Category Archives: Explicit sex

2009, Car Chase, Conspiracy, Dark, Detective, Explicit sex, Gay theme, Grim, Nudity, Rape, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Violent

The Girl Who Played With Fire (2009)

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From NetFlix:

Tech expert Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) becomes the prime suspect when two journalists, including Dag Svensson (Hans Christian Thulin), die after Millennium magazine publisher Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) launches an exposé of the Swedish sex trade. In Part 2 of the trilogy based on the action novels of Stieg Larsson, the vampiric Salander vanishes as Blomkvist digs deep into a possible conspiracy.

Here we discuss the Swedish version.

You should first (read and) see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009) which is the first book of the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Actors from the first film continue into the second film which follows faithfully the book such that its ending will flow into the third book.

Fortunately the DVD from Netflix allowed me to have both English dubbing as well as SDH subtitles for the hard-of-hearing. The dubbing does not match exactly the subtitles, but that does not matter. Moreover, the dubbing is spoken with very clear diction. If your hearing ever suffers you may discover that American actors often mumble because diction lessons are not part of the American acting tradition.

This time around I appreciated the actor Michael Nyqvist better and found that he fit the part. He is somewhat inert, but perhaps that is the intent. In general it is revealing to first read the novel and then compare your mental pictures of the characters with the actors chosen.

There is an explicit Lesbian sex scene. There is a rape scene.

2008, Acceptable Trash, Explicit sex, Gay theme, Love Story, Made For TV, Nudity, Occasional gore, Psychic Phenomena, Serial Killer, Suspense, Vampire, Violent

True Blood (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Mind-reading waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin, in a Golden Globe-winning role) dives into a complicated relationship when she falls for vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) in a world where the undead live openly and drink synthetic blood. Trying to improve their image and legitimize their finances, the out-of-the-coffin bloodsuckers hire PR firms and contribute to influential Republican politicians, among other tactics.

Get ready for two seasons of sex, violence, vampires in a well-made TV series of pure unadulterated fun and trash. From episode to episode the writers just get it right. A very young cast does a superb acting job. After watching for awhile I find myself thinking in a southern drawl. This is not gorn (gory porn). For a series on vampires, the writing is thoughtful and metaphorical. By metaphorical I mean that the premise of the series is that the United States is now in an epoch in which vampires are asserting their constitutional rights as is also the gay population. People now get addicted to the new drug of choice: vampire blood (known as “V”). Eventually characters get unwittingly involved with far-right groups out to attack vampires (and gays). Other oddities appear such as shape shifters. The sex is quite explicit and plentiful.

I LOVE TRASH !

2009, Child Molestation, Could Be Hard To Watch, Dark, Detective, Explicit sex, Nudity, Occasional gore, Rape, Revenge, Sadism, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Swedish, Violent

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2009)

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From NetFlix:

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and rebellious computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) team up to investigate the unsolved disappearance of wealthy Henrik Vanger’s (Sven-Bertil Taube) teen niece (Ewa Fröling), only to uncover dark secrets about Vanger’s powerful family. Niels Arden Oplev directs this Swedish thriller based on the first novel from Stieg Larsson’s best-selling trilogy.

Note: This 2009 version is the Swedish version.

Currently (2010) Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy is very popular. After having read the first of the trilogy, namely The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2005), I preferred the book to the film. Although there were many moments of good acting, in general there was also an awful lot of thoughtful staring (which in today’s films seems often like a substitute for more active acting). To control length the film omits many details from the novel. While not necessary, these details connect the books of the trilogy to one another.

Lisbeth Salander is striking. What was a surprise for me that the actor playing Mikael Blomkvist is a somewhat paunchy, not at all handsome, and often hesitant man. To his credit he shows fear when he should. To say it another way, he is NOT a macho character.

Needless to say, the film does preserve in explicit detail the famous scene in which Lisbeth’s lawyer guardian rapes her, together with her ingenious revenge.

2005, Drama, Explicit sex, Historical Fiction, Made For TV, Military, Nudity, Revenge, Violent, War

Rome HBO BBC (2005)

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From NetFlix:

Follow the saga of two ordinary Roman soldiers — Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo (Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson) — and their families amid the rise and fall of the Roman republic and the creation of an empire. The fates of Pullo and Vorenus become entwined with those of Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra and the young Octavian, a strange and awkward child who, by political guile and force, is destined to become the first emperor of Rome

There is a pay-TV series “Spartacus: Sand and Blood” which is mostly sex and violence pornography. However, the HBO and BBC production of “Rome”, in addition to sex and violence pornography, offers an engrossing history lesson. You will find in the Wikipedia article a good summary (at the very end of the article) of the historical inaccuracies and omissions in the series. It did not take long before I was hooked. The writing is good and the “conceit” that we can view a sweep of history through the eyes of Pullo and Vorenus actually works.

2005, Book Review, Child Molestation, Complicated, Dark, Detective, Explicit sex, Kidnapping, Occasional gore, Plot Twist, Rape, Revenge, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Violent

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2005)

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From the book jacket:

Harriet Vanger, scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Stieg Larsson has written a trilogy entitled “Millennium” whose three books in order are:

  • The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
  • The Girl Who Played With Fire
  • The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest

My Vintage Books paperback edition is 644 pages long. Because the book is such a page-turner I devoured the book in a weekend. I was intent on reading the book before I watched the Danish film version.

Much of the narrative alternates often between the activities of Blomkvist and Salander, somewhat like ships in the night. Eventually they work closely together. Take “closely” to have two meanings because Blomkvist in the course of the novel sleeps with three different women.

Expect some graphic rape scenes, sadistic serial killings, and really nasty members of the Vanger clan. Also expect to have a lot of fun.

Initially I tried to maintain a written list of the many characters. Finally the novel itself provides a table of Vanger family members to which I often referred.

2005, Detective, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, German, Nudity, Religious Theme, Serial Killer

Antibodies (2005)

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From NetFlix:

After confessed killer Gabriel Engel (André Hennicke) is captured, small-town cop Michael Martens (Wotan Wilke Möhring) interrogates him, hoping a journey into the madman’s twisted mind will give clues to an unsolved murder committed in the same heinous manner as Gabriel’s crimes. Gabriel claims to know the killer’s identity but turns the investigation into a psychological game, leaving Michael questioning his own sanity in this German thriller.

This German film is easily one of the best serial killer films I have seen. There are two themes intimately related: On the one hand there is the usual tug of war between a jailed serial killer (think “Hannibal Lector”) and a rural policeman with whom the killer is willing to converse. On the other hand the policeman is a decent, religious man at odds with his father-in-law. In jousting with the killer the policeman struggles to remain non-cynical and to believe is the possibility of good and innocence.

Finally the plot drives toward an unexpected twist at which I will not even hint. However, I was disappointed in a part of that very ending which seemed a bit contrived. Opinions ?

Please ignore the very opening of the film. It is sensationalistic and gory and need not even be watched to enjoy the rest of the film.

2009, Black and White Film, Child Molestation, Dark, Explicit sex, German, Gloomy

The White Ribbon (2009)

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From NetFlix:

At a rural school in northern Germany in 1913, a form of ritual punishment has major consequences for students and faculty. But the practice may have bigger repercussions on the German school system — and maybe even on the growth of fascism. Celebrated Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke helms this Golden Globe-winning, sumptuously photographed black-and-white drama that stars Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Tukur and Theo Trebs.

Quite possibly the gloomiest, most depressing, hopeless, and exasperating film I have ever seen. The gloom is aided and abetted by the fact that it is filmed in black and white with an emphasis on black. In fact, the houses in this pre-electric period were probably quite dark.

If you believe this film, pre-WWI rural Germans were beasts. What a wonderful collection of men who commit incest, men who treat their sex partners like dirt, undiscovered villagers that maim horses, torture retarded children, kill house pets, burn down buildings, etc. The pastor is such a strict disciplinarian that he canes his children, forces them to wear white ribbons (which mean that they are bad people who need to reform), and ties his son’s hands each night to the bed lest the boy masturbate. Need I continue ?

If you can stand this atmosphere, then as an art film it is excellent. Assumedly you really get a feeling for life in that era. I just hope it is historically accurate.

2009, Atom Egoyan, Drama, Erotic Thriller, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Mostly About Sex, Nudity, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Vulgar

Chloe (2009)

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From NetFlix:

Suspecting her husband, David (Liam Neeson), of infidelity, doctor Catherine (Julianne Moore) hires sexy escort Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) to seduce him and test his faithfulness. But as Catherine checks in on Chloe’s encounters with David, Chloe’s reports become increasingly lurid. Soon, the relationships between all three intensify in unexpected ways. Renowned filmmaker Atom Egoyan directs this psychological drama

Not until the middle of this erotic thriller did I begin to suspect the truth. In fact for much of the beginning I almost dismissed the film as a mediocre excuse for “talking dirty”. But I stayed the course thinking that Julianne Moore just does not do cheap films. Up to the very last seconds this film remains sexually ambivalent.

Amada Seyfried is deviously beautiful as the “other woman”. Every now and then I could almost mistake her for Scarlett Johanssen (which can also be spelled “Johansson”). In this film she is certainly not the wonderful girlfriend in Dear John (2010)

Worthy film or not ? I am not sure. Opinions welcome.

2009, Crime, Detective, Drugs, Explicit sex, Gangs, Nudity, Police Story, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Violent

Brooklyn’s Finest (2009)

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From NetFlix:

Antoine Fuqua directs this tense drama about three wildly different New York cops whose paths collide in a Brooklyn housing project, where each must make a decision that will change the course of their lives forever. Cynical, washed-up Eddie (Richard Gere) no longer cares about the job or the rules; cash-strapped Sal (Ethan Hawke) sees a shortcut to solvency; and Tango (Don Cheadle) is torn between conflicting loyalties. Ellen Barkin co-stars.

Grim is the word that comes to mind, in addition to violent, bloody, despairing, cynical, etc. The scenes switch rapidly and constantly among the three separate stories. Only one officer reaches anything resembling positive closure and I’m not telling. Instead of watching this film, why not go and hug someone you love ?

2008, Drama, Explicit sex, Nudity, Terrorist Attack

Incendiary (2008)

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From NetFlix:

Director Sharon Maguire’s powerful drama stars Michelle Williams as an adulterous young housewife struggling to come to terms with the deaths of her husband and infant son after they’re killed in a terrorist bombing at a London soccer game. Crippled by grief, the widow seeks comfort through affairs with two men (Ewan McGregor and Matthew Macfadyen), inadvertently putting herself in the midst of a dangerous love triangle

Michelle Williams is the center and most of this film. Tangentially her orbit is touched by her husband, by Ewan McGregor, by Matthew Macfadyen, by the son of a terrorist, and most of all by her little boy. Here is an imperfect young woman victimized by an imperfect world inhabited by terrorists. Her story, her reactions, and her final “solution” are a creative set of imagined circumstances that are more or less plausible.

Toward the end of the film her non-acceptance fantasies continued, for me, a bit too long. Don’t expect a perfect ending.