“Pain Hustlers.”

-

“Pain Hustlers” (2023, Netflix) crime drama, centers on a high school dropout who lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical company in Central Florida, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy. In case you already saw Hulu’s remarkable “Dopesick” and/or Netflix’s “Painkiller” (which I haven’t seen), both tackling the opioid crisis via oxycontin, according to the sins of the Sackler family’s Purdue Pharma, then you are pretty much entering the same hayride. 



       Based on the 2022 book of the same name by Evan Hughes, “Pain Hustlers” is a bit of fiction account of the downfall of the real-life Insys, headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, and its boss Dr. John Kapoor in 2019. According to Reuters, Kapoor was the "highest-level corporate executive convicted at trial of crimes related to the opioid epidemic." Uh huh. 

       I love Emily Blunt, always. So I can’t afford not to see this movie. All the others are simply support character adornments, and I never like/d Chris Evans, anyway.

       You see, the opioid crisis has become the most popular theme for crime dramas this year. For a reason. Next to President Joe Biden’s hawkish foreign policy playbook, the opioid nightmare is America’s most fearful fact these days. 🎥💻📽


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