jubilee77 Reviews

For Love or Money (2019–2022)

Verification?

[7/10 · 26 August 2023]

It is accepted that there are scammers about online throughout the world particularly on such as dating sites. Scammers create faked profiles in attempt to draw unsuspecting victims in making big payments online.

However, most of the time, it's actually older folk whom seem to be a victim of this scam yet it seems odd that they are simply drawn in it with somebody whom has a huge age gap but it's clear that the older people are easily gullible to this trick. Sometimes loneliness can be a factor.

In former times, scammers would prey on the old and gullible people by posting heaps of junk mail of faked prizes through their letterboxes. Some have been posted worldwide. Nowadays, they do it online sometimes via dating websites that explains it all.

Overall, the programme is quite good. It uncovers reality behind these faked profiles and sometimes faked legal wrangles that lead to people making these payments and whether it might be able to raise awareness.

Steeltown Murders (2023)

Bleak and gritty.

[8/10 · 23 May 2023]

The Steeltown Murders is four-part drama based on real life events that took part in 1973 and 2002 beginning with the series of murders that occurred in the South Wales area. Generally, the TV drama has some time travelling features about that frequently takes us back to the beginning of the basic side of the somewhat painstaking and exhaustive investigation of the murders and then forward to DNA developments to identify the suspect. For those whom are unfamiliar with this case, it might be hard to follow at times as it frequently time travels back and forth but nevertheless it's very gripping, bleak and gritty.

Jason Bourne (I) (2016)

Bourne runs out of steam

[6/10 · 25 October 2020]

The first Bourne instalment of films may have been made back in the early 2000s but this one titled Jason Bourne was the latest as Matt Damon reprises the role of the namesake character. It's nothing new about this thriller with the usual plots and may I say several corrupt departments within the secret service as if there are Big Brother bits and pieces. It was directed by Paul Greengrass whom directed some of the previous films while co-scripted by Christopher Rouse but simply lacks the quality of the earlier films. If some of the Bourne films usually contain ridiculous plots, this one is a classic case with the tracking systems that seems to be everywhere and automatically keeping pace with Bourne whenever he's on location . It's not always very good as I think that co-scriptwriter Christopher Rouse whom stood in for the usual Bourne scriptwriter Tony Gilroy and with no previous "Bourne experience", was said to have done a very poor job. Some of the Bourne films were brutal but this one doesn't get to the point by being more brutal for brutality's sake and it's a shame the film didn't live up to expectations.

Des (2020– )

The civil servant killer

[9/10 · 6 October 2020]

David Tennant stars in this three part TV drama that provides a generally good insight on a seemingly quiet and unassuming man. When plumbers were called to his North London flat to examine a blocked drain, suspicions were arosed that the drain blockage was caused by meaty substances and under a police investigation, it was found that the substance turned out to be human flesh and ended up dealing with a man reponsible for an extraordinary series of London murders committed between two addresses. Ex-Dr Who David Tennant delivers an excellent performance as the serial killer Dennis "Des" Nilsen and the show only gives insights on his arrest, the bizarre and boring confessions, remand, trial and eventual conviction. In some books, Nilsen is referred to as bespectacled mild-mannered civil servant while in reality, he was a manipulative psychopath. Despite much being written about him and the suggested motives of his killing sprees, it was certain he was driven to kill by jealously when his flatmate of two years left him and a number of police blunders that allowed him to remain at large. There are some historic mistakes in some parts of the drama and particularly the identity of his first victim but they're only minor.

Never Say Never Again (1983)

What can I say?

[6/10 · 5 September 2020]

"Connery is back" was the advertising posters for this James Bond film. Being released the same year as Octopussy starring Roger Moore, this one titled Never Say Never Again was clearly made outside Pinewood Studios and was never an official 007 film but a remake of Thunderball. Connery delivers a usually convincing performance as Bond but was looking older at 53, the film isn't always good. It's almost all-cast with lots of womanizing in evidence that makes him extremely seedy and neither does he raise much suspicion. The reason why Connery made this one was to stick the guns on Albert R Broccoli. As a result, Connery felt that Broccoli diid a very poor job with Diamonds Are Forever and why Broccoli choosed to leave out some of the important editing work is beyond. There are some plus points about Never Say Never Again particularly the Pat Roach scene and the topical seaside settings but on the other hand it's alrightish.

Skyfall (2012)

I was bit bored

[6/10 · 19 August 2020]

The saga of the Bond film franchise might have moved on since the 1990s first with Pierce Brosnan and then Daniel Craig stepping into the shoes left by the former and Skyfall was his third outing as 007. The film techniques too have moved on but it wasn't always a perfect arrangement here and sometimes it gets too technical as Sam Mendes overdirects this one. It was a similar case sometimes with John Glen when he directed all five Bond films in the 1980s but the technical way of film making in that decade was very different. On Skyfall, the film-makers again have simply lost the plot and the story is considered to be rather jumbled, very confusing and difficult to follow and thanks to the techniques, the stunts are much more lethal than ever. Even Judy Dench in her last outing as M seems to be irritating and more contemptible than ever as Bond struggles to protect her only just by smuggling her to a extremely bleak and remote Scottish mansion makes no sense. I did have some positive hopes for Skyfall and why the critics choice? But no, it just gets increasingly desperate and very boring.

The Bullfighters (1945)

Game to the Last

[5/10 · 22 October 2019]

It may have been 1935 since the last Laurel and Hardy short film was released and the duo would continue for a another decade to make number of appearances in feature films until the 1945 release of The Bullfighters and should've signalled the end of an era for it was supposed to have been the last film Laurel and Hardy ever made together but less than a decade later, made another that was considered to be a box office near-miss.

Laurel and Hardy deliver some of the usual gags and slapstick together with no nonsense dialogues. However, it seems to be that they were long past their prime for most of these films around that era struggled to achieve success and hence, such ideas have simply dried up while some of the plots from The Bullfighters were clearly based on (or rehashed from) the classic short Going Bye Bye that featured Walter "Butch" Long. It's not all bad and not really the most impressive of the Laurel and Hardy films but should've signalled Going Bye Bye to Laurel and Hardy.

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Gilroy carried the can alone.

[7/10 · 29 July 2016]

It might have received some patchy reviews at the time it premiered in the Box Office and Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross might be lacking Matt Damon's Jason Bourne instalment in the series of Bourne trilogy while Bourne scriptwriter Tony Gilroy chooses to carry the can alone, directs in place of Paul Greengrass. Generally, the film plot got off with a suicidal and messy start and was considered to be hard to follow but then things really started to pick up smoothly as Renner delivers an excellent performance as he searches the truth about himself while dodging bullets and explosives from the corrupt organisations he worked for. There are some good levels of action here with stunts and getaway scenes and that's perhaps the good thing I can say about the Bourne trilogy of films.

Hanging by a Thread (1979 TV Movie)

"Postpone the trip. Bad weather due......."

[4/10 · 27 July 2016]

If the title of this review said "postpone the trip. Bad weather due", then many us would've known the reason why. As a result, I might have seen this Sam Groom Made-for-Television film once and a half in the early 1980s because it is split between two parts and the second time I've watched it was when I was eager to watch the whole length. Its generally melodramatic stuff at first while it's total length is 3hrs 10mins. The whole two part TV drama is about a group of dorks whom decided to take a trip to the mountain by cable-car. Half-way up, the cable-car gets struck by lightning and is disabled. This seems to be pretty odd... eh.... when members of the travelling party and cable-car operators should have checked the weather forecast!!! On the other hand, the lightning strikes during daylight and its suddenly night time where most of the drama scenes were set. Some of us may have had positive hopes for HBTH but the drama turned out to be extremely boring and "soap-like" while Burr Debenning get burnt on board as the kooks seemingly cry or bitch about other members of the travelling party and get flashbacks. Then Sam Groom saves the day only just for the ending is just simply laughing stock as the kooks still continue to bitch about other members of the travelling group. Not recommended then and certainly not recommended today.

Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

The First Clyde

[5/10 · 27 April 2015]

The most popular of all Clint Eastwood films must be the two series of movies that featured an orang-utan called Clyde that steals the show as his co-star. The first being this one and Every Which Way You Can that appeared two years later but they do contain some reasonably good plots and dialogues. Sometimes it does have some discomforts of violent bare-knuckle contesting scenes right to the pitch of Eastwood's frenzied screaming confrontation from his leading lady, Sondra Locke. Nevertheless, she would make a reappearance in another "Clyde" film with the same role by starring the character with the opposite temperament. It certainly could have done better or should they have known better?

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)

The other side of Inspector Clouseau

[8/10 · 2 March 2014]

The life and death of Peter Sellers was a film based on the controversial biography by Roger Lewis of the same name about a comic genius whom had an ability to deliver comedy film at its best. His best known roles so far was the inept French detective in the series of Pink Panther films as Inspector Clouseau.

Yet despite his achievements in comedy roles, Sellers had actually ended up as a sad, lonely and tragic figure plagued by heart trouble, marital and personality issues that many years after his death, there had been some debate that he may have been suffering from some form of personality disorders.

The film has some excellent and sometimes very brief insights plus some historical errors from time after time on the main character and the Australian Geoffrey Rush unexpectedly delivers superb performances starring as Sellers both on and off-screen together with some of Sellers' own starring roles and its hard to fault plus some of the makeups and makeovers as Sellers' off-screen lifestyle had gradually taken its toll towards the end of his life.

Runaway! (1973 TV Movie)

Quite good but inauthentic.

[6/10 · 5 February 2014]

For railway enthusiasts like me, this made-for-television film looked to be at first, quite good. It was originally shown on the living room box back in the 1970s but I first saw it a decade latter while family viewers would sometimes dismiss the film as poor. And it's many years since I last viewed this low budget TV film but was able to see it online. Interesting enough, it features the casting of Darleen Carr better known as the sister of The Sound of Music's Charmain Carr. It's quite good but sometimes inauthentic and a bit silly. The plot is about the ski train that takes 200 passengers on an outward run from the city up through the mountains to the ski resort but the return leg became a different affair and hence, the title "Runaway" or "The Runaway Train" given to this film and with the passengers again on board, is doomed due to brake failure and one of the leading question about the train locomotives and carriages being fitted with handbrakes to advert a major crash or were they too frozen stiff to handle? The other alternative option would've been to divert the train onto a different route as speed eases off. Instead a rescue loco couples up at the back but the nitpicking bit is that there's no way the train air hoses and electrical sockets could be connected while the train's still running at speed. Overall, its not too bad-a-film for its time.

Killing Kennedy (2013 TV Movie)

Well its okay

[5/10 · 25 November 2013]

This made-for-television film on the Kennedy assassination might look compelling and up-to-the minute giving insights on Kennedy and his assailant, Lee Harvey Oswald leading to up those fateful events of November 22-24 1963 at Dallas and to this day have been subjected for numerous conspiracy theories.

It was made with collaboration of National Geographic magazine and should be able to provide better insights than Oliver Stone's highly controversial JFK but NOT ENTIRELY SO. There are still some factual errors in this MFTv (made-for-television) film that still creep up in the scenes and it's a bit dull in the telling (and does somebody really care about JFK's private life). Generally, it's not always very good but at least okay and not lengthy and tedious.

The Bourne Identity (2002)

Bourne the first

[8/10 · 22 October 2013]

The first film from the Bourne franchise was the ID and stars Matt Damon as Jason "who am I?" Bourne. Some might criticise these films to me as "crap" because sometimes the plots are a bit silly but they all contain some nice slick action and getaway scenes as Bourne seemed to elude capture against several "life and death" members of some corrupt agencies assembled to catch one man but why do they "work alone" and want to kill each other and does it make any sense?

Overall, as already stated, the film has some excellent slick action as an alternative to the James Bond series of films. It features quirky camera work that makes the film fast paced as Bourne makes his getaway in an Italian Job fashion with the use of a Mini without the usual James Bond gadgets or fast cars and this is what really appeals to me.

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

What next for Jason Bourne?

[9/10 · 7 June 2013]

The third and perhaps final outing for Matt Damon as super spy and assassin Jason Bourne was in the Ultimatum. It gets increasingly tense from start to finish and the scenes become violent due to the point with the rains of blood-splattering punches inflicted between the hero and enemy within together with the usually quirky editing and camera work. Also, the film makes you hold your horses as Bourne searches for the truth behind those corrupt agents but the low points with this film is its a little bit silly and slightly exhausted with some security blunders and slightly lacks the sparkle of the Supremacy while you can only speculate at the film's ending with "what next for Jason Bourne?" Quibbles aside, its generally good.

The Iron Lady (2011)

Disappointing aftermath

[2/10 · 1 February 2013]

Meryl Streep may have been filming Krammer vs Krammer with Dustin Hoffman back in 1979 and so 32 years on, she was able to turn the clock back to film this movie titled The Iron Lady about Britain's (or England's) first woman prime minister and her eleven years of ups and downs in running her country throughout the 1980s. The film looks quite promising with Margaret Thatcher's (nee Roberts) rise from a humble grocer shop in Grantham, Lincolnshire to politics and reaching the door of No.10 Downing Street. The film's ingredients are of interest. Thatcher's rise to power during the quality-lacking seventies was triggered through James Callaghan's own ailing left-wing Labour Government and the IMF crisis of 1976 to the Winter of Discontent of 1979 with strikes and power cuts that brought everything to a standstill. Rubbish piled the streets and even the gravediggers stopped work and therefore made the seventies a decade best forgotten by most Brits. During the 1980s, the Thatcher Government imposed union reforms, defeated Argentina over the Falklands, made several changes in Capitalism being applied to numerous nationalised industries starting with telecommunications while the coal miners' unrest and their year-long strike of 1984/5 did absolutely nothing to starve off the threat to deep mining jobs but only history would reveal that the Government was hardly blameless with the way they handled the deep mine crisis and one of Thatcher's Government ministers at the time recently admitted that the closures went too far destroying communities that served them. Even by the late 1980s, Thatcher would become increasingly unpopular and in 1990, was forced out of office by her own Government over the hated Poll Tax. While Meryl Streep does the main character reasonably well with the main part of the film being generally good, it is the pointless disappointing aftermath that somewhat truly spoils it with Thatcher's dementia state of mind and husband Denis' ghost. Overall, the film received mixed reactions from the press and could have done better if Hollywood had taken issues more serious when it comes making movies based on real life events.

Prince of Players (1955)

Burton's first near-miss?

[6/10 · 8 August 2012]

Prince of Players is a movie that was a near-miss when it premiered in the Box Office and was considered to be rather dull. Even so, the title of the film is somewhat looks to be misleading as it is actually Burton as Edwin Booth, the brother of the infamous John Wilkes Booth. As well his usual early on-screen performances, Burton himself also did Booth "on-stage" in those Shakespearean plays.

The film received some poor reviews around the time it hit the big screens and was Burton's first failure in the Box Office and Burton may have been miscast as the leading character. In the whole, the film's saving grace should be Burton's superb voice and over the years, should perhaps lead to a slow change in attitudes from the critics choice.

Escape to Athena (1979)

Very Silly

[1/10 · 17 May 2012]

If one asked why does the press and critics hate "this movie" and they would have loads of different answers on whether it has a rather poor plot and its either silly or overdone and this World War II adventure titled Escape to Athena is no exception being among the worst films to be premiered during 1979 and there is every possibility that this movie almost looked a bit like a remake of The Guns of Navarone classic due to similarity of filming locations supposing centred around the Mediterranean. Even so, the casting of Roger Moore, Telly Savalas and David Niven plus many more clearly seemed to be totally wasted in this utterly inept movie where they seem to be enjoying the roles they should never have played until they realise it when this one crashed in the Box Office and by look of it, has World War II crept into the computerised security era of 1979 some 34 years after it supposed to have ended? At the same time as well as starring as James Bond in Moonraker, Roger Moore had also filmed another failure movie, this one being North Sea Hyjack. Either Moore didn't take film roles seriously enough and can't act or was he typecast as Simon Templar or James Bond and seemed to parachute helplessly into unsuccessful films.

The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

Not good

[1/10 · 3 August 2011]

There looks to be something promising about World War II films and children use to read about military heroes in Victor comic books of the bygone era. With movies featuring WWII epics going back to the 1940s (even when the war was still ongoing), the late 1960s saw them slip into gradual decline. By the 1970s, the decline escalated that some some films like Force 10 from Navarone or Escape from Athenia made towards the end of that decade have proved to be unsuccessful in the box office. In the case of The Eagle Has landed, this film surprisingly has managed a narrow escape from the flop lists. If some WW11 films have proved to be totally far-fetched and not history then The Eagle Has Landed must be around the top of the lists as it's about a Nazi conspiracy to kidnap the British prime minister. Chamberlain whom declared war on Germany died in the early stages having resigned from office two months previously due to terminal ill health and was succeeded by Churchill. The film was supposed to be based on the acclaimed novel by Jack Higgins but the film version was totally re-written by Tom Markiewicz. I do recall watching it for the first time in the early 1980s after being promised a good film about the Germans hatching a plan to kidnap a prime minister but while settling down with my father, he described it as "stupid". The film is generally dull and the techniques and acting in some parts is very poor. In one scene, the small girl whom was supposed to have a fallen into the mill's waterway by accident clearly reveals her sitting on the wall for the film set-up and then she either jumped or let-go. Michael Caine's Oberst Kurt Steiner might look convincing but the rest of his Nazi co-conspirators are ridiculous and Donald Sutherland as an Irish thug Liam Devlin is very poor and most disliked he coaxes a would-be-traitorous girl call Molly played by Jennifer Agutter. On this movie in wartime England, it appears that some parts of the areas were patroled by a network of bungling USA forces headed by Larry Hagman's Colonel Pitt. Later, he meets his end by falling down the stairs after being shot by a Nazi agent called Joanna Grey played by Jean Marsh and then she in turn, meets her own fate. There are also other action set-ups in evidence like a Jeep looking like as if it was deliberately driven into a river but there's a similar set-up scene with a Churchill double meeting his end thanks to a security blunder, Steiner's change of plan shoots him dead. It was the last film to be directed by John Sturges but Sturges' departure was not without controversy as Michael Caine outlined in his autobiography. Tom Markiewicz thought the script was the best he had written but Sturges did a poor job and had given up. Caine recalled that Sturges told him he only worked to earn enough money to go fishing and added that the moment the picture finished he took the money and went. Producer Jack Wiener later commented that Sturges never came back for the editing nor for any of the other good post-production sessions that are where a director does some of his most important work. Caine also wrote that "the picture wasn't bad but I still get angry when I think of what it could have been with the right director. We had committed the old European sin of being impressed by someone just because he came from Hollywood".

Licence to Kill (1989)

Dalton's refresh was short-lived

[4/10 · 4 November 2010]

Dalton may have refreshed 007 in his earlier film titled The Living Daylights from the Roger Moore efforts that had already spanned 12 years which was quite a long time and Moore clearly have been approaching 60 had it have been his eighth outing as James Bond. Unfortunately, the Dalton era of James Bond was to be fairly short-lived as the next one titled Licence to Kill looked to be nothing more than another View to a Kill and it also suffers from a poor plot and being more nastier and violent that it sometimes goes over the top and again, John Glen simply over-directed this one just like the earlier "view" that he had been previously in charge of. In theory, Dalton may have looked up to a minute but was considered to be too serious and lacked the confidence when it came to playing 007 and it wasn't really his fault with the failure of Licence to Kill. Even John Glen's efforts when it came to directing several James Bond films during the 1980s have been considered to be a bit patchy yet For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy or Living Daylights may have been his better efforts and Licence to Kill was his last. Finally, it would be another five years before Bond would be back with Goldeneye.

Revenge of Billy the Kid (1991)

Old McDonald's nanny goat

[6/10 · 31 October 2010]

I might not dislike this one horror comedy. Horror films don't usually put me off and this is due to evidence of editing and special effects that is typical in some of their older films but what puts me off is about having to stay up late to watch em like I did with some of the films from the Hammer stable back in 1987 and space is sometimes a problem when it comes to owning a DVD of one despite their vast improvement over the earlier VHS efforts.

On McDonald's farm, it might not be something to dislike for being a horror comedy film or with the goofy acting but because of the appalling near-squalid living conditions in the farmhouse that is past its best due to its lack of modernising and through undue neglect while the plot is quite good and the film is OK for those with a dirty mind about sheep or goats. The worst bits was with the way Ma McDonald responds to her call of nature and a first death within the family when someone's father or grandfather was not given a proper burial of cremation but is left to decompose in a pile of horse manure.

The Ladykillers (2004)

A pointless remake

[1/10 · 5 October 2010]

While there may have been an Ealing comedy titled The Ladykillers some fifty years previously, this remake of the latter must be one of the Coen Bros' near-miss despite some success on films like No Country for Old Men. Some remakes certainly have some success while others fail and were no better than the originals yet some research shows that sometimes if the remakes were made in the same country as the originals, they were bound to have some success while remakes made in different countries from the originals were 100% more likely to become a failure and this totally-pointless remake was without exception. Even the last of the original Ladykillers, Herbert Lom said that Tom Hanks was good but the film is terrible. Some of dialogue is okay while some of the language is rather crude and sometimes the acting is rather goofy and it doesn't really help with the characters acting more like fools than desperately hardened criminals. In the whole, this film is an unfunny and sorry mess its also difficult to understand why Tom Hanks and the Coen Brothers should have bothered to waste time in making this. Utterly pointless and one to miss.

Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)

You can't do Peter Sellers

[7/10 · 4 July 2010]

For all Peter Sellers was noted for his comic abilities, this one was his last outing (if alive) as the bungling detective Inspector Clouseau and must be the funniest (or silliest) through Sellers' brilliance with dialogue after dialogue and chaos after chaos plus some that may cause discomfort particularly through some conspiracy to murder the great French detective. The film plot too is a bit dated and to be fair, this one is more than 30 years old and Sellers having died almost 30 years ago (on July 24th 1980) by the time I have commented on this film and it also features Clouseau's Chinese servant Cato this time stealing almost every moment through the film's length despite the fact that Burt Kwouk's earlier appearances as Cato were usually to a lesser extent. Peter Sellers delivers what he can deliver on film as Inspector Clouseau and in the aftermath of his death, several attempts have been made to revive the French man notably with Steve Martin but almost to little avail and even Geoffrey Rush was excellent in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, a film based on Roger Lewis' highly controversial book. You can do as much comedy as you want but you can't do Peter Sellers.

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Drugs, money and violence

[9/10 · 23 March 2010]

Despite its many good reviews from the press, this Coen Bros masterpiece is bound to have some criticism from ordinary members of the public once they have seen it and they don't fully understand what's it all about. Set mostly in Texas around the 1980s, this film contains what is considered to be brutal and with gruesome violence for the reason why it sometimes has its criticisms and some saying that Tommy Lee Jones' Sheriff ET Bell wasn't doing anything to tackle it with the real killer getting away with it only just. Well, others would consider saying that he wisely chooses to distance himself and not to risk it because what's the point when it comes to dealing with a vicious triangle of dodgy drug gangs as it would be difficult to tackle it alone. Even so, there are also some "ordinary" people whom were also being killed and that's mainly because some of these civilians "choosed a path" what's the point in getting involved in a life of crime and with these criminal activities and what's the risk. On the other hand, I would still think this film to be a masterpiece from the Coen Brothers and its well made and I would recommend it only to those whom would have a better understanding on what's it all about.

The Karate Kid (1984)

Not what most die hard martial art fans would be expecting

[5/10 · 22 February 2010]

Despite bearing the "karate" title to the film, I wouldn't think its what most die hard fans of martial art culture would be expecting from once they get drawn into it or even buy a film on DVD without awareness on how much they have paid for it and not having actually rented it and watched it in the movie cinema or on TV. To me, some "good" films may actually be a load of rubbish as people have different opinions with what they see. In the whole the film is too much of a challenge being mostly "romantic" without featuring much karate to see on and having watched it once or twice made me feel a bit desperate in wanting it to end quickly that I don't see the point in viewing further Karate Kid films. The casting of Ralph Machoo as a "kid" regardless of how young he seems to look was ridiculous as he was actually 23 years old at the time this was premiered yet he was to continue making further Karate Kid films until he was approaching his thirties. Just don't bother