Reviews

I enjoyed this murder mystery set in small coastal town in Ireland. It follows a podcaster, a hard hitting report and a newspaper assistant as they try to solve a two decades old mystery while each dealing with their own issues. There were lots of twists and for the most part it seem to all make sense in the world that they built.

In addition to the three leads there were several other interesting characters, most of whom are pretty obnoxious. It made me wonder if there are any pleasant people in Ireland.

I think the biggest pitfall of the series was the ending. Not to give anything away, but the geography of the big final event didn't seem to make any sense to me.

But other than that I enjoyed the humor and the constant twists and turns through out this series.

The problem with this romantic comedy is that it isn't funny. In the first 30 minutes the only time I found myself smile (not laugh) was when an intern tried to hide behind a plant after he is blamed for a typo in the auction brochure. The rest just isn't funny. The opening scene of the lead being yelled at by her brother-in-law, just made me uncomfortable, although I'm sure they were going for laughs.

Perhaps it gets better, but I don't feel like wasting anymore time with this. It's too bad as the leads seem likable and charming, but the script and the directing simply fail in providing humor.

If you like Guy Richie, then you'll probably like this as there really isn't anything new presented here.

Of course it is based on his film, so it will be very familiar, but it is like he hasn't had any new concepts since he started way back with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Odd ball gangsters, pretentious displays of wealth, overly serious scenes by said pretentious characters, stated silly bits of trivia to display the gangsters are "intelligent", on screen text to show us math and "amusing tidbits', nonlinear editing in the timeline to try and save a otherwise dull scene, About every other scene has someone pouring a decanter into a crystal glass of some sort, etc. Again, it is a re-hash of much of Richie's past gimmicks, but if that is your cup of tea, then you'll probably like this and forgive its various missteps.

The story is of a soldier/aristocrat who inherits his fathers title and land only to discover his father was in bed with a large illegal marijuana enterprise. So our handsome protagonist dives in trying to separate his family from this business. This gives the filmmakers plenty of opportunities to introduce a variety of underworld types, many of whom we've seen in the past from Richie. Each episode works its way to solving this problem, but by episode 6, it grows old. Also, they have a tendency to introduce issues, big issues, that seem to be swept under the carpet at the filmmaker's convenience which left me scratching my head.

Since it is a gangster film, I was looking for a great shootout at some point, but even that wasn't given to us, although it was set up more than once. I also assumed that as the lead was a soldier there would be a chance to see his skill in a fight from time to time, but this came up only once or twice I did like that he would solve problems with his head first, but I was still hoping for some more action.

Because of issues in the script the ending was more frustrating rather than satisfying. But it looks great, the wardrobe is topnotch so our leads look like they stepped out of a page of a fashion magazine (except for the big, silly square glasses many wore looking more like the old man from Up, then suave gangsters), several locations are very striking and they drive some wonderful antique cars from time to time. But pretty doesn't equal good.

As they say comedy is subjective. I've watched about half of the first season now that is is on Netflix and I think I'll call it quits. I find the comedy lazy, adolescent, cringy and tiresome. I think if you like something like The Big Bang Theory, or movies like Dumb and Dumber, you'll probably like this. To put things in perspective, my favorite comedies are 30 Rock, Seinfeld, Modern Family, etc. Although this is closer to Seinfeld as Seinfeld is filmed before a live audience and B99 looks like it's filmed before a live audience. Same clunky stages that are overly lit for multi camera filming.

The basic story is a clever young detective that is shockingly immature (the source of much of the comedy) has daily interactions with a variety of quirky fellow detectives, e.g. The angry one, the eager to please one, the old gross one, and so one. They are all pigeon holed and don't vary much from their assigned tasks. So no complex character development here.

The center character has to deal with a stern new chief who sees potential in him, and, strictly for story reasons, puts up with a ridiculous amount of buffoonery on the part of this young detective.

It's all absurdly implausible and played for laughs. But the humor is low, cliche and immature. For me the laughs are few and far between.

I'm glad so many find this hysterical, but it just doesn't work for me.

I've seen this film a couple of times now and the action sequences are terrific. This includes the fight scenes as well as the car chase scenes. It also films in Singapore which I've never seen an action film filmed there before. The story is pretty good although some head-scratchers at the end. How did they rig that up and how did that guy know how to trigger it? But other than that the movie is a blast to watch. It moves quickly and logically for the most part.

It's odd that the director made this one great action film and now makes car and fast food commercials. Kind of a waste if you ask me.

This is not your typical rom-com in that it isn't light, charming and cheerful. The lead female is a mess and made me wonder how they were going to make her appealing to the lead male, and they never did.

This is filmed in a pseudo documentary way with a handheld camera, long takes, dramatic lighting, etc. It really pulls you from a movie into reality and then the characters are too real also. The whole thing just didn't work for me at all. I was looking for an escape and this doesn't provide that at all.

I'm baffled by all the accolades and praise for the female in the comments. She starts the film as a drunk mess, not a charming drunk and it goes downhill from there. It isn't completely her fault as the filming approach really works against the whole romantic comedy format.

I'll stick with more pleasant characters in a more charming film.

I had to give up on this series after the 3rd episodes. I kept thinking "there must be something I'm missing with the IMDB score of 7+". Whatever it is I couldn't find it.

It's listed as a drama, but it dips into buffoonery comedy with the group of detectives we follow behaving as though in a Keystone cops movie. The incompetence and laziness is overwhelming. Then enter one of our heroes. You know he's the hero because he's very attractive and dresses sharp, just like the other hero, the female journalist. Plus he's smart and patient. Just like the journalist. The last 'hero' is a bitter cop who is struggling to do the right thing as he is up for promotion and doesn't want to ruin his chances by opening up a closed case. He is not nearly as attractive or young as the other two.

Along the way, the comedy switches back to drama (but will return to almost slapstick comedy), which really threw me off as I couldn't tell what the tone of this series was. It's like it wants to be a comedy, a drama, a police procedural and a murder mystery. In addition, I kept scratching my head when every the police went to a crime scene and literally had 50 people wandering around looking for clues. If they are trying to make a police procedural, why is everyone stomping on the evidence around the crime scene? Very little of the police work seemed to be realistic. Especially since the crux of the series is of an innocent man on death row. I kept thinking, 'No wonder. Everyone in the police dept. Is a moron.'

Anyway, maybe it is a cultural thing, but I could never get into this program, and I'm surprised Netflix is picking up a 2nd season. Who's watching this to warrant that? There are only 30 reviews?

Wow this is bad. I tried, really tried to give it a go, but it is so flat, shallow and poorly written and then over directed and edited. It tries to be cool, stylish and clever but the creators don't seem to understand how to do any of those things. Instead they are just copying what others have done, without understanding why others did it they way they did.

The story, as far as I got, is of three people in their early 20s (?) who all were given an experimental medication and when they run out of their 'pills' they each find they have a condition that develops. Somewhat like super powers, but with downsides. They try to get more pills, but the 'doctor' who's been giving them to them disappears.

In their quest to find out where he is, who he is and what happen they meet each other and another doctor to try and solve their collective and individual issues.

The story has hug holes. Why did their parents allow this to happen? Why didn't they go to a regular hospital when this happen, or call their parents who allowed them start on this medication? Why is no one else at the clinic like assistants, nurses, receptionist, other patients? Doesn't that seem odd? It's so contrived it is drives you nuts. You can't help but ask these questions because the show isn't engrossing enough to keep your mind from wandering off and thinking of these things.

Time seems to hop around as well as the characters jump around without any means of how or when they moved to a new location, only to reappear back together again, through, I guess ESP and magic as no one has a car or takes an Uber. They seem to have cell phones, but these are more props for emotion content creation than adding any logic to the program.

The directing is a mishmash of fractured shots cobbled together in an effort to create something...I'm not sure what. But it doesn't put us in the shoes of the characters or their conditions. It just leaves you wondering what is going on.

The writing sucks and is full of stilted scene clumsily made to pass off needed information or attempts at character building. The emotional depth of the writing and characters is that of puddle.

Perhaps I'm not the audience for this program, but if you want something edgy, dark and humorous and about people in this age group, watch Wednesday instead. It is so much better made.

This was a pretty funny series. I watched all three seasons, so that counts for something. But as others pointed out the subplot in the first season of the guy who stands in for his boss at the AA meetings is just bad. It wasn't funny, just deranged. I ended up skipping over most of it as it wasn't pleasant to watch, even though I think they were going for laughs. I found this to be an issue in general with the Farrelly brother's material. I cringed and rolled my eyes often with Dumb and Dumber, Something about Mary, etc. They have a tendency to beat a joke to death, and this can be especially troublesome when the joke isn't funny.

Ron Livingston is great as the recovering alcoholic with anger issues. He attacks many irritating minor issues of the day and though you may not always agree with him, it is usually funny. Until its not. The series wades into topics it isn't equipped to handle and, essentially, lectures the viewer about it. That doesn't make stellar TV watching in a comedy. But when it doesn't do that, or keeps its humor about the topic of the day, it is very funny and a great watch.

As others have pointed out this series is a mess where they regularly drop plot lines and characters act completely inconsistent with reality. Yes, this is a fictional film, but how do you get pepper sprayed in the face in your house and there is no follow up by the police into that incident? And this is just the beginning. The program continues in this vein and after awhile you can see the pattern and it just has to do with the writers being too lazy to figure out a realistic and logical plot.

It is edited well and keeps a good pace, but not good enough to help bury all the plot holes and issues in the program.

If you are a fan of the other adaptations of this writer, you'll probably stick with it. I did. But it is frustrating that it's so ridiculous.

I wish more movies were like this. Too many have really bad humor and/or dip into overtly sentimentality in a desperate attempt to get the viewer involved. This film was exciting and a lot of fun. Half the humor was poking fun at the various characters and story lines in a way that will have you thinking, 'yes, that's what I was thinking too' type of way. But it isn't cruel or crude.

The script was great, all of the actors did a wonderful job and the direction and production work really well in selling the concept.

After so many overtly serious and depressing dramas, mean, harsh comedies, and redundant, mass produced superhero stories, this film was a refreshing breath of air and I really hope the team that put this together makes a sequel. I'll be first in line.

I thought this would be fun as it was compared to Die Hard. Die Hard was clever, funny and exciting. This is none of the above. How this film got anything above a 4 in a rating is beyond me. Firstly, it's boring. So much idiotic back story and talk, talk talk. They clearly forgot they were making an action flick, but then maybe that was my mistake. So, not much action, but at least have the 'drama' be interesting. And make the humor funny. This is just sad. You'll find yourself checking your phone, getting up to get a snack, all in the hopes that something interesting will start happening, but, alas, it's not to be.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Movies like this were popular in the 1990s with titles like Red Rock West, U-Turn and Things to do In Denver When You're Dead. This is sort of a Johnny Come Lately version.

Unfortunately, those films are better than this. Everyone seems either miscasts or phoning it in, except for Bruce Dern who does a great job despite the director's best efforts to ruin it along with the rest of the film.

The gist of the film is that our hero (L. Hemsworth) witnesses, and videos, the murder of the local postal delivery man (B. Dern) in a small rural town. Bad news for the postman, but our hero, because of the video, is now eligible for a $100,000 reward. The film misrepresents the award though, as to get the award (in reality) your tip, or video in this case, must lead to an arrest and conviction. So out of the gate, the film's key premise is already flawed.

Well the small town sheriff (J. Malkovich), who throws up at the site of blood, is on the case. And the town's crazy person (Michael Stuhlbarg, in an embarassingly cliched version of a crazy person) is also on the case as he was expecting a package that the murder of the postman prevented from being delivered. Finally, our hero is trying his best to get the reward before the sheriff and the crazy person put it all together that maybe he wasn't as up front about the whole video/murder thing in the first place. Throw on top of all of this is our hero's girlfriend's dad who hates him, so he just wants to escape with her to California, and that reward money would be just what he needs.

Unfortunately, the directing is poor and Billy Bob Thorntan phones in his small, but pivotal roll. I had a hard time buying John Malkovich as the innocent, but determined sheriff, who pulls a 180 at the end of the film. Oliver Platt is fun in the poorly written roll of the Post Office rep in town to give the reward money. The script is full of holes and has no real emotional connection and it isn't smart and clever enough to make up for it.

So, don't waste your time on this film. Instead go watch something good from this genre from the 1990s like Reservoir Dogs.

This film reminded me of Mean Girls. So much of it works. It's funny, the actors are great, the story works and the direction mostly works. I had an issue with the twist at the end as it is forced, almost as though the writer thought it up when trying to figure out how to end the script, rather than have it already planned from the start. There are some large plot holes in this part. But the film works so well on other levels that those issues can actually be overlooked.

As mentioned it is reminiscent of Mean Girls as well as other well crafted high school comedies. The lead, A. Rice is great and holds the film together. Her perky, but diabolical and conniving Honor Rose reminded me of Reese Witherspoon in the film Election. This film is not as cruel though.

Honor Rose is eager to get her guidance councilor's recommendation to go to Harvard and she learns that he has three other prospects he is considering besides her. So she sets out to sabotage the other three. In the process she learns a lot about what is, or should be, important in life and to value those around her.

The film is funny and heart warming. I liked that it doesn't try to preach, or pick on a particular group for comedic sake. Everyone is fair game in this satire.

In summary, the movie is a very quick witted, feel-good film that will make you laugh out loud in the process, but it isn't overly sentimental.

This is such a calming and beautiful program. Each episode, about 10-12 minutes long, explores an old house that has been revitalized. The owners explain what the house was like prior, what they did to it, and sometimes why and, of course, what they like about it. The history of the house is usually explained too. It is really a nice journey they take you through.

Most of the houses are out of the average person's price range, but they are all lovely to look at.

It is a bit contrived as the houses, often with families living in them, are spotless and in showroom condition. Kids play board games rather than being on cell phones or tablets. No one watches TV. I don't think I've seen a TV in any house yet. When the owners are shown eating at home it is often an elaborate affair. Even the simple breakfast meals are absent cereal boxes, milk cartons or an open loaf of bread. It is all staged like a commercial or a photo shoot for a magazine. Which makes it very lovely, but a bit unrealistic.

Overall it is a calming and inspirational program that lets you peek inside one of those houses you drive by and wonder what it looks like inside.

Pretty good. The first four episodes I found the most interesting. Episodes 5 & 6 are recap of the previous first but from a new perspective and could have been truncated.

The basis of the program is time travel and can you alter events to create the present. It's a clever idea and they show how one person can alter time and make a world of his own design. But to do so he needs to go back and literally create his own backstory so that he exist in the first place.

The story jumps from the present to the past in the late 19th century, then WW 2, and then to 30 years into the future. It continues to hop around as we see the story unfold in each period. The primary story line is held from the audience for a while, but once it is shown, then the show does a lot of rehashing. As mentioned 5 & 6 are all rehashing of what we have already seen, but from the perspective of new knowledge. Half of 7 is the same, then 8 comes along does some more rehashing and then sums it all up with a not too surprising twist. I think 5 or 6 episodes total would have sufficed as once the basis of the story is reveal, then the show becomes more of a thriller of sorts, which I didn't find as intriguing.

Overall, I think it is a clever idea, but like many one off series Netflix makes, this one goes on too lone.

I enjoyed the first season of this tv series since it has come onto Netflix. It has a young fake lawyer that remembers everything he reads partnered with a savvy more experienced lawyer who believes that winning is everything (almost). In the first season all the episodes were very clever in how they would find solutions and win cases. Then came the second season. Much of the appeal of the first season was sidelined to put more personal drama into the program. It has become more of a night time soap opera than a smart legal thriller. I still like the characters, but the petty in-fighting and politics is tedious and not what I found interesting about the show in the first place.

I'll try to watch a few more episodes, but if they don't return to the original formula from the first season that I liked so much, I'll stop watching.

This was a very nice romantic comedy/drama. It centered around people that are older, so it was a change of pace from many other similar type films. At the end it became pretty contrived, but other than that it was a nice journey to go.

The basic story is a woman who on the day of her mother's funeral discovers her husband is in love with another, younger, woman. She also learns she has inherited a small house in Croatia from her mother, so she impulsively goes and that's where her adventure begins. Throw in the usually love interest that she clashes with from the get go, jokes about them being older, the clash of cultures, and various other obstacles and mix it up with lovely locations and serve.

The scenery is very beautiful and the photography is top notch. It is romanticized as I don't think living in a one room stone house without running water or electricity surrounded by goats would be anyone's first choice, but they dress it up (as all movies like this do) and make it seem like paradise, even though you have to ride a bicycle on a hilly, dirt road dodging geese and sheep to get to town.

But do check it out as it is a feel good movie and worth the time. You be happy afterwards.

For what it is, it's pretty good. A refreshing change from the big budget, high-concept Hollywood stuff we are inundated with these days. This is a fairly simple story, which I think would have been more interesting if they had explored the 'event' more, but then towards the end it gives you a twist, which did catch me by surprise.

It is well shot, some of the acting was a bit underwhelming, but overall it was an intriguing and interesting independent sci-fi mystery film that I would recommend to friends that are into that sort of thing. You should check it out when you have had enough of Hollywood.

It starts of really great and funny and entertaining, but it then gets mired in its own self importance.

"Look at the important work we are doing." "Yes, yes, so important. And look at the amazing things we accomplished." "Yes, so amazing and so important. You really deserve a medal or at least a plaque." "For how smart and amazing we are?" "Oh, not me, but definitely you. Perhaps when you meet with the VP, oh, I'm sorry, once you are the VP." "Oh, I don't want to be VP. You can't accomplish anything in that roll." "A normal person couldn't, but you could because you are so smart and amazing." "No, you're smart and amazing, not me."

...and so on and so on. But the first 4 episodes are great.

I think it is supposed to be funny, but the guy just comes off as an a**hole. Perhaps the humor is funnier in German versus the English subtitles, but he is pretty awful. He bullies people and the jokes are offensive, I'm kind of surprised that it has the higher ratings that it does.

I'll confess that I had to give up on this after about 35 minutes. It was just too painful to watch. Granted it is put together well, so technically it is fine, but the characters are awful and it is hard to like the men. I don't understand why the young woman doesn't find someone else. Again had it been amusing or charming, then okay, but it is neither.

I'm at a loss as to the hype around this film. Actually I haven't enjoyed any of Peele's horror films. Which is pretty frustrating as I was and still am a huge fan of Key and Peele's comedy show and still find myself going back to it on youtube on a regular basis.

I have to say that his take on horror is atypical and it just doesn't strike me as interesting. I found this film very dull and some of the characters irritating and unlikable. This all made it hard to root for anyone. The imagery was good, and I liked the look of the film. His productions have improved dramatically. I recall 'Get Out' and actually laughing out loud at some of the production design, which was so low budget it looked like a Roger Corman movie from the 70s. 'Nope' has a much more polished and believable look with both production design, cinematography and effects.

I just don't enjoy his approach to horror films, which I guess is okay. Others seem to like it, but I'll stick with Robert Eggers and James Wan.