From Netflix;
On their honeymoon in Morocco, Scott and Taylor Dolan set off on a day trip through the Sahara. When something goes terribly wrong, the couple find themselves stranded in the middle of the remote desert with no way home.
Put about a dozen disparate characters at a crash site in the desert. Learn their secrets one by one. Watch almost everyone of them die or go to prison or get away with murder. Endure a lot of violence and not terribly good lines.
Can you say “Skip this one”?
From Netflix:
CIA analyst Jack Ryan tries to thwart a terrorist plot to bring down the U.S. economy in this action-thriller helmed by Kenneth Branagh. Chris Pine plays the title character alongside an all-star cast that includes Kevin Costner and Keira Knightley.
Although films consisting of spies + CIA + terrorists + international plots + action heroes + car chases + FBI + “you name it” may seem to be all more or less the same, still some writers manage to make a particular film exciting and somehow a little different. Undoubtedly the star cast which includes Chris Pine, Keira Knightley, Kevin Costner, and Kenneth Branagh helps make this film worth seeing.
Romance between Chris Pine (as Jack Ryan) and Keira Knightley (as Doctor Cathy Muller) is clever and well done.
Needless to say, if our side of the effort does not win, then our world will end in some horrible disaster and major financial depression.
And of course Jack Ryan is a super hero endowed with amazing physical powers of survival. After all, do YOU have a doctorate in complex finance? Can YOU run and catch a moving delivery van? Are you able to physically fight commando style? Are YOU a computer wiz? If not, what is the matter with YOU?
In my case all I can do is watch the fun. All it takes is a really evil bad guy and I am hooked into the plot till the end. Kenneth Branagh excels at being that really nasty villain. He does it with such a straight face. Are Russians really that mean?
Despite the fact that there are an awful lot of clever CIA-like devices and surprises that get our hero out of many jams, if you like this action genre, then DO NOT MISS!
2014-2015 REVISION:
November 2015: Netflix offers season 3 but only on DVD, no streaming.
The release date for season 4 is not yet settled. Season 3 was at least as good as the previous two seasons with some very clever surprises at the very end of season 3 which makes the audience ever more eager to see season 4.
For more information about the Viking raid on Paris in 845 see the Wikipedia article. On that occasion the French king was Charles the Bald, one of Charlemagne’s grandsons. By the Treaty of Verdun in 843, Charles became king of what was for the most part modern day France.
Now from Amazon Prime you can stream both season 1 and season 2. Season 2 is at least as good as Season 1. Wonderful but violent!
FORMER REVIEW:
Netflix offers Season 1 on DVD. However, I streamed from Amazon for free because we bought Amazon Prime. Jan 2015 – Now you can stream Season 2 from Amazon. Somehow the story just gets better and better. DO NOT MISS all the VIOLENCE!
From Netflix:
Set in medieval Scandinavia, this gritty drama charts the adventures of renowned Viking hero Ragnar Lothbrok as he extends the Norse reach by challenging the rule of an unfit leader who lacks vision.
Merely appreciating the finesse and details that went into making this remarkable TV series just gives me chills.
His ambiguous smile is mostly that of the fox waiting for its opportunity. Eventually you come to accept and even identify that constant smile with the character Ragnar Lothbrok played to dazzling perfection by the Australian-born Travis Fimmel.
Gabriel Byrne as Earl Haraldson is the only actor I recognized. You may remember him as Dr. Paul Weston in the TV series “In Treatment”. Here he is a brooding, vicious bully.
In order to enter Valhalla a Viking must die in battle. Similar to the ancient Greek culture, violence and personal bravery are everything. Whatever riches a Viking can bury will be his in the next life. Hence the need for plunder. In other words, by its nature this film had to be very VIOLENT!
Perhaps some history will set the scene. Roughly speaking as Rome abandoned England in the 400s, she invited in German mercenaries among which were the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. They liked what they saw and oppressed the original inhabitants, the Celts. After centuries their many dialects would eventually congeal into Anglo Saxon. In the 600s Christianity appeared and the Anglo Saxons converted. In the 800s the Danes, i.e. the Vikings, reached England and were trouble for the Anglo Saxons until that famous year 1066 in which no sooner had Edward Confessor defeated the Danes then the Normans conquered the Anglo Saxons.
In regard to the previous mini-history, in the scenes in which the Vikings speak to the Anglo Saxons, the Vikings speak old Norse and supposedly the “English” speak Anglo Saxon.
Also in regard to that mini-history, probably the most important theme of the series is religion. Ragnar Lothbrok, in attacking his first monastery, brings back as a slave a young Christian monk Athelstan (thoughtfully played by George Blagden). No episode goes by without some discussion, confrontation, or comparison (call it what you like) between the “pagan” religion and the Christian. Odd how violent, vicious, and untrustworthy the Christians are. There are aspects of the Viking religion that may disturb your sleep.
Fighting is really a small part of the story. Interpersonal relations and conflicts are equally important. There is true character development.
And of course you cannot help to notice how these Viking men wore their hair. Let’s hope the costume department got it historically accurate. Needless to say there are many tattoos.
If you can stand the violence, DO NOT MISS !
From Netflix:
Set during the Reagan presidency, this Cold War drama follows two married Soviet sleeper agents living discreetly near Washington, D.C. But tensions begin to mount for the couple when a spy-hunting FBI man moves in nearby.
Because we use Amazon Prime I was able to stream season 1 of “The Americans” for free.
In Cambridge Massachusetts a Russian husband and wife team of spies were disguised as a normal American family. This real-life incident motivated this TV series which offers the same kind of milieu as the British TV series “MI-5”. Possibly “MI-5” is a bit better, but the quality and human interest in “The Americans” is excellent. Needless to say, both series are violent.
By “human interest” I refer to the pseudo marriage between the spies who by this time have two children, thoroughly American boy and girl who have no idea of their parents’ spying activity. In addition a new neighbor moves in who just happens to be an FBI agent whose specialty is counter-intelligence but whose family life always takes the familiar backseat to his career.
Be sure to appreciate the effective personality disguises these two spies use as they play many deceptive roles in society. For one example, the disguised husband actually goes so far as to marry an unsuspecting American woman in order to get her to bring him information.
Season One ends abruptly and inconclusively. Season Two seems to not yet be available. If you like spy stories, then DO NOT MISS!
From Netflix:
The autobiography of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was abducted from New York state and sold into slavery in the mid-1800s, serves as the basis for this historical drama. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Northup, and Brad Pitt plays an abolitionist.
“12 Years a Slave” is a LONG film (2 hours 15 minutes). At least it certainly seems long due to all the sadistic cruelty portrayed. You will see enough whippings to last you a lifetime. Children should NOT see this torture-fest. If you last through the whole film, be sure to read the final follow-up text.
Just how realistic a portrayal of the slave owners this film is would take a bit of research to determine. You can read an account of Jefferson’s treatment of his slaves.
Many reviews exists of this film. One such review says that Brad Pitt’s role was too good to be true, but since he was one of the producers, he could do as he pleased.
So many fine actors played such diabolical roles, that I was embarrassed for them. Michael Fassbender will probably remain in my mind as a psychotic pervert.
WARNING: This is NOT an easy film to watch. If you can stand the sadism, DO NOT MISS!
From Amazon I downloaded this collection of 9 Complete Thriller Novels onto my kindle for only 99 cents. At the beginning of the book there is a section “Blurbs” which gives a short sense of each story. Here is a brief summary of the 9 books contained therein:
From GoodReads:
Phil Klay’s Redeployment takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of chaos.
From Phil Klay’s blog:
Phil Klay is a graduate of Dartmouth College and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. He served in Iraq’s Anbar Province from January 2007 to February 2008 as a Public Affairs Officer. After being discharged he went to Hunter College and received an MFA. His story “Redeployment” was originally published in Granta and is included in Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War. His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, the New York Daily News, Tin House, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012.
When I started reading “Redeployment” I was horrified at the language and writing style which reminded me of a C-student in a slow track in high school. But the story itself is tragically interesting. After reading more chapters I realized that each chapter is written in the voice of some particular character. Here are some examples of some chapters:
So far the above chapters cover about half the book and the list goes on.
“Redeployment” may be worth your time for the content rather than the several styles.
But the summary remains the usual: War is hell and destroys soldiers, especially the ones who physically survive.
From the Amazon page for the book:
Cornwell returns to form—somewhat—after the plodding Scarpetta Factor (2009). Told in the first person, the story finds Kay Scarpetta, now the chief medical examiner of the new Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusetts, involved in a couple of cases: the mysterious sudden death of a man and the murder of a child (whose confessed killer seems to be innocent). Soon she begins to suspect the two cases are related—joined by a piece of high-tech hardware found in the first victim’s apartment—and before too long, she realizes she’s facing what could be her most clever foe yet. For the first time in a while, Cornwell seems genuinely interested in Scarpetta again, giving the novel that spark of life that has made the series so enjoyable for its many fans. The book is still a long way from the glory days of Postmortem (1991) and From Potter’s Field (1995), but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Series fans who have felt a bit let down of late will be pleased.
Unfortunately this was the first Scarpetta novel I ever read as well as the first Patricia Cornwell I ever read. In the paragraph above there are recommendations for other Scarpetta novels that the critic deemed better.
My first impression is that Cornwell is a female version of a transmigrated Tom Clancey. No detail seems too small to include. If you like technical discussions you will love Cornwell.
As hinted in the critic’s paragraph above, she seems “interested” in Scarpetta. My general impression is that she ruminates constantly about Scarpetta’s inner worries. Scarpetta seems to spend her time fretting over her relationship with her husband, with her colleagues, with her subordinates, etc. In fact there is more navel contemplation than action. One oddity is that we never meet one of the most important personalities in the story although I will not offer a spoiler.
Her introduction to the book claims that every technical detail in the book is already true or is currently under government or industry development. If this is true, then the future looks rather bleak.
Although the plot is inventive and offers surprises, you might do better to start with another Scarpetta novel by Patricia Cornwell.
Written in Spanish with no English translation available, you can purchase this book for your kindle. Jordi Sierra I Fabra, the author who lives in Spain, wrote the book in 2002.
Brief summary: Agustín Serradell, a dying Spanish millionaire, proposes to pay a Spanish journalist, Daniel Ros, to travel to Chile in order to find the grave of Serradell’s son Santiago who was tortured and killed by Pinochet’s henchmen. Ros agrees. Many adventures await Daniel Ros in Chile as he tries to find the son, his only starting clues coming from a recently released CIA document. That document points to three men involved directly in the torture and murder. Ros will begin his effort by trying to locate those three men. Here I stop the summary so that I don’t present you with any “spoilers”. Rest assured there are many surprise twists and turns as the story progresses.
In order to appreciate the background of the Pinochet era in Chile a bit of history is in order. Here my source is chiefly the book “Overthrow” by Stephen Kinzer (Henry Holt and Company, 2006).
Beginning in 1964 the CIA spent $3 million in Chile to help Eduardo Frei win an election against the nationalist Salvador Allende. Because the U.S. also gave $163 million in American military aid, the U.S. felt it had earned legitimate control of Chile. Kennedy had promoted his Alliance for Progress in order to encourage Latin America’s “democratic left”. Nixon hated Kennedy and decided to counteract this Alliance for Progress by supporting instead the business elite and military. Allende wanted to nationalize industry and return to Chile control over its own resources such as copper and the telephone company. American ambassador Korry and the CIA, urged on by Kissinger and David Rockefeller, asked Nixon for permission to wage a “spoiling” campaign against Allende. “Spoiling” meant planting propaganda in newspapers, stirring up fear of Communism, and supporting rightist candidates. Despite such efforts Chileans elected Allende. Nixon then ordered CIA director Helms to prevent Allende from coming to power. Effort One was to encourage President Frei to deny the election. Frei refused. Effort Two was to foment a military coup. Kissinger directed this effort. Despite objections from members of the CIA and the State Department, Kissinger and Nixon were determined to use bloody chaos to achieve their ends. Part of the CIA’s standard methodology for overthrowing a government is to destroy the country’s economy and blame the failure on the targeted victim, even if this means bringing severe deprivation to the population. Another tactic is to defeat military supporters of the targeted victim. In fact the U.S. delivered weapons to Chilean conspirators who assassinated Allende’s loyal supporter General Schneider. Chilean citizens were outraged by the murder staged by America and determined to remain loyal to Chilean democratic principles despite such American interference. After Allende’s inauguration many leading American companies active in Chile (ITT, Anaconda, Firestone, Pfizer, Bank of America, etc) joined in the effort to unseat Allende. Washington columnist Jack Anderson exposed 24 ITT internal memos which brought the “ITT Papers” scandal against Nixon. Helms was convicted of perjury when he lied about CIA involvement. Schneider’s successor, General Prats was a strict constitutionalist and defeated a CIA tank coup against Allende. In retaliation the CIA stated public and violent demonstration against Prats who was forced to resign and hand over power to the CIA puppet General Augusto Pinochet. Ironically Pinochet chose 9/11 (September 11, 1973) to bring a military attack against Allende. Infantry units, British Hawker Hunter fighter planes, eighteen rockets moved against the presidential palace. Allende died. Our Pinochet (after all, we the U.S. created this monster) was then free to unleash his reign of imprisonment, exile, torture, and murder.
“El Peso del Silencio” makes this sad history all the more personal by centering on its effect on a few characters in the novel. Strong reading, reader beware!
From Netflix:
When his 6-year-old daughter is abducted and the investigation stalls, carpenter Keller Dover tracks down the culprit himself. But his vigilante action pits him against the case’s lead detective and puts his own sanity at risk.
Hugh Jackman plays the father who becomes violently involved in the investigation. In this respect this role is somewhat of a departure for Jackman since his character’s behavior is so far over the line that he is almost a villain. But still the plot is clever enough that for almost the entire film you are not really sure Jackman is on the right track or just plain unhinged.
Jake Gyllenhaal as Detective Lokki plays the calm, deliberate contrast to Jackman. Gyllenhaal’s job is complicated because he is both trying to find the kidnapped girls as well as keeping a suspicious eye on Jackman.
WARNING: Be prepared for violence, psychotic behavior, and torture.
Also expect some plot surprises. It takes the entire 153 minutes for answers to arrive. Finally I would enjoy hearing your reaction to the very end of the film, whose style is becoming more and more “trendy” and which has always made me chuckle.
Read the warning label and then DO NOT MISS!