ladycatkins Reviews

Mystery 101: Deadly History (2021) Season 1, Episode 7

Loved this Series

[10/10 · 14 May 2023]

I loved this series. It was fun and still caught the viewer up in the mystery. Each movie had a great cast and a great set of mysteries to keep us guessing. I loved the literary references and how they tied into that particular episode. I cheered when Amy and Travis finally got around to admitting their feelings then totally peeved with the "11 months later" epilogue of this last episode. But since Hallmark has chosen not to put their money where their writers were leading us and cancelled the series I choose to ignore that epilogue. It never happened. The series ended with a kiss in a hospital and that's that!

21 Bridges (2019)

An intelligent roller coaster ride

[9/10 · 14 March 2020]

This was a very taut, intelligent, action thriller. The actors were perfectly cast from the leads on through. The Police were not the usual sterotypes that often populate this type of film. Even the Deputy Mayor showed more depth that than would normally be seen in a minor supporting character. The villains of the piece were not your run of the mill crims but experienced, smart and a good team. They knew exactly what a mess they had stepped into and, even with some bravado, they still knew there was very little chance of getting out of this mess. The writing was a breath of fresh air. Not only are the characters allowed to be intelligent and erudite but the audience is expected to (be intelligent) as well. Viewers paying attention at the start will have picked the underlying issues early on but there was no explanation scene. Instead there were lots of small explanations through the action. And there was plenty of action! The movie didn't really slow down all the way through. For those paying attention the climax was quite satisfying. There were ultimately no winners, no happy ending but damn, it was a satisfying roller coaster ride. Very highly recommended.

Churchill (2017)

Give this a miss. No Churchill in this movie.

[1/10 · 26 January 2020]

So historically incorrect that the use of "based on a true story" should garner a fraud charge. Entirely fictional and, even then, so bad it's not worth watching. I love movies and can usually find something to like but the character assassination of Winston Churchill spoiled everything for me.

Danger Close (2019)

This movie did Justice to the Battle of Long Tan

[9/10 · 10 August 2019]

I have been looking forward to this movie for a long time and it did not disappoint. I believe the same applied for all in the cinema watching with me. The movie didn't waste time with backgrounds or explanations but got straight into the action. And yet we did learn about the characters, some hopes, some aspirations, some dreams and a great many friendships. Nothing was forced and the audience was treated like adults who were paying attention. There were minor historical inaccuracies but mainly to allow for the storyline, after all they were filming a movie not a documentary. It was 1966, very early in Australia and New Zealand's participation in the Vietnam War. The base, Nui Dat, still looked relatively newly built, the officers and men were still using different weaponry, M-16s for the Officers, NCOs and Scouts while the riflemen used SLRs but this was addressed when Harry Smith asks Pte Large how he likes his SLR and, after the ammo drop, the men are instructed to seperate the different ammunition. It didn't have to be explained to the audience and some may not have registered those details but I sure appreciated them. Knowing that Pte Large would die made it very hard to watch him through the movie but he was beautifully bought to life and became someone I so wanted to survive not a cliche that he perhaps could have been in the hands of a lesser Director. I know there were Australian and US Artillery but the focus on the New Zealand artillery was just right. Perhaps the only niggle I had was Morrie Stanley's accent sounding more Australian than Kiwi. But he did spend a lot of time in Australia so I don't know what his accent was like in real life...it was just something that ran through my head while watching. The cinematography was beautiful. The Vietnamese actors and stunt people were amazing. The music did just what music is supposed to do, compliment not distract. The explosions looked real, no additional Hollywood petrol needed. And Redgum's "I was only 19" played, in full, while showing the photos bought me undone.

This is an amazing movie and please, do yourself a favour, go see it and then tell everyone you know to go see it too.

John Carter (2012)

A movie for everyone, if you just give it a chance

[25 January 2013]

I LOVED this movie. I had read the books many years ago and some of the Marvel Comics series so I had images in my head of what I thought John, Dejah, Tars and Barsoom would look like...and this movie pretty much topped them all. The Tharks were better than my imagination! This is a movie for everyone. It's an adventure movie, an action movie, a science fiction movie, a fantasy movie and a romance. Please give it a chance, ignore any of the bad press and watch it for yourself. And just remember, this movie is based on books written 100 years ago by Edgar Rice Burroughs, so if you think "oh they did that in Star Wars" or wasn't something like that in (insert almost any other scifi movie)" please remember that they came AFTER John Carter not before...this movie might have been filmed later but the story was here a century ago, so those movies are drawing on John Carter's themes not the other way around. I thought the actors were brilliantly cast, they really suited my image of the characters and I loved the storyline. Yes there could have been perhaps more explanations but the gist was there and if you want to know more read the books. Give this movie a chance. Watch it more than once and you will pick up more each time you watch it. Maybe, like The Terminator, which also didn't do as well at the movies but then picked up on video, we might get to see the sequel in the near future. Are you listening Disney?