The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

Firefly series…

Firefly This is another review of what I consider a truly delightful show that doesn’t happen to be a mystery. (Of course, it’s a mystery to me that it was cancelled after only one season… although I have a feeling that when a network decides to air the shows of a new series out of sequence, that can’t help establish the show…)

Firefly is really a departure from any one type of genre>>> The best way to describe it is to say that it’s a western/science fiction/dramedy. (If you aren’t a sci-fi fan, don’t be put off by that part of the label! The series is set in the far-away future and features the escapades of a rather unconventional spaceship crew. The characters are three dimensional, the special effects are fun and vivid, the plot lines are original, and the acting is more than convincing… This show really is a delight to watch.

The writer/director of Firefly is Joss Whedon (whom a lot of you probably recognize.) Firefly follows the adventures on a cargo ship (the Serenity) which is commanded/owned by a good-guy-sort of captain (played by Nathan Fillion). Firefly breaks the stereotypical rules— Gina Torres plays both the only wife in the crew and a very tough warrior. It was through Firefly that my family first experienced the comedic delivery of Adam Baldwin (not from the Baldwin brother acting family)>>> (You can now see him on the television show Chuck.) He plays the perfect marshmallow tough guy… a delight to watch.

Firefly originally aired on the Fox network, and a lot of the shows’ fans were greatly disappointed when it was cancelled. Perhaps because it had such a large following, in 2005 Joss Whedon released the movie Serenity. I would definitely recommend watching the series in its correct chronological order, and then following it with the movie. I am not a huge sci-fi fan and I think that I would probably have been a little lost watching the movie without knowing all of the characters and the ship’s purpose. I am sure that my adult son and daughter (as well as my husband) could have gone into the movie “cold.”

Although Firefly is loads of fun to watch… it is not for young children.

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

The Jury Miniseries…

The Jury If you have read the other TV and Movie Reviews on the Cozy Mystery site, then you have probably figured out that I only post reviews about shows that I enjoy. Why waste time on the bad when there are so many good? And, The Jury is yet another example of a British miniseries that does not disappoint.

The Jury follows a trial that is a media frenzy. It shows how juries of such “made-for-television-ratings” crimes are affected by the constant barrage of reporters and “looky-loos” who feel that the public’s “need to know” far outweighs the biased agenda that spins uncontrollably…. out of control!

The jury members not only have issues trying to understand the crime, they also have issues in their private lives. This series left me wondering how jury members really relate to the particular crimes they are called to hear and how their different daily moods can affect the outcome of their verdicts.

For you Sir Derek Jacobi fans: he gives yet another great performance. Hopefully a lot of Gerard Butler fans will be attracted to this miniseries and be treated (possibly introduced?!?) to several other exceptional actors.

By the way>>> This is NOT a miniseries for the entire family!

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

Manor House Miniseries…

Manor House To those of you who have read some of my other TV & Movie reviews>>> you probably have guessed that It was only a matter of time before I reviewed yet another of Sir Derek Jacobi’s works. Manor House is a departure of sorts, as he is the narrator, not actually one of the stars of the show. But his narration is a true joy to listen to… especially if you’re one of his many fans.

The premise of this six part miniseries: People from 2002 are transplanted back in time – the Edwardian period (early 1900s) – to a manor house in Great Britain. This was a time with vastly differing social classes. Upon entering the grounds of this particular manor house world, the twenty first century inhabitants lost all of their twenty first century technology. YOW! Have we improved our circumstances since then!

For those participants of the televised experiment who were lucky enough to portray (as in LIVE!!!) the aristocratic family>>> bravo for you! For those participants who were “lucky enough” to live the parts of scullery maids, stable boy, butler, cook, ETC>>> YIKES! Times were tough! (I don’t personally know anybody who could survive, let alone flourish, in the life of a scullery maid!) And, of course, as expected, the family living the aristocratic family’s part becomes…. Oops! No spoilers here!

My husband and I enjoyed this show immensely and looked forward to each and every episode. The one big draw back for us: we would have enjoyed spending even more time with the inhabitants of this particular Manor House!

If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.

Halloween Movies Extravaganza!

It’s that time of year again! If you’re anything like me, it’s the time when you start to seek out the old Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff movies>>> to get you in the Halloween mood! And look what I found!!! I am so excited about some of these old movies!

Every year I end up watching the same horror movies from the (+/-) 1940s, and I have yet to tire of them. I know it would be easier to buy or tape the movies, but with this search and seek mode, I get a wider variety of the old scary movies.

Here is a list of the movies that both TCM and AMC are showing this year. I have only included the old movies… not the more recent movies that I cannot sit through… much too realistic/scary for me! (I did notice that AMC is showing a lot of the more modern movies… but they simply aren’t “cozy enough” for me!)

I am going to go right now to set up a few of these movies on my Replay machine (like a TIVO)… Hopefully you will be able to find a movie or two that you want to watch!

TCM (Turner Classic Movies) “48 Hours of Horror”
Friday, October 30: 
Mad Love     6:15 a
The Beast with Five Fingers   7:30 a
I Walked With a Zombie   9:00 a
Curse of the Demon  10:15 a
The Gorgon   12:00 p
Mr. Sardonicus    1:30 p
The Tomb of Ligeia   3:15 p
The Tingler    5:00 p
House of Usher    6:30 p
Dead of Night    8:00 p
Torture Garden   10:00 p
Twice-Told Tales  11:45 p
Kwaidan     2:00 a
Spirits of the Dead   4:45 a
Saturday, October 31:
Tell-Tale Heart    7:00 a
Cat People    7:30 a
Freaks     9:00 a
The Devil Doll    10:15 a
Mark of the Vampire   11:45 a
The Devil Bat    1:00 p
White Zombie    2:15 p
The Body Snatcher   3:30 p
Bedlam     5:00 p
The Ghoul    6:30 p
The Haunted Palace   8:00 p  
Die, Monster, Die!   9:30 p
The Shuttered Room  11:00 p
The Dunwich Horror  12:45 a
Blood Feast    2:30 a

AMC (American Movie Classics)
Saturday, October 25:  
The Curse of Frankenstein  6:15 a 
Son of Frankenstein 8:15 a  
House of Frankenstein 10:30 a  
Sunday, October 26:  
Jack the Ripper 5:00 a
Monday, October 27:
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte 4:00 a
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The Invisible Man 6:00 a
Bride of Frankenstein 7:45 a
Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman 9:30 a
Wednesday, October 29: 
The Mummy’s Hand 6:00 a 
Thursday, October 30:
The Mummy 6:00 a
Friday, October 31:
The Fly 2:30 a
House of Dracula 4:30 a
House of Frankenstein 6:00 a
Horror of Dracula 7:30 a

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