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The Conspirator

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  • Title: The Conspirator
  • IMDB: link

the-conspirator-dvdDirector Robert Redford examines the trial of the first woman put to death by the Unites States Government through the eyes of a reluctant young lawyer (James McAvoy) who ended up ruining his career with search for justice in a court that wanted nothing more than a quick conviction.

The story concerns Mary Surratt (Robin Wright) who was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassinations of President Abraham Lincoln (Gerald Bestrom) and Secretary of State William Seward and the attempted assassination of Vice President Andrew Johnson (Dennis Clark).

Redford assembles a first-rate cast to tell an engaging story, but it never reaches the level of storytelling you would expect. Although the screenplay by James D. Solomon showcases the how Suratt was railroaded into the gallows and strongly suggests her innocence, the film never takes a definitive stand on her guilt. This means we aren’t subject to Suratt’s experiences but only those filtered through those of her lawyer.

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Priest

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  • Title: Priest
  • IMDB: link

priest-blurayIn the dystopian future ruled by the Church most of the world is a wasteland after centuries of battle between humans and vampires. The film opens with the last of these battles as the Church’s best warriors, known simply as Priests, set out to destroy the last hive of vampires. They are victorious, but only at the cost of losing one of their own (Karl Urban).

The film skips an undetermined amount of time into the future when the Priests have been disbanded and all vampires are believed dead. An attack on his brother’s home on the edge of the wasteland sends one Priest (Paul Bettany), against the Church’s orders on a hunt to rescue his niece (Lily Collins).

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Limitless

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  • Title: Limitless
  • IMDB: link

Based on the novel by Alan Glynn, Bradley Cooper stars as a struggling writer who takes an experimental drug allowing him to use a larger part of his brain and granting him enhanced intelligence and creativity. His world instantly expands as he writes his novel and begins to clean up on Wall Street by using his intellect to see patterns in numbers.

However, the drug doesn’t come without a cost. Aside from being a stolen commodity which several people are willing to kill for, NZT-48 causes blackouts and time lapses, and is highly addictive as the body becomes dependent on the drug.

Using his enhanced abilities Eddie attempts to make his fortune, use his abilities to help a corporate tycoon (Robert De Niro) with an important merger, win back his former love (Abbie Cornish), and stay ahead of those (Andrew Howard, Tomas Arana) willing to kill for the drug.

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Season of the Witch

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  • Title: Season of the Witch
  • IMDB: link

season-of-the-witch-blu-rayTwo Teutonic Knights (Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman) who have grown weary of killing innocents and become deserters of the Crusades are given the chance to redeem themselves by transporting an accused witch (Claire Foy) to a far away monastery. The accused is charged with spreading the Black Death across the world.

Along for the ride are a priest (Stephen Campbell Moore), a knight (Ulrich Thomsen), an altar boy (Robert Sheehan) and a swindler (Stephen Graham) as their guide.

There are good Nic Cage films, silly but passable ones, and plenty of gawdawful crap. Season of the Witch fits in the last category. The nature of the witch is given away far too soon, and the twist of the true nature of her evil will seems nothing more than a forced attempt to raise the stakes of a film you’ve given up on long before its climax.

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The Warrior’s Way

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  • Title: The Warrior’s Way
  • IMDB: link

the-warriors-way-dvdDong-gun Jang stars as the world’s most dangerous swordsman who refuses to kill the last remaining member of a rival clan. Instead he makes his way to America with the young baby to lose himself in the Old West.

Now marked for death by his own people, Yang attempts to hide himself in a small town at the edge of the desert in a town full of broken people and carnies who make up one of the strangest Old West small towns you’re ever likely to see on-screen.

The town has troubles of its own in the form of a vicious gang leader (Danny Huston) who occasionally terrorizes the town by showing up to rape its young women. Yang befriends one of the villain’s previous victims (Kate Bosworth) and helps her to learn the ways of the sword to take her revenge – just as he did.

Of course the villain’s gang and the entire Sad Flutes clan arrive at the same time and blood is spilled, revenge is had, and our hero, in true western fashion, walks off into the sunset alone.

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