Reviews

So season 1 was a little rough around the edges and season 2 progressively improved to the point we're at now which is definitely at the height of the show. They finally did something somewhat useful with the universally despised new character Kwan Ha and tied in the rest of the new TV show changes and correlated them to the original story in a good enough way to give the show its own unique flavour while preserving the great taste of the source material. Despite taking a bit too long to get to this point, I'm glad it got there and I am anxiously waiting for season 3 unlike passively waiting for season 2 as most of us likely were.

Solid 9/10 for the episode, removing only one point for one drastic change from the video game story which I really didn't want to see and an 8/10 for the whole of season 2.

As a side note, I hate the new trend of shows only having 8 episodes to a season and a massive wait in between seasons combined with the weekly trickle, but that's more of a symptom than a problem with this show specifically.

I finished the first season just a few days ago and wound up watching in two sittings. It's a great combination of gore, action and dark humour and probably one of the most successful within its genre being surpassed only by the likes of The Boys.

For those who really enjoyed shows like Z Nation and find that shows like that are often criminally under rated, this is the new show for you. I love the post apocalyptic setting, wit and dark humour and how it watches like a comedic version of Mad Max. While I did play some of the games many years ago, I can't remember the storylines so I can't comment on how faithful an adaptation the show is, but it was so entertaining, I can't say I could care much.

At first I was scared that the show would be finished after the first season as it currently shows "2023-2023" on the top of the IMDB page but yesterday it was confirmed that season 2 has been ordered, so our prayers have been answered. Can't wait for season 2!!!

So I have to admit that I think the best parts of this series are it's ties to the main show and the rich universe that it's happening in. On a few occasions I found that this show pandered a bit to Gen Z viewers and grout along some uninteresting teenage drama with that baggage but overall I've enjoyed the ride.

The acting isn't as good as it is in The Boys, but who could expect it to be when the main show has an absolutely star studded cast. Same goes with the writing, while it's not perfect, it certainly gets the job done and entertains with the same gory, shocking and crude style.

I am glad that season 2 is confirmed but I hope they don't intertwine the shows all that much. I like the idea of having the seasons staggered with the main show as 8 episodes never seem like enough and this will serve as something like a solid appetizer while we're waiting for the main course.

So while it's not exactly perfect it's a very solid entry to the franchise that I think can now safely be categorized as a cult classic. With basically every previous entry there is a trend where some of the stories are abysmally bad and others are excellent, the same formula is followed here but as per usual what is missing from storylines is made up for with blood, gore, violence and nudity.

While this won't garner any praise from critics, for us fans who like it, we like it enough for them to keep churning out a new entry every year or two and that's good for me. One thing that I wish they would do is clean up the video quality a bit. I like how they purposefully ad in all classic VHS screen static but watching what looks like less than 360p for a couple hours does get quite daunting. There are ways they could keep the nostalgic effects from VHS and make it easier on the eyes.

7/10, overall very recommendable for fans of the genre, especially fans of the franchise.

I'm still in agreement that this is a solid 8 as have been each of the previous episodes and show in general, but the ending left me scratching my head and wondering if I missed something. I'll definitely have to hit up YouTube for a streamers episode breakdown.

I also feel like I've seen way too many penises in this show and it's starting to give of some sexist against men vibes - I hope that gets remedied quickly, as there's no place for modern day identity politics in a universe such as this - one of my favourite aspects of shows that come out of The Boys universe is that they're all a nice light hearted escape from the absurdity of the world today.

Still love the show despite these minor gripes, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next episodes.

I'm not going to say that this is a bad show because it simply isn't. The acting is on point, casting is great, edited and produced well, scores are effectively done and there's plenty of mystery that plays out feeding into the overarching story that keeps you coming back to find out more.

The problem is, is that it's a sci-fi show in a sci-fi setting but simply not very much sci-fi content. The only aspect of sci-fi is really the post apocalyptic setting and you're only given droplets of story progression as the main show concentrates on the whodunnit people drama which explains why you see a lot of reviews complaining about the show being too slow moving and boring. I'll go ahead and add another one to this category, albeit give credit where it's due.

If a standard people drama is your thing, then the show is a green light. If you're someone who has a taste for great sci-fi and that's what you're looking for you may as well watch the first couple episodes and then skip to the last. For me pretty much everything in between was half-watched while playing a mobile game.

7/10 - overrated but potentially worth watching.

So while this film isn't quite as good as the first, its not a bad follow up from Spain to the 2018 original US film by any stretch.

There are some instances of bad CGI and the story progression to the overall universe was quite minimal and these two factors certainly explain some of the lower reviews by critics and viewers alike, but overall I'd award this film a solid 65.

It does drag on a little and the conclusion was a bit predictable but overall I was satisfied by how they deepened the lore and story with the additions they made. I won't get into spoiler territory here but I liked how they told another story which coincided with the events from the first film and told from another part of the world. I'll certainly be in the circle of people interested to see what the next addition to this franchise will be - I think there's a solid cult classic in the making here.

65/100, would recommend.

So, I'll start out with the good. The acting and soundtrack in this episode were amazing, even more so than usual. We got some interesting scenes and the camera work was on point. Walter's character development was also quite satisfying and this was a long time coming, Elijah Wood is really good in this role.

But that's about all I can say that was good about the episode. Season 1 was a a really good snow burn, cross genre and season 2 has seemingly devolved into more of just a slow, mediocre show that has its moments. So many things just seemed rushed and out of place in this finale - given that it was only 9 episodes as opposed to 10 makes me wonder if two episodes got smooshed into one for some reason?

I'll still be looking forward to season 3 but I honestly hope that's where they end it. After 2 seasons of being mostly interested in the plane crash story line I don't want to endure through another 16-20 episodes of droplets of story progression. While we got a handful of answers we also wound up with even more questions. Even though season 2 had some great high points it also had some pretty low, low points and I'd rather finish the series quick and strong.

The biggest problem with the weekly trickle of episodes is that these ones that mainly serve to set things up for the rest of the season get frustrating. I've rated it a 7 when it probably deserves something a little higher but it really felt like a long sequence that happens before a commercial and leaves you eager to see how things play out but leaves you unsatisfied for a week while you wait for the next bit of story.

The current score of 8.8 is definitely over rated but I think that's because the early bird ratings are inflated by those who were long awaiting the last scene - I prefer to keep my reviews spoiler free so I won't reveal what happens here but those who have watched the episode will know right away what I mean. I'd expect the score to drop down somewhere around 7 or 8 eventually.

The episode in general was rather heavy on the slow moving adult storyline and while we got some nice revelations on the crash site teen story, the good parts were short lived and when things were starting to finally ramp up, the episode was over. Really looking forward to the next ones as I've got a feeling things are about to pick up and get very interesting and pacing about to pick up!

So going into this movie and knowing that it's a Canadian festival film rather than a large budget project you'll probably know or at least have an idea of what to expect. This film is basically an allegory for things like the pandemic, depression, over-medicating and over medicated society, etc.

There isn't much horror but there are some quirky instances of humour that have me a good chuckle and some nice sex scenes with tasteful nudity. The plot, while a bit thin does what it needs to and the story while a tad drawn out is coherent and interesting enough to maintain interest. The acting is actually quite good given the films budget and while a couple scenes felt wooden, it all got the job done.

In terms of film as a whole I'd rate a 4/10 In terms of a festival film, it's a strong 8/10.

I'm writing this review 6 episodes into the first season and so far I'm pretty happy with the show overall. Reading though some of the reviews I'm seeing a lot of repeat criticisms - while they're certainly valid, I find a lot of the lower scores are either too harsh or simply exaggerated. If you're considering giving this a watch and you like a cross genre type of show with a bit of sci-fi, horror and mystery, this is definitely worth checking out.

There are a lot of complaints that it's slow moving and as the title states, this is definitely a slow burn (sometimes maybe a little too slow) but my main problem here is the way they're bouncing back and forth between the two storylines. The show simultaneously tells two stories involving the same characters both in present day and in the 90's when they were a high school soccer team. The constant and sometimes poorly timed jumps back and forth definitely get on my nerves more than I'd like. It also creates a little bit of confusion at times so with these two elements combined it represents the shows biggest and only significant drawback, for myself at least.

With that said, there's a little something here for everyone and that's what I'm currently enjoying most about the show. There's a strong mystery element, some elements of suspense, horror, gore and even a little bit of suggestion of the supernatural. While that's all great, there's also some teenage drama which certainly won't be for everybody but I will say that it's done in a very minimal and palatable way that still is effective in playing out the story. So don't let that deter you!

The acting is very very good and while I found that Melanie Lynskey may have been miscast at first, she's really settled into the role and I'm thoroughly happy with the performances of all the cast. Now with this being the 2020's of course identity politics play a role in the writing and casting. As you might assume, the cast is perfectly diverse and comes complete with a black lesbian woman who is strong and in a traditionally male role running for office in the current day. Despite all this, this doesn't fall into the category of Woke Culture Slog like so many other shows have recently. Nothing much feels forced or unfitting so far in the script as far as I can see.

So while there are a couple minor flaws and we don't have the next Lost, x-files, or Fringe we do have a great cross genre show that does a good job of combining drama, mystery, sci-fi and horror that's well worth checking out for a pretty broad audience with a little something for everyone. 8/10 would absolutely recommend.

So I am guilty of changing my score from 10 to a 9 after finishing the entire first season. I had previously rated the show a 10 after watching the first two episodes as those were quite possibly the best pilot and follow up episodes I've seen since Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead or Ozark. In my mind I always like to think of films as being scored out of 100 rather than 10 and if I had those options I would likely score this between an 85 and 90.

The first couple episodes lived up to the hype and I completely understand why the reviews exploded however after that the show looses some of that momentum which led to people calling it over rated. For a while it was holding steady at a 9.4. And rightfully so, the current score if 8.9 I think suits it much better.

Where things went wrong is that they devoted two full legth episodes to flashbacks which did nothing or very little to progress the story and found themselves playing catch-up in order to tell the whole story in 6 episodes which constituted and entire game. Now, I have not played the game but if you actually add up the runtimes of all the episodes you'll notice that they actually spent a little over 25% - a full quarter of the first season to these two episodes. You don't have to play the game to know that when you waste that much screen time on filler, you're going to be rushing to finish off the story with 75% of a seasons runtime.

Episode 3 has me in a love/hate situation. The episode contained on its own was splendid. The acting could not have been better and it was very interesting to see a preppers take on a post apocalyptic situation. Where things crashed and burned is that it was a complete derailment from the momentum the first two episodes built up and it progressed the story none. I think they should have either kept one of the characters alive to fit them into later parts of the story or added another 15 minutes or so of runtime and released it as a movie sometime between season 1 and 2 in order to fill the very long gap that we're now faced with. This way they would not have left viewers scratching their heads and wondering why they just watched a 76 minute filler episode so early in the season and it would have avoided all the unnecessary debate and flame wars between people who didn't want to see two late-middle aged and hairy men lock beards in a homoerotic love story which takes place in a zombie apocalypse and those who were enthralled in the wokeness of it and praising the show for doing it. I mean the acting and story was good enough for the box offices by far and it it seems like it would have just made so much more sense.

Lastly, I know there was a lot of controversy when Bella Ramsey was cast as Ellie because she has a completely different look about her than the video game version of Ellie. I will say that I can understand people's surprise and hesitance given the totally different demeanours of and types of characters that Bella has played before but also that she did a great job this season. I had no problems with her acting at all and it seems that she has won over more than a few skeptics alike.

Now the first season has Ellie as a young teenager and if the show follows the game, there will be some considerable time that's passed since leaving off in the story and Ellie will have grown into an adult in her 20's and has developed into somewhat of a Lara Croft, Tomb Raider-like character who is as gorgeous as she is lethal and bad ass. Honestly I think I will have a hard time seeing Bella play that type of role as effectively as she played young Ellie. It will certainly be a first for her and legitimate questions about miscasting may come seeping back into the conversation as a result.

So to conclude I would say that it was a little bit over rated and the criticisms of the show were completely valid and skepticism of casting was understandable but overall the season was a great run and has me eagerly awaiting the next. As to what it brings, let's hope that things hold up and we get a good follow up but that the show runners learn from the mistakes made in season 1. Less filler, less rushing and for the love of humanity, MORE ZOMBIES!!!

So I watched this movie on a streaming service that I rarely use which links review scores from multiple websites to online in the details. The scores on these sites were obviously forged in some way because they were really high - it was a few minutes into the film when I began to notice that virtually all the acting was terrible and then we were introduced to Michael Dorn's character. I actually didn't recognize him at first since he's mostly done voice work for animated projects abd video games since playing the iconic Whorf from Star Trek. I thought to myself "why is this guy here, he's actually delivering the only convincing performance"?

So then I picked up my phone and ventured here to IMdB and realized who he was. All I can say is that he must have owed a friend a favour because he's so overqualified for this project I can't imagine what else would have drawn him to it unless he's managed to somehow go broke over the years and is in desperate need of money.

Aside from Dorn, this film offers nothing else. There's no action, now plausible drama, no gore, no horror no suspense, no nudity no comedy and it's basically a bunch of people playing alien laser tag with someone who has mild super powers.

This is quite possibly the best little indie sci-fi movie I've ever seen. Admittedly it's much more of a drama than a sci-fi and that usually doesn't bode well with me but in this case Brit Marling's acting drew me in and kept me from turning off the film in search of another film in more of a Prometheus type setting to watch.

I'm glad that I did - one thing that I found astounding is that Brit hadn't done all that much since this film (I'm watching well over a decade after this film was released). Her acting was absolutely phenomenal here and she's absolutely gorgeous and obviously multi-talented in that she co-wrote the script.

While the film won't be for all sci-fi fans where it really is more of a drama that shamelessly ignores scientific accuracies, I think for most it's well worth the time to watch. I'm glad I ventured out of my usual realm and gave it a watch, even in 2023.

I have to say, this just might be the most beautifully shot episode I've ever seen from any show based on a post apocalyptic setting. They did an amazing job at capturing the post apocalyptic atmosphere for what it really is: Eerie, dark and oddly beautiful.

The pacing of the show flows very well and I felt like I blinked and the episode was over. The scores accompanied by the actions taking place on screen were effective and satisfying but also I found very unique and fitting that the show is based in a video game. While I haven't played the games to which this show is based on, it did give me the same feeling of playing through a game with a great story like the Half Life series.

Now I do have some gripes though.. I can't bring myself to drop the score down to a 9 but if this was on a scale of 100 I'd probably score it something like a 98. Earlier I mention that I felt like I blinked and the episode was over, making it feel short and well... that's because it was. In fact at 44 mins if runtime, this makes the season finale the shortest episode which doesn't bode well given that a LOT happened in this episode and it kinda felt like it was glossed over. Apparently a Lobito of time has passed since the last episode so there's a bit of a hole there and my mind keeps going back to the two very long flashback episodes which seemed like overkill dating back to episode 3.

All in all this has been a greatly successful first season and this is sessile the best sci-fi show on television and likely will be for a while. It's just a shame we'll likely have to wait a long while before the story picks up and we're treated to another short and sweet season. I really hope they don't pull a Stranger Things and leave too much time between seasons.

As the weeks go by I and I review each passing episode I now find myself re-reviewing the series rather than just the episode itself. This one here was near flawless in every aspect with my one and only complaint being that I could see the twist coming from miles away and didn't have much shock and awe from it. Aside from that small gripe, this episode's quality is why this is currently my favourite show. A highlight here is Bella Ramsey really showing off her acting chops and given the initial reaction to her being cast, good on her!

About the main series, I am starting to feel like with only one episode left in its 9 episode first season that there may have been a bit too much time wasted in its two full length flash back episodes. A LOT happened in this 50 minutes of runtime. So much that it felt short. But at the same time earlier this season we had a 76 minute flashback episode and then a 55 minute one a few episodes later. Neither of which added to a progressed the story much (but despite that I personally liked them both in their own respects).

So I'm anxiously awaiting next weeks season finale but if I had one thing I could change in season 2 I would make it so there was less time spent on flashbacks, perhaps weaving them into longer episodes rather than devoting 22% or more of a season to flashbacks which do little to story progression or deep character development. What I would really love is for them to bump the episode count up to 12 or more but unfortunately that's unlikely given how things are these days.

Certainly a must watch film for fans of the genre. The casting, cinematography, acting, scores and writing are all very good. There were only a couple things which held it back from being a true great.

The first is that despite that it's a horror movie with an 18+ rating it isn't very scary at all. There are some good creepy elements here and there and the mood gets rather spooky from time to time but it never comes close to a full follow through and give you any dread or fear that you might come to expect with these types of films. Instead it's replaced with an element of mystery which does do a pretty good job of keeping you interested but very far away from being horrified.

The next thing I took issue with is despite the frequency of sex scenes, you never see any 18+ nudity - now I'm not saying that from the viewpoint of one who seeks out films filled with cheap pornographic material from plastic actresses. The camera work, lighting and makeup takes a very cinematic approach - the actresses are made to look like real people you could encounter in the street - they have laugh lines and blemishes, their makeup isn't always done and their hair doesn't always look perfect but yet they are quite attractive none the less. It all comes together to create a sense of realism that's quite submersible and effective. But watching numerous sex scenes unfold without seeing a bare behind or even a bare breast make an appearance but instead two people making love and staying unnaturally fully covered I found created contrast to the otherwise realistic and raw tone the rest of the film seemed to adhere to. In short it just seemed out of place and offbeat and gave the feeling of something being missing from the experience.

While the twist at the end was predictable and formulaic it didn't conclude the film in the exact way that I was expecting so i'll award half points for its conclusion. All in all I would certainly recommend that genre fans give it a watch - while it's not very scary it also doesn't rely on cheap jump scares and instead gives an honest effort towards creating a good atmospheric mystery with some horror elements and it's certainly worth your time.

So far, the weaker points in this season seem to be coming from flashback episodes. The first flashback episode (s1e3) seemed like it could have been a short spinoff film or a bonus episode in between seasons because of how little it continued, advanced or added to the main story arch. This episode does feel like a proper flashback episode in a sense that it did progress the story a small bit but also added to Ellie's backstory and filled in some blanks but it would be dishonest of me to say that I didn't find this whole episode to be very predictable and a little bit on the lengthy side.

I prefer to keep my reviews spoiler free so without giving away any of the key points, I will say that I was not surprised by anything that happened in the least bit but it did confirm some suspicions that I had leading up to it. It's worth noting that I have not played the games so I do not know if this strayed away or stayed true to the source material, but I have a feeling there may be some more debate about miscasting that comes as a result of it.

I was tempted to score this one a 7/10 but the backstory that was started here left me wanting more of it and for it to be finished so I bumped it up to an 8. I also had to give credit where it was due, that the performances from both leads were exceptionally good, miscasting or not - that's a debate that I've stayed out of and plan to remain that way.

So somehow this film wound up of Shudder and is labeled as a sci-if horror film. I would need every one of the English languages 172 thousand words to adequately describe just how incredibly inaccurate that classification is. I'll admit, because I was in the mood for something like Prometheus and got something like a YouTube video containing stills of European concrete art I'm probably feeling more disappointed than I would if the film wasn't so horridly mis-classified.

Now that said, the subject matter is pretty good if you're like me and love sci-fi and often put a video on at night to sleep to. Tilda Swinton has a wonderful narrating voice and as boring as the "film" was to someone expecting a sci-fi horror, the story was actually very captivating for someone looking to relax, maybe to fall asleep listening to.

So despite me being absolutely let down and disappointed, I'll definitely be giving it a second watch (or listen) at some point. I can't imagine why this was picked up by Shudder and had "horror" added as one of its genre tags but for the right type of person in the right type of mood, this could be a great option. Just know what you're signing up for before starting.

So we're now 7 episodes in and with only one clunker of an offbeat episode I'm pretty confident in saying that this is the new Walking dead (early seasons), Westworld, Fringe, x-files or however you see fit to compare. There have been very few science fiction shows that have been able to draw in and captivate mainstream audiences like these over the years, myself included. But The Last of Us is consistently giving us beautifully shot action, drama and storytelling mixed in with humour when needed and really living up to past sci-fi smash hits mentioned above.

Unfortunately the high quality storytelling is not the only thing that reminds me of these older classics, but it's also bringing back the feeling of frustration in having to wait a whole week to get another sliver of the story. And to make matters worse it looks like the season is only 10 or so episodes compared to the.older shows having more than double that. After season 1 I cringe to think that it might be another year before things continue.

Despite my gripes with the politics of streaming services these days I won't deduct a single point for this near flawless episode. The special features this week were absolutely beautifully shots of the snow capped mountainous area that our leads mar their way through, some excellent character development from our leads which show that neither of these actors are the least bit one dimensional and we're also treated to a very unique, funny and genuine scene at the start of the episode involving an elderly Inuit couple who I sincerely hope that we see again at some point. This scene felt particularly genuine and did a fantastic job of setting the tone for the episode.

Solid 10/10 for me on this one, I think this is the proper way to change up the pace and tone like they meant to in episode 3 but here they knocked it out of the park by changing up the tone and pacing while also adding much more depth and story progression.

Just wish I had a bunch more to binge watch..

So I'm older than the average gamer but when the pandemic first hit I did what many of us did during the first lockdowns and.started playing video games again. And boy am I ever glad I played Call Of Duty and not the Last of Us because watching this episode without knowing generally how things would turn out was some of the best TV I've ever watched since Breaking Bad or the early seasons of The Walking Dead.

After the episode finished I was laying on my couch with an elevated heart rate and goose bumps all over and I thought to myself that while gamers from TLOU are very fortunate to have a great adaptation compared to gamers who got sub par adaptations like Doom or Halo, they're also not going to get that same Shock And Awe that someone like myself who has only the most basic knowledge of the story. While I would love to see Doom turned into a TV series (or a halfway decent film franchise) I still think I'd prefer this level of surprise when watching through.

I found that while the episode started off a bit slow, it's completely brought the show back to the top of my list where it was after the first two episodes. I was getting concerned after the 3rd and 4th episode (especially the 3rd) but as long as they can keep this level of quality we definitely have one awesome ride ahead of us.

So to state the obvious right away, the roles played by the original cast are great. In the original series they really captured lightning in a bottle and each member of the original cast who appeared in the show played their roles so well, it's hard to believe that it's been 2 and a half decades since they were originally cast.

The new cast members are the source of many viewers' gripes but I will say they're not all THAT bad. Kelso and Foreman's characters are actually quite good and they did give me the same vibes that their parents did - I really can't complain about the writing nor acting here. It's the rest of the new cast that are hit or miss. While they do have their moments, the acting at times feels wooden and many of the scenes, jokes, interactions and storylines feel quite forced to say the least.

And there we have what leads into the biggest problem that this show suffers from, with things being forced. You can probably guess what the cause is, but if not, here is your spoiler alert: It's woke culture. Where things go drastically wrong here is that there's a modern idea of political correctiveness inserted into a show that takes place in 1995. The result is the total loss of a genuine 90's feel. This doesn't fit right as the original cast brings an element of nostalgia which fails to be matched by the rest of the setting and cast. The lightning in a bottle which was captured in the original series is reduced to a few fireflies. While there are some good 90's references, some spot on haircuts and a few satisfying scenes here and there, it ultimately feels more like a modern day group of kids at a 90's themed party than anything else. And that just doesn't do the original the proper justice that it deserves, which is unfortunate.

I'd still rate this show somewhere around a 65-70 out of 100. The performances of Red and Kitty are more than worthwhile to watch and the rest of the original cast in their brief appearances pay off as needed but I'd be surprised if it's enough to merit a second season. I wouldn't mind seeing the new cast come back for round 2 but its not something I would be eagerly awaiting.

So as the title states this episode has more of a season finale feel to it and this is due to the fact that one of the 2 primary focuses here was to set up for the various spin-offs that we've known were coming for a while now, as well as wrap up some of the main story and character arcs.

I will say that I was preparing to be let down by the ending of this series but I was pleasantly surprised to have my expectations exceeded. I prefer to keep my reviews spoiler free so I won't dive into the nitty gritty but I thought they did an excellent job of balancing what story arcs were completed, what was left open for the spin-offs and what was teased for the future of the franchise.

One of the reasons why it worked so well was that after 11 seasons, the main show simply had to end. The series certainly felt like a roller coaster at times with its drastic ups and downs and it was getting to the point where there were too many discombobulated story lines and too many side characters that were rather forgettable and really felt like filler. Too many times I was forced to go on YouTube and watch a summary video before or after diving into a season to refresh myself on all the small and forgettable details from the past so that I wouldn't get lost or confused while watching. That's not something I was big on doing so it's nice to have the main story wrapped up and focus switched to the more focused characters who I actually care about.

Out of 100 I'd have to score this episode somewhere in the mid 80's, only deducting points for the feeling that maybe a little too much was crammed into a relatively short finale and while I felt there was pretty good balance overall, I would have liked to see a few more loose ends tied up and questions answered that were left to either be forgotten about or revisited in the upcoming spin-offs.

I've always seemed to love movies which were favoured more by audiences than critics and there's certainly no exception here. This movie delivers exactly what you'd want and expect plus a little bit more from a festive thriller.

Back in 2017 when Fat Man was the feature of this genre starring Mel Gibson as our bad ass, grizzled Kris Kringle, I thought he had the best we'd see of the genre, however David Harbour knocked this one clear out of the park. Harbour himself likely drew in more than a few pairs of eyes from Stranger Things it the film as a whole did well to earn them.

Loved the numerous references and homages to the Christmas classics like Home Alone and Die Hard. While some of them are blatantly cheesy and predictable, I think that was there intent and part of why they worked so well.

Admittedly I was surprised to see it wasn't all just fun and games with all the expected and advertised action sequences, there was a decent story which provided a nice beat to dance to for the duration of the ride and some genuinely touching moments.

Only a couple things to deduct points for - while there is plenty of great gore and effects, with their R rating they really could have amped it up to the level of The Boys (Translucent anyone?) and the humour could have gone a little raunchier when instead they opted to keep things more politically correct and safe. There are a few scenes that fell rather flat and seemed like they were about to deliver more than what came, especially when we're getting acquainted with the whole family and some later scenes when much of the ensemble is grouped up. There also could have been a little more backstory on who the characters were and what happened in the past to explain some of there motivations as well, but all in all these are relatively minor points and a film such as this can be easily excused for having a thin story to support the plot.

Strong 8/10 considering you should be watching a film like this with proper expectations. As long as you are then they'll likely be slightly exceeded. Pour a nice cup of spiked apple cider and enjoy the ride!