My Review of Third Man Out (2005)

 

Written by Mark Saltzman And Richard Stevenson

Directed by Ron Oliver 

John: "Have you ever been shot, Don?"

Donald: "As a matter of fact, I have. I didn't care for it much."

John: "Neither did I. But that doesn't matter to you, does it? You probably think I should be shot, and killed."

Donald: "No, actually, John, I don't. But that probably puts me in exclusive company."

I can't believe it's been twenty years since this movie came out. I also can't believe it's taken me this long to actually watch the first in a series of adaptations of the books from Richard Stevenson Lipez's Donald Strachey detective novels.

Taking on the role of Donald Strachey was the delightful Chad Allen from Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman and I have to say, he's great casting for the troublesome private investigator. The first time we meet Strachey, he's getting punched in the face by the disgruntled wife of one of his clients. Of course not everyone disliked Donald Strachey.

Nope, he'd got a lovely live in boyfriend with Senator aide, Tim Callahan (Sebastian Spence) and a cute dog named Dr. Watson. Oh and they're currently renovating their house with a lot of focus being on a new fireplace. That's more of a light hearted subplot in a murder mystery movie of course.

The potential murder in question being of John Rutka (Jack Weatherall), a reporter if sorts with his own website called The Rutka Report where outing homophobic people in positions of power was the order of the day. It meant that he had a target on his back and it took a big enough money incentive for Donald to actually figure out who was trying to kill him.

The suspect list was pretty large and halfway through the movie, it appeared that Rutka had been burned to death. Donald did suspect that Rutka's muscled boyfriend, Eddie (Woody Jeffreys) was responsible while Detective Sean "Bub" Bailey (Daryl Shuttleworth) also pointed out that Rutka had form for lying. That was something that Bub was very much spot on about.

Anyways the deeper that Strachey went into solving Rutka's murder, the more characters that popped up with the intention of harming of silencing Donald. Characters like Linklater (Sean Carey), and Slinger (David Palffy) certainly added complications but it was the arrest of Father Morgan (Alf Humphries) brought other revelations to light.

It's the last few minutes where Donald managed to crack the case and discovered that Rutka played a very complicated long con in order to get justice for the abuse he suffered as a child that really explained his motives throughout the film. That and a rather revealing moment about Donald's military past added rather nice denouement to the whole story.

- There's a few supporting female characters, including Tim's boss, the house contractor and Rutka's sister. Tim's also got Irish blood in him.

- At one point in the movie, Donald's investigation had him interviewing porn performer, Dik Steele (Matthew Rush).

- Bub was a character that debuted in this movie and would be added into later book. The same applied to Kenny Kwon (Nelson Wong).

- Chronology: The book itself (the fourth in the series) came out in 1992 but given some of the updates added to this adaptation, I'm betting it's supposed to set in the 2000s.

Third Man Out was a very enjoyable debut in this detective series with a strong story, a complicated enough "victim" and a charming protagonist with Chad Allen being a delight as Donald Strachey. I'm looking to seeing the remaining movies in this series.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Adolescence (2025, Netflix Miniseries)

 

Written by Jack Thorne And Stephen Graham

Directed by Philip Barantini

DI Bascombe: "It's crazy what your brain tells you what to do when you're a kid."

Last year, Netflix struck gold with Baby Reindeer. The seven part miniseries had something of a frank discussion on mental health and masculinity. It appeared that lightning can strike twice because Adolescence explored similar themes, albeit with a vastly different story.

Shot with a single camera format, the four part miniseries focused on the arrest of a teenager named Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), much to the confusion of his parents Eddie (Stephen Graham) and Manda (Christine Tremarco) and older sister, Lisa (Amélie Pease).

The nature of Jamie's arrest by DI Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) and DS Misha Frank (Faye Marsay) was made apparent very fast. Jamie was believed to be responsible for the death of his classmate, Katie and the first episode tackled Jamie's arrest and initial questioning by the detectives. Jamie went out of his way to give them as little as possible.

The second episode saw Bascombe and Frank going to Jamie's school and interviewing other classmates. That included Jamie's best friend, Ryan (Kaine Davis), who was revealed to have supplied Jamie with the knife that killed Katie. There was also Katie's grief stricken friend, Jade (Fatima Bojang) while Bascombe's own son gave his father the run down on Incel culture.

Perhaps the highlight of this miniseries would be the third episode, focusing on Jamie talking to child psychologist, Briony Ariston (Erin Doherty). It's an extraordinary piece of television with genuinely captivating performances from both Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty, with the episode getting to the root of Jamie's views on women.

As for the last episode, it's an examination of the impact of Jamie's crime from the perspective of his family. With the backdrop of Eddie's birthday and a series of setbacks, there's a heartbreaking performance from both Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco as Jamie's trial was drawing closer and he'd changed his plea. That last scene in particular ended this miniseries on a harrowing note.

- The story was a work of fiction, though influenced by recent events but not specifically adapting one.

- This miniseries was Owen Cooper's first acting role and he was picked out of 500 boys who auditioned for the role.

- Jack Thorne's other miniseries, Toxic Town is also available on Netflix, having come out two weeks prior to this one.

- Chronology: From the second episode onwards we went from three days to seven months to thirteen months since Jamie's arrest.

Adolescence will easily go down as one of the best shows of 2025. It's also one of the most important ones too with it's depiction of several worthy issues and stunning performances from the entire cast. The hype's justified with this one.

Rating: 9 out of 10 

Doctor Who - Series 15 (Season 2) Episode Titles, Guests, Radio Times Celebrate

We are less than three weeks from the new series of Doctor Who and the marketing has kicked up a notch. 

First of all, let's get those episode titles for the new series out of the way as yesterday evening, the BBC revealed the titles in the same manner as last series.

The Robot Revolution. Written by Russell T. Davies. Directed by Peter Hoar.

Lux. Written by Russell T. Davies. Directed by Amanda Brotchie.

The Well. Written by Sharma Angel-Walfall And Russell T. Davies. Directed by Amanda Brotchie.

Lucky Day. Written by Pete McTighe. Directed by Peter Hoar.

The Story And The Engine. Written by Inua Ellams. Directed by Makalla McPherson.

The Interstellar Song Contest. Written by Juno Dawson. Directed by Ben A. Williams.

Wish World. Written by Russell T. Davies. Directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai.

The Reality War. Written by Russell T. Davies. Directed by Alex Sanjiv Pillai.

Eight episodes. Four other writers aside from Russell T. Davies. A mix of new and returning directors but what about our cast?

Well, there's Ncuti Gatwa and Varada Sethu as the 15th Doctor and Belinda Chandra but there's also a slew of recurring characters. Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), Conrad Clark (Jonah Hauer-King), Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave), Shirley Anne Bingham (Ruth Madeley), Colonel Ibrahim (Alexander Devrient), Melanie Bush (Bonnie Langford), Rose Noble (Yasmin Finney), Carla Sunday (Michelle Greenidge), Cherry Sunday (Angela Winter), Susan Triad (Susan Twist) and Mrs Flood (Anita Dobson). 

Conrad in particular seems to have a lot going for him. He encounters the Doctor and Belinda as a child, hosts the Lucky Day podcast in the present day, gets romantically involved with Ruby and appears to be a foil in the finale. He could be a highlight along with Belinda's struggling to get home arc and possible connection to Mundy Flynn. Not to mention finally getting some answers on Mrs Flood.

Over the last few weeks, various guest actors have been announced. These actors have included Freddie Fox (House Of The Dragon), Kadiff Kirwan (Slow Horses) and Max Parker (Emmerdale), who were all confirmed to be popping up in upcoming episodes. The other confirmed guests this series have included Alan Cumming, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Christopher Chung, Rylan Clark, Charlie Condou, Blake Patrick Anderson, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Evelyn Miller, Ariyon Bakare and Archie Panjabi to name a few. Panjabi's casting in particular does seem to be shrouded in some secrecy.

Meanwhile with the revived series turning 20 on March 26th, Radio Times decided to give fans six glorious covers, featuring Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, Jodie Whittaker and Ncuti Gatwa. The popular guide also included interviews from show runners Russell T. Davies, Steven Moffat and Chris Chibnall on the show's impact since it's 2005 return.

Series 15 (Season 2) of Doctor Who returns to BBC1/iPlayer/Disney+ from April 12th.

My Review of Borderline (2025)

 

Written And Directed by Jimmy Warden 

Sofia: "We're getting married?"

Paul: "What, are you having second thoughts?"

If you ever wanted a film like Misery but almost in reverse and without someone getting their legs smashed, then I think we've got a contender her with Borderline (2025). Yup, it's the ordinary guy obsessed with the famous woman.

The ordinary guy also being something of an obsessive lunatic named Paul (Ray Nicholson) and the fixation being on a pop singer named Sofia (Samara Weaving). It's also Paul who's something of an unreliable narrator for most of the movie, which didn't tell the story in order.

We did start off with Paul showing up at Sofia's mansion to propose, only for Sofia's bodyguard Bell (Eric Dane) to get stabbed. Don't worry about Bell too much, the guy's impossible to kill and this movie tried to but failed in that regard. Saying that, even Bell's daughter had to tell him to change jobs.

Anyways getting back to tie movie, Sofia found herself teaming up with fellow musician, Rhodes (Jimmie Fails) and it was obvious they were hooking up as well. However she didn't expect Paul to show up with an entourage in order to get married. I'm more shocked he though baby blue was the best colour for a wedding dress.

As Paul prepared himself to be a pop star's husband, his PA Penny (Alba Baptista) was too busy getting into a scrap with Sofia and being set alight. There's also a strange plot where the delusional Paul mistook Rhodes for Sofia and Rhodes literally had to go through with marrying Paul at the selected venue.

The rest of the movie then was about taking out Paul's right hand man and getting Paul taken away by the cops. There's a moment towards the end that felt like blatant homage/rip off to Pearl (2022) but it managed to work.

- Samara Weaving's husband, Jimmy Warden wrote and directed this movie.

- There's a nice character bit about Sofia doing puzzles with her grieving bodyguard.

- Standout music: The Cardigans Love/Fool not to mention, Sofia and Penny's version of It's All Coming Back To Me Now.

- Chronology: The movie had a 1990s Los Angeles setting. At one point, Sofia was compared to Madonna.

Borderline might have a bit of thin plot and it certainly relied on the comedy elements and lead performances but I enjoyed this. Ray Nicholson in particular was absolutely brilliant throughout this movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

My Review of Doctor Odyssey: "Casino Week"

 

Written by Tracy Taylor And Jessica Grasl And Mike Schaub

Directed by Jennifer Lynch

Max: "All of that sounds circumstantial to me at best."

Athena: "Which is why we need to catch them cheating."

Max: "We?"

Athena: "If they saw me arresting Henry, my cover is blown, but you, you're just a friendly doctor. You ever wear an earpiece?"

Finally it happened. It took eleven episodes but Doctor Odyssey did the inevitable and crossed over with 9-1-1. Now while I would've preferred having Buck (Oliver Stark) and Tommy (Lou Ferrigno Jr) boarding The Odyssey and flirting up a storm with Max, we had a different scenario play out instead.

Athena Grant-Nash (Angela Bassett), the icon she is ended up on the ship because of a Bonnie & Clyde con duo. She had seemingly arrested the Clyde part of the duo but ended up being locked in a room, only to find out that the ship was sailing. As we already know, Athena's not a cruise kind of woman. Too many bad memories of one particular incident.

The moment ABC announced that Doctor Odyssey was going to be a series, a part of me had assumed that the seventh season premiere of 9-1-1 factored into it and its rather fitting for Athena to be on this ship and this show certainly didn't waste the character for a moment. Athena dominated this episode in a way that no guest star has done this far and all the better for it too.

I loved Athena's dynamic with Max. He was the good cop to her bad cop. The rookie to her seasoned police officer and yes, despite being a married woman, Max flirted a little bit with Athena. They also mildly disagreed on potential suspects when we weren't getting gambling metaphors for a lot of the themes of the episode too.

The thieves being a grandmother and her grandson, connected to Henry was a nice but pretty obvious reveal. I didn't buy Granny's sweet and innocent act one bit but after this episode, can we return the favour and have Max help Athena out on a case on land? Also if the writers want to put him in scenes with Buck, Tommy and Eddie, that'd be nice too.

Athena also had some rather nice scenes with both Robert and Avery, especially with the latter. She gave Avery some sage advice on motherhood, which Avery took to heart. Avery made something of a point of telling Max that she's keeping the baby while also reminding him that he might not be the father. For some reason, Max's become a punching bag for Avery and Tristan and I don't like it, plot wise. I'm also not convinced the show will have Avery remain pregnant either.

- While Athena didn't get any big scenes with Tristan, there was a slight missed opportunity in not having her interact with Corey. I'm sure he would've reminded her of someone.

- Due to spoilers leaked, this episode seemed to setting up a drinking problem for Tristan. They could've seeded that a lot better.

- There was a nice subplot with a guest named Daphne in which the character needed a new heart.

- Chronology: From where the last scene of that 9-1-1 episode left off.

Casino Week might be just the best episode so far and yes, I know the bar's not too high. The show had fun with Athena as the main guest and I could have watched more and more scenes with her and Max, along with the glitzy backdrop of the casino theme.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Harley Quinn: "The Mess Is The Point"

 

Written by Dean Lorey And Leslie Schapira

Directed by Diana Huh

Harley: "So, you wanna go fuck shit up?"

Ivy: "You had me at one of the fuck."

Is it me or did that feel like a potential series finale? I mean if the show doesn't get renewed, it didn't end in a never to be resolved cliffhanger? Also, how much longer can this show keep going? Maybe one more season or maybe this is where it should end.

Getting back to the episode itself, Harley, Ivy, Sharon and Brainiac were trapped inside a bottle while Lex and Lena were getting along with Harley then ruining that by having thr pair turn on each other. To be fair, it didn't take much in that regard.

Anyways with some help from Frankette, bottle tipping and Sharon repeating the episode's title to Brainiac, Harley and company got free from the bottle as well as returned to their normal size. As for Lex and Lena, they got shrunk and ended up being eaten by Frankette but are still alive. Eventually, they're going to come out the other end, right?

Then there was Brainiac to contend with. He was kind of okay with letting his home planet collide with Earth and Bane's inability to lie almost sped up that decision on his part. A last minute change of heart meant that Brainiac sacrificed himself while Harley and company floated in space.

I'll admit, it did look pretty bad for Harley and company until Superman came at the last minute to save the day. Metropolis got restored, kids became friends and Harley and Ivy are now in a place where they might have more adventures on screen but will definitely be having plenty of them off screen for the rest of their lives.

- Lex and Lena wanting to name Metropolis after themselves really was the perfect way to get them to turn on each other.

- I got the impression that Gotham and Metropolis either merged or were placed beside each other. Frankette has inherited her father's potty mouth.

- Bane got his girlfriend pregnant and Goldilocks wanted to be Shawn's girlfriend. He didn't want that.

- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

The Mess Is The Point really did feel like a series finale. I'd argue that it should be one as the show has had a good run for five seasons and DC's animated universe does feel like it's moving into a new era with this show still very much a part of the old regime. Saying that, if it gets renewed, I'll be back and I really liked this season.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League (2025)

 

Written by Kazuki Nakashima

Directed by Junpei Mizusaki And Shinji Takagi

Batman: "Don't forget. It is most dangerous when a friend turns into an enemy."

The day before I had rewatched Batman Ninja in preparation for this sequel and it's a good job I had. It might be seven years between movie releases but almost no time passed here. Well, maybe a day.

The consequences of Grodd's Quake Engine meant that Feudal Japan was now floating over Gotham City and it didn't take long for Batman (Koichi Yadamera) and Robin (Yuki Kaji) to go up and investigate what was going on. Last time, it was Batman's rogue, this time it's a League.

The League being the Yakuza League and their members involved alternative versions of Superman (Takaya Kamikawa), Wonder Woman (Romi Park), Jessica Cruz (Ayane Sakura), The Flash (Nobuyuki Hiyama) and Aquaman (Akio Otsuka). As a League, they're somewhat of a splintered bunch.

First of all, Wonder Woman's not even taking part in the big fights, proving to be more of an ally to Batman and Robin as well as a protector to Harley Quinn (Rie Kugimiya) while Superman's a rather brutish enforcer to the real villain of the piece, Ra's al Ghul (Kazuhiro Yamiji). The rest of them are muscle that eventually come good by the third act.

Ra's al Ghul as the main villain with a plot very much in line with him did work for the film. He did try to sway Damian to his side but the latter refused and ended up encased with a lot of sushi (no, really). The Joker (Wataru Takagi) also factored into things with his notable contribution being to save Batman's life for his own selfish reasons.

As for the rest of Batman's support team - there was the returns of Nightwing (Daisuke Ono), Red Hood (Akira Ishida), Red Robin (Kengo Kawanishi) and Alfred Pennyworth (Hocho Otsuka) all returned and we had Commissioner Gordon (Masaki Tersoma) also in the mix. Throw in some good fight scenes, redemption plots and time being restored properly and you had the making of a great sequel.

- The English dub actors are Joe Daniels, Nathan Wilson, Bryson Baugus, David Harbold, Karlii Hoch, Molly Searcy, Cyrus Rodas, Annie Wild, John Swasey and Aaron Campbell.

- Harley's new look was more purple and black and Red Hood's seemed in line with his recent comic look.

- Most of the League's back stories in Feudal Japan were similar but Barry was a low level gang member and Jessica a gambling addict.

- Chronology: A day since the events of Batman Ninja.

Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League turned out to be a rather enjoyable sequel. Granted, I'm over the Evil Superman story in any continuity but it was handled recently here and fortunately, Ra's was the main villain. If there's scope to do a third one, I hope they do.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Batman Ninja (2018)

 

Written by Kazuki Nakashima And Leo Chu And Eric S. Garcia

Directed by Junpei Mizusaki

Batman: "This is madness."

With the sequel to this anime now released, I had to go back and rewatch this one. I'll admit I wasn't that taken with it at first but it's worth a second look.

Over the years, DC has embraced anime with the likes of My Adventures With Superman and Suicide Squad Isekai. This movie preceded both of those shows, though it had more in common with the latter, premise wise.

The film started with Batman (Koichi Yamadera) battling Gorilla Grodd (Takehito Koyasu) in Gotham City, only for the latter's Quake Engine to send him into Feudal Japan. Of course, it wouldn't just be Batman in that particular era.

This movie had not only Alfred Pennyworth (Hochu Otsuka) but also Nightwing (Daisuke Ono), Red Hood (Akira Ishida), Red Robin (Kengo Kawanishi) and Robin (Yuki Kaji). They made up Team Batman but what about the Rogues themselves? Again, this film didn't fall short.

There was Joker (Watery Takagi), Catwoman (Ai Kakuma), Harley Quinn (Rie Kugimiya), Poison Ivy (Atsuko Tanaka), the Penguin (Cho), Deathstroke (Junichi Sawabe), Bane (Kenta Miyake) and Two Face (Toshiyuki Morikawa). It's a fairly large gallery of baddies to use for this movie but great additions nonetheless.

Add in some original characters such as Bat Clan leader Eian (Yoji Ueda), Robin's pet monkey Monkichi (Anna Mugiho) and the latter's friend, Monmi (Juri Nagatsuma) and some rather cool battle sequences and I think I might have misjudged this movie. It's definitely a lot better than I remembered it to be.

- A mid credit scene had Catwoman selling weapons while we saw a horse drawn Batmobile.

- Yet another animated movie where Joker and Harley are a couple but we did get some Gotham City Sirens allusions here.

- The English dub actors are Roger Craig Smith, Tony Hale, Grey Griffin, Tara Strong, Adam Croasdell, Fred Tatasciore, Yuri Lowenthal, Will Friedle, Eric Bauza, Tom Kenny and Matthew Yang King

- Chronology: Present day Gotham City and Feudal Japan.

I'm glad I did give Batman Ninja a second chance. It's better second time around and there's some pretty good sequences throughout the whole movie, along with a good enough to keep it going. Now it's on to the sequel.

Rating: 7 out of 10