Category Archives: Conspiracy

2013, Action Film, Amazon Prime, Based on true facts, Car Chase, Communists, Complicated, Conspiracy, DO NOT MISS, Ethical struggles, FBI, Love Story, Marital Infidelity, Revenge, Russian, Sex Scenes, Spy Theme, Suspense, Torture, TV Series, Violent

The Americans (2013)

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From Netflix:

Set during the Reagan presidency, this Cold War drama follows two married Soviet sleeper agents living discreetly near Washington, D.C. But tensions begin to mount for the couple when a spy-hunting FBI man moves in nearby.

Because we use Amazon Prime I was able to stream season 1 of “The Americans” for free.

In Cambridge Massachusetts a Russian husband and wife team of spies were disguised as a normal American family. This real-life incident motivated this TV series which offers the same kind of milieu as the British TV series “MI-5”. Possibly “MI-5” is a bit better, but the quality and human interest in “The Americans” is excellent. Needless to say, both series are violent.

By “human interest” I refer to the pseudo marriage between the spies who by this time have two children, thoroughly American boy and girl who have no idea of their parents’ spying activity. In addition a new neighbor moves in who just happens to be an FBI agent whose specialty is counter-intelligence but whose family life always takes the familiar backseat to his career.

Be sure to appreciate the effective personality disguises these two spies use as they play many deceptive roles in society. For one example, the disguised husband actually goes so far as to marry an unsuspecting American woman in order to get her to bring him information.

Season One ends abruptly and inconclusively. Season Two seems to not yet be available. If you like spy stories, then DO NOT MISS!

2014, Abduction, Alcoholism, Child Molestation, Conspiracy, Corruption, Creepy, Crude Talk, Detective, Disturbing Image, DO NOT MISS, Dysfunctional Lives, Explicit sex, FBI, Murder Investigation, Nudity, Philosophic Discussions, Physical child abuse, Police Corruption, Psychological Thriller, Serial Killer, Suspense, TV Series, Violent

True Detective (2014)

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From Netflix:

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson star in this crime drama about two detectives caught up in the 17-year-long hunt for a serial killer. Both cops’ roles in a 1995 murder investigation come back to haunt them when the case is reopened.

Because the DVDs are not yet available and because there was so much interest in this 8-episode series, I weakened and subscribed to HBO so that I could stream all 8 episodes without waiting. For $10 a month for one year, the money was well spent. HBO (and no, I am not getting a selling commission) offers not only streaming on HBOGO but also at least 14 channels on cable TV.

Besides a really gory serial killer and some pretty serious pedophilia, mostly the entire series concentrates on the two detectives. McConaughey and Harrelson have both matured in their acting as they present the two detectives constantly at each other’s throat. Harrelson is a flawed adulterer much to the unhappiness of his long-suffering wife. McConaughy is a moody philosophical pessimistic loner suffering throughout the film from the death of his young daughter and the subsequent failure of his marriage.

Wikepedia offers a very detailed discussion of the film including the plot for each episode. But that would be cheating!

“True Detective” is one of those crime series that can easily suck you into watching all episodes non-stop. But if this is your genre, then DO NOT MISS!

2012, Arab Culture, Arabic, Basically Sad, Conspiracy, Disturbing Image, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Hebrew, Israeli Palestinian Conflict, Jewish Culture, Medical Theme, Military, Nudity, Sex Scenes, Terrorist Attack, Violent, Well developed plot, Wonderful acting

The Attack (2012)

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From Netflix:

An Arab Israeli physician offers assistance at the scene of a gruesome suicide bombing in Tel Aviv and then learns that the bomber was his own wife. Stunned and furious, he sets out to confront the people who encouraged her deadly decision.

To paraphrase an old saying, “One good film is worth a thousand history books”. My guess is that as you watch this marvelous film in Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles your attitude towards the events and the protagonists will change at least somewhat. Here is yet another film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that succeeds in not choosing sides, something that is very difficult to do in a film. If nothing else you will probably sympathize with the surgeon husband of the suicide bomber, a man caught in the middle of two cultures.

Superb acting, subtly developed plot, and a thought-provoking situation make for a must-see film.

1997, Based on true facts, Book Review, Conspiracy, Cuba, Explicit sex, Love Story, Murder Investigation, Nudity, Spanish

Cuba, La Noche de la Jinetera (1997) [Book Review]

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Recently I reviewed “El Peso del Silencio” written by Jordi Sierra I Fabra. That novel took place in Chile. An older novel by the same author “La Noche del la Jinetera” takes place in Castro’s Cuba. Both novels are in Spanish without an available translation. Both have audio versions from Audible.com.

“Jinetera” means a female almost-prostitute in Cuba who accompanies and sleeps with tourists to Cuba not so much for the money but to find a foreign husband as a means to escape the hardships of Cuba. Daniel Ros is the protagonist newspaper reporter in both novels. In “Jinetera” he is sent from his newspaper in Spain to Cuba to find out why his reporter friend Estanis was found dead in a hotel room in Cuba. Most of his adventure involves a jinetera named Anyelín with whom he falls in love (initially “in lust”). Secondary is an attempted assassination of Castro and a mass exodus of Cubans in flimsy boats.

Expect many detailed descriptions of sexual activity.

In order to appreciate the atmosphere of the story, a brief history of Cuban-American relations is in order. Here my source is chiefly the book “Overthrow” by Stephen Kinzer (Henry Holt and Company, 2006).

In 1898 the imperialist President McKinley, fearing that Cuba would free itself from Spain and become independent enough to not do Washington’s bidding, sent to Cuba the battleship Maine. For a reason never discovered that battleship exploded. For William Randolph Hearst, who had waged a campaign of newspaper lies against Spanish colonialists, that explosion was a godsend. To the delight of Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, Hearst, and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, McKinley got Congress to declare war on Spain. In the skirmish in Santiago you may recall that Roosevelt led a charge up San Juan Hill dressed in a uniform he ordered from Brooks Brothers. Although Congress in the Teller amendment had promised independence to Cuba, Secretary of War Elihu Root and Senator Orville Platt broke that promise by authoring the Platt amendment which gave the U.S. control of Cuba. Cuban outrage was championed by the Communist party which in 1925 was outlawed by the Cuban dictator Gerado Machado. Franklin Roosevelt encouraged the Cuban army to rebel and the turmoil produced a new dictator Fulgencio Batista. Our Batista encouraged American investors, including prominent gangsters, to build an empire of prostitution and gambling. Batista fled Cuba in 1959, a few steps ahead of Castro’s rebels. President Eisenhower was baffled to learn that Cubans, for some reason or other, did not like the U.S.A. And the rest remains the history of the early 21st century. Stay tuned for further developments.

2011, Amusing banter, Bank Robbery, Black humor, Clever Plot, Comedy, Complicated, Conspiracy, Crude Talk, Farce, Gangs, Mayhem, Satirical ultra-violence, Unusual

Flypaper (2011)

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From Netflix:

Two gangs unwittingly attempt to rob a bank at the same time, catching innocent Tripp in the middle of the action. He saves bank teller Kaitlin, and together they scheme to stay alive and out of love.

Looking for some laughs sprinkled with quite a bit of obscenity? Looking for a plot that entangles more and more as the film advances? Looking for some clever plot twists and turns? Go no farther — at times “Flypaper” is farce-funny. Most of the humor is due to the crazy characters, either bank employees or the genuine imbeciles trying to rob the bank.

Patrick Dempsey plays Tripp Kennedy, an obsessive compulsive not-so-idiot-savant. He and Ashley Judd are caught in the middle of the mayhem.

You may recognize Jeffrey Tambor as the Bluth family father from “Arrested Development”.

Pruitt Taylor Vince often plays a blathering redneck idiot, this film included. You might recognize him as the heavy-set supervisor from “The Mentalist” whose eyes never stopped circling.

Although it is a funny satire, to understand the complications at the end might be a challenge.

2013, Action Film, Amusing banter, Car Chase, CIA, Complicated, Conspiracy, Corruption, Crime, Cynical, Flirting, Gangs, Mayhem, Military, Navy, Nudity, Plot Twist, Violent, Witty dialog

2 Guns (2013)

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From Netflix:

Two special agents — one Naval intelligence, one DEA — partner for an undercover sting against a drug cartel that takes a serious wrong turn. Disavowed by their agencies, the pair goes on the run while trying to find out who set them up.

Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg make a fun team in this twisting and turning romp. According to the film’s philosophy just about everybody is a crook. Just start off by thinking the pair are just a couple of crooks aiming to rob a bank and let the plot take you by surprise. Many of today’s action films feature clever repartee between characters and this film is no exception. Needless to say the film is violent. As for sex, Paula Patton is slightly naked in just one scene.

Only in our cynical age could such plots be possible. Just because in fact the CIA installed our Pinochet in Chile after murdering Allende is no reason to think that CIA agents might be dishonest.

Have fun!

2002, Based on true facts, Basically Sad, Book Review, Conspiracy, Disturbing Image, Ethical struggles, Grim, Historical Fiction, Love Story, Murder Investigation, Revenge, Sadism, Spanish, Torture, Violent

El Peso del Silencio (2002) [Book Review]

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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!

1996, Abduction, Based on true facts, Bicycles, Book Review, British, Complicated, Conspiracy, Cynical, Daniel Silva, Ethical struggles, Flirting, Gangs, Gay theme, Gritty, International thriler, Love Story, Physical child abuse, Political Suspense, Sea Rescue, Sex Scenes, Small British village, Spy Theme, Suspense, Thriller, Violent, War, WWII

The Unlikely Spy (1996) [Book Review]

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Book Description:

In wartime,” Winston Churchill wrote, “truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” For Britain’s counterintelligence operations, this meant finding the unlikeliest agent imaginable-a history professor named Alfred Vicary, handpicked by Churchill himself to expose a highly dangerous, but unknown, traitor. The Nazis, however, have also chosen an unlikely agent: Catherine Blake, a beautiful widow of a war hero, a hospital volunteer-and a Nazi spy under direct orders from Hitler to uncover the Allied plans for D-Day…

Daniel Silva was a journalist and TV producer before he began his first novel “The Unlikely Spy” in 1994. This book was such a success that Silva left CNN in 1997 to pursue writing full-time. One of his more known series of books are those featuring the character Gabriel Allon.

Although Silva was born and raised in the U.S.A. (he was raised Catholic and converted to Judaism as an adult), in reading this novel you would swear he was British. We had just returned from visiting our daughter in London and it was an extra pleasure recognizing all the London streets, parks, and subway stops that figure in the plot.

Once you get used to the 20 or so characters that stay continually in the plot you may find this WW II spy novel a real page-turner. Besides the usual cloak and dagger details, the novel is saved from dryness by romances, personal ruminations, political one-upmanship, historical tidbits, and an essential focal point: an effort to prevent Berlin from knowing exactly where the allied invasion will be, i.e. Normandy.

Finally I stayed up late reading for three hours just to see how the final great chase after the clever Nazi spies ended.

2010, Acceptable Trash, Action Film, British, Car Chase, Conspiracy, Crude Talk, Explicit sex, International thriler, Kidnapping, Marital Infidelity, Military, Mixed Martial Arts, Nudity, Revenge, Spy Theme, Suspense, Terrorist Attack, Thriller, Torture, TV Series, Violent

Strike Back (2010)

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From Netflix:

Two members of an elite, secret branch of MI6 — a British sergeant and former U.S. Delta Force operative — track an international terrorist around the globe to thwart his plans to use weapons of mass destruction for a deadly attack.

Let’s suppose you read detective novels. Isn’t one novel similar to the next in many ways? But still you read the novels because you enjoy them.

Let’s suppose you love basketball. Isn’t one game similar to the next is many ways” But still you watch basketball.

In like manner “Strike Back” is a clone of, for example, “MI-5“. But still I continue to get an adolescent kick out of watching the good guys shoot the bad guys. However, the distinction between good guys and bad guys is ever more blurred in TV series such as “Strike Back” and others. Indeed a recurring theme is that of morally ambivalent choices directors make to achieve the “greater good”. “Collateral damage” anyone?

On a personal level this series features a competitive bromance between Philip Winchester (Sgt. Michael Stonebridge) and Sullivan Stapleton (Sgt. Damien Scott).

As an added bonus you are guaranteed in each episode to see (a usually naked) Sullivan Stapleton having sex with some (almost certainly naked) attractive and amply endowed woman. We call this bonus feature “Great Expectations”.

OK kids, have fun watching all the violence. Who do you suppose pays for all those exploded automobiles?

2013, Action Film, Conspiracy, FilmReview, Frenetic, Nothing special, Revenge, Suspense, Thriller, Violent, Witty dialog

White House Down (2013)

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From Netflix:

When a paramilitary group engineers a violent takeover of the White House, the president must try to hide from the attackers until he can be rescued. Caught up in the chaos, Secret Service agent John Cale ends up becoming his sole protection.

Just a short while ago we were treated to “Olympus Has Fallen“. Since then the theme hasn’t changed much. Just substitute Channing Tatum for Gerald Butler.

There is some humor injected into all the violence. Did you know that John Kennedy used the White House underground catacombs to sneak in Marilyn Monroe? History, after all, is important.

My inner adolescent had fun watching the same-old same-old. Do you think my inner adolescent will ever grow up?