turkeytom33

Polite Society (2023)

Interesting, but in the end, not satisfying.

Firstly, the title is not a real indication of what sort of film this is. A bit of a red-herring.

The film is a bit of a mish-mash of genres.

Sort of a comedy martial arts coming-of-age film, with a bit of horror mixed in, and even a bit of Bollywood.

The cast does fine, just the plot and writing are a bit "loose".

I had no issue with the "horror" twist near the end.

Sort of believable in fact.

The twist immediately brought to mind the "horror" twist in the Netflix series "Boy Swallows Universe" - which was totally unbelievable and sort of ruined a great series.

I do see other reviews panning the film for its "stereo-types"...but as the film is created, written and directed by a women who grew up in a Pakistani Muslim family this is a bit of a ludicrous criticism!

In conclusion, it is watchable, and a bit different from usual. It is not great in any of the genres it is trying to represent, but is competent.

"I am Fury!" (this should have been the movie title!)

Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story (2024)

Great first episode...the rest meh.

Starting point - I am not a big fan of the Bon Jovi band. Yeah I know some of their songs, and do like some of them. But they were a bit too "pop" for my musical tastes.

Speaking of which, I did chuckle when, early in the series, the band are described as "Heavy Metal".

This series is not really a story of the Band "Bon Jovi", but more the story of Jon Bon Jovi (John Bongiovi Jr). So series title is a bit misleading. Of course the band is a focus in the story, but really it is all about Jon Bon Jovi's story and his struggles as he got older.

Anyway, loved the first episode. Showed his and the bands origins etc.. Thought that was all interesting. 9 out of 10 for that episode.

But the rest of the episodes were just too long and I became bored. Yes there was some interesting things in there, but there was too much unnecessary content. They needed a good edit!

It was all a bit self indulgent I felt.

Worth watching if you are a big fan of him or the band, but otherwise....meh.

Ladies in Black (2024)

Pale imitation of the film.

Bit of a fan of the film, so was interested in watching this.

Set a few months after the film.

First disappointment was, it seems, no actors from the film are in this series. I didn't really expect Julia Ormond and Angourie Rice, but thought some of the others in the cast might have reprised their role. I can only assume the producers didn't bother to ask any of them?

The closest we get is "Marlow" character is mentioned in the film and the character gets an on screen presence is in the series. Also I think "Miss Cartwright" character, from the film, is mentioned in the first episode and why her character isn't in the series.

Overall I found it to be a bit more of a soap opera and felt the writing did let the actors down at times.

The acting is fine by the main actors, but some of the other roles I felt there was a bit of over acting happening, and that one or two of the roles were mis-cast.

Ladies in Black (2018)

Pleasant and enjoyable film

We were planning to watch the series "Ladies in Black", set a few months after the film, so decided to rewatch this film.

I enjoyed the film the first time, and also this time.

It is a pleasant film. No huge dramas, just telling the story of the women that work at a fashion store. Set in 1959 and part of the plot is how Australia was coming to terms with the influx of migrants from Europe after WW2.

All the actors do a good job and make it fairly believable.

The interactions between the Australians and the new migrants (the "Reffos") seems reasonable genuine, although I am sure there would have been harsher terms used for the migrants in real life (growing up in Australia in the 60's there were certainly other terms used then!).

Directed by great Australian director Bruce Bruce Beresford, so this was in very capable hands.

Angourie Rice has since moved on to bigger things and does a nice job here as a girl trying to work out life.

Julia Ormond does well as the sophisticated European as the contrast to the insular Australians.

All in all and very enjoyable watch, and something to use to forget about the mad world we are living in at the moment.

Sugar (2024)

Modern Noir, with a twist.

Season 1 review - This is an interesting series.

Basically a Noir set in present day Los Angeles.

John Sugar (Colin Farrell) has been hired to find the missing grand daughter of a powerful film director.

As the episodes go on, there are hints about something more is happening in the background of John Sugar's life.

I had a wild guess, and was correct. All is revealed eventually.

In reality, I believe the show could have stood on its own without the 'twist'. The story was fine and interesting. So why have the 'twist'??? I suppose as a point of difference.

It was rather clever having old Noir clip sprinkled through out the series as a juxtaposition of what Sugar was doing or what the situation was.

It does seem like a second series will be made. I look forward to it.

Gojira -1.0 (2023)

Entertaining movie.

I am no Godzilla expert or fan. I have probably only watched a few of the movies, including the original 1954 one (and also the Raymond Burr bastardised USA version of it).

This is a bit of a remake of the original 1954 movie. But from the viewpoint of one character.

We follow Koichi Shikishima (actor Ryunosuke Kamiki) from his first encounter with Godzilla on a remote Pacific island near the end of WW2 to the final battle at the end of the movie.

Visual affects were quite good, but the thing that really sold it was the sound. I have a surround sound system and the immersion when Godzilla approaches was fantastic.

The movie gives a bit of an insight of life in a devastated Tokyo after WW2 ends and Japan has surrendered.

People trying to scrape a living, grieving over their lost family, and clinging to each other to just survive.

The story line is a does get a bit corny, and there was some overacting, but in general it was an enjoyable experience.

You don't have to be a Godzilla fan to enjoy this.

All Through the Night (1942)

A watchable comedy noir made at an interesting time.

This film was completed in October 1941, two months before the USA joined WW2, but was released in 1942, thus after they were in the war.

I think the film makers did cater to the political sensibilities of the time. The Nazi cell seems to be made up of only Germans. The possible exception is Judith Anderson's character, but it was a bit unclear on if she was playing a German or not, with out a re-watch.

As is known, there was some sympathy for the Nazi cause in the USA at the time (as in most countries), so quite possible some US citizens could have been in the Nazi cell, but this seems to have been avoided in the film.

On to the film itself.

Firstly, there are some nice comedy routines in this film, which has in its cast Phil Silvers and Jackie Gleason. Plus the comedy relief provided by Frank McHugh and William Demarest (who has a very funny scene in the warehouse!).

Also I found it interesting Demarest called Hitler "Schicklgruber" (Hitler's mothers maiden name), which the Three Stooges had used earlier when they parodied Hitler.

As an aside, I believe The Three Stooges were the first to ever parody Hitler and the Nazis (in 1940). They did it before Chaplin. The studio wasn't keen on the parody, but they went ahead anyway.

Film is also filled with German/Austrian actors that escaped the Nazi regime, Conrad Veidt, Karen Verne, Peter Lorre, and a lot of the minor actors.

I do wonder if they cast Judith Anderson thinking she was Austrian and not Australian! :D Seriously though, she did seem to play 'baddies' in her films, so that is probably the reason she was cast I suppose.

I didn't really buy the romance between Bogart and Verne though. No real chemistry I thought. Possibly because she met Peter Lorre on set, whom she would marry 3 years later???

Also, some of the set piece fight scenes were clunky and did not impress at all and did take me out of the film.

Bogart does fine as a lovable rouge who loves and listens to his mother and treads the fine line between legal and illegal.

Besides Verne being a bit wooden and Lorre doing his well known now Lorre schtick, all the other cast members do the job.

If the action scenes had been done better this could have been a greatly entertaining film, but sadly they are lacking. But I liked all the rest of the film.

Worth a watch, even if only as a document on film making in the USA on the eve of war.

Bodkin (2024)

Quirky

Saw the trailer of this and thought it would be a combination of "Only Murders in the Building", "The Wicker Man" and "Deadloch" (Australian series on Amazon).

Watched it, and one out of three anyway. Mystery podcast.

Didn't really come through on the other two, although there were some elements.

It was enjoyable though, nice cast of characters, and the story moved along ok.

Nice story arc for the three main characters.

Also, what a joy to see Pauline McLynn (from Father Ted) in the cast...although I was expecting her to ask everyone if they wanted a cup of tea ("go on, go on, go on")! :D

There were some unexplained things occurring during the series, but then later we go to a different point of view and all is revealed.

But one thing that is not explained is what happened on the beach to one of the minor characters and the other people with them????? There is a brief shot, but no explanation.

Shardlake (2024)

Good not great, but worth a watch.

"Name of the Rose" vibes.

Only 4 episodes, based on a book from a series of novels by C. J. Sansom.

Hopefully we will get more series as I found it interesting. But it was missing something, which I can't really put my finger on, to make it great.

Acting was good. Ruby Serkis, daughter of Andy, in the cast is a point of interest.

Shardlake story arc was good.

He was professionally competent, serving Thomas Cromwell (advisor to Henry VIII), but naïve on the whole political situation and how things work in the background, till, by the end, he begins to realise the reality of the situation.

Basically this is a murder mystery, with the political and religious overtones of the times.

Palm Royale (2024)

What!?

This is a strange series. The more I thought about it, the less I liked it.

Another Apple series that is one, two (or several!) episodes too long.

You can tell the writers were struggling to fill the episodes because of some of the ideas they came up with, especially in the later episodes - Evelyn's (Allison Janney) "encounter" on the beach???; Maxine's (Kristen Wiig) "encounter" in the ocean???; to name two.

My big question before watching the series was Ricky Martin?!? But he does fine, although not sure if it was makeup or CGI (or both) to make him look like he was in his 30's.

Having the great Carol Burnett and the cameo by Bruce Dern were plusses....not they get to do too much. Also a very poignant scene between Laura and Bruce Dern.

The ending does seem to be indicating the possibility of another series? But I doubt I will watch it.

The New Look (2024)

Good, but one or two too many episodes.

Top cast in an interesting show, telling a story that not many people would know.

Saying that, I did find it dragged a bit, and could have had the number of episodes cut down by one or two and still tell the story, and possibly have more impact.

Going on my research, it seems fairly historically accurate, besides one or two major scenes that I don't believe really occurred.

Thought Maisie Williams was fantastic in this! Especially in the later episodes. More of her might have been another solution to move the story along a bit better.

One thing I did not like though - I was expecting a run down at the end of the show about what happened to the real people after the shows timeline (along with real photos of them)...but nope. I suppose that is why we have the internet!

Another thing that I didn't like was the story resolution for Coco Chanel. Last scene for her was vague but sort of implied what was to happen to her, when reality was different (especially as we didn't get a post script, as mentioned above).

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

A movie of two halves...

Interesting movie.

The first half of this movie, was well...., near terrible. Yes, I know, it was made in the middle of the war, and thus the expected propaganda of all the boys having a swell time and laughs, and getting on so well. The girls were so supportive and just wonderful for their fellas...yada yada yada.

First half 3/10.

But then, finally we get to the mission, and it becomes a great war movie.

The actual mission is done fairly well I thought, besides the obvious (check Wikipedia for the actual results of the mission).

The aftermath and what happens to Van Johnson's Ted Hamilton character comes across as realistic and not too jingoistic (besides the last scene, but that scene to is to be expected in a film made during the war).

Second half (minus last scene) 9/10.

Also noteworthy for containing an early Robert Mitchum role.

Fallout (2024)

Faithful to the games, but....

I've played Fallout 3, NV and 4 and I was very impressed by how faithful the show was to the games.

The look of the vaults, the weapons, the environment, etc..

But the main aim of the whole show, seemed to me, was to say to gamers - "Hey, look at this, just like the games, aren't we clever!", without fleshing out the plot enough.

Also, I found some of the actors a bit underwhelming, or miscast, one in particular.

On the other side, I thought Moises Arias was great in his role.

The last episode though, with the 'reveal' was quite good, and did bump up my rating.

Couple of other detractions:-

• one CGI monster was not convincing.

• it was not explained how one character managed to survive from prior to the bombs to the shows timeline. But maybe I missed the explanation?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the series and will watch the next season. The show was certainly better than the majority of other game to show productions I've seen.

While the Men Are Away (2023)

A quirky little show. That could have been better.

If you are after a historical accurate portrait of the Women's Land Army in Australia during WW2, then this is not it. That story still needs to be told.

This is a story set during WW2 with today's sensibilities overlaid on it.

To the writers - if you are going to set the story in WW2 at least get some basic facts right. The Mayor gives a speech about the fall of Singapore and mentions kamikazes. At the time of the fall of Singapore there had been no kamikaze incidents, and the word would have been unknown in Australia.

The show is a comedy/drama combined with sexual awakening stories of the two young female characters.

Reasonably entertaining, good acting, some good scenes, but some clunkers as well.

Interesting they hired an Italian actor to play the farm owner. I suppose for the story authenticity's sake and/or boost the chances of sale of the series to Europe.

The Untouchables (1987)

Cardboard cutouts

Watched this movie for the first time last night.

I found it over the top in places (i.e. the cast on horses with the mounties on the ridge line before the arrest on the border), and the characters were cardboard cutouts....the bad guy (in the white suit), the loving wife, the hoary old sidekick, the young gun...etc. etc.

A couple of good scenes though - i.e. the pram.

I thought Sean Connery and De Niro (although he had little to do) were OK, but thought most of the other cast struggled with the lack of depth in the script.

Very average.