AUGUST 2022 - FILMS + TV (HOME-VIEWING)

 A couple of films, an on-going series watch and another couple more started. 

Overall, not a bad month's viewing.....

The Postcard Killings (2020) - Amazon Prime film

Pizza night around one of my daughter's home and a film to accompany the food and drink. Based on a James Patterson collaborative book of a similar title it was an okay watch. I was fooled early on into thinking who was the killer and who the next victims were going to be.

From Wikipedia...

The Postcard Killings is a 2020 American crime film directed by Danis Tanović, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Famke Janssen and Cush Jumbo, and based on the 2010 novel The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund.The film was released on March 13, 2020, receiving negative reviews from critics.

Plot

Jakob Kanon, a New York detective, investigates the death of his daughter who was murdered while on her honeymoon; he recruits the help of an American journalist working in Sweden, Dessie Lombard, when other couples throughout Europe suffer a similar fate.

The movie opens with someone killing a young couple. It turns out to be Jacob Kanon's daughter and her husband who are in London on their honeymoon. He goes to London to identify the bodies of his daughter and her new husband at the morgue.

After that Kanon starts investigating on who's the killer and moves to other European cities as the killer doesn't stop. With the help of Lombard and a German policeman he exposes the truth and understands what's going on.

Murder in Provence (2022) - ITV Drama Series

Another splash of European set crime with a mini-series based around the books by ML Longworth. 

I like the two main actors; Roger Allam (Endeavour) as Antoine Verlaque and Nancy Carroll (Father Brown) as Marine Bonnet.

From Google ...

Antoine Verlaque, Investigating Judge in Aix-en-Provence, and romantic partner Marine Bonnet as they investigate the murders, mysteries and dark underbelly of their idyllic home.

E01 · Episode 1

Marine and Antoine put their weekend plans on hold when there's a murder at the local university. The team question students and professors, looking for a motive to kill.

E02 · Episode 2

Marine helps Antione and Hélène investigate the death of an aristocrat, found dead at his crumbling chateau; when the team thinks they've got their suspects nailed, another body is found.

E03 · Episode 3

A love affair seems to be at the heart of a young woman's death in the nearby town of Éguilles and might be connected to the discovery of an older woman's body in a vineyard, kilometers away.

The Outlaws Series 2 (2021) - TV Drama Series

Cracking cast, I still can't get over seeing Christopher Walken in this Bristol set comedy drama. Same set of miscreants from the first series. More high jinks. We're a couple episodes in out of six in total (I think).

From Google ...

Seven lawbreakers from very different backgrounds embark on their community payback sentences, which involve renovating a derelict building in Bristol. The group includes black civil rights activist Myrna, middle-class businessman John, indebted Christian, lawyer Greg, celebrity Lady Gabriella Penrose-Howe, student Rani, and petty crook Frank. As they struggle through their sentences and get to know each other, the group make a discovery which brings them closer together and challenges their attempt to reform.

Taggart (1983-2010) - ITV Crime Drama - 27 series

We'll be watching this for a few months yet. We're upto series 13, so maybe approaching halfway, though I think series 12 disappeared from our TV box before we watched it. Mark McManus (Jim Taggart) has obviously passed and we've transitioned to Michael Jardine taking the lead on the cases, with Jackie Reed supporting him. There's a new third wheel, Fraser, and The Biscuit seems to be more prominent at the scene of the crimes. 

We haven't tired of it yet, so will keep going. There's a lot worse we could be watching.

From Wikipedia...

Taggart is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 September 1983, before a full series was commissioned that ran from 2 July 1985 until 7 November 2010. The series revolved around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines were set in other parts of Greater Glasgow and in other areas of Scotland. The team operated out of the fictional John Street police station. Mark McManus, who played the title character Jim Taggart, died in 1994. However, the series continued under the same name.

The Virtuoso (2021) - Netflix Film

This one was really good and I have my oldest daughter to thank for spotting it and thinking it was one I would enjoy. I like a hitman theme and I like Anthony Hopkins. Tense throughout. A solid 9/10 - story, pacing, intrigue, interesting characters with a bit of a puzzle at it's heart. A twist at the end, which was to be expected.

From Wikipedia ...

The Virtuoso is a 2021 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed and produced by Nick Stagliano. The film stars Anson Mount, Abbie Cornish, Eddie Marsan, Richard Brake, David Morse, and Anthony Hopkins. It follows a professional assassin who must track down and kill his latest target to satisfy an outstanding debt to his mentor.

Plot

Danger, deception and murder descend upon a sleepy town when a professional assassin accepts a new assignment from his enigmatic boss.

The Missing Series 2 (2016) - BBC Drama Series

Enjoyed the first series, enjoyed the two spin-offs series of Baptiste so we are now back-tracking on the second series of The Missing. My wife is taking one for the team as she's seen it before. It might be a slow watch, as our youngest daughter insists on watching it with us and we have to work around her lifestyle and shift patterns. 


From Wikipedia...

Series two

Production

The second series was confirmed in December 2014 and production began in February 2016. Again written by Harry and Jack Williams, this series was directed by Ben Chanan. The filming locations were Morocco, Belgium (Malmedy, Brussels & Ghent) and Germany. Episode four shows a Hanover hospital (which was filmed in Az Sint-Lucas Ghent) and episode five shows soldiers marching over the Vesdre dam in eastern Belgium, and the fictional Vaaren in Switzerland is Monschau, in Germany.[citation needed]

Synopsis

The story is paralleled by flashbacks to 2014 and is set near a British army garrison in Eckhausen, Germany. In 2014 police tell Sam and Gemma Webster, whose daughter Alice went missing in 2003, that Alice has reappeared and claims she had been held captive with Sophie Giroux, a French girl who disappeared about the same time. Retired French detective Julien Baptiste, who was in charge of the Giroux investigation, cannot resist becoming involved again and travels to Germany and Iraq to find answers.