Story is simple and gets going fast: New York mafia guy (Frank Tagliano played by Steven Van Zandt) rats out his ‘family’ to the FBI and is entered into the witness program. Instead of choosing to go somewhere climate-friendly and in the US, he goes to Norway after having fond memories of the 94 Winter Olympics. As you can imagine there’s quite a clash of cultures between the ex-mafia boss and the quiet, socialist and subdued culture of Norway. Add some romance, crime and friendships and you’ve got a great story.

This is a satire/comedy series and apparently created by the Norwegian TV channel NRK and originally targeted for Norwegians. A lot of the show is about typical mafia dealings (i.e. running a nightclub, and managing the local riff-raff, etc.) and the absurdities of the politically correct Norwegian bureaucracy / Norwegian culture in general. I also want to mention that I LOVE how they’ve incorporated spoken Norwegian in the show, its easy to understand (they do have subtitles) and it makes the show seem more authentic and international-friendly.

I won’t go into all the characters, but Frank’s flunky partner, Torgeir Lien, is quite hilarious (whats up with his baseball cap?), kind of like a Norwegian Barney Fife. The female police chief has a soft soul. The immigration integration guy is a bumbling idiot, and almost all are soon under Frank’s thumb. And there is even a love interest for Frank, a woman who is attractive enough, but is even more sweet and unquestioning – just take a leap of faith and go with it!

Love the Norwegian scenery, actors, English subtitles and mobster mysteries. This show is easy for anyone to fall in love with. Det er bare Fantastik!!! (It’s just Fantastic!!!) Great job Netflix!

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“You could have had everything.” I wonder if Mr. Davi had some kind of premonition about the shortcomings of future Bond movies. Eighteen years later, I’m still waiting for one that can give me the same sense of complete satisfaction Licence To Kill did. I always found that Bond had one thing lacking in his movies and that was the ability to be taken seriously. If he wasn’t over the top then the villains surely were and it never gelled. True when it came down to business he always got the job done, but there was never a time in any of the movies when I wouldn’t have minded it if he would’ve gotten picked off. This was definitely not the case with Licence To Kill. The story is about vengeance, and Bond is not taking orders. He has his mind set on what he needs to accomplish and this time Her Majesty’s Secret Service can come along for the ride. Robert Davi is as cool as they come and was the perfect choice to play the role of the cold villain Franz Sanchez, but the surprise for me in this movie was the appearance of a very young Benicio Del Toro. Right then and there you could see his quality and magnetism, and have no doubts that he would be major star one day. Timothy Dalton’s portrayal of Bond at his most rawest is fantastic and completely freshened up the franchise. Unfortunately, the audiences were expecting more of the Roger Moore era of Bond and so the studios returned to the old formula which guaranteed commercial success. However, die-hard fans will appreciate that the franchise was once brave enough to make a movie that took Bond back to his core character. You can clearly see Licence To Kill’s influence in the latest offering Casino Royale, but the studios compromising and playing safe again turned what could’ve been a great movie into another dull disappointment. Bottom line, Licence To Kill is the complete Bond film. It has a great story, great characters, and great action. The cherry on top is the super soundtrack which features the excellent theme by Gladys Knight, and a complete gem by Patti LaBelle to take us into the ending credits. Find it, enjoy it.

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Do you have that friend who you think is smart and is curious as hell about how everything works? Well if by everything its the human body then this is the perfect DVD to give as a gift. I love science, which is why I practice what I do, however this movie takes me a step beyond simple biology and chemistry. It brings in quantum physics and relates it to the human body and cells on the atomic level. A movie that I found fascinating while watching, yet more importantly, it left me thinking about a lot of things differently long after I was done watching it. I love thought stimulation and this movie did exactly that, for me. Again, like most things I enjoy watching, a background in the sciences will certainly add to the enjoyment, while a lack of it can end up stimulating something that has been dormant, a sense of curiosity that wont go away.

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