Category Archives: Gay theme

2018, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Accidental Death, Addiction, African American centered, Basically Sad, Bloody scenes, Could Be Hard To Watch, Cynical, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Forensics, Gay theme, Gritty, Mildly Violent, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Trial, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Pessimistic, Police Corruption, Police Culture, Racism, Religious Theme, Spousal Abuse, Suspense, Trial Scenes, Upsetting ending

Seven Seconds (2018)

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From IMDB:

Tensions run high between African American citizens and Caucasian cops in Jersey City when a teenage African American boy is critically injured by a cop.

From Netflix you can stream this 10 episode series. Each episode is about an hour except the final episode is 80 minutes.

In the very beginning we see Officer Peter Jablonski accidentally run down a black boy Brenton who was riding his bicycle through the park on a snowy day. Immediately his corrupt white police buddies convince him to hide the crime as they drag the living boy to a ditch and leave him to bleed out over 12 hours. All ten very tense episodes relate the effort by a black female Assistant DA named KJ Harper and a white policeman  Joe ‘Fish’ Rinaldi to seek justice. Along the way we spend time with each member of Brenton’s family and the police families as their lives are sadly changed by the killing.  If there is a theme here, it is “Black Lives Should Matter” even if, sadly, black lives do not matter.

Acting is superb. None of the actors were familiar to me. Even the villains stand out as especially heinous, especially the unscrupulous white woman who defends the police.

For me much of the tension was getting to the end to see how the trial turns out.  Enjoy the gripping ride while you predict what a realistic ending would be.

DO NOT MISS!

 

 

 

2018, Acceptable for teenagers, Based on a Book, British, British Mystery Series, Cancer theme, Complicated, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Dysfunctional Lives, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Gay theme, Harlan Coben, Missing Person, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Revenge, School Teacher, Sister-sister relations, Teenagers, Terminal Disease

Safe (2018)

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From IMDB:

After his daughter goes missing, a widower begins uncovering the dark secrets of the people closest to him.

Originally this thriller was offered on Acorn TV.  In 2020 Netflix started streaming the  8 episodes of this real pot-boiler. All the characters live in a gated community. All have guilty secrets to hide. In fact, many if not most of the inhabitants are not very nice people.

You will recognize  Michael C. Hall  (the gay undertaker from “Six Feet Under” and also the lead character in “Dexter”).  Hall is an American born in Raleigh, North Carolina, but his British accent in this series is flawless (to my ears at least).

Some pot-boilers are done well and this is one of them, very binge-worthy. One attraction, if that is what it is, is the fact that things just worse and worse. Additionally the film is based on a book by Harlan Coben, one of my favorite leisure thriller authors.

DO NOT MISS!

2017, Acceptable Trash, Amazon Prime, Bisexual theme, Comedy, Explicit sex, Farce, French, Gay theme, Masturbation, Mostly About Sex, Nothing special, Nudity, Romance, Sex Scenes, Somewhat ridiculous plot, Unmarried mother

I Love You 2 (2017)

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From Amazon Prime:

At the age of 35, Hector happens to meet his childhood love Louise, and falls in love with her all over again – but there’s a big problem. He’s gay, and has been in a loving relationship with Jeremie for several years. How long can Hector keep the secret of his double life, the cause of both suffering and joy? Selected for the 2018 Colcoa Festival (Los Angeles).

From Amazon Prime you can download this 3 episode series. Each episode last about 48 minutes.

Although this French production (with English subtitles) is just a mere bauble, it is enjoyable as a comedy of errors. Sexuality is very much explicit, whether gay or straight. There is frontal nudity.

Hector and Jermie and a lesbian friend (who wants a semen donation from one of the men in order to have a baby) live together. Hector at the same time falls back in love with Louise and Louise gets pregnant. Hector tries very hard to keep each lover secret from the other, but now he is faced with two new babies.

Nothing special, but silly and watchable.

 

2017, Could Be Sad, Drama, Explicit sex, Father-son relations, French, Gay theme, Italian, Italian culture, Masturbation, Mostly About Sex, Mother-son relations, Nudity, Sensitive treatement of emotions, Sex Scenes, Sexual Tension, Small Town, Teenagers, Various Romances, Wonderful photography

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

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From IMDB:

In 1980s Italy, a romance blossoms between a seventeen year-old student and the older man hired as his father’s research assistant.

British Airways offered this film with subtitles. In fact, there is a mixture of languages.

In the book by André Aciman as I recall, correct me if I am wrong, there is no sexual contact between Oliver (played by Armie Hammer) the older assistant and Elio (played by Timothée Chalamet) the teenage son. But this supposed screen adaptation shows almost explicit sexual activity. In one review I read, the critic complained that the film could be seen as condoning Oliver’s self-interested grooming of the young, inexperienced Elio. So you must do at least three things: forget the book, prepare yourself emotionally for the scenes, and decide for yourself what you really think about Oliver’s behavior. 

Evocative portrait of a small setting in northern Italy, but quite possibly not to everyone’s taste.

2017, Acceptable for teenagers, Alcoholism, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Brother-Brother relations, Car Chase, Child abuse, Complicated, Conspiracy, Corruption, Detective, DNA, DO NOT MISS, Drug Dealers, Dysfunctional Lives, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Father-son relations, Gay theme, Homophobia, Murder, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Norwegian, Norwegian Crime Story, Norwegian Detective, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Suicide, Uncle-Nephew relations, Uncle-Niece relations

Borderliner (2017)

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From IMDB:

To protect his family, police detective Nikolai covers up a murder case. But when his co-investigator Anniken suspects foul play, he is trapped in a dangerous game on duty, blurring the line between right and wrong.

From Netflix you can stream Season 1 of this Norwegian production which consists of 8 episodes each lasting about 45 minutes.

As Sir Walter Scott wrote in his play Marmion: “Oh! What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”  Nikolai, a police detective on leave, visits his widower policeman brother Lars and Lars’ two children just when a suicide victim is found hanging in a nearby woods.  Special Agent Anniken arrives on scene because the suicide is really a murder and Nikolai is ordered to join in the case.

Not until the eighth episode will you learn the truths of the story But lies begin when Lars confesses to Nikolai that he, Lars, killed the man (who was a drunk and child abuser). Nikolai decides to cover up the murder and from that point that lie leads to an entire stream of lies.

Complication one is that Lars and many others (especially the police themselves) are involved in the drug trade.

Complication two is that Nikolai is a closeted gay policeman, which seems to be frowned upon in Norway.

Things just get messier and messier until the final somewhat satisfying conclusion.

Throughout the focus is on Nikolai’s relentless pursuit of the truth combined with his guilty complicity (and the brooding looks to go with his regrets.)

Somehow the Norwegians just get it right! DO NOT MISS!

2007, Based on a Book, Bloody scenes, Boating, Bullying, Depression, Detective, Divorce, Dysfunctional Lives, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Gay theme, German, Jealousy, Lawyers, Mental Illness, MHz Choice, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Nudity, Revenge, Swedish Detective, Uncategorized

Inspector and the Sea (2007)

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From MHz Choice:

Based on the international best-selling mystery novels by Mari Jungstedt, the blockbuster German crime series The Inspector and the Sea is set on the idyllic Swedish island of Gotland. Walter Sittler stars as Robert Anders, a laid-back German police inspector who has moved to the island to be with his Swedish wife, Line, and their two children.

From MHz Choice you can stream 2 seasons of this German production that takes place in Sweden.  Each season offers 6 episodes each of which lasts 1.5 hours.

Each episode is self-contained although the family theme continues throughout both seasons. In fact all the stories center around the Anders family and their social group such as friends, relatives, and their children’s school society.  Throughout Robert Anders and his wife Line and their children have their problems, the worst of which is that Robert is so busy with his detective work that he somewhat neglects his family. In my experience this “neglectful detective” theme is present  in the majority of such TV series.

After watching a few episodes, Kathy and I find that the Swedish society, at least as it is portrayed in this series, is somewhat ugly: high school children are as entitled and cruel as their unfaithful parents.

Despite the defects of the portrayed Swedish society, the plots, characters, and acting (for the most part) are excellent and make watching such long episodes well worth the effort.

2012, Bad Acting, Bloody scenes, Car Chase, Corny at times, Crime, Detective, Divorce, DNA, Father-son relations, Forensics, Gay theme, Homophobia, Imperfect, Italian, Italian culture, Italian detective, Made For TV, Mathematician, Mediocre, Melodrama, MHz Choice, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Police Politics, TV Series, Various Romances

Inspector Vivaldi (2012)

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From MHz Choice:

MYSTERY | ITALY | ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES |
Inspector Federico Vivaldi is an old-school cop in a new world: his son is gay, his wife has left him and he’s got an ambitious colleague nipping at his heels to take over his position. He may be old-fashioned but he’s resilient enough to find his way in the new reality. His son, Stefano, is also a cop, and father and son make a good team solving crimes together in the northeastern Italian city of Trieste.

From MHz Choice you can stream Season 1 consisting of 8 episodes, each about 1.5 hours. All 8 episodes are dedicated to one continuing mystery with lots of side distractions.

If you want to hear understandable Italian, this detective soap opera is for you. Sometimes the acting is terrible. Sometimes the presentation is corny (can you hear those violins?) Finally I decided I could not stand Inspector Vivaldi as a person. But his son and his beautiful former wife are appealing.

Somewhat mediocre but it is ITALIAN!!! (Who is prejudiced?)

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)

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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)

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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!

 

 

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)

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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.