micksteel86 Reviews

Les Patterson Saves the World (1987)

LES PATTERSON CAN'T SAVE THIS STINKER

[1/10 · 30 April 2023]

Barry Humphries will be remembered in my opinion as the greatest stage performing comedian of all time. As guests on talk shows Barry Edna and Les are also at their best with a live audience. I've seen his LIVE show 6 times and was always in awe of his genius.

This is a terrible film.

Essentially the Les Patterson and Edna characters cannot hold a film audience for 90 minutes but even if they could this script which never gets out of the toilet is an insult to all involved.

Producer and co writer Diane Millstead obviously had good intentions to make a film to rival the popularity of Crocodile Dundee.

The other George Miller was a capable director and apparently loved making this film , no doubt with all the talent involved.

The unfunny cameos of Graham Kennedy and John Clarke are such a disappointment and Paul Jennings doing a then Prime minister Bob Hawke impression is TV sketch comedy stuff 1987, it's not for a film.

Not all comedians can crack the film market, If you want to watch Barry Humphries the genius there's plenty of his material on You Tube. Zero stars.

I should add that with some very extreme editing the film could be made watchable but it needs about ten minutes trimmed especially from the appalling start.

All at Sea (2010)

ALL AT SEA Totally watchable film.

[8/10 · 23 October 2022]

I like this film because it works for me on many levels. The basic story line is that a sailor named Skip has died and wanted to be buried at sea. This is not the done thing this century so the authorities have organized a proper church yard burial. However his life long friend Wally wants the sea burial to happen and stealing the corpse is the way to make this happen.

Writer director Robert Young and his producers have set out to make a little story told well and they have succeeded. It's a sensible use of film funding money which was able to attract Brian Cox , Lauren Bacall and James Fox.

The script has some good laughs and the support characters look and act well.

If given the opportunity this is the sort of film I would like to make.

Jindabyne (2006)

Do you think four respectable men would do this?

[1/10 · 18 July 2022]

This is the synopsis for the film you may or may not want to watch. I made the mistake of watching some of it.

Four respectable men go on a weekend fishing trip. They find the dead body of a young girl in a river. But rather than report it they continue on with their fishing weekend and catch lots of big fish. Having done that they then contact the police, AS IF.

Rawhide: Incident of the Wager on Payday (1961) Season 3, Episode 30

SHOULD THIS HAVE BEEN A COMEDIC EPISODE

[2/10 · 14 July 2022]

I have just watched this episode again today ( July 2022) and it infuriates me because just about everything about this episode is wrong. So maybe if it was cast and directed as a comedy it may have been right.

A small town bank and greedy banker is giving away a $50,000 prize in the town's annual fair. The son of the banker decides to rob the bank of that money as a practical joke on his father and in doing so he selects a well known thief to help him.

Can you see the problems here?

A small town bank with $50,000 being advertised as a prize in the 1860's. That's millions for starters. Every bank robber in the west would be targeting that town.

Secondly, greedy bankers don't give money away.

Thirdly, if you are going to do that story which is a comedy plot not a drama plot you don't enlist a thief to help you.

Rather than go on all I can say that is every action by every character doesn't make sense, including but not especially the relationship with Rowdy and gorgeous bar girl Kathy Browne.

As a comedy with two comic actors as the robbers it may have worked.

Rawhide is always watchable, even a stinker like this.

Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966)

Tony Curtis and George C Scott are both in love with the gorgeous Virna Lisi

[4/10 · 5 June 2016]

I've watched this film a few times over the past few years because the it does my head in. In the Tony Curtis autobiography he said he wanted to play the George C Scott role. He should have. Other reviews make a comparison to Hope and Crosby films and rightfully so, this is more Bob and Bing than Tony and George.

So here's the problem. George and Tony are both in the military and George is Tony's superior. Both are in love with Virna. Virna marries Tony. That makes sense.

However Tony is sent away and George uses this time to romance Virna and she is okay with this and Tony is the "sort of" jealous husband. It may happen in real life but in a Hollywood film, it's the craggy faced George who should be married to Virna worried about what the handsome and charming Tony is up to, that may make for fun comedy, maybe.

In a Bing and Bob movie it's obvious, Bob marries Verna and is worried what the sneaky Bing would be getting up to.

Here's a thought Robert Downey Jnr remakes this movie (plot) with say Russell Crowe for example. However Downey plays the charmer. It could work, however it may not be worth the effort.

Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012)

Englisman Kingsley Bedford brings home the body of his wife Naomi to be buried with her Southern American family.

[8/10 · 22 July 2015]

I've decided to make the title the main part of my review. Why because this film is written, directed and starring Billy Bob Thornton. It other stars are Robert Duvall, John Hurt, Kevin Bacon Robert Patrick.Frances O'Connor, Ray Stevenson and Katherine LaNasa (who I admit to not knowing). It's a great cast. So why did this film make $15,000 at the box office. Yes that figure is correct.

Jayne Mansfield's Car. The title caught my eye of course. Not because it's a great title, just because I had never heard of the film. In fact the title absolutely stinks. But I bought the DVD at the pawn shop for 50 cents because of the great cast.

The title could have been The Sons of Jim Caldwell, or The Sons of Naomi Caldwell, but there is a daughter, so maybe THE SIBLINGS OF JIM CALDWELL.

Regardless, for many reasons this becomes one of the worst titles of all times , albeit because it's in other ways offensive. I guess set in the deep south there was a desire to make the title as interesting as a Tennessee Williams title. Yes when Vivian Leigh steps off A Streetcar Named Desire to stay with her sister and brother in law, it seems that this has little relationship to the story but it works, it works as in my opinion as the greatest, catchiest title of them all.

This film really polarizes people and I've read some of the reviews of those who hate it and all I can say is if you hate it, well you hate it. If a film really stinks I can lose interest after five or ten minutes and most films affect me that way. I almost loved this film. One reviewer mentions that Frances O'Connor goes missing at one point and that occurred to me and my other issue was that Robert Patrick spent so much of the first half of the film in darkness that I didn't recognize him until the second half.

So otherwise, I loved it, the slow pace, the darkness to some point, the characters and their development. The acting is first class. Duvall is American Cinema and he and John Hurt are great together. For a film which is set over a week I felt all the loose ends were all tied up. If they wanted a quirky title Old Wrecks and Cadillacs, not Tennessee Williams, but a mighty improvement.

Chicago Hope (1994–2000)

Chicago Hope 9/10. A look at hospital life strongly dealing with the ethics of hospitals and doctors

[9/10 · 20 July 2014]

I can't believe CHICAGO HOPE has a ratings of 6.7. This was one of the very best dramas of the 90's. The cast headed by Mandy Patinkin(at first) and then by Adam Arkin was excellent. Listening to Mandy Patinkin's unique singing style was always a strange joy. It also had a great quirky element to it one episode being when Jeremy Piven had a permanent erection (why do I remember this)was hilarious. was also an episode in which a patient had a spear through his head and what seemed like a ridiculous television story was not so as there have been numerous incidents of this kind since. Like most fans I was saddened when Mandy left the show but when he returned I realized how the standard had not dropped without him,it was just different. I haven't seen the show for many years and wish it would return to free to air television. It would be great daytime or late night viewing now. Like most great shows it had great writing and the name In talking about actors there was none better than Christine Lahti but all the female leads were excellent. David E Kelley is the classiest name in television writing. Great cameos in the show by names like Rip Torn and Alan Arkin as well. So for me a 9/10

Guns for San Sebastian (1968)

The Padre of San Sebastian

[7/10 · 16 March 2014]

This is a good albeit slow moving film and other reviewers have given accurate reviews of the film. My only reservation is the title makes it sound very B GRADE. I'm sure this film would have a stronger following if given the a title I have put or titled THE PRIEST OF SAN SEBASTIAN.

There are many films in which a band of rebels want to take over a peasant village with violence and killing and as with this one I question, Why? Especially when in doing so they almost burn the village to the ground. But That's my issue.

Anthony Quinn does a very good job of carrying the film and I just wish his character had more to say because his words at the end are quite poignant. When he does talk he is very strong, forceful and illuminating.

I also feel the film needed another strong male lead in the village. Anthony Quinn in fact was too much of a strength and I got the feel that villagers would not be able to stand on their own two feet without him.

The action scenes are quite inventive and makes me think this could be remade successfully.

Anjanette Comer is very good and very beautiful. It's a pity she hasn't been in more films.

Get Smart (1965–1970)

GET SMART will always be my favorite TV SHOW.

[9/10 · 17 January 2014]

A few years ago I auditioned for a quiz show THE EINSTEIN FACTOR. My special subject was GET SMART. They asked me about 20 questions. I got one wrong , it was a question at which I responded , I don't care about that stuff.

When asked what prison camp Max was sent to .. I responded as quick as Max Gitchee Goomee Noonee Wawa. and I felt that every other question was as easy as my own name. Except one; How many prisoners were sent to the prison camp?

I said "That's a ridiculous question. How is anyone supposed to know that....... 23 .... Correct

I didn't get on the show when they found out my wife worked at the TV station. Ridiculous, because there was no prize money, just a statuette.

Anyway Max killed bad guys and we laughed. He also killed good guys accidentally and we laughed. (The Worst Best Man)

There were 2 great series. Series 1 and series 4. Series 4 notably for it's Arne Sultan, Leonard Stern Allan Burns & Chris Hayward episodes.

My favorite episodes are Schwartz's Island and Too Many Chiefs.

My favorite line Chief: We still don't know Favorite password; You say Apple , I say Mackintosh.

Cancel My Reservation (1972)

Bob's last film. 1972

[3/10 · 14 January 2014]

CANCEL MY RESERVATION. You've read the other reviews and they're all on the mark. Those who like it are allowed to like it and those who hate it are all correct. Directed by Paul Bogart from television the film looks like a made for TV movie as many features did in this era. In the first five minutes there's a scene in which Bob says he is 42, he was 69 when made this film. He looked great for 69 but he looked early 50's, not 42.

Here's my problem with the film, it's like Bob had to have a one liner every minute so you have 90 bad one liners which are unrelated to the story line or script. One good funny line every five minutes would have done. Strangely, unlike most ordinary films, I think the last ten minutes have made it better. There is a great support cast with nothing to do, but it begs the question as to why Anne Archer had to wait about ten years after this for lead roles. She's gorgeous. Here's the interesting thing, the last last ten minutes which are a bit more serious are good.

Comedy was going through a monumental change at this time and with a bit of thought, some serious jokes about Native Americans could have made this work. And Bob delivers a good line in the final scenes about going to jail for a parking ticket, and it's this line that made me think that this could have been OK.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

A beautiful film about having a go and taking a risk.

[10/10 · 6 February 2007]

This story and film is perfection. Anyone who has given this a lowly rating needs a good look at themselves. Seriously. I ask myself how and why could anyone rate it lower than 8. It's about loving life and the rewards of doing so.

It holds up now and will hold up as long as there is a human race.

I've seen this film many times and am always left with a lump in my throat. Great films usually have many memorable scenes and in this film they never cease. Scene after memorable scene. Donna Reed is every man's dream girl and Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey is what more people should aspire to be.