Tulip_USA Reviews

Blue Lights (2023– )

Intense, thrilling, and heart-warming police drama

[10/10 · 28 February 2024]

This is without a doubt one of the best British police shows in a while. It is a solid production that balances the suspense of dangers for a beat cop with the realities of the personalities behind the uniform. The suspense is heightened by the setting in Northern Ireland, where police are normally armed and for good reason. That also allows the personal commitments of the characters to be deepened.

By the end of the season, this team will be your friends and you are rooting for all of them. Be ready to be surprised by some of them, some in a good way and others in a bad way. The individual plot strands are woven together in a masterful way, with hints to the overarching plot in the background dropped here and there along the way.

Fantastic acting by all around and production values from story, to locations, to videography, to the music department are top notch.

Warning: there is some language in the show but it is generally relatively restrained.

Highly recommended.

Tatort: Die Faust (2018) Season 1, Episode 1,043

Great serial murder mystery and thriller

[9/10 · 22 February 2023]

The duo Eisner/Fellner is without a doubt one of the strongest teams in the German/Austrian/Swiss crime collaboration Tatort. This episode is, again, one of the strongest offerings.

The apparent serial murderer that the team is after soon leads them to suspect connections to one or more of the nebulous international intelligence services that Vienna is crawling with: East Europeans, Russians, even the CIA.

The investigation is happening against the backdrop of police reforms announced by the federal government and competition among several top investigators in the Vienna office to lead a newly created second homicide squad. Major Fellner tortures her partner Moritz Eisner constantly with the possibility that she, too, may apply for the job, merely to see if she, as a woman, has a chance to break that glass ceiling in the chauvinistic culture of the Austrian Federal Police.

The real strength behind the entire Vienna team's contribution to the Tatort franchise is depth of Eisner and Fellner's characters and their strong friendship. Fellner's sarcastic retorts to Eisner's grumpy demeanor are evidence of an intense respect and admiration for each other. Why Eisner doesn't want his partner to apply? "Then you are gone. Including from me," is his comment. Yet their boss informs her later that Eisner praised her to the sky in a reference for her. Is Bibi Fellner going to break that glass ceiling? Do they catch the serial killer - or is there even a serial killer?

Plenty of suspense and charm to rate this episode as among the best of European crime drama.

Tatort: Alles kommt zurück (2021) Season 1, Episode 1,183

Confusing Art House Collage

[4/10 · 28 December 2021]

This is definitely not one of the best entry in this legendary crime series. The very notion of Detective Lindholm traveling over 150 miles to satiate a sexual urge is completely incongruous with all we have learned about her over the past many years: she is portrayed as so cerebral as to be practically incapable of normal human emotions. But this setup of casual sex is now so cliché in TV that it is yawn-inducing, if not outright cringeworthy.

The rest of the action is thoroughly confusing and unbelievable. Only the unexpectedly charming Detective Delfgau (Jens Harzer) of the Hamburg Police rescues something of this utterly deplorable Tatort.

Riphagen (2016)

Masterful Wartime Movie

[9/10 · 7 October 2016]

World War II remains a rich source of inspiration for movies, even seventy years after its end. The clear moral lines between good and evil that the Nazi era puts into relief allow for little wiggle room for postmodern movie makers to blur them. The masterful script and ace directing nevertheless manage to stretch these lines to the uttermost, resulting in a great deal of suspense where the viewer is at times unsure of who is who and who is good or evil.

Based on a good deal of historical truth, Riphagen is presented as a combination suspense and mystery. Andries Riphagen, sometimes called the Dutch Al Capone, was an influential member of the Dutch underworld who collaborated with the German occupiers for his own personal gain. Only the most gullible of viewers will be fooled by the smooth stories he tells desperate Jews as he tries to "help" them park their assets until after the war. Nevertheless, exactly how Riphagen is scamming people and how particular situations turn out remain unclear until the last moment, as he often has to improvise and adjust his plans based on changing circumstances. This keeps the movie suspenseful till the very last minute. Don't be fooled by what seems to be a slowing down of the story in the last third.

Not without minor pacing problems, this movie is nevertheless a major achievement. Despite a ridiculously small budget, it is masterfully executed. The entire movie breathes the 1940s. The acting by Jeroen van Koningsbrugge as Riphagen as well as by the actors in the many indispensable supporting roles are superb. Camera work, lighting and editing haven't succumbed to modern artsy fads but are crisp and effective. Too bad they couldn't get more real German actors to play German soldiers - Richard Gonlag's German (as Willy Lages, head of the regional division of the German secret police SD) in the original Dutch version is very good, but his native Dutch accent is nevertheless unmistakable. Highly recommended.

Derrick: Pricker (1980) Season 7, Episode 11

One of the strongest Derrick scripts

[9/10 · 28 February 2015]

This is easily one of the best, most touching stories in the Derrick series. The episode revolves around Alfred Pricker, an older, small-time swindler who escapes from a prison transport bus during an ambush intended to free a big-time crook, Mr Hamann. However, Hamann ended up not being on the transport and the gangsters are in disarray at this discovery, as they have killed the two guards. In the confusion, Pricker manages to get away. It is immediately clear to Derrick that to solve the murder and to find Pricker, he has to smoke out Hamann's accomplices.

In the meantime, Alfred Pricker, on the run from the police and from the gangsters who want to silence him as a witness, ends up finding an unexpected oasis of human warmth with a widowed lady and her young adult daughter. Weary as he is from a life of deception and hypocrisy, the two women bring out the best in him and it turns out that he is able to provide a balm of care to their broken hearts as well.

The balance between the hard-nosed police work, tracing a group of ruthless killers, and the quiet scenes of domestic bliss as Pricker and the women rediscover how to enjoy life, is excellent, setting in stark relief the dramatic conclusion of the case.

Poirot: Mrs McGinty's Dead (2008) Season 11, Episode 1

Artsy-Fartsy Accuracy

[5/10 · 3 July 2010]

This episode is in my view the worst in the Poirot series that I have seen. Other reviewers rave about how accurate the story is and this may be so, but I am deeply disturbed by the cinematography of this and a few other episodes. The producers of the series have expressed their desire to make the movie-length episodes more gloomy than the shorts from the 1990s. They have succeeded so well that I find it hard to enjoy Mrs McGinty's Dead and some of these other ones. Scene changes give me headaches, camera angles pain my eyes, the background music seems slapped on without too much care. All to show how avant-garde the director is, I suppose. A little less artsy-fartsy cinematography would make the episode no less gloomy and disturbing but would keep it watchable. The episode only scores a 5 because David Suchet is an old friend as Poirot.