Tom Mraz – Google

The music used in the opening shot informs you of the transient and disposable quality of this forgettable film. A few shots later, you get the stock standard low class green screen backdrops that Netflix is notorious for, and within 2 minutes you know the calibre of schlock you're in for. How much more of this junk do studios need to pump out, in the desperate and craven need to fill quotas within the 'attention economy'. Action movies don't have to be high art, but when films made 40 years ago looked better, had more interesting characters and original plot lines, you really do have to ask yourselves what is going wrong. This film doesn't deserve any specific mentions of any scenes or characters or plot lines....because there is nothing original here, nothing interesting, nothing of value.....except that it will no doubt keep a few more glassed over eyeballs fixated on their Netflix accounts. 1/5 feels generous.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

In the same way your dad would say - I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. I can't stop thinking that with 1 billion dollars this is the best that could be created? There is some very uninspiring scriptwriting, extremely disappointing CGI (do the artists understand how sunlight is supposed to look?!?), some B grade sets (a ship on the ocean shouldn't look like it was crafted that minute, without a scratch upon the timber or salt damage or any kind of deterioration), some very unremarkable casting... LOTR is such a rich vein of story telling to mine, yet this falls so far short of the mark that it's quite surprising. 5 episodes in and I still don't really understand the thrust of the story - what exactly am I supposed to be afraid of? Who am I supposed to believe in and cheer for? It's all just so thin.... Episode 5 felt like something made by a fan of Glee. And that is the last thing this should feel like. Aesthetically - although there's some good production design and great costumes....the overall visual style is so far removed from reality as to leave the viewer disconnected because nothing looks tangible. Nothing looks like a world that could be inhabited in reality. Perhaps this is the aesthetic people enjoy in 2022, but for me, I find something far more engrossing when what I see looks like something I could touch. Something I could exist in. That aids the suspension of disbelief and ignites the imagination. Rings of Power is obsessed with a constant golden hour, oversaturation of colours at every moment, and such poor green screening as to be shocking. To say I expected better from the most well funded show in history is an understatement. It should be so much better. The films were far from perfect, but they contained a lot more guts than this will ever get close to. Two thumbs down.

This is a superb achievement in television. It's cinematic at every moment, with the luxury to explore this story over 8 beautifully paced episodes. A thread of tension runs consistently through the series, creating unease and engagement. All the creative elements have come together here with finesse, from the score, through the cinematography and direction to all of the performances on screen. Dane DeHaan delivers a powerhouse performance of his character, as do all those around him. I can't recommend this series highly enough. It's intelligent, thought provoking, disturbing and artistically sophisticated. It's also so refreshing to see a 'short' series of this length. There's enough time to pace the story and flesh it out in the way that it deserves, but you never get the sense that it is drawing it out simply in order to create more content. It's not always necessary to tell a tale over 12 episodes or more, let alone multiple seasons. Sometimes a story simply needs to exist from start to finish within those 6 to 8 episodes.