Category Archives: 2017

The Heart Guy (2017)

From Acorn TV:

Hugh Knight is a rising star in the Sydney heart surgery ranks. He is gifted, charmed, and infallible: a hedonist who – due to his sheer talent – believes he can live outside the rules. But after an incident involving drugs and alcohol, his world comes crashing down. Placed on the Impaired Registrants List for his part in the debacle by the Medical Board, he is banned from surgery and can only work as a local doctor. 

Acorn TV offers Series 1 with 10 episodes, each of approximately 45 minutes length.

Love, loss, sex, comic banter, medical practice, family, jealousy, close friendships, cancer, fatherhood: you name it, it’s all there in this fun-to-watch, very popular Australian TV series. Best of all there is nothing more violent than a fist fight or two.

This Aussie series is much less serious than another Acorn TV offering (which I highly recommend) called “A Place To Call Home” even though there are some sad parts.

WARNING: Episode 10 ends ambiguously, probably in preparation for another season.

Need something “feel good” to watch?  Then don’t miss this show!

 

Life (2017)

From IMDB:

A team of scientists aboard the International Space Station discover a rapidly evolving life form, that caused extinction on Mars, and now threatens the crew and all life on Earth.

Netflix sent me a DVD for this film.

“Why” I asked “would Jake Gyllenhaal appear in a sci-fi film? He is so much better than that.”  Just wait until you see this film, which is probably one of the tensest sci-fi films I have ever seen, in which Gyllenhaal makes true and convincing use of his talents.

WARNING: This film is very upsetting with lots of gore. Not that it is a gore-fest, it is just that the very troubling plot demands the gore.  In a certain accurate sense, this film is a classy horror film. If you are subject to nightmares, DO NOT SEE THIS FILM!

SPOILER ALERT: Read no more of this review if you intend to watch the excitement.  Movies that end with irony are all the rage now, and this film is no exception. Do not expect a happy ending. Do expect a complete Shakespearean tragedy.

YOU COULD BE SORRY!!!!

Striking Out (2017)

From Acorn TV:

Tara Rafferty (Amy Huberman, The Clinic) is living the good life: she’s a successful Dublin lawyer engaged to a fellow solicitor. But Tara’s life is turned upside down after she discovers her betrothed in bed with a colleague. Abandoning her wedding plans (and her job), Tara strikes out on her own, starting an unconventional private practice. Hailed as “a roaring success” (Irish Independent), this legal drama charmed audiences across the pond, quickly becoming Ireland’s #1 new drama. Neil Morrissey (Line of Duty, Grantchester, The Night Manager) and Rory Keenan (War & Peace, Peaky Blinders) co-star.

From Acorn TV you can stream the 4 episodes of Season One. Season Two is now in production over the summer of 2017.

Kathy and I could not wait to see each new episode. Along side of the continuing saga of her fiancée  Erik’s betrayal (and the accompanying pressures of both their socially ambitious families), each episode presents a different law Client for Tara. There is absolutely no violence.  Tara gathers around her a really quirky and nice set of characters.

Expect a cliff-hanger ending of episode 4, which clearly means to suggest an oncoming new season.

If you are a “Doc Martin” kind of person, you will enjoy “Striking Out”.