Category Archives: Death of a child

2015, Acceptable for teenagers, Action sequences, AIDS, Assisted Suicide, Brain Tumor, Cancer theme, Clairvoyant, Death of a child, Detective, Ethical struggles, Father-son relations, FBI, Friendship, Gay theme, Medical Theme, Mercy Killing, Murder, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Occasionaly violent, Off-color moments, Psychic, Psychopathologist, Serial Killer, Suspense, Vulgar Jokes

Solace (2015)

From IMDB:

Psychic John Clancy (Sir Anthony Hopkins) works with the F.B.I. in order to hunt down a serial killer.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 41 minute complete film.

FBI Agent Joe Merriwether (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) works with FBI Agent Katherine Cowels (played by Abbie Cornish) who has her doctorate in psychopathology.  At a complete loss in learning anything about the serial killer, Joe turns to his old friend and clairvoyant Dr. John Clancy (played by Sir Anthony Hopkins) who, owing to ugly past experiences,  is very reluctant to join the search.

Learning the motive for the killings is a priority.  If I reveal that motive here, I would consider that revelation a spoiler.

Where in all this is the actor Colin Farrell? He plays Charles Ambrose who just happens to be the serial killer. Charles shares a significant feature of Dr. Clancy’s personality.

After watching the film, you will understand why I say the film is a disguised ethical debate with no easy answer.

All the clairvoyance is just too convenient (should I say “contrived” or downright “hokey” ?).  In addition the quick decision action sequences might be hard to follow.   I give the film a B+.

 

 

2011, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Action sequences, Ageing parent, Amazon Prime Brit Box, Based on a Book, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, British Mystery Series, British Police, Car Chase, Career Criminal, Clever Plot, Complicated, Contract Killing, Corrupt policemen, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime, Crime thriller, Death of a child, Detective, Disturbing Image, DO NOT MISS, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Eccentric Detective, Emotional abuse, Ethical struggles, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Fight Scenes, Flirting, Forensics, Gambling, Grim, Grisly, Gritty, Hopeless Love, Human trafficking, Infuriating, Lawyers, Love Story, Mourning, Murder, Murder Trial, Pedophilia, Plot twists, Poker, Police Corruption, Police Culture, Possibly upsetting ending, Psychiatrists, Romance, Sad ending, Single Mother, Suicide, Suspense, Thriller, Trial Scenes, Upsetting ending, Violent

DCI Banks (2011)

From IMDB:

The tenacious and stubborn DCI Banks unravels disturbing murder mysteries aided by his young assistants, DS Annie Cabbot and DI Helen Morton.

From Amazon Prime Brit Box (or just independently Brit Box) you can stream 5 seasons of this outstandingly tense British crime series. Almost all complete stories require two consecutive episodes.  All seasons contain 6 episodes (i.e 3 stories) where each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Season 1 contains 7 episodes because the first episode is the pilot called “Aftermath”. PLEASE DO NOT WATCH this episode because it is so ugly that you might not want to watch the rest of the series. Indeed the crimes in all the stories are disturbing but season 1 episode 1 is especially nasty.

Detectives Alan Banks, Annie Cabbot, and Helen Morton are  present throughout.  Alan falls in love with Annie and a constant theme is whether they will ever get together. Alan’s father is always an annoyance. Shaun Dooley plays a wonderfully infuriating evil criminal Steve Richards.

Kathy and I eagerly ploughed through all 30 episodes, exclaiming after each story “Wow!”  In fact in one sitting we always watched two episodes making one complete story.

DO NOT MISS!

2022, Abandoned child, Acceptable for teenagers, B-movie, Chick Flick, Christmas theme, Corny at times, Death of a child, Drama, Failed Marriage, Family Secrets, Father-son relations, Flashbacks, Happy ending, Netflix Streaming, NOT violent, Quiet, Reconciliation, Romance, Unmarried mother

The Noel Diary (2022)

From IMDB:

The story of a man who returns home on Christmas to settle his estranged mother’s estate. Once there, he discovers a diary that may hold secrets to his own past and of a beautiful young woman on a mysterious journey of her own.

From Netflix:

Cleaning out his childhood home at Christmas, a novelist meets a
woman searching for her birth mother. Will an old diary unlock
their pasts — and hearts?

From Netlix you can stream this 1 hour 40 minute romance drama.

While a step up from a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, this is still in the same vein.  Of course the famous popular writer Jacob Turner (played by Justin Hartley) will eventually fall in love with Rachel (played by Barrett Doss).

And no, I have never heard of any of the actors.

Still, it is a relief from all the omnipresent violent entertainment in today’s streaming choices.

And it is NOT sappy.