Hard Sun is a pre-apocalyptic science fiction crime drama written and created by Neil Cross (Luther, Doctor Who: The Rings of Akhaten, Hide) about a pair of police detectives who are paired together to keep a big secret while being threatened by the CIA about the release of said secret, Hard Sun.

Staring Agyness Deyn (Clash of the Titans, Patient Zero) and Jim Sturgess (Cloud Atlas, Geostorm) in the role of police detectives, they stumble across a flash drive, one that could have serious consequences for themselves and the wider world, they both have differing ideas and motivations about how they should proceed with “Hard Sun”, who should know about this classified information and the wider effect on themselves and the world if the information is released to the public.

Each episode deals with the content very well and hooks the viewer into what would happen if one police detective did one thing with the “Hard Sun” or if the other would do something completely different with the information.

Even though it is a very limited series of 6 episodes, i personally enjoyed it and it was interesting to see the other side to the dystopian world(s). Like how a dystopian world becomes and how certain people deal with it and what they do to either stop it or to get it known to other people that the world is about to end. Probably one of the strongest crime drama series' by the BBC in my opinion, the BBC needs more strong series' like this and why not make them a prolonged series and not just 6 episodes. But i imagine that's not far off what it would be like if the world did come to an end through one way or another, even though it would be more panicky etc. But the premise of this drama is that the public doesn't know yet and what would happen if they did find out. I'm all for more TV series like this, the more storyline and decent plot lines that go into something definitely should be shown and more series' like this produced.

As a short series, it’s really easy to get into and binge-worthy if you like intense television, constantly wanting more as the episodes progress. The end of each episode helps as well with big cliff hangers wanting you to go on and watch the next episode.

I’ve been trying to watch the episodes weekly but as soon as I found out that all of the episodes were streaming on BBC iPlayer, I was straight there, no need to keep waiting weeks after weeks for new episodes

The rating on IMdB is fair at 6.7/10, it is a good television series, but it is very gory, there are constant showings of blood, ‘dead’ bodies, face-to-face combat and the like but arguably without these scenes the programme would not be what it is and would not have reached its potential without but just a warning so you’re prepared. 

As said earlier, you can catch the series in it's entirety on BBC iPlayer, streaming now!

This review is spoiler free, all mentions of locations and plots in the movie have been shown in trailers and mentioned in interviews before the movie was released.

The Last Jedi (TLJ) is unlike any other Star Wars (SW) movie out there. Rather than keeping with the classic Star Wars formula, the director Rian Johnson was not afraid to take risks. This has caused it to be one of the most polarising SW films with fans since the prequels, and possibly The Force Awakens. Some have restarted the familiar battle cry of “Disney has ruined Star Wars” while others have praised it for being the best SW since Empire Strikes Back, or even claiming that it surpasses it. I would personally group myself with the latter half of the fans. The film is enjoyable and in my opinion an improvement to Force Awakens (I still enjoy this film, even though it copied a lot of New Hope) but is not without some faults.

But I believe I should go into the positives first as to not make this movie sound bad. To rehash what I mentioned earlier, a positive of this film is its ability to take risks in a way that change the shape of the galaxy forever. A theme throughout the movie is of moving forward or to loosely quote Kylo Ren, “letting the past die”. TLJ is unshackling itself from the original trilogy and moving into unknown space for most fans. There were several WTF and OMG moments that I’m sure nobody expected, even when the audience thought they could see where something was going, the movie would make a sudden turn and provide an alternative path. Its rare for a movie to surprise people more than once, usually by the middle there is a general idea how the ending will play out, but TLJ keeps you guessing until the credits.

The acting is brilliant throughout with standout performances being Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker, Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Drivers Kylo Ren. Mark Hamill excels as a disgruntled Luke who has no desire to come back to the galaxy, and the film shows him in a new light that nobody would expect. The performance of Rey and Kylo go hand in hand as there is a strong relationship between these two that make them more complex and more than the one-sided characters that critics of TFA said they were. I would also like to mention that Carrie Fishers final performance as Leia serves the character justice and is as badass as ever, with a scene that I’m sure will make the fans go wild. Most of the other writing and performances are well done, with Benicio Del Toro’s character being really interesting by being positioned in a moral grey area in a series of films that like to easily distinguish between dark and light. As a side note, the Porgs are not as bad as people thought they would be, there is actually some funny interactions between them and Chewbacca.

One thing that episode 7 and 8 have got right and I’m sure Lucasfilm has all the desire to allow it was the use of practical sets, props and characters. The sets and props are well built to a level that is believable and the majority of the alien characters look really good without looking like a person in a mask. The worlds of Canto Bight and Crait are familiar but different at the same time from all previous planets in the franchise and are beautiful in their own way. With the many lights and colours of the casinos of Canto Bight and the Red dust being sprayed from the white surface of Crait while speeders glide across it. These sets are complimented with CGI which of course is a must have as not everything can be made into a physical prop or scene. The CGI is used well throughout the whole film, especially during one of the most visually stunning and beautiful space shots set near the end of the 2^nd act of the film. As with most CGI heavy films there are some characters that have had less work done and do look unreal, but this can be easily ignored. One small mention in terms of the music; John Williams as usual creates an amazing soundtrack which fits the tone of each scene of the film wonderfully.

Now onto some points that have stopped the film becoming a masterpiece. Firstly, there is a handful of humour throughout the movie, with some gags feeling at home in a Monty Python sketch. Not to say there aren’t any funny moments, there truly are; but some humour felt very forced and weirdly placed in some scenes of the narrative that kind of pulled me out of the movie. The middle of the film did drag on a little bit, as well as felt a little in your face with messages about the wealthy elite and the cruelty towards animals. I’m not saying that films shouldn’t contain some good messages or ideas but in my opinion, they should be discreetly weaved into the film and not remind the audience (who most want to escape the real world for a few hours) of the difficulties of today.

Some returning and newly created characters did seem a bit pointless to the overall narrative, with their addition of the film not making much difference had they not been in there or their job to forward the plot being handled by somebody or something else. Another minor thing that felt a bit off was between two characters who had a good dynamic with each other throughout the movie, but by the end had developed into something else which did not seem natural and came out of the blue.

But overall Star Wars the Last Jedi is a solid film that does not deserve the hate it is getting. By no means is it perfect (as I have said numerous times), but it strives to achieve new ground for the franchise. I am really interested in the direction J.J Abrams will take Episode 9 as there as so many paths open now for the franchise to go towards. All I hope is that he brings enough creativity to the table to allow a satisfying ending to the trilogy. To all those yet to see the film, I beg of you, go in with an open mind, don’t expect a traditional Star Wars film and when it finishes, rewatch it, and think for a few days about what has happened and why Rian Johnson has made these choices before rushing towards hate.

Film score (may or may not change once I see it a second time): 8/10

Review by Matt Filipiak

the image above does not belong to me or the blog and can be sourced from: 

http://www.starwars.com/news/the-official-title-for-star-wars-episode-viii-revealed

At the beginning of the show the viewers are encountering the main characters in a difficult situation: The planet Bajor rid itself from the Cardassian rule which lasted decades. The Cardassians build a space station called “Deep Space Nine” in close proximity to Bajor to control the planet. A provisional government has been appointed to facilitate the transition process and has asked the United Federation of Planets for help in the transition of Bajor to a free and independent planet.

The station, Deep Space Nine, it was decided, should be equally administrated by Federation and Bajoran personnel, but be led by a Federation officer. The newly appointed Commander Benjamin Sisko has been assigned this difficult task. Not only is he supposed to be the Federation´s representative in this sector and is responsible for the smooth transition of the station into Bajoran control, but also has to mediate between the people living and working on the station who are very different in their cultures and backgrounds.

But Sisko is not alone on the station. On the Bajoran side of his crew he has his First Officer Major Kira Nerys, a resistance fighter for twelve years, who has to find (and struggles with finding) her place in a post-war environment; the Chief of Security, Odo, called “constable”, is responsible for keeping up law and order on the station.

The Federation side is represented by the Science Officer, and good friend of and trusted advisor to Commander Sisko, Jadzia Dax, a Trill; the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Julian Bashir; and finally the Chief Engineer Miles O´Brien, formerly on the USS Enterprise under Captain Jean-Luc Picard. 

Among the inhabitants of Deep Space Nine is the Ferengi businessman and bar owner Quark who functions as the main source for gossip and information regarding the events on the station. His actions cause a lot of trouble for Odo, and bring him into difficult and risky situations, from which he manages to escape from most of the time.

Sisko and his crew have to overcome many struggles, including conflicts with the Cardassians. But the main focus of the first season is on the everyday problems of the cohabitation of people with different faiths, cultures and interests. The end of the war and the occupation time has just been. Wounds are still open, which will take time to heal. The situation can get heated on Deep Space Nine very quickly, because everyone is aware that the made arrangement is only provisional and can come to an abrupt end. The crew of DS9 and its commander have to try to balance the different interests on the station and between the Federation and Bajor. The crew has to learn that they can trust and rely on each other in difficult situations.

Sisko, Bashir, O´Brien and Dax on the one side, and Kira and Odo on the other side have to overcome prejudices against each other, and have to acknowledge the need for cooperation when they want to achieve their goals.

By Anselm 

The image used in this post does not belong to me and can be sourced from: https://www.hulu.com/star-trek-deep-space-nine