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HISTORICAL or PERIOD DRAMA. “Nuremberg.” / “This Bloody Country.” / “Lapwing.” / “The Claim.”

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“Nuremberg” (2025, Netflix) psychological thriller historical drama. The film follows the U.S. Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley seeking to carry out an assignment to investigate the personalities and monitor the mental status of Hermann Göring and other high-ranking Nazis in preparation for and during the Nuremberg trials .  The movie's source material is the 2013 book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist” by Jack El-Hai , which follows U.S. Army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley (played by Rami Malek ) seeking to carry out an assignment to investigate the personalities and monitor the mental status of Hermann Göring , and other high-ranking Nazis in preparation for and during the Nuremberg trials .        This movie isn't epic in physical proportion but it is elegantly crafted, anchored on a tight screenplay, measured editing, and a fine performance from Russell Crowe as Hermann Goring. Mr Crowe's essay of Adolf Hitler's #2 aide is a piercing study of c...
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DRAMA. “Twinless.” / “Hoard.” / “The Infernal Machine.” / “American Woman.” / “Driftwood” / “The Sleepwalker.” / “Bellflower.”

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“Twinless” (2025, Hulu) psychological black comedy. T wo young men, Roman and Dennis, meet in a grief support group and form an unlikely friendship, which is complicated by lies, secrets, and an unexpected connection to the past.         First, I don't see or feel “psychological” or “black comedy” in this meandering indie.         I don't question James Sweeney cluelessly nonchalant Dennis or Dylan O'Brien's intensely sensitive Roman/Rocky but their characters offer no twists or new angling, anyhow. And as expected, critics praise this correctness lecture due to the obvious. That's it.         But still a promising attempt by James Sweeney, writer and director. 🎥💻📽 “Hoard” (2023, Amazon Prime) British coming-of-age drama about a teenager whose mother used to be an obsessive hoarder as she journeys through childhood trauma and emerging sexuality.   ...
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WATCHED THEM AGAIN. “Escape from New York.” / “Saturday Night Fever.” / “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” / “The Seventh Seal.”

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“Escape from New York” (1981, Roku) science fiction action film . Set in a then-near-future world of 1997, a crime-ridden United States has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into the country's sole maximum security prison .         Repeat: This is the year 1997 and the movie was made in 1981. And we are now in the year 2026. And we haven't yet seen the “dystopian future” regardless of the eerie divide among us. Uh huh.        Still in those years, movies of this “futuristic” sort never failed to entertain. As does Kurt Russell 's Snake Plissken. When I first saw this, I was in awe. Whoa! 1997? LOL! 🎥💻📽 “Saturday Night Fever” (1977, Pluto TV) dance drama. Star s John Travolta as a young Italian-American man who spends his weekends dancing and drinking at a local disco while dealing with social tensions and disillusionment in his working class ethnic neighborhood in Brooklyn . The story is base...
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HORROR THRILLERS. “The Monkey.” / “Out Come the Wolves.” / “Baby Ruby.” / “Blood Red Sky.”

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“The Monkey” (2025, Hulu) comedy horror film, written and directed by Osgood Perkins . Based on Stephen King 's 1980 short story about twin brothers whose lives are turned upside down by a cursed toy monkey that causes random horrific deaths around them.         This icky movie received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $68.9 million worldwide against a budget of $10–11 million. Weird, I say.        Rotten Tomatoes consensus: "Cruelly clever with some unforgettably gory set pieces.” Really? As for me, this eerie joint is cruelly stupid and the gory pieces are just that sort of mess, gory. Those whacked-out scenes are made to elicit boisterous laughter in a drunken, stoned frathouse. That's it. 🎥💻📽 “Out Come the Wolves” (2024, Hulu) Canadian horror thriller. A group of friends whose camping trip turns into a nightmare when they are stalked by a pack of wolves in a remote forest.  ...
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