Category Archives: 1997

1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, British Mystery Series, Crime, Detective, Mystery Film

Midsomer Murders (1997-2012)

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Beginning in 1997 British TV has offered 91 (by my count) episodes of a detective series called “Midsomer Murders”. As in much British TV of this nature you are immersed in a green, fertile, picturesque, made-for-gullible-Americans locale where everything seems so quaint, friendly, folksy, and what we hope is typically British. But that is precisely why Kathy and I enjoy the series. Yes, you do see blood and you could not very well have a murder mystery without a murder or three. But even the occasional torture scene is downright polite. All of this contrasts completely with another current British TV suspense culture which often goes out of its way to be gory, explicit, pessimistic, and gloomy in the extreme. Examples of the latter are “Waking the Dead” or “MI-5”. Whereas Kathy does NOT leave the room for “Midsomer Murders”, there are scenes from the rough series that send her flying in terror. Somehow the sex and violence does not seem to phase yours truly.

Another attractive feature of the series is the slower pace. Plots can be complicated but often there is discussion between characters that tries to explain what is happening.

Additionally an episode is willing to include some “sideshow attraction” such as fifteen minutes of a cricket match or a town’s tradition of a donkey race. That may sound stupid, but actually these extras only add to the charm of the series.

And again I applaud the intelligent tradition in British drama to use actors who are not handsome or beautiful but just plain interesting.

If you want a complete catalog of the series, go IMDB. In addition to learn all about the fictional county called Midsomer as well as the large cast of characters you can try Wikipedia.

Beginning in 2006 the DVDs offer subtitles which Kathy and I need. Therefore I have listed below only those episodes which offer subtitles.

Season 9

Four Funerals and a Wedding
Country Matters
Death in Chorus
Last Year’s Model

Season 10

Dance with the Dead
The Animal Withing
King’s Crystal
The Axeman Cometh
Death and Dust
Picture of Innocence
They Seek Him Here
Death in a Chocolate Box

Season 11

Shot at Dawn
Blood Wedding
Left for Dead
Midsomer Life
The Magician’s Nephew
Days of Misrule
Talking to the Dead

Season 12

The Dogleg Murders
The Black Book
Secrets and Spies
The Glitch
Small Mercies
The Creeper
The Great and the Good

Season 13

Sword of Guillaume
Made-to-Measure Murders
Blood on the Saddle
Silent Land
Master Class
Noble Art
Not in my Backyard
Fit for Murder

Season 14

Death in the Slow Lane
Dark Secrets
Echos of the Dead
The Oblong Murders
Sleeper Under the Hill
Night of the Stag
Sacred Trust
Rare Bird

Season 15

The Dark Rider
Murder of Innocence

Let me know when you have seen all of them.

1997, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Redemption, Religious Theme, Wonderful acting

The Apostle (1997)

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From NetFlix:

When charismatic but troubled Pentecostal preacher Euliss “Sonny” Dewey (Robert Duvall) discovers that his wife (Farrah Fawcett) is having an affair, he promptly puts the other man in a coma and flees his home state of Texas for Louisiana. Once there, he takes on a new name, renovates an old church and brings new life to a congregation. Written and directed by Duvall, the film also earned an Oscar nod for Duvall’s complex, captivating performance.

All the excited Pentecostal preaching, praying, shouting, curing, etc. at the start of the film almost turned me off immediately. But that is the intense atmosphere of this entire story. Although the Bible Belt style of religion might not appeal to everyone, the attraction here is the amazingly energetic performance of that actor’s actor Robert Duvall. Once he gets going in a charismatic fury, there is no stopping him. Could he have actually memorized such a flood of words from a script or was he ad-libbing?

If you can divorce yourself from all the commotion (or SHOULD you?), try to answer my question: was the Apostle insane? Alternatives are:

  • He lived in a culture where such behavior was considered normal.
  • He lived in a state of sane self-delusion.
  • He was perfectly sane and a consummate huckster. This same alternative has been voiced
    against the founders of certain (all?) religions.

And will you recognize Farrah Fawcett as his wife, Billy Bob Thornton as a trouble maker converted in a scene whose probability I had trouble accepting (but again it is a question of that culture), John Beasley as the Reverend Blackwell, or Walton Goggins as the young man crying at the end (Goggins plays Hunt in “Cowboys and Aliens”) ?

Maybe not your cup of tea, but certainly one of the more memorable performances in film history.

1997, Bullying, Drama, Nudity, Sex Scenes, Unusual

Lawn Dogs (1997)

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From NetFlix:

In the affluent, gated community of Camelot Gardens, bored wives indiscriminately sleep around while their unwitting husbands try desperately to climb the social ladder. Trent, a 21-year-old outsider who mows the neighborhood lawns, quietly observes the infidelities and hypocrisies of this overly privileged society. When Devon, a 10-year-old daughter from one family, forges a friendship with Trent, things suddenly get very complicated.

Infuriating is the first emotion that comes to mind for several reasons.

  • Sam Rockwell plays the underdog “trailer trash” Trent as an athletic, honest, but very underprivileged young man who accepts his low place and life and rarely fights back.
  • Snobs in the gated community (more real than caricatures) demean him constantlySpoiled snob children devise mean tricks that eventually rob Trent of his ability to earn a living.
  • Was that ending a cop-out ? Did the movie break down ?

Mischa Barton was only 11 when she played the young girl Devon who drives the entire film with her curiosity, wild imagination, and unrestrained behavior. Today she is a beautiful woman of 25.

Sam Rockwell seemed much younger than 29 in the film. My first reaction was “Boy, is he homely ! Where did Hollywood get him ?” But he makes a perfect foil to Devon’s escapades. As a man of 43 years he is about to appear in “Cowboys & Aliens”.

Their relation is completely innocent but for me the entire film seemed menacing in the sense that sooner or later someone will suspect something foul. And I kept waiting for him to get even with all the injustices.

Google did not help me find references to cheese infected with a fatal bacteria given to our Korean soldiers.

By the time the film ended I was really angry but at the same time I found the film to be a successful breath of fresh air. Tell me what you think of that ending. Expect some surprises.

1997, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drama, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Gay theme, Love Story, Not Feel Good, Nudity, Redemption, Unusual, Violent, War

Bent (1997)

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From NetFlix:

In this drama based on the play by Martin Sherman (who also wrote the screenplay), a Berlin homosexual is caught up in the Nazi hysteria during World War II. After being forced to kill his lover, he’s placed in a concentration camp and lies to get himself classified as Jewish rather than gay. But several rule-breaking incidents and his love for a fellow male prisoner bring him to admit his true nature. Mick Jagger appears briefly as a drag queen.

If you see this film before you watch “Walk On Water” you might appreciate the second film more. “Bent” offers a unique view of Nazi cruelty, especially as directed towards homosexuals. This view couples well with “Walk On Water”.

I watched this film because I was trying to find films with Clive Owen. “Bent” only increases my appreciation of his acting skill. He is willing to take unusual, possibly controversial roles. I only hope he resists the temptation to which Anthony Hopkins succumbed, namely taking stupid roles in order to make money. Sadly, “Duplicity” comes close to that mistake.

This could be a difficult film for you to watch because:

  • Initial scenes show decadent public entertainment in Berlin including explicit homosexual activity. Indeed Berlin at that time in history was very decadent.
  • When the two male lovers are first captured, they are put on a train to Dachau in which the goal was to break their spirit and hopefully eliminate them before they arrived at Dachau. One of the partners is brutally tortured and Clive Owen is forced to deny he knows the victim and must beat that victim who is thrown bodily off the train.
  • The officers insist that Clive Owen perform straight sex on a 12 year old girl who is in fact dead during the encounter. The German officers laugh and have a gay old time.
  • In prison Clive finds a new gay acquaintance Horst. The two are forced to repetitive, meaningless hard labor moving rocks back and forth.
  • Needless to say, they cannot touch one another. At one point they verbally work thru a sexual encounter in which each achieves orgasm. It proves to them that they are still alive.
  • All along Clive managed to be classified as Jewish as opposed to gay. Toward the end of the film the officers cruelly kill Horst and ask Clive to dispose of the body.

As a side note on hypocrisy, many Nazis (some of them leaders such as Roehm) were openly homosexual. You can find an enlightening article on Homosexuality in the Nazi Party.

Jude Law, Mick Jagger, and others have cameo roles. I challenge you to spot Jude Law.

The music, believe it or not, was written by Philip Glass. He must have been very young because the music is beautiful.

If you can stomach the harsh details and try to ignore them, you will watch a story of a guilty man finally forgiving himself and admitting of love. Do NOT expect a happy ending.

1997, Drama, Explicit sex, French, Gay theme, Not Feel Good

Dry Cleaning (1997)

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From NetFlix:

For 15 years, Nicole (Miou Miou) and Jean-Marie (Charles Berling) have worked side by side at their dry cleaning establishment, building a business and maintaining a seemingly peaceful marriage. But a chance encounter with Loic (Stanislas Merhar), the male half of a brother-sister nightclub act they catch one night, forces the two to reevaluate their relationship, leading them to wonder whether they ought to be together at all.

What starts off slowly with a visit to a nightclub to see an act that only a French person might possibly appreciate, eventually turns into a sexual “who will do what to whom”. I can give nothing away, including an ending that I did not expect. But I would enjoy hearing anyone’s reaction to this film. But then as May West would have said “So many films, so little time”. (That is not quite what she said).

1997, British Mystery Series, Detective, Explicit sex, Gritty, Revenge, Suspense

Painted Lady (1997)

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From NetFlix:

Just when everyone thought she was down for the count, lost to drugs and unable to afford anything, Irish folk singer Maggie Sheridan (Helen Mirren) avenges the death of her landlord, who was killed for her vast art collection. Unable to let the criminals literally get away with murder, Sheridan pretends she’s an art dealer and hunts them down. Along the way, she pulls her wrecked life together and even falls in love with a dashing count.

Masterpiece Theater offered this Helen Mirren drama in two parts. Kathy and I needed at least 3 sittings to get through the more than three hours. But it was worth the effort. All the actors, including Helen Mirren, do a wonderful job. At one critical point you think the story is over, but it continues on in a significant way. There are a few murders but the gore (including blood) is minimal. As usual Kathy hid her eyes in the really suspensful parts. See if you can recognize which actor plays the dashing count.

1997, Detective, TV Series

Midsomer Murders (from 1997)

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From Net Flix:

“Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) can’t
help but notice that more people than ever before seem
interested in the work of long-dead composer Joan Alder,
who wrote the well-known song ‘Midsomer Rhapsody.’ First,
Alder’s former music teacher turns up dead, and an early
draft of her most famous piece is found among his
possessions. But the plot thickens when Alder’s
long-lost daughter, Sarah, comes back into town.

Thanks to Nora for suggesting this series. Unfortunately for Kathy and for
me there are no subtitles. We have trouble understanding the male actors.
NetFlix claims to have 300 different Midsomer Murders. I stopped counting
at 30 installments. Kathy and I prefer the “Touch of Frost” series if only
because it offers subtitles.

1000NYTimes, 1997, DO NOT MISS, Feel Good Not For Children

The Full Monty (1997)

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From NetFlix:

This raucous English comedy follows a group of unemployed British
steel-mill workers who, broke and bored, devise a fabulous scheme
to get off the dole: Become male strippers! Soon they’re a sensation
with the ladies, who encourage the men to show the “full monty”
(strip down to the skin). This quirky 1997 sleeper is full of character
and great humor.

I was looking for movies my mother would like. The telephone conversation would be something like: “Well Mom, it’s about unemployed British men who want to strip naked in a show … Mom … Mom … are you still there ?”

1997, Feel Good For All

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

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From NetFlix:

Food writer Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts) panics when she gets word that her longtime platonic pal, Michael (Dermot Mulroney), is finally getting hitched, to a debutante named Kimberly (Cameron Diaz). With assistance from her gay companion (Rupert Everett) — and to the accompaniment of Burt Bacharach tunes — she sets out to sabotage the wedding and make a last-minute play for her man. James Newton Howard’s score received an Oscar nomination.

Julia Robert’s classic effort to sabotage her friend’s wedding. Did you
ever see an entire restaurant break out into song ? Definitely a feel-good.