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Orwell: 2+2=5

  • Title: Orwell: 2+2=5
  • IMDb: link

Making use of George Orwell‘s personal journals, narrated by Damian Lewis, alongside news footage and clips from various films (including those adapted from Orwell’s work), director Raoul Peck examines the thoughts and feelings of Orwell on the subject of totalitarianism and authoritarianism during the period on which he wrote his final novel 1984. The documentary takes time to examine the author’s life, including his time as a member of the Indian Imperial Police in Burma which helped form his opinions and social criticism in its non-linear structure of examining the author’s legacy and his foresight into the modern world.

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The Smashing Machine

  • Title: The Smashing Machine
  • IMDb: link

The Smashing Machine showcases the life and career of former MMA fighter Mark Kerr (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) who was one of the biggest names in the sport during the late 1990s. More notable for The Rock’s performance than any details of Kerr’s life, in or out of the ring, the film showcases the fighter overcoming substance abuse, the precipitous fall following his first loss, and the contentious relationship with his girlfriend (Emily Blunt).

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The Running Man

  • Title: The Running Man (1987)
  • IMDb: link

Set in the distant future of 6 years ago, 1987’s The Running Man starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Ben Richards, an escaped convict and disgraced former police officer who was arrested for refusing to open fire on an unarmed mob in a totalitarian police state run by lies, propaganda, and brutal force that looks more and more prescient every day. Framed for the murders he refused to commit, Richard is tapped by Damon Killian (Richard Dawson), the host of the world’s most popular reality-TV game show, and forced into competing on The Running Man.

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Outland

  • Title: Outland
  • IMDb: link

Set in a mining station on the moon of Jupiter, 1981’s Outland stars Sean Connery as the recently-assigned Marshal William T. O’Niel. With his wife (Kika Markham) and son (Nicholas Barnes) unable to deal with the conditions of his job any longer, and leaving for Earth, O’Neil finds himself increasingly isolated especially after he begins looking into a series of suspicious deaths and uncovers a company-approved amphetamine smuggling operation increasing the productivity of the miners but also making a number of the workers insane.

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Warfare

  • Title: Warfare
  • IMDb: link

Crafted from the memories of the soldiers who lived through events, Warfare documents a Navy SEAL platoon deployed at night into a two-story home in the Anbar Province. Narratively weak, the film doesn’t attempt to put events of the film into any historical context, nor does it offer any explanation as to why this location is of any strategic importance. Instead we’re thrown into the situation with the (mostly interchangeable and underdeveloped) soldiers who live through the lulls and extreme action that make up modern warfare as they attempt to survive and escape a situation that quickly grows untenable.

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