Category Archives: Bloody scenes

2018, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Amazon Prime, Amputation as revenge, Amputee, Bloody scenes, Boating, Bullying, Clever Plot, Conspiracy, Controlling personality, Corrupt policemen, Corrupt Politicians, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Creepy, Dancing, Dark, Dark family secrets, Disturbing Image, Dysfunctional Lives, Eccentric Detective, Ethical struggles, Explicit sexual discussion, False Accusations, False Imprisonment, Father-daughter relations, FBI, Flashbacks, Forensics, Frame someone for a crime, Friendship, Gory, Grim, Grisly, Hopeless Love, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Masturbation, Murder, Narcissist, Nuns, Occasional gore, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Prostitute, Psychopath, Revenge, Ruthless Killer, Sex Scenes, Sexual Perversion, Sociopath, Strongly Discouraged, Suicide, Suspense, Unscrupulous drive to power, Upsetting ending, Violent, Well developed plot, Wrongful Arrest

Goliath Second Season 2 (2018)

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From Amazon Prime:

Billy McBride returns to criminal defense, taking on a grisly double murder case. His client is a 16-yearold boy, and Billy’s damn sure he’s innocent. Billy, Patty, and the team fervently build their case in the seedy underworld of Los Angeles. As the murders’ true culprits come to light, the implications reach as far as the mayoral race — and the city’s preeminent billionaire developer.

From Amazon Prime you can stream 4 seasons of this lawyer series.  This review is just for season 2 which consists of 8 episodes where each episode is roughly one hour.

Normally I am recommending films. Here, however, I am strongly warning you that this is a ugly season. For one example, the chief villain amputates limbs from people who offend him.  For another example, one of the chief’s underlings suffers from “eroticized childhood trauma”, in which he can only get sexual pleasure from watching someone sooth an amputated limb. Heard enough?

To further clinch my discouraging review,   although some of the criminals suffer their just punishments, several innocent people are falsely imprisoned or killed.  As a final nail in this season’s coffin is that I purposely reveal that the chief villains succeed gloriously in their crimes and are so clever that they escape prosecution.

On the positive side (really?) the plot, good acting, detailed clever deceptions, utter evil of the conspirators, and the interactions of multiple characters make the story grimly watchable.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!  STRONGLY DISCOURAGED!

2016, Alcoholism, Amazon Prime, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Career Competition, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corrupt Corporation, Corrupt lawyers, Corrupt policemen, Cover-up, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Environmental concerns, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Failed Father, Failed Marriage, Father-daughter relations, FBI, Frame someone for a crime, Gay theme, Government cover-up, Illegal Weapons, Lawyers, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Office Love Affairs, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Prostitutes, Revenge, Suicide, Suspense, Trial Scenes

Goliath Season 1(2016)

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From Amazon:

Once a powerful lawyer, Billy McBride is now burned out and washed up, spending more time in a bar than a courtroom. When he reluctantly agrees to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against the biggest client of the massive law firm he helped create, Billy and his ragtag team uncover a vast and deadly conspiracy, pitting them all in a life or death trial against the ultimate Goliath.

From Amazon Prime you can stream 4 seasons of this lawyer series.  This review is just for season 1 which consists of 8 episodes where each episode is roughly one hour.

Billy McBride is played by Billy Bob Thornton who has often taken unusual roles. You might recall him as Lorne Malvo in “Fargo”.  In season one he is up against the Goliath of law firms named Cooperman and McBride which he helped establish.  His personal nemesis is the other name on the company name,  Donald  Cooperman. Cooperman as one of the best “bad guys” I have ever seen is played to stunning and eccentric perfection by William Hurt. Not that Cooperman is the only villain.  His most notable lawyer-in-crime, Callie Senate,  is played with cunning malice by Mollie Parker, whose every smug smirk is a masterpiece of acting.  When you really hate one of the villains, that actor is doing her job. Mollie Parker played Jackie Sharp in “House of Cards”.

Rest assured the daemons get their comeuppance.  But the journey to get to that point is agonizingly frustrating.

DO NOT MISS!

 

2018, Acceptable Sci-Fi, Basically Sad, Bloody scenes, Drama, Dystopia, Father-son relations, Government human experiment, Military, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Remarkable Body Transformation, Violent

The Titan (2018)

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From Netflix:

On a bleak future Earth, a soldier endures a radical genetic transformation to save humanity. But his wife fears he’s  becoming more creature than man.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 37 minute sci-fi drama.

Because Earth is doomed,  the U.S. government has decided to try to populate Titan, one of Jupiter’s moons.  Titan’s environment (air, temperature, water) is harsher than that of Earth. Consequently a (mad?) scientist (played by Tom Wilkinson) has devised a radical restructuring of a body’s genome so that the resulting person can thrive on Titan.  Among the group of volunteers is Rick Janssen (played by Sam Worthington) whose wife Abi (played by Taylor Schilling) loves him dearly and is terrified by the treatments, suffering, and changes taking place in her husband.

Rather than full-fledged sci-fi, this is more a minor drama about how impending planet disaster affects a marriage.

Ignore the improbable details (how many people does populating a new planet require?), enjoy the yarn and the personalities.

2019, Acceptable Trash, Art Critic, Art Marketing, Art theft, Artsy Fartsy, B-movie, Bisexual theme, Bloody scenes, Eccentric cast of characters, Greed, Horror, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Sex Scenes

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

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From Netflix:

A feared critic, an icy gallery owner and an ambitious assistant snap up a recently deceased artist’s stash of paintings — with dire consequences.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 52 minute horror of a film.

Perhaps the first horror is that  an accomplished actor such as Jake Gyllenhaal allowed himself to appear in this schlock festival.  Perhaps the second horror is that I allowed myself to watch the entire mess.

Imagine Gyllenhaal appearing as an effete, almost effeminate bisexual art critic. At first I did not recognize him.  As a first guess maybe he needed the money. Or maybe he just wanted to add a horror film to his remarkable resumé.

If there is an underlying theme in the film, it is that the collective of art critics here are a rare species that speak an inscrutable art language consisting of meaningless gibberish while all the time they are really only interested in fooling their clients into spending vast sums of money.

Alas, their greed is their undoing!

If you can afford to waste two hours of your life, then have at it!

 

2021, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Bloody scenes, Brother-Sister relations, Child abuse, Danish, Danish Detectives, Danish Police, Danish Politics, Danish TV series, Disturbing Image, Emotional child abuse, Failed Mother, Foster Care, Missing Person, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Occasional gore, Orphans in Foster Care, Police Culture, Political Campaigning, Politicians, Psychopath, Serial Killer, Suspense, Thriller, Torture, Violent

The Chestnut Man (2021)

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From IMDB:

A young woman is found brutally murdered in a playground and one of her hands is missing. Above her hangs a small man made of chestnuts.

From Netflix:

At a grisly murder scene sits a figurine made of chestnuts. From  this creepy clue, two detectives hunt a killer linked to a politician’s missing child.

From Netflix you can stream the 6 episodes of this Danish serial killer series. Each episode runs a bit less than one hour.

“Seen one, seen them all” is almost a truism about serial killer series. Each such story involves detectives and victim families, many of whom have their own problems. But it is these individual personal touches that distinguish one series from another.  For that reason “The Chestnut Man” is not boring and not a waste of time. Nor is the production anything special.

2021, Abduction, Acceptable for teenagers, Bloody scenes, Brother-Sister relations, Bullying, Clever Plot, Computer hacking, Corny at times, Detective, Extramarital Affair, False Accusations, Father-son relations, Gay theme, Identity Theft, Impersonation, Kidnapping, Marital Infidelity, Mildly Violent, Murder, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Plot twists, Suspense, TV news industry, TV Reporter, Unscrupulous reporter

Click Bait (2021)

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From Netflix:

Pia Brewer races to find Nick when he appears in an online video, bloodied and holding a sign that reads: “At 5 million views I die.”

From Netflix you can stream the 8 episodes of this mystery thriller. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Who kidnapped and killed Nick?  At first he is shown in an online video, bloodied and holding a sign that reads: “At 5 million views I die.”  As the 5 million viewers constantly view the video he holds other signs saying he abused women or that he killed a woman.

Each episode is from the viewpoint of one of the people involved in the plot such a family members, a detective, and an unscrupulous reporter.  There are several plot twists. Just when you think you know what is going on,  some new game changing fact comes to light. Along the way many people suffer loss and betrayal.

Some editing would have removed a bit of unnecessary footage.  At times the plot veers toward the maudlin.  Still,  it is a clever shape-shifting plot.

2021, Abduction, Acceptable for teenagers, Alzheimer's disease, Anxiety Attacks, Bloody scenes, Corruption, Dark family secrets, French, Gaslighting, Harmful Medicine, Human experimentation, Mad scientist, Mary Higgins Clark, MHz Choice, Missing Person, Murder, Narcissistic Personality, Occasionaly violent, Plastic surgery, Suspense, Wrongful Arrest

Mary Higgens Clark Mysteries (2021)

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From MHz Choice:

Mary Higgins Clark is the Queen of Suspense, with over 3.7 million books sold worldwide. She is the all-time bestselling fiction author in France, where she received the Grand Prix de Littérature Policiè re in 1980 and was named Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters in the Legion of Honor. Now, the acclaimed novelist is reinvented in a new series of TV movies based on her most popular mysteries, with thrilling plots, gorgeous scenery and nerve-shattering suspense.

From MHz CHoice you can stream 2 seasons. Season 1 contains 3 episodes and  season 2 contains 4 episodes. Each episode lasts 1.5 hours. French with subtitles.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this author, the following comes from Wikipedia:

Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark[1] (December 24, 1927 – January 31, 2020)[2] was an American author of suspense novels. Each of her 51 books was a bestseller in the United States and various European countries, and all of her novels remained in print as of 2015, with her debut suspense novel, Where Are the Children?, in its seventy-fifth printing.

2021 is probably not the correct date, but MHz Choice gives no date for when the series were created.

As our first quote from MHz Choice shows, her suspense novels were greatly admired in France. No wonder then, that this series comes from France with English subtitles. Look sharp because in each episode for a short screen shot someone is reading one of her plainly visible novels.

Suspense indeed!  With such engaging plots that drive to a tense conclusion, I can heartily recommend these 7 episodes.

2021, Accidental Death, Action sequences, Addiction, Black humor, Bloody scenes, Brother-Sister relations, Comedy, Cover-up, Defies Categorization, Drama, Eccentric cast of characters, Ethical struggles, Fist Fight, Forensics, Funeral Director, Hopeless Love, Murder, Murder Investigation, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Norwegian, Norwegian Comedy, Nudity, Outrageous Behavior, Plot twists, Police Investigation, Problematic Ending, Quirky, Small Town

Post Mortem: No One Dies In Skarnes (2021)

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From IMDB:

Live Hallangen is declared dead but hours later she suddenly wakes up with a sudden urge for blood. Meanwhile, her brother Odd tries to keep the family driven funeral home afloat.

From Netflix:

It’s just another average day in this small Norwegian town
until a young woman is found dead in a field. But things are not as they seem.

From Netflix you can stream 6 episodes of this Norwegian series. Each episode lasts about 44 minutes.

Categories such as comedy, drama, and thriller have been applied to this off-beat series.  If I tell you what the series is about, I am afraid you will not watch it.  Let me begin, therefore,  by saying that no matter the theme, this is NOT a vampire story.   More than any other characterization,  for me “comedy” rings true because it shows Live (pronounced Lee-Va ), her brother Odd, the policeman Reinert. and Dr. Sverre getting in deeper and deeper in their combined efforts to conceal the truth about them and the strange secret of the town of Skarnes while trying desperately to keep the chief of police, Judith, off their trail.  Some comedies such as this one are built on a succession of outrageous events. When was the last time you saw a completely clothed woman having a mud fist fight with a completely naked man with a plastic bag tied over his head?

Well done and well worth the watch.

 

2005, Action Hero, Action sequences, Amusing banter, Black humor, Bloody scenes, Bromance, Car Chase, Comedy, Complicated, Detective, Eccentric cast of characters, Gay theme, Kanopy streaming, Mayhem, Murder, Outrageous Behavior, Romance, Satirical ultra-violence, Suspense, Torture, Uncategorized, Violent, Witty dialog

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

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From Kanopy:

From producer Joel Silver and screenwriter Shane Black, both of Lethal Weapon fame, comes an action-comedy spoof of rough-and-tumble buddy films–KISS KISS BANG BANG. A private detective (Val Kilmer – Alexander), a thief posing as a struggling actor (Robert Downey Jr. – Gothika) and an actual struggling actress (Michelle Monaghan – The Bourne Supremacy) become entangled in a murder mystery filled with twists, turns, betrayal and, most importantly, romance.

From Kanopy you can stream this 103 minute complete film.

Is it possible to call a film a comedy in which there is a succession of murders by gun shot ?  No matter what that says about our current culture,  the non-stop action and the rapid-fire bromantic (yes, Webster lists that word) dialog was just plain fun.

Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey) is a screw-up from start to finish whose skin is regularly saved by Gay Perry (Val Kilmer). Yes, Kilmer plays a gay man named Gay Perry.

Yet another violent guilty pleasure.

2021, Abuse of Women, Action Film, Action Hero, Bloody scenes, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corrupt Military, Cover-up, DO NOT MISS, Ethical struggles, Government cover-up, Greed, Military Corruption, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Physical fighting, Romance, Sociopath, Suspense, Thriller, Violent

SAS: Rise of the Black Swan (2021)

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From IMDB:

A small army of well trained criminals led by Grace Lewis have hijacked a train deep beneath the English Channel.

From Netflix:

A special forces operative traveling from London to Paris with his girlfriend takes action when armed, ruthless mercenaries seize control of their train

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 3 minute complete action film.  According to IMDB another name for this film is “SAS: Red Notice”.

Good sociopath versus bad sociopath.  Our hero is Tom Buckingham (played by Sam Heughan who played Jamie Fraser in Outlander ).  Our villain is Grace Lewis (played by Ruby Rose who played Batwoman in Batwoman ).

There are lots of good and bad guys.  Unfortunately it can be difficult to  figure out just who is good and who is bad.  Turncoat traitors abound.  You just never can tell.  Needless to say the evil doers are all part of a giant conspiracy.

Most of the action takes place in the Eurotrain underchannel tunnel. To be sure, most of the action is very violent and definitely not for children.  As usual our hero can perform superhuman (violent) feats while seriously wounded.

Sociopaths are unable to feel empathy or understand the sufferings of others. Little by little Tom’s girl friend Dr. Sophie Hart (played by Hannah John-Kamen) comes to understand that Tom feels relatively few emotions and can kill humans with effortless ease.  In that aspect Tom is well matched against Grace Lewis whose cruelty is startling even though we may think we are inured to such films.

How shocking to think that if you can stand the violence I will still recommend that you DO NOT MISS!