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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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JASON STATHAM: “A Working Man.” / “Homefront.” / “The Mechanic.” / “Killer Elite.” / “Chaos.”

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“A Working Man” (2025, Amazon Prime) action thriller film , directed by David Ayer , and co-written with Sylvester Stallone . Levon Cade left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life of working construction. Then shit happens. So you know what happens next when shit happens. The macho action hero will fix the shit!    Yes, Sly co-wrote the script with the dude who earned his Hollywood gravitas writing action bangers and then directing some: David Ayer . He wrote the screenplays for 2001's “ Training Day ” and “ The Fast and the Furious ,” and directed 2012's “ End of Watch ” and 2014's “F ury .” I enjoyed all those movies. But there's nothing much to experience in “A Working Man” that I didn't see before.        As we know it, action hunks like Jason Statham don’t talk much. In fact, they talk softly but firm (standard: Clint Eastwood in spaghetti westerns). Like a whispery shout. The acting is one-dimens...
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