Reviews

One of the great benefits of streaming, is that at any moment you can stumble on hidden gems that you've never heard of from other parts of the world. All the more surprising in this case, because two of the leads, Anthony LaPaglia and Melanie Lynskey are accomplished well-known actors in America. Still, I had never heard boo about a series called Sunshine Kings before I stumbled on it on the Acorn network.

The plot is a familiar one: A ragtag, underdog, down on their luck group of athletes finds a coach who himself has seen better days, and together they strive for glory. Yes it's been done before. But in this case the setting is Australia and the athletes are largely South Sudanese immigrants and refugees. Their struggle, both personal and athletic, and their relationship with the surrounding community makes this a heartwarming, compelling drama. The series has a lot of heart, and in four episodes it told a somewhat complex and interesting story. I give it a big thumbs up.

Without Sin is a solid miniseries that travels quite a distance in its four densely packed episodes. It is well-written, offers some surprises and red herrings, and finishes with a satisfying ending. The show is marked by quality acting performances. Vicky McClure as Stella, looks nothing like her iconic character in Line of Duty, portraying a workaday, middle class cab driver. Johnny Harris shines as a hardscrabble man accused of murder, showing in turns, pain, strength and vulnerability. Indeed, all the performances were good.

To be sure, some aspects of the show strained credulity. Stella, playing detective and constantly going into dangerous situations with the skill and aplomb of James Bond seemed a bit much at times. But once you put that aside, the story worked, and the characters were relatable. I recommend it.

Of all the film footage generated by the Troubles in Northern Ireland-both fictional and otherwise-I've never seen anything that captured its emotional essence, its pain and craziness, like Five Minutes of Heaven. Oddly, I had never heard of this movie before I stumbled on it in the US, on the AMC+ platform.

It managed to change my perception of both James Nesbitt and Liam Neeson. I had recently watched Nesbitt in the flawed and disappointing Bloodlands, itself a 10 episode series that touched on the conflict. In ninety minutes, this film conveyed tons more emotional depth, and Nesbitt's performance was pitch perfect. Likewise, as many projects as Liam Neeson has been in, I had come to see him as the revenge movie martial arts guy. I was wowed by his performance in Five Minutes of Heaven, which was off the charts good. All in all, the movie brought home the conflict of Northern Ireland, not in terms of the politics, but in terms of its devastating effect on psyches, and on families. It's a hidden gem.

I went into the series with a blank slate, never having watched the Brangelina version. I immediately got onboard with the premise, two strangers recruited and thrown together as operatives for a murky espionage company. The question was, what tone would it it strike? Would it be serious? Comedic? It soon became clear that focus wasn't really the spy missions; those were simply the backdrop for what was the heart of the series, the feelings that Jane and John Smith were developing for each other.

For me the chemistry between John and Jane was off-the-charts good. The writing was smart and insightful, and both characters quite endearing. Even if their missions could be somewhat cartoonish, with a slew of dead bodies in the their wake, the emotional content of the show was always real and authentic. Indeed, in the later episodes, the intensity of their feelings was sometimes shocking.

I don't know if this season was a one off, or if there will be further seasons of Mr. And Mrs. Smith. For reasons that can't be discussed here, any subsequent episodes would have a different storyline than that of season one.

Suffice it to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the series, and would recommend it.

When I started reading folks' reviews, I was surprised to see how many gushing reactions there were to this series. While I felt compelled to see it through to the end, I was never very entertained by this plodding, monotonous drama. For example, it pales in comparison with a quality cold case show like Unforgotten. To be sure, Unforgotten is fiction, while Steeltown is tethered to actual events; but if you can't find real drama, compelling characters and interesting story lines in your source material, then, perhaps it's better to move on to a different project.

I think that the moviemakers believed that the mere mention of DNA would keep the TV watcher interested. However, Steeltown never surprised the viewer. The whole series was a form of painting by numbers.

The first disappointing thing about The Shadow Line was how convoluted the plot was, and how many subplots and tentacles there were. I defy anyone to offer a clear step-by-step summary of the plot. It was so populated with unsavory, cynical characters, it was incredibly difficult to keep track. It's amazing to me that this drama has won so many awards; watching it from start to finish was a long and difficult slog.

It's rare to find a series that so prides itself on its collection of unlikable characters. While the acting was first-rate, the drama itself was hollow at its core, filled with strange plot twists and opaque dialogue that made it maddening to follow. Sometimes a long, difficult series is bailed out by a satisfying ending. Not so here. I gave it a 6 because of its first-rate production values, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Pandora (Pandore in French), is a surprisingly engaging Belgian political/police procedural. At its core the series explores how its characters react after the gang rape of a female political activist.

The namesake of the show, Pandora, was the woman in Greek mythology who unleashed sin, evil and chaos on the world. In keeping with that theme, the show centers around the many lies, ethical lapses and misdeeds that even good people make when they are stressed, overwhelmed and fearful of failure.

The acting is good, the characters are three-dimensional, and the dialogue is very well written. Plus, it offers a nice look at the European criminal justice system, in which "judges" go out and investigate the crime, and oversee the collection of evidence. I was pleased to see that the show has already been greenlighted for a second season, which should be in 2024. If you like detective dramas, give this one a try.

Given its cast of A-list actors, I was surprised that I had never heard of this 15 year old series before. Once I began to watch, I understood why. While well-acted and produced, the tone was so consistently dark, and the plot so fuzzy, I was regularly struggling to figure out what was going on. It strove to be clever and wound up being confusing. It strove to be enlightening and wound up being depressing. It was hard to empathize with or root for the characters because it was hard to figure out who the good guys were. The real protagonist of the drama was the police state. The series took pains to show us the dangers of the surveillance state, but then offered no solution. The show wasn't terrible, but it was quite a waste of computer and medical jargon.

Dahaad was a thoroughly engaging and entertaining Indian crime series. The characters from top to bottom were three-dimensional, the acting was stellar, and the cinematography was first-rate. The widespread nature of the crimes committed, allowed us to see many parts and sites of India, which added to the experience.

The series also offered a great vantage point on Indian society, in which issues of caste and gender are pervasive in everyday life-even in 2023.

The fact the policewoman Anjali Bhaati carried both burdens, and did so with such grace and dignity, made her role extra-special. While she had her personal struggles, I particularly enjoyed her kick-ass, suffer-no-fools attitude, a kind Indian-styled Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I couldn't get enough of her.

The entire supporting cast was so good, this group could carry three or more seasons of Dahaad, assuming the cases, villains, and writing stay at this high level. I strongly recommend it.

Now in the streaming era, I don't really seek out movies anymore. I much prefer a multi-episode series that I can sink my teeth into over a long period of time. But when you've seen as many British and Scandi noir series as I have, sometimes the pickings get a bit slim. So even though I was looking for a three course meal, I watched The Mother as a kind of snack. Was it a great movie? Hell no, but as 90 minute escapist fare, it did quite well, thank you.. Sure, the plot often made little sense: Why was the government so inept at protecting its own people? But J Lo did her part, the kid actress was good, the action and chase scenes were well shot, and the cinematography was eye-catching. And JLo's chemistry with agent Cruise was also good. At the end of the day I cared about the characters. All these ratings of 3, 4 and 5? Too low. On a more nuanced rating scale, I would've given it a 6.75.

Let me cut to the chase: The creators of Silent Road did themselves no favor by making it a 13 episode series. What started out as a promising premise, the abduction of nine kids on their way to school, by the end was so stale, with a resolution so overdue, I could barely wait for the show to end. It was one of those TV series that's not bad enough to stop watching, but not really good enough to enjoy. So, by the end, I felt like I was running the original Greek marathon to get through it!

Yes, the idea was that the kids' abduction would reveal all the various fractures and foibles within these wealthy families. The problem was, I struggled to get interested in anyone from this morose and depressing group of people. Black sheep Thalia seemed interesting for awhile, but even her appeal wore out over time.

Kudos to the Topic network for bringing international shows to the US that we otherwise wouldn't see. But in this case, a tight, seven episode plot would've worked far better.

I am amazed that only recently did I discover Les Dames (translated as Dead Beautiful for the American audience), even though its last episode aired seven years ago! This show is a hidden gem that ran for six years from 2010 to 2015. It has apparently slipped through the cracks, because it should have the same kind of cult following as Spiral (the Paris police procedural that launched the career of actor Thierry Godard). I found Les Dames on the PBS Masterpiece platform in America.

Les Dames is smart, serious, sometimes sexy, and never talks down to the audience with its mature themes. The ensemble cast in which women predominate, is fabulous, with consistently good acting.

Les Dames operates on two levels: First, there are the homicide cases, typically odd, eccentric, but ultimately plausible. On the second level, there is police inspector Martin and his very complicated relationships with the women in his life, many of whom he has slept with, all of whom he is very attached to. Thierry Goddard, who lacked top billing in Spiral, pulls off his lead role in Les Dames perfectly. The series is a kind of melange of Helen Mirren's Prime Suspect, and Truffaut's The Man Who Loved Women. I highly recommend it!

It's worth noting that Sanditon, an ITV-produced show in the UK, was not able to find a large British audience in season 1, and was canceled. A failure in the UK, it was still a success in America. As a result, PBS and BritBox revived the series and took over the production (and cost) of seasons 2 and 3. Interestingly, the PBS seasons became a somewhat tamer version of the show: no more erotic encounters in the woods, or on hardwood floors for that matter!

What did remain however, were solid production values, and quality acting. I enjoyed all three seasons due to the fact that, despite all the drama and challenges in the plot, Sanditon was relentlessly upbeat and life-affirming in its message. The two persistent themes of the show were "love is all you need," and "instant Karma's gonna get you." We are drawn to Sanditon, because it constantly affirms the transition from arranged marriages to marriages based on love. It also promotes a racial harmony that obviously did not exist in England in 1817, but somehow prevails in Sanditon's alternate reality. Lastly, the decision to cap the series at 3 seasons was also very wise. In 3 seasons, Sanditon said what it needed to say, and any more would have led to repeating itself in the manner that Downton Abbey eventually did toward the end. I gave it an 8 as a quality escapist period piece.

The Night Agent is proof that a series does not have to be great to be highly entertaining. I was forced to give it an 8, but at best it's a 7.5. It requires the viewer to suspend disbelief during its numerous plot twists: Agents who abandon their protectee no questions asked, gun battles at swanky hotels with nary a policeman or hotel patron in sight, universities that allow folks to simply stroll into the library with no ID required, etc. But once you overlook these things, it's entertaining, it's suspenseful, it's well acted, and the characters are quite compelling.

The producers of The Night Agent have learned one important lesson: The more ethnically diverse your show is, the bigger and broader your audience is going to be. Accordingly, the lead female, Luciane Buchanan is a New Zealander of Tongan and Scottish descent; the female Secret Service agent Fola Evans-Akingbola, is a Brit of English and Nigerian parents; and the female Chief of Staff, Oscar nominated Hong Chau, is Vietnamese, but spent time in a refugee camp in Thailand growing up. While her character's constant stream of F-bombs has offended some people, I confess I got a kick out of it. All in all, The Night Agent is old-fashioned escapism. Leave your critical faculties at the door, and just enjoy the ride.

Monster seems to fall under a sub-genre of Scandinavian noir that I've run into far too often: A crime drama set in rural Finland or Norway or Sweden that involves an ultra religious sect. Invariably, these shows have a large number of unlikable, damaged characters doing unlikable things. As a result, it becomes almost impossible to identify with or root for most of the characters. In Monster, even the detectives are hard to root for, with all their flawed and destructive behavior.

I quickly realized that I was getting little enjoyment out of watching the series. Yet, I somehow felt an obligation to see it through to the end. It was like a bad medicine that I had to take in the hopes of finally getting a payoff at the end. When I finished the final episode, I felt like I had run a marathon. I did in fact like the ending, but the journey there it was so filled with bleak and cynical characters that it was a joyless ride.

I watched the series on the PBS Masterpiece platform. Another strange thing about it was that the episode previews that would appear as you start each new episode were often inaccurate in their descriptions of the episode. Strange. While Monster wasn't terrible, I gave it a 6 and would not recommend.

This is first set of reviews I've ever seen on IMDB where I wondered whether these glowing reviews were phony. While not a terrible film, this was a cheap, straight-to-video movie with a flabby plot and lousy production values. It almost seemed like a student sophomore project from film school. The first thing I noticed was the terrible audio. It sounded like they were recording the with $40 microphones, or with someone's iPhone 6! The dialogue faded in and out, and was foggy and mumbling, to the point where I had to turn on the close captions to make sure I got all the dialogue. While I kind of liked the main character, the other characters had a cardboard feel to them. I struggled, but made it to the end. Ignore all the glowing reviews; this was a solid 6!

Wow, it's a sign of the times that there is so much video content out there that a Croatian/Ukrainian police procedural can become easily available in the US. The Topic Network has managed to collect obscure, quality TV series that have eluded some of the more prestigious platforms. The Silence started a bit slowly, but as it gathered steam it became an interesting, multi-layered look at corruption and trafficking in Eastern Europe. The acting was first-rate, the characters interesting and sympathetic, and the story offered its share of surprises. I might add that it was a jarring and nostalgic look at what Kyiv looked like before the Russians invaded So far, I have watched 3 series on Topic: A drama set in Lapland ("Arctic Circle"), a dense murder mystery from Austria and Germany ("Dark Woods"), and this. All of them were satisfying in their own way. I would have given The Silence a 7.5, but to make it a whole number, I'll bump it up to an eight. Kudos to the Topic network, and those filmmakers all over the world.

In sifting through some of the reviews of Dark Woods, I was surprised to see so many words, like "gripping" and "captivating." While I found it interesting, well acted, and well produced, for me it was a bit more plodding than gripping. By episode 6, I felt much like the characters who had been waiting for an answer for 28 years: a bit weary.

I assume that the filmmakers adhered closely to the real facts of the case, but I wanted more dramatic highs and lows, and less of a muted documentary feel. Indeed I felt like the series could have played out in a brisker, tighter 4 or 5 episodes than the six.

On a side note, I watched the series on the newly discovered (for me) Topic channel. On Topic, the default version is English dubbed. I quickly got out of that version to watch it in the original German with English subs. Much better. Would I recommend this series? Yes. Would I rave about it? No.

I just finished both seasons of Arctic Circle ("Ivalo"). I liked it. Yes, there were some strange twists of plot that strained credulity and were quite farfetched. That said, the drama was marked by good acting, sympathetic characters, an engaging storyline, and gorgeous Nordic vistas. I was going to give it a seven, but the surprises that unfolded late in the second season caused me to add a point and bump it up to eight.

Arctic Circle met my criterion for a good drama: I cared about all the major characters. Lina Kuustonen was a strong lead as policewoman Nina; both her sister Marita and her ex (and baby daddy) Esko became sympathetic characters as the story unfolded. And I can't say enough about actress Venla Ronkainen, an actress with Down Syndrome, who played Nina's special needs daughter, also named Venla. Often I find that kids in dramas don't add much to the storyline. But Arctic Circle was the exception. Venla was possibly the most endearing character I've ever seen in a drama. She played an important role in the flow of the action, and lit up every scene she was in. The actress was great. I don't know if she'll ever act in another production, but she did herself proud with her performance in 16 episodes of Arctic Circle.

As I write this, I have no idea whether there will be a third season, but I would watch it.

It doesn't surprise me that as I write this, there are no reviews of Mongeville. Playing on MHz right now, it's a difficult series to sum up. First, each episode is around an hour and a half, which makes each one a kind of mini-movie. Second, the first three episodes are quite different than any that come afterward. Initially, the main characters are Axelle Ferrano, a female lieutenant on the Bordeaux police force, and Antoine Mongeville, a retired judge. She is a serious, somewhat moody character, who exudes a subtle sex appeal. He is an aging, investigative judge who is still sharp, and still wants to keep his nose in the game. They bond over the fact that they have both suffered great losses in their lives, and form a very effective investigative team, which sometimes seems father-daughterish in nature, and sometimes even has a hint of romance about it. For three episodes it is a somber and quite engaging series.

However, after those three episodes, the actress, who plays Ferrano (Marie Moute) left for greener pastures, even though her story was completely unresolved.

So in the second season Ferrano/Moute was replaced by a new character, a female detective, who could be called "perky, bubbly, fresh, humorous," you get the idea. All of a sudden what I had thought was a serious detective drama became something that could be labeled "breezy, charming, light." "Prime Suspect" had become "Midsomer Murders."

I like my female detectives hardcore, like Laure Berthaud in Spiral. I don't want to see female detectives arriving at the crime scene tripping over their high heels and carrying big handbags. To make matters worse, Mongeville didn't even pay the original character the respect of offering a good explanation for why she left. At any rate, if you like light and charming, you might thoroughly enjoy Mongeville. For me, however, after episode three it lacked the gravitas needed to keep my attention.