Reviews

How can a movie that is packed to the rafters with amazing actors be so bad? No idea. But it's happened.

This 'Meet The Parents' trope has been done so many times before and this movie brings nothing new to the format.

It is billed as a comedy but has no laugh-out-loud moments. There is a really sharp social commentary in the film, but that doesn't blend with humour.

The writing is weak. The storylining is predictable. None of the characters are particularly likeable (Except perhaps Mo, Ezra's podcast Co-host, I liked her).

At 2 hours long, the movie could easily have been trimmed. It took me three separate sittings to get through, it just wasn't an easy watch.

This show was teased on Netflix with the tagline "Like an edgier 'Never Have I Ever' set in London".

Whilst both shows involve a coming-of-age story that comes with a bucket list to complete, the shows don't share a lot of other DNA.

"Everything Now" just seems to try too hard. The casting feels purposely, rather than naturally, diverse. In an attempt to recreate youth, the show feels like it has sat down with a checklist to cover every possible trope.

None of the characters or friendships seem authentic. Everything feels forced and the show is trying too hard to be edgy and cool, which detracts from what could be a really good story idea.

We live in a time where we are quite aware of how TV series are formatted to drag us in and take us on a journey.

I knew nothing of the story before I started watching but expected it to be yet another paint-by-numbers thriller from a streaming service. But I was very wrong.

It takes you on a rollercoaster of a ride, but no twist or turn is ever predictable.

It's a show of two acts, the first act conc,using in episode 4. The final three episodes are mostly wrap up, explaining everything that happened in the earlier episodes and giv8ng you an insight into all the lead character's psyches.

Equal parts disturbing and delightful, you stay hooked throughout and the final episode doesn't end on a huge moment, it's quite subdued, but also jaw-dropping.

You just have to watc( it and watch it all.

I really wanted to like this. The movie has a great cast and, to give them their due, the weakness isn't in the cast performance here, they do a great job with the dire material they have to work with.

There's nothing new or original about the story. It's a poor British attempt to replicate an American high school movie trope that has been told a thousand times. I'm unsure how you can remake a movie that has been made so many times before yet get it so wrong.

I get that the design of the film is supposed to be slightly off the wall, but it borders on cartoonesque. If it not for the occasional swear word or discussion of sex toys, this could be an episode of any Nickelodeon or Disney show.

The characters, writing and story is all paper thin.

I'm really unsure who the audience is for this, it's too adult in content for the tween audience, it's too immature for older young adults, it doesn't have the sarcasm or self-awareness to please an older audience.

I really had low expectations for this film. I saw a short clip on social media and added it to my watch list because it seemed fun.... The run time was also short at around 100 minutes.

Whilst it -at first - appears like a spoof, it's actually a really gripping story. I had fun trying to (and failing) work out whodunnit. There were definitely spoof moments, but there was substance there too, they even dared to criticise some thing ps that Back to the Future got wrong.

Overall, it isn't going to be winning any Oscars, but for a fun watch, I would definitely give it a go.

Decent 80s soundtrack too!

This movie kind of threw me, with the casting and the premise, I had expected s9methung deeper and darker, but it turned out t9 be a fun, bouncy comedy.

Toni Collette is superb, as you would expect, but you get the feeling that the role was written for Melissa McCarthy, it's that kind of film. A few gruesome bits, it is about the mafia, after all, but plenty of chuckles and just a fun film to watch.

I could actually envisage sequels of this, no spoilers, but the end leaves Toni's character open for a while host of stories and I would be here to watch them.

Not an Oscar winner, but absolutely worth a watch.

The film begins establishing that 57 year old Liz Hurley is mother to a newborn baby.

The grasp on reality just gets further away from this point on.

I picked this film because it was 89 minutes long as 90 minute movies tend to have a good pace and easy to watch. This film felt much, much longer than a compact hour and a half.

Of that 89 minutes, over 10 minutes of it was Billy Ray Cyrus singing various songs from his back catalogue. All the time he is on screen you can't help but stare at his poorly dyed beard.

The writing is poor, characters are paper thing and there doesn't seem to be an awful lot of story.

It's too sentimental to be a jaunty festive comedy, it's too light and vapid to be a meaningful piece of cinema. It's just lots of nothing.

It's a shame, because there are a lot of excellent actors on screen, but everything else about this film is awful.

Jam packed to the rafters with cliches, but that's what you want from a Christmas movie, right?

You have many normal Christmas movie tropes being rolled out and the age old story of falling in love with someone of a different class is being told with no new twists, but you don't mind.

The film does exactly what you want it to with an excellent cast and it's a perfect film to sit down on a cold winters evening and enjoy. The film looks great as well, with a lot of detail on the locations and special effects.

I'm looking forward to sitting down and watching the sequel that was filmed immediately afterwards.

Saw this and decided to dive into an episode.

My suspicions were aroused when they talked about the cruise, a 7 night cruise up the British Columbia coast in November... not a cruise that happens.

A quick google took me to a website that explains the show.

It's basically a (poorly acted and written) drama, not a documentary.

In most cases there is a small item of fact that is extrapolated with the year, location, name and circumstance changed. Some episodes are based on cases from 100 years ago but are presented as modern-day events.

The episode I watched wasn't a Washington State couple cruising Alaska in November as depicted on screen, it was a Chinese couple cruising from Hong Kong on an overnight casino cruise.

The show interviews fake family, friends, cruise line employees and does not go out of its way to inform viewers it is a work of fiction.

This show is a hard pass.

I recently rewatched this series for the first time in years and loved it all over again.

Amazing casting, hilarious storylining and gorgeous representation of growing up gay in pre-millennium Britain.

Gloriously camp and OTT, but rooted in real life experience, every episode has you laughing out loud. There's some really clever writing (and some industry in-jokes I missed the first time round) and guest characters that help flesh out a fantastic ensemble... you know that anything Olivia Colman is in will be fantastic and she brings the maternal character t9 life brilliantly.

Set primarily in 1997/1998 thee are a few anachronisms with a lot of 80s cultural references, but you can overlook that for the sheer joy that the rest of the show is.

I am really torn here. I watch the show, I even sometimes enjoy watching it, but also appreciate it is a dreadful piece of television.

It is clearly inspired by Death in Paradise, but The Good Ship Murder makes Death in Paradise look like it was written by Shakespeare.

It's some lazy formatting by Channel 5, they've seen the success of Death in Paradise and sprinkled in some Jane McDonald (down to having the lead character close every episode with a song) and try to pass it off as entertainment.

Storylining is primary school level. Totally unbelievable. Tenuous links. The lead character, Jack, would be arrested for the way he inserts himself into cases, ruining crime scenes and evidence. His Moroccan assistant (5 episodes in and I still haven't learnt his name) is omni-present, one day working in housekeeping, the next day behind the bar, the next day room service, but always has copious amounts of shore leave to be Jack's sidekick.

They've shoe-horned in a "will-they/won't they" romance as well. It really is painting by numbers television. Even by Channel 5 standards, this isn't good quality TV.

That being said, I've watched every episode. Admittedly, most of my time has been spent screaming at the TV about plot holes, inaccuracies, poor scripting and continuity issues. The main redeeming feature is that Shayne Ward is actually fantastic in it. He comes across really well and actually manages to deliver a dreadful script with some kind of sincerity. He deserves an award.

This movie is likely the future of film if we move to scripts being generated by AI. It feels like they threw every rom-com and college movie trope into a generator and this came out the other end.

Full of implausibilities and plot holes, the story plods along and it's hard to get invested in it because every action is ridiculous. You almost start a game of guessing which stereotypical story they will dive into next.

The concerning thing is if the main roles were reversed, Zoey lost her memory and Zach lied about who he was, it would actually be a dark story about predatory behaviour. But because the girl lies, it's a bouncy rom-com.

That being said, for all the things that make it a paint-by-numbers film, it is extremely watchable. It has a Hallmark-movie-for-Taylor-Swift-fans vibe to it and it is visually enjoyable. The cast is truly great, the material they have to delivery isn't meaty, but they do so in a realistic way and each person brings their character to life well.

I'm very confused how Andie McDowell and Heather Graham got caught up in all of this.

So, stick the movie on on a Sunday afternoon - it's fun, it's well produced, but don't expect a storyline or script that will blow you away. You guess the entire arc of the film in the first 10 minutes. But it is watchable and even, for some, enjoyable.

I'd had this on my "watch" list on Netflix for quite a while and finally decided to watch tonight.

I lasted 28 minutes before I gave up. Aside from the fact that it was a bunch of girls preparing from their Bat Mitvahs, I couldn't tell you what the story was about. I couldn't tell you how the characters were connected.

I just saw a lot of girls squealing, Idina Menzel grinning and Adam Sandler grunting.

There was nothing to hold my attention and found myself drifting off pretty quickly. I have no idea what the movie is trying to do or who it is aimed at.

It's a shame, Adam Sandler films vary in quality, but are normally watchable. Not this time.

A stunning series of love stories set around two seemingly separate groups of friends in Barcelona.

The story tells the challenges of love in the modern age, the main story is based on two gay men, one, hedonistic, a scene queen who says he wants meaningful relationships, but is motivated by lust and casual sex sex with hot guys. The other, an older, educated, professional man who searches for true meaningful connections, but is still drawn to the handsome, younger man.

It exposes the flaws in gay culture, the internal conflict that so many people face and the connection between what we want and what we seek.

Every single other character has their own story of loves lost. It all comes together to create a beautiful story.

The one negative is that, especially in earlier episodes, it can border on being cheesy, almost like a Hallmark movie, which detracts for the drama of the story a little.

It's a shame that more Engkish@speakers won't watch subtitled or dubbed shows, as "Smiley" is excellent.

The saviour here is a cast of attractive young actors and a sexually charged narrative.

But the actual storytelling is weak and cliched.

The creators of this show had clearly watched Bad Education and Alex Education and thought they could just copy and repeat, but it doesn't work. The story is spread too thing across a large variety of characters with no clear indication what they are trying to go for with the story. The storyline is highly sexually charged, a bit of non-explicit nudity, sexual talk, lots of homoerotic situations... but it still isn't enough to nake it interesting.l

Miseducation is a misfire, I'm afraid to say.

I watched episode 1 of this to see what it is all about, not really expecting it to be something I watched to completion. It quickly hooked me in as the story - and main character - began to unravel.

I'd expected sometime of action crime drama, maybe something with comedic value it in, what you got was a harsh psychological thriller set to the backdrop of upper middle class suburbia (albeit in Barcelona). It reminded me of something hat Harlan Coben would write, but maybe a tad grittier. Some of the action sequences verged on being camp, like a Mission Impossible movie.

The show plays tricks with you through the show and you never really know who the goodies and the baddies are (what is good and bad?) and half way through the run they make good use of a flashback episode to give you the protagonist's ordinary story.

I ended up being watching in 3 sittings. Overall, it was a great show however, they could have edited it down to be at least one episode less than it was. Worth a watch.

If you're a fan of Aussie television, you MUST watch Five Bedrooms. Witty, observant, thought-provoking but funny, it is a perfectly formed piece of drama/comedy.

5 individuals all at different stages of their lives, choose to buy a house together as it is the only way they can afford to live independently in Melbourne's soaring property market.

Each character has a well formed backstory, each person is flawed but they come together to create a unique situation and a beautiful bond.

A fantastic tiara of guest characters make the universe seem very believable. I'm up to season 4 now and haven't felt a dip in the story, writing or performances at all. A fantastic show.

When I saw the film was subtitles rather than dubbed I almost didn't watch but I'm glad I did.

What starts off as a rather campy romp actually turns into quite a gripping story. Time travel movies are as old as time but this one actually gives a new spin to the genre.

By the end I was really invested in the characters and really loved where the story took them in the final few scenes. Pilar and Rodrigo were my two favourite characters, especially Pilar finding herself through modern day values.

This is well worth a watch and well worth reading the subtitles. I may have to watch a second time to pick up all the bits I missed.

I had high hopes for this movie. I was a fan of early Take That and watched the TV Reality Show "Let It Shine" which preceded the stage version of this movie.

In watching, it just didn't gel. The story wasn't fully fleshed out, the premise had promise, but it never followed through. The music, for the most part, seemed to get in the way. There was a huge potential for nostalgia and we never got that. Aside from the throwback reveal at the end of act 2, I was never anxious to see how the story progressed.

The main cast were good. "The Boys" lacked the charisma of believable pop idols. The performances of most of the songs were flat. The thing I look forward to the most about a jukebox musical is the energy of familiar songs, but they all seemed to just act as background music.

It's an OK Sunday afternoon watch but it doesn't have the feel good vibes or the musical energy that I was hoping for. I'd long wanted to see the stage musical but now I'm really not bothered about it.

So, the synopsis dragged me in. I started watching and wondered if it was for me... the first episode starts quite slowly (aside from the dramatic road rage incident). But by the end of the first episode I was intrigued, by the end of episode 3 I was obsessed.

It is very cleverly written, intricate strands of story that slowly come together. Deep emotion. It's not a punchline comedy, but there were a few laugh.-out-loud moments.

Every single actor on the show is amazingly talented and brings stellar performances.

Well worth watching.

Another point that I loved is that it is a majority Asian cast but the ethnicity isn't a main part of the story.

I can only presume that the 10/10 reviews are made by people involved in this film or their friends and family.

For what it is, essentially, a movie enthusiast making an elaborate home movie, I guess it is OK, but it's not something you ever want to watch, unless you're watching ironically.

If you ever watched "The Goldbergs" where Adam Goldberg would get his friends and family to star in his home video remakes of famous films... well this is what happens when one of those home videos finds it's way onto Amazon Prime.

I'm honestly surprised that the copyright holders for Knight Rider haven't gone after this.

The only Black Mirror episode I haven't been able to finish.

It took three goes to get into the story and then moved at such a glacial pace that, aside from the big event that happens about half way in, nothing really seems to happen. What does happen is laborious and obvious.

I came onto IMDb, read a few reviews, saw it wasn't going to get any better and so came out of the episode. This season opened strong with Joan is Awful. Loch Henry was good (although was more a straight-up thriller than Black Mirror) and then drastically dips with this.

Black Mirror is a show that can do almost anything, but it chose to do this.

I knew this was going to be slightly offbeat.... But I honestly don't understand what this is all about.

I gave up at episode 6, I tried really, really hard to get into the show.

The premise is good, the cast are excellent, but it doesn't come together for anything at all. I feel that the writers have RSI from slapping each other on the back, telling each other how amazing and smart the show is. I'm surprised it has been green lit for a second season.

I'm finding it hard to write this review, because I honestly couldn't tell you anything about the show, it really just is that wet. Good luck if you choose to watch.

The show looks and feels a lot richer than I had expected and is clearly influenced by HBO a series from the USA.

The first episode drags you in with the rich 80s vibe and killer soundtrack... it's setting a lot of stuff up for the rest of the series. The story is a little slow burn but when it gets going, it gets going.

It's a bit of a romp, anyone looking for hardened realism will be brutally disappointed, but I think a lot of people have forgotten what entertainment is supposed to be. Not everything has to be full on all the while.

And.. Martha Plimpton... WOW! I was a little shocked when I saw she was in a Sky original production, then when I realised she was playing a British character I was surprised, but she nails it. I love her as an actress and I love her role as the matriarch in this.

This is a really good film.

But whoever was in charge for marketing this film needs to lose their job. It is sold in every way as a RomCom. The name of the film, the images just in publicity, even the synopsis reads as a RomCom.

What this movie really is is a deep look at mental health. About struggles we may have in life and the things we think we need to make our problems go away. It's a really challenging piece about society and the world we live in. It's many things. But it is not a Romantic Comedy.

There are outstanding performances from the two leads (who carry about 95% of the whole film).

It really jumps around, there are lots of changes of direction, just when you think you know where it's going, a new layer is revealed.

But because of the awful job done by the marketing team, the audience that will truly appreciate the film will probably pass it by.

People expecting a RomCom will be frustrated, turn off after 15 minutes and leave a bad rating and review.