Pete Messum Reviews...

Quite why its taken me so long to write this review is beyond me, but I thought it might be an idea to throw this out there - I actually quite enjoyed ' The Cloverfield Paradox ', and highly recommend watching it...albeit with certain expectations. For the record, I can't remember much from 2008's ' Cloverfield ', other than it took ages to really get going, and once it did was an intense thrill-ride looking at a monster attack from the ground level. Whether or not the film was actually any good, I can't really remember, but I did check out the follow-up from 2016, ' 10 Cloverfield Lane ', which too was a very intense psychological thriller...right up until the ending, which I shan't spoil, but...yeah... ' The Cloverfield Paradox ' has been in the works for years, but seems to have taken a very long time to actually come out. Stories of hasty rewrites, re-shoots, pick-ups and drastically increasing budget suggests that its come a

It's the season finale of Star Trek: Discovery , and I can't help but feel a bit disappointed. Somewhere along the line, it was decided that the first season finale for Discovery should be very much a character piece, throwing away a good chunk of plot in favour of reaffirming to the fans that this very much is Star Trek, and the overriding themes of peace and civility are reflected in how Michael Burnham ends the Klingon-Federation War that started with the Battle at the Binary Stars, despite a clear error of judgement. The final two episodes end up being very much Michael's finale, concluding her journey across the season, her arc to becoming a true Starfleet commander, which is both theoretically and in practice a really nice idea, but the end result is so tightly focused on her journey that the supporting cast and the plot itself feel left to the sidelines, resulting less in a hugely climactic finale and more in a quiet, understated ending. Stammets' dynamic w

It's getting consistently more difficult to find new and interesting ways of introducing a review of yet another entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe . This is perhaps the most bold and potentially influential of the lot though, given the response to ' Black Panther ' before it was even released today. The hype train hasn't been so much about it being "the biggest film ever" but an important milestone for diversity in Hollywood, and paving the way for better representation in big-budget blockbusters, should ' Black Panther ' succeed...which I'm pretty sure it will. In many ways, its quality as a film is almost redundant to its potential influence long-term, both to the audience and the studio, but thankfully quality is no worry when it comes to ' Black Panther ', because its pretty darn great. There's something very unique about ' Black Panther ' that I think is very easy to overlook: the style of the film relies very mu

Yesterday we got to see the trailer for the new season of Marvel's ' Jessica Jones ', and what a trailer it was! My expectations were set much lower for this new season, but the trailer just threw them all out of the window. I'm really stoked to see this next season in March! And then today the trailer for ' Venom ' came out today. For a bit of context here, Venom originated as an extraterrestrial symbiote who latched-on to Peter Parker's Spider-Man suit, enhancing his strength and abilities, but also distorting his mind. As Spidey began to realise this, he faced an inner struggle as to whether or not to keep the symbiote before tearing it off him completely, falling into the hands of Eddie Brock. Brock, who already has a vendetta against Peter Parker and/or Spider-Man (depending on which version of the story this is), uses the symbiote (and vice-versa) to become the super-villain Venom - essentially Spidey's evil doppelganger, whose strength poses

'SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY' Wait...this movie's not been delayed until December? Despite the general news cycle and buzz in the run up to this film's release being pretty darn negative - the original director duo being fired, hasty re-shoots, actors even dropping out, even a new editor, and the (admittedly small, but vocal) backlash to ' Star Wars: The Last Jedi ' - we finally got a first-look teaser trailer for ' Solo: A Star Wars Story '. In fact, we got three: a Superbowl TV spot, a full-length teaser trailer and a selection of character posters! What's surprising is more how the film doesn't look nearly as exciting as it perhaps should. The colour palette is surprisingly dull, while the colour grading and general picture looks very flat and grey, more in line with ' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ' than either of the last two "saga" films or even Marvel's intergalactic outings. Alden Ehrenreich looks like a surprisingly

As we come to a close on Star Trek: Discovery 's first season, the crew's adventure into the mirror universe comes to a close in a final showdown with Gabriel Lorca. While Michael must get the help of Emperor Georgiou, the crew of the USS Discovery hatch a plan to escape their alternate reality once and for all, before Lorca and the Terran Empire destroy the entire multiverse. While Jason Isaacs has probably been the show's MVP over these first thirteen episodes, I was always uncertain as to where they'd go with him once the storyline reached its natural climax. Lorca really is the villain here, gets to enact his sinister plan, and is murdered. Unless the writers opt for a The Flash -style cop-out, in which our universe's Lorca shows up (a possibility given its been teased previously), this could well be the end of Gabriel Lorca. It's a bit of a shame really, given that we have another two episodes to go. Lorca leaves large shoes to fill-in both as a main ch

As a hardcore Doctor Who fan, it's difficult not to see the appeal of Big Finish. Their ongoing Doctor Who audio adventure series are very interesting from the outset: essentially fan fiction about various different Doctors, but with the respective actors from each era of the show returning to voice the various characters. While Big Finish have managed to lure talents such as the late Sir John Hurt, David Tennant and David Bradley to record some of their more recent Who's, back in 2012 it was a big deal to see a Tom Baker audio adventure - and not just that, but an entire series. I'd always been curious about this series, but it wasn't until I saw Destination: Nerva on the BBC Radio website that I'd actually had a chance to listen... ...and I have to say, I'm glad I didn't spend ten quid on it. Destination: Nerva is possibly the most corporate Doctor Who story I've ever watched, read or listened to, doing almost everything it can to recreate t