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Silverado (1985)
A western classic
I remember seeing Silverado in the cinemas and was blown away by how much fun it was. And I'm not a major western fan but when they are great - like this one - I love them. The major thing it has going for it is a stellar cast. One of those casts where you just can believe all these names have come together. I mean how can you imagine a film with everyone from Linda Hunt to Jeff Goldblum to John Cleese to Danny Glover etc being in a film together, and a good one where all of these actors are at the top of their game! There is no weak link in this film. The story drags occasionally in parts, as it's long and has so much going on. But it's just amazing watching the actors, plot and great dialogue, with great character development working out everyone's agenda and who's good or bad. Though in true western style you pretty much know who the goodies and baddies.
It all leads to a fantastic action packed ending with everyone showing their strength and mettle!
Hawaii Five-O: The Case Against Philip Christie (1978)
A justifiably good episode
I'm really annoyed at the other reviewers and low scores for this episode. Sure it's a well worn trope of most detective tv shows, having the lead of a show, whether a professional detective or amateur one, being on a jury. But it always works as that person believes in getting to the truth and uncompromising justice, and boy is McGarret one of the biggest believer in justice there is.
Sure there is some wooden acting in the episode - must have gone to the Jack Lord school of acting - or the directing was a bit off. But it still works a treat and Janis Paige is actually a highlight. Unlike the person who plays the DA, his was a strange performance. But it's certainly not a dud. It's a good mystery resolved also by a well worn closed room trope. But I'd act the same way on a jury.
Hawaii Five-O: Invitation to Murder (1978)
This is an awesome episode
Some have mentioned that it's a bit like Agatha Christie. But well yes but mainly no. Sure someone is knocking off members of a wealthy family. But it's definitely done McGarret Five-O style. In the fact that Steve is not locked in the estate and cut off from the outside world which is how these 'And then there were none' style episodes usually happen and there's always at least one of them in every detective show I can think off. Instead McGarret can go back to his team and try to work out who is doing all the murders.
If you have seen these type episodes including the original Christie you will know how it turns out. Well with this one it's kind of a double twist. It's a very entertaining episode indeed. Don't believe the other reviewer.
Hawaii Five-O: The Silk Trap (1978)
One of my favorite episodes
Yes it's the old trope of a politician being blackmailed. But hey it had David Birney in it as Congressman Carr and I had a major crush on him, throughout his career. So I definitely remember this episode vividly and happily, along with my friend teasing me over it with the constant mention of the character name Congressman Carr!
Now watching it in 2024 I think it's still a fine, classic 5.0 episode with a great all over cast like Soon - Tek Oh. And David Birney - now sadly passed away - still cuts a fine figure to me. And a fine actor always.
In this episode he is drugged so they can take photos of him with a beauty and he also gets accused of killing the girl. So it's up to McGarret to get the culprits and convince Congressman Carr to cooperate.
Get Smart: The Spy Who Met Himself (1967)
'I have a very distinctive and unique voice'!
This is a classically great episode. Of course any episodes with Siegfried elevate the episodes. And this one has two Max's and other agent doubles. So it means we get to see Don Adams and Bernie Kopell interact with each other even more than usual. Full of plenty of great scenes and lines and Max mannerisms - times two!
Especially funny when Max gets to meet himself for the first time.
I'm re watching this episode right now and for some reason I only had this as a 7. Maybe I marked it down for the cringy part towards the end when they were choosing who is the real Maxwell Smart but that's really funny as well!
Get Smart: How to Succeed in the Spy Business Without Really Trying (1967)
This episode is a knockout!
This is one of my all time favourite episodes. Of course every episode with Siegfried is my favourite. This one is a favourite of a favourite though, when Siegfried tried to convince Control that he's leaving KAOS! It just had so many gags including gags and banter between Shtarker and Siegfried and at his office too. Operation Big K turns out to be big knockout instead of Siegfried convincing Control that it's a raid on Fort Knox.
Another highlight of the episode is the gathering of the chiefs around the world awards and the gags that come from that, from Max who is hosting. Of course Max works it out in the fraughting Siegfried's take over. And getting into a look into why Siegfried might of led to a life of crime.., it's all because his mother would not let him get a sled as sight says "Do you think it was maybe because we lived in Florida?" Just an hilarious, brilliant episode all round!
Law & Order: Facade (2024)
This is more of what it used to be
Finally this reboot is getting better. It's certainly taken a while before it got to some interesting episodes.
It's really sad that McCoy /Sam Waterston has left. I don't know if I like the new one yet. I'm sure he'll probably grow on us all.
However, I do like this episode because it finally put in some twists and went in different directions apart from just having the murderer on trial.
Sure they usually have things uncovered while they're trying a person but this was different. I really can't believe they found this person not guilty as to me there's been some in the previous episodes I was surprised were not found not guilty.
Get Smart: The Mummy (1967)
"You're not sick you're just stiff as a board"
This is a funnier episode than the last time I watched and rated it and so I put it up a point.
Here the chief has seemed to have turned into Max ! As after Max is wrapped up like a mummy and injected with something that renders him unable to move, the chief comes to the 'rescue', at a museum. But he drops him on the floor at least four times !
This is a really chummy episode between the Chief and Max as 99 isn't in it and they do some great comedy bouncing off each other, in fact Max comes out a bit more on top than usually, but unfortunately a little worse for wear from being dropped by the chief, including at the office. This is where the great line comes up which is in my title. He can't go on sick leave because according to the chief he's not sick 'he's just stiff as a board'! In fact the chief truly isn't the smartest man in the world as Max says after he's given truth serum. Classic fun!
Btw not sure why Barbara Feldon doesn't appear in 3 episodes in a row?
Doctor Who: The Giggle (2023)
OMG Fascinating and Amazing
What an episode!! One of the most amazing I've ever seen. I almost didn't bother Ad the one before it was one of the worst I've seen it took me several months to get through it!
But this was -there's not enough words to describe- how cleverly and ironically they used and mixed the invention of TV as a direct lead to what is happening in the world today! So many amazing lines in it as well as scenes. And OMG Neil Patrick Harris did the most extraordinary acting role, he should get multiple awards for this. He should be in a hall of fame category!
There's only two disappointing or strange things, firstly why is the new doctor in his underwear? Is he going to be wearing this always as the new doctor? And at the end they missed an opportunity to use the song (after Donna says) "You don't have to stay forever" to go into "Just be close at hand.... " I think it's a Dusty Springfield song!
Just Wow!
Happy Days: The Muckrakers (1976)
Liver let die
I always remembered this episode because of the of the whole Lone Ranger and Tonto reference.
It is also quite funny and interesting with Richie's first attempt at doing a real undercover, journalistic report for the school newspaper. He is trying to find and uncover what is wrong with the food in the school cafeteria!
Fonzie also joins Richie in the cafeteria's kitchen and tries to help take photos of the meat but we find out that Fonzie is afraid of - liver! (Me too I don't blame him) so after Richie's success he wants to go too far and do the story behind the story including Fonzie's fear of liver. Fonzie and Richie fight, The Fonz no longer talks to Richie. Of course in the end it all works out with help of daddy Howard. Then at the end we hear the very apt Lone Ranger/Tonto explanation from Fonzie.
I need to do this review so it's not just that unhealthy display towards Joanie that the other "reviewer" always does.
The Player (1992)
Intriguing and Nuanced
This is amazing in its execution!
Tim Robbins acting is perfectly brilliant as the exec in trouble.
All the other actors both playing themselves and playing roles are also brilliant! I saw this when it first came out! Loved it then and thought it was time to watch it again and I'm doing it right now and it's fantastic. I have forgotten most things about the plot so it's perfect to watch again! Special mention to Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett as the cops. The two scenes I do remember is the tampon scene between those cops in their office. And the other is The Malcom McDowell/ Andy McDowell scene and taking about the third Roddy McDowall all not bring related.
So many hilarious scenes like that as well as a great homage to film noir and biting but fun commentary on the film industry. Suspenseful in a slow burn way and funny, Absolutely amazing!
Poker Face: Time of the Monkey (2023)
Best episode of the series
I haven't really been enthralled in this show like so many. The episodes have been okay but have had flaws, and not that entertaining.
People have ridiculously compared this show and Natasha Lyonne's character to Columbo. But there's only one Peter Falk and Columbo. And she is no Columbo!
However, this episode I really enjoyed. It had great twists and turns (unlike most of the other episodes) right to the last seconds, and didn't have to rely solely on Lyonne's grating personality.
And the guest acting cast of great veteran actors was a massive reason why this episode played so much better, to me, than the previous four. I hope some other episodes might continue to be better as well.
Mork & Mindy: Gotta Run: Part 3 (1982)
So ridiculous in so many ways
I probably shouldn't bother to do a review. But having watched the whole series (bar a few missed episodes here and there) from season 1-4 I feel I need or want to share something.
It wasn't bad when it started, I'm taking first time around, it was funny but not the funniest of sitcoms, and Robin Williams was fun even though I felt way over the top. But I remember then and now re living the series just how it suffered from bad casting and stupid casting changes. Which is really strange for a Garry Marshal production. But except for Richard Donner as Exidor, the show must have had the worst casting director in tv history. None of the changing cast ever worked. And would suddenly appear and disappear without any explanation!
So to the final 'Gotta Run' run of episodes which was beyond ridiculous with no appearance by Mindy's dad or Exidor who could probably help their plight in some way. Why wouldn't they just go back to Ork to escape Kalnik. But why should any of this plot or writing make any sense when most of the series hardly did anyway. You could see that Robin and Pam Dawber were just going through the motions and doing what they could in the middle of the embarrassment which was these episodes. (No idea what the final aired episode tomorrow will give me but I doubt it will help heal). I think Dawber and Williams were probably glad to see the end of this sinking ship!
The Twilight Zone: The Obsolete Man (1961)
Powerfully non obsolete!
Holy Moly what a profound, prolific and amazing episode!
Maybe one of the best acted episodes I've seen too and they are always amazing acting jobs too. I mean the casting for the show was incredible considering they had 95% of actors from there going into fame! But I think Burgess Meridith should have won an award for this. It's truly the best performance I've seen of his more than stellar career!
Sure I didn't like the religious bit but we are talking about back early 1960s it was reflecting the USSR but so much more.
The more which we are deep in the middle of now. We came so far but now we're going backwards that is so many want us to go full steam aback unfortunately!
Unfortunately we're all going to be obsolete real soon when AI robots take over! Oh and one last thing in Serling style a Twist at the end!
Priscilla (2023)
Basically boring
I'm so disappointed about Pricilla especially after having to put up with the revolting 'Elvis' film (which should have been called Col Tom Parker not Elvis) which to me was just awful.
So where do I start about the problems here. Okay firstly I read Priscilla"s book that it's supposedly based on and I remember that not long after the book there was a telemovie made of it which was actually pretty good, much better than this one. Don't remember who played the leads but they looked much more like Priscilla and Elvis then these two leads do!
OMG there is no resemblance to either and the height difference is just so annoying! You'd think Sofia could have at least employed better camera angles to minimise the height discrepancy- it's been happening since the beginning of Film! Though I guess she didn't have time to do much with in the 30 day film shoot? If Priscilla Presley was the executive producer I don't know what went wrong or why she wouldn't allow Elvis songs in it. Though the sound track was one of the good things about the film and in fact hearing Dolly Parton's own version of I will always love you at the end was the only real highlight. I hope this puts an end to the filming of Elvis's life stories. Go and see if you can find some old films of him like the one with Kurt Russell playing Elvis which was so much better and enthralling.
The Twilight Zone: The Changing of the Guard (1962)
Sentimental nonsense
I can't believe people live this episode but seem to hate the previous episode Cavender is Coming, it has a much better message than this one.
If they just had previous students who were all alive explain how much Fowler meant to them it would be great. Of course it would also not have the Twilight Zone treatment. It would just be a total remake of - as people have said here - Goodbye Mr Chips.
But what I couldn't take is that all the kids 'returning' here are dead ones. Sure they were heroes and brave but I'm sure it's not only one teacher who gave them this quality. Sure I'm being pedantic and of course back in the time of this episode it was all about bravery. To me it came across as everyone he taught were dumb enough to get themselves killed! However I did love Donald Pleasence's performance. Amazing seeing him with hair even if it was white hair!
The Twilight Zone: The Gift (1962)
Not religious at all to me!
I some recollections of seeing this episode when I was quite young. I did not consider the alien the embodiment of Jesus Christ, considering people - I say unfortunately- believed what Jesus was saying. Okay maybe not straight away but a lot believed him straight away and that belief has been hindering us ever since.
Anyway, what I took from it and did again after just watching it, is the usual typicalness of humans from Earth never believing that aliens would be here to help us but to kill or destroy us. But it's one of the few alien tales TZ and Serling had a nice alien, nearly all had aliens being bad. Which is the only thing I didn't understand about Serling, considering he was so against prejudice. This is why I believe this was a story against prejudice. Not sure it was politically right to use a seemingly 'backward' Mexican setting. As citizens in the USA or anywhere in the world would have unfortunately acted the same.
The Twilight Zone (1959)
The original and best genius of a TV series like no other!
Time for me to write a review of the whole series after watching as many episodes of the series I can fit in. (And still continuing ) And already I've done reviews on a couple of dozen different episodes. And I've come to the conclusion like so many others on here that Rod Serling was an absolute genius ahead of his time.! Him and his many writers made some of the most thought provoking stories in history. In fact it is the best and original ideas for probably about 75% of all stories, films and tv shows that have taken place since. Sure there were some stories that were based on previous and historic stories too, which were also given an amazing treatment by Serling. Not all episodes of course were great classics, or I found enjoyable, but most were in some way. And of course they are all subjective due to how one thinks, our own fears, our circumstances etc. Again this was the genius of the Twilight Zone and how Serling tapped into our psyche.
But I do have one major complaint too that the female characters in all the episodes were from a very misogynistic angle. They were all nagging shrews, or in subservient roles, or a damsel in distress. Now I know it was late 50's early 60's but even earlier movies and tv roles had some females that were authoritative or in charge in some way. Now I have seen only about 75% of the episodes but I doubt this will change. One of the reasons I'm taking a point off. I really thought Serling would have been a bit more forward thinking when it came to women. I wonder if it was his relationships that clouded and caused these stereotypes?
It's been a little creepy watching one episode after another in the last few of days, and you need a break, but boy was it and is worth it. Once you go to the zone like so many characters throughout the series it's hard to go back!
The Twilight Zone: The Little People (1962)
Come on people this Is Serling's idea of explanation of God...
And mine too. If there truly is a a supreme being which I don't believe. I do however totally believe this scenario of someone from outa space looking down on Earth and trying to rule as "a God".
I totally believe this was Serling trying to explain how the explanation of the bible and God is so flawed.
Remember how one of them says to the other in times to come they will get to know the truth of what you really are. Well many of us on earth are finally trying to question the idea of God's existence unfortunately not enough still. And this is why the earth ad we know it now are getting more divided. I bet there will be plenty (mostly Americans) who will be annoyed and curse my opinion but I don't care. This is why I really liked this episode! The ending also is superb and says it all!
The Twilight Zone: Person or Persons Unknown (1962)
Common story theme which is everyone's nightmare
Yes the common often done theme which has been done a lot in episodic tv in fact; even more than film. Including similar episodes in other Twilight Zones.
And the audience along with the characters in the stories never know what us happening? Are the protagonists right or losing their mind? Is everyone playing a joke? Are they dead etc? Which will it turn out to be? I'm actually writing this in real time while currently watching the episode. And haven't read any spoilers. And feeling so sorry for Richard Long's character. He's been in other great TZ episodes too!
Unfortunately this is one story that both Dave Gurney and us don't find out why. So points off for that! DAMN!
The Twilight Zone: The Fugitive (1962)
A fantastic quirky episode with a happy ending!
I thought that this episode was going to be totally different to what it was going to be. So much so I was going to not bother to watch it. And didn't mind when they reversed episodes and played little girl list first but they came back to this episode. And I'm so glad I stuck with it.
There were several twists. It was a perfect Twilight fantasy happy story and instead of a painful, scary ending. It had a lovely, satisfying and happy one.
I'm surprised that I hadn't heard about this story even though Susan Gordon's IMDb profile mentions she's famous for it.
I'm also surprised by lower review scores. I absolutely loved it!
The Twilight Zone: The Odyssey of Flight 33 (1961)
The origin story !
This is an incredible story which influenced so many countless stories of planes disappearing and time travel,
But what took the mini series of Manifest 4 sessions to get through with still no solution. This brilliant episode took around 25 minutes to have a proper beginning middle and quite satisfying end !
I noticed that Serling probably did about 70-75% episodes that were to do with aircrafts. Either planes or spacecraft. He must have truly been fascinated by flying and airplanes. But they certainty are great for all kind of stories and this one works better than I thought it would when reading about it.
They really know how to write a succinct amazing story back then! Another OG story that spawned so many copies !
The Twilight Zone: People Are Alike All Over (1960)
I love Roddy McDowell so much in this
Well I just love Roddy McDowell period. But I can't believe it took me around 50 years to see him in this remarkable role which is nothing like I'd seen him in any later roles! He's was as cute as a button until his dying day and a fantastic actor to me. But this was well wow! With him doing a solid American accent too. Not that I mind his English accent because I literally fell in love with that voice - while he was doing Planet of the Apes in fact. It's ironic -and I'm amazed no one has mentioned in trivia etc - that people haven't compared this to his famous Planet of the Apes roles where they locked up humans! So futuretous in so many ways. Okay I've spent a lot of time talking about Roddy but I can't help it and can't believe this is a role I never even knew he did.
To the story - it's actually remarkable too with great messsges in the dialogue and the twist that the show is famous for! Brilliant!
The Twilight Zone: Time Enough at Last (1959)
What on earth is wrong with reading?
I have a few problems with this episode. By the way I knew what was coming because I read the spoilers so that's sad enough, that I almost wanted to by pass this episode.
The 'supernatural' element of the nuclear bomb destroying the world isn't hard to take. In fact it's a great premise. But why did his wife hate him reading. Having watched about 30 episodes now I realise Serling must have been quite sexist in the fact he used so many nagging wife characters. In fact for all of his great messages of bigotry and prejudice I'm amazed it wasn't until season 5 he had a black person in a credited role and an Asian in a staring role. But I digress, another problem is why his glasses didn't get smashed first up with the glass in his watch in the explosion? And how did the books survive? But despite all that it is a thought provoking tragic episode.
The Twilight Zone: The Lonely (1959)
Absolutely amazing ahead of its time!
I can't believe that I've never heard of people refer to this episode in the history of Twilight Zone considering how absolutely brilliant this episode is. Talk about ahead of its time on so many levels. *Living on an asteroid. *Functioning female, humanoid robot! The latter which we're now seeing the reality of. And gee the former has barely been done in any Sci Fi even in later time! It's so amazingly original but the story of love, loneliness and humanity is timeless but executed brilliantly here!
If any story though should have been given the 1 hour treatment it's this one. I'm also surprised that I've never seen it pop upon any remakes!