Category Archives: Mild Torture

2019, Acceptable for teenagers, Anti-Semitism, Attempted Rape, Attempted Suicide, Bloody scenes, Bullying, Career Competition, Conspiracy, Corrupt Military, Detective, Drama, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Forensics, Jewish Culture, Mental Illness, Mild Torture, Military, Military Corruption, Military School, Mother-son relations, Murder by poison, Old-Fashioned, PBS Masterpiece Streaming, Police Politics, Portraiture, Possibly upsetting ending, Psychopath, Psychotic Attacks, Sadism, Self-harm, Spiritualist, Suspense, Vienna of 1900, Violent

Vienna Blood (2019)

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From PBS Streaming:

A student of Sigmund Freud and an Austrian detective team up to solve some of the most mysterious and deadly cases in early 1900s Vienna.

From PBS Masterpiece Streaming you can watch 6 episodes, each lasting about 45 minutes.  Each of the three stories encompasses 2 episodes.

Changes were happening in 1900s Vienna.   Oskar Reinhardt is an Austrian detective who, when the series begins, is used to old-school methods that can involve using violence against suspects.  Little by little he adapts to using the newer methods of Max Liebermann. Max is a doctor working in a hospital run by a bully that is fond of using electrotherapy.  Max, as a student of Sigmund Freud, is more attuned to using psychological methods for understanding and curing his patients.

One important theme is Vienna’s virulent  antisemitism.  Max is the eldest son of an observant Jewish family.  As a subplot, Max is engaged to one woman (a Jewess) but falls in love with one of his patients (a gentile) whom he cured using Freudian methods.

Oskar is in constant mourning over the death of his young daughter. As a result his wife has at least temporarily left him.

In each of the 3 murder cases, Oskar stands fast against the prejudices and rush to judgement of his superiors.  Similarly Max stands fast against the malpractice of his own superiors.

Be at least warned that the third story leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

Old-fashioned and well-done drama.

2019, Amazon Prime, Bloody scenes, British Mystery Series, Creepy, Detective, Eccentric Detective, Family Conflict, Forensics, Mild Torture, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Nazis, Police Culture, Police Politics, Serial Killer, Slow, Unusual

The ABC Murders (2019)

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From Amazon Prime:

1933. Hercule Poirot, older and greyer, receives letters threatening murder. The sender signs themselves only as “A.B.C.” When he takes the letters to the police looking for help, Hercule finds all his old friends have moved on. But soon there is a murder and the once-great detective must take matters into his own hands.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 3 one-hour episodes of this complete story.

John Malkovich  stars as the aging Hercule Poirot in this S L O W moving presentation. “Bizarre” is the adjective that springs to my mind. Eamon Farren portrays the creepy Cust. To give you an idea of “creepy”,  Cust pays a prostitute to walk on his back with stiletto heeled shoes.  You may well be surprised by certain plot turns.

Not a waste of time, but certainly not to everyone’s taste.

 

 

2016, Ambiguous Conclusion, Bloody scenes, Car Chase, Complicated, Conspiracy, Improbable details, Mild Torture, Netflix Streaming, Nothing special, Personal Betrayal, Photography, Strange Ending, Suspense, Violent

Come and Find Me (2016)

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From IMDB

When his girlfriend goes missing, David must track down her whereabouts after he realizes she’s not who she was pretending to be.

Netflix offers for streaming this 1 hour  and 52 minute film starring Aaron Paul and Annabelle Wallis.

Basically this is a thriller: What happened his girl friend who just suddenly disappeared? Aaron Paul acts consistently as a puzzled, laid-back, but determined man who truly loved Claire, a beautiful but strangely detached woman with whom he lived. Almost by accident enough clues fall his way that the plot begins to pick up with many surprises along the way: Who is Claire? What is her real name? Who else knew her? Why did her friends prove to be other than claimed? All his searching leads to clandestine organizations searching for some film that Claire buried in the back yard.

Give the film a B+ but not an A.  Sometimes the action just stops. Sometimes the dialog and acting is just plain slow. Plot possibility is a bit shaky. Aaron Paul spends two hours looking confused. Claire turns into a Wonder Woman.

Flashbacks and out-of-sequence scenes are frequent.  Worst of all is the ending, which in my role as a reviewer I feel I must  at least describe as disappointing.

If you do watch this film, which is not a waste of time, and wish to explain the conclusion to me, please send me some email comments.

2012, Abuse of Women, Anti-Semitism, Bloody scenes, British, Child abuse, Contract Killing, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime, Crude Talk, Detective, Disturbing Image, DO NOT MISS, Drag Queen, Drama, Explicit sexual discussion, Gambling, Gangs, Greed, Grim, Grisly, London History, Mayhem, Mild Torture, Murder, Murder Investigation, Murder Trial, Newpaper work, Nudity, Orphans in Foster Care, Outrageous Behavior, Physical child abuse, Police Politics, Prison, Prostitutes, Revenge, Sadism, Suspense, Theft, Torture, Violent, Vulgar

Ripper Street (2012)

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From IMDB:

The streets of Whitechapel are the haunt of Detective Inspector Edmund Reid and his team of officers, who aim to maintain law and order in a place once terrorized by Jack the Ripper.

A new drama set in the East End of London in 1889 during the aftermath of Jack The Ripper murders. The infamous H Division – the police precinct charged with keeping order in the district of Whitechapel- is in a chaotic state trying to keep order after a tumultuous time for London and reported infamously worldwide.

From Netflix you can stream 4 seasons consisting of 37 episodes  as follow:

  • Season 1 – 8 episodes
  • Season 2 – 8 episodes
  • Season 3 – 8 episodes
  • Season 4 – 7 episodes
  • Season 5 – 6 episodes       As of April 21,2017 not yet released

WARNING: Season 4 ends with a real cliff-hanger that needs Season 5 to resolve the issues. But at this point you cannot stream Season 5.

Matthew MacFadyen superbly plays Detective Inspector Edmund Reid.  Jerome Flynn (who was Bronn in “Game of Thrones”) plays Det. Sgt. Bennet Drake. Adam Rothenberg (who played Danny in “The Divide”) plays Dr. Homer Jackson.

Strong stomachs and tolerance for blatant vulgarity are required for watching this series. Otherwise these intense episodes are captivating. Trying to be authentic for 1889, the speech is formal, possibly pedantic, even when describing sexual activity.  Here we have an escape from the usual formulaic police procedurals. Do not be misled by the very first episode which deals with a murder that tries to mimic the work of Jack the Ripper because subject matter for the episodes is incredibly varied (thievery, pestilence, and other delights).

London in that period was a horrible, dirty, smelly, hellhole in which the place of women was especially dire. In the eighteenth century, one in every five women were sex workers. If a woman was not wealthy or married, she very often ended up in the streets.  In this series the plight of women is often the motivating theme.

Workers had no rights, no workplace safety precautions.  Future readers of this review should be reminded that under our current President Trump, the Republican party places itself in opposition to such protective organizations as the EPA.  One episode features (and shocks with a view of a match girl [woman who worked in a match factory] inflicted with) phossy jaw. You may never forget the sight.

One episode features as a character the famous Elephant Man whose real name was Joseph Merrick.  Merrick the actor is made to look exactly like the photograph in the mentioned Wikipedia article. You may never forget the sight.

One episode centers about the laws against sodomy which enabled blackmailers and often destroyed lives.

One episode makes vividly alarming the horrors created by the law making abortion illegal. Note that even now in the USA the Republicans would return to that terrible past.

London was an ugly, ugly place. Brace yourself!

After viewing more and more episodes I have upgraded to DO NOT MISS!

 

2015, Action Film, Action Hero, Amusing banter, Car Chase, Chase film, CIA, Flirting, KGB, Mild Torture, Motorcycles, Spy Versu Spy, Suspense

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)

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From NetFlix:

With both their countries threatened by a powerful global crime cartel, the CIA’s Napoleon Solo and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin must work together in this Cold War thriller inspired by the classic 1960s TV series.

Take two young studs (Henry Cavill as Solo and Armie Hammer as Illya) , throw in two beautiful young women (Alicia Vikander as Gaby and Elizabeth Debicki as Victoria) and some good action scenes and SHAZAMM! we can have a lot of fun. Especially well-crafted was the opening action sequence. Constant competition between Solo and Illya maintains the humor. Of course, you have seen all this before (nuclear warheads, double-crosses, “who is an agent for whom”) but some mixes work better than others and this mix worked for me.

And wasn’t it a surprise to see Hugh Grant cleverly disguised as an Englishman?

Not all the acting is great.

Best of all, this film is intended to be the first of a series. Let’s hope the writers can keep the momentum moving.

2005, Action Film, Action Hero, Bloody scenes, British, Conspiracy, Corny at times, Dancing, Dystopia, Lesbian Theme, Mild Torture, Prison, Revenge, Some exaggerated violence, Unscrupulous drive to power, Violent

V for Vendetta (2005)

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From NetFlix:

A masked freedom fighter known as “V” takes up arms against the totalitarian government in a futuristic Britain. Finding an unlikely ally in a young woman named Evey Hammond, V urges the citizenry to fight the oppression of the state.

Who doesn’t get involved when it’s really nasty, mean bad guys against all us good guys? Add to this a huge movie set (which happens to be London) where lots of buildings get blown up, plenty of blood is spilled, and good triumphs over evil in a fireworks filled finale. What kind of digital photographic magic was used to show the population of London converging on Trafalgar Square all dressed like V himself? Kid stuff maybe, but I was glued to my seat. Just plain old revenge is always fulfilling.

Natalie Portman is beautiful, even without hair. Best of all was “THE VOICE” of V brought to you by Hugo Weaving whose biography stresses his “deep dramatic, rich yet flawless voice characterized by a calm, reserved delivery of his lines.” And there are a zillion other well-known British actors all doing their part to bring us 132 minutes of mindless entertainment.

Just pretend you are ten years old, sit back, and enjoy.