gce2308 Reviews

I Am Love (2009)

I am curious

[6/10 · 13 August 2022]

I watched it till the end, so that's "3" for that; I loved all that gorgeous Italian scenery; I kinda liked the wistful feel to everything, so that's "2" - until I just got bored and realised it was all pretty meh really. Then it pissed me off. I bet not one woman would admit to their spouse, at the funeral of their son, to having an affair. That's just spectacularly cruel. But why did she have to leave in a such a damn rush? Was hubby going to "mafia" her? If so, I wanted to see that part of the movie! Might have increased my rating. Maybe.

Once Were Warriors (1994)

Watching in 2022 ... god-awful

[3/10 · 16 March 2022]

I'd never seen this movie before. I remember a big deal being made of it back in the mid-nineties, but watching it in 2022 it's just plain bad. Horribly bad. I was astounded at how bad the acting was and it actually made me laugh. Add the abysmal script and that awful domestic violence scene and I'd had enough. It has not aged well at all!

Outback Ringer (2020–2022)

Love this show

[8/10 · 15 March 2022]

As an Aussie with ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA of how all this works in my own country, I loved being able to see these amazingly tough, hard working, true blue folk live their lives. LOVED IT. Thoroughly recommend. 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺

Destroyer (2018)

Loved it.

[8/10 · 11 March 2022]

Thought it was a fantastic film.

The only thing bad about it was Nicole's wig. Otherwise I felt every single bit of what she was experiencing/going through. Loved the way the "back in time" was added in. IMO, it was a great movie.

Lieve Mama (2020–2021)

Was good, until I thought ....

[7/10 · 29 October 2021]

I think everyone's being just a tad harsh about this short Dutch series. I love anything Nordic. I think they make good suspenseful films/series. I found this series extremely suspenseful and I felt every second of the female lead's stress and terror at being found out. I thought her acting was excellent. I watched the whole lot all in one sitting (because of the very short episodes; easy to do!) and enjoyed every exciting minute until at the end when all of a sudden I thought ... why wouldn't you just drop everything into the sea??? D'oh!!! Doesn't matter. All is forgiven. I still enjoyed it - ALOT!

David Brent: Life on the Road (2016)

Loved it. TOTALLY!

[7/10 · 26 October 2021]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ricky Gervais.

So yeah - I am completely biased. And proud of it.

He is an absolute master of nuance and don't forget that he directs his co-stars to master that art too. And they're ALL fantastic in this film.

His observation of the human condition is absolutely brilliant. But I really do believe a lot of people just DO NOT GET his humour or the subtleties of it. I believe it justvgoes totally over their heads.

Who doesn't know a David Brent anyway, right? And did you see the need & insecurity in that person? Or were you an intolerant, cynical ar*ehole to him/her just because you felt super superior?

And yes, it IS more of the same old David from "The Office" - (many) warts and all.

And thank "goodness" for that!

Because Ricky Gervais Is exceptionally GOOD at everything he does. IMO.

Fisk (2021– )

No. Yes. No. Yes. Yes. Hell, yeah!

[8/10 · 22 May 2021]

That's how Fisk tracked for me over the 6 episodes.

Got funnier and funnier towards the end.

Finished up loving it.

Julia I like more and more, and she's a great actress too!!! Who knew?!

I have ALWAYS loved both Kitty and Julia - and in this they are just wonderful.

11 Minutes (2015)

Was fixated

[8/10 · 30 April 2021]

Well, I loved it. I was fascinated from the start and enjoyed every single minute. Cannot understand all the low ratings. I just want to be entertained, I don't want to (or need to!) critique every aspect of the film making. Last scenes are BRILLIANT!!!

City on a Hill (2019–2022)

Bad move, Kev!

[5/10 · 29 March 2021]

Kevin Bacon's character is so obnoxious & the acting so OTT it just put me off the whole show. And don't even get me started on THAT accent! Love Kevin Bacon, but NOT in this!

City on the Hill (2020)

Bad move, Kevin!

[5/10 · 29 March 2021]

Kevin Bacon's character is so obnoxious it put me off the whole show. And don't even get me started on THAT accent!

The Affair (2014–2019)

The Horror of The Affair

[6/10 · 25 September 2020]

I've watched all 4 Seasons. So obviously I was engaged with the whole thing, kept me interested. Parts of it pretty ridiculous, and "Helen" a constant pain in the arse, but whatever.

The ONLY reason I am writing this review is to say how utterly hideous the theme "song" to the series is. I could not wait to hit "Skip Intro" so I would not have to hear one second of it!!! So goddam awful 😱.

Just needed to vent about that! Thanks for listening.

Total Control (2019–2024)

Total crap.

[4/10 · 25 November 2019]

The sex in the stairway of the pub, or wherever they were, totally lost me. In fact it enraged me. I was already irritated by the over-earnestness of Mailman and Griffiths up to that point but that totally unnecessary scene jumped the shark. See, I have to believe the character WOULD do something like that and Alex is SO stitched up and SO determined to do good this was totally out of character and really stupidly careless, so it just put me right off. And of course we must have the gay guys story line in there, plus a relationship between Alex and a married man just to enrich the tale. Seriously. I just found the characters completely unbelievable for the most part, the story was predictable and it was oh so slow. I always try to support Aussie film but this was just weak and quite plainly dislikeable for the most part.

El embarcadero (2019–2020)

Esta crap

[2/10 · 18 May 2019]

Have watched 2 episodes and can't watch anymore. The over-dramatic, bordering on the hysterical, scenes by the lead lady are too much to bear. She over-acts something awful as do the rest of the cast. The Spanish always seem to do this -they load the drama on way too thick. Enough, already.

Dead Lucky (2018)

So very, very bad

[2/10 · 5 August 2018]

I try to support Aussie film/TV so tuned in to this offering even though I was already mightily put off by the promo of a scene with Griffiths muttering "Don't be dramatic" to a colleague. By the same token that very thing also drew me to it, because I could not believe the acting could possibly be THAT BAD. Turns out I was right the first time. Rachael Griffiths plays a thoroughly annoying character, with her dead-pan voice and OTT smart-arse dialogue. The acting all round is woeful but it is mostly Griffiths' contribution to this uninspiring steaming pile of crap that totally turned me off.

Aber Bergen (2016–2018)

I kept noticing the dirty windows in Erik's office....

[3/10 · 21 April 2018]

So ... I guess I wasn't too invested in this series since my attention was clearly wandering a bit. The storyline of the actual cases that this lot of very dislikable lawyers deal with are kind of interesting, because I've hung in for 6 episodes and I love all things nordic (usually), but this smug, self-satisfied bunch of people have me wishing something bad happens to a few of them - especially to both of the leads. Way too-cool-for-school are they, and the latent sexual tension bit is uber-annoying. Maybe the son's drug drama shakes them up a bit to make them act like real people, so I might just wait to see how that pans out, but otherwise - nup, I think I'm done.

Fortitude (2015–2018)

Fortitude. It's another name for "guts", right?

[4/10 · 6 September 2017]

Fortitude. It's another name for "guts", right?

Someone's idea of a joke to give the stupid thing that title, I guess. And boy oh boy, there sure are lots and lots and lots of guts to be seen in this very disappointing heap of garbage. Started out OK, got progressively sillier in Season 2, and I agree with another reviewer who talked about the numerous gory parts, some of which were just plain sickening. I was so hoping Sheriff Dan would die very early on, his voice got more and more annoying as time passed - even more so than his awful over-acting and extra-cheesy grin. And a special mention for the blonde lady cop's way of speaking. Chalkboard. Fingernails. Had my suspicions things were getting weird at the end of S1, and I really hoped it would get better, but it just got worse. Mind you, because it was getting too weird I did lose interest in parts and played some Candy Crush. So I must have missed what happened to the kid that first got possessed. Where did he and his mother go? Who cares. Avoid.

Offspring (2010–2017)

How utterly embarrassing

[1/10 · 4 August 2017]

I had heard so much about this show and all the "rave" reviews, and since I am looking for a long series of something decent to watch, I thought I'd just check out a couple of the Season 7 episodes currently being shown here in Australia, to see if it was worth starting from the very beginning.

I'll need to look elsewhere - because this show blows hugely.

I am embarrassed to think that other countries are seeing this steaming pile of garbage. Individually, quite a few of the actors have done some really good work - in other Australian productions. But this load of crap called "Offspring" does them no favours.

EVERYONE over-acts so much it's positively laughable. Especially the Nina and Billie characters. They are not 'quirky', they are simply annoyingly stupid.

I'm more than prepared to suspend belief to a certain extent when I watch films/TV shows but this is in a whole other realm of 'fantasy'.

I felt nothing but extremely irritated, even angry, whenever Nina or her sister appeared on-screen with their stupid dialogue and over-reactive facial expressions to what seems like EVERYTHING.

It beggars belief that it has lasted a whole 7 Seasons. Has it been a gradual decline into what is now absolute nonsense?

I understand this is the last Season. I'm not surprised!! Thank god it is being retired and will thankfully no longer be shown on our screens.

Good riddance.

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Yep, it's pretty bad.

[3/10 · 22 July 2017]

Alien should have stopped at Aliens - absolutely and without a doubt.

However, for all of us here who are totally bagging this movie, Ridley Scott has simply served up what he knows full well the majority of the movie-going public wants. By that I mean what millions of people world-wide, who do NOT take things as seriously (or dare I say pompously) as us critics here want. And it's what they have always wanted - and always will want - cheap thrills. It puts bums on seats. Not to mention a ka-ching in the likes of Sir Ridley's and the movie studio's pockets.

A:C supplies those cheap thrills by the bucket load. Lots of frantic action, lots of noise, a reasonable dollop of fear and tension, plenty of jump scares, lots and lots and lots of blood and gore. And a nude couple shower scene (really?why?), and 2 android men kissing (wtf??why???) added in just for good measure and purely to titillate.

There are millions of dumb-asses in the movie-going world that totally love all that stuff. Because they don't go to the movies to think or make sense of anything, they really don't WANT to think too deeply about, well - anything really!

It's called escapism. And A:C is just right for those folks. Therefore it's pretty safe to say millions of people would have loved it more than those of us who hated it, although I do note the haters outnumber the lovers by almost half the reviews here as at current date.

I've forgotten pretty much everything about the stupid thing now, except being amused at how useless those green laser light "torches" were - for some reason that is the only thing that has remained stuck in my memory. I mean when you're stumbling around in dark, scary places with slimy black alien things wanting to pounce and rip your head off you'd want a fairly decent Zebralight SC600 Mk III to see them coming at least, surely.

Anyhow - just because of Blade Runner and Alien and Gladiator and Thelma and Louise - I, for one, will forgive you for A:C, Sir Ridley.

Billions (2016–2023)

Totally awful

[1/10 · 20 March 2017]

(Many spoilers here)

Watched Series 1 & 2 episodes of S2. Why? The high rating fooled me - yet again. Kept hoping it would get better. After all, there are some big name (usually pretty good) actors in the mix. It did not get better, certainly not for me anyway.

I mean, just for starters, surely there would be a massive conflict of interest with the husband and wife working for opposite/opposing sides - this surely would not work at all in the 'real' world. It's not the least bit plausible, and very silly stuff. (*And yes, I am able to suspend belief for 'arts' sake, but on some things I just can't - not when everyone is taking things oh so seriously.)

And everyone overacts - a lot. Especially the 2 male leads. And the main female lead, the lady who is the "person whisperer" or whatever the hell she's supposed to be? Now that really stretches the imagination (see * above). But the very earnestness of those scenes were quite funny and at least made me laugh.

Said lady also plays the part of hubby's dominatrix - when he's not off at the S&M club finding someone else to fill in. Can she not work her magic and deliver her husband from the grip of his unfortunate proclivity - which you just know is eventually going to do him in bigly further down the track.

Nope. When you are at the point where you are hoping all the lead actors die horribly, you've seen enough.

I think the bit that actually earned my total and final contempt was the scene where Axelrod puts his feet up on his desk and the snowy white soles of his runners/trainers, front and (almost) centre of the screen, have not one tiny, teeny speck on them.

Then I thought ... hey, maybe that was just the Director's way of taking the p**s. Because of course ... Axelrod walks on air!

Now THAT I appreciate.

Midnight Sun (2016)

So far - loving it, but early days of course.

[9/10 · 16 December 2016]

I love foreign movies. Especially any Nordic type ones. So of course I was drawn to this the minute I saw it advertised down here on SBS television in Australia. I've only watched episode 1. The first 3 minutes certainly got my interest, that's for sure. Pretty shocking.

The self harm bit early on at the traffic lights by our heroine made me roll my eyes and I thought oh god no, not this old chestnut again as part of the storyline, pah-leeese!! It actually irritated me enough to think about turning it off right then and there.

BUT ... I'm so glad I didn't. Because by the 36th minute I was shocked/horrified (again), gripped - and now totally hooked! Gotta love those Swedish film makers; this is great stuff and looks like being something pretty damn good.

And the back story of the self harm and our heroine's personal angst has so far not been expanded upon, so I guess that is yet to come. But all is forgiven! I'm liking everything else too much to feel annoyed by it anymore.

I was only going to watch 1 episode then off to bed - but no, I am absolutely compelled to watch just one more episode - at least!

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years (2016)

Sadly a bit "meh"

[5/10 · 21 September 2016]

Saw this documentary last night. Grew up a true Beatles fan, adored them/all their music. Still do, in fact. Played Sgt. Pepper most of the day today. And through the years I have seen just about every doco ever made about the band.

But when I went to see them at the age of 16 at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia in 1964 I felt utterly cheated and so very, very disappointed by the "live" experience for 2 main reasons.

(1) I expected them to sound EXACTLY like their records (yeah, I know, very naive) – and they didn't.

(2) What I could hear I thought sounded god-awful – and the reason I couldn't hear properly (despite the obviously crap sound system, etc. available at the time) was because I was surrounded by shrieking, screaming, hysterical teenage girls. (And it was clear to me most of the girls were over-doing the hysteria big time. Annoying.)

Which brings me to this latest doco. I thought maybe I would be seeing more behind the scenes interaction between the group, I thought perhaps I would be seeing more 'not seen before' type interviews, I thought I might hear more information about their respective family lives in the early years during their meteoric rise to fame 63-67. But no, none of those things really happened at all.

What was there, and in plentiful proportion to absolutely everything else, was vision after vision of shrieking, screaming, hysterical teenage girls! As you might imagine, this was less than impressive to me. And by that I mean - BORING!

I totally agree with what another reviewer said, it was more like one long Newsreel.

I definitely would not recommend this documentary and, not for the first time, let me say I am incredulous at the high IMDb rating.

Stranger Things (2016–2025)

Definitely for the under-12's

[1/10 · 25 August 2016]

There's just one thing that really impressed me about this series and that is the high IMDb rating given to this heap of garbage.

I say this because I find it utterly amazing that the reviewers who rated this steaming pile of excrement with 9's and 10's must surely ALL be under 12 years of age, and yet they have somehow managed to write reviews that, for the most part, are well worded, grammatically correct and with very few spelling errors. So - well done, kids!!

For anyone over 12 years of age - please, just stay right away from this stinker.

(PS: Would it have hurt to have given poor "11" a Kleenex tissue or two?)

Mother (II) (1996)

Just plain annoying

[1/10 · 16 August 2016]

OMG. How did some people rate this movie highly? This old (1996) movie was shown on daytime TV today and since I'm home sick with flu I watched it. Maybe being sick has made me especially cranky, but I found this movie to be one of the most annoying things I have ever watched. It was nothing but a constant, unrelenting whinge-fest. And Albert Brooks - aaaaargh!! Just shut the hell up, ffs!!! I wanted to shout those words at the screen several times throughout. I kept hoping it would get better but it just got worse. And Debbie Reynolds, whom I have always liked in just about anything she has been in, had none of her usual warmth - in fact I found her character quite cold and, oddly, even a bit cruel. Maybe that's why the 2 sons were both so whiny. OK, I think I've said enough so I'll just finish by saying, please, please, please don't bother watching this pile of crap, find something else to do because it will just leave you feeling annoyed. A real dud of a movie.

Scandal (2012–2018)

You must be joking ....

[1/10 · 23 January 2016]

I've just watched (to my shame) the first 3 episodes. Just can't do anymore. It's all way too terrible. What's wrong with you people who are giving this tripe such high scores! Have you not watched anything decent?? Like the West Wing, Damages, Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, Rectify, The Knick, heaps of others. Clearly not - because if you had you would have had something decent to compare it to and therefore would have been bored shitless with this utter garbage by episode 3 just like me. I'm struggling to find more printable words to make the 10 line minimum review on this god-awful mess of a series full of the most ridiculous story lines being played out by smug, self-satisfied extremely dislikable characters who are just plain irritating. Please don't bother with this crap.

Deadwood (2004–2006)

And it started out so well ...

[6/10 · 12 January 2016]

Just watched the whole 3 series of this show and am just left feeling a bit "is that all there is?".

In fact I'm really, really disappointed – because I started out loving it. Lots of things to like, the theme song, the cinematography, the costuming. And Ian McShane a stupendous actor. I wondered how did he remember ALL those lines of dialogue - since he was the one who spoke the most during the entire 36 episodes.

BUT – a time came (mid-series maybe?) when I found there were lots of things just starting to plain annoy me as it progressed. I don't take offense at swearing; I often swear quite robustly myself, but as this series moved along I found myself getting more and more bored at hearing it all over and over and over again.

And then other things started to really irritate me, Molly Parker's whispered voice just totally grated in the end. Does she ever speak any other way?? Boring. Paula Malcolmson also began to annoy and become pretty unlikeable with her overuse of swearing; she just became quite unbelievable to the point of funny. And Timothy Olyphant I also found amusing – I could not get over his very strange gait like he had a wooden plank strapped to his back the whole time. Which I guess matched his wooden performance. And Robyn Weigert's "Calamity Jane" – funny as hell to start with, then just bloody annoying.

And don't get me started on the ending. WTF? All that – for nothing? No real resolution to anything? C***suckers!!!