Hunter Killer:

A submarine thriller with Gerard Butler as U-Boat Captain Joe Glass has the Arkansas, a hunter-killer class American sub out on maneuvers in the Barent Sea just off Russia when something big happens.  There has been a coup in Russia and the Minister of Defense has detained the Russian President and has taken control of the armed forces himself, wanting WWIII to break out over this incident.  No real explanation as to why he wants war, but without this madman we wouldn't have a movie, so here we go!  There are two stories at play that come together in the end - first, Capt. Glass is attempting to find the Russian President while evading the Russian navy which is bent, based on the orders from the defense minister, to eradicate the Arkansas.  At the same time, a Navy Seal team is ashore in a Russian seaport with orders to find out what is going on, to kidnap the President, and to get him back to the sub.  There is a lot of action, many close calls, and some interesting strategy at play.  It's a popcorn movie for sure, and works well in that respect.   Butler, who produced the movie, is at his Olympus-has-fallen best, the Navy Seal team is excellent in its action sequences, and we always have to have a few dopes in Government who can't seem to get it right, which is the role played by Gary Oldman as chairman of the Joint Chiefs.  Rated 14A.

The Wife:

Glenn Close has Oscar Buzz as the star of this story of Joan, eventual wife of Joseph Castleman.  The young Joan is played by Annie Stark opposite the young Joseph (Harry Lloyd) in the early days of their relationship.  Annie is in love with Joseph, who is a married professor at a women’s only college, and who has designs on becoming a novelist.  Joseph isn’t much of a writer, it turns out, but when Joan edits his novel, adding significant material, it is released and becomes a best-seller.  No one knows what her role was in the publication of the book. As they age, Joan becomes Glenn Close, Joseph is played by Jonathan Pryce, and their lives are a lie as Joseph divorces, marries Joan, and they carry on, with Joan continuing to write, and Joseph continuing to get all the accolades, ultimately resulting in a a Nobel Prize in Literature award, although it was Joan who did the work.  He is a serial philanderer, and seems completely taken with his talent and his celebrity, telling anyone who asks, that Joan doesn’t write. They live the lie as the story takes them to Sweden for yet another award, and things become unglued when it seems that a journalist is on to them, and is onto the entire scam, things begin to unfold quickly. The attitudes of “The Wife,” Joan, are where the real mystery and the real challenges are in this story.  Rated 14A.

 Boy Erased:

One of two movies on the theme of gay-to-straight conversion therapy (The other was “The Miseducation of Cameron Post”), this true story is based on the memoire written by Garrard Connelly, named Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges) here.  Jared is the son of a Baptist preacher, Marshall Eamons (Russell Crowe) who first forceably outs his son when he learns that the boy is gay, and then, along with his wife, Jared’s mother Nancy (Nicole Kidman) publicly forces him into a church-sponsored gay conversion program.   Submitting to the therapy program, where the participants learn that their gay inclinations are the result of poor parenting, the boys are asked to participate in a number of secretive exercises designed to get themselves straight. Jared learns that, unless he becomes “normal” in the context of the program, that he may never be allowed out.  He will be moved to another facility, and will be confined there until such time as he is “better.” A frightening look at what people can do to others, in the name of what is “right,” this movie is a strong statement on an event that has now been outlawed in many places. Rated 14A.

Conversations with a Killer:

The Ted Bundy Tapes (2019):  This Netflix original is a four-part series that takes a detailed look at Bundy, a convicted serial killer who was put to death in the electric chair in 1989.  Originally captured and jailed in Utah, Bundy escaped and committed several more sadistic murders before being recaptured, tried, convicted, and ultimately put to death.  During the final months of his incarceration, Bundy agreed to be interviewed and was recorded in many sessions where he spoke in detail about his crimes, and confessed to at least 30 murders, although most believe there were many, many more.  A sadistic sociopath, he never expressed any remorse for what he had done, and given the opportunity, said he would gladly kill again.  Rated 18A for graphic descriptions.

Black Earth Rising (2018):

This Netflix original traces the story of a woman who escaped the Rwandan genocides as a child and who now lives in London.  As Alice Munezero (Noma Dumazwni) she grows up working to escape the shadow of her past, becomes a gifted lawyer, but ends up fighting the same battle in court with a man who tried to help the Rwandans, but is now accused of genocidaly crimes.  John Goodman also stars.  Rated 14A.