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Reviews
Mr & Mrs Murder (2013)
Austrailian TV, real quality
When you read more than 1/2 dozen reviews of an obscure TV series, and they are all positive, it kind of makes you take notice. And notice should be taken of this little gem. It stacks up respectfully with Nick and Nora, Mr & Mrs North and just about any amateur sleuth~husband/wife teaming.
It does raise 2 questions - why are they so much better at making quality, entertaining television series in Australia, New Zealand and the UK then we are in the states? The other question - why do the shows in Australia stop before their time?
Mr & Mrs Murder ran 13 episodes. Unlike American series, each episode stands alone, and can be enjoyed (no recurring bad guy or sinister underlying subplot ie Red John from the mentalist or Jack from The Profiler). But then it just went away - no 2nd season (series). can't figure that one out.
More confusing was the end of the Dr Blake Mysteries. Ratings were great, fan base was strong - but they cancelled (or didn't renew) it at the top of it's form.
My recommendation; track down Mr & Mrs Murder but don't binge watch it, take it one episode at a time. Just about the perfect blend of mystery and comedy.
Al-mummia (1969)
only the best if its the only one you've seen
In reading the summary "Universally recognized as one of the greatest Egyptian films ever made" it is clear that the summary was penned by some one who has not seen much Egyptian cinema. Not that this is a particularly bad movie - and it does shine above much of that country's output of the 1970's - but when taken as a whole - I wouldn't even put it in the top ten. My top ten are by the way; Mat'oulch Le Had (1952) Antissar El Shabab (1941) Akher Kedba (1950) As-Saber Tayib (1946) Hokayet El Omr Kullo (1965) Shafiqa El Qubitya (1963) Demouh El Hob (1935) Salama with Om Koultoum Afrita Hanem with Farid Al Atrache Shores of Love (1950)
The Firm (2012)
a tale told in flash backs
I'm not sure what the fascination with starting a show with a climax, then flashing back to a scene anywhere from 2 hours to (in this case) 6 weeks earlier - to show us how we got to the scene in the first place. Just about ever TV show and movie does this - as if no one understands that a device stops being clever the 3rd time its used. But to compound this - in the opening episode we jump back 6 weeks - then 10 years, then back to the six week time frame - so its a flash back within a flash back? At least it seems as though they were able to locate a tripod to rest the camera on - maybe we've finally gotten past the Hill Street Blues school of camera work. I'm just tired of getting dizzy watching the on the shoulder camera work.
Homeland (2011)
Manchurian Candidate with more sex
Never could see why we needed a remake of Manchurian Candidate. It was a good book and story in 1959. A pretty good film in 1962. Not sure why it was remade in 2004 - and now here again in 2011. Of course now you can have more nudity, sex scenes and foul language. While this almost always improves a movie or TV show - it seems to be somewhat unnecessary here. I guess it helps if you need to pad out what could have been told in 2.5 hours into an episodic adventure - but its fairly poor story telling. I guess I just don't live in a world where "Ground Breaking" - means - show more breasts. As for the actors - well its always fun to chew scenery, and Claire Danes gets to do that. Morena Baccarin is always fun to watch, and there's a lot of her to watch in this, though what can you do with the torn-between-two-lovers theme that hasn't been done. Of course for the born-yesterday, nothing happened before 2009 crowd - I imagine this passes for quality entertainment.
The Desert Song (1943)
not quite unseen
The 1943 and 1929 version of the film have been shown on television - though only in black and white, and not for many years. In the 1950's when studios started to see television as a source of revenue - and a cheap one, at that, where they could make some coins by releasing what ever films they had not yet managed to destroy to this new "boob tube". The result was any number of films that should not have seen the light of day, were broadcast regularly - though in the case of many 3 strip tech prints - one of the strips was used to make a b&w 16mm neg - and the prints hat are available are from that source. The 1929 & 1943 versions of the desert song have been circulating for years and if you look hard enough - you'll find them - the quality varies, and they are always in B&W, but its better than nothing (there's even a B&W DVD on the market of the Nelson Eddy version). BTW another film that was release to TV, that should not have been was Richard Dix's Ghost Ship - though recently the rights to that have been sorted out.
Rhubarb (1951)
a long time favorite
The beautiful Jan Sterling was, in real life, married to Paul Douglas. At the end of Rhubarb she and Ray Milland walk through central park, with Rhubarb, following are three female cats, each with several kittens following them. - As they pass a man, sitting, reading a newspaper, he looks up - it turns out to be Paul Douglas who comments about the cat having a litter by three wives (A Letter To Three Wives being a film Douglas was starring in). No real baseball teams are mentioned, though its clear the main team is the Brooklyn Dodgers. The series game at the end of the film is between the Dodgers and the New York Giants. 6 degrees of baseball movies.... Milland also starred in the baseball classic "It Happens Every Spring" along with Paul Douglas. Paul Douglas was in the original "Angels in the Outfield" William Frawly was in several baseball films including "Kill The Umpire" with William Bendix (who portrayed Babe Ruth in the Babe Ruth in the Babe Ruth Story).