From IMDB:
A retired FBI agent with psychological gifts is assigned to help track down “The Tooth Fairy”, a mysterious serial killer. Aiding him is imprisoned forensic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter.
From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour complete Hannibal Lecter movie.
Same old, same old, but still fun if you like that sort of horror show. Somehow at least 7 known actors joined in the fray.
From IMDB:
A mob enforcer’s son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.
From Netflix (and Kanopy) you can stream this 1 hour 57 minute Irish mob classic film which earned five Academy Awards nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Paul Newman. Originally the story was a graphic novel.
Tom Hanks bemoans the seeming obscurity of the film. He is quoted as saying “For one reason or another, no one references Road to Perdition, and that was an incredibly important movie for me to go through.” In fact, it was just his comment that motivated me to watch the film.
Consider the outstanding actors involved:
Of course, it is a violent gangster film, but a tasteful one (if that is possible). At the center of the film is the son Michael who is an essentially good kid that worships his father and whose salvation is at stake.
DO NOT MISS!
From Amazon Prime:
Detective Emmett Young (Scott Wolf) is determined to rid Philadelphia of a psychotic serial killer.
One hour and 44 minutes of twists, turns, and near misses that will keep you pinned to your seat. Streams from Amazon Prime.
Scott Wolf plays the young detective. Although I can find no mention of Scott Wolf in association with “The Good Wife”, I am convinced he played the young lawyer that kept jumping law firms. Nonetheless he has an impressive resume.
Originally this film was called “Emmett’s Mark” whose IMDB writeup states:
In order to avoid the debilitating effects of a terminal illness, a young detective orders a hit on himself.
At any rate the entire film is a series of chagrining twists of fate that are maddening to watch but compelling.
One of the villains in this story is none other than Gabriel Byrne a con man who takes out Emmett’s own contract to kill himself, i.e. Emmett, so that he does not have to linger in a fatal disease.
Highly recommended suspenseful detective story.
From Netflix:
Nick Fallin is a fallen corporate lawyer who’s working off a drug conviction with 1,500 hours of court-mandated community service, splitting his time between helping kids in trouble and patching up relations with his workaholic father.
Simon Baker for me will always be “The Mentalist” which started airing in 2008. Therefore it is striking to see how much younger he looks in this TV series which aired in 2001 when he was 32 years old. In this series playing Nick Fallin he does not emote much, to say the least.
Each episode has two themes. His position in his father’s law firm is an ongoing theme. Additionally in each episode he tackles the problems of some unfortunate child. More precisely, his community service job requires that in the usual case of several people (parents, grandparents, step-parents) fighting to get custody, he has to try and satisfy the child’s wishes. Every such episode has a sad side and most often NOT a happy ending. Usually some imperfect compromise has to be made at the expense of the child’s true happiness.
Nick’s father Burton Fallin is played by Dabney Coleman whom you may recognize as Commodore Louis Kaestner of the TV series “Boardwalk Empire”.
NetFlix offers this TV series via streaming: Season 1 has 22 episodes, Season 2 has 23 episodes and Season 3 has 22 episodes. Kathy and I find that the more episodes we watch, the more involved we get with Nick’s life. If nothing else this series offers non-violent, intelligent entertainment which at times can be compelling.
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:
Two Israeli soldiers try to find solace from the constant grind of war in this moving romantic drama. While preparing for a daring moonlit ambush in the snowy mountains of Lebanon, company commander Yossi (Ohad Knoller) and his platoon leader, Jagger (Yehuda Levi), fall in love, carefully hiding their relationship from their comrades. But will the tragedy of war ultimately intrude upon the men’s clandestine affair?
In the New York Times appeared a discussion of the Israeli director Etan Fox and his work over the years which is best summarized with this quote from IMDB:
What is it like to be young in Israel, particularly in the “bubble” called Tel-Aviv? How can you be gay in this country, even in the macho Army named Tzahal? How can you fall in love in a tiny tension-filled country? Can you consider the Palestinians as friends rather than enemies? All these are questions raised by Eytan Fox’s films and TV films…
If you have not yet seen his Walk on Water then you have a treat coming.
If nothing else this film affords us a glimpse into the daily lives of Israeli soldiers. Moreover it avoids the usual gay film clichés. Nothing more than kisses occur on screen.
From NetFlix:
Sent to investigate the murder of a teenage girl in a small Alaska town, police detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) accidentally shoots his partner, Hap (Martin Donovan), while trying to apprehend a suspect (Robin Williams). But in spite of his guilt, he’s still determined to solve the case. Hilary Swank co-stars as a local detective who hampers Dormer’s efforts based on her suspicions about the circumstances of Hap’s death.
Although the film starts out seeming very ordinary, it soon picks up with an intriguing and original plot. Both Al Pacino and Robin Williams have secrets to hide and how they scheme to use and ensnare each other is a well-planned scenario. Hillary Swank plays well as a new member of the force, one who admires almost reverently the older experienced Al Pacino. Al Pacino usually plays Al Pacino and to a certain extant that is still true here. But his portrayal of a trapped man who goes for something like 6 days without sleep is perfect. Robin Williams comes across as a somewhat eerie smooth talker.
Martin Donovan has one of those faces you know you have seen somewhere (Ezra Stone in the TV series “Boss”).
In addition to a well-crafted detective suspense film, the Alaskan scenery is breathtaking.
From NetFlix:
Monty Brogan has 24 hours to spend with his two best friends and his girlfriend before he’s sent to prison for seven years for dealing drugs. Spike Lee directs this meditative drama set in post-9/11 New York.
Edward Norton does it again! His portrayal of a drug dealer, Monty Brogan, facing a seven year black hole of almost certain prison sexual abuse is powerful, unflinching, sympathetic and pitch perfect. In fact, some good part of his open expressions of fear center around that sexual abuse, so much so that towards the end (no spoiler) he addresses that problem in a unique way. What was “sympathetic” in his presentation was his openly tearful regret for having taken such a wrong turn in his life, a decision that is next to impossible to correct.
He interacts meaningfully with:
Because the plot, characters, and acting are all so good, I consider this film a
DO NOT MISS!
CHANGE OF STREAMING SOURCE:
Now you can stream 6 episodes NOT from Netflix but now from Acorn TV, which makes sense because Acorn TV shows only entertainment from the worldwide British empire.
The review below is still valid and a warning. However in Season 4 and forward, Herminone Norris is no longer in the episodes.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
From NetFlix:
This tense British crime series follows the work of Dr. Tony Hill (Robson Green), a psychologist with a peculiar talent for understanding how serial killers think and for using that knowledge to help law enforcement apprehend them. Partnered with a detective from the local police department’s Major Incident Team, Hill finds himself on the trail of killers ranging from vigilantes and snipers to rapist-murderers, twisted suicide cults and more.
Through NetFlix streaming or DVDs you can see this British detective TV series.
Some of the episodes are ugly. You might even want to skip the very first episode because it shows sadistic torture. Later episodes refer back only slightly to preceding episodes, but that is not important.
Why watch the series at all? With each British detective series that I watch I find that the stories are tensely engaging, well written, and well acted but also usually very grim and explicit. One exception that comes to mind is Pie in the Sky in which there is never a murder. Also the crimes in Midsomer Murders are never hard to watch.
Two actors carry the series:
You have been warned that certain scenes are brutal. Other than that, this is another great British detective TV series.
From NetFlix:
This Silence of the Lambs prequel stars Edward Norton as former agent Will Graham, who was once nearly killed by the savage Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) and now has no choice but to face him again. It seems Lecter is the only one who can help Graham track down a new serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes) — but can he be trusted? Emily Watson, Harvey Keitel, Mary-Louise Parker and Philip Seymour Hoffman co-star.
Seven well-known film stars come together to present a serial killer story that is positively unremarkable, but at least watchable:
You can always tell that a twist is coming when the plot seems to wrap up too easily. In this case the preparation for the twist to me seemed flawed without a believable explanation. Even the Wikipedia plot summary did not explain this detail.
In this film you see as much of the killer as you see of his pursuers.
If you are a Hannibal Lecter fan, you might want to add this film to your collection, just to be complete. Otherwise, it might be hard to think of a reason to watch this so-so film.