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POLITICAL THRILLER. “One Battle After Another.” / “Black Bag.”

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“One Battle After Another” (2025, HBO Max) black comedy about an ex-revolutionary who is forced back into his former combative lifestyle when he and his daughter are pursued by a corrupt military officer. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio , Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro ; directed by Paul Thomas Anderson .         This film is supposedly based on Thomas Pynchon's 1990 postmodern novel, “Vineland.” Set in California in 1984, the year of President Ronald Reagan 's reelection, the book portrays the free spirit of rebellion of that decade, and describes the traits of the "fascistic Nixonian repression" and the war on drugs that clashed with it. The book portrays transformations in U.S. society from the 1960s to the 1980s.        This movie is categorized as “black comedy” but I didn't see anything “black” or “comical” about it. I am not saying though that this project sucks. No. In fact, I enjoyed it so much. Very enter...
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MOVIES THAT SUCK. “The Running Man.” / “Sharp Stick.” / “Lie with Me.”

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“The Running Man” (2025, Apple TV+) dystopian science fiction action thriller. This topsy-turvy mash-up (sic!) isn’t really the second adaptation of the 1982 novel by Stephen King nor does it follow the 1987 film , which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. The base story is the same, a deadly competition on television, but all the rest is an entirely new shenanigan.         Starring Glen Powell as a blacklisted laborer, director Edgar Wright (from a script that he wrote with Michael Bacall ) gave us instead a pretentious actioner that is both silly, contrived, and un-original. Mr Powell, who was really funny and smart in 2023’s “Hit Man,” is a wasted scooby-doo in this farce. Others in the cast, who normally deliver fine entertainment: Josh Brolin , Colman Domingo , William H. Macy , and Emilia Jones are nothing but talking-heads. Forget that I never really liked Lee Pace and M ichael Cera .        And what do ...
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CRIME DRAMA: “Caught Stealing.” / “The Woman in Cabin 10.” / “The Painter.” / “Dragged Across Concrete.” / “Perrier's Bounty” / “First Snow.”

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“Caught Stealing” (2025, Netflix) black comedy crime thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky . A former star baseball player-turned- bartender unwittingly runs afoul of New York City 's criminal underbelly while pet sitting for his neighbor.         We got heavy-hitters here: Regina King , Zoë Kravitz , Matt Smith , Liev Schreiber , Vincent D'Onofrio , Griffin Dunne , and Carol Kane + youngster D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai and Laura Dern (though uncredited).        Austin Butler's charisma carries this show like nonstop fun. More importantly, this lighthearted romp is what director Darren Aronofsky needs to deliver once in a while. I enjoyed “ Requiem for a Dream ” (2000) and “Black Swan” (2010) but not the others, including the wildly confused “Mother!” (2017).         And there's a cat, Bud. And he wasn't hurt. So I am very happy about that! 🎥💻📽 “The Woman in Cabin 10” (...
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HISTORICAL or True-Life. “The Young Karl Marx.” / “Kon-Tiki.” / “Meek’s Cutoff.” / “Séraphine.”

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“The Young Karl Marx” (2017, Plex) historical drama film about Karl Marx . While in his 20s, Karl struggles to establish himself as a writer of political and sociological importance.         Haitian filmmaker and political activist Raoul Peck (with co-writer Pascal Bonitzer ) constructed a talkative navigation of the younger life of buddies Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and fell flat as a flatbread without butter or jam. The actors August Diehl as Karl and Stefan Konarske as Friedrich did a fine job mouthing what resulted as “The Communist Manifesto” and “Capital” for almost two hours but that'd be all.          Despite the presence of the usually remarkable Vicky Krieps as Jenny von Westphalen , Mr Marx's partner, I craved for dramatic tension or at least some texture and color in this discourse that stretched for almost two hours. Lacking in depth despite the obvious complexity of the premise. 🎥💻?...
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