mosquitobite Reviews

The Rooster (2023)

Brave and Masterful

[10/10 · 23 February 2024]

Wandered into this on spec knowing nothing at the Regent in Ballarat. I found heartfelt performances, layered unfolding of narrative, deepest despair, grief loss, existential pain of the human condition, the horrendous price and profound intergenerational impact of institutionalised abuse upon poor little innocents like Mit by the most vile amongst us.

Thinly veiled, Mit attended "a school close to Ballarat".

Mit was there, he suffered the horror, as did so many. Absolutely heartbreaking, gut wrenching stuff. Hugo Weaving brings this to the screen in shattering pathos almost too much to bear. The writing it terrific, never laboured, knowing less is more.

There is also a lot of humour, there is hope, new beginnings, friendship, shared experience, of these two unlikely allies against the vagaries of life, timely narrative too with current spate of police suicides, it is ultimately a hopeful film and would be helpful to any police officers out there struggling feeling alone and despairing.

The shedding and processing of grief and loss between shattered police officer Dan and Mit crushed to a sane sort of madness by life, the recognition that sometimes we have no control over fate, that we must somehow overcome all that entails, the rage impotence and crushing sorrow.

Well it's all in here, a wonderful contribution which will touch anyone who has been through the vale of tears or who have the capacity to comprehend it. Thanks to all concerned, the director writers and lead actors going above and beyond. Hugo Weaving of course we know (not quite like this before! ) and love already (my god what a performance he gives) but main character Dan by Phoenix Raei is pitch perfect, showing full range of Dan's emotions and experience.

If you were "bored" go see it again again, alone and quietly, let it seep, reflect, think on it.

Highly recommended.

Boy Swallows Universe (2024– )

Struggling

[3/10 · 18 January 2024]

Eli is a "precocious" 12/13 year old with a fresh mouth and low impulse control, cute as buttons, and extraordinarily well tolerated in a rough decade in a rough corner of Brissy by some very rough people.

I can tell you, growing up there, this never would have happened.

Let's see who has indulged sassy mouthed young Eli so far, and Im only in ep 2. His sweet natured big bro, the Maori drug dealers, the female Asian crime boss, a bunch of skinheads, his step dad's odious corrupt boss at the prosthetics factory, his mum of course, his step grandpop or whoever Brian Brown is, the female crime bosses fat kid Darren (or whoever he is) his benevolent-jerk- drug-dealer step-dad Lyle who is so completely brain dead he takes this kid, who couldn't keep his mouth shut if you stapled his lips together with tungsten staples .... for absolutely no rational reason... on his drug dealing rounds even though he, Lyle, is sh** scared kid's mum who he adores, is gonna find out he is ...shock horror, dealing again. She is a recovering smack addict, I reckon she would know already. Not her first rodeo.

And if there's one person in the world who is gonna tell her, it will be tossle haired cutie pie Eli.

Kids were not engaged with like this , tolerated and even "seen" like this, by shady grown ups then, and there. It's a complete fantasy.

Eli comes out with lines like "he's the Viv Richards of warriors" and many other equally unlikely utterances. He writes extraordinarily advanced letters to an inmate in Boggo Jail, they exchange thoughts stories and wisdoms.

On it wobbles. We have a dog walker in Brissy in the 80's out walking half a dozen designer dogs, I dont think so, we have a female indigenous school counsellor in the 80s in a public department of education school, i dont think so, we have a sadistic headmaster doling out bare assed canings to a kid in his office with a glass door behind him, I dont think so. Even the nuns had stopped caning kids by then.

The tone of this whole thing is off, and bordering on self aware farce.

So far Im hating it and just want to go and watch Michod's Animal Kingdom again.

Of course brutal things are going to happen (things gonna get real as they say)...but just wish they d not toned the whole thing so poorly from the outset, really stretches credibility.

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Excruciating we had to leave yes it's time to retire

[1/10 · 1 January 2024]

This was a real just chuck if all in the pot and see whats digestible.

Well not much at all really, this is a red hot mess one nonsensical scene after another, no cohesive narrative it was like oh yeah lets do that next why the hell not.

Tell me a single reason why we should care about anything or anyone in this film, didnt know what was going on who the females were, who the bad guys might be, or what they might have been trying to achieve. It was so irritating we stuck it out until thirty minutes from the end and couldn't stand it any more.

Have seen many Ghibli films and this is very weak, anyone raving about it well...dont know what to say to you because this emperor is buck naked.

Payback (I) (2023)

Silly

[1/10 · 19 December 2023]

Ummm why would the wife, an average accountant who hasnt worked in years, be the one engaged to go through what s a pretty straightforward paper trail, it's not like she had any special gifts or talents or info that made her the person for the job, this guy is massively resourced massively rich why would he even trust her to do it, he 'd get his super sleuths to cross reference all those accounts . Then she says it will take YEARS but day one, makes good headway. NOTHING convincing in Morris and Lexis completely absurd association. Never convincing... when they took her to the house on the kids birthday and offered her money, it felt so awks so phoney, the au pair is weird feeling like someone we should be suspicious of for some reason, a red herring of some kind, terrible phoney accent and sullen, not someone you d let within cooee of your babies!!!, just more absurdity. Morris is like a damp squib as a baddy all that soft shoe shuffling round with Lexi like she's a valuable ASSET to him omg. Contrived rubbish & just not ringing true or driven by powerful narrative, any of it, people are giving this 10 or 8 what ????Im moving on.

Above Suspicion (2009–2012)

This is outrageously bad

[1/10 · 1 November 2023]

Wtf??

Did an old big guy, a DCI, just leer at a young female officer in her home in her robe with the words "you smell so good". Then later pressures her for a dinner date, it's disgusting,he s drooling in his jocks disguised by gruff bluster over the sultry tasty little piece Travis, the worst bit of casting ive seen in a loooong time.

Said young female officer Travis gets sent to Spain ALONE to interview a highly questionable bloke. As IF.

Reilly is an absolute abomination in this i couldn't stop lolling, and had to turn it off. Imagine Beth uplifted from the Dutton ranch told to do her buttons up and you know, just pretend to be a copper. Thats it!!" She s Beth stipl peering with those odd little eyes through her shaggy strawberry blonde shaggy cut only tottering around in tight little skirts and shirts in stilettos. I mean honestly she looks ridiculous, despite writers attempts to give her character a bit of gravitas.

Oh the forensics ! Body two weeks old infested with maggots but hey guess what ....WE CAN PROBABLY MATCH DENTAL RECORDS TO THAT TWO WEEK OLD MUNCH. Ha ha ha The murders are OTT salaciously sexual and tortuous all women so far, juicy stuff alright. Do yourself a favour and skip this pile of dung.

Wilderness (2023)

Will isnt hot

[3/10 · 20 September 2023]

So there's that which was the first problem, if I need to root for a character who's being persecuted I need to fall just a bit in love with them too, plus he isnt a very good actor and there's zero chemistry between Will and Liv.

This show is full of filler, dull and boring, who cares about a bit of sex on the side, no tension there. Ok i admit I scrolled through a lot of it maybe other big stuff happened, but I dont think so from what I saw.

Will was also not very bright, which got a bit irritating. Coleman was miscast and too dainty to be convincing as Liv despite attempts at resting mean face. It would have been better as her being a maniac nutter and going into all out horror.

Vengeance is best served up with audience on side to also want revenge so this didn't really hit any high notes as a vengeance drama for me.

And why did they pinch bits of the Succession music? Very blatant, that was naughty.

Weird. Oh and could have done with that dumb righteous rant from Livvy about how poor women always get the blame. Im a female and over this victim narrative. Passe.

London Kills (2019– )

BIG RED BUSES!!

[7/10 · 29 August 2023]

This show seems very sloppy procedurally, in most shows cops are served up to internal scrutiny pretty smartly but here we have cops accused of murder going largely unchallenged, associating with witnesses, withholding information, bullying suspects, charging suspects without the sniff of legal representation, young people/kids with no "appropriate adult".

And the pacing/editing is so off.

Crimes being investigated for days or weeks and they start referring to "this morning" and "last night" as if it just happened in the clothes they were wearing at the time of the crime.

All the low lives have perfect white capped teeth :) make up dept ? And who is that mystery thin shadowy female copper in so many random shots of the precinct corridor?

It's ok and quite watchable but these details matter they just throw you out of the moment and are distracting.

One thing you will never forget after this is that London has big red double decker buses 😂....every.single.panning.over. London BIG RED BUSES I VE SEEN DOZENS BY NOW IS IT A JOKE?? Well its a dumb and tedious one.

Im now in to Season 3 and still no legal reps. Interviews and confessions never or very rarely recorded?

Someone complained about phones ringing in background but they must have their shows mixed up, there are no phones in this ringing in the background!?

There's plot holes galore and the speed of unravelling crimes is absurd but thats pretty usual in tv police land, otherwise we d be bored to sobs.

David's wife Sarah and daughter have disappeared from the narrative after all the FUSS. Weird.

Catch the Bullet (2021)

What the hell was this, a joke?

[1/10 · 19 August 2023]

Why was this atrocity ever made?

A tragic insult to the legacy of "the western" ,trite hackneyed sacchrine poorly written laughed out loud many times.

What on earth was in the minds of those who conceived of this it's like a send up and honestly i dont know how the actors kept a straight face. Have the makers seen any westerns it was like aliens came down to earth to make a movie or AI decided to have a go maybe part of their initiation into movie making school for robots.

The poor old score, trying desperately to inject a bit of pulse action but failing dismally ...how could even a single dollar have been spent on this ridiculous film, and chad not even with a single crack on those limpid lips are walkin the desert no grub and a single drink embarrassingly woeful, let's not even talk about the "injuns" in their corner costume shop outfits, shame on this blight on film making in 2021. It's a disgrace.

The Out-Laws (2023)

Dont waste your time on this overwrought mess

[1/10 · 13 July 2023]

Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin should be ashamed of themselves dignifying/getting paid for participating in low grade cinema of this nature.

This is utter dross, poorly written, one note, completely stupid, repetitive circular and crass, and not in a good way (with animal abuse on the rise, there is no place for any form of trivialising or normalising voyeuristic sexualising of animals in comedy, churned out and intended for the viewing pleasure of millions of humans it is disgusting irresponsible and offensive.)

DON'T DO IT !!!.

The black dude from the bank is very irritating with his gabbling foul mouthed diarrhea. Bad language is great when used well and can add the perfect touch to dialogue, but for the love of God can you Americans please just TRY to at least keep your F bombs down to one to a sentence? It is so lame, loses all its punch, it's just sad and pathetic and tiring and dull and a proper yawn fest.

Im pleased to see this has a low score. At least people are discerning enough to see what utter dumb crap it is.

Don't forget people, you get what you settle for.

And once again, seriously disappointed in YOU TWO PB and EB.

Obsession (2023)

Funny as a circus

[1/10 · 16 May 2023]

This utterly deplorably boring nonsensical plodding POS should never have been made.

No heart no soul dumb hysteria and all subject matter that has been done so well so often in so many superior settings, i might go and watch Age of Innocence again right now to block this atrocious attempt at portraying obsessive love from memory.

It was impossible to feel anything for these execrable characters.

The worst was how funny it was when it was supposed to be hot intense engaging impassioned, the ponderous music a silly conceit. Richard Armitage sure gets himself into some piles of dung.

And did they have to call her Anna? The shame was, there was no moving train for her to hurl herself beneath lol.

Beef (2023– )

It tried, even went all p**n-hub on us to get noticed

[2/10 · 10 April 2023]

...but ultimately palled and dragged and drained the life out of initial affection with contrived scenes overwrought acting repetitive character arcs swearing so much it became OTT headachy, characters became unloveable to downright unlikable "save the cat" attempted, but not done skillfully enough to offset the barage.

We became so tired of it we just watched last ep to put us and all of them out of their misery especially Amy whose pained, stunned mullet face became quite simply unwatchable... but early on we did laugh quite a bit and wished it had continued on being engaging and not turned into a bloated self indulgent mess.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

This crossed the line when

[7/10 · 22 March 2023]

The dog takes the shears out the door

Please. This isnt an episode of Lassie is it?

That would have been better left on cutting ro floor. This director overdoes it with dumb twee completely unnecessary flourishes and dialogue too, detracting from core greatness.

Someone needs to tell him just that little bit less is more.

This is a great story of persons taking divergent paths in life and the passions stirred by rejection. Colm's of a man he finds now of no use to him, a bore, and Padraics inability to respect another mans stand, not heed his words, the cause of so much conflict and misery in the world. And in relationships.

Dominic is awfully good and my fave character.

Speak No Evil (2022)

It drives me wild...

[10/10 · 29 December 2022]

...when people get on here to write a review and use all their words to flag ideas the characters should have had if they weren't complete idiots.

One of the WORST starts off '...here's an idea..."

Oh my god.....shut it!

You are being told something about human nature societal change delusion avoidance flight fight and the deconstruction of the veneer of control. So pipe down listen up and consider not your raving banal judgements, but how skilfully the director script and actors get across what is ACTUALLY HAPPENING ...not what you think should be happening.

Which in itself is classic avoidance of the horror unfolding in the film and likely a mirror of avoidance tactics in the writer's real life.

This is a gutsy depiction of the road less travelled but nevertheless one that might be just round the corner from you.

Poker Face (2022)

Have you or have you not been..

[1/10 · 25 November 2022]

Haha

This is ATROCIOUS Russell please mate love ya, but please stick to acting and leave the hard stuff to others.

This has such a ridiculous premise with the funniest corniest action sequences it's embarrassing.

There is no tension. No reason for the vicious tension from Victor, the females are banal roles, a spoiled kid and unfaithful wife yawn.

Rusty staring down the camera like something big is going down. It isnt.

Life is a game of luck ? So is choosing a movie, let this one slide by and you are missing nothing.

It's just so hard to buy into, or feel anything for anyone in it. Forgive imperfections is the final message and most apt.

Tell Me Lies (2022– )

Do not in invest your time in this

[5/10 · 8 November 2022]

There's good performances but it seriously meanders along with no purpose. Watch Endless Love from the 80s if you want what this promises - a story of obsessive love! There's no fire here at all just lots of sex and silly teen dramas being played out by people some of who look 10 years older than they should.

Where the hell has Pippa been for the past decade? Coz looked like she missed her college years and arrived aged 30.

Jackson White is very good but again too old to be talking about his mom he looks his age irl.

The ending is absolutely appalling, as limp wristed as any I've ever seen. Left me infuriated I'd bothered. It's just poor writing ...it's always poor writing.

Who knows what anyone is thinking or feeling? As for a narcissist in Stephen well he wasn't a good portrayal of a narcissist at all he was way too often portrayed as having a heart. When did Lucy ever have a raging grief over him? She should have been in hospital not in bed with Evan. Sigh.

Hopelessly lame.

Devil in Ohio (2022– )

Lame beyond description

[1/10 · 18 October 2022]

This thing has more cliche content than you could count.

Black birds circling, girl running falling through corn, pentacles, corn husk dolls, satanic symbols scattered throughout, rotting pig head, poor writing like bad news to be delivered, other party interrupts with a string of compliments then says...sorry you were saying?

"Oh.... nothing".

Kids come home to spooky looking situation go inside bellowing for mom, she doesnt hear, doesnt answer then suddenly appears on stairs ...Whats wrong? Everything ok?....no, you re clearly deaf.

This girl has a huge pentacle/pentogram carved into her back!! Which is raw and still bleeding, and theyre trying to place her into a foster house full of noisy kids, she onviously should be in psychiatric care, so manipulative as now of course there's nothing else available so the psych's family HAS to take her in, she's had no assessment outside of some q&a session with "Alex" who deems her to be "just fine".

And...she is going to the local high schoooool???

What?

Of course we have a moronic evil cop who acts like an arrogant ahole.

The irritating token foster kid who looks and sounds very uncomfortable on set, very consciously "on camera ". Grating.

It goes on and on, strained, non-credible, plodding nonsense.

Netflix is just treating its audience with contempt with this junk.

Do better, it's pathetic.

Dance of the 41 (2020)

Boys just want to have fun

[5/10 · 17 October 2022]

Sympathetic presentation of a group of people who apparently had no allegiance to their partners in marriage, their society, their religion, the things that propped up and kept co hesive their world, they did not value fidelity or family, had no compassion or consideration for anyone they hurt in their indulgent pursuits which sooner or later were going to wreak havok.

My son will find out.

Yes that's right, your son.

So...what about your son? Or maybe about his mother your wife?

I was being told very primly by this agenda lead film to feel deep compassion for them though because well they re gay, so must be given special compensation.

Nuh.

The production values were very good and fine performances by all. 5 stars for that. But the only real victim in this story was Ignacio's discarded, used, made-mad wife Amada.

God rest her soul.

Preachy, slow, padded out, manipulative (oh the pathos!) piece of work.

Hereditary (2018)

Absurdly bad

[1/10 · 16 October 2022]

So Toni C broke her vow to do light hearted stuff because she loved loved loved this script.

What???

It's unbelievably ordinary, cliche, slow boring and absolutely not scary. I cannot for the life of me imagine what could possibly have been compelling about the script.

I've been too scared to watch this, Im not good with scary stuff and the things I read made me terrified. Then today nothing better to do I did and was shocked by how bad it was. Can totally see why people were laughing.

Have no idea what the final scenes were doing just some boring old witches coven, possession etc I think we ve long since moved on from that being scary shocking or even interesting. King of hell great Paimon. Hail Paimon.

I was not at any point engaged with or freaked out in this horror of a film.

Do not waste your time on this.

And those cavernous ponderous dark wood houses in the middle of nowhere?....well live in one of those, suck it up.

The Watcher (2022– )

Horrendous

[1/10 · 15 October 2022]

Is Naomi broke?

What is she doing in this unbelievably embarrassingly baaaad POS.

As if any sane human beings would go anywhere near that horrendous residence surrounded by freaks all of whom are on full show *at the inspection*.

Try to make it just a bit credible so there's a chance of bonding with the characters.

The family also look swamped and uncomfortable in the house making for a completely phoney feel to the whole thing.

The dialogue is laboured, crass, irritating AF the f bombs overdone in some scenes, the tennis friend whatever her name is, is some sort grotesque caricature.

Of course the cop is dropkick dad a dinosaur harping on at the daughter, the mother has less female instincts than a snail lol no woman would take her children into that place

Mom and dad have to make out of course and get interrupted by teen daughter eye rolls

The kids ferret gets bludgeoned and dad says hey, whats the matter what is it?

WHAT DO YOU EFFING THINK ??

I cant endure any more, worst house move show ever made.

Big Sky (2020–2023)

Good performances

[8/10 · 3 October 2022]

To people praising Montana landscapes, it's not filmed in Montana.

I like this, writing quite well paced, Rick and Roland are very entertaining characters very well depicted by Brian Geraghty and John Carroll Lynch.

Roland's mom, Jerry, Rick's wife, the attorney, the girls, Cassie and Jenny all good.

The sound track seems invasive at first really eye roll stuff but you get used to it and then it becomes an asset sometimes playful or melancholy or upbeat.

It's a pretty humdrum narrative on the face of it, but has more personality than you usually get from these types of crime thriller shows which gives it a really accessible feel.

Im almost finished season one so we ll see if it goes downhill, but I recommend it as an entertaining binge.

It's tongue in cheek at times self consciously OTT and some great black humour. Naysayers probably should stick to more serious literal minded stuff lol.

Get into the swing of Big Sky :)

(Would haved liked more flashbacks with Ryan)

The Hunting (2019)

Downvoted because of ending

[5/10 · 27 September 2022]

Ways boys can avoid sexual violence.

Speak to someone like a counsellor for advice when girls start using their bodies and ridiculing language to exploit belittle manipulate and confuse you. It's not your fault and you're not a "pussy" if it makes you uncomfortable.

Speak up when female teachers get flirty with you, it's difficult but start with Kidsline it's confidential and up to age of 25. Sexual violence perpetrated by female teachers on male students is not OK. Report it, talk to someone about it, do not engage. They do not care about you.

Speak up about how porn makes you feel, emotions like anger and confusion. Think about how to protect yourself from getting skewed perceptions from the sexual violence that is being imposed on you via porn. Research healthy relationships and how online content destroys that potential.

Get on school councils etc and speak up about lack of initiatives to help boys deal with their relationship with sexual violence that is depicted just about everywhere as the norm.

Name it when you see boys being demonised in programs like this and in the press when they act out from a diet of online sexual violence with zero guidance, education, mentoring, from the toxic highly deficient world around them.

Society gets the young men it deserves.

Let me say that again.

Society gets the young men it deserves.

This skewed program demonised young men for taking part in the cultural norms WE HAVE ALL ALLOWED, and it is is a useless dangerous destructive unenlightened approach.

Great performances by these young actors and it's good to see this stuff being aired, but it sadly fell into unhelpful cliche and did little for the greater good.

Let Him Go (2020)

Strange moofie

[3/10 · 9 August 2022]

This has an arm's length atmosphere with poorly written dialogue dumb scenes and some unnecessarily odd things happening that just didnt help it.

And the rescue targets should have looked a lot worse off ....apart from the street slap and the fact they're a bunch of hot headed whackos, there didn't feel a desperate sense of urgency to get that kid outta there so i didnt feel much tension around it.

Btw who does the so called goofs on this page? The window=cigar scene is not a goof, she winds the window half way down and its still half way down in next shot but the glass is hard to see coz of light behind it.

Diane Lane poorly cast not convincing and honestly how hard is it to get a decent hair job, dont they have all that sorted in this day and age? Her hair looked so fake

Dunno what LM was doing in this guess, she had a bit of fun with it. Its ok if you miss this one, coz you're not missing anything worth having .

Liar (2017–2020)

Appalling crud

[1/10 · 1 August 2022]

This was risable What on earth were all those detectives and forensic people doing in this show A " he said she said date gone belly up" with zero evidence and a surgeon gets arrested mid op??lol The clothes they were putting in bags at the hospital, why? She wasnt even wearing them. What were they collecting? She had scrubbed herself clean It was so stupid manipulative and contrived the way it was written and the side swill of the sister and the ex omg so ordinary Cannot believe this has been remade all over the globe, just shows how lame brained and easy to please the population is I despair Dunno how JF kept a straight face. And hey you know it really is ok to have a show with no mixed race couples.... now it's every.single.time. Shoving the virtue signalling agenda its getting tiresome and not realistic at all.

The Gray Man (2022)

Great fun ...and funny

[10/10 · 30 July 2022]

Chris and Ryan are terrific in this.

What's with the ridiculous scathing reviews ?? Giving this ONE -THREE stars?nuh that's not ok...Its a movie, a bit of escapism, lots of action, sharp editing great locations and some pretty faces. We really enjoyed it.

Maybe jelly Netflix streaming competitors pay people to write one star reviews lol.

Under the Banner of Heaven (2022)

Couldn't stomach this

[3/10 · 29 July 2022]

With it's tiresome religious bent. Andrew Garfield is a great actor but can't listen to the moronic "moral conflicts" content.

Pleased I live in secular society.