Change Your Image
cloeso9
Reviews
Last Tango in Halifax (2012)
Derek Jacobi.......How could it go wrong?!
Ever since I saw Derek Jacobi in "I Claudius," I've loved his acting. Even today he does a remarkable job with silly movies like ones with vampires. This series started off with a terrific cast and deep story lines. Then, something happened around the second year. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, had relationships that deteriorated into backbiting, arguing and soap-opera like twists.
I watch television for many reasons, but mostly to get myself OUT of the doldrums. This series makes the Manson family look more loving and loyal. Sorry to say that I stopped watching.....not because of any one particular character but because they all turned bitter, nasty and argumentative. Perhaps the writers should bring back some humor and just a bit of caring. Not sticky sweet but balanced. Right now, it gives me acid reflux.
Mystery Case Files: The 13th Skull (2010)
Love this Complex Game (with minor exceptions)
This is a complex "Hidden Object" game that I played on my computer. As usual with Mystery Case File games, there is a back story. It begins with Mr Lawson and his daughter, Magnolia, going over a story of a Pirate. Then you see something invading the room and there's a scream. We become the "Detective," hired by Mrs Lawson to find her missing husband. This is the first game I ever played where I had to interact with real people. There are ghosts, pirates and a graveyard too. It's interesting and sometimes frustrating because we're given tasks to do before we get to interview them for clues. The tasks are gross (like making food in a filthy kitchen with a dead rodent and a roach). The Hint button works well and there are many things to do before you get to the end. Oh....just before the ending you get a very big surprise, but I figured it out when interacting with one of the people.
My minor exceptions (to loving the game) include stereotyping people from my home state of Louisiana to include hicks, voodoo, and criminals. The only real smart person is the Detective, who can come from any state. Plus I found a flaw in playing the Bonus Game. Hopefully they fixed it since last year and you can get through the Pirate Ship's door the first time (it tells you to switch letters 6 and 7, when it should be 5 and 6). I played this scene over and over until I found an online walkthrough that was correct.
Mystery Case Files has two exceptional games. This one and "Return to Ravenhearst." They're like watching a mystery movie that you enter and have to resolve
Tasmanian Devils (2013)
McKellar graduated Summa Cum Laude to do THIS!?
What does this say about our educational system....or better yet, McKellar? Geez, in the first 10 minutes, a monstrous thing rips the door off her vehicle and takes away her coworker. She tells her cuffed passengers to stay in the vehicle while she and another runs after the thing so she can "kill it." In the next few frames, she tells the guy to "RUN!" Duh.
Maybe before graduating college McKellar should have given her future some thought. Then she wouldn't have ended up in the Siffy hall of Shame, making horrible junk like this.
The bad accents that come and go: the tight outfits that certainly help McKellar to run from the killer Devils (and show where her brains ended up: the sad CGI: unbelievably bad scriptwriting: really bad acting from all involved....Now, you have a Siffy movie!
Marple: They Do It with Mirrors (2009)
McKenzie makes it watchable, But..........
"The Do It With Mirrors" is arguably one of Christie's lesser novels. Julia McKenzie does a good job of trying to keep it together, but the addition of the always-lousy Joan Collins was a mistake. So was the re-telling of the story, which has been done with every actress to play Miss Marple, including my all-favorite, Joan Hickson. I have Hickson's version and it's a "mod" mess with psychedelic stage plays! So I haven't really seen "Mirrors" with any actress that's worth it's salt. The problem with this series production team is the writing! All the actors try their best but they simply don't have good scripts. What a shame because we're all looking forward to a good Miss Marple series. I do enjoy McKenzie, especially in "Pocketful of Rye." I'll just check it out to see if this gets better. In the meantime, I have them on old-fashioned videotape.
Marple: Ordeal by Innocence (2007)
Unappealing Version of Christie's Marple
I've seen this entire series and while some are quite good, some are not. "Ordeal by Innocence" falls into the badly done category. With so many talented actors, beginning with McEwan, this should have been a very watchable and enjoyable entry. But the script was dreadful. There was hardly any character development and a rush to close the unbelievable storyline. The powers behind this one strictly were focused on giving the actors more camera time, and there were a slew of them. But the ending just left me cold. All this silly family entwining. It was good to see Jane Seymour again, even if it was a short amount of time.
Note: I LOVED the comment from one person here who said if we didn't like it, we could NOT watch. But he or she watched with a big "G & T" (GIN and tonic)....LOL!! I'd have to be smashed too.
Marple: A Pocket Full of Rye (2008)
Loved Julia McKenzie as the new Miss Marple
I thought nothing could replace the superior work done by Joan Hickson, as my favorite Christie character of Miss Marple. But Julia McKenzie does a pretty good job of it. I thoroughly enjoyed "Pocketful of Rye," and loved seeing my Miss Marple as Christie meant her to be. The story also is very close to Christie's writing, down to the ending. No more cutesy background music, and garish colored backgrounds either. This Miss Marple is down to earth and I'm the more happier for it! If I had one complaint to make, it's the annoying close-up's of the actors faces! At least they've given up twisting the camera at nauseating angles like the previous seasons, but we really don't need to see that much FACE. I could actually see every wrinkle, and even veins in their eyeballs. I hope that the series with Julia McKenzie will continue. Most of the better Miss Marple stories have been done in the first three seasons and they were very poorly done in my opinion. But I am a Marple fan so I'll be checking out future episodes.
Warehouse 13 (2009)
Warehouse 13 just Disappoints
After the big build-up of this home-grown program, I was eager to watch. The promos looked interesting, but they always do. Geez, where do I begin? The plot is about two Fed Agents pulled into a mysterious warehouse to guard and/or retrieve powerful items. I watched the whole pilot. Actually, I was pretty much checking the clock after the first 15 minutes of watching the female popping her eyes out of her head and the male ogling all the women. The Warehouse keeper was even more annoying, bungling around pushing cookies on these two. The "Warehouse" is very disappointing, just a rusty corrugated metal building in the middle of nowhere. They probably paid some farmer to use his derelict building for the exterior shots. The sets are minimalist and the special effects will remind you of every "good" movie you've ever seen. So will the ending of the Pilot. It's soooo very Indiana Jones, without the better acting, visuals, etc. The lack of originality makes this so very boring. I've seen much better programs last only one season. This one will probably go on for ten years. It's cheaply made and will fill in dead space. We'll watch other channels......or our DVD's.