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FOREIGN FILMS. “The Secret Agent.” / “The Big Fake.” / “Schneider vs. Bax.” / “7 Years.”

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“The Secret Agent” (2025, Hulu) Brazilian historical political thriller. Armando is a former professor caught in the political turmoil in the midst of the Brazilian military dictatorship , attempting to flee persecution and resist an authoritarian regime.         A visually intriguing and eerily dark political thriller, featuring the fiercely convincing performance of Wagner Moura as Marcelo, a former professor trapped in the 1970s' Brazilian military dictatorship's oppressive claws, under strongman Emilio Garrastazu Medici. While the story is fiction, the narrative is based on real events.        Kleber Mendonca Fiho's old-school direction reminds us of the less complex but visually articulate cinema of decades ago, before the 21st century. The emphasis is on the storytelling. 🎥💻📽 “The Big Fake” (2025, Netflix) Italian crime drama. In Rome in the 1970s, Toni arrived in the city with the dream of becoming a...
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WATCHED THEM AGAIN. “I'm Not There.” / “1941.” / “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

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“I'm Not There” (2007, Pluto TV) musical drama , directed by Todd Haynes . Inspired by the life and music of B ob Dylan , with six actors depicting different facets of Dylan's public personas: Christian Bale , Cate Blanchett , Marcus Carl Franklin , Richard Gere , Heath Ledger , and Ben Whishaw . Kickass! But that'd be it.        Unorthodox editing, intriguing visuals, and an array of talents–all geared at overreading Bob Dylan. It is fine but more than two hours of Dylan “analysis,” with too much emphasis on the Cate Blanchett bit, can be tiring.         I'd rather listen to Bob's songs for hours on a week's time to know him, you know. 🎥💻📽 “1941” (1979, Roku) war comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg . The story involves a panic in the Los Angeles area after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor .         The stars: Dan Aykroyd , Ned Beatty , John Belushi , Joh...
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MOVIES THAT SUCK! “Within the Pines.” / “Duchess.” / “Silent Hours.” / “Deadline.” / “Postal.” / “Dunsmore.”

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“Within the Pines” (2024, Tubi) Australian independent horror-thriller. The plot follows a sound recordist who, while capturing audio in an isolated forest, becomes hunted by an unknown entity.         What do some critics say about this little project? “Focused, minimalist narrative.” “Well-made.” “Suspenseful atmosphere.” And more approving albeit spaced-out superlatives. Okay. Really?        Written, directed, and produced by a dude whose name sounds so boringly familiar: Paul Evans Thomas. Let's be honest here. Nothing happens in this obviously vegemite-budgeted indie, and nothing really ends, although the start is intriguing.        Anyhow, nothing here suggests “horror” or “thrilling.” Or suspenseful. Although the character could be “hunted by an unknown entity” or hunted later (in our post-watch imagination) we will never know. This movie is a little waste of time, while ...
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ACTION: “Tornado.” / “Trap House.” / “Stone Cold Fox.” / “Old Guy.” / “Far Haven.”

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“Tornado” (2025, Hulu) British period action drama . The plot follows a young Japanese woman named Tornado in 1790s Scotland who seeks vengeance after a brutal gang led by Sugarman kills her puppet-master father.  This movie was written and directed by John Maclean, the same cool Scottish whose only other full length feature is 2015's “Slow West,” the stylish Western with topnotch Kodi Smit-McPhee, Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelsohn.         In this his second movie, John has the master of deadpan, Tim Roth, suave Jack Lowden, Takehiro Hira, and Joanne Whalley + the kickass Kōki as Tornado.        The “melange of tones” (jidaigeki drama interfaced with American frontier vibe) + character names such as Tornado, Sugarman, Little Sugar, Squid Lips, and big, supposedly big guys called Kitten and Mint, you know this is “different” kind of trip.          I like it. 🎥...
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HORROR THRILLER. “Sinners.” / “Weapons.” / “Men.” / “Ready or Not.” / “The Small Hand: A Ghost Story.” / “Angelica.”

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“Sinners” (2025, Amazon Prime) supernatural thriller. Set in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta , the film stars Michael B. Jordan in dual roles as criminal identical twin brothers who return to their hometown in the Jim Crow South, where they are confronted by a supernatural evil.         Yes, this is a vampire movie with a sociocultural message, though still a vampire movie. But this has more aesthetic earnestness and cinematic craft than 2026's Oscar Best Picture, the reactionary megaphone “One Battle After Another.”         “Sinners” is kickass visual narrative spliced with theatrical blues music. Writer-director Ryan Coogler elevates himself as an A-lister with this gothic gem. And Michael B. Jordan is the young Denzel W. 🎥💻📽 “Weapons” (2025, Amazon Prime) supernatural mystery horror. The case of seventeen children from the same classroom who mysteriously run away on the same night at the same time....
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CRIME DRAMA. “Dead of Winter.” / “Down River.” / “Killer Heat.” / “Assassination Nation.” / “Taken in Broad Daylight.”

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“Dead of Winter” (2025, Amazon Prime)  psychological thriller. A grieving widow drives through a Minnesota blizzard to scatter her husband's ashes. Stars Emma Thompson .         This thriller carries a heavy backstory that is easily engulfed by the emphasis on Emma Thompson's grieving Barb. Overall, the dramatic tension between Barb and the characters of Judy Greer and Marc Menchaca's define this dreary but watchable movie. 🎥💻📽 “ Down River ” (2025, Amazon Prime) crime thriller. Set in West Virginia coal country, it follows a sheriff and deputy investigating a crime at an abandoned farmhouse.         This is a decent enough small town indie. Tight storytelling. Directors Brian Barnard and Tommy Walton confined the narrative to a minimalist reach, anchored on the performance of “unknown” actors Randy McDowell and Jody Thompson, who also co-wrote the screenplay. 🎥💻📽 “Killer Heat” (2024. Amazon Prim...
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