Pete Messum Reviews...

"Inside Voices" marks a very clear point in this season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD: the point at which it becomes clear that the writers couldn't quite drag this storyline out over 22 episodes, despite having solved that problem last season, and seemingly in splitting this season in two. So what happens in "Inside Voices"? Well, Talbot and Coulson escape Hale's base, and Yo-yo and Fitzsimmons escape the Lighthouse. Yup, that's pretty much it. It's not that "Inside Voices" is a bad episode, but after last episode felt a little too much like padding, the show just seems to have really lost a sense of momentum. There's another six episodes to go, but it feels like we only really have two or three's worth of story to actually wrap everything up in a satisfactory way. Robin's return in this episode felt very much limited to setting a seed for the next episode/s, and re-establishing her close bond with Agent May, which wou

"Rise and Shine" is a very interesting flashback episode, mostly in that the episode ends without quite affirming it's point, despite throwing quite a few vague ideas at the wall. Some of General Hale's backstory is filled-in, giving us an insight into the Hydra recruitment program headed by Daniel Whitehall - did I mention how good Agents of SHIELD's cameos have been this season? The lack of them in "The Real Deal" is definitely forgiven. There's a really eerie aurora to the Hydra school, demonstrating how the organisation manipulated and shaped their children into the perfect agents. We even get a cameo from a younger Jasper Sitwell (who appeared in Season 1, as well as several Marvel One-Shots, Avengers Assemble and Captain America: The Winter Soldier), as he becomes a mole within SHIELD. I'd actually be interested to see more of this in the future, and it makes me wonder why SHIELD hasn't really touched on this aspect of Hydra recruit

J. A. Bayona is by far the best creative decision made on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom . The way he moves and manipulates the camera throughout the film results in some really incredible imagery throughout, even from just the simplest of T-Rex attacks. He and cinematographer Oscar Faura really make the most of the script here, and create some of the best-looking sequences in the whole series - making Jurassic World look pretty bland in comparison. Under Bayona's direction, even the visual effects look much better than in Jurassic World , begging the question as to whether a return from Colin Trevorrow in the next film is really what the series needs right now. Because regardless of Bayona's masterful work behind the camera, the screenplay from Trevorrow and Derek Connolly is pretty mediocre. Characters are one-dimensional, while whatever interesting plot turns the film could have taken have been revealed in the trailers. Strangely enough, Universal's marketing departmen

For some reason today seems to be the day that a load of studios decided to throw their trailers out into the world, with Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck it Ralph 2 , The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (not piece?), Mortal Engines and of course Bumblebee . Quickly though, I think I'd best put out there that I found Wreck it Ralph to be a bit of mediocre film (great first half, pretty naff second half) so a sequel doesn't fill me with much joy (even if it's trying to out- Ready-Player-One, Ready Player One ); another The Lego Movie sounds appealing if perhaps destined for disappointment (I mean, the first one was really popular); and Mortal Engines could easily go either way, regardless of the incredible talent behind it (seriously, it's a wonderful creative team). Bumblebee , on the other hand, was a trailer I genuinely loved. Now, when Transformers came out in 2007, the film came with a variety of merchandise that continued with the sequel Transformers: Reve

Well, that got dark pretty quickly. An interesting addition to the previously segment in "The Devil Complex" was the reference to Fitz's alternate persona in the Framework, that being of 'The Doctor' (no, not that one) - a menacing Hydra scientist, and the idea of such a personality being very much inside Fitz. Yet the episode brilliantly misdirects us in that respect, setting up 'The Doctor' as Fitz's greatest fear having emerged from the fear dimension ruptured a few episodes ago. In fact, the episode even opens with Simmons seeing the mysterious astronaut creature from a couple of seasons ago. "The Devil Complex" is clearly setting up The Doctor as the physical manifestation of Fitz's Framework alter ego, right up until he tries to remove Daisy's power inhibitor. Because why would he? Sure, Dr. Fitz gives his justification, but it seems like more of a normal Fitz explanation... ...And that's because it is. Because there i

Trying to focus on "Principia" as a standalone episode is really quite difficult, mostly because in retrospect it's very much an establishing episode, awkwardly sat in between "The Real Deal" and "The Devil Complex" - two much more notable episodes due almost entirely to the fact that they each have their own respective standalone plots to work from, whereas "Principia" is moving different pieces into place for the over-arching narrative to progress. For example, a key sub-plot in this episode revolves around Von Strucker's son, in a guest appearance that failed to resonate much of a "oh, was he thingy's son?" While I appreciate returning to certain characters and story-threads, when the show has distanced itself from them for some time, it's difficult to really remember them, unless they've stuck in your brain. Garrett returning from the first season, or Daisy's dad, or Ghost Rider would be significant retur