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Reviews
One Bad Apple: A Hannah Swensen Mystery (2024)
A Major League Disappointment
It's amazing how losing a major costar in a movie series can have a huge impact on the next film. With Cameron Mathison's exit, the entire movie fell flat.
I've read Joanne Fluke's all Hannah Swensen mystery novels and watched the Hallmark movies multiple times. But this one is just plain awful. I was tempted to delete it halfway through.
Mike Kingston is a pivotal character. Without him as the lead detective with the Eden Lake sheriff's department, there's no one to play off Hannah's parallel murder investigations. The chemistry between them was what made the movies work.
The DA Chad couldn't replace Mike. He was annoying and added nothing., Lonnie isn't a strong enough character to carry it off. By himself. Having the sheriff involved would have been a better alternative.. DA Chad didn't belong rescuing Hannah from the killer at the end of the movie with Lonnie. That is not a DA's job.
I missed Hannah and Lisa's scenes in the Cooke Jar interacting with the coffee clatch ladies. Very little time was spent in the bakery which was a shame. So many of her best ideas come to her while she's baking.
Delores becoming a private investigator while wearing a black hat and trench coat is silly. She called too much attention to herself in that getup.
It was nice to see Norman Rhodes again, but his appearance wasn't enough.to rescue this terrible movie.
Silicon Valley (2014)
Funny show that keeps you guessing
Silicon Valley is a really funny show. I know nothing about tech, yet the writers refrained from putting lots of technical jargon that much of its audience might not understand.
I really love the character development and the camaraderie between the main actors. The plot lines kept turning so I consistently that you couldn't always tell what was coming next.
Thomas Middleditch plays such a believable neurotic tech genius. He is a funny, and fine actor.
I don't care for T. J. Miller, and I thought his character, Erlich Bachman was overbearing and obnoxious. But with his exit, seasons 5 and 6 fell a bit flat. The Jian Yang character was also obnoxious and and detracted from the plot without Erlich.
Gavin Belson made a great villain who no matter how many times he screwed up Hooli he kept reinventing himself after a massive, expensive temper tantrum that destroys all the breakables in his house multiple times. The rivalry between Richard and himself was great
I can see why people watch Silicon Valley multiple times. My daughter had watched it six times before I gave it to her as a birthday gift, and I just finished binge watching it.
I was disappointed with the flat ending that caused the team to go their separate ways. I don't know how they might have handled Pied Piper's defeat at the hands of AI which is a cautionary tale, but that way was a cop-out.
Murder, She Wrote (1984)
Best Mystery Series Ever
I started watching Murder She Wrote when it premiered in 1984. I loved Angela Lansbury and I quickly got hooked on this series. Over the years I watched reruns whenever it played in syndication. If you can suspend your disbelief of a mystery writer solving crimes on her own one step ahead of the police it is a fantastic series. Jessica Fletcher would have put Sherlock Holmes put Sherlock Holmes to shame!
The writing was excellent and Dame Angela deserved an Emmy for every season that show ran. Every hot actor in Hollywood made multiple guest appearances.
One year my children gave me the DVD boxed set of one of my favorite shows of all time, and I have watched every episode over and over again.
It always made me laugh at ow many friends Jessica had all over the country, and how many relatives would come out of the woodwork season.
I wish shows like this were still being made.