Reviews

So Red Eye. Take off was a bit iffy, it eventually soared after hitting turbulence but the landing was rocky.

Madeline Delaney has been having an affair with the US Embassy station chief Mike Maxwell. He's the baddie in all this. Covering his tracks. The sim card contained information to hack a nuclear reactor and blame it on China.

The Americans do not want the nuclear power plant to be built by China.

With Delaney trying to evade her dodgy superior John Tennant. She has no idea that she is going to the lion's den by driving everyone straight to the US Embassy.

Red Eye was always ridiculous. The final episode dialled that up a bit more. It made it thrilling but in a laughable way.

How can you accidentally end up in the Chinese Embassy. I have seen American and Russian Embassies abroad, they are heavily fortified. No one can just end up in the middle of it. I would think the Chinese Embassy would be the same.

Vincent, Nina and Adelaide are all passengers on a train that has left Bordeaux.

Only the train is full of various denominations of Nazis. Adelaide has bagged a nice compartment courtesy of a letter from Lutzig. She exudes confidence even though her case has inside something fragile. She claims it is eggs.

Nina is more nervous, she is in compartment being stared at young Nazi soldiers. Later harassed by a drunken one.

It is Vincent who has more reasons to be nervous. His papers are not in order. He finds time to declare his affection to Nina but when some soldiers come on board, it is time to shuffle off.

Only they drag him out. Were they looking for him?

It means Adelaide and Nina have to improvise what happens when they reach their destination but they also delayed.

Only miraculously Vincent returns. The soldiers were looking for a Pole masquerading as a Nazi.

They all act shiftily but only Captain Spiegel (Geoffrey Whitehead) notices. Eventually he reveals his hand, unfortunately so does fate!

Nina is so out of sorts, you wonder why no one else thought she was up to no good. Once again there is a big contrast between her and Adelaide.

I did roll my eyes when the allied bombing took place so conveniently.

Interestingly like Brian Cox. Geoffrey Whitehead seems to have become more famous as he got older.

It's got Eartha Kitt singing and Ethel from Eastenders dancing on top of a table.

Yet this is a run of the mill episode. Most people would have worked out who could be behind it all.

Kitt plays singer Carrie Blaine and she is troubled just as she is about to open a tour. With the publicity in full gear Carrie seems to be having panic attacks. She thinks her house is haunted, children singing a nursery rhyme, clocks moving backwards.

Her husband and her management are worried. Harry Rule is brought in but is Carrie simply deranged?

With the lovely Kate O'Mara in the cast, it does not take much to figure what is going on. The denouement was effective. The Protectors lived up to their name.

John Travolta dominated the late 1970s with his two punch knockout hits of Saturday Night Fever and Grease.

Although you would think that The Goodies were a bit late to jump in the bandwagon. A family friend cut of Saturday Night Fever had later come back to the cinema.

Tim in essence parodies John Travolta with too tight trousers that make his voice squeak. He is also hopelessly in love with Olivia Newton John.

Bill thinks this is all a load of nonsense until he thinks he can make money at the back of it. He opens a disco but mixed sex dancing is not allowed.

It all ends up with a chase scene with a load of police constables and a parody of many other musicals.

This is The Goodies go to the musical movies and is really good fun. I noted when Tim strutted down the street with a tin of paint. The members of the public were staring at him in bemusement.

Younger viewers might wonder what all the fuss is about but even they seem to like Grease.

Professor X is back and he is engaged to get married off world. Lilandra Neramani the empress of the Shi'ar Empire, announces her marriage to Professor X.

This gives her sister Deathbird to object. He's a Terran, he has no loyalty to the Shi'ar Empire. In truth this is an attempt at a power grab by Deathbird.

It is a case of whether Professor X is willing to give up his powers and erase his memories of Earth.

There is a lesson there about the dangers of assimilation.

The episode has two stories with another bird involved. Storm taking in the Adversary on her quest to regain her powers.

The Shi'ar Empire part was colourful with a 1970s vibe. It was good to see Professor X with one or two other surprises.

Charles Bronson looks too old and too muscular to play a juvenile from the wrong side of tracks. He plays Jerry who has been to reform school and is looking for a job.

On the other hand Miranda is well to do, her father is a judge. When she drops her library card, Jerry returns it to her at her house when she is alone.

They talk and bond even though Jerry just feels sorry for herself.

Trouble ensues when Miranda gets an expensive watch as a gift. A policeman on his case arrests Jerry for theft.

The drama did not work for me. The story was too implausible. Both Jerry and Miranda came across as people who do not connect. In fact I thought Jerry was a rather creepy.

The later Bernard Hill played Erwin van Haarlem. A Dutchman born in Prague in 1944. In London he was an art dealer.

In reality he was a cold war Communist spy. His real name was Václav Jelínek.

This crime story has no grizzly murders. The crime was that Erwin was a spy, an inept one, he loved cream cakes in fancy cafes. Much to the disgust of his handler, who thought Erwin was lazy.

In reality Erwin was a very effective deep undercover spy. He visited many sensitive military installations in Britain and was decorated by the Soviet Union

The real story was with Johanna van Haarlem, she was of Dutch and Jewish ancestry and thought she tracked her son down in 1977. She had placed him for adoption after the baby was born.

Erwin who assumed he had taken an identity of a dead child really does think that she is his mother. Although this might be another deception by him.

Although some stories in the Crime Story strand have stuck to the facts. This departed from it for some reasons. Erwin was painted pretty sketchily, a cypher.

The drama indicated that the real Erwin died as a child. Actually in 1992, Johanna did meet her real son.

As for Erwin he was convicted as a spy and released from prison in 1993. He died in the Czech Republic in 2022.

This is the kind of episode that makes you wonder. Do the Clampett's ever look up to the sky at Beverly Hills?

With a teenage daughter. Did Jed ever serve during World War 2. It's because the Clampetts have never seen an aeroplane before.

Mr Drysdale fixes the Clampetts to go first class on a plane journey so they can visit Cousin Pearl for Christmas.

The Clampetts were planning a long trip by car. They could not believe they could get back home in a matter of hours instead of days.

Cousin Pearl meanwhile cooks up a fancy dinner for Mr Brewster who manages to then upset her. He offers a job as a housekeeper.

A festive episode and interesting to see just what first class plane travel was like in 1962. Luxury seats with plenty of legroom and movies on a plane.

Who is that posh doctor who has come to check in on Walter. It is none other than Grandad from Only Fools and Horses!

Lily and Walter have moved in with Eli and Nellie after their house has suffered damage.

Only Walter is at death's door. Eli and Nellie both plot that they would be the main beneficiaries in his will. As Nellie said, they hoped to be the executioners.

When Stan turns up with a bunch of flowers hoping to woo Lily. It gives Eli ideas to wed Lily. After all Walter must have lots of money. He used to go to the butchers to beg for bones for the dog. He did not have a dog!

I'm surprised Eli did not have a few stiff drinks before he tried to chat up his cousin.

It starts off with the murder of a young woman. It leads to Peter Gunn going to visit the District Attorney's office.

DA Lockwood (Frank Overton) is in a predicament. His son Neil (Andrew Prine) a college kid is the main suspect. A flimsy alibi does not help.

Gunn is hired to check out whether Neil is innocent or guilty. Only Gunn finds many avenues are closed off. Even Neil knows that when he talks to Gunn. It turns out that the dead woman might had been a gold digger. Pressuring the son for money or else she would ruin the DAs reputation.

Only when Peter Gunn is roughed up by some goons belonging to a mobster called DeSantis offers some hope. Even then Gunn has in mind that DeSantis might just be a convenient fall guy.

A straightforward story with very little regarding alternative suspects. It's a case of how honourable the DA is going to be. Will he prosecute his own son?

The first episode showed potential but I was not overwhelmed by it.

The second episode very much wore its influences on its sleeve. Now you just have to figure out how much of the Wicker Man is there going to be. Will Grace be the sacrificial goat?

Grace is being goaded by some of the locals and particularly by her predecessor Gruffudd Prosser. He is not happy as Grace blames him for the ineffectual search for Cai Prideaux.

The discovery of his body brings over a police team from the mainland led by Ann Fletcher (Jill Halfpenny.) She certainly has a passive/aggressive thing going on with Grace. For a start she very much demotes Grace from the investigation.

Only while Fletcher thinks that Cai might have ended up getting lost or stranded. Grace very much comes with the opinion that it was murder.

By now you really do think there is a conspiracy and just who is on it. I liked the scene where Fletcher throws the mobile phone into the sea as she departs the island. While Grace furiously wants to let her know that new evidence has been found.

Peggy Farrell went skiing in Canada and came back home with her leg in plaster. Only she smuggled in Canadian $20 plates which would be used to make funny money.

Her boyfriend Alex Fairbanks wants to scam the buyer for more dough. Only Maurice Cherneff (Jack Colvin) is not falling for it. He shoots Alex but Peggy gets away with the other plate.

She ends up in a crummy hotel with Maurice giving chase. Luckily at the hotel bar, Lloyd Tatum a patron from California manages to send him packing.

Maurice then tries to lure Peggy by looking up one of her friends.

Pretty soon Kojak is looking at two homicides as they try to track down a woman who had a fake cast put on.

It always seems Kojak was always one step behind. Which led to one needless death.

Then there were bits such as. She went skiing outside Toronto, lef something. I know the Maple Leaf. Well that narrows it down!

Colvin was good as a baddie and there was a lot of peril.

Even with the various Hanna Barbera cartoon shows at an end. The cartoon characters lived on in these made for television films.

Yogi & the Invasion of the Space Bears is too long at ninety minutes. There is enough to keep nostalgia buffs happy. Even though the animation is so-so and so is the plot.

Yogi Bear is still up to his old tricks to take camper's picnic baskets. This time by checking for the food visitors being in to Jellystone Park.

Ranger Smith plans to get rid off Yogi Bear once and for all. Just freeze him out.

Only Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo are abducted by aliens, Zor 1 and Zor 2 and taken to Planet Daxson. Where their robotic clones are created and sent over to Jellystone Park.

Now Ranger Smith is having a nightmare, he has three pairs of Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo.

Meanwhile the real Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo have to escape from Planet Daxson and their crazed leader.

Seeing Yogi Bear in space was good. The story was simplistic but youngsters would had liked it more at the time. Nowadays I'm not so sure.

A review from a person of of low intelligence here.

I think A Spy Among Friends was stuck in no man's land. It wanted to make an exciting thoughtful thriller.

Only this is something that has no guns and not much danger. Anthony Blunt was eventually exposed by the newly elected Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons. I remember the fallout which mainly stemmed because Blunt looked after the Queen's art collection.

So Nicholas Elliott going after Blunt did not offer me much, I knew what happened. There have been better dramatisations on the subject matter such as Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution.

This leaves Sir Roger Hollis as a possible Soviet spy. He rose to the top of MI5. There was much speculation about him in recent years but Hollis has been cleared.

So the drama had little to go on about Holiis. Apart from idle gossip from people with axes to grind because of their rubbish pension from the security services.

By the end the makers admit that the character of Lily Thomas did not exist. They just needed a working class female for this private school, Oxbridge educated male dominated drama.

So having caught up with the final two episodes after some months. I'm just as confused as puzzled with all the differing timelines.

Of course as this all based on true facts. I am well aware what actually happened. So why did the makers of the show needed to be so convoluted for no reason?

Snow has a drunken Kim Philby passed out on the snow in Moscow. Maybe a sign of the low ebb his life has go to.

As for Nicholas Elliott, there are still question marks as to what happened with the debrief with Philby.

The focus switches to Anthony Blunt another suspected Soviet spy. Nicholas wants to get to him but there is also a lingering suspicion on Roger Hollis, the head of MI5.

It is sputtering to a conclusion.

The first episode ended with Batman and Robin in peril in the subway tracks.

Luckily they get assistance from Blaze who thinks False Face has gone too far. Alfred the butler manages to help the dynamic duo.

Batman figures out False Face's grand plan. It is all to so with flooding the city with counterfeit cash.

When there is danger, False Face takes someone else's face. First it was Chief O'Hara, now Commissioner Gordon but Batman realises just which hand the Commissioner should be holding his handkerchief with.

By now a lot of the Batman series was formulaic. The female assistance of the guest villains realising the errors of her ways.

Malachi Throne is finally credited as False Face.

The Purge franchise has always mixed survival horror with a political subtext such as class or race.

The Trump presidency really gave the writers a shot in the arm. The Forever Purge tackles immigration.

It starts with a young Mexican couple crossing the border to Texas. Adela works in a meat packing plant. Juan works as a rancher and upsets Dylan (Josh Lucas) the rancher's son. As Juan has an innate skill in dealing with wild horses.

With the New Founding Fathers of America back in power, on the back of cross border immigration. The purge is back.

Adela and Juan along with other Mexicans across the border for the night of the purge. Only to find when they return some white supremacist groups want the purge to continue until America is purified.

They have to team up with Dylan and his family to head towards Mexico and safety.

As the title implies. It has the premise what if the authorities cannot contain the hate they have created. Another coded attack on the Trump years and the Capitol riots.

The movie succeeds with its messaging but the action was tired. It has purged itself out.

The second series returns with a new actor playing Ludicrus Sextus. Something Lurcio deals with as a facelift.

Ludicrus has money problems, he thinks of selling his chariot. Ammonia wants to get rid off Lurcio the slave. Something that leads him to overact.

Salvation comes when news emerges that an uncle of Ludicrus Sextus has died. Uncle Luca's will leaves him a lot of money but he needs to have a child and call him Luca.

Only at their age it seems unlikely that Ludicrus could father another child. It is left to Lurcio to find a portion from Tarta the sorceress.

Maybe Erotica could provide a solution. She seems to have had an accident with her beau.

Some good jokes such as filthy luca. Several tired ones and there was the cross eyed balls.

Jessica Fletcher does end up behind bars. Only as a substitute teacher for the women in prison to teach them a creative writing course.

Only for the prison doctor to die with inmate Mary standing over the body. So Mary instantly comes under suspicion.

Now the other inmates led by Kathryn (Adrienne Barbeau) to lead a prison riot.

It is up to Jessica to work out how Dr Irene Matthews died.

She uncovers some underhanded dealings regarding prison conditions. This puts the Warden on the frame who also has political ambitions.

Given the setting these has a starry female cast including Vera Miles as the prison warden. Some of the acting does get hammy as the women try to act tough. It is a decent enough mystery but you do wonder where the prison officers were as security was so lax.

ITV wants something with the luxury period drama feel and an added Upstairs Downstairs vibe.

Hotel Portofino has the benefit of gorgeous Italian views (although shot in Croatia.) The upmarket hotel in attracts a wealthy international clientele to the Italian Riveria.

The 1920 backdrop also means the rise of fascism.

Bella Ainsworth (Natascha McElhone) runs the hotel with her husband but money is not flowing in. Her husband Cecil Ainsworth likes to dip money from the till and has a penchant for get rich quick schemes.

He also wants son Lucian to marry someone wealthy but Lucian is traumatised by his war injuries.

The first episode has to work hard with the set up. The hotel, the scenery and various characters. Unfortunately they were mainly bland. It meant the first episode toiled as a result.

The story literally opens with an explosive beginning. A man strikes a light for his cigarette and the house explodes because of gas.

The man miraculously survives. A woman's body is discovered, a suspected suicide, she had left all the gas on. However Dixon is not happy with a bedroom window left open. It points to a possible homicide.

Mrs Pengelly, the dead woman had a reputation for hard drinking and going out with a lot of men.

The police are concerned that Mrs Pengelly's daughter is missing. Chrissie is 16 year old and has gone off to the west country with an older man, Ralph Harding. They also seem to have a secret between them.

There is a sinister air about Harding. That he contemplates harming Chrissie, that he might be unstable. Just what is the secret, has he been having an affair with Chrissie or does he have something to do with her mother's death.

Interestingly when the action moves to the west country. There is a Dixon surrogate with Sergeant Dawes. A country copper who has a few tricks up his sleeve and a wealth of local knowledge.

This is a moody character piece about two possible misfits. An interesting performance from Andy Bradford as Harding. He later went on to become a stuntman.

The eventual reveal gives the whole thing a sad melancholic air.

Dixon does not have much to do here. It is obvious in the fairground scene how gingerly Jack Warner moves.

False Face is a master of disguise. In this story he is credited with a question mark. In this story the master of deception plans to rob a valuable clown.

He poses as an aide to the princess but it turns out that she is also a fake. So is the crown, that is made from plastic.

Commissioner Gordon is stumped and calls for Batman and Robin.

False Face assisted by Blaze plans to stop the Dynamic Duo. He also has a plan for Gotham City, one that will make him a lot of money.

This story is the only appearance of False Face. He looks creepy with his plasticated face. He also has a touch of the Riddler about him.

It also leads to a sinister portrayal of Chief O'Hara. As False Face takes his image.

I Am the Night was a crime noir television show based on the Black Dahlia murders. Chris Pine really must like LA art deco inspired crime thrillers.

Poolman was directed, co written and starring Pine. Unfortunately this satirical take on Chinatown is a hot mess.

With his long hair, shaggy grey beard. Pine wants to reference the Dude, Jeff Bridges.

Unfortunately he is not that good an actor. As a director he can forget it. He is more Emilio Estevez, another actor with an appalling track record as a director.

Pine plays Darren, a pool cleaner in a run down apartment complex where some failed moviemakers live.

One day Darren is embroiled to do some undercover work on some crooked LA politicians. It is all to do with water.

As a detective satire or a movie satire, the film fails.