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Reviews
Anger Management (2012)
Great start but went down hill in series 3
The first two series of anger management were excellent, and I'd have to list it as one of my favourite sitcom in the past decade. Unfortunately the whole focus of the show, which was the sexual tension between Charlie, Sheens character and Selma Blair's character was totally removed when she left the show and the terrible inclusion of the character, Sean, Absolutely sent this great program down the toilet. The show was no longer funny, and it's no surprise that it ended. God knows why they changed the main character in the show as to me. She was the highlight of series, one and two apart from Charlie Sheen himself.
The Little Things (2021)
Almost bored me to death
To be blunt I cannot find too many redeeming features of this long boring murder film.
I suppose Denzel and Remys acting but even that could not save the drudge that this piece of garbage was.
And to make things worse the film was punctuated by old repetitive music that only added to my annoyance
As the film got a bit more interesting it unfortunately went into an idiotic ending. What sort of experienced detective would have agreed to dig up a wasteland when instructed to by a potential murderer? Surely the detective had the upper hand with his gun!
What could have been an interesting crime film ended up being a badly written piece on nonsense.
Spy Ops (2023)
Will we never learn from history
Episode 1 relating to the war in Afghanistan was difficult to watch without getting angry about the sheer incompetence of the US military
After less than a few months of expert attack on the evil Taliban in conjunction with the wonderful local resistance the USA military allowed the Taliban to simply run from Kabul and started idiot celebrations.
The correct approach would have been to capture and immediately execute all of those evil Taliban members so the people of Afghanistan could finally have the peace they deserve
What a disgrace after 20 years and being defeated by a bunch of thugs given all our military might.
Extraction 2 (2023)
Great film but one annoying character was too much
Overall, extraction, two was an excellent action film. In some ways better than the original but as a number of viewers have also said that boy Sandro was so damn annoying, it diminished the enjoyment of watching the film. I hope so much that he would be killed or at least shot as he caused the death of many people within the film. It is a film that was excellent app until the last part where there is no way a mercenary would've put their weapons down. They would've shot the criminal from Georgia regardless of whether that meant the death of Sandro. Basically, they sacrifice their own team member to save an annoying boy who caused all of the grief. With extraction three, please do not have a character as annoying as Sandro. He made me so angry. I was screaming at the TV which is something I never do. I was yelling leave him behind throw him off a building or just shoot him!
The Sinner (2017)
Obsessive and annoying
I only watched Series 4 and I couldn't even watch all episodes as Harry made me too angry. I ended up skipping to the last 2 episodes. What sort of retired person puts an investigation that he is not even commissioned to do ahead of a beautiful girlfriend that he is lucky to have. Not me I would have left the stupid island and the idiots who lived there to wallow in their own despair. The constant return of the dead person in imagery was very annoying and unnecessary and took away from the series. And there were definitely way too many episodes. This could've been done in six episodes in a much tighter format, making it far more watchable.
Young Wallander (2020)
Young Wallander or Young Fool
The series isn't terrible but it isn't great either and I can't believe they made more than one series. Are the script riders or people who come up with the concept so lazy that the only thing that can come up with is prequel is to successful series. Young Wallander seems to go from one bungalow to the next getting stabbed and beaten up and then not understanding why these things are happening to him. I'm not sure he should be a cop, perhaps some form of do-gooder instead. To have allowed a serious criminal to get the better of him when he had a gun on him is unforgivable. Rather than being promoted, he should've been sent back to basic training.
History 101: The Rise of China (2020)
Wake up call for us in the west
A very telling documentary showing the continuing naïvety of western governments. China has exploited western greed to supercharge their economy at our expense. Now their Belt and Road projects have locked 3rd world countries in blackmail and extortion arrangements. The idiocy of supporting China into the WTO and UN positions has backfired badly with their support of the criminal Russia invasion of the Ukraine. China has used capitalism principles that drove GDP in the 1980s to drive economic growth while in the west companies are focusing on social responsibility programs instead of profitability and efficiency. These are things Governments should focus on not weigh down businesses. The GDP results speak for themselves. Time for the west to wake up and realise China is only interested in itself their approach with COVID is testament to that.
Parfum (2018)
Evil children become evil adults
Overall the series was watchable although I got tired of all the flashbacks, which would have been okay heads. The producers made it clear which kids grew into which adults, as it was not clear till the very last episode. Often the music was way too loud, and you couldn't hear what the dialogue was. Pretty disgraceful that the murderers of a young child got away with it, scott free, just because they themselves were teenagers. I would still lock them up for life. I didn't mind the gratuitous sex side of it, as it was critical to the storyline. Unfortunately, virtually all of the characters were extremely unlikable. Evil man who physically abused the ladies and women who accepted that form of behaviour and even chased after it. What a disgrace. Overall, yes, watchable but not a particularly nice series.
The Great Hack (2019)
One sided guilt trip from people who had no qualms initially
While the subject matter has some merit it was turned into a trump and Brexit bashing exercise, while skilfully glossing over the fact that Trump copied this because of the success Obama had with it eight years earlier. Two of the main people from Cambridge analytics were happy to hobnob with Donald Trump and his executives, enjoying the spoils of the victory. Yet later on went on this documentary to ease their conscience. The whole documentary was high on moral crusading, but very short on actual information showing how the data was used to actually manipulate decisions of voters in the United States in the UK. I think they're giving far too much credit to data analysts that far little regard to the intelligence of individuals in those two countries. I'm neither a citizen of the USA, nor the UK, but I found the entire documentary very biased and very one-sided. I turned off halfway through. What a waste of time.
The Good Nurse (2022)
Two hours of slow moving dialogue
This movie was advertised as a suspense, not sure why as it was obvious from the first 5 minutes who the killer was! It is up to the usual low standard for all made for Netflix films and I found it painfully slow and hard to remain engaged through to the end. The acting was OK, particulalry Jessica Chastain but Eddie Redmayne's performance could easliy have been done by a lesser known actor as I don't believe it stretched his performance whatsoever. Just providing a dark story does not provide an entertaining or an engaging film - the Eddie Redmayne character was not threatening just exceptionally boring. Films made for Nextflix are only watchable if you have absolutely nothing better to do!
Orgasm Inc.: The Story of OneTaste (2022)
Excellent documentary which left me with mixed feelings about its good and bad sides
The documentary was really captivating perhaps because of the subject matter but also how quickly the concept got validation from people globally who were happy to pay thousands of dollars to take courses or join up for a year. While I was very concerned about the latter story related to violence which was not acceptable it's interesting that thousands joined so hopefully the few isolated incidents were uncommon and not supported by OneTaste. As a non American it seems the FBI only get involved in cults if someone mentions any sexual activity. There is one huge cult who never seem to be targeted perhaps because of their celebrity membership? It's a fine line when we pass judgment on consenting adult activity just because it's not the norm. Maybe Nicole was a con artist playing to peoples most primal urges but I am not sure she's a criminal nor warrants the time and resources of FBI investigation.
The Stranger (2022)
Good acting but oh so slow and too long
As an Australian I'm familiar with this awful abduction case in Queensland where a young boy was waiting for a bus, one failed to stop for him and he was never seen again. The bus driver who failed to stop must be feeling terrible. The film starts well and ends well but there is at least 30 minutes of filler in the middle that was nonsense that could've been discarded to make a tighter film. I almost turned off as it was so annoying. Great acting by the two lead characters let down by a poor script that meandered all over the place. A lot of the under cover stuff seemed to go nowhere and became very peripheral to the case.
Blonde (2022)
Ana was great but the movie was terrible
What a disgraceful piece of depressing rubbish. Marilyn may Have had some issues but she was not a complete mental case in the way that the film portrayed her. She was not just a great actor she was also an icon not just of her time but of all time and this movie is an absolute insult to that. As for the guy who played Joe DiMaggio he was nowhere near ugly enough as DiMaggio was one of the ugliest men in history. He should've ended up in jail for the way he treated her. I pray that no one who is depressed watches the film as they are likely to become more depressed. The film should've shown some of Marilyn's highlights at the end shown the potential involvement of the Kennedys in her death.
Borgen: The Future Is Female (2022)
Great but ditch the annoying son
I loved the earlier series and this was very good also but I got tired of Brigittes annoying son and her inability to provide strong parenting. How can someone be a prime minister and foreign minister and he pushed around by a child? And why would a former prime minister live in a house that only had one bedroom and then give up her bedroom to her son ridiculous!
The Coming War on China (2016)
Pro China propaganda
What a one sided piece of garbage. Anyone with any intelligence can see China has converted all these islands in the military bases and as an Australian I am terrified of the fact that the Chinese will try do take over in the western country in the Asia-Pacific region. I welcome any US bases in the Asia-Pacific region and I suggest John Pilger move his living quarters to Shanghai or Beijing.
The Terminal List (2022)
One flashback too many
The series was okay but the continual flashbacks even as I struggled through to episode 6 really annoyed me. The acting was fine but the storyline and script should've focused more on the actual Terminal List to give viewers the full context on who each of those individuals were and how they fitted into the entire series. It's watchable but could've been a lot better especially if they reduced the number of scenes in the dark that made viewing a pain in the butt!
Uncharted (2022)
Worse than Fast and Furious 9
The first hour was acceptable but then it deteriorated into a series of ridiculous fighting scenes and incredulous escapes. I Sound the film tedious and predictable. Please do not impose a sequel to this absolute garbage of a film!
Interceptor (2022)
Absolute rubbish
Yet another terrible made for Netflix film. Don't waste your time watching this terrible film. Dumb plot unrealistic action not one redeeming feature. Some of the lead actors exploits would be better on Ninja Warrior!
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)
Ridiculous portrayal of a great era
Ive watched the first episode and it is terrible. Everyone comes across as an idiot. Jerry West is portrayed as a psycho and Norm Nixon as an ego maniac. And I hate the talking to the camera rubbish- how cheap! I was expecting quality like the Last Dance not a stupid parody. Give it a miss!
Quantico (2015)
90210 meets the FBI
The show was ruined by the constant back and forth from current to the past which was never ending! Too many stupid people that were caught up with personal nonsense rather than Focusing on being FBI agents. They weren't even smart enough to solve a minor theft from a supermarket let aline global terrorist activity. And 22 episodes in a series is way too many. Overall a series that could've been excellent but ended up being too focused on soap opera type activity and trying to be too clever with white too many twists and double agents.
No series 2 for me.
Dicte (2013)
Series 1-2 great series 3 terrible
I loved the first 2 series but the 3rd series was hopeless. A constantly self absorbed Dicte screaming at people is not enjoyable TV! I love great crime series I'm not interested in soap operas divorces long lost siblings appearing. Series 3 was painful to watch no wonder it did not continue- what were the writers thinking turning everyone into an emotional wreck!!!
The Box (2009)
Disgusting nonsense don't waste your time
What a disgraceful film. Absolute garbage that should never have been produced. I hated every minute of it and question the mental and moral intelligence if the film producer.
Elsewhere (2009)
Seen better Elsewhere
The film is watchable but nothing more. It actually could've been a good low budget horror film with a bit of eroticism but failed on both counts. Anna Kendrick was fine as was get library partner but the guy who played the local cop was as bad an actor as I've seen for decades!
The Flight Attendant (2020)
Drama or unfunny comedy?
This could Have been a really good murder mystery had they stuck to making this some form of drama not a really bad comedy. The acting is fine and the premises good but the flashbacks were really annoying as were the split screens. After watching episode one I could not force myself to watch any more episodes it's just not my sort of show. I think Kylie Curaco is fantastic but please give me either comedy or a proper murder mystery. This should've been something like North by Northwest where Cary Grant was set up with all sorts of murders not made into a confusing comedy drama.
The Mauritanian (2021)
Ok but not great
Great acting and good basis for a compelling film but the slow pace made it difficult to retain interest watching this at home. And I cannot stand the current film trend of continually going back in time rather than flowing chronologically. Good film compared with rubbish films available but not great.