Bees Make Honey (2017)

Not what I was looking for, 7 November 2019

The basic plot in Bees Make Honey is fairly routine - Honey (Alice Eve) is convinced that her husband was murdered at last year’s Halloween party.  To find the killer, she invites the exact same guests to this year’s party. But she also invites a police detective to help her unmask a murderer.  

It’s not that I disliked Bees Make Honey, but it could have been so much better.  My biggest issue was the lack of focus. I’m a sucker for a good mystery. But too often, director Jack Eve seemed to turn his attention to anything but the mystery.  Give me clues, suspects, motives, etc. - that’s what I want. I suppose that what it boils down to is that I wanted a different movie, one with a good old fashioned, drawing room style mystery.  Instead, what a I got was a mystery buried under kitchy characters, crazy musical interludes, and bizarre scenes that seem to exist only to be bizarre (a Nazi doing line after line of coke, for example).  

I will give Eve credit for ambition.  Just a few minutes in and it’s easy to see Eve and Bees Make Honey have style to burn.  And the movie looks fantastic. Costuming, sets, and lighting are all amazing. Being set during a Halloween party helps create the fantastic imagery.  And I was impressed with Eve’s sister, Alice Eve, in the lead. She brought real life and energy to Honey. It’s too bad her main co-star, Wilf Scolding, couldn’t keep up.

5/10

Lovejoy “The March of Time” #1.8 (1986) (TV)

“We should be back home trying to make a dishonest living.”, 5 Novembe 2019

While working to repair a relatively worthless clock, Lovejoy discovers a set of love letters from the time of the Napoleonic Wars.  Lovejoy realizes he may have something of value. When someone steals the clock, Lovejoy’s convinced he’s onto something and decides to investigate.  

The March of Time may not be the best episode, but it’s still an enjoyable, worthwhile experience.  The plot is nothing to write home about - there’s not much danger, there’s no murder to solve, and the story of the letters isn’t as exciting as something like treasure buried under an abbey.  But watching Lovejoy and the sheer pleasure we see on his face as he reads the letters gives as much insight to Lovejoy, the character, as anything we’ve seen so far. When Lovejoy initially finds the letters, you can see the dollar signs in his eyes.  When he meets their rightful owner, the devastatingly (as Lovejoy describes her) beautiful Sophy, we can see something else in his eyes. But in the end, Lovejoy’s love for antiques and doing what’s right wins out and Lovejoy sacrifices money and his shot with Sophy to see the letters made whole.    

6/10