TV Series Notebook: Vera.

-


"Vera" (Amazon Prime), British crime drama series based on the Vera Stanhope series of novels by Ann Cleeves. So far, 11 Seasons/Series, and a 12th shad begun filming. We are currently on Series/Season 2. Stars Brenda Blethyn as the principal character, Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope.

ENGROSSING, accessible, fast-paced yet devoid of actioner bombast. Each story/case ends in one 1.5 hour episode. "Vera" is Ms Blethyn's show. I saw her only once before this unfeigned, unpretentious police procedural, in Mike Leigh's 1996 superb drama "Secrets & Lies." Now I get the urge to locate/watch her other movies.

       Vera is a nearly retired employee of the fictional Northumberland & City Police, who is painstakingly obsessive about her work and driven by her own demons that she vehemently wards off. She lumbers along in an unkempt, "unsexy" swagger but her clinically calculating mind that is backstopped by a dismissive personality, gets the work done.

       Pretty much like you are watching grandma running the police force similar to how she runs the kitchen. Sure, meticulous, dictatorial, but she ends up with the best seafood paella ever. Vera could be a Mussolini in the outside, but deep inside she is a Mother Teresa.

       For that, you know there's only one human being who save the day: Vera. "You're gonna be okay, pet!"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Mayor of Kingstown." Season 3.

-
Image
“Mayor of Kingstown” (Paramount+) Season 3, crime thriller . Kingstown, Michigan , is a fictional company town where the business is incarceration. The McLusky family kept the peace (sort of) in Kingstown for decades, acting as the mediators between the street gangs, prisoners, guards, and cops.         Intrigue: Does a “mayor” of this vein actually exist? A power broker and gangland negotiator or “shot caller” who could be more powerful than a non-fiction Mayor? Maybe.         But never mind. This is TVland. Just enjoy but don't be too queasy with the “macho maddafucqa” language. These guys are hardened inmates, battle-weary cops, hellbound gangsters and narcos monsters, exasperated DAs, and the likes.         Jeremy Renner is Mike McLusky, caught between no way out evil and vulnerability in the crossroads. His spunk and grit are an unfailing gladiator armor but his soul is rotting in the crossfire (or that's how he feels). Ensemble acting competes with the group performance
Read more

“Tulsa King.” “The Outsider.”

-
Image
“Tulsa King.” (Paramount+ via Amazon) c rime drama or comedy drama or dramedy action, whatsoever suits you. I am not really a huge fan of Sylvester Stallone , regardless of “Rocky I,” but hey that was 47 years ago! Yet I need to admit that I am on Taylor Sheridan fix and I thought the writer isn’t going to lose (at least for me). Add co-creator Terence Winter of “The Sopranos” and “Boardwalk Empire” fame, plus his remarkable screenplay of Martin Scorsese 's “ The Wolf of Wall Street .”         But this Tulsa whatever is a disappointment.         Mr Stallone is Dwight "The General" Manfredi, a New York Mafia capo who has just finished serving a 25-year prison sentence. Upon release, his boss sends him to Tulsa, Oklahoma to establish criminal operations there. Not knowing anyone in the area, the General seeks a new crew to help establish his empire. Sure, y’all gangster cinema fans like me, have lumbered into the same Mafiosi drill before. That’s okay, as long as we get
Read more

TV Series Notebook: The Mosquito Coast.

-
Image
"The Mosquito Coast" (Apple TV+), political action/drama, based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Paul Theroux. The book coaxed me to watch the 1986 film, which starred Harrison Ford. The much-better made 1988 movie "Running on Empty" by directed by Sidney Lumet, treads a similar story. Those two movies could be accompanying watch later. THE TV series, starring Justin Theroux and Melissa George as the fugitive Fox couple Allie and Margot, is on Second Season.        I first read the book in the 1990s but although my memory sometimes fails me, I am sure the "...based on" kicker took so much liberty that the series doesn't seem like what/how it was. Understandably, cellphones were not a thing then so in a significant sequence I didn't get that Allie was working on floppy discs for a cartel dude. And, of course, absence computer technology in the novel and presence of it in the series totally subverts plotpoints.        Anyhow, acting by the main
Read more