Media Notes: Roundup for July 2023

 

  

 

This is a somewhat random selection of the movies and series on DVD and/or online I watched during July 2023.

Movies and films (links to IMDB.com for basic information unless noted otherwise). Some of these I watched via TubiTv.com or other online source. The DVDs come from the public library (unless noted otherwise). In addition, I will try to add other trivia notes, such as when a film is based on a book adding the information about the book (at least the WorldCat record if available):

• Ouija Nazi (2014. Horror. Also known as Nazi Dawn). Plot description: "Six sorority girls escape to the desolate countryside for a weekend getaway. There, they will stay at the ancestral home of their token geek legacy pledge, Dawn... But, unbeknownst to them, an evil force from World War II is waiting for them. Dawn's great-grandfather, it turns out, was a notorious Nazi murderer. He was known to torture his victims for no apparent reason... before killing them. This dark family secret has been hidden for decades, even from Dawn herself... Until now. A séance will awaken the spirit of the Nazi Killer, who will possess his descendant's body...". Film starts with a flashback to 1945 Nazi Germany where a Nazi officer is interrogating two prisoners and not succeeding very well. The scene is as cheap and low budget as it gets, which pretty much establishes how the rest of the movie will be. The opening song I am not sure if it was chosen because it sounded so chipper or not. From there, we get to the present. The sorority girls are pretty much as generic, could not care less if they die or not kind of characters. The acting is seriously atrocious. I mean, we are talking below amateur level. Even the ghost Dawn sees early on in the evening acts atrociously. The movie is one hour and 24 minutes, and literally nothing happens 55 minutes in. The seance takes place almost an hour in where they mess with the Ouija Board. By the time the murderer appears, movie is almost over, and to be honest, not even that good or scary. Overall, the idea for the movie is not bad, but the execution on this is just awful. There is no plot to speak of, and the production values are as cheap as they get. IMBD has a 2.9 out of 10 rating as of this post, and that is way too generous. A 0 out of 5 stars is still generous for this tripe. Via TubiTv. Watched 7/15.
• Casino (1995. Crime. Drama.) Plot description: "The riveting story of how blind ambition, white-hot passion, and 24-karat greed toppled a Las Vegas casino empire run by the Mafia." I thought I had reviewed this film on the blog, but turns out I did not, so when Tubi got it in, I decided to watch it again to review it. For starters, the movie has a solid cast, and they do some very good performances. A key to the film is the attention to the small details. It also has a pretty good music soundtrack. The early part of the film when they explain how the casino was set up and how it operates is interesting. Halfway into the movie things start falling apart, mostly due to small stupid details, things go downhill. The film overall is pretty faithful to the book, but it is an almost three hour film still. The pace is quick but a bit inconsistent. There are some slow long moments. One twist, when the ending comes and Vegas goes corporate, one does wonder if they represented an improvement or made things worse. That was the era of junk bonds by the way, but that is another story. If there is a lesson, well, one of them is to make sure you mind all the little details, grease the right palms, and a bad marriage can really send things downhill. So can a bad temper and lack of self control. Overall, I like the film, so willing to give it 4 out of 5 stars. Watched 7/15.
  
• Film is based on Nicholas Pileggi's book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas (link to my review). I wrote in my review of the book: "In the end, greed, a lack of discipline, a desire for the spotlight when discretion was essential, and just some really stupid mistakes drove the mobsters out of paradise." The movie captures that as well. One thing the movie did was make a tighter story. The book is interesting, but it does have some very slow parts the film makers were wise to streamline or remove to keep the story going.
• The Death of Stalin (2017. Comedy. Drama. History. Satire). Plot description: "Moscow, 1953. After being in power for nearly 30 years, Soviet dictator Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin takes ill and quickly dies. Now the members of the Council of Ministers scramble for power." Film is ridiculously good on so many levels, at least in the early stages, starting when Stalin dies and his ministers scramble to work by committee because heaven forbid anyone makes an individual decision. Yet they, especially Beria, have plots of their own going for Stalin's succession. However, the film does seem to lose steam as it moves on. Some of the dark humor is good, but there are also some fairly slow moments where the humor drags more than finds a mark. At times the humor just dries up. Still, there is just a bit of history to keep it close to reality. In a way, you may wonder how much of this was real and how much was just satire. I liked it, but it was not great. Just not memorable. The actors performing were mostly good overall. 3 out of 5 stars. Via TubiTv. Watched 7/21.
  
• The film is based on the French graphic novel La Mort de Staline (link to Wikipedia). 
• At the time, quite a few critics got in a bind over the film not being historically accurate, even though it is pretty clear this is satire, and the director went so far as to say about it: ""I'm not saying it's a documentary. It is a fiction, but it's a fiction inspired by the truth of what it must have felt like at the time" (from the film's Wikipedia entry, which sums up the film and its reception).
• Ghosts of War (2020. War. Horror. Thriller). Plot description: "Five American soldiers assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. This unexpected respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield." What seems an easy assignment soon becomes anything but easy. Once they arrive at the mansion, there are small hints, but nothing too terrible yet. A German unit comes by, outnumbering them, but they are the least of the squad's worries. Soon they begin to see signs the house is haunted. Soon the soldiers learn the fate of the family that had lived in the house, tortured and killed by Nazis, and that their ghosts now haunt the house. The movie was a bit slow, but it was a nice atmospheric thriller that built slowly. Then we get the twist in the last 25 minutes of the movie or so where it turns out the World War II experience was part of a larger simulation and that the soldiers were actually soldiers that had been in Afghanistan. We got some very, very subtle hints the WWII was not normal, but certainly not leading to the ending act. And to make it worse, the movie then ends abruptly, so there is no real conclusion nor sense of closure. This movie had potential, but it feels like the writers and director were not sure where things were headed, and as they got to the final act they just winged it, then ran out of steam. Movie either needed to stay with the World War II tale, or expand the ending act to find some closure, making the movie longer but it may have made sense. It starts strong, then rushes to an indefinite ending. As it is, it feels like lost opportunity and a movie just falling short. This had good potential, but the execution was just good enough to fully make it work. It attempts to be subversive of genre, but it just runs out of fuel at the end, like it gives up. It was just OK at best, so 2 out of 5 stars. Via TubiTv. Watched 7/28. 

Television and other series (basic show information links via Wikipedia unless noted otherwise). Some of these come in DVD from the public library. Others may be via YouTube, which, as noted before, I keep finding all sorts of other old shows in it, often full episodes:

• Barney Miller (situation comedy, police. 1975-1982). Tubi TV brought in seasons 3 and 4, so I started watching this favorite show. I previously watched some episodes back in May of 2021. Third season is when Detective Dietrich starts to appear semi-regularly. 
• Episode 11 in Season 3 is the "Hash" episode where the detectives accidentally get a bit more jolly after eating some brownies with hashish in them. Jack Soo's character of Sgt. Yemana is particularly funny in it. 
• In Episode 6 of Season 4, Wojo finally passes his sergeant's exam to become a detective sergeant. Also in this season, the first two episodes deal with Detective Fish retiring. Dietrich replaces him.
  
• Midsomer Murders (1997 to present, still going. Mystery. Crime. Detective. British series). I commented on this series in the July 2020 roundup. Picking it up this month with season 20. I finished up to the end of season 21, which is what TubiTv has available as of this post. Overall, I like the series, although it lost a bit of its charm when they switched the Barnabys. Neal Dudgeon does not have quite the charm John Nettles had. Still the mysteries overall are pretty good. 
• Start with month with Season 20, Episode 3: "Drawing Dead." Plot description: "Barnaby and Winter use a scandalous comic book to find the murderer of a former supermodel."  The mystery takes place in a village hosting a comics festival. A few things going on, a woman in bed being kept alive with medical support, a local "sheriff" who fancies himself a cop (he is an elected minor official but no real law powers), and a break in, plus an eccentric author that makes rare comics anonymously. When the woman is really killed by some dark masked figure, the mystery really kicks in. Turns out the woman was put in a coma two years prior. Soon turns out the mystery hinges on an extramarital affair, and a local prominent man who hated comics and was not the hero the rest of the village thought he was. As often happens, it goes back to old secrets. The closing credit on this episode, using a comic book style, was cute. 
• Season 20, Episode 4: "The Lions of Causton." Plot description: "Barnaby and Winter enter the world of sports to find the culprit behind a death at a rugby club." When the current owner of the team is found dead, the mystery is on. Plenty of people with motive since the new owner when he took over sacked a lot of the team staff, including the prior coach who now wants to raise a rival team. Meanwhile, there are financial shenanigans, suspicions of affairs, some blackmail, and a troubled star athlete. In the end, it was about love. 
• Season 20, Episode 5: "Till Death Do Us Part." Plot description: "Laurel Newman is found murdered on the night of her wedding to Gavin Webster, son of Sarah Barnaby's old friend Hazel. A talk radio host, Laurel had been receiving online harassment as well as packages containing dead animals, which Gavin accuses the police of not taking seriously."  Soon it turns out there is a few mysteries including a possibly philandering groom, some serious drug smuggling, an agency of women setting up "honey traps" (seducing men for money to entrap them), some blackmail, and a somewhat controversial late night talk radio hosts. Overall, it was a family situation close to home. Pretty good mystery here. 
• Season 20, Episode 6: "Send in the Clowns." Plot desscription: "Barnaby must confront his fears when death accompanies Ferraees Circus into town." This is the last episode for Season 20. Seems Barnaby has a fear of clowns. The circus uses a family land that another family member wishes to evict the circus from. As if that was not enough, there is a clown in town terrorizing people at night with a machete. All seems light, until a clown is killed during an act, apparent accident of a rigged fake pistol. Turns out there was another shooter with a rifle, but why? An interesting detail is how the British are so very strict on guns, so you can find registered guns relatively quickly, and people do keep rifles secured (so very unlike the U.S. where it is a free for all basically). Naturally, the villains can hide weapons, so on, but still the regulation allows the cops to narrow down facts. Anyhow, deaths increase, the circus, already in trouble, suffers more from the deaths. Also there is a land dispute, an abattoir worker, and a marriage on the rocks. This episode has quite a bit going on, but in the end, it goes back to the circus, and a tragedy of years past. 
• Season 21, Episode 1: "The Point of Balance." Plot description: "Midsomer is buzzing with excitement at the arrival of the annual 'Paramount Dance Extravaganza.'" It is a four evenings dance competition. When a journalist is killed, the mystery is on. Soon it gets complicated as there may be a connection to a robotics company, and what is the motivation for getting a Russian dancer deported?  Soon it turns out we get some fraud and a man seeking to cover it at any cost, and an inheritance. 
• Season 21, Episode 2: "The Miniature Murders." Plot description: "Alexander Beauvoisin is murdered in front of crowd at the unveiling of new dolls house collection." It seems the man, donating the doll house collection for a museum, was quite a slumlord otherwise, so there may be tenants with a motive. Soon we get various suspects with motive to kill him, and even a small side case of fake antiques fraud. In the end, killing Alexander was part of covering another murder, one more mundane. On a side note, the closing scene with Barnaby, Fleur, and the motorcycle was cute. 
• Season 21, Episode 3: "The Sting of Death." Plot description: "The lengths the Deddington's bee empire will go to to ensure they're never dethroned is extreme." Mystery starts when a master beekeeper is mugged and a break in where they stole some prime honey. Soon however, a family feud emerges. Soon a murder actually happens where the victim is murdered by a lured swarm of bees. Turns out there is a plot of revenge as someone who was a victim of Ambrose Deddington's alternative honey bee medicine scam is out for revenge. Naturally the episode had every other bee pun they could put in.
  
• Season 21, Episode 4: "With Baited Breath." Plot description: "Fishermen and women flock to the village of Solomon Gorge, desperate to catch a giant fish." This is the last episode of the season, and the last episode of the series on TubiTv. Mystery here starts when an obstacle course, also taking place during the time of the fishing competition, gets sabotaged. Murders happen, and they may go back to a much older murder. Once they figure out, we can appreciate the true plot.