MFV #232 – Punching three bald men Explicit

This fortnight, some climactic cartoon chat as Nick and Alastair discuss the final seasons of both What If…? and Star Trek: Lower Decks.

But first, Nick’s read new urban fantasy novel The Great When from legendary comics writer Alan Moore, while Alastair’s watched new movie Better Man, in which Robbie Williams is played by a CGI monkey.

After all that, they blast off into the multiverse with What If…? season 3 (12:44), travelling across space and time to ponder the question… how many more alternate superhero stories can Marvel come up with? Plus. since this is an animated anthology show, Nick and Alastair each count down their top three favourite episodes.

Lastly, one final outing with the misfits of Star Trek: Lower Decks (28:34) in their fifth and final season. Will the lovable underdog characters achieving promotion to upper deck status make this silly show any less fun?

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MFV #231 – Let’s get down to counting down! Explicit

Dune: Part TwoAs 2025 begins, one last gasp for last year, as Nick and Alastair get together for their traditional end of year round-up episode. Witness their general thoughts and top five favourites for both film (17:33) and TV (43:29) in 2024.

And for those who prefer it when they review specific things, there’s also chat about Dune: Prophecy and the recent Doctor Who Christmas special Joy to the World at the very start.

If this isn’t enough retrospective action for you, don’t forget you can also read Nick’s full Top Ten TV Shows and Alastair’s Year in Film on this very website.

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2024: A year in film

Dune: Part Two

For the last few years, I have been predicting that change has been on the horizon for Hollywood, due to the marshalling of a range of factors – AI, streaming wars, lean economic times, social upheaval, ever reducing box office returns and a lack of new ideas – but the sweeping change I keep hinting at has not come. I finished my summary of film in 2023 saying that 2024 looks likely to be similar to 2023 and that prediction turned out to be largely accurate. Certainly, there is nothing on the horizon that heralds a sea change in cinema.

My year in the cinema began poorly, with seeing the embarrassingly mediocre Next Goal Wins on New Year’s Day. Taika Waititi’s charm didn’t light up the screen this time, and even a strong performance from Michael Fassbender couldn’t save this film. Later in the year, a series of high-profile films at the BFI London Film Festival received bad reviews, from a new Elton John documentary to Amy Adams’s Nightbitch, further adding a feeling of cinema malaise.

One crucial difference in 2024 was fewer superhero blockbusters. This added to the feeling of the year being a cinematic non-event. Marvel were on a break, following lacklustre box office in 2023. Their only release, Deadpool and Wolverine, was a big commercial success and managed to take the postmodern humour of Deadpool to new heights; with Ryan Renyolds delivering a looney tunes-esque comedic performance, perfectly offset by Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine as straight man. It was very funny, but this is the end of the road for this zany, meta style of humour and to make more of these films would result in rapidly diminishing returns.

Continue reading →

Nick’s Top Ten TV 2024

Christmas has been and gone, Santa Claus has put his feet up, and with Jolly Old Saint Nick out of action, it’s time for the other regular Nick intervention we always see at this time of year.

Yes, it’s my annual Top Ten TV Shows! Join me as I relive my late twenties reviewing TV online for one blog post only, talking about my favourite viewing experiences of the last twelve months!

Unbelievably, I’ve been doing this for over a decade now and you can re-experience all of them below if you want.

There’s probably some terrible opinions in those old blog posts, so not sure why I keep including the links. I just glanced at the oldest one and saw effusive praise of Dexter season seven, which I’m not sure I fully stand by.

But anyway – on to my latest, up to date and fully correct TV views. It’s been a good year for telly, so much so that the honourable mentions section is absolutely bursting with shows that you’d think would’ve been in the main chart, but the heart wants what it wants. As ever, this is my subjective opinion, so don’t feel obliged to agree. There are definitely occasions when I’ll be veering away from the consensus.

And yes, our old buddy Stats Corner returns, even though the widening gaps between seasons of most shows is making it increasingly hard to fill meaningfully.

Let’s go! Continue reading →

MFV #230 – The Oscar for Oscariness Explicit

This fortnight, time for another of Nick and Alastair’s famously non-festive Christmas specials as they cover Arcane season 2 and Blitz!

But first, Nick’s seen 2024 critical darling Baby Reindeer (sounds kinda seasonal) while Alastair’s watching recent thriller Day of the Jackal (less so).

And then they return to the neon world of Piltover in the second season of Arcane (18:50), in which they encounter action, melodrama and, surprisingly, don’t spoil that much of the plot!

Lastly, back to the less colourful world of the past in Blitz (32:39), the recent Steve McQueen film about one child’s adventures in London during wartime.

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MFV #229 – You deaded my woman! Explicit

This fortnight, Nick and Alastair investigate two keenly-anticipated follow-ups with Gladiator II and The Diplomat season 2!

But first, Alastair’s listened to the new Linkin Park album From Zero, while Nick’s read Monsters, the 2021 graphic novel by Barry Windsor-Smith.

Then, after over two decades of build-up, time for Gladiator II (16:10), in which the son of Russell Crow returns to seek his vengeance.

Lastly, following a mere one year’s wait, it’s The Diplomat season 2 (27:45), to further investigate whether this truly is the West Wing of the 2020s.

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MFV #228 – He’s turned into a giant bible! Explicit

This fortnight, Nick and Alastair explore another comic book supervillain origin in The Penguin, and encounter a more grounded yet also more horrific villain in Heretic.

But first, Nick’s watched the latest season of his beloved Only Murders In The Building, while Alastair’s covering the film of a recent production of Kiss Me Kate.

After that, time to return to Gotham City once more with The Penguin (17:26), a show which is might be bleaker and more essential than anyone expected.

But they fully predicted the sadness involved in Heretic (32:30), a new horror movie starring Hugh Grant in another great villainous turn.

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MFV #227 – Let There Be Balls Explicit

At long last, Nick and Alastair bring you our Marvel villain/antihero spinoff special – it’s Agatha All Along and Venom: The Last Dance!

But first, some properly good comedy-drama TV, as Alastair’s seen Totally Completely Fine and Nick’s watched Reservation Dogs.

After which, they finally head down down down the witches’ road to Agatha All Along (17:58), which leads them to hardcore spoilers for the last few episodes starting from 26:37. And this is a show built heavily on secrets and reveals, so consider yourself warned.

Lastly, it’s time to end an epic saga of gooey romance with Venom: The Last Dance (40:45). Can it possibly live up to the sheer stupidity of Let There Be Carnage?

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MFV #226 – This is bad and you know it’s bad Explicit

This fortnight, Nick and Alastair take on the fourth season of their beloved Slow Horses and new British indie scifi movie Timestalker.

Before all that, Nick’s read modern classic crime noir comic Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, and then Alastair gives us his annual report from London Film Festival, including a bonus MFV review of 2073, the one festival movie Nick also saw.

After all that, time to infiltrate Slow Horses season 4 (17:58) and find out if they can maintain their critical mass of extremely strong reviews.

And lastly, they cover new movie Timestalker (36:52), the latest from Alice Lowe, writer/director/star of podcast favourite Prevenge.

Not to mention – if you want to back Nick’s new comic Kickstarter for SoulD, a cyberpunk-fantasy comic about corporations sell our souls, head on over to this link and get involved.

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MFV #225 – Arthouse Glee Explicit

This fortnight, Nick and Alastair take on two recent movies: Joker: Folie a Deux and Rebel Ridge . One has been extremely well received, the other has not.

But first, Alastair’s watched another polarising franchise entry in Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, while Nick’s sticking with the DC Comics adaptation theme with Superman & Lois season 3.

After which, they head into Gotham for a little singsong with Joker 2 (22:41, ending spoilers from 39:26), a psychological superhero character study musical. Can even renowned agent of chaos The Joker make this one work?

And last of all, they watch recent Netflix action movie Rebel Ridge (43:10), from Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier. Can this movie finally make bureaucracy exciting?

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