Reviews

There comes those TV shows where both the critics, and more importantly the people (the majority audience) agree on a great show, such as Game of Thrones.

And then comes a show that is overwhelmingly loved by the public, but slammed by the critics. This is one of those shows. IMDb 9.1 (at time of writing), Metacritic 54 vs 8.4 (public).

I had zero expectations for The Punisher. I watched it because some early public reviews, both on IMDb and Netflix said it was great, and I always trust public reviews over critics with their conceited opinions.

I was fortunate to have no expectations, because where others may have found the first few episodes boring, I was transfixed, binge watching at home until the early hours, and then on the train to and from work.

It's hard to believe this is a Marvel show. The entire cast is fantastic, but Jon Bernthal stands out as a convincing and likable Frank Castle, AKA The Punisher. I also think the villain was great, I won't say who, but will say pretending to be a great person and then turning out to be a monster is chilling to watch.

Do what most of us did, don't listen to the critics, just watch it and see if you like it as much as the 21,000+ people that voted it to 9.1.

Onto Season 4 and the show is starting to slow down.

The question as whether you should watch this show really depends on your endurance when it comes to story arcs. Most TV series present a full story in each episode but also address the overall plot.

Outcast does kinda have a story per episode but I feel the story arc has to much influence in some episodes. I found episode 2 incredibly boring, using an entire episode for a back story felt to much. Episode 3 felt unresolved and episode 4 feels as though it's exploring multiple facets of the overall story plot. Episode 1 was fantastic, but setting expectations that high can backfire, which I'm hoping the writers and director will avoid.

Kind of reminds me of a grown up, less engaging version of American Gothic.

What the show does do right is bringing strong characters into the story, the protagonist is borderline catatonic at times but equally demonstrates strength at key moments. His mentor and sidekick, in my opinion, holds the entire show together.

I won't reveal any of the story, except to say it handles demonic folklore very well and presents an interesting twist on the concept. The scary scenes are actually scary and everything is done with taste and style, never over done.

Worth watching the first episode, it's good, so you won't regret it - you can then watch episode 2 and decide if you want to continue, kinda chalk 'n cheese.

I watch this show on the train on the way home from the city (London) and consistently embarrass myself when I 'lol' in a relatively quiet carriage.

This is not normally my cup of tea, but the downright blatant comedy has me in stitches. It's the kind of jokes you have with your very close friends but probably wouldn't say in the office, if you're conservative.

I watched the show because it was featured and now I use it to cheer myself up before I get home everyday. The characters compliment each other incredibly well and I'm a sucker for transatlantic relationships, I think the dynamic of English vs American is interesting when written well, many of the myths Americans have of the English and vice versa are dispelled.

Essential viewing, I hope Amazon do themselves a favour (favor) and market this show a little more aggressively, I think with the right marketing this show will become a massive hit.

Not to paraphrase too much but this is one of those movies where you have to move forward and not look back. Don't judge this movie based on T1 or T2, it's connected to those movies but it stands on it's own.

The last 5 years has seen a number of franchises come back to life, some are as good as the first such as Star Trek from JJ, whilst others raise the bar on it's immediate predecessors, such as Jurassic World. This movie is more in the vein of Jurassic World in that respect.

One of my many stolen quotes is "it could of been worse", or "we've been through worse", and that is certainly true of Terminator. Check your expectations at the door and you won't be disappointed.

Arnie is back and he's actually really fun to watch. The relationship between the characters is done well, you actually feel a connection between Sarah and her metal friend. The special effects are outstanding and the movie never lingers too long on a particular subject or reference to previous movies.

Some say it's complicated, have they seen Interstellar? Alternate time lines can be a little hard to get your head around, just accept what you're presented with in this movie and don't worry about how it got that way. You'll enjoy it a lot more.

Bottom line, movie has heart, great new cast and Arnie is back as himself from the first movies. As it's own work it's actually a movie worth seeing on the big screen, and how many movies can say that in the past 6 months. It's like the nuclear winter of good movies this year.

I love how the critics hate it but the audience largely love it or approve. It just proves my point that these critics are so wrapped up in their own self importance they forget we all have opinions and actually watching a movie and forming one is something most people are capable of. Do they actually get paid for writing this stuff down?

Sometimes you just wanna see stuff get blown up and bad guys get wasted. Not every movie needs to promote self reflection and tackle moral dilemmas and whilst T:G might linger on the perimeter of ethical themes fortunately it doesn't get consumed by them.

If you liked T1 and T2, you'll like this, simples.