Category Archives: Sex Scenes

1999, Acceptable for teenagers, Based on a Book, Boating, Catholic culture, Comic Moments, Complicated, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Corny at times, Crime, Detective, Dog Story, Extramarital Affair, International thriler, Italian, Italian culture, Italian detective, MHz Choice, Murder Investigation, Nudity, Police Culture, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Small Town, Sometimes seems silly, Spousal Abuse, TV Series

Detective Montalbano (1999)

Leave a comment

From MHz Choice:

Murder, betrayal, office politics, temptation… it’s all in a day’s work for Detective Salvo Montalbano. Filmed in the ancient, sun-washed Sicilian city of Ragusa Ibla, the series is based on the international best-selling mystery novels by Andrea Camilleri and stars Luca Zingaretti.

Until June 27, 2017 MHz Choice offers only Season 1 which includes “only!” 35 Episodes.

As far as drama goes, these episodes are fun but not masterpieces. For me the attractions are the Italian language, the somewhat goofy Italian personal interactions, the tantalizing scenery, and the stories. It would not surprise me that you might find the acting sometimes corny.  You may have to be a real Italophile.

In the past I have read several of these mystery novels by Andrea Camilleri whose Italian vocabulary often uses words from the Sicilan dialect, but the actors speak so quickly that I am not sure if they ever use any Sicilian words.

Plots tend to be complicated. Each episode is about one hour and 45 minutes. Running through the series is Montalbano’s romance with Livia. There is nothing grim or even violent in the stories.

Just plain fun if you enjoy friendly, wacky Italians.

 

 

2017, Acceptable for teenagers, Acorn TV, Addiction, Child custody, Drugs, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Gay theme, Irish, Lawyers, Made For TV, Marital Infidelity, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Orphans in Foster Care, Personal Betrayal, Sex Scenes

Striking Out (2017)

Leave a comment

From Acorn TV:

Tara Rafferty (Amy Huberman, The Clinic) is living the good life: she’s a successful Dublin lawyer engaged to a fellow solicitor. But Tara’s life is turned upside down after she discovers her betrothed in bed with a colleague. Abandoning her wedding plans (and her job), Tara strikes out on her own, starting an unconventional private practice. Hailed as “a roaring success” (Irish Independent), this legal drama charmed audiences across the pond, quickly becoming Ireland’s #1 new drama. Neil Morrissey (Line of Duty, Grantchester, The Night Manager) and Rory Keenan (War & Peace, Peaky Blinders) co-star.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 4 episodes of Season One. Season Two is now in production over the summer of 2017.

Kathy and I could not wait to see each new episode. Along side of the continuing saga of her fiancée  Erik’s betrayal (and the accompanying pressures of both their socially ambitious families), each episode presents a different law Client for Tara. There is absolutely no violence.  Tara gathers around her a really quirky and nice set of characters.

Expect a cliff-hanger ending of episode 4, which clearly means to suggest an oncoming new season.

If you are a “Doc Martin” kind of person, you will enjoy “Striking Out”.

 

2016, Addiction, African American centered, Amazon Prime, Basically Sad, Bullying, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Emotional child abuse, Gay Bashing, Gay theme, Grim, Human spirit, Love Story, Middle school students, Mother-son relations, Personal Betrayal, Sex Scenes, Teenagers, Thought provoking, Uncategorized, Violent, Vulgar, Wonderful acting

Moonlight (2016)

Leave a comment

From IMDB:

A chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young, African-American, gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.

From Amazon Prime:

A moving, transcendent, award-winning look at 3 defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places.

From Amazon Prime you can stream “Moonlight”.

Gooseflesh must mean that I have just seen a perfectly made, beautifully acted, true to life, and really moving film. Here is a film all of whose actors are African American speaking their own patois. But much more important are the things left unsaid. Dialog is terse to non-existent, but each word carries a lot of weight, sometimes a world of pain. Hats off to the writer and director Barry Jenkins for getting his actors to exercise such verbal restraint.

Because each of the three parts of Chiron’s life (childhood, adolescence, adulthood) had its own set of players, there are just too many actors to mention. Nor is it fair to omit a name because each part was chiseled to perfection.  Therefore, to mention just a few:

  • Mahershala Ali (who played Juan) is instantly recognized as the character Remy Danton from “House of Cards”.
  •  Naomie Harris  played Chiron’s crack addicted mother. She presented both ugly, hurtful scenes and also a touching reunion with Chiron.
  • André Holland (who played the adult Kevin) played Dr. Algernon Edwards in the TV series “The Knick”.
  • Trevante Rhodes (who played the adult Chiron)  played Ramsey Walters in the TV series “If Loving You Is Wrong”.

Let us be grateful for our own situation in life as we watch this sad, sad portrait of Americans who have such limited opportunities.

DO NOT MISS!

 

 

2000, Abortion, Acorn TV, Adultery, British Mystery Series, Computer geeks, Detective, Extramarital Affair, Murder Investigation, Murder Trial, Personal Betrayal, Plot Twist, Psychiatrists, Sex Scenes, Suspense

Trust (2000)

Leave a comment

From IMDB:

Caroline Goodall (Disclosure, Schindler’s List) stars as Anne, a successful young lawyer married to a psychiatrist (Mark Strong, Our Friends in the North). While they seemingly lead a charmed life, their marriage is rocked by infidelity, and later, murder.

From Acorn TV you can stream this  TV film consisting of two episodes,  each episode lasting about one hour and 15 minutes.

Someone has murdered a young woman named Tara Reeves and left her body in a trash dumpster.  You get to spend 2.5 rather tense hours trying to figure out who did it. Only at the very end did I guess “who done it”.

Three worthwhile actors enact the story:

  • Caroline Goodall (who was in “Schindler’s List”) plays Anne Travers, a lawyer married to
  • Mark Strong (who who played Jim Prideaux in the 2011 remake of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ) who plays her psychiatrist husband Michael Mitcham.
  •  Nathaniel Parker (who plays Thomas Lynley in “The Inspector Lynley Mysteries”) plays Mark’s lifelong friend Andrew Pearce who is having an affair with Anne.

After watching the police investigation and subsequent murder trial, did you guess who the real villain was?

2016, Astronauts, Love Story, Netflix DVD, Sci-Fi, Sex Scenes

Passengers (2016)

Leave a comment

From IMDB:

A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early.

From Netflix I received a DVD for this film

Half romance and half science fiction, this film is quite watchable. In order to tweak your interest I will give just the very beginning of the plot:

Midway from Earth to its destination, that is to say, 90 years after leaving Earth and 90 years before completing the voyage, the engineer Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt) is mistakenly awakened by a malfunction. He spends a lonely year becoming ever more depressed over the fact that he will die a natural death before the starship lands. Out of sheer desperation, and much deliberation, he awakens Aurora Lane (played by Jennifer Lawrence). Hence the romance. For the rest of the excitement you will have to watch the film.

As far as a romance goes, the first half is a great date film. As far as science fiction is concerned, the second half is an exciting,  well-done, cleverly filmed story much like other sci-fi films.

Jennifer Lawrence you may recognize as Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of “The Hunger Games”. Chris Pratt is currently in a remake of “The Magnificent Seven” as one of the good guys, Josh Faraday. Laurence Fishburne has a small but significant role to play.

Romance or sci-fi, take your pick, although I happened to really enjoy both aspects of this film.

 

2016, Bloody scenes, Comic Moments, Could Be Hard To Watch, Country Music, Depression, Disturbing Image, Drama, Drug Dealers, Dysfunctional Lives, Ethical struggles, Gay theme, Grisly, Homophobia, Ku Klux Klan, Lynching, Mayhem, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Occasional gore, Personal Betrayal, Psychopath, Racism, Sadism, Sex Scenes, Sociopath, Suspense, Torture, Vietnam, Violent, War Veterans, Witty dialog

Hap and Leonard (2016)

Leave a comment

As of February 2018 you can stream season two from Netflix. Season two is not as gruesome as season one and well worth watching. Look below for the season two addition to this review.

SEASON ONE:

From IMDB:

Down on his luck after losing his job, ’60s activist/ex-con Hap Collins can’t help but listen when his seductive former wife Trudy, for whom he still pines, resurfaces with promises of finding a sunken treasure in the Deep South. Joining the adventure is Hap’s unlikely buddy Leonard Pine, an openly gay black Vietnam War vet with a bad temper and little use for Trudy’s feminine wiles. Soon enough the simple get-rich-quick scheme snowballs into bloody mayhem.

From Netflix you can stream the six episodes of season 1. Netflix does not offer any further seasons although IMDB seems to say there is a season two (2017) and season three (2018).

WARNING: You need a very, very strong stomach because this series is very, very violent and includes scenes of sadistic torture by a man and woman pair of sociopaths.

Now that I have gotten that off my chest, I must confess that as a guilty pleasure this series was riveting. James Purefoy as Hap Collins and Michael Kenneth Williams as his gay, black sidekick Leonard Pine make an entertaining odd couple of down-on-their-luck southerners.  James Purefoy, who is born and bred British, played the cult leader Joe Carroll in “The Following”.  Michael Williams played Chalky White in “Boardwalk Empire”. Christine Hendricks plays Hap’s former wife (for whom he will always pine) Trudy Fawst. As the scariest, nastiest, and most literally insane couple you have probably ever encountered Jimmi Simpson (Gavin Orsay in “House of Cards”)  as Soldier and Pollyanna McIntosh as Angel were chilling to watch. In some way Jimmi Simpson was the best actor of all as he portrayed true sadistic psychosis.

Flashbacks scattered throughout the series explain why Hap and Leonard arrived at such a strong and mutually co-dependent relationship. Despite the violence of the series,  their friendship gives warmth to the story.

You have been warned. But I really enjoyed the season one. Now proceed to read about season two.

SEASON TWO:

Each of the 6 episodes in season two last about 45 minutes.

First Leonard and then Hap try to stay out of jail after being accused of murder. In fact that murder enlarges to a series of murders of black children.

Once again James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams keep us entertained with their bickering friendship.  Purefoy the Brit still amazes me with his southern accent. In fact the season captures brilliantly the Jim Crow South of the 80’s.  In addition to the weird collection of eccentric characters, we are reminded of the horrors of the Ku Klux Klan and the racial injustice of the time personified by the corrupt sheriff played by Brian Dennehy.  Did you know that Woodrow Wilson supported the KKK and that his son-in-law was the KKK candidate in a presidential election?

Watching the good guys beat the bad guys here has the feel of a good old-time cowboy movie, without all the gore of season one.

2016, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Alcoholism, Amazon Prime, Based on a Book, Bloody scenes, British, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Cynical, DO NOT MISS, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Gambling, Greed, Grim, Illegitimate Child, International thriler, Love Story, Marital Infidelity, Mercenaries, MI-6, Military, Murder, Nudity, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Sociopath, Swedish crime series, Thriller, Torture, Unmarried mother, Violent, Weapons Dealer

The Night Manager (2016)

Leave a comment

From IMDB:

The night manager of a Cairo hotel is recruited to infiltrate an arms dealer’s inner circle.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this one season, six episode British TV series based on the 1993 novel of the same name by John le Carré.

Easily one of the most suspenseful and engaging undercover TV series I have ever watched, this series grabbed my attention and pushed me into  binge-watching.  Wikipedia offers this synopsis:

Luxury hotel night manager and former British soldier Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is recruited by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman), an intelligence operative. He is tasked to navigate Whitehall and Washington, D.C. where there is an alliance between the intelligence community and the secret arms trade. He must infiltrate the inner circle of arms dealer Richard Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie), Roper’s girlfriend Jed (Elizabeth Debicki), and associate Corkoran (Tom Hollander).

Angela Burr has spent decades trying to bring down Richard Roper. Note from the synopsis above that she must simultaneously fight several corrupt members of the British intelligence community who profit from the weapons sales. Roper, played to chilling perfection by Hugh Laurie, is a very clever, ruthless and amoral weapons dealer who is permanently attached emotionally to absolutely no one. He will kill anyone who interferes with his cynical drive to enrich himself by selling illegally obtained weapons of war (napalm, sarin,  rocket launchers, heat seeking missiles, you name it) to whomever is willing to pay his price. He surrounds himself with a coterie of loyal, equally brutal henchmen.  By showing displays of weapons in action and relating past outrages (such as disfiguring children taking part in a sports outing by dropping chemical weapons) the story tries to emphasize the inhumane horror of Roper’s crimes. Roper is more than likely a sociopath.

What is equally chilling is the unemotional complacency of the corrupt intelligence officers who either don’t even attempt to rationalize their behavior or offer some bland excuse. As a result, the efforts of the other officers, i.e. those who have consciences, take on the character of a sacred mission that could easily fail.

What adds to the suspense is the complication that the night manager Jonathan Pine (played by Tom Hiddleston) falls in love with Roper’s girl friend Jed (played by Elizabeth Debicki).  However this attraction is no side piece, but an essential part of the plot.

You may recognize some of the actors from older productions. As far as I am concerned I especially noticed:

  • Alistair Petrie (Sandy Langbourne) was George Forsyte in “The Forsyte Saga”. His resume is very long.
  • Tom Hollander (Lance “Corky” Corkoran) first came to my notice as the famous British spy Guy Burgess in “Cambridge Spies”.
  • David Harewood (the American Joel Steadman) was Francis Warrender in “MI-5” and David Estes in “Homeland”.
  • Olivia  Colman (Angela Burr) was D.S. Ellie Miller in “Broadchurch”.

Make no mistake, this series is violent and suspenseful enough that you might have trouble watching it. Of course that is why I felt compelled to binge-watch. Every episode seemed to end with a nerve wracking cliff hanger.

If you can stand the tension, DO NOT MISS!

2016, Acceptable for teenagers, Basically Sad, Boating, Brother-Brother relations, Child custody, Depression, Drama, Explicit sexual discussion, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Fishing, Netflix DVD, Possibly depressing, Sex Scenes, Teenagers, Uncle-Nephew relations, Violent

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

1 Comment

From IMDB:

A depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy’s father dies.

Such a sad film from beginning to end.  Just be prepared to get involved in a story that almost certainly cannot have a happy ending. For two hours you will see an emotionally numb Lee Chandler (played well enough by Casey Affleck) trying as best he can to find a solution for his nephew whose father (Lee’s brother) has just died. That problem is made more difficult by the all-around family dysfunction in which marriages have failed such that wives and mothers have moved away from their families.  Patrick, the nephew, is a normal adolescent seemingly more interested in getting laid by his multiple girl friends than in the death of his father. In this regard Lee is very permissive.  In general the relation between Lee and Patrick are begrudgingly positive.

Only when Lee gets drunk and boils over in a bar is there any violence in the film.

See also the Wikipedia article.

For some reason, it was not until the very end of the film that I realized that Lee is clinically depressed (for very legitimate reasons). Forgive my point of view, but couldn’t anyone have stepped in and suggested that Lee get professional help in this regard? But then that would spoil the story.

 

 

2015, Australian, Australian Aborigine, Barely Acceptable Trash, Bloody scenes, Cancer theme, Car Chase, Corny at times, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Fantasy, Gay theme, Love Story, Made For TV, Medical Theme, Mediocre, Motorcycles, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Police Culture, Revenge, Sci-Fi, Sex Scenes, Small Town, Sometimes seems silly, Violent, War, War Veterans, WWI

Glitch (2015)

Leave a comment

From Netflix:

James and Elishia keep the Risen under wraps while they try to make sense of what’s happening, and James makes a second shocking discovery.

From Netflix you can stream the 6 episodes of season 1 of this Netflix original.

At least 6 people climb out of their graves and interact with the living for 6 episodes. Mostly this is a mystery story which tries to solve not only how this resurrection is possible but also how each person died. It takes a character as many as 6 episodes to make that self-discovery, often to their great unhappiness. Curiosity kept me watching this mediocre, maudlin, barely acceptable piece of trash.

Surprisingly, this new production offers the audio and subtitles in many languages. Because the dialog is simple and basic, this is a good opportunity to use languages other than English. HOWEVER, the written scripts do not match the spoken scripts, which has been a flaw prevalent in many films for many years.

WARNING: Episode 6 ends with a huge cliff hanger. Just when you think you will learn the answers, the season ends.  Wait, I suppose, for a second season.

2016, Abduction, Anti-Arab, Arab Culture, Based on a Book, Bloody scenes, Child abduction and murder, Child Molestation, Could Be Hard To Watch, Danish, Danish Detectives, Dark, Disturbing Image, Explicit sex, Grim, Netflix Streaming, Orphans in Foster Care, Philosophic Discussions, Police Politics, Religious Theme, Sadism, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Sociopath, Suspense, Uncategorized, Violent

Department Q (2016)

Leave a comment

From Denmark comes this TV detective series in which each episode lasts most of 2 hours. In other words, each episode is a feature-length film. From Netflix you can stream each episode.  Each episode has its own title. You should watch them in order. One of the reviewers called the series a “top box-office film in Denmark.”   Spoken Danish with English subtitles.

From Decider we learn that there are six books in the series, but that only three have been made into films.

WARNING: Generally speaking, these episodes are grim, violent, and peopled with vindictive, cruel, sadistic, psychopathic villains.  Strong stomachs are advised.

Episode 1: The Keeper of Lost Causes

From Decider:

Precisely. Nikolaj Lie Kaas stars as Carl Morck, a brilliant homicide detective who gets demoted to Department Q. His partner in solving crime? Another detective named Assad (played by actor Fares Fares). Together they delve into the crimes no one wants solved.

Episode 1 introduces us to the two detectives mentioned above. In episode 2 a third member is added to Department Q, which we would call the “Collection of Unsolved Crimes or Cold Cases”.

In this episode a young woman politician in on a ferry with her emotionally disturbed brother when she is abducted and held captive in a barometric chamber. You were warned it could get ugly!

Episode 2: The Absent One

In this episode the detectives uncover a series of brutal crimes planned and perpetrated by students at a posh private high school that caters to the ruling class. Their outrageous behavior continues throughout their wealthy lives as they are protected by a former classmate who is now an extremely powerful lawyer. More Ugly!

Episode 3: A Conspiracy of Faith

Yet another psychopath, this time kidnapping children of fundamentalist Christians and using a type of religious blackmail against the parents.  As we often seen in such films, the sociopath does his damage calmly and with a bland or smiling countenance. But still ugly!

One characteristic of all three stories is the suspenseful and action filled final scene in which our heroes confront the villain. You might even hold your breath in all the (did I mention “ugly”?) excitement. Take a tranquilizer and enjoy.