Reviews

This film was a huge disappointment because I was expecting something great with such a high rating of 7.0 on IMDB. I don't even know where to start...

First, the acting by everyone BUT the dad was phenomenal. The kids were really great, especially the one who plays the psycho adult-child. The deaf child was just oodles of cuteness and believable, as well as the actor who played her brother. He was so good, I wanted to pluck him thru the screen because he played being a jerk a little too good. Lol

The actor who played the dad... WTH? Umm he had the same basic dumb facial expression with everything... literally every scene. Adult sexy time? Same face. Thinking your wife broke a child's arm? Same face. Being seduced by a "child?" Same face. Being stabbed to death? Same face. And the writers and direction didn't help his weak acting because they literally wrote his character to be dumb as rocks. He's the cheating one, which takes a lot of deception to pull off, but he doesn't believe his wife on any issues, not matter how small or major they are. Literally, some of her major concerns are involving the safety of his own children, after having lost one before birth and almost losing another due to a tragic accident. Not to mention a brutal murder that took place in your backyard. There is no father on earth that would behave like this except for a deadbeat, which this guy clearly wasn't.

Secondly, the plot holes... good Lord!

Who the heck doesn't make a child remove her neck and wrist ties that is supposedly not only an orphan but one who came to them from what appears to be a burnt up house. Then to allow a family to adopt said child without any real paperwork or vetting process. Literally the mom was in jailed for child neglect! Lol Speaking of ties, why wouldn't the mom want to see what's under them either? It's like all the adults in this weird universe of a movie have no suspicion or even a healthy concerned level of curiosity for children who relies on them.

So, a mom can be jailed for negligence over a horrific accident, granted preventable if mom wasn't hitting the bottle, but no one is concerned over a child's broken arm? Even if it's self inflected, the hospital staff doesn't know that and in any normal society would have gotten CPS involved. So, an accidental drowning is cause for jailing, but a broken bone from abuse is a nothing burger? LOL Sure, Jane!

Wait... there is more!

The sister from the orphanage goes missing, and no one thinks this is pause to contact HER family the same day she didn't return? Instead they call the mother to ask? Lol No one notices the large pool of blood and blood stained drag marks amongst all that white of snow? Oh and with an abandoned car that is off to the side of the road, which doesn't look normally parked? Then the police finds the obviously brutally murdered body, and the dad is not even in hyper protective mode that some deranged killer is on the loose in his backyard bludgeoning nuns, but rather is instead focusing on committing wife to a AAA facility or threatening to take the children? Yeah sure, that would be a dad's focus. Even the therapist and grandmother are written to be dumb as rocks, although at least they were well acted.

Then you have this child who can not only decipher how to get to the ICU and finds the right bed, but slips past ALLLL the adults and no one stops and ask her if she needs help or lost or simply to say that she cannot be in that area? It's clearly at night with no visiting hours and the doctor already told them that couldn't see him. Then you have a code, alerting all staff to come to the ICU bed and the mother instantly knows it's her child that is coding and tags along with the staff? Lol Yeah this is not happening in any hospital.

And yeah the illuminated paintings were a nice cool touch for the audience, but the dad seemed so shocked as if those other paintings actually covered up what was really drawn on the wall? I mean for a mother to be as hyper vigilant and accusatory about the child's conniving ways, she would have at least made more effort to really go thru the room and snoop a little beyond just turning over a few folded clothes. As such, those drawings should not have been a thing. It would have been caught much early on. I mean did they even go into her room with the lights off ever at night? What?! Lol The state of suspicion of the mother, a reasonable person would have peeked in on the child in her room at night.

I don't even feel like breaking down the additional Swiss cheese moments or the nonsense of a scene where the child hits on the drunken dad. Whomever wrote this ridiculous movie should have paper balls thrown at their heads. This movie had a great concept and could have been really great in more competent hands.

And who the heck gave this movie a horror rating? Suspenseful, maybe even thriller, but it is NOT a horror movie. SMH

Anyhow, is the movie a 1? No, but it does NOT deserve a 7. So, I'm doing my part to get this number down to its fair rating, which should be between 4-5. Great acting 10, poor writing 1. You've been warned.

That's exactly something the devil would say... oh rich black professional athletes do not experience racism because they're rich and buy shoes made in sweat shops. Oh and write my evil for dummies book because I'm so offended that mankind is doing all my dirty work, that I'd like to point out, how to do my dirty work. Imagine the devil finger wagging about abortions. Sneaky little devil...

Yeah it's this absurd, heavy handy Christian messaging.

It started out interesting, and even the actor playing the inmate seemed ok at times. However, then you realize the entire movie was going to take place in one room, and it would be dialogue heavy, with cringy "reverse psychology" dressed up as some forward-thinking, thought provoking piece of art. The entire movie fells flat and too predictable with a cringy ending. Oh and the actor playing the psychologist, whew he was not convincing.

Anyhow, this movie becomes ridiculous really fast. So, you will likely want to pass on this one.

After suffering through season 3, I am appalled at the current 7.5 rating. Even with 1 great season and 1 good second season, season 3 alone brings the overall series down to 5.5 or 6.

Season 3: Literally a whole lot of nothing happens. Just a lot of busy nonsense filler episodes that don't move the plot at all. The things that do happen, happens to people who are newly introduced to the viewers. We literally don't have anything invested in these characters and do not care what happens to them. Girl's finger chopped off? Oh pass the salt, please.

Then there is this slight change from thriller to some cheesy, teen-esque type of "thriller." Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer or that teen wolf saga that went on and with sequels type of cheese. Lol The teens in the park is not scary or creepy at all. I wanted to give them a rag and a sandwich. Oh and some screens become a little too dramatic and soapy as well. Snooze fest.

Plus the premise is stale and old now. The crazy Karen had our original sympathy in the beginning. Anyone can empathize with a parent losing a child in such a horrific accident, and possibly becoming so mourn stricken that you'd expect maybe some odd behavior here or there. But all this falls apart when crazy Karen became next level violent and not only tried to murder Leanne but buried her alive in the basement. She was torturing the girl and her behavior and language towards her husband was sickening. Totally unlikable character. Probably one of the worst created in a series in a while. The husband and brother are insufferable as well. I'm literally only rooting for the doll because even Jericho sequel is suspect (ie satan's creation).

I will say the actress who plays Dorothy is excellent. She really pours a lot into that character to the point that l you really just hate Dorothy more so than Leanne who is basically satan's daughter.

I've literally been rooting for every main character to die. LOL.

Holy crap season 4 is off the hinges cringe!!!! I wanted to gouge my eyes out it was so bad. I have to adjust my 5 rating to a 4 to bring this 7.5 back down to reality.

This is probably one of the worst documentaries I've watched in a while. I want to be clear, the rating is not about whether or not I like the Mauricio, which I dont. I'll explain...

Why on earth did the producers think it was interesting or entertaining enough to spend majority of 3 of 4 episodes covering this weirdo's various sex cults disguised as research or companionship for the dog. Good grief 30 minutes tops should have been devoted to that repetitive, cringy, uninteresting drivel.

The producers clearly have evidence that the interviewees aren't 100% honest and on various blatantly lying or refusing to share what they truly know or think. I think it's only by perfect timing they caught mentally disturbed Mauricio at the right time in his cyclical depression bouts that he was willing to open up. This was not to the skilled journalistic efforts or techniques to get him to confront him.

In addition to the lies, there is no true balance to what we are hearing. All the interviews and "analyses" is from dishonest participants of the actual shenanigans. No psychological experts weighing in on Mauricio and the cults, no actual government officials weighing in on the tax fraud and all the money laundering. Literally no real anything from outside the cult world of Mauricio is ever explored in this "documentary."

Furthermore, so little time is even spent on the details of the entire Tax Fraud!! What repercussions came out of it, or etc. They literally devoted maybe 15 minutes of it and went back to the ridiculous lifestyle again.

Then only in the later half of episode 3 do we get some substance on this pathological liar, mentally disturbed and morally bankrupted Mauricio.

Then enters the 4th episode unleashing all the ridiculous lies he, his girlfriend, her father who is an "esteemed" professor, and his mother and her pharma company are all complicit in, especially with this tax fraud, the countess, her fake dead son, and "her" dog, fake dog illness and scheme to publicize the pharma business. It's ridiculous. This family and their companies are so wound up in ridiculous scandals and lies that the real story in this and focusing on uncovering more (what they are still hiding, I believe) is what this documentary should have been focused on.

Then midway through episode 4, more substance is crammed in. So basically this man and his fake dog story is worth billions and they couldn't even hire a dog breeder who can provide basic adequate living conditions for these dogs? I don't know if I was angrier at Mauricio, this Sgrio breeder character or the ridiculous producers who thought this part of the story deserved so little attention and exploration.

Instead, we get this PR stunt of his next great idea of a dog sanctuary on an island for the remainder of episode 4. It screams opportunistic and not genuine at all. He's trying to wash away tarnishing his and his family reputation and the producers are accomplices in this new shenanigans. If he truly cares about dogs, donate and revamp the existing shelters and sanctuaries that are in current dire need. He has plenty of resources to truly make a major impact all around the globe for dogs or animals in general. Of course, he won't do that because there isn't any public spectacle or self indulgence for him in simply writing a check. This guy is truly a nutcase with lots of money. Very pathetic.

I only hope that someone more competent comes along and focuses on giving the story's substance more depth, analysis and time. This was a joke.

The fact this has such a high rating is baffling.

The acting is the most atrocious and the voice-over actors makes it 100x worse. Netflix should invest in better voiceovers actors. I cringed so much by all the overly dramatic acting and monologues. All the yelling and screaming lines that weren't necessary. Even when the actor was just supposed to be silent, the voiceover actors was so dramatic with trying to make breathing so cartoonishly audible. Good lord don't let any woman get hurt or struggle, because all the moaning and breathing sounds like some porno or something. This would be 100x better if the acting and directing was more realistic like how normal people talk and behave. It was very cartoonish.

Too bad because the concept of Saw, Hunger Games, Squid Games and even a little of TWD (backstory-esque and rotting bodies littered all over the place) meshed into one could have been a great thing... This series feels like a really bad parody of these.

Season 1 was decent on concept, horrible on acting and flow. Season 2 is weak on believability, better on gameplay.

I mean literally you have people surviving point blank gunshots to the head and still have the wherewithal to continue fighting and scheming to kill the King of Spades? You have this militant bad ass shooting up people and in the final scenes being whipped on my a scrawny teenager girls and women. I mean how many times does he have to shoot people in order for them to die? Not to mention all these main characters constantly able to dodge bullets as if they are moving at lightning speed. Military assault weapons that can penetrate car metal, somehow is unable to do so if the main characters were behind the cars. The extras all died hiding behind cars as the bullets go thru like butter. Just all cartoonish.

The number of backstories was tiring because it would almost always interrupt the flow of what was going on and half the time it wouldn't even add anything important or substantial to the plot or character development. Backstories in general would be fine if done correctly... series like Lost or TWD are able to execute on this nicely, but hardly any series has yet to perfect integrate them.

The characters weren't consistent from season to season or even episode to episode. For example the guy with the white/blond hair is this sneaky villain in season 1, who used Arisaw and his girlfriend as bait jeopardizing their lives. Season 2, he is this honorable former pediatric cardiovascular surgeon who prefers to operate on socioeconomic challenged children, and has a conscious and is out to save people.

The one character who was a villain that got burnt the hell up at the Beach in season 1, not only survived being burnt alive but then becomes somewhat cooperative and reasonable in season 2 for a couple of episodes and then he's back to villain mode episodes later. There is zero explanation how he survived and what motivated all these different directions.

Oh one girl was able to record selfies and videos in a subway on her smartphone, but supposedly no modern technology is supposed to work in this new world. One guy filmed himself and surroundings using a 3MM old school camera because of this. I guess consistency isn't this series strong suit.

I could go on and on with so many instances of why this series failed, but I've ready wasted my time binge watching two seasons, hoping that it would get better. It did not.

Let's get the good out of the way:

1) I love there is no drama or tension. Sure it's part of the recipe that makes Project Runway work, but if I want to watch Project Runway, I'd watch that and not this show.

Artificial tension caused by designers running out of money or not having the fabrics they need to finish their designs is not fun to watch on PR. It strips and derails very good designers from showing their full potential to viewers. I don't want to see staged sabotage; I want great product/designs.

Also hearing a bunch of sob back stories is kept to a minimum here which is great. Doing this somewhat removes the bias that sometimes views have when they root for a winner. This isn't Next In Struggle; it's fashion. Doing this also puts the focus back on the objectivity of designs. I want to see designs and relevant back stories related to their experience in the industry.

2) The caliber of designers are truly elevated. This obviously might be due to the fact almost 90% of the designers have actual brands and styled some of the most well known celebrities. I love that Project Runway usually has the opposite to give struggling designers a platform. But again, if I wanted to watch amateur designers, I'd watch PR. So kuddos for NIF for going a different route in this regard.

Now let's get to the bad...

1) The hosts... whew. Ok Tan is more tolerable than Alexis. Alexis is not only annoying but she's rude. She disguising it sometimes because she has this fake outgoing/tongue-cheek personality. Correcting someone on their grammar, which wasn't necessary since there is no difference between Agreeance Vs Agreement. You can tell immediately that Tan and the judges were put off by her doing this. I cringed and then wanted to just write her completely off after that.

Additionally, who the hell dresses and styles Alexis? She is always the worst dressed on the show. Tan is hit or miss on fashion he wears but it's more tolerable than Alexis.

The hosts acting as host and mentors and part-time infomercials is just toooooo much. Is this the Tan and Alexis show or NIF? OMG they get far too much camera time and it would be tolerable if they were likable. They also provide very little technical or relevant advice and coaching as they interact with designers. Tim Gun on PR does this perfectly!

2) The competition isn't balanced and fair. Why have teams with people who have spent years working together in real-life and then teams of complete strangers with opposing esthetics? How is this far?

Furthermore, how do you sent the pair home when the design is clearly sabotaged by the dominant voice of this handicapped team?

Then you split the teams up later on to stand on their own accord. How is this fair to the designers who were forced into this estranged partnership?

2) The editing of the runway is whew... I want to see the garments in all its glory going up/down the runway. Why is the editing cutting away from the garments to not only hear the hosts and guest judges critic the garments, but we have to watch them do this instead of looking at the designs?

Plus the models are rushed down the runway while the next designer's garment is coming out, which distracts viewers from focusing on the back of the previous garment. Sure this style is more Atkin to a real runway, but it's horrible for viewers who are watching to relish or critic the designs themselves.

I googled whether Netflix plans on a season 2, and I see it's been greenlit and supposed to be released in 2023. I truly hope the producers take a strong looks at the reviews to see the consistent feedback. If they continue to force hosts down our throats, I'm just going to fastforward each episode until it gets to the runway and then the final results.

I'll make this quick since most of the bad reviews are actually on point about the production: Music, weird interview backgrounds, choppy editing, overused footage, barely shows actual footage with good audio, etc.

Outside of the production, my issue is that there are no POVs to counter or critique all the "professionals." So basically Billy was believed to be asleep for 5 years by the admission of Arthur (the more authoritative personality). Arthur said "they" took over and wouldn't allow Billy to wake once Billy tried to commit suicide. YET the pROfEsSIoNaLs said multiple times that the personalities were not aware of each other... that it was with the "help" of the professionals, the personalities began to know of the existence of the others. So how does Arthur know that all the personalities prevented him from waking? Also, in actual footage, Billy admits to waking up AFTER something he (one of his personalities) did something wrong because people would ask him about things. Wait a second... Did anyone else not catch this?!?! Even production? If Billy was asleep for 5 years and had just woken up for the first time on camera during the "psyche" interview, he wouldn't know what type of mayhem he was up to nor would he recall anyone asking him if he'd remember doing something bad. Billy got these drink that same crazy koolaid.

I'm disappointed that production just presented a one sided documentary with no real present day analyses of all the evidence from independent, nonbiased professionals instead of the same professionals hell-bent on maintaining their initial diagnosis or conclusions.

While I do NOT believe Billy had MPD, I will admit that he is definitely screwed up in the head because of his stepdad. I truly believed everything his said happened and all the siblings and childhood friend's account of abuse or weird things that he did.

Study the actual footage and listen to him slip up in Episode 1 & 2. He definitely should do time in prison AND be committed to a mental hospital, but not for MPD.

Last but not least, Billy's sister needs to be slapped. She's an ableist. So basically one of the two women that Billy raped ended up having a failed engagement as a result of her trauma. This is mentioned in episode 2. Then in Episode 3, Billy's sister goes on and on with snide tone about how her brother missed her wedding because of how they moved him to another facility. Heffa, he robbed a woman of everything sacred and then doomed her engagement - she never got a happy marriage so shut up and stop complaining about your evil brother's non attendance.

I wanted to like this until the writers thought that the audience would buy scientist smart enough to create and reverse invisibility but too dumb to keep Sebastian under surveillance AND keep from being murdered. They literally knows he murder a dog and yet know one is wearing the goggles at all times. Even when they are chasing after him, they remove the goggles. Lol

The writers also want us to believe that there is literally only 1 person to notify that such an experiment went down and off the rails.

All gullible, the female lead knows that he wasn't in the bed and busted up her windows, but she didn't think to contact security until after Sebastian got them in the lab the next day and removed their codes.

I mean there are countless idiotic behavior from supposedly brainiacs.

And the lead actress overacts 90% of the time. She's terrible. Belongs in a soap opera.

The only positive is the special effects. For the turn of millennium, this was impressive. Still decent enough watching it again in 2022.

This should not have been a mini series. It's so drawn out that it's incredibly slow and boring. It's painful to sit through. Don't get me started on the dialogue of episode 1. I nearly chopped off my ears. Who wrote this script? Then in later episodes, just when you thought it would move along in some scenes, it didn't. This 6 part series could have been done in a 2-Hr feature.

The acting is ok, but not the greatest. I've seen better out of Nicole. Hugh was never that strong of an actor to me, only just a handsome face when he was younger. Speaking of his face...good lord this man aged like milk. Why does he look like he's in his 70s? Gesh do what other celebrities do and get nipped and tucked, or some injections. Heck even Nichole figured that out.

As for the storyline, it was very predictable and each event was telecasted. So there was no mystery to solve. And don't get me started on those unbelievable contrived moments in this series. Really, you're going to just let a woman continuously come up and sexually assault and harass you just because she's a woman? The jail scenes and that pathetic jail fight?. Lol Lordy...I can keep going.

I gave it a 5... I am being generous because Nicole is easy on the eyes and she had some pretty great acting moments. Also the actor who plays her dad is always a solid actor. The black attorney's acting was great until the last few scenes. Her having a tantrum and plopping down in her chair doesn't fit with the poised, high profile, wining attorney that she is supposed to be. Not sure if it's bad acting or bad directing when she goes overboard when Nicole's character was on the stand. I also thought the son had some good moments towards the end.

I really wanted to like this movie more than I did because I'm found of Anderson, Sewell and Garber's acting and I love the sci-fi genre.

First, I didn't think it was sciency enough. Sure, we finally get to hear some interesting dialogue in the 3rd act, but it just needed to be pushed further. I was always wanting more.

Secondly, and most importantly, I felt Osment was miscast in this role. This is my first time seeing him act since the Sixth Sense and that one sci-fi film with Jude Law. He was so recognizable to me in this film partly because even with the beard, he still has child-like features. His big round eyes, separated eyebrows and tiny mouth. I wasn't convinced that he could be the leading man. In fact, his stature also seemed dwarfed by other actors, especially his onscreen girlfriend. It also felt as though he was overacting in some scenes. I liked him better as a child actor. Also, the writers made his character halfway unlikable. Seriously, who treats their suffering mom this way? At times he seemed understanding while other times he was kind of harsh/impatient/dismissive towards her grieving. It's like he couldn't understand the depth of her love and loss for his dad, whilst he had this same level of devotion and love towards his girlfriend. Selfish much?

Thirdly, Bruhier who plays the girlfriend was passable in her acting, but holy crap the writers made her unbearable to watch! Her charterer was the most selfish, bratty, entitled person in the entire movie. I actually was happy not seeing her again. They truly made her unlikable and therefore, I was NOT drawn into this entire love/baby in the oven story. Also, Osment's interaction with Bruhier were some of the most unbelievable chemistry I've seen in a while. Plus, his overacting almost always seemed to be involving scenes with the girlfriend. Too melodramatic!

Fourthly, Sewell's character as the dad almost seemed unlikable for a split second. The opening act depicts this very handsome, devoted husband and father barely being able to leave his wife and son at the airport. Then the next time we see him, his selfness almost irked me. The fact that his son had to commit suicide for him to abandon his plan and go back home, was hard to watch. It's almost like the dad didn't give a damn that his wife committed suicide, that his son's adult life was in ruins, etc. While I'm glad the character did go back, the ending didn't have the impact that the writers think it had because of the extremities it took to get him to change his mind.

Lastly, this movie definitely needs a suicide trigger warning. So that people can decide IF they want to watch it and/or prepare themselves for it. It was the most disturbing thing since I wasn't aware that it's not only 1 suicide but 2 AND a miscarriage. Here I was gearing up for the excitement of a sci-fi, and it's really about family drama - VERY TRIGGERING DEPRESSING DRAMA at that.

Everything else about the film was ok. I do like the ideas around the way they executed the time travel. Also, I only felt a connection with the mother and grandpa. Everyone else, I could have cared less what happened to them.