chillgreg Reviews

Lost in Space (2018–2021)

What a missed opportunity!

[6/10 · 23 April 2018]

Overall, quite disappointing. Wooden acting and a shallow, often dopey script take the shine off the excitement I felt at this remake of one of my favourite childhood TV series.

The actors seem to be visibly struggling to find chemistry and momentum as well; perhaps the patchy writing and direction is at much at fault too.

Of course the special effects were superb as expected, and perhaps it's saving grace was The Robot, who's re-imagining was quite exceptional. It's non entirely unenjoyable, but when you find yourself fast-forwarding boring, repetitive daytime TV soap-opera like scenes, cringing at wooden dialog, and sighing at the increasingly predicable plotlines unfolding, it pales in comparison to say Altered Carbon.

Sadly this is a missed opportunity for what could have been a much darker, more character driven space-drama.

Altered Carbon (2018–2020)

This mind-bending sci-fi action thriller with heart aplenty will leave you gasping.

[9/10 · 13 March 2018]

Absolutely incredible. A slow start opens to a sprawling roller-coaster of emotional introspection, and the penultimate thundering crescendo with an immensely satisfying conclusion left me sitting numb after the final credits rolled.

A barely-adequate comparison would be The Matrix + The Fifth Element + Tarantino. On steroids. Episode 7 by itself, at 66 minutes, is better than most full-feature sci-fi movies.

The story is intriguing, and while perhaps not totally original, is a deft amalgamation of sci-fi, murder-mystery, and action-thriller (with some well-executed plot twists). Most importantly, it doesn't spoon-feed the viewer; one has to actually think about it, but that only adds to the enjoyment of the episodic structure.

Thanks to the beguiling performances from the stellar cast, who's passion and commitment to the script was evident, combined with a beautiful soundtrack, mesmerising cinematography, and spectacular special effects, Netflix hit this adaptation of the award-winning novel out of the park.

Don't miss this one.

Dark Matter (2015–2017)

A wasted opportunity. Tedious and painful to watch.

[7/10 · 13 June 2015]

From the first scene to the closing dialog, this was just plain B-grade rubbish.

Amateur acting with wooden delivery, clichéd casting, tied together with woeful scriptwriting.

The premise and sets are OK, but only just.

Feeling like a very poor cousin to Firefly, why on earth this made it to production is a mystery.

While other quality shows are regularly dropped due to time slot mismanagement and lack of marketing, droll second-rate tripe like this attempts to latch onto the ever ready market for sci-fi.

The money this cost to make would have gone well towards an extra season of The Following or something much more worthwhile.

Avoid.

Update 20/7/15 Ignore the overall rating of 7.5. This has obviously been padded by studio shills.

The Divide (2011)

Very, very bad, unfortunately.

[2/10 · 28 March 2012]

I gave this 2 stars: 1 for very good makeup and sets, and the second for the fine performance from the gorgeous Lauren German.

Don't believe what some critics are saying about Michael Biehn, his effort is C-grade at best. Rosanna Arquette just does what she does best, effortlessly playing a psychotic sl*t.

This movie was a challenge to sit through, and I only persisted because of my love for the genre and hope that it would get better.

Extremely disturbing does not a bad movie make, but when combined with an incoherent script and reliance on shocking human depravity this movie just fails on nearly all levels.

I won't say a complete waste of time, but given a complete script re-write, what could have been...

If you sate for a great movie in this genre, give this a miss and watch Gattaca instead.

Pan Am (2011–2012)

A lot of fun - a nice simple period drama that is easy on the eyes.

[7/10 · 27 November 2011]

For those wanting to bathe in the innocence of the era, the examining of the stereotypes and issues typical of the day, wrapped in a delightful coating of lovely sets, beautiful and convincing actors, and believable scripting, then this is your show.

For those wanting serious period drama and historical accuracy to the nth minutia, then disappointment awaits. (As many reviews reveal) Some TV shows just make you want to puke or punch the screen. Terra Nova is a prime example at the moment. But I find myself quite ensconced by Pan Am. Not once do I find myself saying "oh, that can't be real", or "yeah right!".

Pan Am's believability is determined by the joy shown for their parts by the actors performances. There aren't many shows which the focus is largely on the woman, and their intelligence and courage in what was very much a man's world.

The sets are truly amazing - they actually built a full-size replica Boeing 707 for this show! In summary - if you have fond memories of Pan Am and the era it represented, or just enjoy well-made television, then I think you will find this show delivers.

Sinbad and the Minotaur (2011 TV Movie)

This has to be a joke. Is it April 1st? Sadly it's not...

[1/10 · 13 February 2011]

There used to be A-Movies and B-Movies. This is a Z-Movie. After watching the first half, I decided to bail. Because I needed to brush my teeth and that was much more interesting than any masochistic urge to continue hurting my eyes with this tripe.

In all seriousness, this was made in my home town, and I would dearly love to offer some support to our ailing industry. But to be brutally honest - after the embarrassing travesty of another recent Australian film - "Tomorrow, When the War Began" - I thought things couldn't get worse. Well they have. Much worse in fact. I don't know where to begin in trying to offer a sensible review: perhaps suffice to say try and think of the worst movie you have seen in your life. Well this is a new candidate for that title. I truly can't think of a single positive aspect to this movie. It's about Sinbad???

Maybe...just maybe, your 4 year old might like this on DVD.

So unless you work for the studio and are forced to watch this, please save your time and money and do something more productive with your time.

1/10

Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010)

The only spoiler here is the movie itself...avoid at all costs...

[2/10 · 30 December 2010]

Believe me, all the positive ratings here and on iTunes are from the cast, crew, families and the regular and oh-so-obvious Australian film industry "rent-a-reviewer". Not even smart enough to spread their reviews out, just 5 stars in the first week of release, doh! The Australia film industry has an unfortunately deserved reputation for turning out either internationally co-produced standout quirky films, or locally made flops, and this is no exception.

From an original storyline with a lot of potential, we see a misguided attempt at a script, weak and "camera-aware" acting, and the dismal editing and directing, camera angles and cinematography are pure TV drama c-grade...probably because much of our ailing industry uses the same crews as our pathetic local free-to-air dramas and soap operas. I'm not even going to mention the "special effects"...

The plot holes are predictable and laughable, embarrassingly so as I am a proud Aussie, and if this was even remotely good I'd be behind it all the way. As usual the cast is a bunch of ex-soap opera "stars", with a desperate for exposure Colin Friels blatantly over-acting the one scene he gets. I guess putting his name on the poster helps sales...

The proof is in the numbers...on iTunes, this movie has 117 average 5-star ratings!!! (nearly all have 100% Helpful ratings too..what does that tell you lol)...IMDb is slowly dropping as the real world starts reviewing...it's down to 6.9 with 22701 votes...but was in the high 8's only a few days ago when I watched this! Make sure you sort the IMDb reviews chronologically, as the sorting default is "best". If this was an American film, I can guarantee it would be sitting in the low 3's with a bullet.

So unfortunately all we (Australia) AGAIN have to offer the world of cinema is yet another over-hyped, try-hard, me-too, self-aggrandizing, taxpayer-subsidised pile of stink.

*** AVOID ***

The Good Wife (2009–2016)

One of the best legal dramas I've ever seen - compelling viewing (Review updated May 2012)

[9/10 · 2 April 2010]

First post. Thanks to other IMDb reviews, I decided to give The Good Wife a try. And boy I was not disappointed. Julianna Margulies leads a stellar ensemble cast, the acting and script writing is near-flawless, and the weekly stories are believable yet not over-the-top. A nice almost Thriller main storyline flows throughout the episodes, adding a compelling undercurrent to what could have been just another legal drama.

The Good Wife examines the lives of legal professionals as affected by their cases and work circumstances. It certainly does not mirror the style of any other legal drama in style, timing or episode structure, and I believe it has found a well-deserved niche of it's own on current high-quality television drama.

I highly recommend you watch this series if you enjoy fine acting and tight, coherent and interesting story lines.

Greg PS. Thankfully there is no "This is based on a true story" etc. tag-line to distract the viewer from the scriptwriters obvious prodigious talents, and a very enjoyable hour of weekly escapism!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st May 2012 Review Update (no spoilers): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have just finished watching Season 3. Literally sitting on the edge of my couch. WOW!. Since my original review this fantastic drama has grown in depth and breadth - I can now place it (almost) with Deadwood, Dexter, The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica and Six Feet Under as an all time television great - no exaggeration.

The interplay between characters (of whom the depth is truly 3 dimensional) is complex, yet does not try to confuse the viewer in an attempt at narcissistic scriptwriting "greatness" (We all know shows that do that). It just flows.

Amongst the stellar cast, my favorite character would have to be exotic and mysterious Kalinda Sharma, played by the mesmerizing Archie Panjabi (2009 Emmy award winner for best actress, and Chopard Trophy winner for the phenomenal 2007's "A Mighty Heart").

Subtle humor is so well crafted and acted, you are guaranteed at least one belly laugh per episode; these become almost a small gift from the writers - an (we want these characters to resonate with you) unexpected and welcome tangent from the often serious, sometimes even chilling story lines.

Truthfully I can't recall one episode where I reflected "gee that was a bit dull, I guess they had to do that to pad out the season". Forget the usual clichéd formula episodes from the Scriptwriting For Dummies handbook - you won't find them here. No lame flashbacks, no "24 hours earlier" and no musical/costume themed episodes here thanks. Just gritty, compelling and eminently enjoyable television.

The Good Wife is simply superb.