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Midsomer Murders: The Black Book (2009)
Ruined by the last half hour
My wife and I normally really enjoy Midsomer Murders, but not this episode. Several things happened in the last half hour that made Tom and Ben just look like idiots the way they were fooled. Behavior from some of the other characters didn't make sense either. Why did Tom just stand there watching Matilda burn the rest of the book instead of taking it away from her? Why didn't he call for backup when driving to Matilda's art school when she was presumably in danger from the Texan? Why didn't Patricia transfer the money from translucent plastic bags into suitcases before getting on the plane? Why did she and the Texan assume that they could destroy the fakes without anyone noticing and that the Causton police wouldn't say anything? Wouldn't releasing the black book, which would prove the forgeries, accomplish the same thing to make the real ones more valuable? Why would Tom let the Texan walk off with the black book when it was prime evidence in the murder? There seemed to be no concern about chain of custody or getting fingerprints.
It would be one thing if the show never cared about such sloppy writing but it usually isn't, that's what made the sloppiness stand out.
Also, the nudity seemed pretty gratuitous. Not that I've normally got anything against that but it seemed very out of place on Midsomer.
Puss in Boots (2011)
Nothing special, disappointing
Maybe it would be different if I was a kid, but I just didn't think that it was very funny. Not anywhere close to how funny the Shrek movies were. Only 2 or 3 laugh out loud jokes and they were pretty late in the movie. The most of the rest of the jokes were just amusing at best.
Also (spoiler), the plot was VERY predictable. And the chemistry between the lead characters often felt forced and inconsistent.
Again, I'm writing this as an adult. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more watching as a child, or with one. But I've really enjoyed other animated comedies as an adult and this one pales in comparison. My time would have been better spent watching any of the Shrek or Toy Story movies again.
Today's Special (2009)
Missing a couple of the usual clichés
Never heard of this movie but was looking thru Amazon Prime for something to watch, saw that it had Aasif Mandvi as the star, was also about food, and thought I'd give it a try. I was glad I did, very enjoyable movie after a bit of a slow start.
I agree with pretty much all of the other reviews but I wanted to point a couple of other things I really liked - leaving out a couple of the usual clichés you see in movies like this. 1) Normally I would expect the lead character to say something stupid to lose the girl, then manage to get her back again. He did say something stupid, but she just laughed it off instead of stomping off. Nice. 2) Immigrant parents NEVER like the blond girlfriend in these kinds of movies, at least not at the beginning until they eventually come around. They mentioned it but didn't even come close, again they laughed it off. Also nice.
Best part of the movie was any scene with Naseeruddin Shah, he really stole the movie. Anyone notice that he frequently talked like Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof? Both in cadence and in the things he said. Don't know if it was intentional or not but it added some enjoyment of the movie.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Depressing, misleading, NOT a "feel good" movie
The movie poster says "Feel Good Film of the Decade". Which implied to me that it was a comedy. But after watching for 20 minutes, all I felt like was turning it off. Shouldn't have even wasted that much time after they started out by torturing the star in the first 10 minutes of the movie. But since it was so well reviewed, I stuck it out for a little while longer. After seeing horrid poverty in the slums, a boy jump into a latrine, followed soon thereafter with people getting severely assaulted (or worse?) in a riot, I had enough. Good thing I did, I read the Wikipedia article about the movie and saw that the violence and cruelty got even worse. Not exactly sure how this was supposed to make me "feel good".
This one went straight from my DVD player into our "put it in the garage sale" box.
The Nephew (1998)
Nice little movie
Nice little movie that takes place in a small Irish town.
Others have given the plot summary, so I'll just make a couple of comments. First, I thought the ending seemed pretty forced, and not in keeping with the spirit of the rest of the movie. It could have been worse, but it could have been better too.
Second, although Pierce Brosnan didn't do a bad job in his role, I just didn't find him believable. Part of the reason was that he's 10 years younger than Tony, even though they were supposed to be contemporaries (at least, that's the impression I got) in the movie. He just seemed too young for the part.
He also just looked out of place. All the rest of the actors looked like they really belonged in this small town, while Brosnan looks like a Hollywood star. These aren't things that he can do anything about, but the casting director should have taken it into consideration when casting the part.
Overall, I would say that it's a movie worth watching, both for the love story between Chad and Aislin, and for the family histories and intrigue in the past that can't be forgotten. A flawed movie, but still worth seeing. 7 stars.