lotekguy-1 Reviews

Murdoch Mysteries: Why is Everybody Singing? (2024) Season 17, Episode 22

A mostly laudable effort

[6/10 · 23 April 2024]

As I write this, 5 of the 7 posted reviews are either 9-10 or 1-2. I find those extremes amusing. When Murdoch strays from its normal tenor, it tends to trigger strong fan responses in both directions. Getting folks to care that much is a tribute to the series. I'm usually in the plus camp on these novelties.

This one is a mixed bag. I was pleasantly surprised by most of the musical performances, with Julia's voice leading the pack. The choreography was also admirable. But the quality of the songs was not up to snuff in terms of melody or relevance to the story. The opening production number came out of nowhere, and did nothing to introduce the plot.

Other light series have tossed in an outlier musical episode. A couple that come to mind are Psych and Scrubs. The former was pretty good, but the latter set the gold standard, with several Broadway-worthy melodies, and lyrics that were spot-on for the characters and the story, rewarding those who'd come to know them best. Perhaps if I hadn't seen than one (several times by now), my score for this one would have been higher.

When Things Were Rotten (1975)

Rose-colored memories

[7/10 · 20 March 2024]

I absolutely loved this show when it aired, and have been a Mel Brooks fan from the get-go. When I found that most of the episodes were available on YouTube, I all but salivated as I clicked them onto my Watch Later list.

After seeing 4 of the first 5, I must confess to some disappointment. They seem more silly than clever now, compared to their effect back then. Perhaps it's because this sort of playful spoof was more of a novelty in 1975 than today, with all the TV shows and movies plying those waters ever since. Or maybe it seems less engaging compared to Mel's later Men in Tights, which I enjoy re-watching every couple of years, or so.

So if you revisit the series, try to focus on the context of its day, and think of it as a rough draft for the superior film that would come 18 years later.

Dave Chappelle: The Dreamer (2023 TV Special)

Dave Trolling the Trolls

[8/10 · 2 January 2024]

As I watched, I could almost hear the frenzied breathing and flying fingers of Outrage Junkies salivating like hyenas over fresh meat. Some folks never get the point. Dave has nothing against gays, lesbians, transgenders, the disabled or any other culturally victimized group. The butts of all those jokes are the ACTUAL bigots, and YOU who can't wait to broadcast a defense of others who never asked you to do so, and often would disagree. When you're "triggered" by words without regard to source and context, you're the one with the self-inflicted problem.

There never was a War on Christmas to whine about; similarly, guys like Dave, Ricky Gervais, Jim Jefferies, etc. Are active off-stage humanitarians, generous with their time and money. For stand-up, they've crafted a persona that includes taunting the Comedy Karens while giving the rest of us plenty of laughs, knowing their jokes contain absolutely no malice. If they weren't pleasing large fan bases, they wouldn't be making the big bucks and drawing so many butts in the seats.

He repeats the frequent criticism that he likes to "punch down" for a satiric point. He's mocking the complainers, not the ones they think they're protecting. Outrage Addicts are lower on the ladder, but they got down there by choice, and deserve to be punched down on more than Chris Rock deserved The Slap.

No one is forced to like this type of humor. If you don't, there are plenty of other options in every medium, running the spectrum from irreverent to devoutly religious, political to observational, etc. Calm down. Change channels and enjoy whatever hits your sweet spot. And stop interfering our EQUAL right to savor what we find funny and/or insightful.

As someone's Grandpa said, "If everybody wanted the same thing, they'd all be chasing Grandma."

Bosch: Legacy: A Step Ahead (2023) Season 2, Episode 10

Disappointing second season

[7/10 · 1 January 2024]

I liked the first season a lot, so I waited until I could binge the second without distractions. Alas, it was a letdown in several respects.

The first is that our protagonists are under too much fire from too many sources for way too long. By now you know the specifics. They're all playing defense and circling the wagons for most of the first eight episodes. I'd have preferred the good guys kicking more butts along the way to their upswing in the last two.

The second is that Harry gets a lot of screen time, but none of the best scenes. His savvy remains, but he's relatively inept at things formerly in his wheelhouse - spotting a tail, finding bugs and trackers, anticipating and turning the tables on the bad guys, etc. This year he's more dependent on others.

Crate and Barrel could have lightened the dour mood a bit if given more to do. Maddie, Chandler and Mo get the best moments in the later episodes without Harry. The dude needs to be more central to the solutions if there's a third season.

Helsinki-syndrooma (2022)

Complex, suspenseful Finnish export

[5/10 · 13 December 2023]

Stockholm syndrome threatens to move to another Scandinavian country in this hostage-taking thriller. A Finnish banking crisis in the 1990s caused thousands to lose their homes and businesses with no consequences for the bankers who recklessly lent them more than their assets could justify, knowing the government would protect the lenders, no matter how devasted the naïvely trusting borrowers were when inevitable massive defaults occurred. This is set in the present post-Covid era, with many still suffering from those losses and remaining debts. Hundreds of lawsuits all failed to get compensation because what the banks did was technically legal, according to the courts.

One frustrated victim, Elias (Peter Franzen) decides to finally get to the truth, holding several journalists hostage to force them to ferret out the perceived conspiracy for the benefit of all who suffered such unfair outcomes. That included his father, who'd committed suicide from the shame of losing the family business and saddling his son with the remaining debt. We gradually learn that Elias trained and planned rigorously for the siege for many months. The "curriculum" included explosives to keep the cops out of the office, firearms and hand-to-hand fighting in case things go awry, and conditioning himself for many days without much sleep. He brought in boxes of food and water, plus many boxes of documents for his captives to wade through, hoping they'd find a "smoking gun" that would reverse the tide.

The eight 50-minute episodes cover about the same number of days, switching among the central office, to the police trying to negotiate a surrender or send in SWAT, to a bunch of others who are questioned or otherwise connected to the players and the transactions. The scripts from the four credited writers keep multiple suspense balls in the air throughout, with some surprises along the way. Many characters have arcs that change them from the way they started.

Production values are first-rate, including some large, crowded exterior scenes. Performances are solid all around. As hostage productions go, it's nowhere near as sexy or action-packed as the wildly successful Spanish series Money Heist. Nor is it as light and fast-paced as the 2018 movie, Stockholm, which fictionalized the 1973 bank-hostage situation from which the term Stockholm Syndrome was coined. Even so, it's still intriguing as a more cerebral and less visceral package. Bingeing is advisable, since there are so many participants, locations, financial complexities, political machinations and flashbacks to keep in order. It's written as a miniseries, so no need to worry about having to wait for closure.

Man with a Camera (1958–1960)

Enjoyable, in context

[6/10 · 26 October 2023]

I knew nothing about this series until stumbling across the title while checking Mr. Bronson's IMDb page to see what I'd missed among his legendary body of action flicks. Glad I did.

Theses stories are rather uneven in plotlines, but most are reasonably well done for TV fare of that era - including mostly above-average fight scenes. The casting is sound. A perk of seeing this now is catching future stars (Angie Dickinson, Gavin MacLeod, Sebastian Cabot, William Conrad, among others) in pre-fame roles. The format sending Kovac to many locales to snap his pix allowed a raft of one-and-dones for anyone with a union card.

But most important is this phase in the evolution of the Bronson persona we vividly remember. Few recall when Katherine Hepburn easily beat him up in 1952's Pat and Mike. By this time, he'd changed his name from Buchinsky, en route to becoming the hero of so many gritty westerns and contemporary crime flicks. This Kovac character was tough, but not yet primed to go Full Bronson on the bad guys. His won-lost ratio in the fist fights and shootouts was still lower than it was about to be for the next few decades. The best was yet to come, but this was still pretty good.

The Commish: Dog Days (1994) Season 3, Episode 14

Good job by the writers

[7/10 · 9 October 2023]

The sole witness to the murder is Billy, a mentally challenged kid who claims he saw a guy in a van with a dog push the victim from it onto the street. The defense lawyer makes him look unreliable at the preliminary hearing, resulting in a walk for the perp and humiliation for Billy.

Eventually, they find the victim's dog and renew pursuit of the defendant, who has stolen Billy's dog to extort silence from him. When they re-arrest the creep, Billy's dog isn't there.

Convention calls for either (or both) of two steps to resolution: 1 - the vic's dog barks and lunges at the lout that killed his owner, confirming the ID. 2 - they find Billy's dog unharmed for a joyful reunion. Neither is used.

Kudos to the writers for finding an alternative to those tropes. Extra effort deserves recognition.

The Kill List (2020 TV Movie)

So-so martial arts crime flick

[4/10 · 4 October 2023]

This one had enough assets to be better than the uneven action flick it wound up being. Several attractive women provide eye candy; a few of them kick ass in (mostly) fine style. There are plenty of evildoers with minions of henchmen to beat up and/or shoot - a reliable feature of Thai productions. The fights are gritty, without much in the way of f/x hyperbole detracting from the typically fine stunt work.

The script is rather a mess, with too much time on the star, Angie's, childhood trauma and vague, tenuous relations of past to present, and among all the key figures in the principal action. The body count is genre-worthy, but the amount of dialogue seemed excessive for the degree of coherence it contained. A handful of worthy actors were underserved by the writing and direction.

Passable, but hardly memorable, fare.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

Droll delight built for streaming

[8/10 · 28 September 2023]

List of plusses: Wes Anderson sets are reliably superb, and as much of a cast member as those who strut and fret their hours upon them.

40 minutes is an ideal running time for a presentation with so little physical movement, and dialogue delivered in such a matter-of-fact tone by a cast showing virtually no emotion throughout. Following that format for a feature-length production would likely grow tiresome, if not exhausting.

Using the stars in multiple roles is just plain cool. Probably fun for the actors, as well, other than the inordinate amount of time some had to spend in wardrobe and makeup.

Had I seen this in a theater, the visuals would have obviously been enhanced, but I'd have had no chance at following the machine-gun pace of the dialogue - or, more accurately, series of monologues. Streaming allows the summoning of subtitle options and pausing or rewinding, as needed. I suspect this would be similarly true for many others who enjoy Anderson's style and haven't read the book.

Leverage: Redemption: The Work Study Job (2023) Season 2, Episode 10

Best episode of the season.

[9/10 · 24 September 2023]

As usual, the gang comes up with a fine comeuppance for a charlatan who has it coming. In vaudeville days, this feloniously phony prof would have gotten a steady diet of cream pies in his face. His unraveling here delights in an extra dimension - besides helping the standard sympathetic victim of the jerk du jour, the involvement of the security and custodial staff who have also suffered indignities from this scholastic snob elevates the emotional payoff package way beyond most of the team's other undoings of evildoers.

But one bit in the middle highlights an unfortunate aspect of Redemption compared to the original Leverage run. We need MORE HARDISON! MORE HARDISON! They may be a noble gang of thieves, but he's the one who can really steal a scene.

El Conde (2023)

Extremely understated satire that's worth a look

[6/10 · 22 September 2023]

Great premise; oddly executed. Chile's brutal fascistic former leader Pinochet was actually a vampire who started as a soldier in Napoleon's army. This film takes place while he's living in seclusion after faking the death all the world thinks it had witnessed. The Church sends a brilliant young nun there to try saving whatever soul may lie within him, and snatch what she can find among his massive hidden wealth for the Kingdom of God. His non-vampiric wife and five middle-aged children have their own financial aspirations, gathering in anticipation of the REAL death the old guy now wants. Pinochet can't remember where he stashed all the documentation of his global holdings, accounts and investments, so the hunt begins.

This setup could have played out as a zany farce, mocking real-life historic figures, as was done in the delightfully caustic satire, The Death of Stalin (2017). But this pursues a completely opposite comedic direction. It's shot in extremely gloomy B&W, in bleak and barren settings resembling a ghost town in a desert. The lack of color links it to the seminal vampire flicks of the 1930s -'40s, tones down the visceral impact of the gory stuff, and amplifies the craven aspects of human nature. Film students may admire the techniques for sustaining such extreme understatement.

This may unfold too slowly and subtly for many, but the satire hits multiple targets, with a wonderful bonus twist in the last 20 minutes that rewards one's patience.

Massage Parlor Murders! (1973)

A bunch of random crap wrapped around a skin show and a brilliant comedic interlude

[4/10 · 15 September 2023]

I was in the mood for a bit of 1970s sexploitation when I found this odd piece of sleaze. Some nut is brutally killing the hard-working ladies staffing the city's massage parlors. We're treated to a generous supply of boobage with occasional bits of bush. Those displays are linked by the inept efforts of two cops and a handful of scenes seemingly drawn from a hat. Among them are a few poorly written and acted domestic spats; a ludicrous romance; perhaps the longest pointless car chase ever filmed; and performances below the bar even for the era and genre, including corpses still visibly breathing and a long, sloppily framed and edited nude/topless pool scene, wasting a whole lotta nekkedness from a whole lotta extras who had nothing to do with the plot.

But from the midst of that mess arises a brilliant off-the-wall rant from Theodore Gottlieb, early in the metamorphosis into his legendary Brother Theodore persona. If you know the character, that bit alone makes this clunker worthwhile. If you don't, dip your toe in his unrivaled churning waters of rage, non-sequiturs and wisdom. You may hate the guy's shtick, but your cultural education has a gaping hole until you've seen him.

The math for this four-star rating represents1 for the skin and 2 for Theodore, boosting what would otherwise deserve a 1.

Sweating Bullets: The Last of the Magnificent (1993) Season 3, Episode 13

Clint makes this my favorite episode

[8/10 · 5 September 2023]

This one drips with nostalgia in the best of ways. First we get Linda Thorson who survived one of the least enviable gigs in TV history - filling Diana Rigg's gogo boots while replacing her iconic Emma Peel in The Avengers series. Then Rob Stewart, who already sounded like Bruce Campbell - especially when cracking wise - evoked memories of his early, underappreciated western series, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., furthering their resemblance by also shooting from the left hip.

But what propels this one to the top is Clint Walker's penultimate turn before the cameras as a fictional version of his legendary self. The man who helped define cowboy heroes, mainly as Cheyenne Bodie in his eponymous series in the 1950s - '60s, shines in this role of an elderly oater star writing and performing his own last ride into the sunset. Outstanding for Walker and this series.

The Final Girl (2010)

Tattooed anachronism

[3/10 · 26 August 2023]

Those seeking standard elements like plot, story arcs and character development should look elsewhere. Except for the large ornate tats on most of the cast this obsessively artsy film could have come from the French New Wave Movement of the 1960s -'70s. Narratives were relegated to the back seat in favor of abstract presentations focused on moods, largely via new (at the time) visual concepts.

This emulates most of those components. Sparse dialog; unusually long transitions - as in someone doing a lot of walking with no particular purpose; lenses uncomfortably close to actors; grainy look of bleak sets and mostly-depressed characters within them; random switches from color to B&W; an ending as vague and open to interpretation as a Jackson Pollack painting. All that wrapped around a sprinkling of soft-core moments of sex and nudity, with their erotic value muted by the detached attitudes of the players. Everyone is browsing; nobody's buying. Ultimately more pretentious than entertaining or enlightening.

4Got10 (2015)

What was Dolph thinking?

[3/10 · 14 August 2023]

I've enjoyed a lot of Dolph Lundgren's action flicks - even his numerous low-budget sale-bin offerings. Dolph reliably brings a presence that makes them at least passable, if not all the way up to guilty pleasures.

This one's an outlier, as he plays the nerdiest DEA agent to ever leave his desk for time in the field in a non-comedy. He reminds me of Michael Douglas' geeky turn in Falling Down, first appearing in a nearly identical clothes and Poindexter glasses. The guy looks and acts like an unusually tall guy from accounting or tech support to absolutely no perceptible advantage.

Mercifully, despite his top billing, he's not the star in this rambling twisty crime tale. The plot lurches among the players with good guys turning out not so good, and bad guys who may not be all that bad. It plays out as if they had a dartboard with dozens of scenarios and used whatever the dart hit, in whatever order they were thrown.

Probably Dolph's most missable movie.

Cause of Death (2001)

Dull movie; worse ending; wasted opportunities

[2/10 · 14 August 2023]

Patrick Bergin may be an actor with some chops, but this role as a troubled prosecutor will not be offered in evidence as a supporting exhibit in any trial of his merit. He plays it way too stiff for the plot and context. Joan Severance could make screens sizzle. But in this role, even though her character's sexuality is a key element, she's overdressed and overly restrained, wasting the chance to give this clunker some heat.

But the plodding plot of whodunnit and political corruption that COULD have been a gritty, socially relevant drama also winds up with the dumbest of all possible endings. After building Bergen up as a man of principle, unjustly vilified, playing the lone wolf in making sure he's prosecuting the right defendant, he ends up burying evidence that allows Severance to reel in a fortune via insurance fraud! That's just B. S. rendering the whole thing pointless.

The Murderer (II) (2023)

Be patient, and be rewarded

[7/10 · 30 July 2023]

This weird comedy begins in a way that may make you wonder if it will be worth your time. If you like bizarre, dark humor and some farce in your comedy, then the payoff will be coming your way.

A rural Thai family resents the hell out of a couple of Caucasian guys - an American and a Brit - who married two of their women. One night a massacre occurred around the parents' farmhouse and the Brit quickly becomes the main suspect. The local police chief has already made up his mind about the guilt of this outsider. The early part of the movie is his grilling the survivors, pushing hard to confirm his conclusion. Most of that unfolds as a semi-zany version of Rashomon.

The last 20-30 minutes are golden in unraveling the absurd chain of events that ended with such a liberal scattering of corpses in an unlikely setting. Very cleverly written and staged in building to its highly entertaining conclusion.

Goliath: 101 (2023) Season 1, Episode 1

Covers a lot of ground smoothly

[9/10 · 23 July 2023]

With all the Greatest Of All Time debate swirling around - mostly LeBron vs. Jordan, with periodic nods to Larry Bird, Shaq, Kobe, Bill Russell and a few others, I wondered why Wilt wasn't on everyone's radar. I started looking at stats and tons of clips that seemed compelling for his inclusion in any meaningful GOAT discussion.

This episode covers a lot of Wilt's on-court dominance in his youth and early NBA years, but more importantly it provides a wealth of insight into his life and the state of race relations during his formative years. Doing what he did in that era makes the man and the player more remarkable than the amazing, unrivaled stats of his career.

I'm looking forward to the rest of this trio.

High Voltage (1998)

Two assets in a mediocre production

[5/10 · 22 July 2023]

The script is bad: the predictable plot overly familiar to fans of such flicks. Much of the casting was obviously driven more by cost than talent. Very low count of Vietnamese actors within the Vietnamese gang - especially those given any lines of dialog. Possibly more geographic authenticity among the stunt guys.

In the plus column, the fights are mostly well-choreographed for a low budget offering. Sabato looks good in action, whether shooting guns or doing MMA-style acrobatics. The best scene of the lot comes late in the film in a biker bar.

Which brings me to the other asset - the underappreciated Donald Gibb. Whenever a slot exists for a bulky biker or biker-adjacent thug, who also looks crazier than Dennis Burkley, Gibb is the go-to guy. Whether the part calls for serious menace or a touch of comic relief, the big dude fits the bill. With 98 roles under his large belt, he's sort of a Caucasian Danny Trejo. Always good to see him doing his thing.

Miami Heat (2021)

One tough Ukrainian in one bad movie

[5/10 · 20 July 2023]

The negative comments by others about the script's leaden dialogue and wooden acting are generally smack on. The plot is quite familiar, having been done so many times. Sex traffickers screw up when one of the gals they snatch turns out to be the daughter of, or otherwise important to, one bad-ass dude who will take on the baddies, no matter how many there are.

Oleg Prudius will never beat out Liam Neeson for a variation on the Taken franchise, but he does have his own impressive "particular set of skills". His Yuri don't say much, but calmly does what heroic daddies gotta do in these flicks. Though born in the Ukraine, he went to college in the US on a sports scholarship, and has spent many years here. That indicates that Yuri's laconic style was a choice, rather than a lack of English fluency. When he's talking, it still ain't great. But the fight scenes, the hulking hero delivers plenty of the satisfying action low-budget mayhem seekers seek.

Perhaps the best feature is that this Ukrainian is kicking the asses of villains from many countries while his former countrymen are doing the same to Putin's invaders. If he's an example of their fighting forces, no wonder they're doing so much better than their foes expected.

FUBAR: Royally Flushed (2023) Season 1, Episode 6

Trending down

[3/10 · 25 June 2023]

I had low expectations for this series after loving the True Lies movie, and getting to like the TV series enough to be sorry when they pulled the plug.

This variation on the theme has been enjoyable enough to keep me going. A reasonable mix of action and comedy, with Fortune carrying the ball for the lion's share of the latter. The appearance of Tom Arnold was another boost. That completes his trifecta, playing different versions of himself in each. Actually, his gleeful sadism may have been his best role among the three.

But the family and relationship squabbles that were becoming less entertaining and more plot-inhibiting really gushed over the top in this one. The time spent in the bomb shelter sucked more oxygen out of the air for viewers than the dwindling supply for the characters.

If there's to be a second season, more espionage and less of the strident soap opera histrionics, please.

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: The Secret Serum (2010) Season 1, Episode 11

Pun in a million

[7/10 · 7 June 2023]

I'm embarrassed to admit that it's mid-afternoon and I've watched the first eleven episodes today, and paused to write this before continuing. I'd not been a fan of this 'toon in any of its incarnations, and still wouldn't count myself as one. But there are just enough nuggets to keep me going.

Recognizable celebrity voices. Kids watching a 'toon on their TVs that's a nice homage to Hanna-Barbera, and particularly The Flintstones. Vincent Price's place in horror history being suitably represented. More bits of satire among the silliness than I'd expected.

But this review is driven by a single motive. Calling a restaurant The Crab Net of Dr. Calamari blew me away, and made the time spent worthwhile just on its own. Hope it's not the last of its kind among the remaining episodes.

Kaalia (1997)

Underachiever

[6/10 · 7 June 2023]

The elements were all in place for a much better film than this turned out to be. Kaalia was a man grievously wronged by crooked authorities and the rich bastards who buy and sell them like goods at a shop. When he's too principled to accept their bribes, and too strident in his refusal, they kidnap his beloved niece and frame him for murdering another official. He escapes to rescue the girl, avenge the wrongs, nail the bad guys and clear his name.

Standard sort of setup for these action flicks. On the plus side, Deepti Bhatnagar provides a light romantic note along the way, and shines in several energetic musical interludes. A handful of action sequences are excitingly staged, with less of the slo-mo of punched and hurled minions as many others deploy. The grittiness that provides is somewhat diminished by too many things crashing through brick walls.

The choice of starting with his breakout and filling in the backstory much later kept viewer empathy at bay too long. But the worst element is a comic subplot about conning a delusional thug into financing movie with him as the star. I kept waiting for the two plotlines to merge, making the film more cohesive. It's over. Still waiting.

Salaakhen (1998)

A lotta bad for a little good.

[5/10 · 2 June 2023]

The plot is typical. Man of principle stands up to overwhelming forces of systemic corruption - tycoons, police, politicians and the courts. Vengeance and violence must ensue to cure the sickness of greed and abuses of power.

The acting is fairly typical except for a handful of moments in which long angry diatribes are delivered in the worst display of overacting I can recall in the 100+ Indian movies I've seen. And it ain't just one guy. Three of them spew speeches with Razzie-worthy degrees of scenery chewing.

The good? The last 20 minutes of payback spare no expense on f/x and stunts (including one bit Jackie Chan would have applauded) in an orgy of beatings, shootings, chases and explosions. The preceding parade of evil doings by evildoers adds to the gratification factor. But ya gotta be patient to get there.

NCIS: Black Sky (2023) Season 20, Episode 22

Yeah. What he said.

[7/10 · 25 May 2023]

At the moment the only other review for this episode is a complaint about the cliffhanger ending. I agree with the sentiment. I really hate cliffhangers, especially in this era of sudden cancellations. It's a cheesy move. Anyone who follows a series is no more likely to continue on account of such gimmicks. And if the next season doesn't materialize due to loss of financing, shifts in network programming goals, or mishaps befalling key cast members during hiatus, they've shafted their loyal viewers. An enjoyable Canadian series, Frankie Drake, had its plug pulled after a season climax in which 3 of the 4 stars were last seen in some form of jeopardy.

This one isn't quite as dramatic or vital as a "who shot J. R.?", or the way they left things with Parker at the end of Season 19,. But I join in expressing resentment for contrived lack of closure in ANY season finale.