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Chicago Med: Everyone's Fighting a Battle You Know Nothing About (2021)
"Everyone's Fighting a Battle You Know Nothing About"
An episode of "Chicago Med" that had a little something for everyone. Especially if you like:
a. One Chicago crossovers (there were two, a friendly face from Firehouse 51 near the start of the episode and one from PD's District 21 at the end).
B. Complex medical mysteries.
C. Good news stories for patients whose prognosis on arriving in Med's ED is not great.
D. Characters (at least a little) in harm's way, leading to them making decisions that might not later be in their best interests.
E. A surprise wedding - well, not a complete surprise, it must be said, and you'll get what I mean when you've seen the episode for yourself - and a welcome one.
Great acting across the board, but particularly this episode from Brian Tee as Dr Choi. He gets some great emotional scenes to sink his teeth into, and boy does he!
Chicago Med: The Clothes Make the Man... Or Do They? (2021)
"The Clothes Make the Man... Or Do They?"
Interesting that one of the reviewers has criticised how the show steps out of the bounds of medical reality to create drama. Clearly, Chicago Med is not a documentary and makes no bones about that fact. I prefer a little drama in my dramas. A little fabrication in a show that is clearly not purporting to be real won't hurt.
Anyway, "The Clothes Make the Man... Or Do They?" is a strong episode, with a focus on Special Guest Star extraordinaire Steven Weber's Dr Archer and the tough situation he is put in when a patient is brought into the ED.
The supply chain issue - one area where Chicago Med imitates the real world - rears it's ugly head again, and this time a shortage has serious consequences for one of Med's doctors.
Chicago Med: Mama Said There Would Be Days Like This (2022)
"Mama Said There Would Be Days Like This"
Chicago Med deftly straddles the line between complex medical issues and human drama at the best of times, and the mix in the sixth episode (whose title has a nice nod to Van Morrison!) of it's eighth season is perfect. This is the show at it's best.
The ninth star is for S. Epatha Merkerson's brilliant and emotional acting. Ms Goodwin gets more hands on than her usual role as hospital administrator allows and Merkerson is top-notch. Any chance for Ms Goodwin and Oliver Platt's Dr Charles to work together is good TV.
It looks like the revolving door that is Gaffney Chicago Medical is turning again with a cast member seemingly headed to the exits. The One Chicago franchise shows are certainly not afraid to farewell characters in order to keep things fresh and interesting. From my point of view, it works.
Chicago Med: Yep, This Is the World We Live In (2021)
"Yep, This Is the World We Live In"
A very strong episode with lots of drama to unpack.
There is an unusual coda to the subway accident storyline involving Dr Marcel from last episode.
Also, a fight in the middle of the ED that leaves Dr Archer - Steven Weber is STILL only listed as a special guest star on the credits! - worse for wear. Glass was breaking, bodies were flying, chaos reigned! The scene where Dr Asher resets Archer's jaw is very funny. (And, yes, I definitely flinched when she did it!)
Halstead and Vanessa find themselves in all sorts of legal jeopardy when their idea from last episode to buy drugs illegally for a patient due to supply chain issues backfires in the worst way possible.
April is back! (again). In a substantial way as compared to her cameo a few episodes back. Nice to see Yaya DaCosta - always liked April's character. Her chemistry with Maggie and Dr Choi, in different ways obviously, has always been top-notch. This guest star role is no different.
Chicago Med: The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Teacher (2021)
"The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Teacher"
A rare but welcome episode of "Chicago Med" that largely takes place outside of the hospital. Dr Marcel is in the right place at the right time when a much-ballyhooed subway crashes beneath the city streets and manages to get into the wrecked train to prevent the subway owner and it's conductor from meeting grisly ends. He gets a helping hand from Severide and Hermann as well. (Side note: let's see more of the Med team plausibly responding to medical events outside the four walls of their hospital because this instance of it was fantastic).
Inside Gaffney Chicago Med, things are grim on the supply chain front, forcing Halstead and Vanessa to resort to desperate measures to get a patient life-saving medication. Archer and Asher are having similar issues getting what they need to get results. Elsewhere, Dr Charles ends up back in the hospital when his therapist appears to have a heart attack during one of their sessions.
Chicago Med: Winning the Battle, but Still Losing the War (2021)
"Winning the Battle, but Still Losing the War"
The final scenes of the episode between Ms Goodwin and Dr Halstead signal that the supply chain storyline is going to be around for a while. Why not mirror the real world as much as possible?
Dr Charles rarely gets angry, but he was very unimpressed with his new colleague over the treatment of a patient back for their second go-around. Oliver Platt has given Charles such a steady, calm and almost grandfatherly demeanour so it's weird seeing him upset.
Indeed, there is a lot of angst and tension between colleagues at Med. It certainly spices things up. A well-oiled hospital would be a pretty boring TV show.
Side note: I'm really enjoying Jessy Schram as Dr Hannah Asher. She's been strong in pretty much every story arc since joining the show.
All in all, an interesting episode.
Chicago Med: (Caught Between) The Wrecking Ball and the Butterfly (2021)
"(Caught Between) The Wrecking Ball and the Butterfly"
To describe the events of "(Caught Between) The Wrecking Ball and the Butterfly" in just a few words: supply chain issues and intern problems.
"Chicago Med" sits in the real world for sure, with recent mentions of the COVID-19 pandemic and now Gaffney Chicago Med is dealing with supply chain issues. The doctors are blaming either the war in the Ukraine or COVID. Either way, times are tough, with not nearly enough of everything to go around.
The veteran doctors are also struggling with some of the recent batch of interns. Some are inexperienced and others are cocky. I feel like I've seen this kind of storyline on other medical dramas before.
An entertaining and strong episode. Steven Weber's Dr Archer gets plenty of screen time. That character is warming on me.
Chicago Med: How Do You Begin to Count the Losses (2021)
"How Do You Begin to Count the Losses"
A very strong start to the eighth season of "Chicago Med", which has suffered in recent seasons from the departures of some of the original cast. Another main cast member bids the Windy City, or at least Gaffney Chicago Med farewell at the end of the season premiere. And, speaking of old faces... there's a touching reunion for Doctor Choi at the end of the episode.
Following on from the seventh season finale, the fire at Halstead's apartment building is the main focus of the episode, and it allows Chicago Fire's Hermann and Brett to cameo. It's an explosive pre-title card sequence to kick off the season. Later, in the same story arc, Chicago PD's Burgess appears. The more crossovers the better.
Especially due to the recent cast turnover, it's reassuring to see Dr Charles and Ms Goodwin have their customary chats. Oliver Platt and S. Epatha Merkerson are two of the tentpoles of the show, and you get the feeling they will be around for as long as the show is. Here's hoping, anyway.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
"My friends, we've come home."
The most imaginative "Star Trek" film ever conceived, and - along with "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" and "Star Trek: Insurrection", my favourite in the franchise. No matter how many times I've watched it, it's still thoroughly entertaining.
Whoever came up with the idea of sending Kirk and the crew of the now-destroyed USS Enterprise back to earth in 1986 where they have to deal with a world as alien as any other they've explored whilst locating humpback whales to take back to save their earth from an alien probe, is a genius.
The inventive plot allows for some very amusing moments (Kirk and Spock on the bus, the hospital scene, Kirk telling Gillian Spock did too much LDS in the sixties and too many more to count), and probably exposed "Star Trek" to a whole new audience, too, given it was light on science fiction for the most part, instead relying on character-driven drama.
A very strong end to the trilogy of films about Spock's "death" and the Genesis Project. A great shame the franchise was in for a serious downturn with the ill-conceived "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier".
Fantastic entertainment.
Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
"I finally came home, to defend the only family I've ever known."
The final filmic chapter for the iconic John Rambo comes in a torrent of blood and guts on a dusty farm in Arizona, a wasteland after a typically violent showdown between Sylvester Stallone's Rambo and the bad guys de jour. (Hint, it isn't the Russians or a cowardly small-town sheriff this time around).
If you thought 2009's "Rambo" was violent, "Rambo: Last Blood" makes it look like a PG film. My goodness, there was violence like I've not seen in a movie before. The last twenty minutes is blood, guts, dismemberment, explosions, fire, decapitation. Just relentless.
I thought the franchise could have ended with Rambo returning to his family farm at the end of "Rambo" in 2009, a nice full circle moment. Thus, right from the get-go, this instalment always felt surplus to requirements.
This 2019 farewell is definitely the weakest of the five made, the first where Rambo isn't truly in a warzone of some kind or another. But, still. There's something about Stallone's hulking, brooding, mumble-talk Rambo that you can't help but admit is cool.
Sniper: Assassin's End (2020)
Pretty entertaining
The "Sniper" franchise is a known commodity now, and although "Sniper: Assassin's End" is a step down from "Sniper: Ultimate Kill" and the others that have come before it, right back to the Billy Zane original, Chad Michael Collins' fifth outing as Brandon Beckett has some good action sequences both with and without rifles and is a chance for Brandon to team up with his somewhat-estranged old man, Thomas Beckett (Tom Berenger) and do what they do best.
At times, the Beckett's were secondary to the characters of Special Agent Zeke "Zero" Rosenberg and the mysterious assassin Doctor Death - as though the powers-that-be were using "Assassin's End" as a backdoor spin-off. They were both good characters, but give me more of the Beckett's, please!
Enjoyable, nonetheless.
The Acolyte (2024)
Could have been great. Instead, it was mediocre, at best.
The one certainty of "The Acolyte" over the eight episodes it stretched was that the combat scenes were spectacularly conceived and executed. Episode 4 was especially good, and there have been notable moments prior and since.
If only the rest of the series had been as spectacular. Instead, it was a mess of lazy storytelling and poor acting.
There was a chance to make something great but the series, set during the heretofore largely unexplored (in TV terms, anyway) High Republic era and the emergence of the Sith threat, but all we got was a few decent episodes that left us wanting more, and ultimately not getting it.
After the brilliance of "Andor"...this.
Can't believe there are people out there petitioning for a second season. I think we should all be grateful this mess of a show was mercifully cancelled.
The Acolyte: The Acolyte (2024)
" The Acolyte"
The final episode of "The Acolyte" was...okay. Just okay. Which is a shame because it could have been a whole lot better. In a way, that's a truism for the entire series.
Missed opportunities left, right and centre.
There were some memorable scenes and a few surprises along the way in the final episode, and a cameo from a fairly important "Star Wars" universe character right at the end - literally, blink and you'll miss it - but it wasn't enough.
Ultimately the series suffered from lazy storytelling, and wooden, cliche-riddled dialogue. I really wanted the series and this final episode to be good. If only it had been...
The Acolyte: Choice (2024)
"Choice"
As many previous reviewers have pointed out, the similarities between this episode and the third one are numerous: another flashback episode that further fleshes out the backstory of Osha and Mae.
One thing that must be said: there were some spectacular fight scene visuals including one particular lightsaber duel between two combatants I didn't ever think I'd see squaring off - very, very impressive. However, the good scenes in "Choice" were unfortunately few and far between.
I wanted to love "The Acolyte" and I thought I would again after episode 4. Instead, I'm rolling through the end of the series out of stubbornness more than anything else. I want to see how it ends, but it's kind of morbid curiosity at this point.
Three stars for the bulk of the episode. Add two for THAT lightsaber duel.
The Acolyte: Teach/Corrupt (2024)
"Teach/Corrupt"
After the most dramatic episode of "The Acolyte" so far, the follow up is...underwhelming. There are a few twists in the tale here that don't make a lot of sense, with lazy writing at the heart of it. Clunky, awkward dialogue riddled with cliches. Can't Disney do any better?
It's interesting that some people really liked "Teach/Corrupt" and other people didn't like it at all. I'm in the former camp. Couldn't get excited. Some strange choices by certain characters wrecked all the momentum from the last episode. It was interesting that just when something exciting happened at the end of the episode, it faded to black and it's basically, "Come back next episode."
One good thing: the scenery in this episode was brilliant, especially those scenes by the water.
The Acolyte: Night (2024)
"Night"
Easily the best episode so far, "Night" is basically a long battle fought between the Jedi and the mysterious, helmeted warrior with the red lightsaber (who gave me Kylo Ren vibes, the way he talked) whilst Mae Osha continue the cat and mouse thing they've got going on. And it was spectacular. Like the "Star Wars" I know and love. Brilliant choreography, it's quite breathtaking at times. The S-word is used by the menacing newcomer, which probably wasn't a surprise to most of us.
Although the long skirmishes were undeniably spectacular, didn't answer many of the questions I had and still have. But at least I wasn't bored and wishing the episode is over, so that's something. Here's hoping "Night" doesn't waste the potential that it's returned to the series.
The Acolyte: Day (2024)
"Day"
"Day" is much better than "Destiny", though I admit that that isn't saying a whole lot.
Nonetheless, there is more action and intrigue in the episode, and it ends in a semi-satisfactory manner with the sudden - but, it must be said - not entirely unexpected arrival of a stranger wielding a lightsaber blade of, shall we say, dubious colour?
Even so, it all happens at something approaching glacial pace. Cutting out the filler from the last few episodes, and assuming there is similar filler to come in the second half of the eight-episode series, the producers could have made a tight 2 or 2 1/2 hour movie instead of what we have.
(Four stars for the first 98% of the episode, another 2 for the conclusion, which was cool).
The Acolyte: Destiny (2024)
"Destiny"
Where to start?
"Destiny" a flashback episode - a tool that can be effective if used well - featuring the two sisters on their home world. A longer episode than the second...and I felt every single minute because they felt like hours. Funny how a good episode or movie absolutely races by, and
I'm not going to stop watching - three out of eight episodes down, I'm nothing if not stubborn, and maybe also a glutton for punishment? - but after episode two, I thought "The Acolyte" was really hitting it's stride. If so, then "Destiny" is a definite step backward. Disappointingly, so.
Onto episode four, then.
The Acolyte: Revenge/Justice (2024)
"Revenge/Justice"
There appears - based on reviews and the IMDB rating - to be a serious amount of hate for "The Acolyte".
Maybe I'm just easily pleased, but I haven't hated any "Star Wars" movie or show that I've watched, including the oft-panned (but not by me!) sequel trilogy, "The Acolyte" included.
Episode Two appears to set up the series as a (dysfunctional) family saga - now where have I seen that before in this universe? There's intrigue, action, exotic worlds, a Wookie...all in all, a good "Star Wars" feel to a show set well before the rise of Sidious and the Empire.
Sure, some of the dialogue is a little clunky, but that's also kind of on-brand for "Star Wars".
A short episode, it must be said. Could have combined it with the first one, for an extra-long opener.
Heartbreak High: Episode #1.38 (1994)
"Episode #1.38"
The thirty-eighth and final episode of the debut season of (the OG) "Heartbreak High" takes the level of drama from the previous episode and bumps it up a few notches. Nick goes through with the fight against a boxer well and truly not in his class...and perhaps pays the ultimate price for that, after being shunned one last time by US-bound Jodie. Rose and Jack and Rose's father come to an uneasy detente regarding baby Tess and their future. Roberto (Ivar Kants has been fantastic) and Helen try to keep the Poulos/Bordino clan from coming apart at the seams. The final few minutes are very well done. Whilst there is an ambiguous ending, you can tell from the music and the way the scenes were shot what has happened. The first episode of Season Two will merely be confirmation.
A brilliant season of Australian drama. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
Heartbreak High: Episode #1.37 (1994)
" Episode #1.37"
One of the best episodes of "Heartbreak High" yet, and so much drama you'd think that it was a season finale. Nick has really gone off the rails, consumed by the fight and you get the distinct feeling that things aren't going to turn out real good. Alex Dimitriades has been absolutely fantastic the last few episodes, giving his character a manic, obsessive almost paranoid edge as he is convinced that everyone wants to derail his boxing career: Jodi, Southgate, Con, the rest of his family. There are developments on the Rocco/Jodi front. Knew all along Con's brother was a snake. Deloraine and Rivers reach a detente in #1.37 as well, which is something I didn't see coming, and there is drama with Rose's baby. I need a lie down after watching that...and there's a season finale to come!
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
A decent sequel.
Not in the same ballpark as the original and celebrated "Jurassic Parl", but "The Lost World" is nonetheless very entertaining.
Jeff Goldblum as Dr Ian Malcolm is the only returnee from "Jurassic Park" who has a major role in the sequel, however Richard Attenborough's John Hammond and his grandkids both make cameos.
The new cast is led by Julianne Moore, the always-excellent Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Schiff of "The West Wing" fame and Vince Vaughn, playing a serious role rather than a comedic one.
The action sequences are inventive and just different enough from those in the original to keep things fresh, instead of getting the feeling that you're watching a cheap facsimile of the first film. There's still nothing like seeing a giant T-Rex materialise out of the darkness. The sequence with the bus on the cliff in a rainstorm was particularly well done.
Predator 2 (1990)
Unfairly maligned - great entertainment, but was never going to be able to match or surpass the Arnold Schwarzenegger original.
A Predator comes to earth and presumably after hearing about one of it's colleagues' demise at the hands of Dutch Schaffer in the South American jungle, opts for a jungle of a different sort: Los Angeles in 1997, which is a violent place, cops and gangbangers battling it out on the streets. There, he runs into a hard-nosed cop (Danny Glover's Lieutenant Mike Harrigan) who sniffs a cover-up after a suspicious killing of some gangbangers and a sketchy federal agent (Gary Busey's Peter Keys; Busey does sketchy better than most, if you ask me) who is involved in the cover-up. Of the Predator, no less.
I enjoyed Predator 2 and thought Glover did a great job. He must have known that stepping into the Governator's shoes was going to be tough going. He nonetheless puts in a great performance, hunting down the alien game hunter basically all by himself.
Some great action sequences and other memorable scenes - the finale showdown is as spectacular as you would imagine. It's hard to follow in the footsteps of a film as iconic as "Predator" was, but "Predator 2" is, I feel, unfairly maligned.
Rambo III (1988)
"I'm no tourist!"
The third and final instalment in the original "Rambo" trilogy has John Rambo in South East Asia and introspective, working amongst the locals, with no desire to return to combat.
Not even when Richard Crenna's Colonel Trautman visits and tries to recruit Rambo for a mission into war-torn Afghanistan - at the time, the latest battleground in the Cold War - to help the local Mujahadeen forces against the Russians. In that respect, "Rambo III" is very dated.
Of course, that mission without Rambo's input goes south and Trautman is captured, so Rambo jumps back into the fray. Cue the expected one-man army stuff that made what is arguably Stallone's most iconic character famous. Guns never run out of bullets, hordes of Russian troopers never manage to hit Rambo, even when firing thousands of rounds. It's almost comical at times, violently so.
Stallone is at his most wooden, acting-wise, and the Russian characters are very stereotypical, almost caricatures. But then, you don't watch "Rambo" movies for acting. That said, Richard Crenna is always solid.
Not as good as the first two, but good entertainment nonetheless. You know what you're going to get with a Rambo movie, and in this one, the action doesn't disappoint.
My Two Husbands (2024)
Preposterous with a capital P...but strangely compelling
Lifetime generally doesn't win any awards for acting or writing, but every now and again they throw up one of those 'so bad it's good' kind of movies, and "My Two Husbands" is definitely in that category.
Right from the get-go, it's highly - HIGHLY - improbable and gets more improbable from there. I mean, it's way out there. Starring a bunch of actors I've never heard of, the movie is about - as you might have guessed from the very imaginative title - a woman who is married to two different men in two different cities, a guy her age and a Sugar Daddy. There's a plot afoot to take all the Sugar Daddy's money, but the step-daughter doesn't trust her new step mom and starts doing some digging.
There's murder, deceit, lust, adultery, surprise revelations by the boatload...the works.
Look, I can't say "My Two Husbands" was good. But it was compelling.