of the year, I still thoroughly enjoyed it. It had amazing action, great characters, plenty of humour and heart, and despite the 2 and a half hour run time, it never dragged for me. It was a fun thrill ride from beginning to end. Yet despite that, the film got very mixed reviews, currently sitting at a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes. Now I'm not going to deny the film certainly has it's problems, the plot has several large holes, some cast members are used far too little while others far too much, and the explanation on how Colin Firth is alive is complete nonsense. But there's two criticisms that seem to pop up in a lot of the reviews that I really don't agree with. One of them is people saying it's far too silly, and it steers away from the tone of the original film that-while still very over the top-was a pastiche of the James Bond-esque spy films that were popular back in the day. The other is people saying the film repeats far too much from the previous film and doesn't do enough new to justify it's existence.

Here's why that really irks me, Kingsman with only two films to its name, is already getting criticised for being too repetitive. Yet James Bond-the franchise that they're claiming they're steering too far away from has been getting away with doing the exact same thing for 24 films. Now you might make the argument that James Bond is able to keep it fresh by changing up the cast and the tone every few films, after all films like Moonwalker and Casino Royale have practically nothing in common apart from a name. But those are all stylistic changes, changes by the way that are so vast that it should just further the notion that James Bond as a franchise has no core identity and is one of the main reasons it's terr-that's besides the point. Content wise, each Bond film is practically the same, if you were just to explain the plots, what would be different?

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is by no means free from criticism, it does have flaws and yes, the argument that it repeats too much is legitimate. But the idea that this makes it bad, or even unfaithful to the tone of the original is unjustified. It's still a film with fantastic action sequences, likeable characters, creative settings, good music, great art design, and above all else: is fun. Why is that such a crime in films to just want to be fun?

-Danny

Fargo Season One - Cheap Thoughts

Yes, I'm late, I said a long time ago that there's just too much damn good television shows to watch, but I'm finally making my way through some of them. So, Fargo season one, this is the television adaptation of the acclaimed Coen Brothers film of the same name, it takes place in a small town in Minnesota and follows the story of Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) who in a fit of rage kills his wife, and ends up getting roped in with a psychotic hitman (Billy Bob Thorton), all the while two small town cops Molly (Allison Tolman) and Gus (Colin Hanks) try to solve the murder.

Fargo the film, is quite possibly my favourite Coen Brothers film, and after seeing the talent involved in the television show, and the high praise it received, I was excited to watch it, and you know what? It was a damn good show.

Now I could talk all about how great a job the actors did-especially Billy Bob Thorton who gave the best performance I've ever seen from him. Or how amazing the directing was, creating effective suspense through minimal set-up. Or maybe even point out the small flaws with the show such as the bad CGI or some convenient plot points...so I guess I just did.

What I want to talk about is the big selling point behind Fargo as a franchise, the stories they are "based" on. For those who don't know, both Fargo the film, and Fargo the series open with the same text, saying that it's based on a true story, but out of respect for the victims, they change the names. This however, is a complete lie, everything we see is completely made up. I remember the first time seeing the film-not knowing it was a lie thinking of several plot holes with the film, but things I could let go because "hey, it's based on a true story, i guess that's just what happened". Then of course when I found out I was just very confused. "Why bother saying it's based on a true story if it's not based on a true story!? Are they just doing that so they can get away with the plot holes!?". But nowadays I more appreciate the craft of the film for while not being actually biographical in origin, the Coens did a great job at recreating that feeling of watching a biographical film and the characters and story felt grounded and real.

The television show, despite it's quality, I have to say doesn't recapture that feeling. Everything in it feels like a television show, and I don't just mean with cinematic lighting, pacing and writing, those could all be brushed off as artistic license. It's more of the events and characters not feeling like real people, too many moments break that verisimilitude that this is supposed to feel like real life. Things like Thorton's character being a master assassin, or Freeman being able to escape from a hospital without anyone seeing him. It's not to say this is bad storytelling, it's just when a story is sold to you under the guise of being a true story, and then goes out of it's way to challenge that, it makes these plot points more obvious, especially when each episode starts by claiming it's a true story.

This isn't necessarily a criticism that hurts the show overall, more of just an observation of the change in style from the film to the show. Like I said, I still overall really liked it, and I look forward to seeing the new types of stories they tell in each subsequent season. It's a show with great acting, great writing, great directing, but if it could fool its audience into thinking it's real life like the film could. But I'd still overall recommend it to people.

-Danny

They Didn't Fuck Up Arya!

Hallelujah! They didn't fuck it up! All that BS drama of making it look like Arya was going to kill Sansa got thrown out the window! The season ends with Arya, Sansa & Bran teaming up to take down Littlefinger and kill the son of a bitch! That-is-Stark-loyalty-bitches!

Now this doesn't clean things up 100%, the choice to go for a dramatic reveal means we never see how or why the two sisters come to terms, nor how long this charade has been going on. It also doesn't change the fact that the prior scenes of the two fighting still feel out of character. Nevertheless, I'm just thankful that they were able to fix things before they hit the point of no return.

So...yeah. That's it, just a quick update on the fact that they didn't fuck up Arya like I expected them too.

Oh, and the rest of the finale was good too.

-Danny

What The Fuck Is Happening To Arya?

Arya is my favourite character in Game of Thrones, and this latest season we got to see something we've been waiting to see for years. Arya coming home to Winterfell. She's reunited with her family and is back where she belongs, it was a long and dangerous journey, but she's back...She's also kind of a bitch. In the latest episode at the time of this post (Episode 6) she has lied to, argued with, and threatened her sister Sansa Stark. Saying she's going to reveal awful things about her that will make the lords of Winterfell lose trust in them, and in the final episode even threatens to kill Sansa.

What-the everlasting-Fuck is going on!? You wanna know why Arya is my favourite character? Because in a series where everyone is manipulative, corrupt, selfish, violent or is horrible in someway, Arya was always clear with her intentions. She wanted to be home, with her family, she wanted them to be safe, to be together, to be happy. She went on this huge journey where she learnt to fight so she could get revenge for the family she lost, and protect the ones she still has. Everyone else has ulterior motives or sought money & power, she never did, and that's what made her stand out to me in a series like this.

So now that she's back in Winterfell, the writers have apparently forgot about all of that? Her entire motivation, one of the biggest traits of her character, and not just her, but the Starks in general. I understand that you have to have conflict, but that conflict does not need to be internalised within the Starks. They still have tons of enemies, even some within their own walls, Littlefinger being a great example. He's someone that neither Stark girls trust or like, but they still need him for his armies. Now all of a sudden in one episode Arya is threatening Sansa, so in return Sansa is turning to Littlefinger for help!? No! This is such contrived bullshit, and I can only hope that they can somehow turn things around by the final episode of season because I really don't want them to ruin my favourite character from one of my favourite shows.

-Danny

Ducktales Reboot - First Impressions

Ducktales is a series that was a little before my time, I've seen maybe a dozen episodes over the years as well as the movie, but I'm hardly an expert. That being said, I have very much been looking forward to the brand new reboot series as everything from the production and marketing has been incredibly strong. It was clearly made by people who not only love the original series, but also the multitude of comic books that the series was based on in the first place. So, with the hour long pilot finally airing, was it everything I expected it to be? Yes...But I reference that in both good and bad ways.

Starting off with the characters, this is already an instant improvement over the original series, even the most hard core of fans will admit that the three main leads Huey, Dewey & Louie were never the strongest characters. They were fairly bland, generic kids with nothing to distinguish one from another apart from the colour of their shirt. This series has instantly fixed that. Huey is the goody two-shoes boy scout, Dewey is the impulsive adventurer and Louie is the laid back schemer. Even more so is Webby (Who I'll talk more about later) and Mrs Beakley, again going from generic good hearted people into energetic action stars. The only two that haven't been altered that much is Scrooge McDuck and Launchpad, but that's also because they clearly had the most personality out of the original line-up, and not much needed changing. One big new change is the inclusion of Donald Duck as a main character, which excites me for multiple reasons. One: It's just nice to have one of the main Disney Trio get the spotlight again, because despite Mickey, Donald & Goofy being the face of Disney, they really haven't been in that many stories these days-outside of Kingdom Hearts per se. Not only does Tony Anselmo return-the voice of Donald for over 30 years now-but he's still his easily agitated, always screwed over duck that we love. But more than that he's...adorable?? Yeah, the biggest take away I got from this episode was Donald being a loving uncle to the triplets, worrying for their safety, showing co-workers pictures of them as babies, it was actually quite precious.

The animation is also a major positive going towards the show. One of my biggest gripes with the animation style most cartoons use these days is everything looks so goddamn flat! Even in shows I like such as Gravity Falls, Rick & Morty, Bob's Burgers, there's no dimension to anything! Every shot, every angle, every background here had dimension. On top of that, the style of the series is very reminiscent of the older comic books, similar to how Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes would use "Ditko Bubbles" in reference to their source material, this show has done the same thing, letting audiences know where the main inspiration comes from, and that this isn't just going to be a retread of the original series.

Not being around during the Disney Afternoon era meant there were a lot of references made in this episode that I didn't get, mostly relating to Darkwing Duck, Talespin and Goof Troop. All of which make sense, Darkwing Duck is already confirmed to appear in the show eventually, Talespin being a series about a pilot means I could see him being an old friend of Launchpad for a future crossover. Then with Goof Troop being a series about Goofy raising his son Max, I could definitely see Goofy & Donald raising their kids together and that thought just makes me already happy for when that episode comes. Also there was a reference to Lupin III for some reason...I'm not upset about that, in fact that makes me quite happy, just a random reference to put in.

However, as I said, I had expectations going into this show both bad and good, and this show lived up to all of them. What were the bad? Gravity Falls. Yeah, I'm not the first one to make this comparison, but this series is very clearly taking a lot from Gravity Falls. Most notably through Webby being just like Mabel. She's easily excitable, loud, adventurous, even has a damn grappling hook, and Kate Micucci-though a very funny actress-sounds like she's doing a Kristen Schaal impression. I could also say the idea of kids born on the same day going to live with their grumpy uncle and go on supernatural adventures is...something the original series did anyway, so the comparisons aren't fair there. The introduction of a mystery involving a missing member of the family however! Heck, it's even the same company 'Toon Boom Animation' animating the series. Now to be fair, if there was ever a show to take inspiration from, Gravity Falls is a very good choice, and one of Disney's biggest hits in recent years, so it makes sense that they'd want to try and hook that audience as well as the nostalgia crowd.

So, overall, this was a strong pilot, in many ways, it's stronger that the original Ducktales, in other ways it's just as good as the original series, and most importantly, I can see pretty much everyone enjoying it, whether they be full grown adults coming for the nostalgia, or little kids being introduced to the franchise for the first time.

-Danny