From IMDB:
An architect is diagnosed with a rare eye disease, entering him into a surreal reality in which he sees people’s true motives. As the visions become intolerable, he falls for a mysterious woman and confronts the truth about his own identity.
From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 48 minute complete film. Characters and acting are well done. However, at times it may not be completely clear what is happening.
If you watch this film, let me know your take on the ending.
From IMDB:
Alice Nevers is a young and beautiful investigating judge. With her partner, policeman Fred Marchand, they use their own power to solve crimes to each their method.
From MHz Choice:
A popular and long-running French procedural, Alice Nevers is a tough and tenacious criminal prosecutor in a professional and personal partnership with police captain Fred Marquand.
From MHz Choice you can stream 4 seasons of this French detective series and continuing romance. Seasons 1 and 3 have 8 episodes. Season 2 has 6 and Season 4 has 10 episodes. Each episode last about 50 minutes.
Initially Alice has a child with a convicted thief Mathieu and for quite a while in the series she plans on raising that child with Mathieu when he gets out of prison. As the series progresses Fred Marquand and Alice fall in love but she remains faithful to Mathieu until Fred makes her accept the fact that Mathieu is dealing in an illicit diamond trade.
Nice mixture of crime and romance.
From Global Screen:
Based on the successful detective novels by Alexandra von Grothe. Mourning his wife’s death, Inspector Maurice LaBréa leaves Marseilles for Paris with his daughter Jenny. But Paris is no respite, for a ghastly copycat killer is imitating a killing spree around the Bastille that went on ten years ago.
From MHz Choice you can stream 3 episodes of this German language detective series set in Paris with English subtitles. Each episode lasts about an hour and a half.
All the crimes are ugly and brutal. Mutilated bodies are par for the course.
However, the central theme running through all the episodes is LaBrea’s loving concern for his daughter Jenny who encourages him to romance his beautiful painter neighbor who often takes care of Jenny when duty so often calls.
Somewhat old fashioned, nothing special, but plots consist of a nice contrast between the grim crimes and LaBrea’s personal life.
From IMDB:
The tenacious and stubborn DCI Banks unravels disturbing murder mysteries aided by his young assistants, DS Annie Cabbot and DI Helen Morton.
From Amazon Prime Brit Box (or just independently Brit Box) you can stream 5 seasons of this outstandingly tense British crime series. Almost all complete stories require two consecutive episodes. All seasons contain 6 episodes (i.e 3 stories) where each episode lasts about 45 minutes.
Season 1 contains 7 episodes because the first episode is the pilot called “Aftermath”. PLEASE DO NOT WATCH this episode because it is so ugly that you might not want to watch the rest of the series. Indeed the crimes in all the stories are disturbing but season 1 episode 1 is especially nasty.
Detectives Alan Banks, Annie Cabbot, and Helen Morton are present throughout. Alan falls in love with Annie and a constant theme is whether they will ever get together. Alan’s father is always an annoyance. Shaun Dooley plays a wonderfully infuriating evil criminal Steve Richards.
Kathy and I eagerly ploughed through all 30 episodes, exclaiming after each story “Wow!” In fact in one sitting we always watched two episodes making one complete story.
DO NOT MISS!
From Netflix:
Unhappily married aristocrat Lady Chatterley begins a torrid affair
— and falls deeply in love — with the gamekeeper on her husband’s country estate.
From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 7 minute film adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s (in)famous novel.
In addition to the French 2006 version which we reviewed recently, IMDB lists no less than 4 other versions (which includes this 2022 version). In a twist of irony Joely Richardson played Lady Chatterley in the 1993 version and now plays the elderly housekeeper Mrs. Bolton in this 2022 version.
Emma Corrin, who plays Lady Chatterley, played the younger Marion in “My Policeman” as well as Princess Diana Spencer in 8 episodes of “The Crown”.
Now I feel compelled to read the original unexpurgated version (99 cents on Kindle) just to see how faithful the screen adaptations were.
Actually the French version was more erotic than this 2022 version directed by the French actress Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre. Rest assured, however, that both versions offer an abundance of explicit sexual activity.
More than offering mere titillation, this version continues the tradition of including a social conscience.
From IMDB:
The story of a man who returns home on Christmas to settle his estranged mother’s estate. Once there, he discovers a diary that may hold secrets to his own past and of a beautiful young woman on a mysterious journey of her own.
From Netflix:
Cleaning out his childhood home at Christmas, a novelist meets a
woman searching for her birth mother. Will an old diary unlock
their pasts — and hearts?
From Netlix you can stream this 1 hour 40 minute romance drama.
While a step up from a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, this is still in the same vein. Of course the famous popular writer Jacob Turner (played by Justin Hartley) will eventually fall in love with Rachel (played by Barrett Doss).
And no, I have never heard of any of the actors.
Still, it is a relief from all the omnipresent violent entertainment in today’s streaming choices.
And it is NOT sappy.
From IMDB:
A lonely, obnoxious young millionaire pays a family to spend Christmas with him.
From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1.5 hour comedy.
As a perfect foil to Ben Affleck’s millionaire Drew Latham is James Gandolfini’s father-of-the-family Tom Valco. Affleck as an exaggerated comical focal point is a departure from his other films. He is actually quite successful in the part, as is Gandolfini (who, unfortunately for us, died in 2013.)
Everyone’s reaction to comedy is personal, but this film worked for me.
From IMDB:
Chefs in France. Competition drama and more.
From MHz Choice you can stream 2 seasons of this French soap opera centered around the competition between chefs. Season 1 offers 6 episodes whereas season 2 offers 8 episodes. Each episode is a bit under one hour. In French with English subtitles.
Where to begin! This over-the-top melodrama is something only the French could conjure and runs the gamut from vegetables to love to murder. Name a topic and it is probably involved. Still the gist of the series is:
You will not learn a single recipe even as you watch zillions of meals go by that are too precious or exotic to believe. Expect burglars, loan sharks, hired thugs, Russian roulette poisoned meals, betrayals, attack dogs, apprenticeships in using knives and preparing Chinese food, unwanted pregnancy, love affairs, murder, and difficult stays in prison to name a few. Did I mention over-the-top?
If this milieu appeals to you then, DO NOT MISS!
From IMDB:
A reclusive romance novelist on a book tour with her cover model gets swept up in a kidnapping attempt that lands them both in a cutthroat jungle adventure.
From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 51 minute comedy film.
Sandra Bullock comedies offer an easy way to relax. Here she teams up with Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, and Daniel Radcliffe. Bullock continues to look good whereas Tatum might be ageing past his young hunk persona. Pitt’s part of the story comes to an unexpected end. Radcliffe’s agent continues to develop his client’s role variety.
Amazing how Bullock and Tatum can hold their breath and swim for several minutes through an underwater tunnel!
Surprisingly vulgar and explicit at times, but still the kind of fun you would expect from a Bullock comedy.
From IMDB:
A guy and girl try to keep their relationship strictly physical, but it’s not long before they learn that they want something more.
From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 48 minute comedy drama.
Want to relax and watch some vulgar, fun semi-trash? Have I got a film for you! It’s wonderful when there is absolutely nothing to take seriously in a move.
Natalie Portman (as Emma) and Ashton Kutcher (as Adam) are a nice, funny couple. Kevin Kline as Adam’s thrice-married father about to marry someone his son used to date also deserves a mention.
When I catch myself grinning while watching some scene, is that a positive recommendation or a lapse of judgement on my part?