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omnipotentbill
Reviews
The Villain Still Pursued Her (1940)
Puts the P in Parody
This is an excellent example of parody. People that like the later humour in Airplane might see a few early hints of it here. Keaton and the villain were especially good.
Kate & Koji (2020)
Very funny but it won't last
I found this very funny. The main character (Kate) is similar to Barbara (1990's series stating Gwen Taylor) and if you liked that then you'll like this. Probably also appeal to people who found the excellent Dinner Ladies funny as it is a similar sort of humour.
You would expect Brenda Blethyn to be good but she is more Vera than Alison Little (Chance in a Million - also an excellent comedy). But Jimmy Akingbola who I've never seen before is excellent in his deadpan delivery and Blake Harrison has managed to get away from the terrible Inbetweeners to be good in this show.
One reviewer actually said this was "borderline racist". Good grief - it is exactly the opposite of that.
However I can't see how the plot can develop and so I expect one (or maybe two) series.
The Limehouse Golem (2016)
Dreary and Slow
Here we have a Ripper style murder in Victorian London. It is high profile and the public and press are clamouring for results. So what do the police do - they put a washed up detective on the case with the help of a single constable. Compare this to what really happened with the Ripper where the best detectives and an army of police were thrown at the case by the Government of the day and you can already see the plot of this film is not believable.
We keep getting hints that the detective is Gay (which is absolutely nothing to do with the plot) and a couple of people express some very modern sensibilities about this (which is nothing to do with the era in which it is set). There might also be a feminist message in here somewhere.
The detective wanders about and chats to a few people without any sense of urgency which would be needed to save the "innocent" woman who might be hanged for poisoning her husband.
In the end I couldn't feel any sympathy for the detective or the women. I just didn't care.
BTW: The end is a little silly.
Mann's Best Friends (1985)
Clarke's Off Day
The joy of Roy Clarke's work is the word play delivered in a dead pan manner; there was very little of that here.
What replaces it is a degree and physical comedy which doesn't really work. One big problem is the fact that the main character rescues animals to keep in his house. A monkey and snake appear in the plot at various points and the characters have to act to these creature which are just out of shot.
Did the author really think that he could have a plot which revolved around animals without actually using real animals in the filming?
The Saint (2017)
Its Halo has slipped
Hansom looking people wearing designer clothes and driving expensive cars. It looked pretty but the action and the script let it down badly.
In the opening scene our hero fights a nasty Russian. He is so incompetent that the Russian gets the drop on him three times! And then the Russian is so incompetent that he doesn't shoot the saint each time but lets him escape. In the end I was shouting at the Russian - for heaven sake shoot him this time.
Possibly the most (unintentionally) funny bit was at the end where our hero catches up with the villain who murdered his parents many years ago. The saint points the gun at him unsure as whether to fire and finally says that he doesn't assassinate people....however lying on the ground all around them are the guards that the saint has just assassinated.
The action scenes were nowhere near as good as the Mission Impossible films they were trying to copy (but then the Mission Impossible films are nowhere near as good at the Mission Impossible TV series, but that is another story).
This film was OK if you don't expect too much from it.
Early Man (2018)
Aard to beat
Animation excellent (as usual). Characters lovable (especially Hognob). Good story. So why haven't I given it 10 (like Chicken Run and W&G)?
There are fewer site-gags which has been a trademark of Aardman (or maybe they are so subtle I missed them) and the story seemed just a little too long.
But hey...9 is a good score so I must have liked it.
Shooter (2007)
Very few films have an original plot and this isn't one
You've seen it before....an innocent man is framed and goes on the run with the authorities and bad guys in pursuit. So the only question is, is this a good version of this type of story?
For the most part it works well with the likeable hero thwarting the bad guys. It becomes a little OTT when our hero and his inexperienced friend dispatch 20+ heavily armed bad guys while dodging a hail of bullets.
A couple of the bad guys were caricatures.
Don't expect too much and you'll probably enjoy it...I did.
Inside Man (2006)
Too clever?
At last - a Spike Lee film not obsessed with race.
The plot was clever. It is easy to spot a few holes but in a World where we are fed a diet of implausible actions films with bulletproof heros then this is easily forgivable. The leads all did a crediable job. The twists are a little obvious sometimes.
Liked it.
Security (2017)
It defines cliché
You've seen it before many times - damaged soldier down on his luck is in the wrong (right?) place when a large group of bad guys want to kill a witness and he kicks their bottoms.
For this film to work you have to believe that a large group of criminals that have just wiped out a groups of US Marshals suddenly become less competent when they come up against a small group of useless and immature security guards simply because out hero is helping the guards. For this film to work you have to believe that in a fire fight between our hero armed with handguns and five bad guys with automatic weapons that he shoots them all. For this film to work you have to believe that on the several occasions the bad guys have to kill our hero that they hesitate.
Nevertheless it was quite entertaining.
American Gods (2017)
Silence is Golden
I have only watched the first episode and will need to build up to watching any more.
It couldn't make up its mind whether or not is was supposed to be funny. The first scene with the Viking getting shot with hundreds of arrows suggested I was in for a slapstick-fest but then they must have changed directors.
But the worst part was the complete lack of silence. Every second was filled with "mood music". It was as if they were worried that if they left a few milli-seconds of silence I might get bored and walk away. In the end I shouted at the screen "for God sake be quiet for a few moments".
And you could easily have knocked 15 minutes off the running time.