“The Old Guard” is a very watchable and interesting fantasy, graphic novel adapted to the Netflix “big screen”. I didn’t particularly care for the “big villain”, but the writers’ didn’t take the predictable route in many of their plot choices and that makes this adaptation fun, gory, gritty and curious…and, certainly appears to be a trial effort towards a part 2 or Netflix limited series. Recommended. 3.8/5 Charlize Theron’s axe scenes alone are worth the watch!

This show is one of the worst supposed survivalist shows around. Talk about your impracticable bunch of ill-prepared wanna-be’s. Give it a miss or have a laugh. They are so scripted and pre-screened to be weird it’s only funny in a “how stupid is this target audience supposed to be anyways?” kinda way. -10/5

“The Wretched” is not a big screen, cinema film, but it has substance. Whilst it appears to be television and PG13 quality on some levels, it is not. It has a lot of adult situations and drug use and dialog… not to mention cannibalism. So do NOT let children under 17 watch it without guidance. Whilst it does have some brazen continuity errors (it’s supposedly Summer, but the trees are barren of leaves) I definitely enjoyed it (even though I am a “vetted hard-core horror fanatic”). It is well-casted, the story-line is cohesive and the characters are vetted and relatable in their individual story-lines. It is not “big screen” (worth re-iterating again), but it casts a big enough shadow to be a quantitative and quality horror, without being something absolutely riveting. Worth a one time, and even two time, watch. 3.5/5

Riveting. 5/5 for a top-notch, true life crime series. Patton Oswalt’s devotion to his late wife’s obsessive work to find the EAR/Golden State Killer is an act of love and devotion. Although I am only 2 episodes in (only 2 episodes have been released) I find myself in a state of mixed emotions that range from shock, horror, awe, sadness, and the desire to see and hear more of Michelle’s work. HBO filmmaker Liz Garbus has made an amazing tribute to McNamara’s work and effort to catch this American buglar, serial rapist and serial killer. Despite the fact that in 2018 the police denied claims that this research was of any benefit. The rapes and murders occurred from 1974 to 1986 and Joseph James DeAngelo (East Area Rapist, Golden State Killer, etc.) wasn’t even caught until 24th April 2018 partially — at the very least — due to McNamara’s endless attempts and dedication/obsession to bring him to (some form of) justice.

Action?? Horror?? Drama — yes, melodrama, for certain. This so called Action/Drama/Horror was awful. Simply awful. It was one scene after another of interpersonal high melodrama…with a croc. The croc isn’t the main feature; the “issues” with the people are. The cast is also too old to be playing the projected age group of twenty-somethings. All in all, this film is annoyingly boring beyond consideration. What a disappointment. NOT recommended. 1.5/5

This Crime series plays like a documentary. The two “leads” are documentarians themselves (Rachel Mills produced another documentary, “Hell in the Heartland: What Happened to Ashley and Lauria” 2019, similar to this one; Joshua Zeman produced/co-produced “Cropsey” 2009 and the non-fiction “Mysterious Skin” 2004). It is a very engrossing study on serial killings across the United States, and how mass murders, any murders, for that matter, are not mandatorily entered into a comparative nationwide database, even though one exists (ViCAP). This series consults not just WebSleuth participants, but the brilliant profiler Peter Brendt. I would love to see more of this type of show, if not a season 2. Highly recommended to all true crime buffs for its authenticity and watchability.

All in all Season 2 was the worst edited, directed and acted horror show of its time. Episode 5 was amazing, and stood out as a “this is how you tell a story”…the rest, meh. I cannot recommend the television adaptation of this wonderful book at all. The boy who plays “Bats” is simply the worst child actor I’ve ever seen. If you pay attention, you can actually see them giving him his queues. Zachary Quinto is wasted in this Season. 1/5 for episode 5 (which should be considered a stand-alone episode).

After 8 Seasons, it is ultimately the caliber of the outstanding acting, and transitional phases that these women would realistically go through, that keep this show in a number one slot. No one, NO ONE, stays the same, they all evolve and do so with conviction. This show has it all; gore, horror, betrayal, love lost, love found, drug use, recovery, and “top dogs”. I couldn’t possibly illustrate adequately what a quality show this is. It is not a melodramatic piece of goopy, nonsense pie; it is a delicious array of savoury elements that leaves the viewer wanting more…even if their favourite is killed off/or otherwise. Highly recommended. Start from the beginning and watch how it evolves. It’s binge-worthy and contemplative. 5/5

This story is a heart-breaking tragedy. It’s not the story of a criminally, evil murderer, although the murder of Mark is soul numbing beyond words. How they didn’t have a psychiatric evaluation for obvious PTSD is unjust and baffling. Even in the footage from Paul’s interview (after the shooting) with the police, it is clear he cannot distinguish reality from delusion. It is a well-known fact that combat soldiers who are wounded in battle suffer from excessive trauma. This type of trauma leads to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or other mental health conditions. Further, PTSD for soldiers wounded in active duty often times includes psychotic symptoms like hallucinations and delusions. I really cried during this episode. So much heart-break, and no resolution or accurate assessment of this horrific “event”.

Truly sickening to think that this “game” prosecutions play has not one iota to do with any form of justice whatsoever. This is the second episode in this crime genre/series. It is well paced and chock-full of literal information on the case at hand; in this instance finding Danita guilty of starvation and attempted murder of her child. It is heart wrenching, so anyone considering viewing must be prepared to see how there is absolutely no justice in the American legal system (this series is based in the States and the legal system therein).

I really enjoyed this horrifically satirical Belgian Action/Comedy/Horror/Thriller. For me, this was refreshing in nearly every way. It is a B-grade with high production values so very watchable. It is also mainly in English with English HC subs for the Dutch speaking bits. There really needs to be a sub Satire genre. The realism is palatable especially combined with the whole “zombie” premise. It is something refreshing for the horror/zombie aficionado wanting to avoid another repetition of the average zombified horror fare. 4/5 and highly recommended for a laugh and horrifyingly accurate look at where we are as a superficial “race” of beings.

This was a completely riveting and emotionally charged viewing for me. It goes beyond the run of the mill “Crime” genre and straight into Documentary territory. Bryan did not commit manslaughter. He acted completely in self-defense and is a victim of prolonged and extenuating domestic abuse. There are psychological and emotional reasons why he was the “perfect” victim, and that should have been addressed by the prosecution. What disgusts me is how the prosecution/justice system does not work to obtain justice. It is a twisted game of chess where getting any type of conviction, regardless of evidence to the contrary, is the objective and means a “win” for “team prosecution”. The outcome of this episode made me sick and profoundly sad. This is highly recommended viewing.

Overall this is a mildly to moderately enjoyable farce. After the first episode, the continuity and factual errors become a nuisance. A glaring mark against this series are the continuous factual errors around actually living and going out into the sub-zero temperatures of Antarctica (going out into minus 40-60 without a hood on, excessive vulnerable body parts exposed, no sign of cold air when speaking, etc. etc. etc.). The clues that Maggie is one of Sarah Jackson’s two daughters is there from episode two. The rape scene that is about to turn violent, and leads to Sarah’s murder, combined with the subsequent haranguing over convincing and persuading everyone into collusion, was a waste of valuable screen time and felt counterfeit in and of itself. The last act, and last 8 minutes of the series, was hastily thrown in as we learn of Aki’s fate; murdered by [fake] Maggie to cover up the revenge plot. Truly, this would have been so much better if they’d simply stopped the obviously contrived and spurious efforts, and concentrated on keeping it simple. 2.8/5

What?? In “Ava” and “Rogue” apparently 5’4”, tiny women are actually lethal killing machines… of course you need a few cheap and cheerful wigs and some CGI lions to top it off. -100/5 …jeesh who were these films made for anyways?? Seriously an affront to all women everywhere. Avoid.

This film (at its core) is about sexual exploration. There is full frontal male nudity, couple sex, swapping partners, group sex, drug use, a random, anonymous hand job to a complete stranger at a massage parlor, ETC. I completely disagree with the genre label of “Mystery”. To say it is a mystery is very misleading in and of itself. It’s not a laugh-out-loud comedy; it’s more uncomfortable, shocking and ironic in the tone of humour used. “The Overnight” is very reminiscent of the 1969 film, “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”, which was also labeled as “light hearted” (and it certainly wasn’t). A lot of people will be offended at the “adult situations”, so if any of the above doesn’t suit, don’t watch it. I found it interesting, and I was strangely unable to stop watching it. It deserves a 3/5.

That was the most staged, theatrical play on the expectations of the viewer finale I would never have expected. Any viewer that watched Roland realised what a selfish person he was from the get go. Then he “admits” it via telling the viewer that in “training” for Alone, he refused to go to his mother’s funeral. Jump ahead, and suddenly Roland is admitting to treating his family poorly, his sister shows up and the theatrics begin. I have never in my whole life seen someone so uncomfortable with emotion, touching, or being close. From the looks of it, they did a couple takes of his sister hooting and hollering for joy. The parting shot of Roland shows a man who knows he has a part to play for an audience. This whole winning and coming to terms was unnecessarily over the top and contrived. The voice-overs for this whole season were pure sensationalism, and the “on camera” events were quite obviously staged. Roll back to Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4 and Alone was quite a different animal. 1/5

Right, he [Justin] didn’t know what it was he was looking at from the cozy confines of his truck, so he shot it. Then, when they saw smaller ones (of whatever it was) he walked up to them and shot them, too. Blood all over himself with it’s “human-like” eyes staring at him”. These type of individuals make me sick — “let’s just kill it”.

This series is brilliantly and authentically acted to the point of feeling like a voyeur in the lives of Connell and Marianne. I was thoroughly engrossed by the book, and the film follows the book with dedication, until the ending. Although not drastically different, I do wish they had not changed it. The ending in the book would have had just as much impact, without changing the intent of the writer, which this adaptation most certainly did. 4/5

What makes this Documentary/Biography different from all the other pieces on Manson is the fact that it does not make him a sort of “criminal superstar”, like so many of these Documentaries do. The first episode seemed to be a mishmash of typical “Manson” remembrances, and somewhat followed the tone that sensationalised the murders in broad strokes. However the tone of this episode is completely different. It’s focus is on the people around Manson (including his mother, grandmother, uncle, etc. before his birth), the times they lived in, the institutions, factual records/evidence, prison time, as well as methods he learned and used to essentially manipulate and “win friends and influence people” — and to keep others at bay. Somewhat “dry” at times, it is none-the-less incredibly unique and interesting. I would definitely call this a Biography, and a thorough one at that. It is very well presented and narrated in part by Manson biographer Jeff Guinn, and people who actually grew up with Manson as they are now. 4/5