Fantastic Universes

"The End Of The World" Writer / Director:  Sam Catlin Starring:  Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Pip Torrens, Julie Ann Emery, Noah Taylor, Tyson Ritter, Mark Harelik, Graham McTavish, Ian Colletti, Miritana Hughes, David Field, Sue-Ellen Shook, Christopher Kirby, Sally McLean, Mick Preston, Michaela Bedel, Katherine Tonkin, James Martin, Tom O’Sullivan and Jason Geary. Review by Steve J. Ray Summary “The End Of The World” is a fun, action packed, thrilling, and horrific, yet emotional and poignant ending, to a series that’s entertained me and millions around the world for over four years. 2019 saw the end of  Game Of Thrones  and the DC related shows  Gotham ,  Swamp Thing , and  iZombie  too. I’m not going to harp on about how rushed the final season of  GoT  felt, because I thought otherwise it was pretty good.  Swamp Thing  never should’ve been cancelled in the first place,  iZombie  went ou...

“Overture” Director:  Laura Belsey Writer:  Carolyn Townsend Starring:  Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Pip Torrens, Julie Ann Emery, Noah Taylor, Tyson Ritter, Mark Harelik, Graham McTavish, Ian Colletti, Miritana Hughes, David Field, Tai Hara, Renee Lim, Arthur Angel, Sue-Ellen Shoo, Brian Lipson, Francesca Waters, Conor Leach, Christopher Kirby, Marty Rhone and Simon Russell. Review by Steve J. Ray Summary Instruments are being tuned, the choreographers are perfecting their steps, and the warm-up acts are taking to the stage. This is the “Overture”… next comes the Apocalypse. The penultimate ever episode of  Preacher  is aptly titled, though I think another worthy contender for this story’s theme could easily have been “Revelations.” Positives Yes, this epsiode delivers so much, so fast. Eugene the rock star, break-dancing Jesus, selfies with the messiah… and so much more. Genesis appeared in the very first episode and we were...

“Fear Of The Lord” Director:  Iain B. MacDonald Writer:  Wes Brown Starring:  Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Pip Torrens, Julie Ann Emery, Noah Taylor, Tyson Ritter, Mark Harelik, Graham McTavish, Ian Colletti, Tom Brooke, Cam Goodall, Rob Brown, Adam Willson, Lachlan Martin, Karlis Zaid and Adam Rowland Review by Steve J. Ray Summary Preacher 4×08 “Fear Of The Lord” is a masterpiece of modern Television, in my humble opinion. We get Monty Pythonesque humor, shocks, surprises, and so much more. In this episode Jesse Custer meets his maker, we learn the “secret origin” of Herr Starr, there’s a vintage George Romero moment, and we finally catch up with all the events shown at the start of  episode 1 . Positives When last we saw Herr Starr, a dingo was running through the Australian outback with a mouth-full of the All-Father’s junk. As you can imagine this could well be the final straw for a man obsessed with his own physical appearance, a...

"Messiahs" Director:   Iain B. MacDonald Writer:  Mark Stegemann Starring:  Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Pip Torrens, Julie Ann Emery, Noah Taylor, Tyson Ritter, Mark Harelik, Aleks Mikic, Tom Brooke, Julie Dretzin, Tai Hara, Renee Lim, Arthur Angel, Shane McNamara and Christopher Kirby Review by Steve J. Ray Summary Preacher Season 4 Episode 07 “Messiahs” gives us answers. Where did Jesse go after dying last week? Whatever became of the angel Fiore? Just what is up with Hoover 2? Plus, my personal favorite; will we ever see Humperdoo again? The flip-side is, of course, that we get even more questions. What will Jesse decide? Will Jesus follow Hitler’s advice? Where does the Saint of Killers go from here? Grab a pew, make yourself comfortable, and maybe even enjoy a nice chicken dinner… Cassidy did. Positives So, so many. I can’t believe how much happened this week! The scenes between Hitler and Jesus, Cassidy and Tulip, and Jesse and...

"The Lost Apostle" Director:  Jonathan Watson Writer:  Gary Tieche Starring:  Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Pip Torrens, Julie Ann Emery, Noah Taylor, Tyson Ritter, Mark Harelik, Aleks Mikic, Scott Johnson, Archie Thomson, Deone Zanoto, Luke Jacka, Bev Killick and Tony Farrell Review by Steve J. Ray Summary We left Jesse shot and bleeding at the hands of Eugene and the saint of Killers at the end of the  last episode . This shocking turn of events leads directly into “The Lost Apostle” and this week we finally witness the events that led to the shock opening of  episode one , with the Preacher who fell to Earth. Positives The picture is finally becoming clear. Last week Tulip and Cass reunited, and set off on the road to finding their partner in crime. Their arrival in Australia is both hilarious and a clever dig at American cop shows and how their agents treat people. The satire in this series has always been some of the be...

“Bleak City” Director: Jonathan Watson Writer: Susan Hurwitz Arneson Starring: Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga, Joseph Gilgun, Pip Torrens, Julie Ann Emery, Noah Taylor, Tyson Ritter, Miritana Hughes, David Field, Aleks Mikic, Mimi Kwa, Shaun Goss, Sue-Ellen Shook Review by Steve J. Ray Summary Preacher Season 4 Episode 5, “Bleak City” contains so much action and craziness that I had to watch it twice. Jesse goes Miley Cyrus on the Saint of Killers, Love hurts for the Mohawk Angel, Jesus goes on a road trip and Hitler plays racquetball. Please go back and re-read that sentence, because although I wrote it, I still can't believe it. Don't even ask me about the girlfriend, the bar-fight or the dance number mid-episode, set to Queen's "Love Of My Life." After all of that I need to go and have a lie-down. Pat Benatar was right, love IS a battlefield. Positives As if all of the above wasn't enough, with just the merest hint of a smile, we get a hint at ...