pidstr Reviews

Ark: The Animated Series (2024– )

I've never seen or played the game,...

[8/10 · 25 March 2024]

Nor was I aware of the game until I read some of the reviews, though I have to wonder if many of the performers who are also producers are fans of the game?

Just as a tale, it comes over as a cross between "Lost" and the Jules Verne classic "Journey to the center of the Earth" (choose your own favorite version of that one ! ), adding in the sub plots of how each character died to get to this clone of the "Savage Land" from Marvel comics.

As an animated adventure, it's reasonably well told, enjoyable to watch, a little gruesome from the violence level, though there's some predictability to the plot.

There's sure to be plenty of hate for the choice of a female protagonist and standard 'older white male' antagonist, ignore it, these characters could be any gender or colour skin and still work.

There's the odd line of fan service in-joke dialog too.

Overall I think the 7 to 8 out of 10 rating is well earned (the 1's and 10's are clearly the outlier scores that don't match the curve. Haters gonna Hate, and all that stuff.

It'd be nice if there's a season 2 in the works, and not just the teaser.

If you liked any of the programs or stories that this references, you'll probably enjoy this one too.

Engine Masters: Sequential vs. Batch Fire EFI (2023) Season 8, Episode 6

Kids, this is what happens when,.....

[3/10 · 22 February 2024]

Carby guys try to explain EFI without knowing the history of why one style exists.

Since IMDb needs more characters for a review,... Batch Fire exists because it was cheaper for OEMs to make in the early days of EFI, less hardware was needed to fire the injectors inside the OEM EFI computers.

Then they found that firing one pulse at the back of the Closed valve cooled and cleaned the valve as the fuel evaporated, which also meant they could run an engine leaner on cruise as it was burning vapour instead of droplets.

This gave better highway mileage and emissions, combined with a shorter pulse when the valve was open on the inlet stroke,... or a longer pulse for acceleration, all while using a cheaper injector with lower duty cycle.

Batch fire is about saving money, and saving fuel. Sequential is about performance.

Twisted Metal (2023– )

If you liked Blood Drive,...

[8/10 · 3 September 2023]

....., or Love and Monsters, or Sweet Tooth, then this'll be your jam.

There's some effed up mad characters, and performances by good actors who are cutting loose and enjoying the roles.

Neve Campbell is an inspired casting choice for her character, as is Thomas Hayden-Church, who steals scenes left right and center.

There's even a crazy clown character that you will fall in love with, with a back story that is perfect for making psychotic chaos seem logical and understandable.

Anthony Mackie, paired with Stephanie Beatriz, makes for a wise cracking and quick witted action and dialog team that's easy to watch, with angst and romance and actual character development through the who first season,.. And I'm expecting there will be more seasons.

Don't take the show seriously, enjoy the ride, well worth a watch.

One Ranger (2023)

Solid seven rating,...

[7/10 · 23 June 2023]

...., For a film made both to tell a story, but for the sheer enjoyment of the art of film making.

Nearly perfect audio, great lighting, and cinematography like a love letter to each location, with the talented Thomas Jane filling in a role that Bruce Willis could have played at his peak.

The character motivations are fairly basic, and the story is told in a linear fashion, but this is not meant to be a complex or heart string pulling tale, it's a simple 'revenge for the right reason' plot.

There are place where Ms Tipper's written dialog is not up to the standard expected, such as in the first meeting of our two heroes, and you can see in her expression that she knows the script needed a little more polish there.

Watch it with popcorn on night in and enjoy it for what it is.

Stars on Mars (2023– )

Stars,...?

[2/10 · 11 June 2023]

So it's Celebrity Big Brother, in a SciFi set.

Besides Rowsey, Armstrong and Winters, who are these people?

"Stars" must mean something different in the world of Reality TV, when even those on the show need to have it explained to each other who each other is,...

The set looks pretty, in a 70's BSG way, with the elements to make non-Space Nerds believe it is a 'real' space habitat. Meanwhile, the Space Nerds will be throwing plushy astronaut pillows at their screens at the designs and layout.

What this show needed, was a ringer, someone like Tim Dodds, Emily Calandrelli or Marcus House showing up and having these 'stars' running in circles while the ringer wins everything.

Two star rating, one for Shatner, one for Shatner being the only person on the show to have been to space.

Roadkill (2012–2024)

Mixed Feelings.

[5/10 · 1 May 2023]

Look, the shows are fun, most starting off on Youtube, be it Roadkill, Hotrod Garage, Roadkill Garage. Faster with Finnegan, Dirt Every Day, All Girls Garage, Junkyard Crawl,... MTOD have some pretty darn good content, with good hosts, and recently picked up Derek from Vice Grip Garage and Alex from Riding with Alex Taylor, and occasional guest appearances from other motoring Youtubers like Kevin Smith from KSR, and the team behind Cleetus McFarland.

Generally, the shows are easy to watch, good fun times filmed for entertainment value, with a little outrageous action and sillyness done in an inoffensive manner - the folks here are laughing at themselves first, and inviting us all watching to laugh along with them.

And then there's the Company of MTOD, and it's policy of geoblocking viewers from outside of the USA, even cancelling subscriptions when someones payment shows they paid from outside the USA even though their IP Address is inside the border.

MTOD show great disrespect to the viewers, they need to realise that all programming is global now, not just insular to one market.

Eventually they'll realise, more folk watch now on pirate copies, then are paying to watch on subscription. Ya done yerself out of all those sales MTOD.

Ten stars for the programs, minus five for the company.

Roadkill: Mirada & Wreck Runner Road Trip! (2022) Season 11, Episode 12

There's a PSA in here Roadkill fans....

[5/10 · 1 May 2023]

Well, a couple really.

The first is to not let Steve Dulcich talk you in to practical jokes early in the morning.

And just how many of us saw the Wreck Runner 2.0 pirouetting and expected Steve was going to be in the lake pretty soon after?

Sadly the only water action was the practical joke, and the consequences soon after Cotton got beaten by a Prius.

Yes, that's right, a PRIUS,... though, they are actually pretty quick, just fugly as, about as fugly as MTOD not letting Aussies watch legally.

And that brings us to our last PSA,... And it's thanks to Cotton's fine example, ignored by Freidburger and Dulcich.

Wear Your Damn Seat Belts!!!

Gotham Knights: Of Butchers and Betrayals (2023) Season 1, Episode 4

Props Dept Gags,.....

[10/10 · 6 April 2023]

Annnnnd,... they've done it again,.. do Actors really not know the props dept and the camera crews are having a laugh?

5 minutes in, and without spoilering the content of a scene, there's a pair of "TV Camera Operators" in the frame, each with a camera on their shoulder.

Thing is, the camera on the left of frame is missing a few items, first is the onboard microphone, goes in that loop above the operators right hand.

Second item it's missing, is a power source - there's no Battery on the back of it! Nor is there a cable in to the DC Power Input.

The camera on the right has analog sound meters, so it's positively ancient, doesn't look to have a battery either.

Well played Props Dept, well played indeed, getting actors to look silly on camera by showing they don't know enough about the gear to ask for a battery to be fitted for 'realism'.

The Ark (2023– )

Physics and Navigation are not a strong suite of this Writers Room

[4/10 · 17 March 2023]

They're on the way to the second nearest star to Earth (the closest is our Sun,..), and yet the plot has them passing other stars to get there.

On top, there's a sub plot about getting the ship back up to "Light Speed", so it's not traveling at that speed, but we see stars and nebulas sliding past outside the windows, where very few of the stars in the Earth night sky would be placed differently if viewed from Proxima Centauri.

The acting is okay for a bored young adult audience, so long as the viewer hasn't seen The Expanse, B5, Trek, Dark Matter, 2001, The Martian, Battlerstar,... then the viewer may be entertained by the high school level plots and angst.

For that audience, "The Astronauts" from 2020 will be much more entertaining experience.

The Ark is too full of basic physics mistakes for it to be allowed to make a second season, or needs to fire the whole Writers Room to be able to continue.

Victoria's Secret: Angels and Demons (2022)

Leaves one perplexing question,....

[6/10 · 27 February 2023]

...., About the writers and editors of this investigative piece.

All through the telling of this Machiavellian ensemble drama, we have hints, and then an outright question in the closing, about what secret Epstein may have found about Wexner, that was so inflammatory that the billionaire would look away while Epstein committed such egregious acts.

Yet, during the second of the three episodes, the production team give us that answer, but don't seem to realize it themselves.

Instead we are treated to misdirection and rambles, and of the things that have come to light involving government agencies and people from both sides of US politics, entertaining but not answering the question of what Epstein had on Wexner.

To this we must ask, did they find the woman Wexner's mother disapproved of? How many children did she have before Wexner married? And has she ever had difficulty in meeting any of the costs of raising them?

All it would take is Epstein threatening to reveal such, to destroy the family life of Wexner from the inside out.

Mega Lightning (2022)

When the crews names aren't on IMDB,....

[1/10 · 2 February 2023]

....., It's usually a sign of the "quality" of the production.

(Yeah, that's sarcasm btw,..)

The dialog is less natural then a text-to-speech bot reading a phone book, and is delivered with more wood then a Burning Man bonfire.

The camera and lighting is, a bit ordinary, zero budget with a few toys and not enough experience yet, along with the preprogrammed 'lightning' mode on basic LED lights.

Sound is good, sadly good enough to hear how bad the dialog is... As for the visual effects, even The Asylum spends more time and effort on those.

Sure, with a name like Mega Lightning, one doesn't expect awards winning performances or plot, but there's a few places where the characters simply don't do what real people would, they don't run when they should, and the do run when they wouldn't,.. the mother in the woods for instance, would not have done what she did.

The actors playing the sisters may have potential, but most of the rest show less effort or attention then required, leading to the upbeat party being more like a meeting of Depressing Performers Anonymous.

Don't waste good popcorn on this one.

The Last of Us (2023– )

Haven't played the game,...

[9/10 · 17 January 2023]

Christopher Heyerdahl and John Hannah, used and done BEFORE the title sequence rolls,.... There's some serious back room power behind this title, to be able to use actors of that caliber for what amounts to a guest cameo.

From the moment the camera comes in on Hannah for the tone setting dialog, you'll be hooked, with Nico Parker delivering a performance her famous mother would be proud of.

Anna Torv delivers an equally strong performance, equal and better of her show leading turn on Fringe.

Then there's Pedro Pascal, delivering an emotionally nuanced performance that hits all the right notes for a character that we soon believe is capable of almost anything in the name of survival.

Episode One is more like watching the first half of a major motion picture then it is a TV show, only it's done to a far higher standard then all but the highest budget films.

An instant Must Watch.

See How They Run (2022)

This film doesn't take itself seriously,...

[8/10 · 5 November 2022]

.., And neither should you.

Think of it as a classic English Farce, and it's rather delightful. Good performances by the whole cast, from a well written and directed script, with truly beautiful cinematography, lighting, costume design, and nearly perfect sound recording and mixing, it's a couple of enjoyable hours to sit back and enjoy.

Brodie is good, Rockwell is better (did he dance??), but Ronan steals the whole film, with just enough back story and in-jokes to entertain while not drawing attention away from the main story.

Break out the popcorn, turn down the lights, it goes by faster then you'll expect.

Car Masters: Rust to Riches: Petersen Built (2020) Season 2, Episode 8

Love It, but,...

[9/10 · 14 August 2022]

..., but as a MoPaR fan, and a Slant Six fan, the XNR replica is missing a few components, such as the correct "HyperPak" manifolds for inlet and exhaust, specific Camshaft, Valve, Springs and Carter 3083 Carburetor.

The AussieSpeed manifold used is the modern interpretation of the original HyperPak, where the Clifford Reproduction HyperPak Inlet would have been a better choice.

Assembled the way the original was done, the XNR would be as quick around a track as a Jaguar D-type, however, those correct parts, come up for sale maybe once a decade, and the car as assembled, is about as close to the original as it's possible for a TV show to make, and certainly easier to drive on the street.

Seeing Virgil Exners design surrounds by works of equal importance and beauty, is the icing on the cake for what the Gotham team have done, they should be proud of this work, just as the TV team should be of being able to tell compelling stories with the builds.

The Orville: A Tale of Two Topas (2022) Season 3, Episode 5

Genius misinterpreted by most.

[10/10 · 30 June 2022]

Read the other comments, they're all about Transistion or De-transistion, Woke or Anti-Woke, Progressive vs Coservative,... when this is really a story about Rights.

It's about letting a person choose the right path for themselves and supporting them, regardless of which path they strike out along.

It's about doing the right thing, even when you're under pressure to do the safe thing, and it's about advocacy for those who need support, even if it means going against one's own community.

And lastly, it's about enlightened self interest, where helping the community helps the individual as well.

Well done writing team.

Escape from Area 51 (2021)

Absolute Trash - You Have To Watch IT !

[4/10 · 17 June 2022]

Seriously, the film is garbage, both for the technical elements and the plot that's thinner then a mimes favorite wall.

Camera work is rough as heck, looking like it was shot on multiple different camcorders, sound is 'on camera' at best, and distorted often (yet, the dialog is still clearer to the ear then a Nolan film,...) and the lighting is tragically bad.

It looks like it was shot 'in the park down the road', rather then out on location,. The studio sets look to have been ripped out of the dumpster of other z grade films.

And the insert segments, show how bad CG Animation can be.

But all through it, you can tell the cast are having a laugh while making it, knowing full well it's a brimmed crapbowl of badness.

Watch it with pizza, popcorn, weed and a beer, disregard the crappiness and you'll have a laugh at it too.

Race: Bubba Wallace (2022)

Outsiders View

[8/10 · 4 March 2022]

First, lets talk production technical qualities - Sound, Vision, Direction, Editing, Lighting - ALL are excellent, making the episodes easy to watch and listen to, no eye strain or ear strain.

The Story Telling aspect of the Direction, the weaving of documentary with just enough dramatic tension, again, excellent.

From the outside looking in, the view of someone raised outside of the US, this appears to be a well balanced and well presented 'year in the life of', for a person under a great deal of strain, being pulled in many directions by personal history, national history, sporting history, and then current turbulent politics.

For this fan of international motorsport, Bubba Wallace Jr will be added to the list of drivers wanting the best for, even if just because he's inspiring people to chase their dreams.

Nova: Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor (2010) Season 37, Episode 1

Opening Dialog stays 'On Message' rather then be truthful.

[8 February 2022]

Dialog begins with the same tired message, from a well scripted Presidential Speech,.. "A day that will live in infamy", "Suddenly and deliberately attacked",.... But no mention of the US Government of the time unilaterally embargoing oil shipments to Japan, effectively pushing them back to Iron Age level subsistence and destroying their economy.

Ignoring this, makes the rest of the documentary look one sided, rather then reveal the process the US has used to cripple any country that might do better the theirs.

I Am Mortal (2021)

Exposition sans Action

[2/10 · 17 January 2022]

This is what happens when one tries write SciFi without understanding the Rules Of Tropes, and there's plenty used along the way in here.

Some of the actors do good work, some are 'phoning it in,.'

Technical side, camera, sound, lighting, editing, are all carried off competently, making the production look better then the plot has any right to.

It's basically an Asylum type film with better production values and some well known B-listers getting their scene on in main roles instead of being sidekicks.

Put it on to fall asleep to, the dreams that follow will have better plots.

Megaboa (2021)

It's Eric Roberts and The Asylum,... but that's not why it's problematic.

[3/10 · 2 January 2022]

"Megaboa" only eats males?

Is that the influence of left wing culture, or the producers weren't able to hire a female performer willing to get eaten by the CGI ?

And if your reading reviews on this, yeah, standard Asylum quality, but hey, the dialog is clean, no Nolan Mumblecore here, just screams and squeals between the exposition.

Firebite (2021–2022)

Haters gonna hate,... ignore the fake reviews.

[8/10 · 1 January 2022]

The Alt-Right idiots are spewing fake reviews, and the lefties will praise the 'indigenous content' without even watching.

And, this is one to watch. Yes, there is a bit of 'hard done by' in the writing for the Koori characters, but it's not over done, and it's there to show the characters have depth and feeling.

Some of the characters have a little too much cliche - the white cop implying the witness to an attack was drunk in episode 3 for example - but on the whole, it's no more then you'd expect to hear if you were privy to private conversations, and that's situations you see the characters in, private places, or where they thought they weren't being heard, or just school bullies being dickheads,..

Some of the acting is stilted, no doubt due to the experience level of some of the more local actors, with this show being the only experience listed on their credits pages.

Rob Collins, Shantae Brown-Cowan, Tessa Rose and Ngaire Pigram all stand out as actors to watch, here and in the future.

As for the technical arts, the sound is crisp and dialog clean, the visuals are fantastic, and the editing keeps the show paced along just fast enough, all working together well to keep the view in the story, rather then noticing the hard work done to get this level of production quality.

It's well worth a watch, even if just to form your own opinion, rather then follow the political effluencers comments.

Foundation: The Leap (2021) Season 1, Episode 10

Oh for fraks sake,....

[19 November 2021]

Dermerzel, aka R. Daneel Olivaw, a Giskardian Robot with Three Laws and Zeroth Law, committing a murder?

Okie, shoot the writers, if they haven't died of embarrassment,. Or at minimum, buy them a copy of ALL the books, from I, Robot through the Caves of Steel and on to Foundations saga, so they can understand just how frakked up it is to have a robot choose to kill.

Foundation: The Missing Piece (2021) Season 1, Episode 8

Dermerzel and Olivaw.

[6 November 2021]

Fans of Asimov's books already know that Dermerzel is R. Daneel Olivaw, and although Olivaw can operate under the Zeroth Law, putting humanity ahead of a human, breaking the First Law by committing murder under an order from a human still will not be possible. Second Law being over-ruled by First Law.

Olivaw could allow wars or even Seldon's death, as part of a plan to save humanity, but could not commit the act of murder.

Beyond that glaring error, the series as a whole is proving enjoyable, even if Hari (Haar-ii, like Marta Hari) is being pronounced Harr-ree (Like Prince Harry)

Y: The Last Man (2021)

Something kept bugging me,...

[5/10 · 23 September 2021]

And I figured out what it was, it's not that the premise is ridiculous (of course it is, it's an apocalypse tale!), it's not the camera, lighting, sound, they're all good, little dark here and there,.. And then I asked, where are all the cars? Why are they all walking? Sure, less gas guzzlers, but not a single EV? None sitting at solar charging stations?. Its almost as if it's written on the presumption that no woman in the world knows anything to do with keeping the power on, or doing some plumbing, or any kinds of food shipping or farming,.. There is no plausible reason for there to be such a complete break down of all the day to day systems, beyond the writers assuming women don't know anything about the blue collar jobs that keep the world running.

Seems a dis-service is being done, rather then write a better world.

Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian: Making of Season 2 Finale (2021) Season 2, Episode 2

Wonderful Technique Showcase, but,...

[5/10 · 3 September 2021]

But,.. everyones seen the deep fake and heard the news that artist has been hired by ILM (Yay for him!), and the choice made during the production, was the wrong one.

Hey, John and Dave, how about a 'DVD Extra Option', with versions of the scene that folk can choose their own, the 2020 version, the Deep Fake, Mark Hamill's performance, and Max Lloyd Jones version.

Why isn't Max listed in the credits for both this special episode, and the show itself??

At this stage, fans of the show would probably support Hamill taking the role of master, teaching Lloyd-Jones the intricacies of the character, and see the younger face without the effects next time around.