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Ok first things first. I’m not bothered by cis-gender, LGBTQ+, race relations, diversity or any other discriminatory issue. I just want to watch a good program. And this is not it! I totally disagree, in fact detest the role that big studios are taking in trying to include diversity, because they are doing it at the expensive of creating a good show. For goodness sake, the British have been doing it for years so much so that you don’t notice the differences and just recognise good characters. And that’s how it should be. I only got through episode 1 and had to come on here to see if I was missing something or if I was in a minority of one (and no Disney, I’m not available for a screen test). Fire in space….wait, what? Strapped to a chair of a ship that crash lands and no longer in the chair, straps off and looking like she’s off out to a club. Eh!! Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue……cue, action. Seriously, did not a single person on the crew hear of the word, ‘reset’. The reason I’ve given it 1 star is very simple. This will appeal to people who think 1 star is better than no star. You know the type, the ones that say, “winning doesn’t matter, it’s the taking part that counts”, or “at least your mother loves you”. Of course the way this series has started, it may well yet get another star….we live in hope. Edit. One other point of note. If you’re going to show diversity, India has a population of more than 1.4 billion people making them the largest population on the planet. I mean, if you’re looking for equal representation…..

*SPOILER ALERT* It feels wrong to like the happy ending of The Walking Dead (TWD), but at the same time one can get pretty bored with the cliffhanger stuff. It’s been done to death, we are forced to invest more time into something when deep down some of us just want to move on. That’s why I’m glad this has a happy ending. Yes it’s TWD and yes we’ve gotten used to major cliffhangers but this Rick and Michonne story needed to end, not with their deaths but with them coming together and finally closing that book. What I loved most about this though was Michonne’s insistence in not giving up when Rick had serious doubts. She played the part brilliantly and throughout every episode you knew she was never going to change her mind. In the real word I wish more people dedicated their time to a cause and refused to give up. Michonne was the epitome of the mortal or immortal (but very cheesy line) “Love never dies”, wraps up the story nicely and moves along. A lot of people don’t like change. They want things to stay the same or continue forever. During that forever journey, I’ve noticed how people have criticised the decision making process along that journey. For example many people have said TWD has gone downhill…..but they still watch it!! Their aim is to criticise the story because of its poor writing, script or plot, but provide no answer to why they sit and watch it…..what does that say about the critics? To me, it represents childish behaviour. Like when a child has to have a cuddly toy removed because it’s dirty and worn out. Critics are just children who’ve had their dirty toys taken away from them.

I hated the song. America singing ‘We are the world’ smacked of patriotism. It was an anthem to themselves. Of course it spawned much self-congratulatory pats on the back, an album, a general feeling that America does it bigger and better, “now let’s get back to our normal lives”. All the while, Africa is still suffering. All this does is realise the futility of celebrities and charities. There is always an angle that benefits the celebrities.

Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. If you want polished, bright sunshine, colourful CGI, with implied death tinged with comedy wit, stick with Marvel, the Disney of superhero movies. If you want your superhero films to have blood splatter, untold gore, gratuitous sex, narcissism with a blatant disregard to society and authority, then go watch The Boys. Zack Snyders Justice League falls between the two. Yes it’s dark and foreboding. The score helps it along that path. There’s a greyness about the whole set that makes you instantly think, this is from the director that brought you Watchmen. In fact the set could’ve been transferred over. People complained that Watchmen was too long. But in an age where binge watching is the norm, Zack Snyder’s Justice League (ZSJL) at a little over 4 hours is a risk. But really, it wasn’t! Sit in a cinema for over 4 hours then it would be a risk, but we’re at home, safe. He cleverly split it into parts so that you could take a break from it. You could make a cuppa, go to the loo, grab a bite to eat, or enjoy a bit of intimacy in your own back row. I sat and watched the whole spectacle unfold at times with open mouth, from the start when Wonder Woman brutally battered the terrorists in London. We’d seen it before in the first Justice League. But this was altogether less PG13 and edging towards ‘R’ rated. It played out longer too. We got to see a more harsher version of the first Mother box being taken from Themyscira, knowing the inevitable conclusion would be destruction and death in equal measure. We got to see the chain of command from Steppenwolf upwards to Darkseid and a deeper understanding of where, when, how and why the Mother Boxes were so important. More screen time was given to the major characters, and why not? It’s not as if we’re going to be sitting in the cinema, checking our phones, or hoping there’ll be a pause so we can go and get refreshments. So it was good that it was long. It was good the Snyder took his time with each character. You could see his passion in telling this story. I especially loved the Cyborg arc. A much bigger and more significant player than the previous version. Aquaman had way more lines than the first outing. He wasn’t just eye candy with surfer-like expressions. We got to know him. Barry Allen is still Barry Allen but his powers are far more significant to the story. I used to buy The Flash comics (and Kid Flash) and this felt like those stories, that he was being pushed to his limit. SPOILER ALERT:- And gone is that strange Russian family storyline where the Sharknado-inspired CGI terraforming caused by Steppenwolf, appeared to spread out like badly drawn giant worms. We know the ending, Superman comes along and shows what he can do obviously but it’s not pretty. It’s not Marvel and all the better for it. The Justice League also get a glimpse of who’s next in the antihero chain of command while dispensing of Steppenwolf . I could go on, not 4 hours long. There is so much to like about this film on its own merits, I almost feel like I want to watch the first one again to truly get a measure of what I missed out on. At a time when we can’t go to the cinema, ZSJL is exactly the film that would keep us home and safe for at least 4 hours straight. For me personally I’d double that just to watch it again.

8/10 I too read some reviews beforehand, not because I needed to know about the film, but more about the people who write such drivel. There are those that seemed to skip through it or leave midway through and those who seem to be plagiarising other people’s comments. Then there are those who are expecting a superhero film and those who are expecting a blockbuster. It is neither a blockbuster nor a superhero film. For all of her acting talent Jessica Chastain is really a subplot. This film falls squarely on the shoulders of a family who are in turmoil. Where Avengers placed more emphasis on giant set pieces and less on the internal conflict, this does the opposite. Every family member wants Jean Grey back in the fold and each does his or her own little bit to help. We aren’t just given a snippet of one power over another or one particular X person over everyone else. Here, the audience gets to have their favourite, gets to see where each person belongs and how they work together despite their differences. If I had one gripe is that it was over too quickly however as a final outing I’m happy at how it ended. Go see it, not as a superhero film, but as a film about a dysfunctional family who happen to be mutants.

Although the programme is good with some great action sequences I think it’s to Master Lee’s detriment that they’ve given the part to a Japanese/English actor rather than an actor with Chinese heritage. To me it’s unforgivable especially when Master Lee’s original concept for Kung Fu was given to an American (David Carradine) who wasn’t even a martial artist and knew nothing about Kung fu. A real shame!

Don’t compare this to the previous versions. Now that’s out of the way I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Forget the dodgy dialogue, plot holes and story line, this was the film that fans wanted to see. I’m reminded of the early Mortal Kombat games....loads of slashing but no blood. This Hellboy has been given the R-rated it needed and the gore to match. David Harbour (who I always thought was a bit part actor) really gets his teeth into this and us clearly having fun. Milla Jovovich could’ve done more but the baddy scene stealer is Baba Yaga. I’d like to see more of her as she was gross and grossly funny. The characters from hell was the stuff of nightmares brought to life on London’s streets and once again would love to see more if these characters should a second movie pan out. In a world of tightly wound stories, endless character building and polished acting, Hellboy 2019 proves that sometimes going to the cinema to be thoroughly grossed out is exactly what audiences need. Enjoy....

Spoiler alert!! What a load of Hollywood propaganda tosh....the irony of all this nonsense continues, with London being the bad guys to the East, an Australian with an English accent playing the megalomaniac intent on breaking down the huge wall to the east with a weapon (MEDUSA).....and the saviour in the form of a kill switch bearing the words USA (obviously the second half of the word) used to render the weapon useless. Was it really necessary to include any part of North America in this considering the book describes it as a ‘dead continent’? Err...yes! Because Americans don’t like big budget films that don’t include them in it in some way as the saviours....Hollywood trash it and the reviews become negative. Th film itself was good right up until the USA nonsense came up, then it all became a bit obvious, a poignant death, an ‘I am your father moment’, and a once dominant group of conquerors being humbled by their intended conquests by being offered a hand of peace......oh please! Suddenly I long for ‘Bad Taste’.

Where season 1 - 3 broke new ground with its characters, storylines and action sequences season 4 seem to have gone off on a completely different tangent and not in a good way. It’s become political. It’s become all inclusive. It deals with day to day issues that you or I could encounter. There are moral dilemmas of a human kind. And everyone still speaks with an American accent. Sorry but it’s just boring. Gone are the aliens and in its place is a futile attempt to portray the threat as coming from a different form of life. A life that cannot be open to discrimination. It seems like Star Trek has gone all ‘woke’. There’s too much of the inclusivity of every character with clearly more women than men and lip service to give the black characters more screen time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m the last person to complain about screen time for black or female characters but this is Star Trek. It’s not meant to mirror society as it is today. It was meant as a piece of sci-fi escapism. A simple good against evil without the politics. It’s like it was put together by a multi-disciplinary team before being handed over to a multi-agency team and then given the ok by an anti-discriminatory team. There is nothing wrong with having different genders, sexual orientations, inter alien dalliances, but please oh please don’t make it more important than the whole concept of Star Trek itself. We live on a planet where there is still war, good against evil, miscommunication, crime in many forms. We are not a tolerant society and never will be. Politicians are still corrupt. Star Trek Discovery paints a picture of the best bits of society of everyone working hand in hand with the odd rogue. No….we need a Borg cube and a Q continuum. We need Hirogens and species 8472 (with up to date special effects). At the moment series 4 is just too safe and happy and every character perfectly groomed and at ease with each other…..where is the banter of Bones and Spock, the macho rivalry of Worf and Riker with Deanna Troi caught in the middle later on, Neelix’s anecdotes about food, Seven of Nine and the Doctors infatuation with her? It’s just been replaced with safe characters with the only person warranting a mention being Saru played by the excellent Doug Jones. His is the only character that has a believable personality. It’s just a shame he does not have a yin to his yang! My hope is that something will happen, but it started to go a little downhill when it all started to focus on Burnhams mother, brother, etc. Hollywood seems to do that a lot, Blacklist, et al. Ah well….let’s hope Walking Dead has got better…..damn!

No no no no! The Blacklist is good when it sticks to the main character crime drama route and absolutely hopeless when goes down the ‘family drama’ route. I hated the fact that Megan Boone’s character Liz Keen hogged the limelight with her petulance and holier-than-thou attitude to everyone around her. She wanted to be the centre of attention and made sure like a spoilt little girl, she got it. I was happy when she died because we could then get back to James Spader who is and has been throughout absolutely brilliant. But now….we have another storyline involving a family drama, Agent Meera Malik. This is a person who obviously had her daughter/not daughter Siya Malik at around 18 but then gone on to work as an agent? Ok it’s believable. But why bring this in? Who is this story arc appealing to. It’s called The Blacklist for a reason, not The Blacklist with a healthy dose of soap drama involved. It would get 5 stars, but this new family arc just grates me. Even Ressler’s story has an air of believability about it. But Malik….the sooner that story is shut down the better.