Category Archives: 2008

Quantum of Solace (2008)

From IMDB:

James Bond descends into mystery as he tries to stop a mysterious organization from eliminating a country’s most valuable resource.

From Netflix:

Picking up an hour after the events of 2006’s Casino Royale, this
James Bond adventure finds 007 tracking a traitor who’s
infiltrated Britain’s MI6.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 46 minute sequel to “Casino Royale.”

How prescient of a 2008 film to realize that one of the most valuable resources on our planet is water!  But remember, Donald Trump assured us that the very notion of climate change is a Chinese hoax.

Also on Netflix you can stream “Skyfall”. From Amazon Prime you can stream “No Time To Die.”

Daniel Craig and Judi Dench deliver their usual. Violent fun and excitement!

Donald Strachey (2005)

From Amazon Prime you can stream the following 4 films whose main character is the gay detective Donald Strachey.

To rate each of these films as B+ is generous.  Think of them as an amusing and diverting series of acceptable trash.  Plots can be complicated.  Throughout the series you will see the same actors in the major roles.  Any mild suspense is short-lived.

Third Man Out (2005) 1 hr 39 min

A gay detective is hired to find who has been been threatening a notorious member of the gay community noted for outing people.

Shock to the System (2006) 1 hr 39 min

A gay detective tries to solve the murder of a college student.

On the Other Hand, Death (2008) 1 hr 26 min

A mysterious client of private eye Don Strachey pays him cash to tail a woman who turns out to be an undercover officer; an older lesbian couple are victims of threats and vandalism; an old flame of his lover Tim shows up to support the older couple; neighbors are angry at the couple for refusing to sell out to a developer; and, parents are angry at one of the couple, Dorothy, for being a good guidance counselor to gay teens. Her partner, Edith, wants to move away; Dorothy is adamant about staying. When someone dies in a fire in their barn, the stakes get higher. Don, who does not believe in coincidence, gives the police enough information to stay on their good side as he pursues the truth.

Ice Blues (2008) 1 hr 38 min

Tim Callahan, aide to New York Senator Lauren Platt, is disappointed that all of the $3 million funding has been pulled from his latest pet project, a safe zone for children and youth. His personal partner, private investigator Donald Strachey, believes Tim’s passion for the project stems from the fact of his own sister’s troubled youth, she who has been missing since age seventeen. Tim believes his prayers have been answered when a man, identifying himself as a lawyer, tells him that he represents someone who wants to make a $3 million anonymous donation to the project. Those prayers turn into a nightmare when that lawyer is later found murdered, the dead body in Donald’s car. The murdered man is Jake Lenigan, a third generation lawyer in a powerful family law firm. Jake’s father was murdered twelve years earlier, the perceived suspect in that case being his wife Joan, who has since disappeared. Tim and Donald’s situation becomes even more nightmarish when Tim anonymously receives that $3 million in untraceable Euro bonds. The murderer will do whatever is necessary to get that money back from Tim and Donald, the latter who is working with the police to find Lenigan’s purpose in wanting to donate the money to Tim’s cause, find if Jake’s father’s murder has anything to do with this case, discover the owner of the money and thus the probable murderer, and most importantly protect himself and his boyfriend from being possible murder victims.

 

 

 

Unni Lindell (2008)

From MHz Choice:

In this series based on the popular crime novels by prolific Norwegian author Unni Lindell, middle-aged detective Cato Isaksen (Reidar Sørensen) performs superbly at work while his personal life, on a good day, resembles barely-managed chaos. Careening between significant others and keeping up with three young sons by two different mothers, Cato tries his best to do right by all the players.

From MHz Choice you can stream 4 stories about Cato Isaken, a Norwegian detective. Each story is composed of 2 episodes where each episode is 1.5 hours.

From “The Euro TV Place”  I found this review of the TV series which characterized the series as mediocre.  However, I found the series more than passable with lots of the kind of tension which compels me to keep bingeing toward a resolution.

Cato Isaksen, the lead detective, is a determined detective and as a result a somewhat negligent family man. His life is really messy, complicated by fathering a child by a post-divorce girl friend.  He leaves the girlfriend after the first story “The Snake Bearer” but continues leading a troubled family life. In subsequent episodes his son is seriously bullied while the detective is too busy to notice.

WARNING: Ugliness abounds in some of the episodes, as in “not for the squeamish.”

In my opinion you will not be wasting your time on this series. In fact I was so caught up that I will rate it, for those of you who enjoy this genre, a DO NOT MISS!

East of Everything (2008)

From AcornTV :

In this addictive Australian drama, travel writer Art Watkins (Richard Roxburgh, Rake, Moulin Rouge!) is forced to return home to Broken Bay when his mother dies and dictates in her will that he reopen the family resort along with his estranged brother, Vance (Tom Long, SeaChange).

From IMDB:

2 brothers who are always at odds are forced by their just-deceased mothers’ strange will to work together and rescue her deteriorating backpack hostel called ‘far out east’. A small town, Broken Bay, is home to most, but not all, of the characters where they work, play and generally get into trouble. A funny, sometimes sad look into the lives of people who are just trying to be themselves.

From AcornTV (all things British) you can stream 2 seasons of this Australian soap opera.  Season 1 has 6 episodes. Season 2 has 7 episodes. Each episode is about an hour.

Even if it is only a B-grade soap opera, still it is relaxing to watch a show without violence, serial killers, and other grim features. Season one is self-contained but leads naturally into season 2.  Many of the characters are somewhat eccentric or hippie or dopey or all of the above.  Other adjectives such as corny or maudlin or predictable come to mind.

Not exactly an enthusiastic recommendation.

Marie’s Mind for Murder (2008)

From MHz Choice:

After the death of her policeman father, Inspector Marie Brand (Mariele Millowitsch) said goodbye to homicide – or so she thought. But after being called in to consult on a difficult case she finds herself back on the job, working with the very handsome Inspector Jürgen Simmel, a ladies’ man with a soft spot for Marie. With her brilliant, analytical mind for murder and Simmel’s more hands-on approach, these two form a perfect team!

From MHz Choice ($7.99 per month) you can stream 10 episodes of Season 1.  Each episode lasts about an hour and a half. Speech is in German with English subtitles.

To the above summary I can only add that these detective stories are easy to watch (no gore, no serial killers). Brand and Simmel engage in amusing quasi-combative banter. Simmel gets involved with many beautiful women, who unfortunately are often part of the crime du jour. Brand has some personal troubles. Simmel is often clumsy while physically active most of the time ( since he really wants to show off his martial art skills).

All in all, this series is a pleasant way to pass the time.

Spiral (2005)

From IMDB:

Follows criminal investigations in Paris from all the different points of view of a criminal investigation.

Netflix streaming brings you 4 seasons of this French TV series:

  • Season 1: 2005    8 episodes
  • Season 2: 2008    8 episodes
  • Season 3: 2010 12 episodes
  • Season 4: 2012  12 episodes
  • Season 5: 2015  12 episodes
  • Season 6: 2016  12 episodes

Season 7 is currently being produced in France. Spoken French with optional English subtitles.

“Engrenages” is the French title which means “gears”, the theme being how intertwined are the lives of criminals, police personnel, lawyers (honorable or prostituted by greed), ambitious (and seemingly entirely corrupt) politicians and innocent civilians. Various crimes (murder, spousal abuse, drugs, prostitution, gun running) are investigated.  Actors are matched flawlessly to their characters.

Such a long-running series will, of course, require many actors. But several stand out:

  • Grégory Fitoussi is the honest lawyer Pierre Clément.
  • Audrey Fleurot  is the greedy, amoral, beautiful lawyer Joséphine Karlsson who specializes in defending the scum of the earth for large sums of money.
  • Caroline Proust is the extremely competent, tough, but constantly embattled police detective Laure Berthaud.
  • Philippe Duclos is Juge Roban, an honest judge who has to constantly fight to stay honest.

Because of its variety of characters and their interactions, the many tense situations, the constant battle between corruption and honesty, this series has been immensely popular. Sometimes the many car chases border on boring. But this is NOT your average detective show. Call it a soap opera if you wish, nonetheless it remains compelling.

FIRST WARNING: Each season will end with a cliff hanger enticing you to watch the next season.

SECOND WARNING: You must have a strong stomach to watch these often brutal, violent, sadistic, and bloody episodes.  Tension runs as constantly high in this series as in any I have seen.

The Wave (2008)

From IMDB:

A high school teacher’s experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own.

From Netflix I could get the DVD for this German film whose German title is “Die Welle”. There are English subtitles available.

Jürgen Vogel, who plays the teacher Rainer Wenger, is well-known in Germany. Rainer must lead a classroom of students through a project called “Autocracy”.  He begins innocently to have the students experiment with disciplined unity: they decide to all wear white shirts to school instead of sloppy casual clothing; they adopt a hand signal that mimics a wave in the ocean; they create a logo for the group which they then stencil all over the town, to the point of vandalism; they militate against anyone who is not in the group. Finally the project snowballs out of control with some disastrous results.

In our current sad era of Donald Trumpet, the film teaches a worthwhile lesson in the rise of Fascism.

Inspector Lewis (2008)

As a follow-up to the many seasons of “Inspector Morse” (the Morse actor died), you can stream 7 seasons of “Inspector Lewis” from Amazon Prime. All the episodes are worthwhile, and usually complicated. Each episode lasts approximately 90 minutes.

Although the Robert Lewis actor (Kevin Whately) is adequate, the real joy is the James Hathaway character (Laurence Fox). James Hathaway is a former Anglican seminarian, Oxford graduate, literary savant, moody and conflicted character, and somewhat of a delightful know-it-all. As an essential third actor we have the charming Dr. Laura Hobson (played by Clare Holman), the forensic pathologist who eventually is a love interest for Inspector Lewis.

All episodes take place in Oxford whose academic and idiosyncratic atmosphere permeates the entire series.

Indeed the plots can be intricate, but sometimes by searching the Internet you can find plot explanations.

Not a miss in the bunch!

The Fall (2008)

From Netflix:

When his loser brother is accused of killing a priest, Frank (Scott Kinworthy), a hotshot lawyer with lofty political aspirations, steps in to defend him. But as Frank digs up the truth, he uncovers damning revelations from the past that could ruin his future. Written and directed by John Krueger, this suspenseful drama follows the conflicted attorney’s difficult choice between saving his sibling or himself.

If you are ever teaching a course in film writing or acting and you need an example of really bad writing or acting then have I got a HORRIBLE film you can use to great effect!

Only the (somewhat farfetched) plot kept me watching. Not that it would have cost me anything to stop watching this film streamed from Netflix. At times I sat watching in open mouthed wonder that anyone could act in such an amateurish and exaggerated manner. Think high school actors (although I have seen better acting in high school plays).

If the acting seems bad, wait till you learn the plot. Although I will spare you the gory details, this film manages to dredge up plot lines involving a hotel for gay encounters, a priest who commits a theatrical suicide, adultery, a psychotic gay prisoner, attempted murder using the AIDS disease, sadistic prison guards, a completely amoral and ambitious wife of a lawyer, and the list goes on.

Do not claim that I did not warn you! On the other hand, aren’t you really curious to see just how bad this film really is?

Nobel Son (2008)

From NetFlix:

About to receive the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Prof. Eli Michaelson learns that kidnappers have snatched his son, a promising grad student. But when the captors demand a ransom — the $2 million Nobel Prize money — Eli refuses to cough up the cash.

Alan Rickman, when last seen, was an Englishman selling wine in Paris in the film Bottle Shock. In “Nobel Son” he personifies perfectly an egotistical, womanizing professor who has belittled his son Barkley (played by Bryan Greenberg who was Parker in “Friends with Benefits”) all his life. Shawn Hatosy (who plays Sammy Bryant in “Southland”) here plays Thaddeus James who engineers a kidnapping of Barkley. Bill Pullman and Mary Steenburgen round out the cast.

Black humor is the order of the day. Do NOT be put off by the initial scene in which someone cuts off a man’s thumb. Similar to films made by Quentin Tarantino, the violence, gore, explicit language are all purposely and satirically exaggerated. Cannibalism is actually a source of humor. What initially seems to be some gross violence usually turns out to be fake (except for poor Danny DeVito).

Take it all in a spirit of outrageous fun.