Category Archives: Computer geeks

2018, Abduction, Action Film, Action sequences, America of the 2020s, Anonymous network, Binge worthy, Black Ops, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Car Chase, Character Driven, Computer geeks, Computer hacking, Contract Killing, Crime, Cryptocurrency, DO NOT MISS, Drug Dealers, Dysfunctional Lives, Ethical struggles, Failed Father, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Financial malfeasance, Fist Fight, Frame someone for a crime, Friendship, Gangs, Germ Warfare, Haitian Gang, Love Story, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Panic Attacks, Personal Betrayal, Police Investigation, Psychopath, Redemption, Revenge, Russian Gang, Ruthless Killer, Sociopath, Suspense, Terrorist Attack, Torture, Violent

Startup (2018)

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From IMDB:

A desperate banker, a Haitian-American gang lord and a Cuban-American hacker are forced to work together to unwittingly create their version of the American dream – organized crime 2.0.

From Netflix you can stream 3 seasons of this series.  Each season consists of 10 episodes. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

If there is any current prototype of the 21st century technical world, this series is certainly in the running.  Topics include anonymous networks, cryptocurrency, NSA, security, CIA, black ops, offshore accounts, gang violence, crime ridden neighborhoods, criminal activity, Russian mobsters, rogue FBI agents, personal betrayal, and romance to name a few.

But above all for me the most important theme was redemption in the sense that people can change for the better.  First consider the character Ronald Dacey played by Edi Cathegi (born in Kenya).  Herein is a warning:  In the beginning of the series Ronald is the brutal leader of a Haitian gang in Los Angeles.  Don’t let the scenes of torture turn you away from the series.  Indeed the “redeeming” feature here is that Ronald in addition to being a brutal killer is also a loving husband and father.  As the story progresses, Ronald grows increasingly aware that the violence is self-defeating.  His basic and thinking humanity more and more shines through. He fights especially to keep his son on a straight path, not an easy task in their environment.  Ronald is never a saint, but his heart is more or less in the right place.

Next consider the rogue FBI agent Phil Rask played by the British actor Martin Freeman, who played Watson to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes.  Freeman’s consistently idiosyncratic portrayal of Agent Rask is a pleasure to watch. More to the point of “redemption”, despite his many misdeeds he does have a conscience which begins to nag at him, which becomes fortunate for other characters later on in the plot.

Eventually you may become intimately concerned with the other players:  Adam Brody as Nick Talman, Otmara Marrero as Izzy Morales, Ron Perlman as Wes Chandler, and Addison Timlin as Mara Chandler.

And if you want some really nasty villains, there are two remarkable sociopaths Vera Cherny as the Russian mobstress (if there is such a word) and Mira Sorvino as the ruthless NSA-CIA black operator Rebecca Stroud.

DO NOT MISS!

2011, Acorn TV, Action Film, Bloody scenes, British Politics, Brother-Brother relations, Complicated, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corrupt Prison Guards, Corruption, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Dysfunctional Lives, Ethical struggles, False Imprisonment, Father-son relations, Lawyers, Murder, Newspaper Culture, Personal Betrayal, Plot Twist, Plot twists, Political Conspiracy, Political Intrigue, Politicians, Prison, Surprise Ending, Suspense, Unscrupulous drive to power, Violent

Hidden (2011)

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From Acorn TV:

When a mysterious lawyer (Thekla Reuten, In Bruges) asks solicitor Harry Venn (Philip Glenister, Life on Mars, The Level) to find a missing alibi witness for her client, he’s forced to delve back into his murky past and uncover a far-reaching conspiracy in this “intelligent, pacy TV thriller” (The Telegraph) that also stars David Suchet (Poirot) and Richard Dormer (Fortitude, Game of Thrones).

From Acorn TV (all British, $7.99 per month) you can stream the 4 episodes of this British political conspiracy thriller. Each episode lasts a bit less than an hour.

Most political thrillers (as well as detective series) have the same list of categories such as family conflict, personal betrayal, action film, intrigue, conspiracy, corruption, assassination, and so forth. Of course the difference from one series to the next depends on writing, acting, details, the story itself. For this series I might add “nail biter”.  Each episode offers a suspenseful sub-story with its own conclusion all leading up to a riveting and surprising conclusion. Underlying the entire story is Harry Venn wondering who killed his older brother which ties together all the episodes.

You may see the actors in IMDB. When it comes to villains Anna Chancellor as Elspeth and Matthew Marsh as Morpeth are chillingly perfect. And what a surprise to see David Suchet as someone other than Poirot.

Are there flaws?  Yes, most notably that some of the narrow escapes are a bit too convenient.  But the plot turn at each such mini-conclusion is an intriguing surprise.  Even the very ending, which is not suspenseful,  is somewhat unexpected.

Riveting,  suspenseful, good guys and bad guys: what’s not to like? Give this one a DO NOT MISS!

2019, Acceptable for teenagers, Acceptable Sci-Fi, Action Film, Aliens from outer space, Bisexual theme, Bloody scenes, Cancer theme, Computer geeks, Drugs, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Explicit sexual discussion, Father-daughter relations, Good digital effects, Happy Family Gatherings, Mediocre, Melodrama, Mildly Violent, Mother-daughter relations, Nasty Aliens, Netflix Streaming, Nothing special, Nudity, Romance, Sci-Fi, Sex Scenes, Sexual Tension, Suspense, Various Romances, Vulgar, Young Adults

Another Life (2019)

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From IMDB:

Astronaut Niko Breckenridge and her young crew face unimaginable danger as they go on a high-risk mission to explore the genesis of an alien artifact.

From Netflix you can stream the only season made so far of this series. Each of the 10 episodes lasts about 45 minutes except for the first episode which lasts an hour.

What makes this mediocre (and possible waste of time) series  different is that it is mostly about the inter-relations of the VERY young crew. Along the way you hear a lot of technical space babble. Who knows if any of that jargon approaches reality?  One crisis after another plagues the crew. Fortunately with each crisis there is some far-fetched solution. In a way it makes for easy watching when every seemingly insurmountable problem has a quick and often hokey fix. Eventually there must be another season because the story is just taking off when the season comes to a halt.

When I was a kid I went every Saturday morning to a movie theatre and spent the outrageous entry fee of 20 cents  to see one cartoon, one comedy short, an episode of a series starring such wonders as Superman, and a full-length feature film.  Every episode of that series ended with our hero in some jam. Next episode gets the hero out of that jam only to trap him in another jam. Needless to say, I could hardly wait for the next week’s exciting episode. Similarly I was compelled to binge watch “Another Life” to see how the kids (as I said, a VERY young crew) solved the current problem.

At least it was a welcome break from all the crime stories.

 

2017, Abduction, Action Film, Action Hero, Black Ops, Bloody scenes, Brother-Sister relations, Cancer theme, Car Chase, Chase film, CIA, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Corny at times, Corruption, Ends in Cliff Hanger, FBI, Frenetic, Gangs, Invincible Hero, Israeli Spies, Kidnapping, Large-scale gang activity, Mayhem, Mixed Martial Arts, Murder by poison, Netflix Streaming, Police Corruption, Revenge, Spy Theme, Suspense, Terminal Disease, Torture, Violent, Weapons Dealer

Taken (2017)

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From IMDB:

As former CIA agent Bryan Mills deals with a personal tragedy that shakes his world, he fights to overcome the incident and exact revenge.

From Netflix you can stream the 10 episodes of season 1 only. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Whereas the continuing story line is Bryan’s continuing battle against Carlos Mejia, the Mexican criminal that killed Bryan’s sister, each episode also tells an episode-contained story with a satisfying ending. WARNING: Unfortunately the tenth episode is a cliff hanger that urgently wants to lead into the next, so far unavailable, season.

Bryan Mills, whose character overpowers the entire set of episodes, is played by Clive Standen. If you watched the amazing series Vikings (2013-2018), you will recognize Bryan as the character Rollo who was the brother of Ragnar. Recall that Rollo marries into French nobility.

You have seen these plots and action sequences before.  So why watch another version?  For me the attractions were: the intensity of each episode, the well-done action sequences, the fairly good acting, and seeing the good guys vanquish the bad guys.

Once again, our hero Bryan is a superman who never misses a shot, leaps over lots of tall things, never loses in hand-to-hand combat, has (to quote a woman Israeli spy) “a kind face”, is a bit of a ham,  and is a hit with the ladies.

Despite hints of mediocrity, I had lots of fun watching the violence. Maybe I should join the NRA!

2011, Abduction, Action Film, Adultery, Bank Robbery, Bloody scenes, Boating, Cancer theme, Car Chase, Chase film, Complicated, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Could Be Hard To Watch, Dark, Detective, Disturbing Image, DO NOT MISS, Dysfunctional Lives, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, FBI, Forensics, Gangs, Grim, International thriler, Iraq War, Made For TV, Marital Infidelity, MHz Choice, Murder, Nudity, Plot Twist, Psychopath, Sadism, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Spy Theme, Suspense, Swedish, Swedish crime series, Swiss detective, Terrorists, Thriller, Torture, TV Series, Various Romances, Violent, Well developed plot

Arne Dahl (2011)

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From MHz Choice:

Rough. Raw. Real. This is the world of Arne Dahl, whose crime novels have been transposed to the screen in adaptations that follow the dramatic tradition of all best-selling Scandinavian thrillers. The series revolves around cases taken on by the ‘A Unit’, an elite force of officers recruited after a series of assassinations rocks Stockholm’s high society.

MHz Choice streams several seasons (from many years beginning with 2011) of this Swedish thriller.  There are 5 complete stories, one per different year. Each story consists of 2 episodes. Each Episode is about 1.5 hours long. Swedish script with English subtitles.

REVISION 1 (Feb 2021):

There are now 2 seasons available from MHz Choice.  In the second season several of the excellent first season actors are missing or have been replaced.  Season 2 is acceptable, but not (in my opinion) a good as season 1.  Season 2 is a bit more of a soap opera. Still worth watching.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Throughout the 5 stories the same team of detectives are together. As is usual in such productions, the personal lives of the detectives are easily as important as the mystery plots.

As powerful and as grim as the stories are, they are so well done that they are really worth watching. But you should expect blood, torture as well as some explicit sex. Many scenes involve foot or car chases.

Not only are the stories complicated, but there are many surprise turns including some endings you might not expect.

This series is so compelling that I will rate it a DO NOT MISS!

 

 

 

2012, Action Film, Bloody scenes, Boxing, Car Chase, Complicated, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Detective, Extramarital Affair, Forensics, French, French Detective Series, Gypsies, Journalist, MHz Choice, Murder Investigation, Police Corruption, Police Psychologist, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Violent

Antigone 34 (2012)

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From MHz Choice:

Under the pressure of an invisible and powerful enemy, Lea Hippolyte, a police captain and martial arts specialist, joins forces with Victor, a marginal doctor wrongly disbarred, and with Helene, a non-conformist psycho-criminologist. Their investigations on “ ordinary” crimes cross paths with much higher stakes and address universal topics. Filmed in Montpellier in the south of France, this series follows three characters with little in common joining forces to overcome common threats.

From MHz Choice you can stream the 6 episodes of season 1.  Each episode lasts roughly 50 minutes. French with subtitles.

Inside the police headquarters, named Antigone34 for some reason, the atmosphere is always tense.  Principally that tension is due to two detectives who are not only hostile to many of their fellow officers, but also in fact bent. It is no secret in the plot that they are paid by the chief villain to do his bidding.  Adding to the general feeling of suspense are many chase scenes, most of which involve running on foot to catch someone. Although I found the plot somewhat complicated, nonetheless the plot excitement kept me interested.

That there is only one season disappoints me.  Season one finishes  the plot surrounding one police case, but finishes with a major surprise that seems designed to demand another season. Moreover, those two bent detectives are still in the picture, although Lea is sure she knows who they are. But at the end of the season we the audience discover a bad actor that even Lea could not yet suspect.

2014, Abduction, Action Film, Action Hero, Arson, Bloody scenes, Brother-Brother relations, Car Chase, Complicated, Computer geeks, Confusing Plot, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Emotional child abuse, Father-son relations, Financial malfeasance, Good Brother - Bad Brother, Greed, Grim, Grisly, MHz Choice, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Newspaper Culture, Norwegian, Norwegian Journalists, Suicide, Suspense, Thriller, Uncle-Nephew relations, Violent

Mammon (2014)

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From IMDB:

A newspaper journalist revealing fraud in a large multinational company, finds his family involved, ruining his career, family relations, and entangles him in a following mystery.

From MHz Choice you can stream season 1 (2014) of this thriller. Each of the 6 episodes lasts about an hour. Season 1 is a complete story. Norwegian with English subtitles.  In the Spring of 2018 MHz Choice will offer Season 2 (2016).

For me the plot was complicated and a bit confusing, possibly because there were so many characters. Nevertheless the episodes were tense and exciting.  Peter Veras (played by Jon Oigarden) is placed in one difficult situation after another. Just watching him escape fatal traps set by all sorts of really evil people is exhausting.

Exciting enough to binge watch.  Thankfully, the story ends in episode 6.  Otherwise a cliff-hanger would have killed me.

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.

1997, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Addiction, Bloody scenes, Child abuse, Child Molestation, Complicated, Computer geeks, Contract Killing, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime thriller, Detective, Disturbing Image, Drugs, Father-daughter relations, Financial malfeasance, Forensics, Grim, Made For TV, MHz Choice, Murder Investigation, Pedophilia, Police Culture, Psychological Drama, Revenge, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Spousal Abuse, Suicide, Suspense, Swedish, Swedish crime series, Thriller, Violent

Beck (1997)

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From MHz Choice:

He’s got no style, he’s got no flash and he’s squarely in middle age. But Swedish detective Martin Beck is good at one thing: methodically catching criminals so that they can be put away… for a long time. His tightly-wound partner, Gunvald, is his opposite: an impulsive man who cuts a dashing figure, is in no way politically correct and who never met a boundary he didn’t leap across.

MHz Choice lets you stream 5 seasons of the Swedish detective series “Beck”.  All seasons offer 8 episodes except Season 4 which only offers 2 episodes. Each Episode is approximate 1.5 hours.

Harsh and sometimes hard-to-watch, the episodes are well done. If you want something less tense, try the MHz Choice series “Magellan”.

Through the 5 seasons Beck’s physical appearance does not change much. But the difference between the Season 1 Gunvald and the Season 5 Gunvald is striking in the way that the actor has aged.

Part of the appeal of the series is that the personal lives of the characters continue from episode to episode. Therefore it is best to view the episodes in order. However the mystery story for each episode is self-contained.

When you browse to MHz Choice, just enter “Beck” in the search box. Then you can see all the seasons and episodes listed. If you pause over one of the episode boxes, you get a short description of that episode.

Choosing categories for this series is difficult because after 34 episodes, there is hardly an untouched category.

Never boring, never relaxed viewing.

2001, 2003, 2012, Abduction, Abortion, Abuse of Women, Alcoholism, Bloody scenes, Career Competition, Child custody, Computer geeks, Corruption, Crime thriller, Detective, Divorce, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Financial malfeasance, Jealousy, Journalist, Lesbian Theme, MHz Choice, Murder Investigation, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Private Versus Professional Life, Psychopath, Revenge, Serial Killer, Suspense, Swedish, Swedish crime series, Terrorist Attack, Thriller, TV Series, Unmarried mother, Violent, Vulgar

Annika Bengtzon (2012)

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From MHz Choice:

Based on author Liza Marklund’s best-selling crime novels, Annika Bengtzon is a journalist and working mother of two struggling to raise her family. Fearless in her search for the truth, she won’t take no for an answer from anyone: not from prestigious academicians or drug dealers or from colleagues inside her own profession.

MHz Choice streams this Swedish TV crime series (with English subtitles) in two seasons. Season 1 includes 6 episodes all of which were made in 2012. Season 2 includes only 2 episodes made in 2001 and 2003.  First watch Season 1 in which Annika is played by the beautiful Malin Crépin.  Season 2 contains “Paradise” which is a prequel that tells how a young Annika fights to be a reporter, and “Deadline” which takes 2 hours and features Annika as a second-in-command at the newspaper. All the other 7 episodes last about 1.5 hours. In season 2 Annika is played by Helena Bergström who is extremely different in appearance from Malin Crépin. Visually, for example in the physical appearance of actors, season 1 is more of a crowd pleaser.

As is the case with many crime shows featuring a woman doing the sleuthing, the theme is how the woman must battle male prejudice while trying to balance her obsessive drive to do her job (here to deliver news stories)  with the demands of her family (here husband and two children). Quite a bit of really NOT boring film footage is devoted to jealous bickering in the newsroom.

Only one episode was somewhat boring. In every episode, however, the suspense is palpable, especially because  Annika’s life is usually in danger.

If you like an intense rush, try these two series.