Category Archives: Middle school students

2015, Abortion, Acceptable Trash, Adultery, B-movie, British, Crude Talk, Divorce, Drama, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Jealousy, Made For TV, Marital Infidelity, Medical Theme, Melodrama, Middle school students, Mostly About Sex, Mother-son relations, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Revenge, School Teacher, Self-Deception, Sex Scenes, Sexual Tension, Suicide, Teenagers

Doctor Foster (2015)

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From IMDB:

A woman suspects her husband of having an affair. After following several lines of inquiry far more unravels including a streak of violence below the surface

From Netflix you can stream two seasons of this BBC soap opera. Each season consists of 5 episodes. At this point (July 2018) it is uncertain as to whether there will be a third season, even though the ending of season two cries for a continuation of the story.

Make no mistake, these 10 episodes comprise nothing better than a sex-and-revenge fueled soap opera. Nonetheless, yours truly binged frantically from episode to episode long after my wife lost interest in “pure tripe.”  But I have never been ashamed to admit that “I Love Trash!”

If you watch much British TV, then many of the actors will be familiar faces.  Most probably you may recognize Suranne Jones, who plays the lead role as Dr. Gemma Foster, as one of the team of women police detectives in “Scott & Bailey” (which I heartily recommend).

If for no other reason than to enjoy watching one of the best revenge dinners I have ever seen, put this potboiler on your list of guilty pleasures.

2016, Addiction, African American centered, Amazon Prime, Basically Sad, Bullying, Could Be Hard To Watch, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Emotional child abuse, Gay Bashing, Gay theme, Grim, Human spirit, Love Story, Middle school students, Mother-son relations, Personal Betrayal, Sex Scenes, Teenagers, Thought provoking, Uncategorized, Violent, Vulgar, Wonderful acting

Moonlight (2016)

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From IMDB:

A chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young, African-American, gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.

From Amazon Prime:

A moving, transcendent, award-winning look at 3 defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places.

From Amazon Prime you can stream “Moonlight”.

Gooseflesh must mean that I have just seen a perfectly made, beautifully acted, true to life, and really moving film. Here is a film all of whose actors are African American speaking their own patois. But much more important are the things left unsaid. Dialog is terse to non-existent, but each word carries a lot of weight, sometimes a world of pain. Hats off to the writer and director Barry Jenkins for getting his actors to exercise such verbal restraint.

Because each of the three parts of Chiron’s life (childhood, adolescence, adulthood) had its own set of players, there are just too many actors to mention. Nor is it fair to omit a name because each part was chiseled to perfection.  Therefore, to mention just a few:

  • Mahershala Ali (who played Juan) is instantly recognized as the character Remy Danton from “House of Cards”.
  •  Naomie Harris  played Chiron’s crack addicted mother. She presented both ugly, hurtful scenes and also a touching reunion with Chiron.
  • André Holland (who played the adult Kevin) played Dr. Algernon Edwards in the TV series “The Knick”.
  • Trevante Rhodes (who played the adult Chiron)  played Ramsey Walters in the TV series “If Loving You Is Wrong”.

Let us be grateful for our own situation in life as we watch this sad, sad portrait of Americans who have such limited opportunities.

DO NOT MISS!

 

 

2016, Abduction, Acceptable Trash, Bloody scenes, Bullying, Cancer theme, Frenetic, Grisly, Horror, Made For TV, Middle school students, Mother-son relations, Netflix Streaming, Occasional gore, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Teenagers, TV Series, Violent

Stranger Things (2016)

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From IMDB:

When a young boy disappears, his mother, a police chief, and his friends must confront terrifying forces in order to get him back.

Holy Middle School Nerds!

If my neighbors had not recommended the eight episodes of Season One of this sci-fi creeper, I would not have entered the “Upside Down World”. Unfortunately, once inside this semi-adult fantasy it is obsessively difficult to escape. So instead I binged-watched all the horror, high school romance, middle school bullying, and hysterics this TV series (streamable from Netflix) had to offer. To tell you the truth, it was a lot of fun and possibly a waste of time.

Winona Ryder we all know.  David Harbour has many roles to his name, including David Patrick from “State of Affairs” and Elliot Hirsch from “The Newsroom”.  Most of the cast were very young and did quite well. Indeed it seems to me that the middle school gang of four nerds got their literally hysterical parts just right.

If the plot grabs you, you will never escape. Supposedly there is a Season Two.