There has been an awakening...

Saying I'm excited for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is like saying Donald Trump is a bit racist. Calling it an understatement would be an understatement. As a result of my stupidly high levels of excitement, I'm going to dedicate the next week (in theory) to purely Star Wars content. Starting from today, I'm going to review all six Star Wars films as well as The Force Awakens (in theory). In other words, I get to channel my excitement and you get to read some reviews (in theory).

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review - A Dazzling Celebration of All Things Star Wars

The Force Awakens was supposed to be bad. It's the seventh film in a franchise, following on from three films that were not well received and is (technically) a Disney sequel. I have now gone to see it four times. Technical Brilliance As far as fundamental filmmaking is concerned, The Force Awakens surpasses any of the previous Star Wars films. It's by far the best written Star Wars film, not that the bar was set particularly high. Still, it's a surprisingly witty film. Aside from the odd line of obligatory exposition, dialogue is very snappy, fast paced and unexpectedly funny. I've probably laughed more in this film than I have in many so-called comedies. While it's not exactly Aaron Sorkin level, J.J. Abrams’ fantastic directing and the actors brilliant delivery, as well as the tight, fast paced editing do help to elevate it. Speaking of the editing, The Force Awakens is also much better paced than any of the other Star Wars films. It's constantly ...

Doctor Who: The Tsuranga Conundrum Review

We are now halfway through the series and showrunner Chris Chibnall has been involved in writing every episode so far. This is quite unusual. Even in their first series as showrunners, Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat weren't responsible for the entire first half (in both cases, Mark Gatiss wrote the episode the showrunners didn't). Of course, Rosa was co-written by Malorie Blackman, and I suspect Chibnall was the lesser involved of the two given the episode's themes. However, Chibnall has controlled the start of this series very carefully. This makes sense, considering how different Chibnall's vision for Doctor Who is from his predecessors. It's important that he establishes this new, character-driven focus so that viewers can get used to it and other writers can build on it. That said, it's also nice to have contributions from different writers and The Tsuranga Conundrum indicates that it's about time that happens. The Tsuranga Conundrum is proba...

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Review

Jurassic Park never needed to be a franchise. As a thriller, Jurassic Park inherently works better the more compact it is, so stretching it into multiple sequels seems rather counterproductive. Of course, I wouldn't mind if these sequels were good. Unfortunately, they are not. The Lost World , the first follow-up, does nothing new for virtually the entire film - only hinting at a distinctive identity in the final act. Jurassic Park 3 was even worse. The characters are so unengaging and the action so toothless you end it feeling like you've stared at an empty void for ninety minutes. Colin Trevorrow's 2015 sequel/reboot Jurassic World slightly reinvigorated the franchise with flashy new visuals, but it also suffered from bland characters and a muddled script. However, against all the odds, I still foolishly had my hopes up for that film’s follow-up Fallen Kingdom . I did have my reasons, to be fair. J.A. Bayona was taking over directorial duties and he's an exce...

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