Reviews
Masters of Illusion (2014)
Magical Variety
Watching this show is like eating popcorn. Delicious popcorn. You can't get enough. You keep stuffing more and more into your mouth and still you can't get enough. It's fun. It's fast. It's magic! OK,so some people take the title too seriously and object that these aren't really "masters" of magic. Uh, that's called salesmanship, kids. Don't take it so literally. Some of the magic on this show is truly amazing. Some of it is kind of cheesy. But it's all good. Oh, and one more thing. You want beautiful girls? This show has more beautiful girls than any other show on TV! It's retro. It's future. It's now. It's cool. It's hip. It's jazzy. So watch, relax....and enjoy the magic!
Kissin' Cousins (1964)
Two Things Save The Movie
Two things save this movie from being a disaster: Elvis and Yvonne Craig. Elvis plays one of his more likable characters, not one of those "bad boy" types but a good guy and that's good because movie bad boys become very boring and very annoying very fast unless you're a woman. Now, the other character he plays, the blonde hillbilly, is a complete waste of space. It's not Elvis' fault, the character is so poorly written he's like a sack of potatoes. All he does is keep saying "I wanna rassle! I wanna rassle!" Borrrrring.
One thing that's definitely not boring is the stunning Yvonne Craig. She has lots of screen time and that was a very smart move by the movie makers because without her the movie would be close to unwatchable. The combination of her beauty (and there are lots of other female beauties too) and Elvis' likability make the movie worth seeing - once anyway. As for the songs, I'd say there is one good one and the rest are nothing memorable.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Hot Number Affair (1967)
Mixed Bag
I'll get right to the best part. The best part of the episode is when they play Sonny and Cher songs. But there's a problem with that. They play the songs when Sonny and Cher are actually doing scenes together. Sounds like that might be nice, right? Wrong. Because it's hard to hear the dialog because the music is so loud. Somebody cranked the music up so loud that Sonny and Cher's dialog gets drowned out by Sonny and Cher songs. It's completely illogical. When Sonny and Cher watched it together they probably couldn't stop laughing.
Did I mention the story is really dumb? It's really dumb. That's all it deserves to have said about it.
Anyway it does have Sonny and Cher and they both have a lot of charisma so the episode does have that. If you like Sonny and Cher (like me) you'll probably enjoy seeing them. If you don't you will probably be scratching your head a lot.
Starsky and Hutch: Gillian (1976)
Gran Torino and The Kitchen Sink
OK, this episode is way, way over the top. I like Starsky and Hutch, I bought the DVDs, but the writer of this episode pulled everything out of his cupboards and drawers and stuffed it into this episode. There's really too much going on, too many "shocking" revelations that just make you groan. Even the climatic scene is fulled with lurid absurdity that makes you shake your head.
There was a good episode here. But only if the writer would have pulled back and used a little subtlety. This episode is about as subtle as a baseball bat to your head. If you like absurd, over the top cop episodes, this should do the trick for you. If not, there are much better episodes of S&H to watch.
CHiPs: Things That Go Creep in the Night (1983)
So Bad It's Amazingly Good
I sat down to watch this episode thinking I was going to get bored after 10 minutes and turn it off, but after 10 minutes I was complete hooked. I couldn't stop watching! This might be one of the most ludicrous and bizarre episode in the history of TV, and of course that makes it "must see TV".
Everything and the kitchen sink is in this episode. It's so "out there" that it really is hard to describe, you really do have to see it. Just when you think it can't get any more weird it gets more weird. Just when you think it can't throw any more surprises at you it throws another one at you. And it does all this with its own sense of crazy fun. So even though you know it's "bad" you can't help but smile each time they throw something else your way. Hey, at least they tried to do something unusual, and boy did they succeed, even if it is so-bad-it's-good kind of entertainment.