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The Djinn

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  • Title: The Djinn
  • IMDb: link

Written and directed by the team of David Charbonier and Justin Powell, The Djinn plays on several classic horror tropes including children and monsters and the unforeseen price of asking for wishes from a demonic source (Hint: it’s never a good idea).

The film takes place entirely within the apartment of the mute pre-teen Dylan (Ezra Dewey). On night when his father (Rob Brownstein) is at work, Dylan makes use of a satanic book of spells left over from the apartment’s previous tenant and makes a wish. To see his wish granted, he’ll need to survive an hour of being hunted by a malevolent creature known as the Djinn (a mix of CGI and performances from multiple actors including John Erickson, Donald Pitts, and Tevy Poe).

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The Last Duel

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  • Title: The Last Duel
  • IMDb: link

The Last Duel offers a medieval he-said/she-said/he-said tale based on the true events involving Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), his wife Marguerite (Jodie Comer), and Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) who is accused of raping her. Events leading up to and after the rape are shown from each of the three characters’ perspectives including the trial of Marguerite and the eventual duel between the two men who may or may not have been friends at one point depending on whose account you believe.

Each reciting covers many of the same events, offering more context to their character’s actions and the perspective of themselves and Marguerite who under the laws of the time was Jean’s property damaged by Jacques. Let’s just say it wasn’t the best time to be a woman. Nor does the script look fondly on nobility (Ben Affleck) or royalty (Alex Lawther). It’s as much an indictment of the time period as on the events that occurred.

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No Sudden Move

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  • Title: No Sudden Move
  • IMDb: link

Director Steven Soderbergh brings together an ensemble cast for 50s crime thriller and heist gone wrong. Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro star as two members of a criminal trio, along with Kieran Culkin, hired to hold the family of an accountant (David Harbour) hostage while forcing him to steal propriety information from his company’s office. After a number of double-crosses and mistakes, the pair must figure out a way to work together to make something out of a bad situation.

No Sudden Move features a number of characters, from the middle man who hired the thugs (Brendan Fraser) to the accountant’s mistress (Julia Fox), to a police detective (Jon Hamm) investigating the crime, to a local gangster (Ray Liotta) neither of our protagonists trust, who will all work themselves into an important moment of the film’s overall plot.

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Survivor Series 2021

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  • Title: Survivor Series 2021
  • wiki: link

One of WWE’s longest running PPV events, the 2021 edition of the Survivor Series included only a two traditional Survivor Series elimination matches, both won by Team Raw for “brand supremacy.” One of the challenges with the concept, is you end up with series of standalone matches that didn’t fit into existing storylines on either show for a one-night brand vs. brand event. While the structure of the elimination tag forcing enemies to work together for one night allows for some different stories, if you don’t have those kind of matches the night falls mostly flat.

The entire event was overshadowed by a celebration of The Rock, who doesn’t even show up despite the glut of video packages and mentions, and a bizarre tie-in to the former Superstar’s new movie on Netflix involving the theft of a golden egg backstage. There’s also a soul-crushingly long Battle Royale putting over the least athletic Superstar on the roster while honoring The Rock… and was also promoted by Pizza Hut? God help us. 

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Cry Macho

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  • Title: Cry Macho
  • IMDb: link

Clint Eastwood, who also directs, stars as an old cowboy sent to find the son (Eduardo Minett) of a rancher (Dwight Yoakam) in Mexico and bring him to the United States. Cry Macho is a slow-paced stalled road trip movie with Mike (Eastwood) and Rafo (Minett) getting stuck in a Mexican town for most of the film while hiding from authorities and the boy’s mother (Fernanda Urrejola) who doesn’t want him to leave Mexico.

Knocking around Hollywood for the better part of 50 years, the script offers some minimal commentary on machismo while the title of the movie comes from Rafo’s prize cock-fighting rooster. The story unfolds as expected with no stand-out scenes or surprises. Of course, Mike keeps a secret from Rafo leading to inevitable conflict in the final act before Cry Macho eventually limps to the finish line. It’s not a bad film, but there’s little of interest other than some nice cinematography of Mexico.

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