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RalphRedan
Reviews
McBride: Fallen Idol (2006)
Lamest yet of a disappointing series. Where are the stars? Asleep
John Larroquette used to be such a good actor. Full of life and expression. You know he hates this series. I think he never does anything in this series but read his lines flat to the camera like he'd seen them the first time. Or was just making them up to fill time. And that young partner looks so uncomfortable in corny old "cool" clothes. Nobody dresses like that any more. The client is, as always, held for no reason on no evidence. This is no CSI, but it's not even worthy of a Diagnosis Murder episode. And to come up with the same old "clues": "Let's look for a parking ticket. Yes! Now we've blown his alibi!". That was used by Matlock what, about ten times after the first year, when the initial writers left and they started running on autopilot. And Joh is the nominal director, so he shares the blame. Why doesn't he ask someone who writes mysteries to join the staff, or just to punch up the clue. Any mystery reader could tell them what's been done to death. Or sign up a few of Murder She Wrote's old writers. They had more going on in every quarter hour than this series does in two hours.
Bones (2005)
No detective work whatever. And no realism either.
When you see Sherlock Holmes, you see a detective solving things with deduction- putting clues together. A detective should see things that others overlook. This "detective" is simply handed evidence and simply knows from textbooks what the bones reveal about age, sex, race. Then guesses she simply guesses that the body is a recent high-profile victim. No skill there, the tabloids have done that for her. So she accuses the wrong man, based on zero evidence. No skill there. Then she switches to the only other character in the story. She has no choice, because the writes only let her see two characters. Is this how police are supposed to work? Latch onto the first person they think of, try to pin it on him, and when thy fail latch on to the next person they see? I hope not. So, she's dumber than Watson on his worst day, never has to decide anything or use deductive skills whatever. They don't even bother with red herrings because there is no detective work going on. And her ridiculous displays of superhuman fighting strength make Jackie Chan look like a fine actor. What a waste of time.
A King in New York (1957)
Agonizingly slow and painful to watch. Looks like a bad rehearsal.
Agonizingly slow and painful to watch. Looks like a bad rehearsal of an play written by a comittee of junior high students that ran out of time. Random ideas stretched thin between endless scenes of standing around asking each other to answer the phone, going back for hats and gloves, and other filler.
People Will Talk (1951)
Long speeches, impossibly contrived, Grant's worst movie.
None of the characters has any semblance of reality. All characters are not just one-dimensional, but too extreme even for a "message" play. Grant is a super-perfect doctor reading long wooden sermons. The bad guys have no motivation, or even common sense, just out to get him for no reason. And he's like Superman in his ability to dismiss their threats because he knows they can't touch him. All the small characters get one speech each. A real stinker.