Category Archives: Not Feel Good

2015, Amazon Prime, Amusing banter, Basically Sad, Bisexual theme, Bloody scenes, British Comedy, Cross Dressing, Drama, Eccentric cast of characters, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Flirting, Friendship, Gay theme, Grungy, Lesbian Theme, Love Story, Masturbation, Mostly About Sex, Murder, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Occasionaly violent, Outrageous Behavior, Panic Attacks, Promiscuity, Sex Scenes, Sexual promiscuity, Soap Opera, Somewhat ridiculous plot, Somewhat trashy, Suicide, Unusual, Vulgar, Wonderful acting

Cucumber (2015)

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From IMDB:

After causing a man to commit suicide over a misunderstanding and his long term boyfriend proposes, sexually repressed Henry has a breakdown and leaves home to move in with work colleague Dean and love interest Freddie both half his own age; meanwhile his ex, Lance finds a new love with Daniel. Modern life for gay men in the city of Manchester by the mind behind Queer As Folk, writer Russell T. Davies.

From Amazon Prime you can stream 8 episodes of this gay soap opera. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

If there is a predominant theme in this story, it is the sadly common often lonely life of older gay men.  After their youthful attractiveness vanishes, most of the characters in the film spend their time desperately searching for a sexual encounter with some “hot” young stud.

So why watch this soap opera?  For one thing, the acting is superb. Vincent Franklin as Henry Best presents futile searching, regret and guilt perfectly.  You may not sympathize with his faulty choices in life, but you can watch a tragically sincere performance. For another thing,  you will witness what is supposedly the typical Manchester gay life and, at least for me, ask the question “Is that even close to the truth and, if so, YIKES!”  Be prepared for no holds barred explicit and vulgar shenanigans.  Also be prepared for some nasty violence.

Certainly not to everyone’s tastes but still a fascinating sad freak show.

2015, Action Film, American Indian culture, Based on a Book, Bloody scenes, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crude Talk, Disturbing Image, Father-son relations, Frontier Life, Grim, Grisly, Gritty, Horses, Hunting, Mother-son relations, Murder, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Rape, Revenge, Suspense, Violent, Wonderful acting

The Revenant (2015)

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From NetFlix:

Set in the 1820s American frontier, this snowy thriller follows fur trapper Hugh Glass as he relentlessly seeks retribution against the companions who left him for dead in the Missouri River’s icy waters after he was mauled by a bear.

Talk about bloody, violent, gruesome, and sometimes just plain disgusting! Are you in the mood to watch Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass survive in a blizzard by hollowing out a dead horse and crawling naked inside to keep warm?

So, why would you watch this two and one-half hour slog through the frontier?  Answer: the story, the action, the ugly realism of frontier life, and the gorgeous photography are worth the trip. Depiction of the native Americans is marvelous. There is not a single handsome or beautiful movie star to be seen, although to be fair, the actors were so superbly made up for their roles as weather beaten survivors that I could only recognize DiCaprio. See if you can spot Tom Hardy without knowing beforehand which role he plays.

Besides, I am always drawn to good guys getting revenge on bad guys.

Michael Punke wrote the original novel.

You have been sufficiently warned about this masterful piece of acting by Leonard DiCaprio who immersed himself to an awe-inspiring degree in his difficult role as a man who just would not give up.

 

Based on true facts, Basically Sad, Bloody scenes, Brother-Brother relations, Creepy, Drugs, Dysfunctional Lives, Emotional abuse, Horses, Mental Illness, Mother-son relations, Murder, Not Feel Good, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, True Story, Wrestling

Foxcatcher (2014)

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From NetFlix:

Preparing for the 1988 Olympics, two sibling wrestlers cross paths with a paranoid schizophrenic millionaire in this drama based on a true story. The competitive Schultz brothers soon learn their new acquaintance is a dangerous distraction.

Steve Carell makes such a perfect creep that the tension never leaves the film. You just sit there waiting for him to explode. Meanwhile he tries to make Channing Tatum emotionally dependent on him as a father substitute using psychological trickery such as introducing him to cocaine, encouraging him to imbibe, and especially trying to turn Tatum away from his brother Mark Ruffalo. Tatum plays a fatherless young man emotionally dependent on his brother, who has been a father to Tatum his whole life. To a degree Tatum resents his dependence on Ruffalo and Carell uses that as amunition in his increasingly jealous conflict with Ruffalo. Another detail in the story is Carell’s constant but useless efforts to gain the approval of his horse-obsessed mother.

If the story seems harsh, remember that it is based on a true story. For a reference see the Wikipedia article. Be sure to read the final historical follow-ups.

Not a happy story, just a film that is as good as it is ugly.

2014, Abduction, Addiction, Bloody scenes, British, British Mystery Series, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime thriller, Depression, DO NOT MISS, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Dysfunctional Lives, Ethical struggles, Gritty, Kidnapping, Melodrama, Mental Illness, Murder, Murder Investigation, Mystery Film, Netflix Streaming, Not Feel Good, Police Corruption, Police Story, Psychological Drama, Rape, Sociopath, Suicide, Suspense, Thriller, Violent, Wonderful acting

Happy Valley (2014)

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From Netflix:

From the creator of “Last Tango in Halifax” comes this police drama starring Sarah Lancashire (“Coronation Street”) as Yorkshire police sergeant Catherine Cawood, a strong-willed officer coping with the suicide of her daughter and struggling to raise the young son she left behind. When the man she blames for her daughter’s death is paroled, Cawood embarks on a mission to bring him down, unaware that her target is plotting another heinous crime.

Update to initial Season 1 review: Netflix now offers Season 2 of “Unhappy Valley” which continues the story line of Season 1. Season 2 is at least as riveting as Season 1.

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Original Review:

“Happy Valley” is NOT happy. After I tell you what is brutal in this riveting British TV series, I will then try and convince you to watch one of the most spellbinding detective series I have ever watched.

First the ugly news: Years ago the handsome sociopath Tommy Lee Royce raped and drove to suicide the daughter of sergeant Catherine Cawood. He is just out of jail and has joined in with a kidnapping of young Ann Gallagher whom he rapes in captivity. While transporting the kidnapped girl in a van, the kidnappers are approached by a young woman policewoman whom the sociopath runs over and over and over with his automobile. Get the nasty picture? You never see any rape, but you do see some brutal fights.

Now the reasons why you should not miss this drama: Sarah Lancashire is (as the British would say) “positively brilliant” as Catherine Cawood. Here is an incredibly strong woman with a long list of problems. For example, her dead raped daughter had a resulting son whom Catherine raises alone as a grandmother because Catherine’s remarried husband left her when the boy was born. Yes, it does sound like a good old melodrama. But the acting, the complicated personal relations, and the exacting plot details and surprises are well worth the uncomfortable price of admission.

If you can stand the barbarians and their callous behavior, then I feel duty bound to say: DO NOT MISS!

Based on a Book, Basically Sad, DO NOT MISS, Dysfunctional Lives, Emotional child abuse, Not Feel Good, Wonderful acting

What Maisie Knew (2013)

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From Netflix:

In this updated rendering of the timeless Henry James novel, a perceptive 6-year-old girl becomes a bargaining tool when she gets caught in the midst of a toxic custody fight between her self-seeking, childish parents.

How on earth did the directors (Scott McGehee, David Siegel) get Maisie (played by incredibly young Onata Aprile) to act so perfectly? Granted much of her mannerisms are what you would expect from such a little girl. But at certain points, especially in one final painful scene with her egocentric failure of a mother (Julianne Moore) just one subtle facial expression says it all.

Congrats to Steve Coogan for playing such a similarly egocentric repellent failure of a father.

But eventually you just smile seeing Alexander Skarsgård and Joanna Vanderham together as two misused victims of the ugly couple. Here are the only two people in the world that really love Maisie.

Just beware that the 21st century is the century of unresolved conflicts. If you can stand the heartache, DO NOT MISS!

1997, British Mystery Series, Child abuse, Crime, Dark, Detective, Dysfunctional Lives, Gritty, Kidnapping, Murder Investigation, Not Feel Good, Violent

Trial & Retribution (1997)

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From NetFlix:

Crime story and police procedural folded in one, this series tracks murder cases as they wend from inquiry to trial, with detectives Michael Walker and Pat North leading the chase and split-screen shots vivifying the complex pursuit of justice.

Available from NetFlix either as DVDs. Only Set 1 can be streamed.

  • Set 1: 1997 4 discs
  • Set 2: 2001 4 discs
  • Set 3: 2005 3 discs
  • Set 4: 2007 3 discs
  • Set 5: 2008 2 discs
  • Set 6: 2008 2 discs

To see a list of the entire series as well as small plot summaries go to Wikipedia.

For Set 1 NetFlix offered this additional description:

David Hayman and Kate Buffery star as police detectives in the first season of this critically acclaimed British crime drama, in which each episode centers on a single case, from the investigation all the way through to the courtroom verdict. This program comprises the first four feature-length episodes of this suspenseful, emotionally charged series, which takes an unflinching look at the flawed processes behind society’s pursuit of justice.

Here the operative word is FLAWED! Even as a full story ends, you might not be so sure that the convicted person really was guilty. From my point of view that is irrelevant (and maddening) because it is the excellent and taut drama that entertains.

WARNING: Some of the crimes scenes are especially ugly. For example, the second full story features a sadistical cult leader who forces women to mutiliate themselves. That alone might prevent you from watching what is a well-written and very suspenseful story. In this second full story the ending is pitch perfect.

If you like British detective TV series, you will enjoy “Trial & Retribution”

2012, Acceptable for children, DO NOT MISS, Docudrama, Dysfunctional Lives, Fantasy, Magic Realism, Medical Theme, Not Feel Good, Unusual, Violent

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

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From NetFlix:

This fantastical drama follows a little girl named Hushpuppy who lives in a dilapidated pocket of homes in the Mississippi Delta. When her father falls ill and natural disasters strike, Hushpuppy sets off to find her long-lost mother.

Netflix’s description above is misleading. Hushpuppy wants to find her mother but that is just a small part of this film, one of the most inventive and original films I have ever seen.

Quvenzhané Wallis portrays Hushpuppy as a defiant, curious, lonely little girl whose father Wink is an unpredictable, at times violent, alcoholic whose wish for his daughter is that she learn to live independently. We understand Wink more as the film progresses.

Even if the film were merely a travelog it would be acceptable. For me the area and characters were an eye-opener. As a city dweller I expect a home to be orderly, clean, and strongly constructed. But the homes we visit are disorderly pig-pens just about ready to fall down of their own accord. As a city dweller I expect people to be sober, hard-working, clean, affectionate persons. But the personalities in this film are hard-drinking, seemingly non-working, dirty humans who are, however, affectionate. Most of all they are determined to stay in their beloved bayou (which they call the “bathtub”) even after a relentless storm has almost completely destroyed their world.

Magic realism enters in the appearance of aurochs who were released by global warming from their prisons of icebergs. These giant beasts (like warthogs) in their roaming represent the violence wrought upon the earth by global warming.

Compare the acting here of Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy with that of the child Pierce Gagnon as Cid in Looper.

If you have a taste for the unusual, DO NOT MISS THIS FILM!

2009, Could be boring, Explicit sex, Gloomy, Not Feel Good, Not Recommended, Nudity, Quiet, Slow

Young Adam (2009)

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From NetFlix:

A young drifter named Joe (Ewan McGregor) finds work on a barge that travels between Glasgow and Edinburgh. But when the corpse of a young woman is found floating in the river, is Joe really telling everything he knows? Making things even messier is the unspoken attraction that develops between Joe and Ella (Tilda Swinton), one of the barge’s owners, in the barge’s claustrophobic confines. Emily Mortimer and Peter Mullan co-star.

If you ever wondered what some film stars look like when they are completely naked, now’s your chance. If you take away the nudity and all the sex scenes you are left with Ewan McGregor as a hollow shell of irresponsibility and self gratification. Supposedly he is so sexually attractive that each woman he gets close to (i.e. one or two feet away) is eager for a sexual encounter whether it be in a boat, on some public foot path, in some alley, on lying on the ground in some train yard.

Composed of a mixture of events from the present and from the past, little by little you put together the whole story. For most of the film the question is: Will our non-hero actually let an innocent man be hanged? Stay tuned.

Is Scotland really that gloomy? We spend a lot of time looking at either dreary weather or Ewan McGregor staring off into space. Do you notice that I am trying to steer you away from this downer?

It would be fair to summarize this film as “What’s the point ?”.

2011, Based on a Book, Basically Sad, British, Imperfect, Love Story, Mediocre, Melodrama, Not Feel Good, Orchestral Music, Quiet, Sex Scenes

The Deep Blue Sea (2011)

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From NetFlix:

This remake of the original 1955 film, adapted from a Terence Rattigan play, stars Rachel Weisz as a wedded woman who falls hard for a younger man. Her determination and emotional obsession lead her into tragic conflict with the morals of the day.

Up to a certain point good acting made the story interesting enough to watch. But in a pub scene disappointment set in. Have you ever seen an amateur production in which the actors are unable to deliver a strong emotion without recourse to yelling? At this point my opinion of Rachel Weisz as an actor fell quite a few notches.

Both Simon Russell Beale as the affectionate but dull husband and Barbara Jefford as his insufferable, snobbish, and cruel mother did a wonderful job.

Tom Hiddleston, the lover, you may recall as Loki in “The Avengers” or as Capt. James Nicholls in War Horse (2011).

At least we had the sobbing violins to tell us when something sad was happening.

Try some other film.

2011, Based on true facts, Could Be Hard To Watch, Disturbing Image, Explicit sex, Grim, Love Story, Military, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Rape, Revenge, Sadism, Torture, Violent, War, Wonderful acting

In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011)

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From NetFlix:

Danijel, a Bosnian Serb soldier serving under his father’s command, reunites with Ajla, a Bosnian Muslim woman he was involved with before the war, when she is captured by his camp and forced to work as a sex slave.

Most wars are not one-sided. Of course, there are exceptions: the Nazi Holocaust was one-sided. Behind the Serbian slaughter of the Bosnians are many years of conflicts and offenses on both sides. History is not the point here, but rather the review of a film.

Angelina Jolie has done a marvelous job creating an engrossing view of the war as seen from the side of the Serb killers while maintaining a clever ambivalence in the experience of Danijel. Danijel’s relation with his fanatic warrior father and Ajla, his Muslim lover, make for a difficult contrast. He is so torn between both loyalties that he finds himself trapped in personal conflict.

You are hereby warned that this is, to say the least, a difficult film to watch. If you are the slightest bit squeamish, DO NOT SEE THIS FILM! You will encounter nudity, many rapes (one of the principle Serbian weapons), and Serbian sadism.

For this film to have a satisfying end would be impossible.