I enjoyed it. Starts as almost a normal cop show, gets a bit dark with the lunatic asylum & gets a more colourful feel of the original Batman & Robin series visually without being too cartoonish, plus it fills backstory gaps along the way.
And Penguin is superbly acted
Like Phil says itâs all very colourful, silly and violent in equal measure, itâs good fun if you donât want to think too much and just enjoy the ride 
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I donât think Iâve seen all of Gotham yet, but it has my recommendation. Itâs all a bit batshit, if youâll pardon the pun. My chief worry was that the bloke who played Batman isnât tall enough to play Batman. Guess thatâs why it ended after five seasons 
Not the most believable show in existence, but at the same time, you sometimes ask âwhy so serious?â and Gotham is pretty much the tonic for that particular gripe,
I do have a new recommendation. Iâve only seen the pilot, but I want to throw some love out there for Doom Patrol. Unlike most of the other DC stuff, it isnât being done for the family friendly CW network, so unlike anything else Iâve seen DC TV-wise, they say fuck. Quite a lot. And itâs very refreshing. Some good cast members too. Alan Tudyk of Firefly fame becomes a genre favourite all over again , Timothy Dalton has a kind of Professor X style role, while Brendan Fraser also has a main role.
Very good based on this first episode. I will update as I know more.
So not strictly TV, but definitely qualifying on all other counts, I want to give a shout out to Bumblebee, the 2018 Transformers film.
If you are one of the old time Transformers fans, you will love this. A battle on Cybertron, G1 designs that make a mockery of Bayâs choice to have them look utterly different in his big-budget monstrosities.
It has been described as what itâd be like if John Hughes made a Transformers movie, something Iâd chime with.
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The moment(s) with The Smithâs & Rick Astley cassettes 
Very surprised, way above the garbage of the normal Transformers fare. Actually can get engaged with Bumblebee.
And, great music tracks.
Even Mrs P_F enjoyed it
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Cant hold back anymore.
Stranger Things S3.
Back on top form.
Pure genius.
Itâs so good its delaying us watching Line of Duty S5 on Netflix
Some more reviews, courtesy of me sitting on my arse all weekend, watching films, and remembering the bits I like.
Battle Angel Alita
A James Cameron project directed by Robert Rodriguez, set in a version of Earth following what the remaining survivors call the Fall. There are two habitable cities left on Earth, one floating in the sky, and another less clean one right underneath it, which is where we spend nearly all of our time. The humans of this Earth donât mind engaging in a bit of cyborgery. Many of the inhabitants are cyborgs to some degree or other. The only human thing about Alita, the titular hero, is her brain.
It suffers from being a bit uncanny valley, which canât really be helped, and an ending which seems more about setting up a sequel than a truly satisfying conclusion to what had gone on before, but while it lasts, itâs quite the ride, the ideas cutting it even if the script and execution are sometimes lacking. Alita herself is wonderful. Would recommend with the above caveats.
Incredibles 2
Ace sequel to one of my favourite films. Once again, the film expertly mixes the so-called mundane, such as Bob having to become a lone parent to his kids while his wife earns a crust, with the, well, ahem, incredible.
This did not wow me in quite the same way as the original; I still grin like a chimp when Dash realises heâs so fast he can run on water and I didnât quite get that in this one. Thatâs okay, because thereâs so much else to love. This is right up there with Pixarâs best.
Aquaman
Oh aye, this is your full fat capeshit review bundle. This is the first of two DC reviews. The Aquaman of today is a far cry from the primary colour version we saw in the Silver Age. Heâs always been made out to be a big thing in the DC Universe, but if youâre not into the comic canon I can see how youâd look at that old costume and think âyah, heâs a bit crapâ.
He is certainly not given much respect by the in-house World of Warcraft band.
Yes, thatâs a WoW reference. You will never see a geekier contribution on this thread.
Anyway, Aquaman can be summarised as great world-building, great cast, bit of a crap script in places, but entirely enjoyable and better than all the Justice League linked stuff except possibly Wonder Woman. That is not saying much, I know, but again, it has some really nice ideas that allow me a recommendation. I was also quite touched by the entirely predictable ending.
Shazam
The final review, and second DC review. This is not a character I have much knowledge of. I think I read a couple of issues way back in the day when it was bundled into a colossal, cheaply produced trade paperback.
Itâs got a similar conceit to Bananaman, in that itâs about a kid that can transform into an adult super-hero, except in this, the adult super-hero still has the exact same personality as the kid, whereas Bananaman seemed like an actual adult with childish enemies.
Movie wise, it does feel a lot like Tom Hanksâ Big, which it references in one scene. It has also got those local feels that made Spider-man : Homecoming seem so different from the usual globe-trotting fayre. Itâs small scale, lower budget, but as Kick-Ass and others have shown, thatâs no barrier to being very enjoyable. Zachary Levi, who many will remember as the eponymous hero of Chuck, is excellent, and with the comedic/heroic pretensions of the TV series that made his name, was a perfect fit.
Good reviews Mr @pap, I watched Shazam the other day, wasnât expecting a lot and I was pleasantly surprised.
Humour in there is for kids and adults. I must admit I like Mark Strong playing a baddy too. Best scene for mine was when Mark Strong was monologuingâŚ
This looks like it might be decent. HBO and BBC collaborations tend to be.
saw this yesterday too from HBO, quite liked the film despite some of itâs flaws so be interesting to see how they explore this world in a more fleshed out platform.
The film wasnât bad. Certainly up there for my favourite Zack Snyder film, and that is probably because there is too much source material for him to have ignored without really alienating the fans (although that did not stop him from wanking up Man of Steel and especially BvS).
My understanding of the show is that it takes place in the same universe as the film, but is set 20 years later. Thatâs quite a brave creative choice, particularly if you donât have Alan Moore around to help you write it.
Watched âGlassâ yesterday, the third film in the M. Night Shyamalan trilogy(?) preceded by âUnbreakableâ and âSplitâ. Not normally a fan of cape shit but enjoyed this whole sequence of films.
WellâŚ
Oh wait. Linda Hamilton?
Ah ok bring it on!
Another Life Sci Fi alien landing series just dropped on Netflix.
Katie Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica
Very poorly reviewed.
4.5 / 10
7%
Watched the first episode last night. Itâs poor.
YMMV.
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Cheers @saintbletch - was thinking of looking at that - after finishing the last 2 series of Star Trek Voyager- approx 48 episodes to go. Itâs like when I sat down to read GOTâŚIâm fucking ocd (books and films, but rest of life - meh).
Think Iâll be catching up with Happy season 2 soon, have neglected that & Brooklyn 99and âŚarrrgggh 
Well I donât do sci-fi as a rule, so I may be a poor judge.
Iâve started to watch The Expanse after the reviews on here and there is much more to it than âjustâ sci-fi. So I thought Iâd try Another Life.
It may improve butâŚ
Minor spoiler followsâŚ
So, an âartefactâ lands on earth and starts beaming back something to somewhere.
A ship and crew is hastily put together to go to that somewhere to do something important related to Earthâs survival.
The captain (Sackhoff) is put in charge of the mission as well as her old underling who resents it big time. His crew also resent their new captain big time.
So far, so predictable but itâs OK, however the crew is so dysfunctional and so unprofessional that it is quickly becomes completely unbelievable.
Their mission involves potentially saving earth from the race behind the artefact and yet they all seem to be a bunch of dysfunctional 20 somethings who couldnât give a shit, refuse to work and blatantly disobey their new captain. How were they selected?
I felt like the crewâs attitude and the logic behind the selection of such a bunch of misfits for such an important mission must be part of the story, and that if I only persevered it might be explained. But I couldnât be arsed.
Plus, Sackhoffâs hubby is a scientist of some sort who is literally left at home holding the baby, which is fine but then we discover that, out of the 7 billion people on the planet, he is also the lead scientist running tests on the artefact and he is the one that makes the major breakthrough. Too convenient. Too cheap. Too Meh.
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Cunt, I thought I had glaucoma thenâŚ
The Expanse is good though.
3 Likes
Tough 1st episode tbh it ainât Stranger Things
Iâve seen all of the currently available Expanse episodes twice, @saintbletch. I canât recommend it highly enough. It has such momentum throughout and never presses the reset button. Lots of politics and questions about the human condition. Extremely exciting too.
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