osbaba Reviews

Murder in Suburbia (2004–2005)

Utter garbage

[1/10 · 23 January 2023]

I can't believe how this series could be so highly rated. The writing is puerile. Dialogs are just banal and trying so hard to be humurous and just falling flat. The acting is childish.

It generally takes a few episodes for a series to get in its stride. Even Cheers's first few episodes look bad, but the promise was always there. I gave it a go for two episodes. Can't waste any more time.

I don't think I have seen Lisa Faulkner in anything else. But Caroline Catz at least did a great job in DCI Banks. So it's really the writing. Can't believe some have compared this to Midsommer Murders!

Much better shows available.

The Suspect (2022)

Too long and so bloody obvious

[3/10 · 14 January 2023]

It's simply too long. This should have been at most 3 episodes. Just dragged it too much.

What made it more agonizing is watching the cops simply flub it with blinders on. This is a second British series I have watched this month with hostile cops who have latched on to a suspect who has been framed and very keen on going along with the real perps. That just makes for a very unsatisfying show.

And I'm still on epsidode 5 just willing myself to finish it because I have already spent so much time on it. And I know who the murder is since Episode 2. So bloody obvious.

I'll update this review if it turns out I'm wrong.

Grace: Not Dead Enough (2022) Season 2, Episode 1

What an absolutely terrible plot

[1/10 · 27 December 2022]

The story is quite simply ludicrous. Once the DNA matched, it seemed like there may be twins. That would have explained all the inconsistencies in the alibi. But I thought that it would be a conspiracy between the twins. That's the only way this would actually have made any sense. But the given reason for the murders and the attempted murder (even more unbelievable) of Cleo is so unconvincing.

I read only one book by Peter James and didn't particularly enjoy it. Too much self pity. I haven't seen the other episodes. I'll try out one more and if that is bad as well, I'll just give up on this series.

Loving Adults (2022)

Not a single sympathetic character

[1/10 · 14 December 2022]

I honestly don't know how anyone could possibly like this movie. Except for one twist 30 minutes into the movie, the rest of the movie is completely predictible. What twists and turns? On top of that, the three main characters are all unsympathetic. The acting is terrible, the dialogs are terrible. The dubbing is awful. This was a complete and total waste of time. Not to mention that in this day and age with forensics, the cops have suspicions but couldn't gather evidence to even make an arrest?

Watch God's Crooked Lines instead. Visually sumptuous and terrific atmosphere. Now that's got a few twists.

The Man from Toronto (2022)

There really should be an option for zero stars

[1/10 · 7 July 2022]

I like Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson, but boy is this an absolute train wreck of a movie. There is simply nothing going for it. Hart and Rock have made a number of formulaic movies in the same tenor that are at least passable and many even funny. This is just flat out flat with no chemistry at all between the two. And so so unfunny.

The Head (2020– )

Well paced thriller

[6/10 · 17 August 2021]

The location is awesome. The plot is good for the first 3 episodes at which point its obvious who the murderer is. But the remaining 3 episodes move along rapidly and even though the mystery is gone, the acting keeps it flowing. So like re-reading a Christie novel.

Mare of Easttown (2021)

Good drama with serious plot flaws

[6/10 · 15 August 2021]

The character development is great. Acting is superb. Gripping drama that never palls. But some really serious and glaring plot flaws.

Spoilers ahead.

How would something as basic as searching a victim's room not be done right off the bat? The diaries and photos would have been discovered in the second episode. Even after knowing about the diaries, the room was not thoroughly searched.

The gun was stolen and replaced on the same night. So how did the old guy know it was gone? And when it was returned with two missing bullets, why did he not immediately call Mare?

The kid cycles 13 miles up and down kills the girl and no one notices? The timing is just so pat.

It tried just way too hard to make a surprise ending and simply fell flat. Should have ended in the 6th episode with John as the killer. The 7th episode was too far fetched and took what would have been an excellent thriller and turned it into a good drama.

Klute (1971)

Terrible story with passable acting

[3/10 · 29 July 2021]

The story is simply ludicrous. The killer hires the detective? WTF? And the detective plods on in the slow as molasses pace. This is neither a procedural nor a mystery. The acting is decent, but just annoying because of the storyline. I don't know what Jane Fonda's competition was in 71, but like many Oscars, definitely not Oscar worthy. This was a serious waste of time.

The Murders at White House Farm (2020)

Far too slow

[3/10 · 19 July 2021]

The acting is good. But the script is just crawling. The incompetence of the cops would be unbelievable if it weren't a true story. This needed to have been a 2 part. At most a 3 part mini series.

Traces (2019–2022)

Mostly unsympathetic characters

[2/10 · 23 June 2021]

The plot was unbelievable with coincidences galore. Dialogs even worse. But what irritated me most was the heroine. She was immature, selfish, high strung, neurotic and a terrible actor to boot. Pretty much all the main characters are sorry. Flawed characters work very well. But these you couldn't care to know about. The inspector and the professor was the only sympathetic characters.

The only reason this got two stars is because Vincent Regan turned in aa superb performance. There is apparent a second season. I won't be bothering with it.

Buddha Mil Gaya (1971)

Puerile with great songs

[3/10 · 14 December 2020]

Hard to believe that Hrishikesh Mukherjee directed this eminently forgettable movie. There is no suspense. Everything is pretty obvious from the get go. Including who his daughter is. And there is no great comedic moments either. What we do have is very good acting by Om Prakash as usual. But R. D. is at his best. None of the songs really fit in the story line. But they are all very good so it works.

Tenet (2020)

Absolute rubbish

[1/10 · 12 December 2020]

Stylistic rubbish. I don't even know where to begin. This movie is far too clever for its own good. To the point that I totally lost interest.

Injustice (2011)

Gripping for 2 episodes but predictable ending

[6/10 · 7 June 2020]

There are three plot lines. One, the case that the barrister is currently taking. An old case and a story of the barrister's wife's interest in a youth in a detention center. The third is used to tie up the second in an absolutely implausible co-incidence. That's when the series jumped the shark. The second plot line was clearly end up in only failure for the police. And the first was obvious from the minute they showed the CC camera shots. It was clear where the laptop was. So, the last 2 episodes were completely predictable. It goes just a bit above average for the good start.

If it had been shorter at 3 episodes, it would have been a lot tighter.

Amnesia (2004)

Unsatisfying

[3/10 · 1 June 2020]

John Hannah is great as usual and is the only plus in this completely unbelievable plot. He gives a very convincing performance of a tortured soul unable to remember what happened on the night his wife disappeared.

The parallel story line of whether an amnesiac is faking a past life is thin beyond belief. If the person was covering up a past where he may have murdered his wife and kid, wouldn't he lay low instead of getting himself medically assessed? I don't have any medical background and don't know if you can spot lack of amnesia with a Cat Scan. But based on the other completely idiotic computer science claims I'd guess probably not. You can actually find out the printer model from a color printout (that was in fact the NSA traced Reality Winner as the leaker of a classified document she gave to a journalist). But you can definitely not find out which computer was used to create the document from a printout!!! And the HP5550 is not exactly a consumer printer. And you'd need NSA like hacking capability to change official bank records and Eurostars records. It's just too much. Add to that the original investigation of the death of a wife and kid was so slipshod, you'd not be out of line in thinking that if this was the standard of riminal investigation in Britain, crime would really pay.

If you have absolutely nothing better to do, watch it for John Hannah. Otherwise, there are a better shows to spend your time on.

Hidden (2018–2022)

Glacier slow.

[2/10 · 30 December 2019]

I wanted to finish the entire serial before I rated it and with each episode the rating kept creeping downward. This series should have been 2 episodes. Certainly no more than 3.

The only reason it gets 2 stars is for the creepyness and dark character of the kidnapper. You need more time to build characters. Other series have done it. Jack Irish is an excellent example of the original 2 hr movies improved as a mini series. Other series have built up slowly. The first season of The Killing comes to mind. In this one, the character development is good, but ironically only the kidnapper's character was worth investing in. The rest were mostly unsympathetic especially the last victim.

Someone compared this serial to The Fall. Appropriate comparison. Another disappointing series.

Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express (2010) Season 12, Episode 3

Wonderfully dark

[10/10 · 23 October 2018]

This is easily the best interpretation of the classic book. To enjoy the mystery, read the book. To see a great adaptation and superb acting by Suchet watch this episode. Every single picturization of the book has been awful. Especially the last one with Kenneth Branagh (which is unsurprising since he murders every serial or movie in which he stars). But this one stands out.

Deadpool 2 (2018)

A complete waste of time

[1/10 · 18 May 2018]

The movie is so disjointed and unstructured. Just felt like a bunch of scenes stitched together with no editing. A few (and I mean a few) funny moments and a waste of time for the vast majority of the movie. Enough with the superhero movies already!