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Reviews
The Landline Detective (2020)
Not a bad little mystery
Cleverly written mystery. Cleverly presented.
Clearly low-budget. Some of the voice acting is amateurish. But this movie is well-worth the watch.
The simplicity of the action and of the set would make this a great stage play.
The Real Inglorious Bastards (2012)
The Real Story Beats the Fictional One
These three men were real heroes who honorably, at great personal risk, and despite the horrific torture of one of them, served to speed the downfall of the Nazis-even to the point of saving the city of Innsbruck, without a single shot being fired.
The more famous film portrays Jews fighting in WWII as not being any better than the Nazis. This film reveals them to be quietly professional and effective.
At the end, it is hard not to swell with pride that the three men risked returning to Europe to fight against the Nazis and for the US.
Sleuth (2007)
A vulgar knockoff
While the original titillates the intellect, this cheap remake is designed purely to shock the sensibilities. Instead of intricate plot-twists, this so-called thriller just features sudden and seemingly random story changes that serve only to debase it further with each bizarre development. Worst of all, replacing the original spicy dialog is an overturned saltshaker full of unnecessary four-letter words, leaving behind a stark, but uninteresting taste.
There was promise--unfulfilled promise. The prospect of Michael Caine pulling off a Patty Duke-like Keller-to-Sullivan graduation is admittedly intriguing. Unfortunately, this brilliant and respected actor only tarnished his reputation, first by accepting the role in this horribly re-scripted nonsense and then by turning in a performance that only looks competent when compared to Jude Law's amateurish overacting.
If you haven't seen the classic original, overlook its dated visuals and gimmicks. Hunt it down, watch it, and just enjoy a story-and-a-half. As for the remake, pass on this insult to the original.
The Andromeda Strain (2008)
Disjointed (contains plot spoilers) (as if this plot could be spoiled)
If you read my reviews on Yahoo, you'll find that I am generally positive.
The story was so corrupted as to create holes that could not be filled. Here are just a few of those holes: The bomb was supposed to disperse Andromeda in a planet-killing way. The bomb is accidentally dropped, and the effect is little more than the increased spread due to unaided mutation. I guess the writers felt that they needed a nuclear detonation to sell the story.
Why is all the debris raining down in the central core? No mention was made of an event damaging the core.
In the original, I wondered why they did not tumble to the small pH range earlier. However, the plot line having one survivor's blood is acidic, while the other's is alkali, is mildly plausible. In the mini-series, THREE people have acidic blood and no one tumbles to it! In the original, the epilepsy of one of the scientists is critical to the delay and discovering the small pH range. In the current version, the epilepsy has near zero plot effect. Why did the writers keep it in? There are many more holes. However, this film is so bad, it's not worth the time to outline them all.
Stick with the original, even if it is dated. It is the epitome of a TIGHT thriller, which this "updated" version is decidedly not.