Black Site (2022):

Michelle Monaghan (Mission Impossible – Fallout) is Abby Trent, a CIA operative in a Black Site located in the Jordanian Desert in this action thriller. The team working terrorism-related cases in the region captures an influential, high-value, and most dangerous detainee named Hatchet (Jason Clarke), whom they incarcerate for interrogation in their secret facility known as Citadel. Abby is a key part of the questioning of Hatchet but before the real questioning begins, Hatchet somehow escapes their custody, but doesn’t seem to have gone too far as he is now targeting and murdering every agent in the top-secret facility. It becomes clear that the evil rampage is nearly unstoppable, and it’s also clear that there is far more at stake than just the lives within Citadel. The consequences of Hatchet’s actions reach far beyond the Jordanian desert with a grim outcome if he cannot be stopped. Filmed on location in Australia, the additional cast includes Aussie actor Jai Courtney (“Honest Thief,” “Suicide Squad”) and fellow countrymen Uli Latukefu (“Young Rock”) and Lucy Barrett (“Charmed”). Rookie screenwriter Jinder Ho makes his feature film debut with this project. Rated 14A.

Montana Story (2021):

Co-writers and co-directors Scott McGhee and David Segal deserve a lot of credit for the authenticity they have featured in this neo-western set in the present day, but featuring themes as old as The Old West in its most classic sense. Erin and Cal are an estranged brother and sister played respectively by Hailey Lu Richardson and Owen Teague. The are summoned to the ranch in Montana where they grew up before later growing apart from the family because of their father’s serious illness. In order to do the right thing with Dad means that the siblings have a lot of work to do with other family members to overcome the estrangement and the hard feelings built up over years of relationship challenges. The ranch has been a part of the family for generations, and now Erin and Cal are faced with the possibility of having to sell it in order to pay for their father’s medical expenses. The fabric of this movie is completely authentic, although the story itself is exactly that – a story – but it was shot in its entirety in the state of Montana, giving the visuals that “Yellowstone” feel that we have come to appreciate so much from the Kevin Costner series on Amazon Prime. There’s a great performance from a Canadian First Nations actor as well, Eugene Braverock, who grew up on the Kainai (Blood) Reserve in Southern Alberta, just a few kms from the Montana setting. Rated 14A.

The Beatles: Get Back:

Director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) uncovered more than 50 hours of previously unseen film that was shot during the making of the Beatles' Documentary "Let It Be" from 1970, a film that presented a relatively negative version of the last days of what had once been The Fab Four. That movie focused on the breaking up of the band and pointed at John Lennon, his relationship with Yoko Ono, and differences with Paul McCartney, as the reasons for the demise of the group. In this series of productions, three, two-hour films, we get a different spin on all of that. I was disappointed in one major respect - yes, there are hours and hours of never-before-seen footage, but much of it is just downright boring. We see the boys, and their various hangers-on working through writing and recording a dozen songs for the "Let It Be" album, and much of it is of interest, I think, to musicians who watch the chord selection and different iterations of the various songs with interest, but Jackson's film, in the interest of authenticity, gets very draggy. I loved it, but have to admit that sometimes I just wanted to yell at the television and say, "for crying out loud, just get on with it!"

Persuasion (2022):

Based on the Jane Austin novel, this period piece is, a dramatic romance, stars Dakota Johnson as Anne Elliott, a young woman, persuaded earlier in her life to turn away the affections of a dashing young man of humble origins, and living with her snobbish family, may have a second chance. Anne is a modern-thinking young lady, and she is aware that despite her parents' uppity ways, they are on the brink of bankruptcy. When her one-time suitor, Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis) comes crashing back into her life seven years later she wonders now if she should pick up where he left off. Henry Golding ("Crazy Rich Asians") also stars. Rated PG.

Operation Mincemeat (2021):

This film, based on actual events in WWII, was released by Warner Bros in the UK theatrically, and is being released by Netflix in North America. Colin Firth stars in this ingenious story of an espionage operation in 1943 that turned the tide of the war when a pair of British operatives used a combination of a corpse and false identity documents to deceive the Germans at a critical point when a huge build-up of troops was set to quash the allies. It tells the story of those who fight in the shadows, and whose true exploits are sometimes unknown and lost in the fog of war and the mirage of history. Rated 14A.