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hindsonevansmike
Long-term fan (NB, not obsessive!) of sci-fi (films and TV genre) but rate the 1999 masterpiece "Galaxy Quest" as my all-time favourite sci-fi film.
Ratings
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Reviews
Professor T: Attachment Issues (2024)
Excellent, involving and horrific
One of the best episodes so far, in a series which obviously began on the coat tails of COVID and - somewhat - struggled to get into its stride.
This episode, however, saw all the elements coming together. We learn a little more about jasper's back story (no spoilers here) and and the effect of parents focussing upon their only child is explored (in a neat parallel to jasper's own seven-year-old story.
Warning - the ending is horrific but probably necessary for the further development of the plot - this looks like a long season with more episodes than in previous years, so longer story arcs may develop.
This was a GOOD EPISODE>
JAG: Pas de Deux (2003)
Harm gets a wife (for a good yet wacky reason)
This episode cements the "Harmon Rabb obsessive approach to relationships" into canon.
Whatever you might say about the script writers on JAN, the Season Eight to Season Nine transition had to be folded around several factors (Bell was, I understand pregnant again - no criticism here, just another "lost opportunity" for the "Dynamic Duo" to get it together).
This episode has triggered several FanFiction stories along the lines of Harm and Catherine "giving it a try" but the general warmth in the hospital ward makes this episode particularly memorable.
Regardless of which marriage form was downloaded off the Web my Bud, this is a heart-warming moment before the carnage of "A Tangled Webb (episodes S08Ep24 and S09Ep01) which follow this one.
This was an enjoyable episode and I am surprised that no-one else has reviewed it in the 21 years since first broadcast.
Castle: Knockout (2011)
Probably the best season finale of all the "Castle" seasons.
Tightly-plotted, well-scripted and VERY plausibly acted.
The "Joanna Becket murder arc" moves forward, in a storyline which will keep conspiracy theorists, Castle fans and realists all satisfied - which is not a five-minute job in the back of the ScriptWriters' Room.
Enjoyable, day and nightwork, good Police procedurals and some sadness.
The story covers multiple settings and the evidence trails are obviously set up for Season Four. There is angst and tension and the relationship between Rick and Kate moves forward in leaps and obstinate bounds.
These two deserve to be together; watch the episode to the very (bitter) end for Castle's words.
A Lethal Lesson (2021)
Accelerated from second gear in the final 10 minutes
This 2021 film appears with several titles, I believe. The plot is fairly predictable with no major surprises, but the red herrings were well-crafted and served up throughout the running time.
The setup is fairly simple, with the odd question of why her best friend is murdered.
Cute kid becomes centre of our heroine's world, as she continues to mentor several hormonally-charged adolescents at her college. So far, so predictable.
The tension builds slowly (the film could have lost 40 minutes in editing without any significant impact) and maintains progress. We ramp up in the last 13 minutes when all becomes clear and the main Antagonist is fimally revealed.
Happy ending.
The Beekeeper (2024)
Unexpectedly entertaining. You cheer for the hero
I picked this film at random on a flight to the USA in May 2024.
I came with no expectations (just as in 2023 when I found the excellent "Violent Night") and was mightily impressed.
The cartoon level of violence is apparently a Jason Statham hallmark. Here, it is deployed in an enjoyable (and occasionally VERY inventive!) way.
There is a moral tale, a clear hero, a definite set of bad guys and some simply brilliant stunt work (kudos to the stunt teams who worked their bits off in creating this film) and great use of British locations. I have never seen (what I believe to be) the Isle of Sheppey bridge used as a scene for a denouenent before.
Suspend belief, pick up a drink, sit back and enjoy.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Call of Silence (2004)
Simply brilliant performances from the entire cast
Definitely in the category of "if you only watch a few NCIS episodes, watch this one".
A lovely eulogy to the fighting men of the second world war. Charles Durning (an actual WW2 veteran) simply nails it as the retired soldier who, following the death of his wife, begins to obsess about wartime events some 60 years earlier.
The setup, the script, the acting, the ensemble nature of NCIS comes into its perfect peak in this episode from the second season of NCIS.
A nice crossover from Bellisario's earlier(and concurrent at this point) earlier "JAG" production is the present of Alicia Coppola as the JAG LtCdr Faith Coleman.
Everybody contributes to one of the most-effective episodes in the first 20 years of NCIS (review written in 2024 - how had I not reviewed this before?).
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Thick as Thieves (2022)
The growth of Alden Parker's character (well-done)
Gary Cole's acting skills are steadily being stretched; this trip down Parker's Memory Lane - back to a mis-spent youth in Philadelphia.
Excellent plotting, linking dead sailor to wildlife to druggie going straight to inter-agency linkages and a GREAT view of the backstory of a young Alden Parker. His grown-up schooldays friend was well-played by an actor whom I didn't recognise.
This was a pleasure to watch.
One minor defect - they seem to have time travel to get (repeatedly) to and from Philadelphia (a one-way distance of 152 miles per Google). This minor w.t.f. Really doesn't detract from the excellent storyline about friendship and redemption.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: First Steps (2022)
Suspend disbelief for an hour
Oh brother - after the excellent "Helpers" last episode, we have this - dross!
This doesn't gel properly on SO many levels. I realise that characters need to be introduce (thank heavens, in this case probably "for one episode only") but the cardboard-cutout bad guy was clearly "phoning it in".
So many points where the audience simply have to stick fingers in ears and sing "la-la-la"!
Positives - it is great to know that Kayla has finished FLETCC. It is great to know that Leon Vance is a caring and loving father. It is great to see that (post-action) he can have an uncomfortable conversation with his daughter.
Beyond that...
"NEXT!"
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: The Helpers (2022)
A Marmite episode - I loved it, others.....
Sometimes you find a piece of television that is truly excellent in your view. Then you realise (and respect) that others have a contrary view.
Whilst this is better than the early Tony DiNozzo and Kate Todd in isolation after the "white powder" contamination episode early on, this was just not quite perfect - hence the "9" rating.
Lots of running around outside the lab, and excellent make-up tracking the deterioration of Jimmy Palmer and Kasey the new Abby (who is working well, I reckon).
I can understand the plot device for Jimmy being ready to move on - with Breena's blessing (nicely-shot scenes) and this sets up the Palmer-Knight arc. Overall, this was good television, just not perfect.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Fight or Flight (2022)
Grow up, Torres - the rest of the team are working well
Obviously that is how his character has been written, but the "spoiled brat" attitude had now been polluting the Torres character for most of this 19th season - "GROW UP"...
Standard Spy vs spy fare covering stolen laptops, people smuggling, hostages, cage fighting - all in the classic "ripped from the headlines" Bellisario approach to plot development.
This was actually a pleasure to watch, because the new/token character got to do some sneaking around whilst Nick Torres - for the second week in a row after "Dead Calm" - got the carp knocked out of him as a cover until he could finally "win".
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: All Hands (2022)
Cracking storyline, great team effort by ALL involved
The team on dry land do as much to beat the bad guys as the team onboard in the middle of the Atlantic.
Parker is turning into the new-style grey-haired re-incarnation of MacGyver from the ??1980s?? Crawling through ductwork, jury-rigging a signal cable for a sat-phone, broadcasting a "home-in-on-this" signal for Tim (and the basement Cyber team wo whom Timmy owes - and delivers - a BIG apology).
Knight and Torres cope with a bit of rough-housing whilst the sub-plot about stealing a $USD40million helicopter is somewhat plausible.
The whole team work together and this was a pleasure to watch, as the third in a four-episode binge on UK television in early February 2024.
I shall watch this again - some time.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Pledge of Allegiance (2022)
New team with a legacy of Gibbs
A confused start to an excellent episode which deals with the challenge of divided loyalties for citizens of the US with a recent (or even current) link to another nation state which may not be on the list of "America's best friends". Best solution - just suspend disbelief about dual-nationality and go with the flow.
Sensitively acted and well-plotted, the episode deals with the risk of citizens developing contrary vies.
Dogged investigative work finally saves the day - and the career of a good USN Petty Officer. Nice to see that Denise Crosby ("Taska Yar" from Star Trek TNG) had made it back to earth!
The legacy college funds donations by Gibbs are a nice touch for Tim and Palmer - implementing Rule 91 and cementing the view that "family is important".
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Collective Memory (2021)
Excellent - what NCIS occasionally does really well.
An excellent homage to families, family feuds and mis-direction.
The investigation is well-paced, despite beginning with a distinct Whisky Tango Foxtrot moment.
Gibbs old rule 13 - "Never trust a lawyer" comes to the forefront.
The novel approach of having a hologram of the victim available, really helps. Nevertheless, it is old-fashioned police investigation effort which produces a link to the killer (and the actual embezzler) which was a significant mis-direction AND proved the good person within the females financier who was the "Bernie Madoff" bad-girl character.
The NCIS crew eventually proved that she was entirely innocent , thereby helping her daughter to revise her view of her mother's legacy and to find peace in knowing her dead mother was entirely innocent.
Good episode.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Peacekeeper (2021)
Gun safety and the return of Don Swayze
A fairly pedestrian episode, covering (useful) messages about gun safety (Kasie is still "processing" - aka recovering from having the crap scared out of her - from two incidents including Lemere holding her hostage in the squad-room earlier in this season.
There are thoughtful messages about female security and weapons selection, a friendly divorce and the demonstration (opening scene) that - on my side of the Atlantic - we do sometimes regard the Americans (note - *NOT* the Canadians!!") as being "armed and dangerous but we have to share the planet with them".
Parker is still working out whether to take the team-lead role.
Don Swayze returns, about 18 years after playing the country hick in a Kate Todd episode (so S1 or S2) about crop circles and a family feud in the Boonies.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Docked (2021)
Entertaining, investigative and a great laugh
This 6ixth episode brings together many elements which have made "NCIS" a great watch over the decades since it was spun out of "JAG".
Eye-opener (once I had gone through the "where the heck do I know her from" is Patricia Richardson - formerly the wife of "Tim the Toolman Taylor" in "Home Improvement" with Tim Allen some20 years ago - (now rocking a grey mop of hair) as Mrs McGee's mother.
Cue multiple sub-stories about mother-in-law having a sex life, hidden fiancé trying to get into her secure protective apartment (which is actually Maison Tim & Delilah) and a sub-plot about toxic waste. Cole is now in his stride, and the cast are raising their games.
I loved this not-at-all-serious episode. Bit silly so around a real 7.5 rating.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: False Start (2021)
Good honest slogging investigations work
The team settles into the normal run-of-the-mill investigations of a suspicious death.
Cue backgrounds on motivation and excellence, leadership and culture, pushy parents and honesty.
The team are gelling into one established unit and Gary Cole's character Alden parker is taking his time to come into the leadership role. Having effectively arranged to get himself "fired" from the FBI (by not-quite arresting Gibbs in Alaska back in S19Ep04) he needs to prove himself.
I predict that an actor of Cole's capabilities will be a great asset to NCIS from Season 19 onwards (I know that this was filmed in 2021 and S20 & S21 are now out live). Bluntly, it was time for Gibbs to retire.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Face the Strange (2021)
Solid progress, the ensemble cast all work
With Gary Cole's Parker character now evaluating whether to take the gig as the Gibbs replacement (and Tim McGee explaining to Torres how he would never want the Gibbs workload given the devastating effect on "family life"), it is clear to see how Director Leon Vance (and the NCIS CBS writing team) want this to play out.
Some back-to-the-old-days silliness about an exploding body (and some hilarity later in the episode regarding an explosive pacemaker) merely reinforce the sense that the old mojo is back, with the ensemble cast.
Everyone works hard, there are a couple of red herrings but the episode hangs together solidly.
I liked it (a lot) and look forward to the rest of Season 19 (which British TV is binge-viewing, three or four episodes every weekday night in JAN2024 to FEB2024). "Hello, Domino's...?"
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Great Wide Open (2021)
A departure and several renewals
Well, we knew that Gibbs would go one day.
After the false starts, this is it, with a set of beautifully-choreographed and intelligently-written scenes, culminating in a nod to the "Pa Gibbs" character portrayed by the late, great Ralph Waite.
The scenes with Tim McGee and LJ Gibbs are spot-on, as the baton is passed.
"How can I be sure you're OK?"
"I already am".
Side story about a murderous CEO, a copper mine on ancient lands in Alaska and the legacy of a loyal daughter are almost a side-show (heck, they are!) but the story hangs together. Alden Parker's character begins to flesh out (this is definitely a lynch-pin pivotal episode for the future of NCIS) as Gary Cole steps up into the role.
The old ensemble nature of early NCIS episodes (which distinguished it from its parent show "JAG") is back - and working well. Onwards to episode five.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Road to Nowhere (2021)
NCIS turns the corner as Gibbs-arcs fade
Finally, the 19th season begins to finally get into its stride,
Without giving away secrets (having just binge-watched episodes 3,4 and 5 in one three-hour sitting), this is where decisions and cast changes begin to take shape.
Season 19 episodes 4 and 5 will leave the audience more confident, building upon this pivotal episode.
The Lemere character continues to play the bad guy, toying with Gibbs, whilst we begin to see and understand why Gary Cole's character has been introduced as the series approaches the back end of its second decade. There are more flashes of brilliance in the dialogue writing, whilst the action scenes are beginning to come together.
I enjoyed this preparation for the main denouement in Episode Four.
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Nearly Departed (2021)
Season 19 starts to hit its stride
Closure on the "blown-up boat" hangover from Season 18 ending as Season 19 gets into its stride. Fornell (excellently and sensitively played by Joe Spano) makes some good points about grief, counselling and the like (someone has already posted the dialogue about "orphans, widowers..." in the "Quotes" section for this episode).
Gary Cole's quiet, sarcastic, brooding arrival bodes well for further episodes in this season (and maybe beyond).
Torres begins to open up about what he should have said to Bishop before she vanished. Unfortunately Agent Knight (who has her own problems/demons/history) isn't in the receptive kind of mood, but her "control" issues will no doubt surface at some point.
The mad bomber cum serial killer gets taken out (permanently).
NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Blood in the Water (2021)
A solid start to season 19; some answers
This was worth spending an hour (with adverts included). Gibbs begins to recover having landed ashore.
The crop of red herrings is steadily whittled down and answers emerge. The complicated plotting is well-constructed WHEN you look back at the end of the episode - which is in effect, the entrée to a two-parter closing off the blown-up Gibbs boat which concluded Season 18 earlier in 2021.
We finally get to understand (or be reminded) of the leaning behind "Rule 91" - and Tim McGee and Gibbs finally come to an understanding (a well-written and well-acted scene between Murray and Harmon).
The "new Emily" arrives and the beginnings of a stable ensemble cast begin to re-assert themselves. Onwards to Episode Two...
Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009)
Halfway through a multi-year run: as good as ever.
The "slow-boil" approach to this fifth (2009 release) instalment in what would become a span of nine stories spanning production dates from 2005 to 2015 (eight on CBS, the final on Hallmark).
Several storylines are interwoven, with a link back to Boston. Jesse works through the evidence and the distractions, keeping the Town Council updated despite their small-,minded approach.
Creative use of a chainsaw is interwoven with a very sensitive investigation into an out-of-state child abduction (the forlorn mother is played with pitch-perfect glumness, but remining faith, by Camryn Mannheim). The ultimate fate of the child is played beautifully by all the cast members.
Apparently this is the first film that was not based upon the original author's novels - you would not know.
The approach of shipping out an episode at roughly yearly intervals (then catching up on them all, late in 2023) gives a chance to see the characters (ensemble) developing along with Sellick's inevitable move through middle age.
Enjoyable and well worth a couple of hours.
Jesse Stone: Night Passage (2006)
A prequel but settled into the role
A 2006 prequel to the 2005 "Stone Cold" sees more on the background to Tom Selleck's character. "Old dog" Boomer is literally on his last legs (setting up the "new dog" scene in "Stone Cold").
The sleazy character of the Mob-linked money-man played by Stephen Baldwin is probably that actor's career-best performance. He exudes menace and a general sense of "nasty".
Jesse's younger "play-mate" is well-portrayed and her character is realistic enough to question the relationship with the older man.
The supporting cast (including Viola
Davis early in her career) is excellent and the moody scenes of a coastal community are well-captured.
The pacing is good and the story never lags, despite a quiet tempo. Stephen McHattie again provides background information and support from afar.
This second film in the sequence of nine films produced up to 2020 is a good addition to the collection.
Christmas Connection (2017)
Entertaining and heartwarming standard Hallmark Christmas fare
A comfortable and comforting way to pass two hours. The setup is a little inventive, but the widower father meets the airline stewardess who goes "above and beyond" to get his daughter home when she is charged with looking after the little girl.
Cue flight delays, steadily warming relationship and the emotional pressure when her dream job is offered on Christmas Eve. Everyone who meets her likes her. She achieves the switch from stewardess to potential new girlfriend by the simple artifice of changing hairstyle - simple and effective.
I had not noticed this actress before, but she has popped up twice this week in believable and plausible films including a detective series.
The side story (dad is a journalist and the stewardess needs to find out how her parents first met, to fill a hole in her family history) is heartwarming. Overall, the story ticks all the boxes. The cast are well matched.
In terma of plausibility, she gives up the job in Rome (which she has lusted and worked for across a decade) to throw in with single dad??? Nah, would have been better for her to go to Rome, then working on building the longterm loving over the next two years leading to a "pregnant wedding dress scenario" two years down the road.
But that's not how this film was written.
Viewed in November 2023.
Stone Cold (2005)
A workmanlike start to a long-running series down the years
Finally caught up, in late 2023, with this first story in the Tom Selleck vehicle based upon Jesse Stone. It turns out that this 2005 first-filmed story is preceded by the "prequel" episode "Night Passage" - which was filmed and released a year later (2006) and which sets up the scene for Jesse's arrival in Paradise...
Confused? Well, stick around for some very well-crafted and nicely-produced storylines.
This was a workmanlike, well-acted and nicely paced. A (relatively) young Viola Davis is one of the Sheriff's side-kicks in the under-resourced local PD. In meeting with the Town Council, Jesse is able to tell them that they can fire him, but they cannot tell him how to do his job.
Stephen McHattie provides great support as the State expert backing up Jesse's local investigations as the evidence of a serial killer (actually two killers) builds.
Jesse also copes empathetically and effectively with the aftermath of a sexual assault and it is a pleasure to see the perpetrators brought to book during this first opening story in the adaptations of the books.
Mimi Rogers is largely wasted in this film, but does teach younger women how to elegantly raise a skirt!
The UK station is broadcasting all nine films on consecutive Friday evenings, commencing 16-11-2023.
I enjoyed this nearly two-hour film, which passed quite quickly.