Veronica Mars 2014 7+ out of 10

Veronica Mars 2014   7+  out of 10

The Veronica Mars movie was basically a love letter or thank you note to the fans of the TV show.

Funded by a kickstarter program it delivered pretty much exactly what you would hope for as a fan of the show.  It featured tons of characters from the show and it centered on bad boy Logan Echolls getting in trouble again and calling Veronica .  Veronica  has moved on with her life back and is a big city lawyer, but gets sucked back into everything she left behind again.   Veronica  returns to her hometown of Neptune during her reunion weekend to try and solve a murder that Logan is being blamed for.   The plot works excellently for fans of the show as it brings everyone back into familiar territory.   The mystery is decent,  although not as good as some from the show itself .  Those mysteries could last for an entire season and with a movie you have to solve it a lot quicker than that.    I enjoyed the movie being a fan of the show, but  could see how someone that didn’t know the entire history of the show would be totally lost.  It caters to its fans and not a wide audience, since it relays on knowledge of the shows history throughout the movie.   I’m glad I got to take this journey down memory lane with Veronica and the gang---but it probably would have been more suited as a TV movie reunion than trying to put it out in theaters.  It definitely made me miss the TV show and wish there were more episodes.

If you were a fan of the show---you will like it.

If you aren’t a fan of the show---rent the show on Netflix to see if you like it first –because otherwise you will be lost trying to watch or care about the movie.

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The Penguin Pool Murder 1932 7 out of 10

The Penguin Pool Murder  1932  7 out of 10

There has been a murder at the New York aquarium and a old matronly school teacher and detective end up teaming up to solve it.  It is a classic 1930's style  comedy/murder mystery who done it.  The movie has many possible murderers and takes several  twists and turns before concluding with a nice courtroom reveal of the murderer.  The old school teacher as sleuth gave the movie its comic tone as played excellently by Edna May Oliver.   I enjoy watching this old 1930's and 1940's  short murder mystery movies.  The weird thing is that they basically feel like TV episodes.  All of the old Sherlock Holmes and Charlie Chan movies that are barely over an hour long have a formula and feel of episodic TV.  It is fun to revisit this old movies that basically laid the foundations for TV shows like Castle (which is currently one of my favorite shows that I've been watching non stop on Netflix trying to catch up on).  The Penquin Pool Murder reminded me specifically of this TV series since the detective in the story teamed up with a school teacher to solve the crime.  Castle of course has a mystery writer teaming up with a detective to solve crimes.  Of course a single episode of Castle is more entertaining than this movie,  but it is cool to see the comic murder mystery solving roots that have lead to one of my favorite genres.

Here is a quick sample of The Penguin Pool Murder...

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Satan met a Lady 1936 5 out of 10

Satan Met a Lady   1936   5 out of 10

This was basically a silly, light detective movie.  A remake of The Maltese Falcon with the character names changed and the horn in place of the bird statue.   It was still an effective story although the light and silly tone of the film made what would normally be tense and gritty moments have less weight.   Five years after this remake the film would be remade yet again this time with Humphrey Bogart in the lead role which was a classic.   This version was okay --but especially compare to the much better Bogart version it palls in comparison.  

Crime by Night 1944 7+ out of 10

Crime by Night   1944   7+ out of 10

Detective Sam Campbell ( Jerome Cowan) and his secretary (Jane Wyman)  find themselves in the middle of a murder case.   They must prove that an ex concert pianist is innocent of killing his ex father in law during a custody case.  The pacing of the story is quick with some twists and turns in the case that eventually lead them to uncover that the real killer is actually a spy.  It has the feel of  a subtler version of a  Fletch movie set in the 1940's. The dialogue was crisp and the acting was good which makes for a good watch.