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Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case (1977) Directed by Sam Wanamaker

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 11:51 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , , ,



(Review originally written at 31 January 2009)

"Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case", how great sounding is that? If it weren't for its title though this would be a pretty forgettable Columbo movie entry. It just isn't the most interesting or best written Columbo entry around.

It's a slightly odd Columbo movie, that features a bunch of people with a brilliantly high I.Q. Those kind of people often are a bit eccentric and off, as gets portrayed in this movie. It makes the movie overall entertaining to watch. This however goes a bit at the expense of the movie its story.

It's just not the best written story to ever be featured in a Columbo movie. Its murder plot is far from tight, which is odd, since it's being committed by a man with one of the highest I.Q. in the world. It's also not a story that is being made interesting by it's main plot, that is pretty average and follows the usual familiar Columbo-formula. Columbo doesn't have to do much detective work in this movie to unravel the murder-plot and capture the killer. This is a bit disappointing and doesn't give the Columbo character enough room to be his usual self.

For a '70's Columbo movie it also surprisingly is lacking in stars, playing opposite Peter Falk. Not that Theodore Bikel is bad in this movie but having a big name playing opposite Peter Falk often gives the movie something extra and also makes the movie more interesting and entertaining to watch. Sure, the movie features Kenneth Mars and Jamie Lee Curtis but their roles are very small and insignificant. It actually was one of Jamie Lee Curtis her first acting jobs, before she reached fame one year later by playing the lead in John Carpenter's "Halloween".

It's a quite slow Columbo movie and even though the movie is barely over an hour long, the movie feels much longer. It doesn't help to raise this movie above the level of average. It has a nice ending on the other hand though, which quite honestly is among one of the best to be ever featured in a Columbo movie.

Watchable but not quite as good and interesting as most other Columbo-entries.

6/10

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Columbo: Grand Deceptions (1989) Directed by Sam Wanamaker

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 9:02 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , ,





(Review originally written at 29 November 2008)

Man, what is it with 1989 Columbo movies? Perhaps it was because of the fact that the 1989 Columbo movies were the first ones to be made after an 11 year 'break' and they were still searching for the right out formula with some new 'modern' additions to it. But fact is that 1989 aren't really among the best Columbo movies, with some exceptions here and there though.

This one really isn't the most exciting or interesting Columbo movie to watch. Despite that the movie is set at a private civilian military think tank base, rarely ever something exciting is happening. The movie is progressing very slowly and some of the sequences are needlessly long and progressing in a lacking pace, without making enough contribution to the movie and its story. Columbo is hardly investigating anything and all he does is walking around, bugging all kinds of people. Everything he discovers and hears happened by chance and not necessarily always because of his investigation skills and tactics. Even though the movie features all of the usual Columbo movie ingredients it doesn't feel like an average Columbo movie because it just doesn't all get handled too well. This was Sam Wanamaker's last movie he directed during his career. He also directed the previous Columbo movie "Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case", from 1977.

It's a sort of an unwritten rule for a Columbo movie that whenever Lt. Columbo himself shows up rather late into the story, the movie normally isn't going to be among the best the series has to offer. This is also the case with "Columbo: Grand Deceptions", in which Lt. Columbo shows up after about 20 minutes.

The movie also isn't helped much by its characters. Military characters are though ones to play as an actor, since they are all so very stereotypical. Only some really fine and talented actors can pull it off to make their characters still work out. This movie just doesn't feature any of these kind of actors unfortunately. Most later Columbo movies made the mistake not to cast some big well known and already established names in it. The movie is filled with some big unknowns who never really had a flourishing career, before or after this movie and for a good reason. Most actors play their roles well enough but it just isn't helping the movie to still make something special out of it all. There isn't really a good strong character opposite Lt. Columbo for this movie and some of the characters also makes a totally redundant impression, as do some of the plot-lines.

Besides, normally it's obvious from the beginning what the reasons and motivations for the killer were to come to his actions. In this movie however new things are getting revealed as the movie progresses. At times the movie even seems to forget that its a murder-mystery.

No, all in all the movie is not that horrible and it certainly also isn't the worst Columbo movie ever made but it however also is one of the least interesting Columbo movie entries to watch.

6/10

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Catlow (1971) Directed by Sam Wanamaker

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 5:19 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , , , ,





(Review originally written at 29 November 2007)

This is a rather little entertaining western to watch. It has all of the violence and shooting but still it's made in a sort of more light and fun way.

Never thought I would ever see Leonard Nimoy in a western. He made some appearance in western's but mostly in series and TV-movies. I think this is his biggest western's role out of his career. On top of that, he also plays the villain in this one and he does it extremely well. He truly had some real talent for playing the bad guy and I wouldn't had minded seeing him in more roles such as this one. Yul Brynner is also good as always. He really was in his element in westerns. In this movie he takes a more of a kind and humorous approach, which also works out really well for him.

The characters are good ones but the character treatment isn't among the greatest. Yul Brynner will disappear out of the movie for some time, then Richard Crenna and then Leonard Nimoy. He's supposed to be the main villain, but nevertheless he gets hardly featured in the second halve of the movie at all. Consistency is not a too common thing within this movie.

It's fine that the movie concentrates mainly on two characters, that are different and also on the other side of the law, but still great friends, although they are not afraid to punch, or shoot at each other either to get what they want. This sort of approach of an unlikely friendship isn't of course uncommon in a western.

The story is a fine one, that leaves plenty of room for action. There a lot of shootouts, also involving villainous Indians. It all makes sure that the movie at all time is a fast going, with plenty happening on the screen.

It's a real '70's western. '70's westerns are a total different thing from westerns from any other decade. It has that typical kind of '70's rawness all over it and in this case the movie also features some experimental techniques, such as some extremely fast editing in some scenes. Not sure if it truly helps or uplifts the movie but it still makes it a tiny bit more interesting to watch.

Really a movie I enjoyed watching, though it's obviously no genre classic. It's just too small and insignificant for that.

7/10

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) Directed by Martin Ritt

Posted by: Frank Veenstra Posted date: 11:19 AM / comment : 0 , , , , , , , ,





(Review originally written at 11 November 2006)

 This is not just your average spy movie. It chooses a realistic approach, with a slowly told story and an humane main 'normal' character. No action or fancy tricks here, just a normal every day looking spy who tries to infiltrate by the 'enemy' with words, rather than actions.

 Nothing wrong with a movie that has much dialog but it has to be good enough to keep and grab your attention. This however isn't always the case in this particular movie. The dialog does tend to make this movie unnecessary hard to follow at times. The movie chooses to tell its story through its dialog rather than by the actors or images themselves. For most part it works effective enough but it also makes the movie drag and uninteresting to watch at times. The movie makes it too hard on itself.

 The fact that this is a cold war thriller made during the cold war itself gives the movie a certain bit of extra. It helps to make the atmosphere an absolutely fantastic one. No way a movie with a story like this could be made as effective and realistic present day. Its atmosphere is definitely one of the reasons why the movie works out so well and realistic.

 Of course another reason is Richard Burton. He plays a 'not so everyday' spy. He is far from perfect and he rather seems and acts like a bum, instead of a cool, agile spy. This is of course a far more realistic take on the spy movie genre. Burton, through his role, is the main reason why the movie works well and effective. The movie is filled with some other good but mostly unknown actors. Bernard Lee and Walter Gotell also pop up in the movie. It's sort of fun seeing these two actors together in a different spy movie than the James Bond movies.

 It's story is for most part intriguing and features some good and interesting layers in it that makes this an excellent and original thriller and genre movie.

 The movie is good looking, despite the surprising fact that the movie was not shot in Germany (where the movie for most part is set) at all. The movie is filmed brilliant entirely in black & white. The camera-work is just great and every sequences is eye candy to look at. Also the musical score is surprisingly good and effective.

 So all in all, it's a very stylish and beautiful looking movie, that becomes a bit too unnecessary hard to follow at certain moments because of its many and complex dialog.

 7/10

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