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johnheadon
Reviews
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
7 stars for Eleanor Powell
The storyline is even thinner than most musicals, the songs are mostly not Cole's best (Begin the Beguine the exception) and the singing is often hilariously of it's time - especially the heavenly choir!! The 7 stars are mostly for Powell's dancing, but I liked her personality a lot too, not having seen her in anything else - yet! Astaire's dancing was as ever sublime, but Powell more than matched him and well deserved to have the most dancing time on screen.
One of the variety inserts (when was this concept phased out?) was delightful (the juggler) but the so-called funny opera singer was rather sad.
Bodies: 'Know You Are Loved' (2023)
What a disappointment!
I sat through 7 episodes of what was often a rather tedious (albeit beautifully made and acted) film, mainly to see how the writers would end it. Whilst this wasn't as bad as the last episode of Fortitude, it seemed to suffer from the same problems. The writers came up with intriguing ideas which were filmed exceptionally well, but in both cases they had not really though the whole thing through and failed in several ways - there were too many coincidences and any sort of logic that had been maintained through the series went out of the window. Most of the plot lines either made no sense or were unconvincing - e.g who was the little girl that Polly had to kill?; Why would Polly have to kill her and why would she do it? (One can conceive of brainwashing, but it's not even hinted at). The idea of Iris turning up as Shahara's taxi driver at the end was laughable. When Elias and 'old Shahara' 'disappeared' outside Sarah's, there would be no reason for young Shahara to be there outside Sarah's house. What a shame - I could certainly have come up with a better ending, but it probably wouldn't have been a happy one!!
Inspector Morse: Happy Families (1992)
By far the worst so far
I like the series Morse a lot - although Endeavour is much better. I do not like the character Morse and this episode finds him at his worst. Having said that, the writers often seem to play fast and loose with the character, with inconsistencies at best and total unbelievability at worst - like this episode. Almost nothing about this episode rang true. That Morse found the answer purely by chance in a second-hand book at a ludicrous police fete was an insult to the viewer. The characters were caricatures and/or unconvincing. Although some classy actors did their best. The plot was just laughable - Agatha Christie and Midsomer Murders would have been ashamed by this rubbish!!
Takin' Over the Asylum (1994)
One of the best ever TV series
It is hard to convey just how good this series is. I watched it again last week for the third time and it gets better and better. It's no wonder David Tennant and Ken Stott became so acclaimed, but the wonderful and hugely-underrated Katy Murphy more than matches them - I can't understand why she has not been more successful. I find it amazing that the writer is from the US - you would never know it. The characters are all treated so sympathetically, even the unpleasant ones (McAteer perhaps the exception!) and it is hard to watch at times when you know what's coming. It's a clear indictment of the British mental health services of the time and it's heart-rending to think about how much worse it has become now.
Bodyguard (2018)
Why ..
.. do people like this? Markfranh lists 15 plot holes, of which the first was the most obvious and put me on my guard straight away. The patheticly unrealistic railway sets didn't help. My tentativeness became more and more justified as ludicrous plot developments piled on top of each other and then what I had dreaded from the start happened - the politician and the bodyguard had an affair!! Has nobody seen the film with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston - I could scarcely believe that the writers fall into such an obvious cliche. It was so ridiculously funny that I gave up there and then and from what I've read since I don't regret the decision. Keeley Hawes is great. This isn't!