STAR TREK PICARD SEASON 3 HAS IT’S MOMENTS

🎥🎞️Series Review🎞️🎥 - STAR TREK PICARD - Paramount. Showrunner Micheal Chabon, Terry Matalas. Stars Sir Patrick Steward, Jonathan Franks, Gates McFadden, Jeri Ryan, Michael Dorn, and Ed Speleers.

30 years after the Star Trek - The Next Generation [STNG] timeline and the frightening first two seasons of Star Trek Picard, the old crew of STNG slowly reassemble to first identify a new threat to the Federation; second, learn that retired Admiral Jean-Luc Picard [Stewart] and Doctor Beverly Crusher [McFadden] are parents to a now grown son [Speleers]; and that a new deadly weapon was stolen from a highly Top-Secret Federation base.

Being a big Star Trek fan myself, I got caught up in the hoopla about a review on YouTube, that Season 3 of ST Picard had fallen into the right hands of a lead director and writing team, and that the new season was a much needed rewrite with episode writers who were once legitimately part of of the production team of Star Trek Deep Space 9 and other more "fan favorable" Star Trek shows and movies, hired on to answer a lot of the fan based questions which were far too ignored. With a new production budget and visual zeal that brings traveling through the final frontier back to the original form, the show has received good buzz and there's word that this will be the last series with the old crew to ever be produced for fans.

THE GOOD - The visual effects and CGI are pleasing to the eye. Seeing the aged and dusted off Admiral Picard in the Captain's seat was a real treat. The battle scenes between ships is epic and some of the special effects in the series are far above the imaginable.

THE BAD - If you've ever been to a twenty-year reunion of your high school class and realized that all of the people you once knew were still the same, but just heavily sprinkled with parental problems and a burned out married life...well, then this show won't seem any different. The story lines drag on and on per each episode, with a touch of "Oh shit, this is so important!..." and "You once gave a shit about me, but now you don't" to "I can't do this anymore, I'm a senior officer!...", to "Okay, for old times sake, I'll step up and be part of the team again." Many of the cliche's are old, seem to work from time to time, but there is also a TON of dialog with mixed feelings about this and that, that the entire fluidity of the film just seems to drag on...and then BAMB, something hit's the ship and the entire crew looks about the room stunned and then someone cries out, "...they've found us!" Most of what's seen within the first four episodes could have been presented in a one hour special of STNG. The rest is just useless fluff that just wants you to scream out, "...C'mon!...get on with it!" - Yeah, folks. The show can be THAT bad from time to time; more often than not.

POST MORTEM - There's a scene were Admiral William Riker [Franks], Worf [Dorn] and third party member transport down to a Top Secret Facility and just calmly walk around some passageways, looking for chamber door. There are no standard hand scanners to help them on their search; something that was always seen in the older shows. For every good thing that ST-Picard brings to the table [including some badly designed star ships] another big FAIL falls directly following the BIG reveal which isn't as fantastic as the writers hoped it was going to be. It's certainly another jumbled mess of nostalgia, but way better than what was presented in the first two seasons. But this is a good send off for a bunch of actors who couldn't find good work after the biggest and most popular of the Star Trek shows went off the air. The actors are certainly getting a raise in their retirements without having to work to hard for it this time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫[3.5 of 5 Stars]

NETFLIX’S "ADAM PROJECT" IS JUST TOO MUCH…

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - THE ADAM PROJECT [2022] - PG13 - Netflix - Directed by Shawn Levy. Written by Jonathan Topper, T. S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett, and John Levin. Stars Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Walker Scobell, and a remarkably surprised & unaccredited, Jada Pinkett Smith. 

This is a silly movie that has Reynolds - AKA Deadpool - continue to play himself in Deadpool-fashion in another SciFi action film. This time it’s a time travel movie about a man who accidentally travels too far into the past to try and contact himself for help after the time displacement equipment his father helped create falls into the wrong hands.

THE GOOD - In the 80s we had to endure a plethora of big budgeted action movies with either Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or Chuck Norris in it, so in the 2020’s it has to be Ryan Reynolds. This film has a bunch of explosions, heavily choreographed fight scenes, and a bunch, and I mean BUNCH of typical Ryan Reynolds one-liners that just regurgitate in one massive repulsive swirling storyline with more twists and turns like a swirling heap of diarrhea that fails to flush down the toilet after the fourth attempt. 

THE BAD - There’s nothing truly surprising here. You’ve seen it all before, except that Reynolds gets a chance to wield a double-edged lightsaber that "...ISN’T a lightsaber." Where many of the other characters in the story take things very seriously, Reynolds plays it off calmly, like he knows he’s in a hollow-deck where the entire program will eventually just shut off and he’ll be completely okay. There’s never a feeling that his character is ever in real jeopardy.

POST MORTEM - This movie is filled with overly flashy action scenes and the actors performance are garnished with a lot of cheese. It’s a perfect fun film for the youth who think that life is easy, because mom and dad will always be there to let them stay in their basement playing video games. Mature adults with bore pretty quickly. I definitely won’t be watching this pile of shit a second time. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ [3 of 5 Stars]

STALLONE TURNS UP THE HEAT IN "THE SAMARITAN"

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - THE SAMARITAN [2022] - PG13 - Amazon Prime - Directed by Julius Avery, based on creative works by Bragi Schut, Marc Olivent, and Renzo Podesta. Stars Sylvester Stallone, Javon Walton, Pilou Asbaek, and Dascha Polanco. This is a dark story about two brothers with incredible powers who are at odds with one another; one fallen to evil [called Nemesis], the other follows the life of law and order [called The Samaritan], who wind up in a battle for control that costs one their life. Many years later, living in a city torn with the admiration of the populace living in the Urban Legend of the two brothers, always wondering who won the final battle, who lost, and where they vanished to, a young boy [Walton] meets a mysterious old man [Stallone] and begins to believe that he has stumbled onto one of the survivors of the final battle.

The movie has a slow start, but in small spurts the visual effects fall to the mainstream high action and super hero filled special effects that usually follow in every super hero movie that's been produced in the last ten years. So, there's no surprise at what abilities are presented when the quiet super hero attitude of Stallone's character "Joe Smith" suddenly sparks to life and emotion, and the truth surfaces. Walton seems a little out of his league performing as a surprised teen, finding out that his childhood Urban Legend hero is actually alive and kicking. But he does his part consistently and he grows quickly as a young actor during the entire run of the movie.

THE GOOD - Stallone is playing a usually quiet and dark character, a stigma of his decision to choose roles recently. He looks old and tired in this film, which fits him perfectly for the role. He turns up the intensity as the film progresses and there's just something that he does to bring the house down in style, and I mean that literally. The CGI at the end of the film is pretty impressive for building up the final battle and there are moments where the viewer can honestly believe that their standing in the middle of a fiery inferno. The director chose to shoot this film in a wide-angle format, giving the film an epic feel from beginning to end, which gives the film a larger preview of the background locations and big city feel. The back story is the real mystery and the totally of the cost of life is brought to the forefront, giving a good plot a really good chance to show its true colors.

THE BAD - The start of the film, after the brief history opening, just seems to slow down to a crawl. Plus there are few moments of grand standing by other actors. Walton was obviously picking up some bad habits from the other senior actors around him, as he begins to show some over-acting in some scenes. It's noticeable, but does not alter the films energy. Pilou Asbaek plays the perfect villain for the film, but I can't shake off the fact that his "tremendous presence" makes his performance seem a little over-the-top. I know I sound like I'm being a little bit picky, but these are the only weaknesses to the film that I noticed.

POST MORTEM - This is a solid film where the director seems to have had a eye-opening idea to keep things simple, punch out the better scenes with up close action, and deliver the type of action sequences that seem to look like the production used practical effects instead of making the whole movie look like a CGI video game. Stallone was a perfect cast for the role as Joe Smith and I honestly like that the film didn't go over board and show more than just a localized area of mayhem; keeping the universe of the main story to only a small section of a big city and not the entire world.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️[4 out of 5 Stars]

QUANTUM STORM .357 ISSUE 18 IS RELEASED FOR MARCH 2023

 

QSE .357 ISSUE 18 dtd 3/1/2023

42 Pages

ON THE COVER - Stock Photos
Photoshop by K. Santos

MAIN ARTICLES

Viking Indie Films - Several indie film productions in Texas have taken the Viking genre to the next level with fantastic details in wardrobe. Four indie film teams prepare to release their projects in the fall.

Promoting Your Film - Now that your film is complete and ready for preview. We present the steps to help you promote your film and get fantastic results.

Special Look - We're preparing for our "Spring Break" spectacular! Meet some of the male and female models we will present to you this year.

Indie Film News - Two interesting indie film projects currently in production. Meet the production crews and their actors.

Sneak Peek - Houston PodCast shows are gaining popularity, here's a peek into a story set for release in April.

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