A Small

4.25/5 Stars. I watched the director’s cut of this, which is just under 3.5 hours, and from the reviews online I kept expecting it to be rubbish and get bored of it after half an hour. But I kept watching. The realism of the costumes, special effects and generally well-filmed plot kept me intrigued (even though we all know how it ended in real life) and the acting turned out to be far from wooden too. It’s a solid film and Joachim Phoenix portrays a believable and oddly likeable Napoleon. His performance might not be as powerful as in Joker but that’s a high bar of excellence to maintain consistently in each and every film. Major negative: the battles could have been more epic. If you’re going to give this film a try, and have 3.5 hours to spare, I’d recommend the director’s cut.

Fantastic game. If you enjoy the GOW franchise, this should be a thrill for you. Loads to do, with amazing graphics, gameplay, dialogue, storyline, control system and so on. My one criticism would be that the boss battles, and even some mini boss ones, seemed especially hard at times—even for a GOW game—and I was on the verge of repetitive strain injury after trying 50+ times in a row to take out some of the toughest gods. Still, great game and 5 stars!

One of the best shows ever, and brilliant to the very last episode. With its brutal violence, plot twists, intrigue and naughty scenes, this was the Game of Thrones of my youth. It's a pity the show never broke out as globally as GOT, but I suppose it's been lost among the myriad of dramas and documentaries about ancient Rome. RIP to Ray Stevenson who plays one of the intrepid duo, Vorenus and Pullo.

I only put 2 stars as a nod to the special effects, which were impressive. Apart from that, for a billion dollars budget this was deeply boring. Did all the money go on CGI effects? Wooden acting, atmosphere, and dialogue. It felt like a Hallmark movie with fancy CGI. If you’re expecting anything like the LOR or Hobbit movies, forget it. I stopped at the first episode as it was just very, very, dull. And the people saying this series is getting trashed because of racism/anti-woke sentiment are delusional. Having a few black elves/hobbits was actually quite refreshing but their acting was just as bad as everyone else’s. The series flopped because it wasn’t entertaining, period.

3.5/5. Generally good, with a good script and actors. If you’re expecting something as iconic as the original, perhaps best to lower expectations. I thought it was great they had Harrison Ford and the CGI-young Sean Young in there. Downside was the film was a bit too long and unlike the original, it was easier to get confused if you didn’t pay close attention. The arch villain, I can’t even remember his name, Jared Lato’s character, seemed to hardly be in it, and the ending was a bit underwhelming. Not a bad film, and worth a watch if you’re a big Bladerunner fan, but lacked the magic and simplicity of the original.