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Reviews
Lot No. 249 (2023)
Holmes's First Case?
Clever, and a Christmas ghost story in the Victorian tradition, this is a fun addition to the decades-old and newly-revived A Ghost Story for Christmas anthology. Screenwriter and series producer Mark Gatiss couldn't resist writing the story's voice of reason "The Friend," as a young, pre-Baker Street Holmes, even putting a quote from Conan Doyle's Homes in the script. Solid cast, good production values and a suitably dreadful and gruesome conclusion, this is a ghost story worthy of the English tradition of telling ghost stories around the Christmas fire. The new season's episodes are all good fun.
Queens of Mystery (2019)
No, It's NOT a "Pushing Daisies" Rip Off
Let's see: the main character is a young woman detective who solves murders whilst searching for the reason her mother disappeared whenthe detectivecwas a toddler. Her three novelist aunts unofficially assist her. No one owns a pie shop. No one brings murder victims back from the dead. She has no lover/sidekick. No one breaks into song. While the art direction is similar to "Pushing Daisies," it's actually based on a pop-up book and pulp fiction. The graphics have more in common with the recent Marple opening credits and title cards, and graphic novels, than the story about a pie man who raises the dead. These scripts aren't ground-breaking, but they're imaginative, fun and highly entertaining. The performances are solid, production values are high, sound design is clever and the direction is spot-on. The casts are a mix of well-known actors and newer faces. As for thosecwho claimthis is "literally" a "Pushing Daisies" reboot, I'm not convinced they know what "literally" means, or that production design is not the same as story or premise.
Medici (2016)
It's Like a Bad CW Series
Horrible casting, laughable dialogue, plodding script, cringe-worthy acting, inept direction, production and design values more suited to a Renaissance theme park and a less-than- passing acquaintance with history make this not worth of anyone's time. Whoever thought Dustin Hoffman was an inspired casting choice should lose their job. As a matter of fact, the entire cast is a mistake. I imagine the target audience must be 18-23 year old women with no knowledge of history - or taste in television, for that matter. This production is downright insulting to viewers. This series is more suited to the CW and not up to Netflix standards. What a disappointment.