Change Your Image
susannierenberg
Reviews
Cold Case: Forever Blue (2006)
Absolutely the finest Cold Case episode
All I can add to the other reviews is to recognize the innovative camera work, where a lot of the episode was shot in black and while, but with touches of red (even in the flashbacks)- the cars, the flashing red lights- really made the episode unique.
Cold Case did several fine episodes featuring LGBTQ themes- really ahead of it's time- It's Raining Men (loved the ending of that one), Daniela, and the one about the young baseball player -the title I have forgotten- but not the episode.
Cold Case did amazing episodes on racism as well- always moving. The show tackled so many things that we should stucy today- if you cannot find the series on repeat on cable, check out Amazon and see if you can buy it- well worth it.
No matter how many times I watch it ( the series repeats on Start TV) I love it more.
Medium: The Other Side of the Tracks (2005)
Terrific episode
Love that episode, and the fact that every episode has 2 cases one from the DAs office and one personal- The boys on the train in Allison's dream (personal) and a young boy who has confessed to murdering a community leader (office). I agree that the outcome for the young boy is terrible and that they never found the true killer. They should have had Allison look again at the photo lineup and pick out the killer.
What always amazes me when I see this episode is how they found 2 actors who are not related but look so much like brothers! Props for the casting director.
This is from the first season of Medium and I always thought it was the best-
The Queen (2006)
I see this as a love story
I won't repeat all the great reviews- For me, this is a love story between Tony Blair, who at the start, dismisses the Queen as anachronistic and even uncaring, and the Queen, who has spent her entire life hiding her true self and never showing emotion to outsiders and doesn't approve of the raw display of emotion pouring out of her subjects, symbolized by Blair's tributes to The People's Princess.. She comes to understand his advice will effectively preserve her family and the monarchy, and he comes to know this woman in a way he never expected, sees her long life of service and in the end is totally in awe and devoted to Elizabeth (I believe his wife Cheri refers to the Queen as his girlfriend at one point!) To see these two people come to understand and truly admire each other is wonderful, and each has done a great service for the other. That's love.
A terrific movie with Mirren and Sheen perfect for each other!!
Miss Scarlet & the Duke (2020)
Love the show but the Duke, not so much
I love all of the actors, love the plots, and am loving the relationship between Eliza and Nash- much more fire than the relationship between Eliza and William. I don't know what happened- they had great chemistry in the first season but they now really lack any emotion- and the "kiss" they shared was something I'd give my cousin- there was absolutely no passion at all. I actually think the show would be better without William- they have written him into a corner where he does not acknowledge Eliza's talent and intellect- he sees her as competition (rightly so she is smarter) He can only be with her if she gives up her work- this is a non starter. He is plodding, too macho and boring.
Nash is much better for Eliza- he admires her brilliance and instead of competing with her, he hires her and .they have terrific scenes together. Special mention to Clarence, this actor does more with his eyes than 10 pages of dialogue. I was missing Rupert and now we have Clarence to take up the slack.
Love the show, hope the Duke stays in NYC for the rest of the series!.
The Twilight Zone: Walking Distance (1959)
My favorite TZ episode
I won't go into a long analysis of this masterpiece, as so many others here have already done it for me. No matter how many times I see it, it always makes me cry.
There is an overriding theme in so many TZ episodes, of wanting to go back, to live life over and really enjoy the innocence of youth, which is so brief. There are probably more than a dozen episodes, and most end unhappily.
I have always seen Walking Distance as a bookend episode to Kick The Can- albeit, with different endings- yet both positive. In Walking Distance, Martin sees opportunities ahead, and there's hope. So although I cry every time during the scene with Frank Overton (so underrated an actor), it does fill me with the feeling that I can change things and have a happier life.
In Kick The Can, what starts out terribly sad with older people in a nursing home, also becomes wonderful- Ernest Truex is perfection as he inspires the residents with his notion that if we act young, we become young again, and the game Kick The Can does it- they play and become children again.
Try to watch both episodes together and you will see how they compliment each other so beautifully.
Both episodes are amazing, but Walking Distance is a level above , the acting, the music, the camera work- all perfect. For me it is the finest and best episode in an extraordinary series.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Terrific movie but a problematic (for me anyway) subplot
Yes, it's a fabulous holiday movie, and I love it- I love the story, the actors, the image of a 1940s NYC that I will never know. But the last time I watched it I saw things that made me uncomfortable. I concentrated on Maureen O'Hara's character and i didn't like what I saw. Her trajectory in the film is going from an independent, executive career woman, single mother, and at the end we see her about to marry and move to Scarsdale.
At the start she is an executive at a huge corporation (Macys) with huge responsibilities in the ad department. A single mother, it's suggested she is divorced (a scandal at the time) and raising her child alone. She tells the love interest she wants her child to be independent, not to depend on someone who may hurt and leave her- he tells her she is speaking about herself, not her daughter (true). She wants her child to have common sense and not believe in fantasies.
This is suggested to be the wrong way to live- "Santa" tells the guy that if he can make Maureen O'Hara believe in fantasy his work is done- so the aim is to get her to give it all up, go to the suburbs (instead of her swanky Central Park apartment) and be a housewife- the suggestion is she no longer will work or be independent. And at the end she even refers to her, "silly common sense".
This was a post war fantasy for many people who saw women become independent when men were away, and then had to go back to the kitchen when the war ended. It hurts to see a character who is powerful at the start, give it up at the end- and it's presented as a great thing.
So, although I still enjoy the movie,, this subplot makes me uncomfortable and takes away a lot of the magic of the film.
Bell Book and Candle (1958)
I used to love this movie- not now when I understood what it was about
A lovely romantic comedy about a powerful woman who,
because she falls in love, loses her power. What a thrill.
Kim Novak plays a woman who is a powerful witch, able to cast spells, bringing an author (Ernie Kovacs, who is fantastic!) to NYC, producing thunderstorms to taunt a campus bully, making a man fall in love with her on a dare.
At the start we see her shop, filled with primitive masks from all over the world- themselves symbols of power. Her wardrobe is amazing, all in shades of red and black (any outfit could be worn today). It's said from the start that a witch cannot fall in love or she will lose her powers- intimating that women subjugate themselves to men when they fall in love.
Gillian falls in love and indeed loses her powers.
So what do we have here: a woman who at the start has everything, but loses it all when she falls in love with a man old enough to be her father. Not only does she lose her power, but she loses her wardrobe and ends up in a yellow chiffon shirtwaist that Ethel Mertz would wear- and her shop of primitive (powerful) masks has been replaced with seashell arrangements. She has even lost her pet cat.
Love means renouncing everything you are and losing your power. (if you are a woman, that is).
At the end she is glad she has no power, and when Stewart tells her he never gave her anything she says, "no you gave me something wonderful, you made me unhappy " words any emotional abuser would love to hear.
The 6 stars are for Jack Lemmon, Janice Rule, , Hermine Gingold, Ernie Kovacs , the fabulous clothes and music and the images of a Manhattan in the 1950s that I can only dream about- could you walk around the Village, filled with charming brownstones and quirky nightclubs, in a mink coat & evening gown, at midnight -in the snow? I think not. But I can dream.
A great cast in a fantasy that could have delivered but doesn't.
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
I once thought this the most romantic film ever
Having loved the film since I was a teen, I had a chance to see it again and now feel quite differently. Two people wasting their lives doesn't seem all that romantic to me. Lisa lives in a fantasy world revolving around a man she does not actually know except for a few hours happening years apart. She has created a great love only in her mind-maybe to escape the boredom of her actual life, with nothing really to look forward to except a loveless marriage. Stefan is at least honest- he is a libertine, caring for no one but himself. He doesn't pretend to be anything except what he is.
I had a chance to read the short story by Stefan Zweig and it ends quite differently- with Stefan not remembering the woman at all and discarding the letter= making Lisa's wasted life even more tragic.
I guess in the 1940s movies were not allowed to end without some redemption of the characters, so they wrote the ending where Stefan has an epiphany and remembers Lisa and regrets his lost love with a woman he doesn't really know and sacrifices himself in a duel with her husband (a duel he was set to avoid). Hence the producers and the studio redeem both characters: Lisa's love was justified, and Stefan's regret leads to self sacrifice.
If this is great romance................oh boy.
Professor T. (2015)
I want Ingrid as my best friend (and a question at the end)
I love every single actor in this, the original, series- and watching the British cast only makes me love this version more. Every year I binge watch the series and although season 3 is mostly a downer, Ingrid & Connie make up for it all. The resolution of the series was a disappointment all I can say (major spoiler here), his mother dies and he is miraculously 'cured' Doesn't say much for mothers. Everyone lives happily ever after (except maybe Johan- who I feel terrible for) I love the hallucinations, most are screamingly funny- the prop department must have had a ball. The cast is perfect, but Ingrid Sneyers is my heroine for life. Every expression her face offers is a masterpiece, every snide comment is a gem - she should be running the UN. And although we don't often see her, secretary Connie is fabulous- never has a word of dialogue but her scenes are unforgettable- and her food fight with Ingrid (season 3) is epic.
Next time there is a major storm or a 3 foot snowfall, start watching from Season 1, and you will have the time of your life.
Question: in the final episode Reveal, the actress who plays Christina never takes her coat off in any scene- was she pregnant in real life??
Cold Case: Sandhogs (2006)
Forbidden Love in 1947
Great episode, see previous review for synopsis-. I would say that Alice, whose husband is killed in the mines, and who we see hysterically crying over his body, falls in love rather quickly with his friend. She is Black, he is White and married- you can see where this is going.
Donovan, Alice's lover is killed and she leaves town to have his baby.
We find out who killed Donovan and at the end, we see not one, but two ghosts.
Props for having Alice's husband's ghost appear- but not to her but to one of the team. At least they didn't forget about him completely.
Donovan's ghost appears to Alice and she imagines herself young an dancing with him.
This episode was lovely, there was real chemistry between the actors playing Alice & Donovan.
The end could have been a real knockout if they had done what they did in the episode Best Friends. They should have had Donovan's ghost dance with the older Alice- and then have her change in her mind to both of them young and dancing.
Still a wonderful episode, and if you want to see how it could have ended, check out Best Friends- my pick for the greatest episode in this series.
Notorious (1946)
Sure, a great mystery, BUT
I am a little confused about this film being classed as a 'romance"- I find a man pimping out his girlfriend as a spy a little odd- not exactly my idea of romance. But hey, there's a war on, right?
Keeper of the Flame (1942)
Incredibly boring until the last 10 minutes
I can't understand the appeal of this movie- Hepburn was so clearly acting you could almost hear George Cukor's voice behind her lines. Audrey Christie was the only spark here. Tracy was being Tracy. The producers were too cowardly to make it more about Lindbergh. You don't believe these characters for a second.
I am not going to bore you with the reasons I don't like the film, but if you want to see how this film should have gone, see a movie called THE GREAT MAN with Jose Ferrer and one of the best casts in film. That is the best film about the unmasking of a 'hero' and exactly why. Try to rent it and you will understand.
The Twilight Zone: Ring-A-Ding Girl (1963)
One of my favorites, even with a huge mistake
SPOILERS INCLUDED This haunting episode is a favorite of mine. Bunny Blake, famous actress, gets a ring from her hometown fans, the ones who raised the money to send her to Hollywood. On her way to Rome for a film, she begins to see images in the new ring, of people from home telling her they need her. She stops off at her hometown to see her sister, on the day of the Founder's picnic- the ring warns her that the town needs her so she arranges to give a one woman show-at the same time as the picnic- forcing people to choose. The townspeople are all in the school auditorium, away from the picnic grounds, when there is a huge passenger plane crash in a thunderstorm. The townspeople are all saved, but Bunny Blake was a passenger on the plane and she is dead.
A haunting performance by Maggie McNamara- when she says goodbye to her sister, her reading of the line sent chills down my spine, and her expression, a woman who has just sacrificed to save others, as she walks out, unblinking into the rain and disappears, is unforgettable.
There is, however a glaring flaw in this episode: Bunny has come back to make sure the people stay away from the picnic grounds, where her plane will crash. But since there is a huge thunderstorm (which was already going on in the previous scene) which rips the plane from the sky, the townspeople would have already left the park and the heavy rain anyway!!! So the entire story makes no sense- except that in spite of this, the performances are so good that we can overlook it all. Maggie McNamara was truly underrated.
And for a bit of levity: I'm glad she left the mink coat behind for her sister! And for a bit of trivia, the Trooper who announces Bunny's death is the same Vic Perrin who worked on many Star Trek episodes as the voice of aliens (and the voice of the Guardian of Forever for you Trekkies).
Person of Interest (2011)
Love the show and love the new ensemble actors
I am happy to see more "regulars" being added to the show, the first season with only the 2 main characters started to get a bit 'same old' every week. Now with some of the new characters, especially Ken Leung as Tao, I am really loving the show. Leung is absolutely hysterical (the scene where he is on his laptop while getting a pedicure is a classic) and I love the character. Hope they have him sticking around. Would also like to see more flashbacks of Nathan and find out what really happened to him- and how Finch made all his money. It's also never been fully clarified how Finch knew to see John in the hospital ( when John finds out his old love had died) way before they actually met in the pilot.If the machine had sent John's number, why did Finch wait so long to actually meet him.
Village of the Damned (1960)
Fantastic social statement
I've always seen this film as more of a social statement than just a science fiction movie. In the early 1960s the younger generation, which had always seemed somewhat passive, suddenly started to seriously rebel (this film was made only a few years after Rebel Without A Cause). It speaks to the fear of the older generation who could no longer control their children, it presages the drug era and the total defiance of authority(which truly began with the JFK assassination in 1963). As an aside, in the late 1950s it suddenly became possible for women whose husbands were infertile to have children with anonymous sperm donors, and this film also speaks to those men whose wives are biologically connected to their children while they themselves are not, men who may have had misgivings and could not voice them. George Saunders was terrific in the film, quite a departure from the sarcastic, slightly smarmy characters he usually played.