Pete Messum Reviews...

This review is going to be a lot shorter than the one I wrote for 'The Magician's Apprentice'. Partly because I've been working on a script for my video review for both episodes, partly because I don't feel I can go into as much detail about this episode, mostly because it makes absolutely no sense to me at so many points that I wonder if I'm missing something. If I am, then some of my criticisms may be incorrect. I don't like criticizing Doctor Who. It's my favourite show on television and I've been a fan for over ten years, so whenever I don't like an episode, it makes me feel a little bit sad inside. Back in 2013, 'The Time of the Doctor' almost broke me as a fan. I really lost almost all hope in the show, and thankfully 'Deep Breath' and most of Series 8 was excellent, so I stuck with it. Heck, I was pretty disappointed with 'Last Christmas', but have persevered. 'The Witch's Familiar', however, highlig...

 ***CONTAINS SPOILERS*** After a 9 month break, Doctor Who returns to our screens with 12 brand-new episodes and a Christmas Special, kicking things off with a two-part story written by Steven Moffat, beginning with The Magician's Apprentice . When we last saw The Doctor and Clara Oswald in Last Christmas , they had settled their problems and decided to go back to travelling around the Universe with one another. So, it makes perfect sense that this episode should begin with them apart. I'm not sure why no one on the production team didn't say "hang on, doesn't this screw up the ending to Last Christmas ?", let alone make a short Prequel episode explaining it. As much as Pond Life in 2012 was only watched by a mere 1% of the show's audience, at least the Ponds' divorce was (somewhat) explained! What did we get for prequels? Well, we had a short Prologue scene, which was so poorly written that everything it was teasing could be very easily predict...

Before Doctor Who returns tonight in The Magician's Apprentice, I thought I'd re-cap my reviews on the Series 8 of the series, aired last year, with some revisions made. Series 8, Episode 1 - Deep Breath Series 8, Episode 2 - Into the Dalek Series 8, Episode 3 - Robot of Sherwood Series 8, Episode 4 - Listen Series 8, Episode 5 -  Time Heist Series 8, Episode 6 - The Caretaker Series 8, Episode 7 - Kill the Moon Series 8, Episode 8 - Mummy on the Orient Express Series 8, Episode 9 - Flatline Series 8, Episode 10 - In the Forest of the Night Series 8, Episode 11 - Dark Water Series 8, Episode 12 -  Death in Heaven 2014 Christmas Special - Last Christmas So, let's prepare for tonight, where we begin a brand new series of adventures!

Midnight has earned its place as one the most popular and fan-acclaimed Doctor Who stories of all time (and space). Its in many fans' Top 10 lists and even Classic Who die-hards love this story. So, what is it about Midnight that makes it so beloved? The story follows The Doctor and companion Donna Noble relaxing on the planet Midnight. The Doctor wants to go on a bus to see the planet's sapphire waterfalls, but Donna isn't interested, so The Doctor goes on the tour by himself, meeting and getting to know all of the passengers, the two drivers and the hostess along the way. However, the journey has some unexpected turbulence when a creature is seen by one of the drivers, only for a few minutes later have the driver's cockpit completely dismantled from the bus (leaving everyone stranded). As the passengers become more and more panicked and paranoid, one of them - Skye Silvestri - is possessed by the creature outside, and when she begins to copy what everyone else is s...

I'm close to giving up on Arrow. I really am. The series started off pretty well, and by the end of season two had really become a great show. Then, season three happened, ruined most of the arcs established previously and set Arrow from a course of no return, but here we are at season four. The show-runners are clearly pandering to the fans now - Oliver is now Green Arrow, this whole "Olicity" thing is being taken seriously, Diggle now has a super-suit, Thea is Speedy, Laurel is Black Canary and we even have Matt Ryan appearing as John Constantine after his own series was cancelled earlier this year. Its clear that everyone on the production knows that season three went almost horribly wrong, but they're not prepared to start afresh yet. The season four trailer begins with...Olicity. Yay. As much as I would love to actually be invested in this relationship, it feels awkward and forced at so many points that it doesn't feel like Oliver and Felicity are a...

FBC Productions Reviews presents, in association with Papadopoulos Pictures, "Guardians of the Cinema" Podcast - #2: 'The Men From AUNTIE', hosted by Pete Messum and Harry P Green. In this second installment of the podcast, Pete reviews 'The Man From UNCLE', while both Harry and Pete discuss Spider-Man (again), Captain America: Civil War, Batman v Superman trailer #2 and their favourite movies. Theme music composed by Brian Tyler. Incidental music composed by Kevin MacLeod. 'The Man From UNCLE' cover image belongs to Warner Bros Pictures. No profit is gained from the production or release of this podcast, and no copyright infringement is intended. If you believe your copyrighted material has been unfairly used, please contact via a YouTube message.

Guy Ritchie is a very accomplished director, and with two very successful Sherlock Holmes movies under his belt, Warner Bros Pictures gave him a chance to adapt a new material while Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man contract prevents him from filming the anticipated third movie in the series. Ritchie and Lionel Wigram teamed up to adapt The Man From UNCLE for a big-screen 2015 reboot, starring Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo and Armie Hammer (making a Hollywood comeback) as Illya Kuryakin. What we have is definitely a film made with love and appreciation for the source material, but also being set in its own style and being made for a more modern audience, with big chase sequences, plenty of humour and even the addition of a female lead protagonist in the form of Alicia Vikander's Gaby Teller. The whole film is very slick, fast-paced and never becomes boring at any point. The violence is quite minimal in places, mainly due to the film's directorial style, which might not appea...