Picard: Review - Picard A Path that's new for Star Trek

Picard: Review - Picard A Path that's new, but pleasingly familiar in parts, for Star Trek

There's no disputing the love there is for Captain Jean-Luc Picard, as embodied by Sir Patrick Stewart.

Easily one of the most beloved captains of the Enterprise, the star of Star Trek: the Next Generation and a few films, Picard remains a central figure to the Star Trek universe, a humane and warm creation that did much to embody Gene Roddenberry's vision for space.

So you could be forgiven for wondering why after seven years, 178 episodes and with a feeling that the story's complete, why there would be a return for the character and its 79 year old actor.

In truth, it's because there's more to say.

Which sounds like a trite bon mot, but science fiction is not always aware enough of when the time is right to turn the tap off. However, under the helm of some Pulitzer award winning writers, the first season of the show (Picard's already been renewed for a second season) is off to an intriguing and compelling start. (At least, from the three episodes which were open to reviewers from CBS ahead of the show's launch on Amazon Prime Video this week.)

Set 18 years after the death of Commander Data and the destruction of Romulus, Picard is now retired from StarFleet after a major falling out over the Federation's ethics in a crisis situation.

Haunted by the death of Data, and the fallout from his career-ending decisions, Picard lives on the family chateau, with his dog Number One and two Romulan housekeepers. Plagued by waking dreams that depict more than he can realise, Picard finds himself on a collision course with Dhaj (Isa Briones), a woman who comes to the vineyard for help.

To say more about Picard at this point is to remove some of the mystery, but needless to say the writers have certainly carved a curious path for the start of the series. (And by the end of the third episode, it has to be said there could be an argument for shifting the pace from "languid" to a bit more "warp drive engaged".)

Less space battles and more character study, Picard's strength is evident in the first episode - and it is once again Sir Patrick Stewart. Noble and dignified, his Picard is the moral compass we probably need in these dubious times - it's no wonder Stewart himself has said he thinks now is the best time.


With themes of immigration, racism, division and discord within current times being reflected in Picard's Star Fleet and the Federation, the series does much to offer the kind of hope Gene Roddenberry envisioned way back in the 1960s when William Shatner's Captain Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise crew set out.

But if the first episode of Picard is a triumph, setting up intrigue, mystery and offering some action, the following two seem to delve more into the exposition side of things, fleshing out Picard's back story and the years after the demise of his career, and pushing his ethos of people are people to the extreme. (It's not always for the best - and certainly doesn't benefit a binge watch, so maybe it's best the show is delving out weekly portions).

Rich, deep character-driven writing gives Picard the appeal to both fans and non-fans alike. Certainly, if you've missed all 178 episodes of the Next Generation, there may be some nuances you'll miss - and at least one returning character manages to work both if you're familiar with Trek lore and also if you're not. That's perhaps the strength of Picard - a story that's open to all, with themes that are universal.

Ultimately, Picard's 10 episode first season appears to have promise - certainly by the end of the third episode, directed by Jonathan Frakes, when Picard utters the word "Engage," and gives a wry smile, it's hard not for fans of the original series to get goosebumps, and give you the feeling that after some 2 and a quarter hours, the story's finally picking up pace as it goes boldly on.

But make no mistake - at its core, Picard is about humanity, even if it's set in space.

In many ways it carries on the legacy of optimism of the first original series and subsequent spin-offs - it's massively satisfying viewing, and in times of chaos, a beaming light of hope for all our futures.

Picard airs on Amazon Prime Video, with episodes dropping weekly on Thursday.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood: Film Review

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood: Film Review

Cast: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper
Director: Marielle Heller

The latest from the director of the much underrated Can You Ever Forgive Me....is less about the US icon Mr Rogers and more about the surrogate father relationship that springs up between Hanks' seems-too-good-to-be-true TV icon and a jaded reporter Lloyd Vogel, played by The Americans' Matthew Rhys.

When Vogel is tasked with a 400-word profile piece on Rogers for a heroes issue of a magazine, he feels it goes against every fibre of his cynical being to deliver a puff piece. However, when he meets Rogers, he finds the reality of the man somewhat different to his expectations and begins to reflect on his own fractured relationship with his own father (Cooper, outstanding in a predictable role.)

It's easy to be dismissive of A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood's intentions.

Its desire to showcase a nice guy (played by Hanks in a quietly disarming role that at times veers dangerously close to feeling like a serial killer) and make you realise that good can always win out is almost cloying in its grab for sentimentality.

It helps little that at its core, this film is once again about the relationship between a father and a son - and that it does little differently with the narrative flow of what transpires, pushing Vogel more into the mentor counselling a disturbed and emotionally destroyed male.

Where it does present a point of difference is in its disarming framing of the film.

From having Rogers narrate an episode of his alarmingly honest US show and centring in on Vogel, the film wrongfoots you from the get go, drowning everything in a meta-sheen that's more creepy than charming.

Matters get more surreal on the visual presentation later on, but director Heller uses this, along with model shots of Rogers' toy village as cutaways, to disorienting affect throughout.

Ultimately, it's Rhys who deserves the most praise here, as Hanks' Rogers is more a sidelined character than the centre of a full biopic - little is unveiled of Rogers' life outside of the show other than some tossed-off tidbits that hint that his seemingly-perfect veneer is not all you'd expect.

If you're looking for an in-depth take on the man, A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood is not the film for that as it's more concerned with other dynamics than deeper analysis.

Just Mercy: Film Review

Just Mercy: Film Review

Cast: Michael B Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Tim Blake Nelson
Director:

That Just Mercy follows a conventional, cliched path for its tale of wronged black man seeking redemption is not a bad thing, but it lends the film a feeling of a lack of subtlety.

That it does it with Michael B Jordan leading the way, lends the film the agency it desperately wants from its beginning sequences to its obvious end, complete with its these are the people from the true story photos.

And yet in this quietly dignified story of Jordan's innocent lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, who, despite the exhortations of his mother who fears for his life, heads to Alabama to try and save Jamie Foxx's Walter McMillian from death row, every cliche and every dramatic beat lies in wait and is deployed when thematically necessary.

This may sound like a damnation of the film, but in truth, Just Mercy's strength derives from knowing the journey it's on, and being determined to tell it well, wrapping the whole thing up in an unshowy bow that gives it the kind of prestige sheen that won't attract awards praise, but will render its audience distraught with parts of its power.

Nuance is the order of the day with Just Mercy, and while Foxx is reduced to a side player thanks to his character's incarceration, Jordan's evident star power shines through. Sure, his lawyer doesn't resort to showmanship or tricks and ticks to get his result, but the story gifts Jordan with enough to ensure the overriding feeling is one of dignity in the face of overwhelming odds.

You've seen films like Just Mercy before - depressingly, these stories have been around from the John Grisham days to the Netflix contemporary series, and they've been told to varying degrees of success through the years. And sure, there are montages which show researching and lawyering at work, but Just Mercy does more than enough to justify its cliches, and exposes the horror of the Alabama state to the depressing maximum.

However, Just Mercy packs a powerful punch when it's needed.

An execution sequence is utterly heart-in-mouth horrifically burned into the screen, one of the few truly memorable moments from Just Mercy's overly bloated 2 hour run time that resolutely stands out and is deeply affecting. And Blake Nelson's performance as a witness in the original case gives the film a boost as it threatens to sag in its second hour

Ultimately, Just Mercy and its depressingly familiar material is another of those has to be told tales that Hollywood occasionally does so well. What makes this one stand out though is a nuanced lead, a determination to showcase the grit under extreme pressure and the desire to lead with its earnestness.

My Spy: Film Review

My Spy: Film Review

Cast: Dave Baustista, Kristen Schaal, Paris Fitz-Henley, Chloe Coleman
Director: Peter Segal

My Spy knows what it wants to do and it has no pretense otherwise.

Bautista is JJ, a former Special Forces op who now works in the CIA - but whose hopeless ineptitude blows their biggest operation which centres around a potential nuclear threat.

Assigned to watch a family believed to be connected to the terrorists, JJ, along with new tech support buddy Bobbi (Conchords' star Schaal, who gets some of the best oneliners and moments) believes he's been benched.

But when the 9 year old girl Sophie (Coleman, amiable without ever being too precocious)twigs they're operatives, she deploys blackmail to help her settle into her new school and life...

Sure, there's a story we've all seen here before - the mismatched adult out of their emotional depth, and the kid who's looking for a surrogate dad. But My Spy doesn't pretend to radically change the formula, only play up to it, and occasionally, openly mocking it.

Bautista uses some of the same skills as Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy and Stuber to reasonable comedic effect, but in among the pratfalls, and silliness of the wafer-thin story lies a fairly solid piece of family fare that offers a few unexpected laughs, a subtle Indiana Jones gag and a faltering slide into inevitable sentiment (but never mush).

Bautista and Schaal have elements of the Melissa McCarthy comedy flick Spy, but it's Coleman and Bautista's charming double act that may catch you off guard, even if none of it feels utterly original.

It may dip a little unevenly and lean a little heavily into its terrorism plot to power things forward, but charm gets My Spy a long way, and it never outstays its welcome.

Zombieland: Double Tap: Blu Ray Review

Zombieland: Double Tap: Blu Ray Review

It may open with a self-effacing voiceover from the familiarly neurotic tones of Jesse Eisenberg, and acknowledge that pop culture has other alternatives for zombie entertainment, but Zombieland: Double Tap barely offers much of a reason to exist other than a nostalgia do-over a decade on.

Taking place a decade after the first proffered guilty pleasures, Double Tap focuses on the core four of the group, Columbus, Wichita, Tallahassee, and Little Rock as they continue to negotiate life in a post-apocalyptic world.

When Little Rock ups and leaves, tired of Tallahassee's fatherly yolk, and Wichita walks following Columbus' proposal, the boys are left brooding and directionless amid concerns a new super-zombie is on the rise.

However, they're both pulled into the search for Little Rock sooner than they'd think...

It's incumbent in some ways on a sequel to do something new and exciting.

Zombieland: Double Tap is more interested in repeating the vicarious highs of the first film sadly, than forging on with a new narrative. Ironically, it double dips on itself, rather than double tapping.

Sure, it deepens the nuclear family vibe of what's already occurred and extends the squabbling, but despite initially teasing the zombie elements as being key this time around, it jettisons them save for a finale action sequence that feels piecemeal and bolted on.

Thankfully, Zoey Deutch adds a lot to to the proceedings with her Legally Blonde / Cher from Clueless hybrid tracksuit clad Madison injecting much humour into the narrative which flounders for a reason to flourish other than to rehash insults and relive the tensions between Tallahassee and Columbus.

There are some inventive moments though, specifically a Graceland-set fight sequence that clearly comes from the mind of Deadpool's Rhett Reese, and which shows some flair and panache punching among the undead.

But Zombieland: Double Tap is less interested in making its putrid zombies interesting, and more concerned with referencing pop culture elements from the past decade that the original Zombieland missed or have sprung up during the intervening years.

From the Walking Dead to a Shaun of the Dead homage, this all feels like tired fare, a tale that's as decaying as the undead within.

Zombieland may have been a fresh as comedy horror, but Zombieland: Double Tap is sadly not. It's passable enough fare for a loaded night out, but stripped to its core, its raison d'etre is at best, shaky. 

The Nightingale: DVD Review

The Nightingale: DVD Review

Jennifer Kent's latest after The Babadook follows similar themes.

The colonial-set Australian adventure has a fire that's hard to deny, but it also features a mother and an imperiled child, much like The Babadook did.

But that's where the similarities end.

In 1825 Tasmania, Aisling Franciosi is Clare, a thief who's in debt to Sam Claflin's Hawkins. With Hawkins abusing his power, and frustrated at his inability to progress postings in the army, Clare finds herself extremely abused and compromised at his hand.

When things go devastatingly wrong, Clare is forced out on a mission of extreme revenge, and in the company only of Aborigine Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) as her tracker.

It may be sadistic in its opening act, and prone to sickening moments of colonial cruelty as it reveals a necessary and honest reality, but The Nightingale presents moments of beauty in among its brutality.

Kent once again presents a story that's beautifully shot, with landscape vistas presenting both the power and terror of the uncharted outside world. Thankfully, it helps counterbalance some of the cruelty that white men do which is sadly prevalent in this piece.

It may be a Western in its approach in terms of a revenge story, however, there are moments of horror as well as Kent balances a nightmarish element of hauntings for Clare.

Franciosi delivers a powerhouse turn as a woman on a mission; whereas it could be a one dimensional role, she imbues Clare with both fragility and fire. Equally, Ganambarr gives an angry yet understated edge to the local man whose land has been attacked, raped and his family killed. There's a definite anti-colonial message here, as the evil of the English is explored (both the Irish and Aborigine abhor the English) in subtle ways.

There's no denying there are hardships early on, but stick with The Nightingale as it's both necessary and the rewards are well worth it, as the final message of personal redemption and choice burn through. 

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil: Blu Ray Review

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil: Blu Ray Review

The MVP of Maleficent: Mistress of Evil's slightly drawn out, thinly plotted very familiar story is not Angelina Jolie's angular angry fae, sadly.

It's Michelle Pfeiffer's scheming Queen, who dominates every scene she's in with a cool menace and is in serious contention for one of the most terrifying villains Disney's ever committed to screen.

In the sequel to 2014's Maleficent, Jolie returns as the icy fae, who this time around has to contend with her adopted human daughter Princess Aurora (Fanning) consenting to marry beau Prince Phillip.

Invited to a family dinner to celebrate, and with most of the kingdom terrified of Maleficent due to a smear campaign that's passed into lore, Jolie's fae explodes when pushed to the edge. Blamed for sending Phillip's father into a coma and cursing him, Maleficent has to contend with a daughter rejecting her too, as well as discovering that she is not the only one of her kind...

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is not the strongest of films to be honest, in terms of plot, and execution.
However, it is a strong one for its messages.

It sidelines Maleficent and the wonderful Jolie way too much, consigning her screen time to too little when she should shine. Thankfully, she makes the most of her moments on the bigscreen, whether it's trying some forced humour with her sidekicks ahead of the family get together or wrestling with the discoveries she makes - the film is less without her around.

As mentioned, Pfeiffer owns her role from the moment she appears, oozing malice and menace with equal aplomb, and providing the backdrop for one of the most truly horrific sequences ever executed in a Disney film inside a church.

There are overtones of refugees here, overtones of humans pillaging and destroying the species of the earth and expressions of the horrors of exterminations and genocide - all relatively dark themes for a family friendly film. And director Joachim Ronning subtly blends them in to weave a film that may be solely headed just for a CGI fight sequence at the end, but that truly does pierce the heart with its horrors.

There's nothing new here in truth, but that's not to deny the impact of what transpires.

It's just a shame that this Twice Upon a Time yarn holds off from wielding its greatest asset - here's hoping a further sequel makes Maleficent as magnificent as she deserves.