Friday, March 31, 2023
Monday, March 27, 2023
Episode by Episode - Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 1
Episode 7 The Andorian Incident
There’s a lot to love in this episode. For starters we’re introduced to the Alien species the Andorians which have floated around in different Star Trek shows for years but never received any deep coverage. So we get to enjoy exactly what these aliens were like. Also, since it’s a prequel, they don’t necessarily have to be allies.
The Andorians attack a Vulcan monastery while Enterprise is paying a visit and keep the crew hostage. The Andorians believe the Vulcans have a hidden spy post there. Enterprise doesn’t believe them and fights back. During the scuffle the spy post is discovered. Captain Archer is pissed at the Vulcans for lying, gives the proof of the spy post to the Andorians and sends them on their way.
The Andorians come off as ruthless paranoid bullies who turn out to be right. That’s a nice twist. They start off as enemies and leave as possible friends. It also shows that Vulcans aren’t the most trusting. A far cry from the days of Spock and Captain Kirk.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
Monday, March 20, 2023
Episode by Episode - Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 1
Episode 6 Terra Nova
Enterprise goes to visit a human space colony that Earth lost contact with a generation ago. The mythos is there was bad blood between the colony and Earth. Enterprise is hoping to mend fences. Instead they come across a bunch of people living underground who hate Earth and blame them for some sci-fi natural disaster. It’s just like the Star Trek Voyager Episode “Friendship 1” where Earth was blamed for the destruction of the planet because they wanted to invade or kill everyone. It’s almost identical with people living underground and a bunch of other tropes involving crew hostages and solutions on how to get the people off the planet but they eventually settle on a solution that lets the people stay on the planet.
It’s such a recycle, from a prior episode it’s painful to watch. How was this not caught in the pitch meeting? Ultimately this episode is a fail and worth skipping when watching the series.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
Monday, March 13, 2023
Episode by Episode - Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 1
Episode 5 Unexpected
This comedic episode centers around Commander Tucker who helps some aliens perform repairs on their ship and accidentally gets pregnant. It’s not terrible, has funny moments. We get an episode featuring one of the more likeable characters of the series.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
Monday, March 6, 2023
Episode by Episode - Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 1
Episode 4 Strange New World
The crew of Enterprise find an M class planet and in their overzealousness send a landing party on the planet prematurely and the crew gets infected with some pollen that makes them hallucinate and become paranoid. The Vulcan science officer T’Pol tries to caution the captain against diving head first but Captain Archer doesn’t heed her warnings.
The episode has some decent tension and a few good twists. At one point you really think Rock People are menacing the away party. The pollen paranoia is a nice twist. The real issue is humans should have learned this lesson years ago. While the warp 5 engine is new. Warp drive isn’t new. Therefore they were already exploring the galaxy at a smaller distance. Planet exploration protocols should have been established by this point, which just makes Captain Archer a complete moron who ignored them or Earth completely brain dead for not writing a policy sooner.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
Monday, February 27, 2023
Episode by Episode - Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 1
Episode 3 Fight or Flight
Not a good choice for the second episode. Going back to Star Trek: The Next Generation. The show found its footing in season three when each episode became character driven. Therefore each character got their own episode centered around them where they learn a lesson and become a better person. It's ultimately what Saved The Next Generation because those first two seasons were rough. Extremely rough. Once the episodes became character based and shifted away from sci-fi plot centric episodes, the stories got better, became more relatable.
Star Trek took this character driven story writing method and applied it to its spin-offs Deep Space Nine and Voyager. But episode 2 is centered around one of its whinier characters. Hoshi Sato will spend the entire series putting people to sleep with her lack of confidence. Characters that lack confidence work as secondary characters but when you devote entire episodes to their neurosis it’s less compelling story telling and more of a chore.
Ultimately Sato has to use her great linguistic skills to solve a misunderstanding with an alien species. Then everyone flies off all–the-better for the experience. It’s a bit “by the numbers” for Star Trek by this point and one can wonder which abandoned script was dusted off from an old series to craft this story.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
Monday, February 20, 2023
Episode by Episode - Star Trek: Enterprise
Welcome to the first of an ongoing series where we review TV shows one episode at a time. We’re starting with the lesser loved Star Trek series Enterprise. Why? Because it’s ripe for criticism but it’s not without its charm.
Season 1
Episode 1 & 2 Broken Bow
The first two episodes were aired back to back and offered a new take on the Star Trek mythos. It is a prequel series about Earth before Starfleet was formed. It establishes tension between Humans and Vulcans. Jonathan Archer is about to embark on a historic expedition with a brand new starship powered by the warp 5 engine, the fastest warp engine mankind has ever created. It will allow them to travel further and faster than had ever been possible for humans before.
Shenanigans happen and a Klingon crashes on their planet. Due to a misunderstanding the Klingon gets shot by a farmer. Vulcans advise to pull the plug while he’s in a coma. Earth insists on bringing him back to the Klingon home world to deliver a message.
During their voyage to the planet Kronos the Klingon gets kidnapped by the Suliban who are part of a temporal cold war. They are helping some dude in the future in exchange for evolutionary upgrades. This was supposed to be the series ongoing story arc mixed in with stand-alone episodes. As the season progress fans showed frustration with the storyline and it was finally abandoned by season 4. The concept was the time travel story could be used to explain away any story inconsistencies created by other established Star Trek series.
Eventually the Enterprise save the kidnapped Klingon, take him back to Kronos. Begin their exploration of the galaxy.
It’s a solid establishing episode. We meet all the characters. Learn about the plot of the show. Has some interesting action. It’s a good first start. Not the best first episode ever made but certainly not the worst. It’s far better that the first episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Written by
Joseph Ammendolea
Owner/President
“I Like To Play With Toys” Productions®
ILikeToPlayWithToysProductions@Yahoo.com
Friday, January 27, 2023
Our 2023 Oscar Preferences
These aren’t our predictions, this is who we are rooting for in each category and why. It could be a trivial as having cool hair or something as elaborate as being the best artist in the category they are nominated for. Admittedly we haven’t seen all the films nominated on each category. That’s why this is a preferred list and not a prediction list.
Best Picture
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
- Why is Top Gun: Maverick our pick? Because it never tries to be anything other than what it is. A Hollywood action film. It’s odds of winning are near impossible, especially since its almost completely ignored in every other category.
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking
Actor in a Leading Role
Austin Butler, Elvis
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser, The Whale - Haven’t seen it but heard good things. Also we love Brendan Fraser and want fourth Mummy film. This is his comeback film.
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Bill Nighy, Living
Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett, Tár
Ana de Armas, Blonde
Andreah Riseborough, To Leslie
Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans – Having not seen any of the other films on the list. She’s a great actress. We like Cate Blanchett better but Williams is due. Odds are Michelle Yeoh is going to win because no one will shut up about her damn movie.
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Actor in a Supporting Role
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans – Not sure the last time was he was nominated for an Oscar but he lost out to his co-star Timothy Hutton for Ordinary People. Here’s his second chance to get one.
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Actress in a Supporting Role
Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau, The Whale
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once – We loved her in Scream Queens. She always brings her A-Game to all performances. And now that transgendered is the new trend, she still hasn’t answered questions about the rumors she was born with both male and female parts.
Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Directing
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans – He’s the best director to ever exist. He’s been snubbed by the Academy over and over again. Anytime he’s nominated he deserves it for the numerous times he’s been ignored.
Todd Field, Tár
Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
All Quiet on the Western Front
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Living
Top Gun: Maverick
- How is this an adapted screenplay and not an original screenplay? Either way, we’re rooting for it.
Women Talking
Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Banshees of Inisherin
- A story about two dudes who stop being friends. Somehow they made it interesting. The logic is bizarre but the story is compelling.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Triangle of Sadness
Animated Feature Film
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Sea Beast
- It’s based off a never ending franchise. The best bet is always Disney or Pixar but Turning Red was too woke for out taste.
Turning Red
Documentary (Feature)
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
A House Made of Splinters
- No clue what it’s about, it has the most poetic name.
Navalny
Documentary (Short Subject)
The Elephant Whisperers
- Who doesn’t love elephants?
Haulout
How Do You Measure a Year?
The Martha Mitchell Effect
Stranger at the Gate
International Feature Film
All Quiet on the Western Front, Germany
Argentina, 1985, Argentina
Close, Belgium
EO, Poland
The Quiet Girl, Ireland – Ireland seems to be a sub theme of this Oscars. So the Banshees film might get overlooked, this is likely a consolation prize.
Film Editing
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick – This basically translates to second place pick or best action movie. This is anyone’s guess who will win but Top Gun is who we want to win.
Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front
- Who doesn’t love a good anti-war film.
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Elvis
Empire of Light
Tár
Sound
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Elvis
Top Gun: Maverick – Sound editing always translates to Best Action film. This is likely going to be the big winner and the one we are rooting for. Don’t ignore Avatar as a true contender though.
Music (Original Score)
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
- We love bagpipes.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Music (Original Song)
"Applause," Tell It Like a Woman
"Hold My Hand," Top Gun: Maverick – I guess this…
"Lift Me Up," Black Panther: Wakanda
"Naatu Naatu," RRR
"This Is a Life," Everything Everywhere All at Once
Costume Design
Babylon
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
- This film was boring but the costumes were cool.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Makeup and Hairstyling
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
- We’re rooting for The Batman but it probably won’t win. The more artsy The Whale seems like the bigger contender.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
The Whale
Production Design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
- James Cameron has been working on this film for a long time. It deserves some type of payoff.
Babylon
Elvis
The Fabelmans
Visual Effects
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Top Gun: Maverick – It had awesome special effects.
Short Film (Animated)
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
The Flying Sailor
Ice Merchants
My Year of Dicks
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It
- It has a cool name. My year of Dicks is a very close second.
Short Film (Live Action)
An Irish Goodbye
- We love a good Irish goodbye.
Ivalu
Le Pupille
Night Ride
The Red Suitcase