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Category Archives: Crime-Action

The Hunger Games (2012)

30 Aug

142m; U.S.

Director: Gary Ross

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland

Synopsis: In a dystopic future North America called Panem, the wealthy elite who live in the central city (known as the Capitol) exploit the impoverished workers of the rest of the country who are divided into twelve districts.  The Capitol employs a range of social controls, including the Hunger Games, an annual event where two children from each district are thrown into an arena and fight until only one is left alive.

Into these games is thrust Katniss Everdeen, the daughter of a coal miner, who must use her wits and skills to survive while trying to maintain her humanity, even as her examples of resistance and solidarity begin to inspire some of the districts towards rebellion.

Trailer

 
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Posted by on August 30, 2012 in Children, Cities-Urban, Class, Crime-Action, Drama, Politics, SciFi, Women, Working Class

 

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The Girl from Monday (2005)

13 Jun

84m; U.S.

Director: Hal Hartley

Cast: Bill Sage, Sabrina Lloyd and Tatiana Abracos

Synopsis (IMDB): In the not-distant-future, the market has taken over everything, thanks to the marketers. The consumer is king, and those who see value outside of the marketplace are “enemies of the consumer”, terrorists, and “partisan” enemies that the state must dispose of. Protagonist Jack seems to be at one with the media corporations (after all, his marketing ideas led to the institutionalization of the exchange of sex for enhanced buying power), but is he somehow involved with the feeble and pathetic resistance movement? Does he love Cecile, his colleague, or is she a pawn in his game? And what of the mysterious girl from Monday? Are immigrants from the star system “Monday” really assisting the partisans?

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Crime-Action, Drama, Finance, Immigrants/Immigration, SciFi, Technology

 

The Train (1964)

13 Jun

133m; U.S.

Director: John Frankenheimer

Cast: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield and Jeanne Moreau

Synopsis: It is the fall of 1944 and the Allies are advancing to liberate Paris.  German Colonel Von Waldheim decides to seize hundreds of France’s most famous artworks and ship them back to Germany via train.  The French resistance wants to stop this and a team of working-class train operators and workmen are given the mission.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Crime-Action, Transportation, War, Working Class

 

Thelma & Louise (1991)

13 Jun

130m; U.S.

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis and Harvey Keitel

Synopsis (IMDB): Louise is working in a fast food restaurant as a waitress and has some problems with her friend Jimmy, who, as a musician, is always on the road. Thelma is married to Darryl who likes his wife to stay quiet in the kitchen so that he can watch football on TV. One day they decide to break out of their normal life and jump in the car and hit the road. Their journey, however, turns into a flight when Louise kills a man who threatens to rape Thelma. They decide to go to Mexico, but soon they are hunted by American police.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Crime-Action, Drama, White Collar, Working Class

 

They Drive by Night (1940)

13 Jun

93m; U.S.

Director: Raoul Walsh

Cast:  George Raft, Humphrey Bogart and Ann Sheridan

Synopsis (IMDB): Brothers Paul and Joe Fabrini run a trucking business in California mainly shipping fruit from farms to the markets in Los Angeles. They struggle to make ends meet in the face of corrupt businessmen and intense competition. They are forced into driving long hours and one night pick-up waitress Cassie Hartley who’s just quit her job at a truck stop. The three of them witness the death of a mutual acquaintance when he falls asleep at the wheel. This has a profound effect on Paul and Joe and they become determined to find a way to make the business pay so they can quit.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Crime-Action, Themes, Working Class

 

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Two Seconds (1932)

13 Jun

67m; U.S.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy

Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Vivienne Osborne and Guy Kibbee

Synopsis (IMDB): Allen claims he his being executed for the wrong murder. Flashbacks show him working with Clark as a riveter. When he makes a killing on the horses he meets Shirley and gets married. When Clark tells him Shirley is unfaithful they fight and Clark falls to his death. Later he finds that Clark was telling the truth.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Crime-Action, Working Class

 

The Wages of Fear (1953)

13 Jun

131m; France

Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

Cast: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel and Peter van Eyck

Synopsis: In a remote part of Venezuela right after World War II various European emigres look for work in the oil fields.  When a giant fire erupts, several of these men are hired to transport large stocks of nitroglycerine, which involves traversing a long stretch of treacherous terrain.  Fantastic acting and a truly suspenseful film.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Crime-Action, Drama, Migrant workers

 

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Who Killed Vincent Chin? (1989)

13 Jun

87m; U.S.

Director: Christine Choy, Renee Tajima-Pena

Synopsis (IMDB): This film recounts the murder of Vincent Chin, an automotive engineer mistaken as Japanese who was slain by an assembly line worker who blamed him for the competition by the Japanese auto makers that were threatening his job. It then recounts how that murderer escaped justice in the court system.

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Crime-Action, Documentary

 

The Trainee (2006)

13 Jun

9m; Singapore

Director: Craig Rosenthal

Synopsis: This amusing Asian short revolves around a loser whose efforts to rob a convenience store are foiled by his own repeated stupidity.

Contact: Youtube link to the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYTWpbanE2M Found on 2007 Palm Springs Shorts Film Fest: http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=19323&FID=31 hellocraigrosenthal@gmail.com

 
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Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Available Online, Comedy, Crime-Action, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo)

 

Soldiers of the Rock (2003)

07 May

94m; South Africa

Director: Norman Maake

Cast: Vuyo Dabula, Lebo Mathosa and Glen Gabela

Synopsis ( Variety): “A South African gold mining crew struggles with cultural pride, internecine friction and constant danger in the bracing, socially-conscious actioner “Soldiers of the Rock.” Despite overly-ambitious plotting, novelty of milieu and gritty action set pieces will earn pic fest play and distrib interest, with genre elements a good draw in ancillary . . . Seemingly inspired by both Ken Loach and Michael Bay.”

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Crime-Action

 

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