Reviews

We're only five episodes in, but "The Vow" is certainly a standout. I am totally here for the goofy side of The Rookie, but this episode leaned harder into some serious drama, and it was the better for it. (But we got a fun little Smitty cameo to keep things light.)

I have to say, Aaron keeps growing on me as a character. It seemed obvious there was some sort of spark with his therapist, and this is a fun conflict to watch after the two of them wind up sorta going on a date.

I thought Nolan and Bailey fostering a kid would seem cloying, but my heart broke for them in the end when a family member surfaced to take care of the little girl. Well done, Rookie writers.

And then we have Tim. Tim's darker past is one of the better parts of The Rookie, and watching him decide what to do with an old foe (we're hitting peak David Dastmalchian!) was authentic and compelling. This was drama with Lucy that felt earned, not contrived like earlier in the season.

Solid stuff overall. More episodes like this, please. Less episodes like that horrible honeymoon in hell from earlier in the season.

We kick off Season 6 right where Season 5 ended. Masked vigilantes are targeting our beloved squad and now we get to see the rest of the plan in action with the white collar villains at the end of the episode.

The problem is, after a quick prologue of sorts that gives us some good ol' shoot 'em up action, we are hit with a "Six Weeks Later" card. And six weeks later? Nolan is happily planning his wedding, the drama of which surrounded an alleged "last shift" curse-a belief that something will go irrevocably wrong in the final shift before an important event. Lots of little mishaps occur, but nothing wild like Bailey dying or anything that matters.

Did Thorsen make it? Yep. He's totally fine and back at work, and it looks like he might date his appointed psychologist. After being near death in the finale, the resolution on Thorsen was disappointing.

More disappointing is the contrived drama between Bradford and Chen. The writers har decided that after finally putting them together, this season will deal with manufactured drama between the two, largely due to-of course-a failure to communicate at even a base level. Lucy's actions seemed pretty out of character. I dislike drama because the show runners decided we needed drama.

This was OK, but it was a pretty run-of-the-mill Rookie episode that doesn't live up to what preceded it and resolves too many plot threads too quickly and easily.

First off, I agree with others that think this episode has pretty much jumped the shark. I thought to myself numerous times, "When did this become Fast and Furious?" To be clear, we have random LAPD officers, four of whom are the only officers to be counted on in a crisis (and two of whom are rookies), who decide to infiltrate a drug lord's compound in Guatemala with the help of the DEA (nice to see you, Joshua Molina!). Like... what? It's all patently absurd. And just like the Fast and Furious films, we've drifted a LONG way from the comparatively lower stakes of initial installments that just involved police work.

Side note: I'm enjoying Lucy and Tim clearly having some chemistry bubbling under the surface. I think the writers have done a good job so far slow walking that tension to the extend I never even considered them a possible couple until recently.

OK, now on to those of you who are upset Jackson West died in the opening and wanted a better result or at least a better death scene for him. You have to know the context. Titus Makin, the actor, did not want to return for Season 4 of The Rookie specifically because he felt he could no longer play a Black cop if the show wasn't willing to address racial issues. Titus considered leaving the show even before Season 3 if it showrunners weren't willing to address the elephant in the cultural landscape at the time. Titus even said to the showrunner, "If you want to write me out, I politely receive that. I would rather be written out than ignore the reality and not be able to tell the story."

To be clear, many folks on here complained about the "woke" content of Season 3 - and apparently Titus decided to leave the show because the Rookie's showrunners couldn't follow that thread forever. If you didn't love the content of Season 3, you should be glad for Season 4, but you have to recognize one of the actors didn't feel comfortable dropping those themes and continuing on with the show.

So with that, the reason Officer West is unceremoniously killed without as much as seeing his face is because the writers did not know at the end of Season 3 that Titus would not return, which likely put them in a bind. Was West originally going to be kidnapped along with Angela? Did we simply luck out that Jackson isn't just seen hanging out with everyone else before Angela's abduction?

The writers had an out - quickly kill off the character with another actor playing the role and only seen from behind. It was the only logical course of action beyond randomly reassigning him or promoting him like they did with Talia after Season 1.

Don't be upset. No one was trying to diss Officer West. The writers did their best when an actor opted not to return.

I liked "My Norwegian Holiday." It may be Hallmark fare, but thankfully, this one avoided most of the classic tropes. There was no big city gal reconnected with her rural roots. No aloof d-bag boyfriend and hunky ex back home. Not even the classic misunderstanding or withheld information to drive conflict in the third act.

No, this film is much more straightforward, and it's better for it. I found both leads likable overall, and the supporting cast was solid.

I'm going to assume either the Bergen or Norwegian tourism board funded the movie, because aside from the on-location shooting, the characters are ever so slightly too inclined to share numerous tidbits of Norwegian culture, and the camera often lingers on certain activities longer than is natural to show off (the krumkake making stuck out).

But whatever, this was a good movie about connecting with new roots and discovering new family and new traditions. And I loved that there wasn't some big, contrived drama to overcome in the end. It all felt more organic as a result.

This is a bizarre program. It lacks the intensity of almost any reality competition program (and certainly falls short of The Amazing Race), and it's flat-out boring.

The only thing "Bond" related here are the locales, and if you use X-Ray on the Prime app, it'll at least give you a bit of trivia about which Bond film was shot there. And I guess you have Brian Cox being some sort of "mastermind." They could have at least given him a cat.

The oddest part of the format is that after contestants go through some contrived process to find their clue, they are presented with absolutely random, unthematic trivia questions that have little to do with their location, and nothing whatsoever to do with Bond. We're talking about people having to guess the prison sentence of an art thief tried in French courts - while the contestants are in an unrelated part of Sicily.

There's potential here to do something interesting, but boy is this a misfire beyond top-level cinematography. The visuals and music imply an epic show, but the content itself could barely escape a forgotten soundstage at BBC Four.

I'm as much of a long time fan of the boys as any, but this special had no point whatsoever. There was no overarching goal or challenge. Just, "Let's drive from Gdansk to Bled and act only moderately engaged the entire time."

With Amazon only committing to filming projects under contract due to Clarkson's antics, I can only imagine the creative well will continue to run dry. Eurocrash does not give me hope for any sort of creativity in figure instalments.

The guys cracking up at the wax museum was probably the funniest, most genuine part of the special. You could tell the laughs were real and spontaneous, and the guys' wit and humor came through naturally.

Funny too how they entered Slovenia from Croatia and were immediately in the Julian Alps, which border Austria and Italy.

The point of our drone pilot is that he feels empty and guilty about what he does, so he wants to discard the "tips" he's received over the years from his coworker. When they doesn't work at the casino and he winds up with $30K, that could have been it. Adding the kinky grifters was just some lame excuse by the writers to have some sex and nudity that did absolutely nothing in service of the plot. Purely gratuitous, and it made me want to stop watching the show.

The sex scene in the previous episode, while not as graphic, clearly depicted the terror in Suleiman's wife and how helpless she felt. It was character driven.

I'm not sure if the writers were just high on Game of Thrones, but there was zero point to extending the drone story to a sex scene other than the writers like the female form. Disappointing.

This was an outstanding episode of an already outstanding show. Andor keeps ratcheting up the tension, and the payoff with this heist episode was everything you'd want. And what's so great about it is the stakes are comparatively small. But I felt more intensity from this little payroll heist than the entire Resistance going after Starkiller Base.

Also, it's gorgeously shot and composed. I'll miss the Scottish Highlands and this entire subplot.

But the big lesson here is war is dark. In this episode, we don't have rebels being nice and optimistic. We have rebels holding a young boy at gunpoint. We find out characters who seemed to have real motivations truly were only in it for themselves. We see Cassian finally find more of his purpose against the Empire (and we also see him make his first dirty move in the name of the rebellion).

Bravo, Andor. You are saving Star Wars.

This was an excellent episode of The Rings of Power, if not the best of the season. After a seemingly interminable number of table setting episodes, things finally start coming together between our various groups.

Spoiler: No Harfoots or Elrond/Durin in this ep. It's just Numenorians and the people of the South.

But what a great ride it is. Plenty of action and twists.

I will issue a warning to parents: this is easily the most violent episode of the series thus far, and certainly more explicit in its violence than anything in the original LOTR trilogy. Lots of orc blood, dismemberment, etc. It's not Game of Throne or anything, but this is the same level of violence that garnered the extended edition of Battle of the Five Armies as an R rating, but certainly less cartoonish.

My only other beef is it seems the entire conceit of what created Mt. Doom (and Mordor!) hinged on the lead characters not bothering to check that the package they retrieved from Adar was, in fact, the sword. It was untrue to the characters and done in service of the plot so we'd get a big shocker in the final minutes.

Still a great episode and fun to watch, but I was disappointed that the writers seemed to have to stretch credulity a smidgen to get to where they wanted to go.

Andor continues to impress. Story-wise, we're slowly building towards an overall plot. This episode has tons of new characters, but it doesn't feel like it suffers for it.

I could watch petty bureaucratic squabbling between ambitious middle managers in the Empire all day.

And seeing Luthen's cover as an antiquities dealer was great. All of these characters feel lived and earned. We even see that Mon Mothma's marriage is on shaky ground.

I'm loving the cinematography in Andor, and this episode is no exception, with ample time spent on location in the Scottish Highlands. Shooting on "the Volume" certainly has its advantages, but Andor is crushing it on world building. Wide shots. Close ups. Whatever. People are actually in places, and the show is better for it.

I think this was a weaker season finale. Sure, plenty happens. There are huge fights. Protagonists find themselves on the ropes as antagonists nearly win the day. Drama. Some victory. Nothing altogether unexpected.

But the broader motivations here ring hollow to me. Terry Silver is a lunatic, and he will make kids worse people if they join Cobra Kai. But beyond that? His plan isn't to use the dojos as a front for something more nefarious. He's just a nut that will stop at nothing to expand his business. That's it.

My issue is the characters treat Terry Silver's Cobra Kai as a Thanos-level event, but it's never articulated why his expansion is really such an issue.

Cobra Kai students mostly don't seem to mess with anyone who hasn't crossed them. They don't appear to cause trouble in the broader community. Yes, they become unhinged, but they aren't being trained for something else - like a violent coup or something.

The good guys' motivations made more sense with Kreese. You have Cobra Kai proactively seeking out and attacking others, vandalizing, etc. But under Silver, they didn't really do anything proactively beyond perhaps the pool sequence.

So what is the issue? I watched a whole season hoping to see that Terry Silver has terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad plans, but at the end of the day, he's just a psychopath that wants his brand of karate to be the dominant form in the marketplace.

And everyone treats it like it's the end of the world.

Season 5 was a season in search of convincing story, but the show is creatively running on fumes.

Don't get me wrong - I know what this show is and I know it's not art - but the law of diminishing returns seems to be taking effect.

But it's also hard to see this going more than one more season. Chozen is a loose cannon, beating everyone up in sight. Daniel's mistaken judgment of Mike Barnes was beyond predictable. And Johnny freaks out about maybe being a dad. Neat.

Oh, and two of the young kids break up.

This episode was entertaining, and it's only the third episode of ten, but it definitely felt like it was the same unnecessary drama of grown adults just not talking to each other. Because if they acted like actual humans, there would be no plot.

The show knows it's ridiculous melodrama, but I feel like we're repeating some of the same beats at this point and the novelty is wearing off. Yes, Terry Silver is insane and will threaten anyone who breathes. We know.

There are some excellent gags in this episode, namely when the entire Banks clan walks in on Vai and Fred. That was fun.

Fresh Prince is a very cartoony, exaggerated show, but having Will and Lisa up and realize they've rushed into things felt unearned. Worse, Lisa doesn't even say she doesn't love Will, just that they shouldn't get married yet.

Of course, season 6 rolls around and Lisa is nowhere to be found nor heard from again.

We couldn't have a final season of the show with Will married, so I understand the wedding not happening, but for a show that can pull strong dramatic punches when it needs to, the writers took the goofy way out this time around. Heck, Will basically cheated on Lisa two episodes prior and was going to come clean, then it was just fun and zany that he didn't bother!

Season five was weird.

I'll echo what others have said. This is just a good popcorn flick. It's not particularly smart. It's not groundbreaking. But it has an interesting premise and some fun set pieces, even if it's not that suspenseful, and most of twists and turns are either telegraphed from a mile away, or have just become the norm for films like this.

A word of caution on slamming Amazon over this flick if you didn't like it. Amazon had nothing to do with the production of this film. Paramount and Skydance made it. It was supposed to be released theatrically, but Paramount got cold feet because of COVID. Amazon swept in and picked up the distribution rights. That's it. The "Amazon Original" is only labeled as such because Amazon bought the rights to a finished product. Harp on Amazon if you don't like the way the film was marketed, but not if you think the producers should have made different choices. That's for Paramount.

"The Tomorrow War" is certainly not for kids. It's kinda funny how if we have copious amounts of gore involving humans, a film is easily Rated R, but if the surprisingly extensive gore involves alien critters, then whatevs. It's PG-13. Either way, I'd keep this to the 15+ set. (It has a 16 rating in many other Western countries, although it carries a mere 12 in the UK.)

Overall, I was still more entertained than I expected. Some of the dialogue is pretty pathetic, and plenty of jokes don't really land. But overall, even if the flick is overlong, it moves at a pretty brisk pace, with four main action sequences.

However, I agree with other reviews that take issue with some of the great realizations that set the stage for the third act. I am not knocking Dan's wife for thinking perhaps the alien spacecraft didn't land at the date everyone assumed, but surely the best minds in government and research had already considered this possibility, right? Maybe it's a subtle dig at government being bloated and ineffective (there's that comment about the UN talking things over for years), but there's no way on earth the U. S. military and others would not have explored every possibility and permutation.

And then there's volcano kid. Because the only volcanologist worth his salt is the kid from your class. There are no other experts!

Lastly, I suppose there's some sort of message? Like we're supposed to understand how underappreciated Dan feels, and be happy in the end when he has a "everything I need is right here at home" moment? I'm sorry, but at the very least to honor those who died going rogue in Russia, that story would be public, not Dan retreating to some quiet life having learned a valuable lesson about the importance of family. You won't really feel anything for the characters in this film.

Anyway, it was still a fun watch. I have no regrets.

I can't believe there are still two episodes of the show left. I don't mean that in a sense of denial about only having a bit more to watch. I mean it in the sense that we've just gone through a huge emotional arc in the show, and I'm curious where it'll go to close things out.

Some have said an episode like "Goodwill" is absurd because it's not about the development of the internet. I think that criticism misses the mark. While the first season of Halt and Catch Fire developed characters while keeping its eye on the plot-the creation of the Giant-subsequent seasons have more deftly interwoven character growth along with some plot ideas. And here we are in the fourth season with a show still goes after big workplace ideas, but it has done such a fantastic job developing its characters that we can watch them all mope about a house for an entire episode and be completely gripped.

Gordon's death in the last episode was perhaps inevitable at some point, and it was a stirring conclusion to his arc. Watching his friends come together to work through their grief is incredibly moving television.

Donna struggles with the loss of a man she loved and probably still loves. Her daughters confront their new reality and clean out the house. Sharing an unspeakable loss gets Donna and Cameron to talk not just civilly to one another, but again as sisters. Bos plays a more paternal role, even getting Joe to stop what he's doing and eat.

This episode made me think plenty about Joe. HACF has done an impressive job shifting Joe from a self-absorbed lunatic who burns down the first shipment of Giants to a somewhat melancholy character, grounded in his love for Cameron, thinking seriously about his legacy, and mourning the loss of Gordon perhaps more than anyone. The writers of the show have done such a terrific job that you believe all of this. HACF has somehow covered 11 years in four seasons with only 40 episodes, but I believe every bit of character development I've seen.

Even in the end of the episode, one of the final shots is Joe with a little bit of mist in his eye, a man struggling to process his own emotions while supporting those of others.

What a fantastic way to slow down and let the characters endure the pain. I've rarely seen grief so well portrayed in media.

What was this film? Is it supposed to be a comedy? Is it supposed to be whimsical? Is it a serious drama? What is up with the pacing? Why is one of the main plot points resolved in 10 minutes? How does Jon Hamm rent a vintage Rolls Royce from a regional airport? What exactly was the plot of this film? What on earth was up with the final confrontation between the leads? Why are there so many shots of a horse trying to break out of a barn? Is it supposed to be a metaphor? This is one of the most baffling films I've seen in years.

One extra star for gorgeous cinematography.

I'm not really going to go to bat for WW84, but it's not the worst movie in the world, as some might say. It is merely an average story done with high production values, and it pales in comparison to its predecessor.

What rakes me is how little they went in on the 1984 element. Other than some Cold War overtones that mattered more in the climax, there was little inherently 80s about the film. Yes, it deals in themes of greed and excess-both hallmarks of the 1980s-but it never really goes all in or explores those themes enough.

Beyond that, there isn't an 80s soundtrack. Little effort seems to have been made to make the viewer feel like they in in the 1980s beyond throwing the leads and extras in some 1980s fashions and maybe letting the occasional Sam Goody pop up in the background.

"Stranger Things," for example, is a VERY different property, but it nailed 1980s mall culture in Season 3. WW84 needed more of that.

In a series dealing with Amazons, gods, and all sorts of magical artifacts, the existence of a wish stone shouldn't bother me, but for some reason it does. The entire plot seemed like a contrived idea to get Steve back in some capacity and then they filled in the blanks from there.

Speaking of Steve, why was he required to be in another person's body? This is a wish stone that made nuclear weapons appear out of nowhere. It made a wall appear out of nowhere. It can clearly harness the elements to do whatever it wants. So why can't it conjure up Steve in his entirety, not Steve-as-only-Diana-sees-him?

Cheetah was underutilized despite a solid turn from Kristen Wiig, and her arc never really goes anywhere. Last we see her, she has apparently renounced her wish and is just... looking at the ocean from a base somewhere. Not exactly redemption. Not exactly anything. If she renounced her wish then she used her own free will, which implies a change in the character and not a need to be mysterious about her outcome for the sake of any sequels.

As others have sad, in many ways this came off more as a CW show than a big-budget film. Wonder Woman 1984 is a comparative disappointment, but an entertaining enough film on its own, even if it is stretching at the seams to satisfy its convoluted plot.