Category Archives: Drama

2019, Abuse of Women, Acceptable Trash, Bad high school, Career Competition, Child abuse, Cold Cases, Complicated, Corny at times, Dancing, Detective, DNA, Drama, Emotional child abuse, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Fashion, Gay theme, Illegitimate Child, Mediocre, Melodrama, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Narcissistic Personality, Netflix Streaming, Psychopath, Sex Scenes, Sociopath, Suspense, Uncategorized, Unscrupulous drive to power, Violent, Womanizing

What/If (2019)

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From IMDB:

An anthology series which tackles a different morality tale, and the ripple effect of a single decision that changes the trajectory of an entire life.

From Netflix you can stream 10 episodes of this soap opera. Each episode lasts between 40 and 60 minutes.

Anne Montgomery is the villain and most prominent feature of this acceptable trashy melodrama. She is played by Renee Zellweger (Bridget Jones) who looks awfully good for her 50 years. Of course it does not hurt her appearance to wear not only tons of makeup but to wear in each new appearance an astounding designer creation. Best of all you can hear her lisp for all ten episodes.

Harlequin Books, the leaders in trashy bodice-rippers, will send you a story plot and will pay you to fill in the details. Suppose, in similar fashion you want to write a Netflix Original screenplay. What should be in the plot to be current in 2019?  Here are some suggestions (where we were motivated by this marvelous series):

  • In each couple, one of the partners must be hiding some terrible, guilty secret which prevents that person from being truly open with the other person.
  • One of the couples must be a gay couple. They should engage in least some filmed threesome sexual activity.
  • For each couple there must be a third party who has some destructive relation to one of the partners.
  • Some character must be a homicidal sociopath.
  • Financial dealings must complicated by the fact that you can never know whom to trust.

Probably I could extend the list, but those selling points should be enough to tempt you to watch almost 10 hours of acceptable trash. As a further inducement to wasting all that time, I am happy to reveal that by the end of episode ten, all problems have been resolved. Moreover, the plot leaves an opening for another thrilling set of trashy episodes.

Thanks to former colleague Kellie Trainer for suggesting this binge-worthy series. She and I have a motto:

WE LOVE TRASH!

2018, Bloody scenes, Contract Maiming, Drama, Drugs, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Grim, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Rape, Spanish, Tragedy, Violent

Your Son (2018)

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From IMDB:

When his son is sent to the hospital after being hit by strangers, a father tries to find them regardless of the consequences.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 43 minute complete from  Spain. Dialog is in Spanish but  you can choose English subtitles.

From beginning to end this Shakespearean tragedy is a slow-moving downer.  Throughout the film  the constant foreboding suspense centers on what on earth the surgeon father is going to do. next.

As far as film making goes, this is a very well done, frighteningly understated story. Do not expect a happy ending.

2017, Acorn TV, Based on a Book, Based on true facts, Bicycles, Biographical, British, Brother-Brother relations, Brother-Sister relations, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Mental Illness, Mother-son relations, Psychiatrists, Punjab Culture, Race Relations, Romance, Schizophrenia, Small gem of a film

The Boy With The Topknot (2017)

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From IMDB:

One-off drama based on the critically acclaimed memoirs of British journalist Sathnam Sanghera. A touching, humorous and emotional rites-of-passage story.

From  Acorn TV:

Based on a critically acclaimed memoir, this BBC drama is the touching and humorous story of Sathnam (Sacha Dhawan, Iron Fist), a second-generation Indian raised in Britain, who struggles to reconcile his traditional upbringing with his multicultural modern life. “Soul-searching and impeccably acted” (The Telegraph), it also stars Joanna Vanderham (The Paradise) and Deepti Naval (Lion).

From Acorn TV you can stream this 87 minute complete film.

Without giving anything away, the underlying motivation for the story is that Sathnam wants to marry a white girl outside his Punjabi culture and is afraid to tell his mother. Years ago he left his family to work in the white world of London journalism. When he returns to his family (in another part of London) he makes many discoveries about his family of which he was blithely unaware starting with the fact that his father is schizophrenic.

Call this film a “rare find” or small “gem of a film”. In any case,

DO NOT MISS!

2015, Acorn TV, Based on a Book, British, Brother-Brother relations, Cancer theme, Carpentry, Could Be Sad, Deportation, Detective, Drama, Ethical struggles, Failing Marriage, Lawyers, Mother-daughter relations, Romance, Terminal Disease, Terrorists, Wrongful Arrest

Capital (2015)

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From IMDB:

The residents of an affluent street in London are busy getting on with their lives, when suddenly something very strange happens. Every house in the street has an identical, mysterious postcard pushed through their letterboxes that simply states “WE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE”. At first, the residents of Pepys Road dismiss the notes as some sort of marketing campaign but gradually as events begin to escalate it becomes clear that there is something more to this strange occurrence than something as mundane as that.

From Acorn TV:

Based on John Lanchester’s bestselling novel, this complex and resonant drama starring Toby Jones and Rachael Stirling is a “beguiling” (The Daily Telegraph, UK) and “alarmingly recognizable” (The Times, UK) depiction of contemporary life in England’s capital city.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 4 episodes of the one season complete story.  Each episode is about 45 minutes.

Five subplots associated with the same block in London are involved:

  • Ahmed’s Pakistani family runs the corner grocer. One of his brothers is falsely accused of terrorism.
  • Roger (Toby Jones) is an investor with a ridiculing wife.
  • Mary (Lesley Sharp) looks after her ailing mother Petunia (Gemma Jones).
  • Bogdan is a Polish is a building contractor who falls in love with Roger’s nanny. He is renovating Petunia’s residence because Petunia dies and Mary wants to sell.
  • Quentina, the neighbor auxiliary policewoman, has VISA problems.

Lesley Sharp played DC Janet Scott in the enjoyable series “Scott and Bailey”.  Gemma Jones, who was 73 during the production, has a huge resume including playing Claire Slater in the TV series “Unforgotten”.

Almost every subplot, except for one real tragedy, ends happily. Fearing the worst, I was almost afraid to watch the fourth and final episode.  Well worth the watch!

 

2004, Acorn TV, Basically Sad, British, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Dysfunctional Lives, Emotional abuse, Extramarital Affair, Human spirit, Husband leaves wife, Marital Infidelity, Mother-son relations, Religious Theme, Sensitive treatement of emotions, Sister-sister relations

Belonging (2004)

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From Acorn TV:

Brenda Blethyn (Vera) and Kevin Whately (Inspector Lewis) are Jess and Jacob Copplestone, a married couple caring for his elderly relatives. But when Jacob leaves her, Jess must adapt to her new life. Based on the acclaimed novel and written by BAFTA winner Alan Plater (The Last of the Blonde Bombshells), this tale of love lost is a tender, perceptive, and humorous portrait of human endurance.

From Acorn TV you can stream this 95 minute complete film.

For years we have watched Brenda Blethyn play the detective DCI Vera Stanhope in which she is a crusty, emotionless older and not especially attractive woman.  However,  here as Jess Copplestone she comes across as a very attractive, long-suffering, unselfish and nice person.

For years we have watched Kevin Whately play Masterpiece Mystery’s Inspector Lewis as the successor to Inspector Morse   in which he is a standard detective.  Here he gets the chance to play the villain Jacob: a selfish, cowardly, middle-age man who leaves his wife for a younger woman whom he has gotten pregnant.  In this role he is very convincing.

Hats off to Rosemary Harris whose portrayal of Jacob’s mother May as a nasty, demanding “bitch” (as she is called in the film) is unpleasantly perfect.

WARNING: This is potentially a sad film in which you probably should not expect a happy ending.  When it started I thought “Oh, this is too painful to watch”. But when I started to leave, fortunately the wonderful acting held me like a magnet. Brenda Blethyn alone is worth the price of admission.

DO NOT MISS!

 

2018, Based on true facts, Biographical, Civil Rights, Courtroom scenes, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Father-daughter relations, Lawyers, Medical Theme, Mother-daughter relations, Romance, Women's Equality

On the Basis of Sex (2018)

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From IMDB:

The true story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, her struggles for equal rights, and the early cases of a historic career that lead to her nomination and confirmation as U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice.

Are you interested in a truly inspirational film?  Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a heroine for our Trump-troubled times.  “True Grit” characterizes  not only her portrayal in the film, but even today as she refuses to give in to such trifling problems as cancer.

Felicity Jones was a perfect choice for the lead role. Nor did it hurt to have Armie Hammer play her devoted husband. In the follow-up notes at the end of the film we learn that Ruth and Martin were married for 56 years.

Imagine Sam Waterston playing a villain, namely, Erwin Griswold. Kathy Bates is just right as crusty Dorothy Kenyon. Justin Theroux as Mel Wulf inspired me to make a contribution to the ACLU.

Let us hope that Ruth Bader Ginsburg outlasts Donald Trump.

DO NOT MISS!

2007, Acorn TV, Animal story, Assisted Suicide, Australian, Blackmail, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Ethical struggles, Father-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Sheep Farmers, Small Town

Rain Shadow (2007)

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From Acorn TV:

After a 10-year drought, tensions reach a breaking point in the small Australian farming town of Paringa when a mysterious disease begins to ravage the local sheep. Tough-minded veterinarian Kate McDonald (Rachel Ward, The Thorn Birds) struggles to save her community with the help of a feisty new assistant (Victoria Thaine, The Caterpillar Wish).

From IMDB:

Rain Shadow was shot in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia and is set in the fictional district of Paringa, a dry land farming area in a rain shadow. It tells the story of two characters who become the means of each other’s future. It stars Rachel Ward as district vet Kate McDonald and Victoria Thaine as new veterinary assistant Jill Blake

From Acorn TV you can stream  6 episodes, each episode lasting about 50 minutes, of this Australian production.

A rain shadow is an area of land that lies behind a mountain which gets almost no rainfall. This side of a mountainous area is away from the wind.  Even this film from 2007 speaks several times of climate change.

Life in this remote part of South Australia in a rain shadow is harsh and difficult. Survival of a farm is precarious at best and an awful lot of hard work. As a consequence the inhabitants of Paringa are a tough group of people who interact at times begrudgingly. In this story the farmers that we meet raise sheep, many of whom are infected with Johne’s disease.

Johne’s disease is a contagious, chronic, and usually fatal infection that affects primarily the small intestine of ruminants. Johne’s disease is caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis , a hardy bacterium related to the agents of leprosy and TB.

Of the several themes in this story, including Kate’s hidden sorrow and farm foreclosures,  the Johne’s disease is prominent. Jill’s ethical struggle is whether to notify the authorities about the problem, which would lower the property and sale values of the sheep farms.

As a welcome relief from crime stories, this very human drama is well worth seeing.  If you liked “A Place To Call Home”, then these 6 episodes are a must see.

2018, Amazon Prime, Amusing banter, Based on true facts, British, British Comedy, British Politics, Career Competition, Comedy, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Courtroom scenes, Drama, Eccentric cast of characters, Explicit sexual discussion, Extramarital Affair, Farce, Gay theme, Homophobia, Lot's of Fun, Mother-son relations, Murder, Personal Betrayal, Sex Scenes, True Story, Witty dialog

A Very English Scandal (2018)

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From Amazon Prime:

The shocking true story of the first British politician to stand trial for conspiracy to murder. Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant), the leader of the Liberal party, has a secret he’s desperate to hide. His ex-lover Norman Scott (Ben Whishaw) is putting Thorpe’s brilliant political career at risk so Thorpe schemes and deceives until he realizes there’s only one way to silence Scott for good.

From Amazon Prime you can stream a true one-season drama divided into 3 one hour episodes.

Recall that in 1967 Britain decriminalized homosexual acts between two men over 21 years of age. This true story takes place before and after that year, which influences how the characters behave. Do not be alarmed. Although the entire story centers around homosexuality in the British culture and law, the only sexual activity you will see is men kissing each other.

This drama is a COMEDY. You have to appreciate the restraint of British humor. Characters will say or plan outrageous events with a perfectly straight face.  Two characters will commit conspiracy to murder without showing emotion. But much of the time,  it is  tongue in cheek. Sometimes I had to laugh out loud.

Certain actors stand out:

  • An ageing Hugh Grant (he looks to me much older than his 58 years)  plays Jeremy Thorpe the plotting politician.  His facial expressions show him to be an accomplished actor.
  • Ben Whishaw plays the somewhat flamboyant Norman Scott who tends to break into tears now and then. He won a golden globe award for his role.
  • Alex Jennings is Jeremy’s best friend and co-conspirator. His 61 years also show. He played King Leopold in Victoria and also played Dr. Tim Finch in Unforgotten.

At the very end you get to see the photographs of the actual persons involved and how their lives turned out.  Norman Scott is still alive.

It is a HOOT!

 

2018, Abortion, Abuse of Women, Adopted child, Adultery, Amazon Prime, Antique Cars, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, British, British Mystery Series, Brother-Brother relations, Brother-Sister relations, Clever Plot, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Dysfunctional Lives, Emotional child abuse, Extramarital Affair, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Illegitimate Child, Jealousy, Marital Infidelity, Mental Illness, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Revenge, Romance, Sex with underage girls, Sister-sister relations, Soap Opera, Stepchild, Unmarried mother

Ordeal by Innocence (2018)

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From Amazon Prime:

When wealthy philanthropist, Rachel Argyll, is murdered at her family estate, her adopted son Jack is arrested for her murder. He vehemently protests his guilt and eighteen months later, the identity of the murder is thrown in doubt. Now it is up to the rest of the family to decipher a killer amongst them.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 3 episodes of this complete story. Each episode lasts about one hour.

Only at times did the drama seemed to drag a bit. But the plot and the characters are so well developed that we could not resist bingeing.  Have fun trying to spot the killer in this unhappy family in which the 5 children (all adopted) have all been mistreated by Rachel, their witch of a mother.

Several of the British actors may be familiar to you. Rachel, the murdered victim, is played by Anna Chancellor. Her husband Leo is played by  Bill Nighy.  Philip Durrant, the bitter son-in-law is played by Matthew Goode.

Included in the plot are one of the best pieces of revenge I have seen in a film.

For what it is worth, in the United States only Virginia prohibits the marriage of step-siblings.

If you are a fan of mystery soap operas, DO NOT MISS!

 

 

1996, Abduction, Adopted child, Alcoholism, Amazon Prime, Assisted Suicide, Bloody scenes, British Mystery Series, Bullying, Child abuse, Cold Cases, Detective, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Drugs, Emotional child abuse, Ethical struggles, Failing Marriage, Father-son relations, Forensic pathologist, Gay Bashing, Homophobia, Jealousy, Mental Illness, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Prison, Psychological Drama, Revenge, Romance, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Sexual Tension, Sister-sister relations, Stepchild, Suicide, Suspense, Teenagers, Theft

Silent Witness (1996)

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From Amazon Prime:

Forensic pathologist Dr. Sam Ryan has an all-embracing, passionate notion of justice that can lead to trouble in her personal and professional lives, but to Sam, each dead body deserves the truth.

Believe it or not, this detective series which takes place in Cambridge, England has twenty-two (22) seasons.  In fact from Amazon Prime you can stream seasons 1 through 21. Season 1 offers 4 complete stories, each about 1.5 hours. In seasons from number 2 onward  each of the 4 stories consists of two shorter episodes (about 45 minutes) instead of one long episode.

Normally I don’t review until I have finished all the seasons but 21 seasons could take a long time to get through.  Unfortunately every story we have seen so far has been so good that we are tempted to binge watch. When wife Kathy wants to continue watching “NOW!”, that is a sign we have latched onto something worthwhile. “Law and Order” was another example of years of watchable entertainment.

Amanda Burton, born and raised in Northern Ireland, plays the stunning and determined forensic pathologist Dr. Sam Ryan (yes, HER name is Sam). Many other actors survive from season to season but Burton is the shining star.

Running through the seasons are her relations with her sister and working colleagues and her love affairs. As is often the case in detective stories (she is not a member of the police department) there is the usual conflict of her personal life with her professional life. An added complication is that she gets emotionally involved not only with her cases but also with various colleagues with whom she has serious differences of opinion regarding her cases.

FIRST AMENDED REVIEW: Sam last appears in Season 8 episodes 1 and 2 entitled “A Time To Heal”. She leaves the job eventually a young woman takes her place.  From then on the series goes somewhat downhill: first the plots start to look like any old American gangster story, and secondly the episode descriptions found on the Amazon web site and the descriptions that you download with the episodes are misplaced. We stopped watching at that point.

SECOND AMENDED REVIEW: My advice is now to continue with Season 8. When a story seems boring or mediocre, just skip to the next story. Remember each story consists of 2 episodes. It won’t be long before the stories become better. As of this amendment I am on Season 11 and it is dynamite.

THIRD AMENDED REVIEW: In Season 8 Episode 5 we first meet Dr. Nikki Alexander as a young woman just starting her career as a forensic pathologist.  From then on through all of Season 22 she remains in the series whereas almost all the other actors are replaced.  For the 15 seasons you actually see the actress Emilia Fox age as do the other actors. This character is wonderful to the very end of the series.

Sometimes grim but always engaging drama! DO NOT MISS!