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Reviews
Name That Tune (2021)
Stick to the Classic Show
I like Jane Krakowski usually. I admit that Randy Jackson and his "dawg" have always bugged me. I loved Name That Tune as a child and we occasionally watch old episodes on YouTube. I know the format and have always enjoyed the game. A modern take with modern music? I'm in!
Jane's jokes were lame and the audiences overzealous laughter started to ruin it from the first moment. The band, one singer was decent enough, the rest were just not that great. I'd rather have not had the singers and simply had Jackson playing on the piano.
The clues are far too easy. Naming a song that is something you might say to your cab driver on Sunday. I could guess that song with no notes. To me, that ruined it.
The final round with the seven songs to guess within a set time was better. There were at least a few challenges in there. I also appreciated that the decades were mixed, so 80s being my decade where instantly recognizable while some of the most recent songs were harder for me.
Overall though, the jokes, the focus on Krakowski's body with the tight, low cut, well above the knee dresses, and lack of memorable interactions between the host, bandleader, and contestants made me simply not care. Maybe if there was less talking and more game playing I'd have liked it better.
A Christmas in Vermont (2016)
Someone Needed to Study Vermont a Bit More
This movie is cheesy, but I have been in the mood for cheesy Christmas movies this year. Howard Hesseman I've always liked, he's the reason I give A Christmas in Vermont the stars it gets.
This isn't a realistic look at Vermont. First, it is filmed in Buffalo, NY, which isn't Vermont. They could have filmed it in Stowe and provided a much more realistic setting. I laughed when I saw the supposed Vermont license plates. That's a NY plate with "Vermont" photoshopped over NY. That's simply lazy. As was putting one photoshopped plate in while all other plates on cars parked on the streets were NY plates.
I've seen feedback about snow. It's almost Christmas and there's no snow on the ground. It was 50 this weekend. Snow at Christmas isn't a guarantee in Vermont. That said, cold weather usually is and any Vermonter stood out in the cold for that long would have a coat zipped up all the way and a hat or scarf covering the ears.
I've lived in Vermont for more than 40 years and I have not heard anyone say "Howdy." I don't know why authors and scriptwriters continue to think that Vermonter's talk like that. Again, circle back to Hesseman, who is as Vermonter-like as I've seen. He often reminded me of my dad, right down to the speech and mannerisms.
Acting is weak for the most part. The plot is same-old, same-old, but I expected the same Christmas romance redone, so I could handle that. The downfall to me came from making "Vermont" about as un-Vermont as possible.