Reviews

Utter rubbish. Lost in time and same old same old. Unlaughable tripe. Craig must be laughing in his grave if he was actually dead. But the massive fortune he made he should have sleepless nights. But he ain't this is trash. Joke as the usual nonsense this franchise always been about. Few indications of the real world but just yuk.

Love this show but I am moved to write a review of this episode. Mike boasted of a £8,000 profit at the end in time honoured tradition. But come on. A whopping great 130 man hours, and not just any man. Edd China and his helper! That would be around £10000 plus at a specialist garage so a loss of £3000 at least is the real figure.

I realise that in later series this was addressed and added to the list of happenings on the job but, still not factored into the Cost/Profit at job end.

Entertaining show but Mike and his ego do ride rough shod over reality a lot of the time.

Only been watching for 5 minutes and the moment at the lift when Tucci is carrying his lifes devious work in cardboard boxes. Escorted by security. He gives a flash drive full of who knows what to a mate of his. And the security guard lets it happen no questions asked. Not sure i will bother with the next 90 minutes. As the script just hit an iceberg that they cant survive. Credibility lost as the film sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Love the Beach Boys so thought I'd give this a try. Started in a corny fashion with the old style BB from the early 60s Seen these scenes a thousand times. Doh.

But the worst was yet to come. The enigmatic and good looking lad that was/is Brian Wilson was to be played in his middle/later years by John Cusack!! Was Stevie Wonder on the casting crew for this film. How can anyone accept the weasely looking B movie star Cusack as the great man Brian Wilson. I would suggest very few, and no real Beach Boys fan, never. I checked out very soon after his curtain call. Spoilt what could have been a decent interpretation of a confused soul.

Really shirty in the scene outside the workshop when Mike presents the Alfa sud. Fun viewing and the tension between the two was palpable. And all these jobs I've got to do, moans Edd i suppose on a fiver he spits! No a tenner says Mike in that cheeky cockney way of his. The writing was certainly on the wall for a split not to far over the horizon. The tension was building. Great show but to be honest the man hours spent by poor old Edd on all these relics meant in reality they very rarely would have made any profit in the real world. No wonder he was wobbling towards the end of his tenure!

Ed China has his moment to let fly, in a cheeky way, about his frustrations with the Brewer man in their last outing together in this life! Under the surface of the joking and ribaldry though there was a sense, of reality show, of annoyance from Ed. Great show and has never quite got its magic back after Ed sent himself to China and various other destinations. Mike is a fun character and his genius at selling motors matched Eds utterly brilliant mechanical gifts. A perfect partnership for a must watch series.

What a special finale on the beautiful island with a brilliant race track. Been there many times to admire its setting. Unique in the world I would say. How I would have enjoyed to drive that boosted Mazda RX7 with the snake skinned livery round its scenic curves.

I would have given it 1 star. The scene near the beginning were the corrupt leader of Harrison Industries looks across at departure terminal at his girl friend who is busy rifling through top secret documents. In front of everybody on the transfer bus and the famous actor whose name escapes me. Cue laugh out loud moment and shake of head as I reach for the remote off switch.

First saw this film back in Sydney in the early seventies. Had a certain kudos then as it was a groundbreaking film of its sort. Or so the story goes! Watched it on BBC i player as there was nothing else at all in the film catalogue. Main observations after all these decades. In the signature and most memorable moment in the whole 3 hours plus (snooze), I would love to know how the mafia goon managed to get the enormous horses head in the bed without the director in it waking up. Apologies if IMDb have already noted this ludicrous goof in the list of goofs. It was a completely lame scene if you will forgive the pun Marlon Brando seems to be having trouble with vocal clarity and was slurring his way throughout the film. Maybe hitting the Sicilian wine a little hard? All in all, including the mammoth length of the movie, no satisfactory end. Of course it was groundbreaking possibly for this reason and this reason alone. They were laying the foundation for a franchise of Godfathers. Something the film industry in the twentieth first century have taken to the max.

Beautifully played by Hopkins and Winger. Heart warming and clever script leads to a experience worth having.

Forsyth and McKIllop attempt to transform themselves into the Coen Brothers. Epic fail

Pretty good show worth watching for the real settings around the iconic South Bank and the views across to the City itself. Gritty and a more than passable way to pass 40 odd minutes. DCI Bradford is ok in the lead role but the programmes attempts to make him look and act like Hank Voight the Chicago PD main man fall somewhat short!

Three things that caught my attention during this rather dull episode that at least roused me from my slumbers! Firstly. When Columbo comes to tell the suspect that due to a second autopsy they had found a stab wound in the victims heart. So the first autopsy didnt spot a stab wound to the heart lol to the max. Secondly. When Columbo goes ferreting around in the suspects bathroom looking for evidence and comes up with a travel toothbrush. and pockets it lol. Good luck trying to make that stick in a court of law. There are such things as warrants for a reason lol 2 Thirdly. When the rain coat man has really got the now nearly exposed murderer by the short and curlies the suspect blurts out during a particularly blatant piece of nauseous questioning Don't patronise me Columbo lol 3. At last someone in all these shows and all the blurb thrown at them by the hideous lieutenant has the temerity to actually say one more thing. Liked the show very much in its infancy but the later shows failed to deliver as Falk himself got caught up in self parody. Was only going to mark it 2 stars but the hilarity I garnered from the 3 points above got me being a tad more generous.

Falks attempt at making people think he was actually playing this ridiculous tuba were ludicrous. The Russian servant scene was sick making. Humourless to the max. And it has to be recorded that the porn movie saxophone is so cornball as is the music soundtrack throughout, which is risible. The show has descended into farce, parody and Falk gurning/smirking throughout, probably at the Studio execs for paying him £500k an episode for old rope! The one and only Jack Cassidy is the only one that could get the rain coat man working for his cash.

Fisher Stevens is without doubt the most annoying actor to ever take the lead in any Columbo episode. Born lucky with connections to the top table in Hollywood I would suggest. His smarmy and self serving over acting throughout only outdone by the ever patronising rain coat man. Parody for a once great show should have been the title for this episode. The music exemplified how awful it all was. Sad the way this legendary show fell from grace.

There is at least 30 minutes of filler here with some scenes unnecessary. In the editing room where Colombo stares at the screens like a grinning baboon in Disneyland is one. The plot is over thickened like Texan oil and is dialogued to death. The lead actress is certainly a spunky character but overdid the attempt at charming old rain coat man with her continual addressing of him as Lieutenant. Seriously try counting them. You will run out of numbers. That said, George C Scott must have had a great time being married to Teresa.

Falk takes the road to narcicism and Mickey taking too far here. Talk about over acting. He could have got a job as a real cop directing traffic as he waves his arms around so much. The storyline has more holes in it than the Bismarck. True to form though a half decent way of spending an hour or so.

As i have said in other reviews, there is usually something daft done by the brilliant murderer to be! Here, Ruth Gordon who is an absolute delight throughout, buried the car keys in the shallow sandpit vase in the main hallway. Sorry writers that was plain daft. Particularly for a world renowned crime fiction writer! She went to New York just after doing the deed. Now from LA that gives her quite a bit of scope to dispatch them and unload her possible incrimination! Daft. Still, its great entertainment this show.

...When the plot falls apart. In a ridiculous way. In this it's the ice cream scene and gun in trash can in park moment. With the little one eyed NY dick on the premises. And the murderer, the top man at a Mensa organisation, trying to cover his tracks leaves most of the gun on show in the trash can and Columbo is on his way with his ice cream! Laughable. Nothing in the sky high IQ manual could explain that dumb action.

Columbo hams it up throughout the whole episode as if knew what a daft premise the script was. Has Patrick McGoohan as director and his fingerprint of weird humour is all over it. Think The Prisoner. Some great actors like Vaughn and Dehner in it but were wasted on this overlong attempt at mid 50s British style comedy whodunit! In that regard, Wilfred Hyde White gives credence to this absolute farce.

Jack Cassidy is a delight in this episode. One of the best ever Columbo episodes. My all time favourite and I have seen them all. Jack really blew it early on with the handcuff escape. His ego wouldn't allow him to fail but by escaping them he gave Columbo the green light. What a shame Cassidy was taken at 49 years of age with decades of his acting genius to come. But it went up in smoke. Like one of the Great Santini's tricks in this marvellous epitaph to his talent.

Paying homage to the famed expression as No 6 in the Prisoner amusingly throughout this episode. I think he missed a trick to escape the hangman's noose at the familiar Colombo wrap up. He could have said in his exhaulted position as super spy he had prior knowledge of the China withdrawal from the Olympics. Colombo would have folded. Ah well just a thought!

Really, of all the actors in the world to choose from and the Russells get the gig between them!

Bought the Wire Season 1 after hearing and reading how ground breaking and brilliant it is. I can only imagine that the passage of time, among other things, has made this show look very lame indeed. It doesn't seem to know whether its a documentary or a show to provide entertainment within story lines. which are impossible to discern. I've got to say its out and out rubbish. Characters are unremarkable and unmemorable. The script meandering and after watching the whole season 1 I had no idea who was who was who, what was what and where the story might go in a comprehending way. How it ran 5 season is certainly beyond my comprehension. Breaking Bad is the benchmark show of our times. This is miserable, meaningless and utterly boring.