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Reviews
Hotel Portofino (2022)
Who did what?
"A classic whodonit mystery" says the IMBD headline, but ai wonder if anyone can tell me what "it" was, let alone who did it.
Coming off watching Ozark, this was bland, even in its most "exciting" parts. The writing is nit up to the standard of the cast, who are brilliant, and they perform the 1920s stereotypes with consummate skill, dressed in beige and white linen against a backdrop of the Croatian coastline. Lily Fraser catches the eye. Some of the wooden parasols look to be of a rather modern construction, with a bit of used gaffer tape wrapped in strategic places. But on a big screen, it provides lovely wallpaper.
The Team (2015)
Crippled and perhaps I should be glad.
I claim to be a European. I was born in England, pursued much of my career in Germany and now live in France. Mrs and I enjoy a boxed set, preferring to polish off a series over a weekend because I find it hard to keep the plot of 2 or 3 crime thrillers going for a week, to pick up where I left off 7 days ago. I am the man who said, ¾ of the way through the Thomas Crown Affair, "What painting".
This series was much vaunted by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the driving TV company ZDF, as crossing all boundaries and bringing nations together. I really looked forward to it. There would be dash of English dialogue and (for us) English subtitles for when an "obscure to us" language was spoken. I would enjoy the German dialogue, being able to follow it like English and ignore the subtitles which Mrs would need. For the French, I would manage 50% of the spoken dialogue (thanks to Braquo and Engrenages).
Living in France with a modest dish on 19degE, I get French and German TV so I looked forward to a special treat on ZDF. Alas, they only went and crippled it, dubbing the whole thing into German. I DO NOT WANT TO LISTEN TO THAT UBIQUITOUS German DUBBER PRETENDING TO BE LARS MIKKELSON.
This could have been a winner. But having read some of the other reviews, I don;t think I have missed much. I posted a review along these lines within days of the series starting on ZDF, but it got removed. Dastardly Germans. So I try again.
Love Me Tender: A Tribute to the Music of Elvis Presley (1987)
Elvis Tribute, produced and broadcast by Central Independent TV in 1987.
A galaxy of talent lined up to salute the King, 10 years after his death. They did not let him down. Everyone will have their personal favourites in this show and mine are not necessarily yours. Kim Wilde's "One Night With You" is sexsensual. Ruby Turner is superb. Meatloaf is meaty especially in his version of American Trilogy, which comes with tears blood and sweat. Elkie Brooks sings her heart out in "Love Letters" but Kiki Dee's "Loving You" is my favourite. One hour 17 minutes into the show, the female backing singers, Sylvia Mason, the deeply missed Vicki Brown, P. P. Arnold and Helen Chappelle get a chance to perform centre stage with "All Shook Up". The show ends with the equally deeply missed Stephanie Lawrence providing a poignant version of "Love Me tender" which is played over the end credits. Overall the show loses marks for the quality of the audio. Even in 1987, there was no excuse for this not being transmitted in Nicam stereo. The mono is muddy. Jon Scoffield produced and directed and for reasons known only to the "moguls" at ITV, this show has remained locked away for nearly a quarter of a century, never published on DVD. It had an outing on TMC. The VHS of this show is one of my treasured possessions.