Category Archives: Government cover-up

2021, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Acceptable for teenagers, Addiction, Amputee, Angola, Attempted Murder, Based on true facts, Binge worthy, Bloody scenes, Bureaucracy, CIA, Cold War, Communists, Complicated, Conspiracy, Corrupt Military, Corrupt Politicians, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Cover-up, Cruelty, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, FADO songs, False Accusations, False Imprisonment, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Frame someone for a crime, Government cover-up, Historical Fiction, Hostage Taking, International thriler, Invincible villain, Jealousy, Lesbian Theme, Local color, Longsuffering wife, Love Story, Male Chauvinism, Marital Infidelity, Military, Missing Person, Monstrous Father, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder by poison, Mysterious Disappearance, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Pianist, Plot twists, Police Corruption, Police cover-up, Political Intrigue, Portuguese, Portuguese History, Portuguese-Angola War, Promiscuity, Puzzling Ending, Radio Free Europe, Rape, Revenge, Russian Anti-USA Scheme, Russian Spy, Ruthless Killer, Sex Scenes, Sexual promiscuity, Spousal Abuse, Suicide, Surprise Ending, Suspense, Tennis, Thriller, Torture, Traitors, Trust Nobody, Unhappy Marriage, Unwanted Pregnancy, Violent, War, Wife Beating, Womanizing, Wrongful Arrest

Glória (2021)

From IMDB:

In the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, in the small village of Glória do Ribatejo, João Vidal will take on several high-risk espionage missions that could change the course of Portuguese and world history.

From Netflix you can stream the 10 episodes of this Portuguese spy thriller.  Each episode lasts about 45 minutes. In Portuguese and English with subtitles.

RARET is short for portuguese RAdio de RETransmissão (Retransmission Radio).  Think of RARET as Radio Free Europe.  An article in the New York Times suggested this film to me. That article, which is worth reading, begins as follows:

————————————————————————-

Anyone who didn’t live through the Cold War might find the Portuguese Netflix spy thriller series “Glória” improbable.

Deep in the Portuguese countryside, in the tiny village of Glória, a complex radio transmission operation run by Portuguese and American engineers springs up in the 1950s, a branch of a Munich-based news organization called Radio Free Europe.

It broadcasts news and anti-communist messages in languages of various Soviet republics, but, in the show and in real life, that’s only part of its early mission: It’s also a C.I.A. front.

Until 1971, Radio Free Europe was a covert U.S. intelligence operation seeking to penetrate the Iron Curtain and foment anti-communist dissent in what was then Czechoslovakia, in Poland and elsewhere.

João (Portuguese for John) is a Russian spy seeking to undermine the activities of RARET.  Through 10 episodes we watch his masterful deceits while many around him get hurt as a result. To really appreciate the story you might brush up on some Portuguese history such as its imperialism (especially in Angola), the dictator Salazar, and PIDE (the Portuguese secret police).

Because the very ending comes as a complete and puzzling surprise, after finishing the series you can read an explanation.

Do not expect much happiness. But – DO NOT MISS!

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Accidental Death, Amazon Prime Brit Box, Based on true facts, Basically Sad, Binge worthy, Bloody scenes, British Drama, British History, British Police, British Politics, Detective, Drama, Ethical struggles, Everybody lies, Family Secrets, Father-son relations, Fight Scenes, Government cover-up, Historical Fiction, Manslaughter, Marital Infidelity, Miners, Miners versus Scabs, Murder, Occasionaly violent, Panic Attacks, Personal Betrayal, Police cover-up, Police Culture, Police Investigation, Redemption, Revenge, Sister-sister relations, Small British village, Suicide, Suspense, Undercover police spy, Undercover police work, Violent, Wonderful acting, Yorkshire Accents

Sherwood (2022)

From IMDB:

Two shocking and unexpected murders shatter an already fractured community leading to one of the largest manhunts in British history.

From Amazon Prime Brit Box you can stream the 6 episodes of this north England series. Each episode is just under an hour.

In 1984 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher crushed a coal miner’s strike, thereby earning her title of “Iron Lady.”  Hard feelings between the striking miner’s and those who continued to work, so-called “scabs”,  have persisted from then on.  Sherwood is a small town historically associated with Robin Hood.  Of all the town’s inhabitants only one family is a “scab” family.  Striker versus scab is the paramount theme of this series which continually bounces back and forth between 1984 and the present.

Past tragedies involved the  young policemen and miners who now are middle age going on retirement.  One challenge in watching this series is to match the young characters with their present-day versions.

There are three vital subplots:

  • Someone is murdering people with a crossbow. We soon learn who and the police hunt is intense.
  • Andy Fisher inadvertently kills his daughter-in-law and the hunt is on.
  • In 1984 there was an undercover police spy, dubbed the “spy cop”, who incorporated his-or-herself into the community.  Again there is this third hunt to find the “spy cop.”

If you watch much British drama you will recognize many familiar faces. As usual in British drama the acting is superb.  With such an engaging and suspenseful plot you cannot go wrong.

DO NOT MISS!

2022, Action Film, Action Hero, Amazon Prime, Big Pharma, Bloody scenes, Boating, Brain Tumor, Complicated, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corrupt Military, Corrupt Pharmaceutical Firm, Corrupt Politicians, Cover-up, Ethical struggles, Extremely Violent, Fight Scenes, Flashbacks, Frame someone for a crime, Friendship, Government cover-up, Government human experiment, Government medical experiment, Harmful Medicine, Mental Illness, Navy Seals, Personal Betrayal, Revenge, Sniper, Suspense, Violent, War

The Terminal List (2022)

From IMDB:

A former Navy SEAL officer investigates why his entire platoon was ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 8 episodes of this action thriller. Each episode lasts about one hour.

Essentially, this is a revenge film based on the complications of a quasi-government human experiment gone wrong.  As more details of the government cover-up come to light, the revenge list maintained by James Reece, played by Chris Pratt, of the guilty parties grows as he doggedly eliminates each person on that list.

Violent but engaging revenge series right up to the relentless ending.

2022, Abduction, Action Film, Action Hero, Action sequences, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Career Competition, Chase film, Child Hostage, CIA, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corrupt Politicians, Cover-up, Cynical, Father-son relations, Fist Fight, Government cover-up, Government-hired assassin, Hostage Taking, Improbable details, International thriler, Invincible Hero, Martial Arts, Mayhem, Monstrous Father, Murder, Must suspend disbelief, Narcissistic Personality, Netflix Streaming, Physical fighting, Political Conspiracy, Political Intrigue, Ruthless Killer, Sniper, Sociopath, Suspense, Torture, Uncle-Niece relations, Unscrupulous drive to power, Violent

The Gray Man (2022)

From IMDB:

Six, a highly-skilled assassin in the deep-cover Sierra program of the CIA, is the agency’s best merchant of death. However, a mission goes bad and now Six is on the run from the CIA with sociopathic former agent Lloyd Hansen hot on his trail. Aided by agent Dani Miranda and handler Donald Fitzroy, Six must be his most ruthless to avoid Hansen, who will stop at nothing to bring Six down.

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 9 minute complete film.

Car chases, martial arts fights, guns, dead bodies everywhere, explosions, expensive destruction, official corruption. Could this perhaps be an action film? In fact that is pretty much all that this film is: one amazingly filmed, completely unbelievable, but really fun to watch action sequence after another. Do you suppose Ryan Gosling actually performed any of these stunts?

Four lead actors are:

  • Ryan Gosling plays Six.
  • Chris Evans plays Lloyd Hansen.
  • Ana de Armas plays Dani Miranda.
  • Billy Bob Thorton plays Donald Fitzroy.

Netflix supposedly spent $200 million producing this mass execution. You might as well watch the violent fun.

2021, Acceptable Sci-Fi, Acceptable Science, Allegory, Autistic Technocrat, Bizarre, Black humor, Comedy, Could Be Hard To Watch, Cover-up, Depressing, Eccentric cast of characters, Exaggeration Comedy, Extramarital Affair, Farce, Government cover-up, Greed vs Common Good, Mayhem, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Often downright silly, Panic Attacks, Personal Betrayal, Political Satire, Satire

Don’t Look Up (2021)

From Netflix:

Two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth. The response from a distracted world: Meh!

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 18 minute long complete film.

According to Miriam-Webster, “allegory” is a story in which the characters and events are symbols that stand for ideas about human life or for a political or historical situation.  In the case of this film, the news that a comet hurtling toward earth will destroy mankind, which a superficial world treats as “fake news” could possibly stand for climate warming (which the Master of the Republican party declared was simply a “Chinese hoax”) or for a pandemic (Why get vaccinated against some illness that will disappear in a day or so?).

Leonardo DiCaprio provides a splendid performance as Dr. Randall Mindy, an all too human scientist trying to warn the world but who succumbs to his sudden fame and the allures of the unbalanced Brie Evantee (played by Cate Blanchette).

Jennifer Lawrence plays an increasingly frustrated and exasperated Kate Dibiasky, Dr. Mindy’s gifted doctoral student.

As far as an over the top  (if not to say bizarre)  role as President Orlean of the USA  goes,  Meryl Streep is the perfect “air head.” She even wears a MAGA cap.

When the screen finally goes black, do not stop watching.  Credits rolling by on the screen are interrupted several times by continuations of the story.  Watch the fatalistic silliness right up to the very end.

Is this depiction of a threatened end of the world really a comedy?

2016, Alcoholism, Amazon Prime, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Career Competition, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corrupt Corporation, Corrupt lawyers, Corrupt policemen, Cover-up, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Environmental concerns, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Failed Father, Failed Marriage, Father-daughter relations, FBI, Frame someone for a crime, Gay theme, Government cover-up, Illegal Weapons, Lawyers, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Office Love Affairs, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Prostitutes, Revenge, Suicide, Suspense, Trial Scenes

Goliath Season 1(2016)

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From Amazon:

Once a powerful lawyer, Billy McBride is now burned out and washed up, spending more time in a bar than a courtroom. When he reluctantly agrees to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against the biggest client of the massive law firm he helped create, Billy and his ragtag team uncover a vast and deadly conspiracy, pitting them all in a life or death trial against the ultimate Goliath.

From Amazon Prime you can stream 4 seasons of this lawyer series.  This review is just for season 1 which consists of 8 episodes where each episode is roughly one hour.

Billy McBride is played by Billy Bob Thornton who has often taken unusual roles. You might recall him as Lorne Malvo in “Fargo”.  In season one he is up against the Goliath of law firms named Cooperman and McBride which he helped establish.  His personal nemesis is the other name on the company name,  Donald  Cooperman. Cooperman as one of the best “bad guys” I have ever seen is played to stunning and eccentric perfection by William Hurt. Not that Cooperman is the only villain.  His most notable lawyer-in-crime, Callie Senate,  is played with cunning malice by Mollie Parker, whose every smug smirk is a masterpiece of acting.  When you really hate one of the villains, that actor is doing her job. Mollie Parker played Jackie Sharp in “House of Cards”.

Rest assured the daemons get their comeuppance.  But the journey to get to that point is agonizingly frustrating.

DO NOT MISS!

 

2021, Abuse of Women, Action Film, Action Hero, Bloody scenes, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corrupt Military, Cover-up, DO NOT MISS, Ethical struggles, Government cover-up, Greed, Military Corruption, Netflix Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Physical fighting, Romance, Sociopath, Suspense, Thriller, Violent

SAS: Rise of the Black Swan (2021)

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From IMDB:

A small army of well trained criminals led by Grace Lewis have hijacked a train deep beneath the English Channel.

From Netflix:

A special forces operative traveling from London to Paris with his girlfriend takes action when armed, ruthless mercenaries seize control of their train

From Netflix you can stream this 2 hour 3 minute complete action film.  According to IMDB another name for this film is “SAS: Red Notice”.

Good sociopath versus bad sociopath.  Our hero is Tom Buckingham (played by Sam Heughan who played Jamie Fraser in Outlander ).  Our villain is Grace Lewis (played by Ruby Rose who played Batwoman in Batwoman ).

There are lots of good and bad guys.  Unfortunately it can be difficult to  figure out just who is good and who is bad.  Turncoat traitors abound.  You just never can tell.  Needless to say the evil doers are all part of a giant conspiracy.

Most of the action takes place in the Eurotrain underchannel tunnel. To be sure, most of the action is very violent and definitely not for children.  As usual our hero can perform superhuman (violent) feats while seriously wounded.

Sociopaths are unable to feel empathy or understand the sufferings of others. Little by little Tom’s girl friend Dr. Sophie Hart (played by Hannah John-Kamen) comes to understand that Tom feels relatively few emotions and can kill humans with effortless ease.  In that aspect Tom is well matched against Grace Lewis whose cruelty is startling even though we may think we are inured to such films.

How shocking to think that if you can stand the violence I will still recommend that you DO NOT MISS!

2020, Abduction, Action sequences, Amnesia, Bad Acting, Barely Acceptable Trash, Brother-Sister relations, Conspiracy, Corny, Detective, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Government cover-up, Government human experiment, Government mind-control, Human experimentation, Kidnapping, Lesbian Theme, Love Triangle, Marital Infidelity, Maudlin, Mother-son relations, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Often downright silly, Paranormal theme, Plane Disappearance, Religious Nonsense, Short-lived suspenseful episodes, Sometimes seems silly, Suspense

Manifest (2020)

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From Netflix:

When a plane mysteriously lands years after takeoff, the people onboard return to a world that has moved on without them and face strange, new realities.

From Netflix you can stream two seasons of this fairly awful series. Season 1 has 16 episodes and season 2 has 13 episodes.  Every single episode lasts exactly 42 minutes, which may have been the only technical achievement of the series.

Holy Maudlin!  There were enough tears shed during this slop opera to irrigate California.

Holy Unbelievable! Find yourself in a tight spot?  Just invent some miraculous paranormal intervention.

Holy Gullible! How on earth could I watch all 29 episodes expecting to be satisfied with the ending.  Perhaps it is because I LOVE TRASH.

MISS!

2020, Abduction, Action sequences, Art appreciation, Bloody scenes, Clever Plot, Corruption, Crime thriller, DO NOT MISS, Drugs, Dutch, Dutch detectives, Erotica, Fashion, Fist Fight, Flirting, Forensics, Government cover-up, Jealousy, Lesbian Theme, Murder Investigation, Nuns, PBS Masterpiece Streaming, Physical fighting, Police Culture, Religious Theme, Revenge, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Torture, Unbelievably smart detective, Violent

Van der Valk (2020)

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From IMDB:

A Dutch detective takes on criminal cases in Amsterdam using insightful human observation and his natural street smarts.

From PBS Passport you can stream 3 episodes of this Dutch detective series. Each episode lasts about 1.5 hours.

Episode 1: Love in Amsterdam and episode 2: Only in Amsterdam are clever,  engaging, and develops the characters well.  Although the story line in episode 3: Death in Amsterdam is not so interesting, still the episode continues to develop the characters and has an exciting gun battle at the end. We also finally get to see what is preventing Van der Valk from forming a permanent relationship.

One thread that is compelling and annoying is Van der Valk’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge the talents of the newcomer Job Cloovers.  That theme has a satisfying conclusion in the third episode.

If you only watch the first two episodes, I still say

DO NOT MISS!

2018, Acceptable for teenagers, Based on true facts, Bigamy, British, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Family Conflict, Government cover-up, London History, Marital Infidelity, Mother-son relations, PBS Masterpiece Streaming, Personal Betrayal, Plot twists, Religious Theme, War

Mrs. Wilson (2018)

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From IMDB:

After the sudden death of novelist and ex-Secret Intelligence Service man Alexander Wilson, his wife Alison is forced to investigate when mysteries from her husband’s past come knocking.

From PBS Passport (also called PBS Masterpiece Streaming) you can stream the 3 episodes of this Masterpiece drama. Each episode is less than an hour.

Mrs. Wilson is based on the true story of actress Ruth Wilson’s grandmother, Alison, who discovered, upon the sudden death of her husband Alec, that he had another, secret family. … And it’s up to Alison to prevent her family and her world from being torn apart as she unravels them, one at a time.

Ruth Wilson, who plays her grandmother Alison, and Iain Glen, who plays the intriguing Alex Wilson,  are more or less the entire story. Rather than spoil the plot for you, let it suffice to say that Alison spends all three episodes trying to piece together her late husbands “adventures.”

Certainly you have seen Iain Glenn in many different productions. For example he played Jorah Mormont in Game of Thrones.  If you have never watched Ruth Wilson I would recommend your seeing her as Alison Bailey in The Affair  and as the diabolical Alice Morgan in Luther.

DO NOT MISS!