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Reviews
The Killer (2024)
Bewildering Mediocrity
I'm truly stunned. I cannot for the life of me fathom why a director who created a masterpiece 35 years ago (at the time of writing) would remake his own highly lauded piece of art into this utterly vacant, vapid and forgettable rubbish. Why?? I realise Mr John Woo is advancing in years and may not have the passion he once did. And certainly it shows in this film, that he must have been thoroughly bored to re-tread something he had done before and infinitely better in order to produce what we see here.
Absolutely nothing about this reboot/remake is characteristic of Mr Woo's work. None of the multi-angle slow motion operatic ballet of violence from the original film can be seen here. None of the emotional and melodramatic depth of the original film, whose story was simpler but more profound and compelling in its execution, is experienced here. The economical and meaningful dialogue from the original is now replaced with unnecessarily verbose, inane and cringeworthy lines. Deeper themes such as honour and loyalty that would bring antagonists characters in his earlier works together in mutual admiration are totally absent here. The violence is unimpactful and painted with CG squibs. Even the practical blood looks like bright red paint, the kind they used in westerns in the 60s and 70s. The cinematography is bland and dull. It genuinely looks like a TV movie from the 1990s directed by a novice.
The setting in France seems to have inspired a slight goofiness and unnecessary forced humour to the picture, including the score, typical of French action comedies. To say nothing of the obvious continuity errors and poor editing. The entire picture screams laziness and indifference.
Most of the individual cast members don't have the gravitas or charisma to provide or carry the emotional weight that might make the story more interesting to watch. The lead actress is frankly miscast and probably for reasons of DEI agendas. The actress playing the singer has little to do and is mostly annoying, and without the deep emotional connection between her character and the killer that was so central to the thrust of the original film there is no reason for the audience to care about their journey.
I will admit that John Woo's original Killer is a film I have seen many times and am happy to call one of my favourites, and I knew that I would be disappointed to see this new version. Most films made for streaming are mediocre by design, and this one is no exception, arriving without any notice or fanfare. And it is easy to see why. Whether it was a contractual obligation or a financial incentive Mr Woo seemed to sleepwalking his way through directing it. A great shame.
Please do yourself a favour and skip this awful and embarrassing travesty and watch the original Killer from 1989. You will thank me.
T.J. Hooker (1982)
Loved this show!
Given the dearth of hamburger action shows todays and the saturation of virtue signalling and political correctness, I find shows like TJ Hooker, which I grew up watching in the 80s, thoroughly refreshing. All the characteristics endemic to shows from that era are here in abundance. The unashamedly prolonged male gaze, the cheesy dancing to wonderfully cheesy disco music, the improbable plots and hammy acting. But there was also a sincerity in the intention and a total lack of pretention in the weekly morality play.
I wanted to point out a few things about this show that I particularly appreciated.
Firstly, the incidental music in these shows was brilliant, and never got enough credit in my view. The muscular and twangy bass guitars with their kinetic riffs really amplified the urgency of the action.
Secondly, the action itself was great. No green screens or background projection. Back in the 80s those were real cars and trucks flying through the air on pipe ramps and exploding while real helicopters chased them. The attention to detail was impressive too, with almost every fired bullet having an impact or spark. Given the prime-time slot there were no blood squibs when people got shot (except on shows later in the evening like Hunter), but plenty of bullet holes in car doors, windows etc. They didn't cheapen out or hold back on that for sure. Sometimes cars would just explode for no apparent reason but at least it was real, until the fake digital nonsense we have to endure today.
And lastly, I must pay tribute to the main star, William Shatner. Despite his increasing heft throughout the show's tenure the guy could run faster in his fifties than I ever could in my teens. And he was game for doing a lot of his own stunts, and I don't just mean the cringeworthy and seemingly unnecessary forward rolls before shooting the bad guy. It really was him diving over the bonnets of cars, climbing over chain-link fences, sliding through ice-covered floors and having nicely choreographed fights with his night stick. His commitment to the show and its action really made a difference.
Anyway, as a relic of that era I just wanted to share my appreciation for the show and how much more enjoyable it is compared to the watered down and artificial action of today's output. They sure don't make them like they used to.
Hunter: The Biggest Man in Town (1985)
More Kramer singing (yawn)
I love Hunter, it's my favourite TV show and this episode had some of the wonderful and seemingly improvised banter between Hunter and McCall that made it so great. But it's yet another attempt by Kramer to shoehorn her frankly rather mediocre singing into the show and with zero subtlety (there would be more in future episodes). She even tells Hunter she 'writes songs in her spare time.' There's a reason you've probably never heard of Stepfanie Kramer the singer and it was a shame she left after the show after the 6th season to pursue a singing career that never really took off. Her chemistry with Hunter was the magic behind the show's success but it became annoying how she would try to find opportunities in the scripts to showcase her hobby. Fred Dryer was a professional American football player before acting and yet I never recall him going undercover as such or working that angle into any show.
Anyway, a standard episode with good guests stars in Stuart Whitman and Don Stroud, both of whom also guest starred in The A-Team, another Stephen J Cannell production. And at least Ms Kramer looks good firing a big gun.
RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop (2023)
Brilliant Documentary about an Absolute Classic
A brilliant compendium and documentary about one of the greatest films ever made. That sounds like hyperbole but when you learn about the sheer depth and breadth of creativity and talent that went into making the film, the toils and the struggle, you'll understand what I mean. I can't believe how they managed to get hold of virtually everyone that was involved in the film, even the actresses who played the 'models' at Bob Morton's house and the other officers at the precinct. Even the female newscaster! This is as replete as a study and love letter to a film could be. Nancy Allen still looks gorgeous and thankfully hasn't subjected herself to the awful plastic surgery that most women in Hollywood of her age seem to. Peter Weller has become notably more pretentious in his old age but at least they got him on camera. Surprised he didn't mention his PhD in art history. Oops, I just did it for him. Everyone interviewed is so funny and effusive with admiration for the film you can see how much they loved being a part of it, even after all these years. Only a shame that they couldn't get the great Rob Bottin, who designed the Robocop suit, to share his insights. Excellent documentary series.
Heart of Stone (2023)
Another hollow and generic product from Netflix
It beggars belief how Netflix can spend so much money on cliched, generic trash like this and cancel other great shows like Mindhunter. The script and dialogue for this movie sound like it was written by a computer programmed by a ten year old after watching a load of other films. Every idea and concept is stolen from somewhere else. Even the 'cholinesterase inhibitor' was straight out of The Rock. This is what constitutes entertainment now. Insipid and bland conveyor-belt product, utterly hollow and superficial where every close-up in every action scene is in front of a green screen. I realise they're trying to build a franchise around Gal Gadot, but she deserves better and everyone else is either annoying or miscast and completely unbelievable. Most of them surely can't believe the cringeworthy lines they have to deliver. Hope they were well paid. Up to you but this is one to avoid. Believe me when you finish you won't remember or care about what you just watched.
The Lost City (2022)
Truly amazed these actors signed up for this.
Two minutes into this film and you know what you're going to get. And what you get is a studio product, the very definition of mediocrity. Despite ripping off the premise from the infinitely superior Romancing The Stone the writing is atrociously unfunny and the direction completely by-the-numbers. As if the director was telling everyone he needed so many shots that day so let's get on and get through the pain of it as efficiently as possible.
I realise Sandra Bullock has had a lot of work done on her face, which is now permanently dour, but she looks embarrassed and bored in almost every scene. Even being carried away from an explosion her lifeless facial muscles are completely expressionless and she is discernibly counting down in her head to the detonation. Channing Tatum has difficulty even just playing himself and is he's clearly bored too, as indeed is Brad Pitt in his cameo, evidently thankful for the brevity of his role (taken as a reciprocal favour to Bullock for her cameo in his movie, Bullet Train). None of them manage to wring any excitement or life out of the terrible script and dialogue and the adventure itself is so utterly boring that not even the lazy vista shots can help.
The people who like this movie are clearly an undemanding generation, who have probably never seen more skilfully crafted examples within this genre such as the aforementioned Romancing The Stone.
Anyway, do yourself a favour and avoid this one. It's genuinely awful and you can easily tell that even the cast thought so too. They certainly don't need this kind of rubbish so why they signed up for this drivel is anyone's guess.
The Undoing (2020)
Too much plastic surgery Nicole
It's a watchable show, although the ending is little rushed and somewhat disappointing given the constant teasing of twists. But the most distracting aspect is Nicole Kidman's utterly emotionless face, and not through a choice by her character, but clearly because of her copious and unfortunate plastic surgery. Even when running and screaming her expressionless face is simply fixed to her skull. The botox clearly works. I've never thought of her as a particularly good actress and now she has diminished one of the most important tools of drama - her face.
Everyone else in the show does well, Hugh Grant is always watchable and charismatic, but the writing is not particularly original and Edgar Ramirez is criminally underused.
In conclusion, had I not watched the series I'm not sure I would have missed anything. Other than to reel in horror at Ms Kidman's stapled face.