Category Archives: 2016

2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, Cold Cases, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Human trafficking, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Police Culture, Police Politics, Quiet, Rape, Scottish Detectives, Suspense, Unjust crime conviction

Shetland (2016)

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Formerly from Netflix:

Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez and his team face storms, corruption, cold cases and more as they investigate murders on the remote Shetland Islands.

2022 UPDATE:

Amazon Prime Brit Box now offers 7 seasons of Shetland.  According to reviews, season 7 sadly is the last. In fact, at the end Jimmy Perez quits the force because it takes too much out of him.   Like a fine wine, the series was good to the last drop.

CHANGE OF PROVIDER:

Netflix no longer (2019) offers “Shetland”. Instead Brit Box offers all 5 seasons. Season 5 was made in 2019.

Brit Box is a collection of British offerings.  Currently Brit Box costs $6.99 a month after a free trial. You can subscribe to Brit Box through many different providers. In my case, I went to my Amazon Prime and chose to subscribe to Brit Box. This means that when I choose Amazon Prime Videos, one of my squares which represents a choice is Brit Box. When I click on that Brit Box square, my screen switches to all the choices available to  Brit Box, including “Shetland”.

“Bleak” is the first word that comes to my mind when viewing the landscape of the Shetland Islands. Perhaps you might choose “beautiful in a barren sort of way”.  Because the population is small, you get the impression everyone knows everyone else.

As the episodes develop, you learn that each person has their own story to tell.  Respectable citizens are not often what they seem. Perez (played by  Douglas Henshall) struggles with helping his daughter find happiness, despite her missteps. He shares her upbringing with Duncan (played by Mark Bonnar).

For a complete rundown of all 5 seasons see Wikipedia.

We waited impatiently for each new episode.  Possibly you will feel the same.

 

2016, Acceptable Sci-Fi, Amazon Prime, Ambiguous Conclusion, Amnesia, Australian, Bloody scenes, Complicated, Conspiracy, Creepy, Crime, Detective, DNA, Drugs, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Forensics, Good Production Values, Improbable details, Medical Theme, Mental Illness, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Police Politics, Possible a put-on, Psychic Phenomena, Sad small town, Sex Scenes, Somewhat ridiculous plot, Suspense, Unusual, Upsetting ending, Violent

The Kettering Incident (2016)

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From Amazon Prime:

Two girls disappear in identical circumstances in the wilds of Tasmania 15 years apart, and Doctor Anna Macy finds herself linked to both cases. To clear her name, Anna must delve into her troubled past and face some truths about herself and the otherworldly nature of this gothic land.

From Amazon Prime you can stream 8 episodes of season 1. Each episode last about 50 minutes.

Possibly it was the adolescent side of my brain that kept me interested in staying with the series. Each episode added some new mysterious element. At any minute I expected little green men to arrive in a space ship. Alas the green men never arrived and the creepy details just piled up. Still I forged onward hoping for the best.

WARNING:   Do not expect a satisfying conclusion to the story. Instead you get a semi-conclusion that must lead into the next season, which does not seem to exist yet.

Why did I fall for this possible put-on?  Probably because this Australian production is well done with good acting and believable character interaction. In fact, I don’t regret having watched it at all.

2016, Ambiguous Conclusion, Bloody scenes, Car Chase, Complicated, Conspiracy, Improbable details, Mild Torture, Netflix Streaming, Nothing special, Personal Betrayal, Photography, Strange Ending, Suspense, Violent

Come and Find Me (2016)

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From IMDB

When his girlfriend goes missing, David must track down her whereabouts after he realizes she’s not who she was pretending to be.

Netflix offers for streaming this 1 hour  and 52 minute film starring Aaron Paul and Annabelle Wallis.

Basically this is a thriller: What happened his girl friend who just suddenly disappeared? Aaron Paul acts consistently as a puzzled, laid-back, but determined man who truly loved Claire, a beautiful but strangely detached woman with whom he lived. Almost by accident enough clues fall his way that the plot begins to pick up with many surprises along the way: Who is Claire? What is her real name? Who else knew her? Why did her friends prove to be other than claimed? All his searching leads to clandestine organizations searching for some film that Claire buried in the back yard.

Give the film a B+ but not an A.  Sometimes the action just stops. Sometimes the dialog and acting is just plain slow. Plot possibility is a bit shaky. Aaron Paul spends two hours looking confused. Claire turns into a Wonder Woman.

Flashbacks and out-of-sequence scenes are frequent.  Worst of all is the ending, which in my role as a reviewer I feel I must  at least describe as disappointing.

If you do watch this film, which is not a waste of time, and wish to explain the conclusion to me, please send me some email comments.

2016, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Alzheimer's disease, Based on a Book, Bloody scenes, British, Brother-Brother relations, Car Chase, Child abduction and murder, Clever Plot, Complicated, Computer geeks, Corny at times, Drag Queen, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Father-son relations, Forensics, Harlan Coben, Illegitimate Child, Kidnapping, Marital Infidelity, Missing Person, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Nothing special, Police Culture, Prison, Prostitutes, Psychopath, School Teacher, Serial Killer, Sexual Tension, Teenagers, TV Series, Violent

The Five (2016)

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From Netflix:

Twenty years after 5-year-old Jesse disappears near his home, his DNA turns up at the scene of a woman’s murder, baffling his family and the police.

From Netflix we streamed the 10 episodes of season 1 (the only season offered). Each episode is about 44 minutes.

After 10 somewhat involved episodes the story does come to a conclusion with no cliff-hangers leading into another season.  Sometimes the acting is not great, but the story is well-constructed and kept me interested up to the end.  In fact, the story is written by the well-known mystery writer Harlan Coben.

“The Five” are four friends who were adolescents when Jesse was just a little boy. One day in the woods, the four older kids tell Jesse to go home because they want to do big-kids stuff. On the way home Jesse disappears. Decades later the four still have guilt feelings and Jesse’s parents never stopped suffering.

Those of us who watch British entertainment might be interested to know that Jesse’s parents are played by Michael Maloney (whose huge resumé includes playing Dr. Crowley in the TV series “Paranoid”) and Geraldine James (whose equally huge resumé includes playing Milner in the TV series “Utopia”).

One of the four friends, the police detective Danny Kenwood, plays Luke Bankole in the TV series “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Another of the four friends,  Slade, may be familiar to you as the character John Bacchus in the TV series “Inspector George Gently”.

Some ugliness, not a masterpiece, but I never guessed the ending and so stayed interested.

2016, Acceptable for children, Adopted child, Australian, Based on true facts, Biographical, Brother-Brother relations, Could Be Sad, Culture of India, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Drugs, Feel Good For All, Love Story, Mental Illness, Missing Person, Mother-son relations, Netflix DVD, True Story, Wonderful acting

Lion (2016)

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From IMDB:

A five-year-old Indian boy gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia. 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.

Netflix sent me a DVD containing this film.

Goose flesh films are rare for me, but this true story really worked for me.  Imagine having your 5-year-old child getting lost and then disappearing.  Imagine being that poor child Saroo who grows up in his adopting and loving Australian family while always wondering where his real mother and brother Guddu are.  This nagging compulsion finally drives Saroo away from his Australian family as well as from his wife Lucy while he plods on day and night using Google World to find his birthplace. Of course we know the story has a happy ending, but getting there is a tense trip.

Expect the film to be somewhat slow moving. Much film time is spent inside Saroo’s head as he more and more remembers bits and pieces of his past childhood. Present stimuli bring back past memories.

Some important characters are:

  • Nicole Kidman is superb as Sue Brierly, Saroo’s adoptive mother. Nicole Kidman just keeps maturing into a better and better actor.
  • Dev Patel makes the perfect Saroo. Does it seem possible that just 8 years ago, Dev Patel played the older Jamal in “Slumdog Millionaire”?
  • Rooney Mara is an appealing and sympathetic Lucy. How different she is here as compared to her role as Lisbeth Salander in the 2011 production of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.

Patience is a virtue in watching this film. Be sure to stay tuned at the end to read subsequent history and to see photos of the real Saroo and all the other people in his life.

DO NOT MISS!

2016, Acceptable for children, Based on true facts, Black History, Car Chase, Civil Rights, DO NOT MISS, Feel Good For All, Human spirit, Interest in automobiles, Lawyers, Netflix DVD, Race Relations, Racism, Slow, Supreme Court, Thought provoking, True Story

Loving (2016)

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From IMDB:

The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose arrest for interracial marriage in 1960s Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court’s historic 1967 decision.

Netflix sent me a DVD for this film.

Not only was the topic of historic importance, but the film was done beautifully. Jeff Nichols wrote and directed and, I assume, chose the perfect actors. Wikipedia gives much information, especially a discussion of the characters of Richard Loving, Mildred Loving, and a very understanding description by Nichols of the sheriff. And yes, my own family and friends also included many racists.

Ruth Negga was fine as Mildred Loving, but to it was Joel Edgerton’s presentation of Richard Loving that was so perfectly matched to a description in the Wikipedia article:

“Richard Loving was indeed as stoic as Nichols and Edgerton portray him; the small rural Virginia community in which they lived was (and is) highly racially integrated; Mildred Loving really did write directly to Robert Kennedy, and her letter is still in the Kennedy collection; and the Lovings lawyer really did, per Richard’s request, relay his words before the Supreme Court that “I love my wife.””[

Sad to tell, I was especially tense watching the film, although there is no violence. At any moment I was sure some KKK thug was going to somehow attack the family. When the film came to such a happy conclusion, I breathed a sigh of relief. Be sure to read the concluding screen postscript.

DO NOT MISS!

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, Action Film, Action Hero, Bloody scenes, Contract Killing, Corruption, Cowboy, Crude Talk, Frontier Life, Gangs, Greed, Horses, Mercenaries, Miners, Murder, Netflix DVD, Police Corruption, Psychopath, Revenge, Small Town, Sociopath, Suspense, Violent, Western

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

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From IMDB:

Seven gunmen in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.

With the DVD from Netflix you can watch, read, and listen in at least seven different languages.

In 1954 Akira Kurosawa co-wrote, edited, and directed the film “Seven Samurai“.

In 1960 Jul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and others starred in the film “The Magnificent Seven“.

In 2016 Antoine Fuqua directed yet another version. This time some of the actors are:

  • Denzel Washington as Chisolm
  • Chris Pratt as Josh Faraday
  • Ethan Hawke as Goodnight Robicheaux
  • Vincent D’Onofrio as Jack Horne
  • Peter Sarsgaard as a “magnificent” sadistic, greedy, sociopath Bartholomew Brogue. In some ways, this part steals the show.

You already know the story: Nasty Brogue kills and terrorizes a small town in order to steal their land and enslave their menfolk for his mine.  One by one Chisolm recruits his band of seven “Samurai” who then have a week in which to prepare for battle against a giant gang of Brogue’s hired guns. During the ensuing battle zillions of people die by gun and knife and arrow (one of the seven is an American Indian). Some of our heroes die (prepare to weep) but needless to say justice prevails. Shucks – you knew there had to be a happy ending somewhere.

Indeed the devil is in the details which are very well done. As I may have mentioned before I am a sucker for plots involving good guys versus bad guys. Such a guilty surge of joy I felt each time a bad guy got shot. Of course, the good guys never missed their shots.

As  kid every Saturday I got an allowance of 30 cents. For 20 cents I could go to the movies which inevitably showed one or two cowboy films. For the remaining 10 cents I went to the Five-and-Dime store, read every comic book but one, namely “Captain Marvel Junior”, which I then purchased. Had they shown this version of “The Magnificent Seven” and had my mother gotten wind of just how violent a film it is, then I would not have been allowed to see the film.

What fun!

 

2016, Astronauts, Love Story, Netflix DVD, Sci-Fi, Sex Scenes

Passengers (2016)

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From IMDB:

A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early.

From Netflix I received a DVD for this film

Half romance and half science fiction, this film is quite watchable. In order to tweak your interest I will give just the very beginning of the plot:

Midway from Earth to its destination, that is to say, 90 years after leaving Earth and 90 years before completing the voyage, the engineer Jim Preston (played by Chris Pratt) is mistakenly awakened by a malfunction. He spends a lonely year becoming ever more depressed over the fact that he will die a natural death before the starship lands. Out of sheer desperation, and much deliberation, he awakens Aurora Lane (played by Jennifer Lawrence). Hence the romance. For the rest of the excitement you will have to watch the film.

As far as a romance goes, the first half is a great date film. As far as science fiction is concerned, the second half is an exciting,  well-done, cleverly filmed story much like other sci-fi films.

Jennifer Lawrence you may recognize as Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of “The Hunger Games”. Chris Pratt is currently in a remake of “The Magnificent Seven” as one of the good guys, Josh Faraday. Laurence Fishburne has a small but significant role to play.

Romance or sci-fi, take your pick, although I happened to really enjoy both aspects of this film.

 

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.