Reviews

There's not really too much that can be said without giving away spoilers, so I'll just focus on the mystery angle. From early on, the show sets up questions and suspense around the death of the lead - with good characters and a nice pace, I was gripped throughout. The final episode was particularly intense.

The acting was decent, the production was very polished and there's plot twists to keep one engaged throughout - however, some of the topics explored may be difficult viewing for some.

Lastly - It's a shame that the most popular and upvoted review on here is a negative one from somebody who admits that they switched it off during the first episode - how can you review a show when you haven't even seen past the first episode? Take it with a pinch of salt.

Highly recommended - 7/10.

What a disappointing mini-series.

It started off very generic - a typical British police crime drama, with all the usual ingredients: dead bodies, a mystery and a police lead trying to solve the case. It picked up mid-series (episode two) and left me wanting to see the obvious liars within the force held to account and exposed.

Major spoiler alert - in one of the worst and most frustrating endings I've ever seen, they all get away with it. The evidence remains hidden, the bent coppers manage to cover their tracks through lies (all supported by each other at every rank) - they also try to justify their behaviour and the writers obviously want you, the viewer, to have your own beliefs and morals challenged and possibly sympathise with them too. The ending stinks - it wasn't satisfying, it didn't provide the closure expected or needed - you never actually find out what really happened on that tower (only a liars version) and never will, as this was a standalone mini-series. A waste of time. 4/10.

This could have been a masterpiece - there was so much going on through the series and lots of interesting characters to follow. Although quite scattered it felt like all of this would be tied up in the end and somehow connected. Unfortunately by the time it ends, you realise that some of the subplots were pointless, or built up to amount to nothing and there was an unsatisfying feeling that true closure had not been achieved.

They teased some horror elements with the decapitation of an animal, a creepy man in the words and some mysterious drugs, resulting in the attack of a young man who was left in a coma. This amounted to absolutely nothing in the end - it was heavily featured throughout most of the series and then forgot about. The writers remembered that they needed to provide some closure. The result? The boy in the coma fell over after being chased. Wow - all that build up for nothing huh.

The missing wife - it was hinted that she was in some kind of dangerous cult or involved in something mysterious. The whole fake pregenecy thing was never really explained. Countless hours of suspense, just to let us know she was murdered by a neighbour over a dispute. Some much investment, so little reward.

What about the young girl who was being poisoned by her mother? There was no outcome to this at all. The dad went for revenge but was arrested and then nothing happens. What happened to her, or her evil mother? She was also involved in the subplot regarding thefake 'revenge porn' set up - she admitted to it but this was never closed down either. No reaction from the victim, no consequences. Infact the teenagers were heavily involved in the season all the way though, until the finale, where they featured for like one scene. This is when I realised some seriously poor writing had accured.

There's more plot holes but I'd be here all day.

It was an enjoyable watch because you were always led to believe that explosive outcomes were close - the disappointment comes as the credits roll and you realise you've been led up the garden path. If the writer can learn from this, their next show could be better.

The opening scene, with the narration, was strong and it appeared that this was going to be a good movie - yet from the first encounter with the hypnotherpaist (who was annoyingly smug and unlikable) the whole thing starts to unravel and steadily goes down hill. What could have been a great concept swiftly falls apart and becomes a muddled mess of silly twists and turns with nobody likable to root for.

The french villain was annoying and obnoxious and his sidekicks were just there for filler, with minimal lines and no back stories. The hypnotherapist, who was clearly supposed to be some sort of alluring and sexual goddess, was just plain wooden and forgetable (along with annoyining, which I've already mentioned). That just leaves us with the lead, who you can't really connect with or suss out and as a viewer, I certainly was interested or engaged with the love triangle that dominated the second and third act of the film.

The whole production reeked of that 'I'm so trendy and clever' vibe that is comparable to some of Guy Ritchies crimes films - it tried a bit too hard to dazzle and impress with the supposedly clever plot, which in the end became a steaming pile of nonsense that was too far fetched and unlikely to actually take seriously.

On a more positive note, the film was pleasing on the eye, from a visual aspect and so it should be as the film apparently had a 20 million dollar budget. The sound track was also good.

This gets a moderate halfway mark of 5/10 for effort as it's no way near the bottom teir of crap that one could find to watch yet is nowhere near the top either.

As a fan of the genre, I'm starting to believe that I've probably seen the majority of time travel/time loop movies that are worth watching. I stumbled across this one from an IMDB list and observed the mixed reviews but decided to give it a go and make up my own mind.

The first 30 minutes were utterly boring and I was close to switching off, but brief moments of potentially interesting activity just about kept me in. There's lots of long and dragged out 'dialogue free' scenes of the lead gormlessly walking about, which fail to build any sort of tension - this kind of thing only works in a film that is actually good. I also wondered if one of the crew had some kind of 'foot fetish' as there seems to be lots of unneccesary focus and shots on the leads bare feet, over and over again. Weird.

Once you're passed the halfway mark there's some mild plot advancements and just about enough suspense to spark ones interest, but there's no denying that the whole thing is just rather flat and mundane. The lack of budget and poor script shows as no actual time travel with the character you are following occurs, nor is there any significant insight in to her 'future self'. We follow the same character, on the same timline and nothing else from the 'other side' is fully explored - just infrequent reminders that some sort of time travel has accured in the background..

The ending is just as flat as the rest of the film and although I didn't find the plot overly complex or hard to fiollow (due to the amount of these type of films I've seen) I cetainly couldn't be bothered to give it any after thought or even try and figure out anything that I might have missed.

A low impact, mediocre film that falls short. Just about worth a watch for time travel fanatics but will leave many underwhlemed. The five stars is generous, only based on the fact that there's a lot worse out there.

Firstly, If you enjoy generic, safe, and predictable movies, like the ones 'Hollywood' often churn out, then you might not enjoy, or appreciate, this gutsy offering....

As we all know, independent movies are rather 'hit and miss', usually because they push the boundaries, regarding the industry standard rules, when it comes to the directing, production and writing.

When an independent movie gets it right, it can be overly refreshing and satisfying.

The first risk that 'Garden Party' takes, is that it refuses to give the viewers a recognisable lead character to follow. Instead, the first segment of the movie sets up the premise for several diverse characters, separately, each with their own story and subplot. This is dangerous, for any movie, as trying to follow multiple amounts of plots at once can easily become annoying, and result in an overload, causing the viewer to switch off in frustration. Luckily, in this particular case, it works, and the stories, and characters, quickly begin to intertwine and link with each other.

We are introduced to a homeless, pretty boy, up and coming pop/rock singer, who remains placid and confused, as his ultra rise to stardom begins out of nowhere, and he starts to attract attention from promoters, beautiful women, and artists. We then have a young, attractive girl, from a questionable upbringing, who is encouraged by some friends, to get into the soft core porn industry. A young man, who has forgotten who he is, due to being on 24 hour duty to his control freak boss, in real estate, and drug pushing. A ruthless, sexy, and manipulative business women, who does anything to get what she wants, with a soft spot for losers, who she can mould and control. Other characters include an obsessive rich pervert, a seedy photographer, and a pot head who with no ambition.

The movie runs along, at a fairly fast pace, and you suddenly begin to care about each character and their individual story. Whether it be in a good, or bad way, you are waiting for closure on each characters subplot, which eventually kind of combines into one big plot.

Sex, and taboos, play a big part in the movie, but somehow, and strangely, the movie manages to be quite tasteful, and although sex, drugs, booze and porn are frequently mentioned, it manages to be non offensive, with no real smut element. Its realistic.

With a mixture of comedy, drama, and passion, this one should keep you entertained throughout.

I like this movie because it has the guts to be a bit different. Exploring scenarios that most movies wouldn't touch, and generally going with the flow. This adds excitement, and an unpredictable element for the viewer.

Great acting, interesting soundtrack, good writing, and good directing.

I would recommend this film to anybody with an open mind - 8/10