demodokos Reviews

The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966)

"Emergency, everybody to get from street!"

[9/10 · 31 May 2024]

This film, even nearly 60 years later, is an absolute delight. A royal hoot. It's a classic mid 20th century comedy, and as any true comedy, everything works out. There are a number of performances here worth, as they say, the price if admission. The top of the list has to be the late, great Alan Arkin as the Russian officer in charge of the landing party. Brian Keith does a more than fine job as the matter of fact police chief, but Carl Reiner is brilliant as the island vacationer caught in the middle.

As any good comedy will, this film also presents a positive message about understanding, something that should still resonate and have value today..

Midsomer Murders: A Climate of Death (2023) Season 24, Episode 4

Mediocre, even for season 24

[4/10 · 12 May 2024]

Not an inspiring series entry, and full of holes. For one thing, the key motto around which the solution to the mystery hangs, is, in a word, nonsense. Gratia et Dignitas Vir Bonus Facit" does **NOT** translate as "Grace and Dignity makes a good man". In fact, it's not even syntactically correct Latin. It should read "Gratia et Dignitas virum bonum faciunt" Perhaps one could forgive the singular"facit" accepting the idea of grace and dignity as a collective single, maybe, but there's no object in this sentence. Even a first year Latin student in high school should catch that. This is indicative in a small way of the overall lack of care that has gone into this series of late.

Murder in Devil's Bridge (2018 TV Movie)

Great story, excellent mystery, all pieces fit!

[9/10 · 28 April 2024]

This is an extremely charming French mystery with an abundance of beautiful scenery as a bonus. The story begins rather slowly, with an apparent suicide from an old stone bridge, but it without too much surprise becomes something more. As usual in these stories, an outside detective is thrust into the case with a local one. Again, as is common, the newcomer has some personal connection to the area. As each new piece of the mystery unfoldes, it seems to branch out into multiple unrelated threads, but these are rather skillfully tied back together to form the solution to all the various problems, with all the skill of a Sophoclean drama. Well writen, well acted, and not overly intense or needlessly melodrammatic.

A pleasant evening's entertainment.

Murder in the Tarentaise Valley (2018 TV Movie)

Good solid mystery and a worthwhile view

[8/10 · 22 April 2024]

Shown here as part of Mhz Network's "Murders in..." series, this was apparently produced as a Saturday evening movie for French TV in 2018. It's a good solid story, and other than a somewhat predictable if understated romance, the mystery itself is not. The background of the mountains and snow is not just beautiful scenery, which would be fine, since it is gorgeous, but it is from the outset an integral part of the mystery of the body, when it is found, and in a way, key to the solution. The acting is also solid, both Grégori Derangère and Flore Bonaventura doing excellent performances in their roles, though Iin my view Flore steals the show.

The Savage Bees (1976 TV Movie)

Good solid 20th century TV movie

[7/10 · 22 March 2024]

Okay so the VHS transfer was kind of lousy but where else was I going to get one? Michael Parks and Gretchen Corbett do an excellent job and this is a lot better than the average sci-fi movie produced today. Okay, the special effects aren't good, It's 640 by 480, and probably the science isn't any good but who cares. It's well done. It's well acted, and I wish there wasn't such an emphasis today on gory violence and effects, which aren't the same as plot, characterization, and good acting! So if you're from the 20th century like me and have gotten here by the old fashioned method of time travel that is living through the in between time and surviving Y2K, and 2019-2020, this film just might be for you!

Tatort: Das verschwundene Kind (2019) Season 1, Episode 1,083

Lindholm in exile

[7/10 · 2 February 2024]

For reasons that are not made entirely clear, Lindholm has been removed from the LKA and sent to head a local criminal investigation team in Göttingen. She does nothing to endear herself to her new team, and they hardly seem to like her. But they've caught a tough case right out of the box, a missing teen girl who had apparently just given birth.

All of this turns quite a bit more serious when the body of a newborn is found dead.

The girl's teacher is clearly a suspect as the father, as are perhaps two other young men.

The episode highlights overall the problem with teen pregnancy and parental neglect, with the background for fans of the Lindholm "series" within Tatort, of her personal difficulties in working with others.

Overall, a good episode, but less than satisfactory mystery.

Murder in Batz (2015 TV Movie)

Well done mystery

[8/10 · 29 January 2024]

In French, with English subtitles. In some ways this is a classic scenario, where the people of a small island town are trapped by bad weather with a killer. The detective and his assistant (who is not a member of the police) end up trapped on the island also, and the townspeople are not, at least at first, very friendly. Somebody is certainly trying to scrare them off. It turns out that both the detective and the assistant have old connections to the island. Ghosts are possibly seen, and the film gets just a bit spooky. There is another murder, and then bits of another corpse from years ago are found. The ending is quite well done, and I'm left wishing they'd made this into a series.

Màkari: I colpevoli sono matti (2021) Season 1, Episode 1

A great start to a different type of mystery series

[9/10 · 19 January 2024]

This show gives a different twist to the standard mystery series. There was only one Montalbano, so this series, also set in Sicily, takes a new tact, at least one I've not seen in a while, if at all. Our "detective" isn't a policeman, or a private detective, or like Don Matteo, a priest. He's an unemployed (but seemingly financially secure at least for the moment) writer, a wrongly terminated former government worker, who helps solves crimes in a small Sicilian town. He falls in love with a fetching local young lady, and, in this first episode, helps solve the murder of a local boy. Was he killed by the estranged father? By the vagrant? It's a decent mystery with nice local flavor.

Professor T: Swansong (2022) Season 2, Episode 6

The best of episodes, the worst of episodes.

[6/10 · 3 January 2024]

A well-acted and well- written story is ruined by what is at best described as a weak ending, and more frankly is simply terrible. Skip the last two minutes.

We leave with the idiotic and improbable--no, just absolutely unbelievable ending of the Professor under arrest for what? Saving the life of a police officer? I'm mortified by the stupidity story writers can exhibit on occasion. Perhaps this was caused by the AI which really wrote the story going randomly off message. And Brand can't even thank him for what he did? Perhaps, but it seems very much contrary to her previous character. And Simon's fate needs to be made clearer. If this is an attempt at a cliffhanger, it is an even weaker story. I can't believe anyone really cares about the weird sub-plot involving T's mother.

Murder by the Lake: Die vierte Frau (2018) Season 1, Episode 7

The best episode so far!

[10/10 · 25 December 2023]

A fascinating mystery evolves around whether or not a woman whose body has been found is part of a series of murders by a serial killer. Meanwhile an old friend of Oberländer reports his wife is missing in the same area as the killings and asks for Oberländer's help. When Oberländer begins to suspect that his friend's wife was possibly kidnapped by the serial killer, his former superior, who now heads a special team investigating the serial murders, doesn't buy this theory, because the missing woman doesn't fit with the supposed profile. As we might suspect, Oberländer sticks to his guns and begins, with Zeiler's help, gradually to unravel the solution. Meanwhile, Zeiler's troubles with her father are not quite over even after the man's death, as she must decide on the disposition of his ashes.

Don Matteo: La rosa antica (2000) Season 1, Episode 7

A solid series entry

[8/10 · 23 December 2023]

At this point in season one, the actors are much more comfortable with their parts and the writers too. The captain of the Carabinieri seems, if not eager for Matteo's assistance, at least quite willing in private with his sargent (the Italian Carabinieri equivalent thereof) to acknowledge his abilities at sifting out rhe truth. Matteo at one point is referred to as "Sherlock Holmes," and himself calls another character "Miss Marple." The mystery here is typical of the series so far, never a solution out of nowhere, and always a pleasurable experience to view. There are to side-plots to the main mystery which tie in well to each other and the main plot.

Triassic Attack (2010 TV Movie)

Hey it's a zombie dyno film and it has Amelia Clark in it and it's not that bad

[6/10 · 12 December 2023]

I mean I don't know what people are expecting. It's not like you have to pay to watch this or something. There's a lot worse sci-fi movies on the sci-fi channel and elsewhere and this really isn't that terrible. I mean it's a zombie dino movie. And yeah the young woman playing the university professor is far too hot and it's got Amelia Clark in it as the daughter of the professor and the sheriff who are of course having marital issues and all but divorced, a typical sort of backplot. I don't know if I've ever seen a movie involving a homicidal dinosaur skeletons conjured up accidentally by an American Indian. But hey all in all, it's not much more improbable than bringing them back to life with DNA preserved in mosquitoes covered with amber. The acting is fair and once you get over the premise the story holds together and if predictable it's still a bit of fun!

The Sandhamn Murders: I de lugnaste vatten (Del 1) (2010) Season 1, Episode 1

Very well done detective/police procedural

[9/10 · 13 November 2023]

This series does an excellent job of gradually introducing the viewer to some very interesting characters and to the specific mystery of the first season. Unlike a lot of US and UK shows, this one takes the refreshing tact of getting the viewer involved in the characters but not drowning us in their personal problems. A detective show where the personal issues of the detectives overwhelm the actual investigation are soap opera melodrama masquerading as detective fiction. This **isn't** that, but also doesn't have plastic or all-sunny characters. In addition, the actual mystery is engaging, and, for viewers in the States, the location is equally interesting and fascinating. I'm so glad there's a whole bunch of these!

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Ford good, supporters weak, plot TERRIBLE

[4/10 · 16 October 2023]

Harrison Ford could, I'm sure, go on playing Indy for another 20 years if he wanted. This part certainly works. The supporting cast is, however, very weak. The woman and young fellow helping him are wooden and aren't fleshed out. Worse still is the villain who has to be the lamest Nazi villain in the history of cinema.

But worst of all is a plot that shouldn't even get a C in a junior high creative writing course. The only possible answer I can think of is that those financing the firm were seeking a possible tax loss, so like the fictional "Producers" they picked a sure loser; but unlike the Producers, these guys succeeded at failing.

Tatort: Vergessene Erinnerung (2010) Season 1, Episode 755

Another excellent Lindholm / Tatort episode

[9/10 · 23 September 2023]

Small towns make great fodder for mysteries, and aside from being in German, this could be set in the US or some place in Midsommar with Barnaby investigating. As we start Lindholm leaves some sort of police-to-police lecture where she has just given a well-received presentation. She leaves in a borrowed car and appears sleepy at the wheel. Her GPS seems to be losing signal, and it has almost an X-Files feel. Some shadowy figure steps out in front of her car and she swerves and hits a tree. Then things get weird for a bit as if she's delirious. She finds herself in a small town hospital where everyone claims she didn't hit anything other than the tree. Butt it's a town where mysterious doings are a foot. Soon there's murder. And then another body turns up! This is a very fun mystery that will keep you guessing.

Alles Fleisch ist Gras (2014 TV Movie)

Gruesome. Watch something else.

[2/10 · 23 September 2023]

This is the first one of these that has not been enjoyable. The detective after discovering that the missing person is actually a victim which the audience has already witnessed realizes that an old friend of his committed the murder and then turns the story away from being a detective fiction to being something else and it becomes thoroughly unpleasant I am not a fan of this sort of story where the police officer is essentially a manipulative criminal. The main actor and supporting actors do an excellent job, but there's no mystery here, only an agonizingly slow train wreck of a story. There's nothing at all redeeming here.

Detective Montalbano: The Sound of the Violin (1999) Season 1, Episode 2

Don't miss this one!

[10/10 · 21 September 2023]

For anyone who is unhappy with the final episode, rewatching this one should elucidate a truer understanding of why Montalbano and Livia are wrong together; more particularly why she, as a character, is completely wrong for almost anyone. She is a true comic foil. And this episode is not to be missed for a charming, albeit brief, guest role of the magnificent Sergio Fantoni.

It's also a wonderful episode that highlights the great detective abilities of Fazio, who seems to see past all of Montalbano's subterfuge.

It also highlights the very real-life issue of overlapping police authority in various areas of Italy.

All in all, utterly charming!

Detective Montalbano: Il metodo Catalanotti (2021) Season 15, Episode 1

A perfect ending, since all things end.

[10/10 · 15 September 2023]

One's reaction to this depends upon an understanding of the character of Livia. If you read the books, which are the essence of these stories, she is essentially comic relief, a plastic foil to Montalbano. She is a self-centered one-dimensional whiner and reading the books, Montalbano's simultaneos blessing & fault is not dumping her after the first story-- but our author realizes she works as a foil. So, here in the last episode we grant Montalbano the happiness he couldn't ever get with Livia (any of the three of them) and cast her onto the character trash heap. How satisfying! My only regret is that this didn't happen in Episode 2 instead of 37.

Tatort: ...es wird Trauer sein und Schmerz (2009) Season 1, Episode 747

Another D.C. Sniper?

[8/10 · 14 September 2023]

After a series of local shootings Lindholm's boss calls her in from some vacation time at home. He warns her that the local inspector in charge drove away their profiler and is a bit of an arrogant hot head. Lindholm seems hardly thrilled but goes to work with her usual careful investigative technique. This is another well acted and well scripted episode that allows the viewer to attempt to puzzle out the solution before the detective. These episodes with Lindholm give a bit of attention to the personal story of the detective but not, as is often done in other shows, to the point where it overwhelms the main story. The detective is not and should not be the story; the story is the investigation, and this show gets it right.

Tatort: Das Gespenst (2009) Season 1, Episode 726

A decent crime drama

[8/10 · 8 September 2023]

So far none of the Tatorts have disappointed. The lead detective here is a bit zealous and stubborn when told to back off by "Homeland Security." There are a few plot issues, including insufficient information on the target of the purported terrorist plot. The mysterious government agency fellow appears one minute all-powerful, and the next threatened by our heroine's investigation. And, it may be just me, but while I need the subtitles, my German is just good enough to know that the translation is a bit fast and loose. Why do they get creative? Just translate it, don't cut or embellish. All in all, much better than most American TV.

The Portable Door (2023)

Great fun. NOT Dark & Brooding! Beats the tar out of the Harry whatever films

[10/10 · 25 August 2023]

I guess if you like dark brooding & pointless, you won't enjoy this. This movie is very quirky, and in the first ten minutes is likely to seem impossibly odd, but hang in, it all makes sense. To me, it was like Map of Tiny Perfect Things meets Monty Python in The Lost Room. It's not great film art, but it is great fun, and not only will I watch it again, I'm going to get the books (yes, it's based on the first of a series), but also hope that someone decides to make the second book into a sequel.

Ask yourself why a lot of SF or magical world films have to be dark, negative, and have alien monsters bursting from your insides or nice young people murdered by evil wizards. I don't know about you, but I get enough of that nearly everyday on the news. I like movies that intrigue and delight, and this film fits the bill. If you prefer the other stuff, well, there's plenty out there.

Castle: Probable Cause (2012) Season 5, Episode 5

Juvenile writing.

[1/10 · 17 August 2023]

I suppose one has to forgive a show for one of the two unforgivable plot sins. #1 is the Evil Twin episode, and #2 is the hero/heroine accused episode. This is the latter. While it is marginally possible to make a good hero accused story, this isn't one. The episode begins with an interesting murder but rapidly becomes unwatchable. The worst part, however, comes after Castle has been exonerated. Yes, the real villain is the nauseating recurring super villain 3XK, or Xzzzzzzzzz. Naturally only stopped but not jailed, and you can be sure he wasn't killed after being shot in the chest half a dozen times and then falling off a bridge. Seriously? Thank God or the blue TV pixie for a fast forward button!

Barnaby Jones: To Catch a Dead Man (1973) Season 1, Episode 2

Evil Kirk with a beard!

[7/10 · 5 August 2023]

Too easily solved. This is a 51 minute episode so I suppose it can't be too complex, but one clue leads Barnaby directly to the villain (Shatner, who's shaved off his beard as a "disguise") without any missteps. You've got to love Shatner in this role, and there's no characteristic over dramatics. And there's a nice performance by the ever-fetching Darleen Carr as the girlfriend of the poor murdered fellow whom Shatner's character murdered (unnecessarily in my view) to engineer his disappearance. In fact, if Shatner's character had been a little bit brighter, he could have managed his magical act sans the homicide. Only 7 stars because the last 10 minutes devolves into foolishness.

Foundation: In Seldon's Shadow (2023) Season 2, Episode 1

Remains a far cry from Asimov

[6/10 · 3 August 2023]

It's not Foundation. I seriously doubt any of the writers could pass an elementary test on Asimov's style, much less the contents of Foundation the novel. I suppose along the way if so many have said that Asimov's masterpiece couldn't make it to the screen, that they decided not to try, and play off a handful of ideas and character names. That said, and despite the herky-jerky acid-trip storyline of this first episode of season 2, it at least tells a story, of sorts, which is a whole lot more than a lot of TV today. Still, after watching it, I feel in need of a mental shower and must grasp one of my copies of Foundation off the shelf and read for a while to cleans myself of this amateurish Apple TV nonsense. Hey, instead of watching this, go watch one of those car chase movies, you know the ones, at least they don't insult you by pretending to be cerebral. Get some nitrous for the writers.

Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop (2021)

Excellent cosy mystery!

[9/10 · 25 July 2023]

If you're into gruesome ghost stories, this isn't for you. I imagine that explains many if the negative reviews, the others likely from those looking for something super-fast paced. This isn't. What it is, is a nice pleasant English mystery with a number of well-acted characters that you'll hope you can see again in another installment in the future. Less cerebral than a Lewis or a Morse, but far beyond a Father Brown. Nicely missing messy melodramas centering on the main characters investigating the mystery. No politics either. Just a nice, put your feet up and enjoy a nice glass while watching. So what if you can guess whodunnit, at least they don't pull the villain out of left field. They don't cheat you. Please make more!