Mystery

The Happytime Murders

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Happytime Murders
  • IMDb: link

The Happytime Murders movie reviewAfter being in and out of development for the better part of a decade (delays included a legal battle with Sesame Street), The Happytime Murders finally has made its way to theaters. Directed by Jim Henson‘s son Brian Henson, the film is juvenile, crude, and certainly lacking in likable characters. That said, it also made me laugh, and (perhaps most importantly) it never bored me.

The story takes place in a world where living puppets are commonplace, although most humans treat them as second-class citizens. In the style of a gumshoe film noir, our lead is surly puppet detective Phil Philips (Bill Barretta) who gets drawn into a series of murders that tie back to a popular television show involving his friends and family.

For good measure, the film adds a classic femme fatale (Dorien Davies) and Phil’s gruff, but honest, narration as he works through the case. (I almost wish it had been made in black and white.) The investigation also brings Phil back together with his former partner (Melissa McCarthy) whose testimony got him thrown off the police force years before.

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Remington Steele – Steele Belted

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Remington Steele – Steele Belted
  • IMDb: link

Remington Steele – Steele Belted television review

Today’s Throwback Tuesday post takes us back to the 80s detective show Remington Steele. While Laura (Stephanie Zimbalist) ignores the break-in at Steele‘s (Pierce Brosnan) apartment as someone from his nefarious past coming to call, she has a harder time ignoring the attack on her partner (especially after the names of those involved correspond to a current case). The firm’s current client is a recently-paroled ex-con (Andrew Bloch) who Laura believes someone in framing for the theft of valuable gold coins. Although Steele’s initial involvement on the case doesn’t help the client, who gets charged for murder, he does sniff out a suspicious character in the man’s lawyer (Barry Van Dyke) who has turned the head of Ms. Holt.

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Elementary – How to Get a Head / Uncanny Valley of the Dolls

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Elementary – How to Get a Head / Uncanny Valley of the Dolls
  • wiki: link

Elementary - How to Get a Head / Uncanny Valley of the Dolls TV review

Elementary gets a bit cheeky with its latest two episodes. The puntastically titled “How to Get a Head” centers around the discovery of a headless victim whose death initially appears to be linked to the occult. And in “Uncanny Valley of the Dolls” the sole witness to a murder turns out be a sex bot whose memories help Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Watson (Lucy Liu) catch a killer. In each episode Bell (Jon Michael Hill) is the focus of the B-story, first in the search for a detective to replace him when he leaves the NYPD (foreshadowing some possible trouble for Holmes and the department in the future) and later in and old acquaintance (Ian Hart) of Sherlock holding up Bell’s chances to get into the US Marshals out of spite. While Holmes’ attempt to cherry-pick Bell’s successor may have failed, he proves to have far more success in his carrot and stick approach to removing the vindictive roadblock to Bell’s career change.

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Elementary – Through the Fog

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Elementary – Through the Fog
  • wiki: link

Elementary - Through the Fog television review

After a biological bomb is set-off inside the 11th Precinct, Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Watson (Lucy Liu) work to find as much about the attack as possible. When evidence begins to point that the person who activated the bomb is still quarantined on the floor, the group of suspects narrows as Gregson (Aidan Quinn) and Bell (Jon Michael Hill) begin to look both at the visitors caught in the quarantine and other cops. The bomb going off, and Bell’s heroics while getting a heavy dose of the gas, set a high intensity level for the episode that forces Holmes and Watson to make some dangerous new friends in search for much-needed information. Following an episode that suggested Bell might be on his way out of the department in the near future, the show also manages to offer a plausible chance for him not to make it out of the situation.

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Charlie’s Angels – Hellride

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Charlie’s Angels – Hellride
  • wiki: link

Charlie's Angels - Hellride television review

Today’s Throwback Tuesday takes us back to the tale of three beautiful former police detectives turned private detectives working for a faceless boss known as Charlie. “Hellride” sends Sabrina (Kate Jackson) undercover as a race car driver following the death of another driver on the track. Bosley (David Doyle) and Jill (Farrah Fawcett) provide support as a traveling preacher and his beautiful daughter (who is secretly a poker shark). Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) will arrive later to help target on of the mechanics on the track who tampered with the victim’s car in the last race.

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