2022 Sleepers

                                                                 Part 3

    Herewith the third, and last, entry about movies from last year that didn’t get noticed much, but that I thought deserved mention.

Argentina 1985 belongs entirely to that country. In the 1970's thousands of civilians were rounded up, imprisoned, tortured and “disappeared” by the military junta that ruled the country. The prosecution bureau decides to put on trial the generals who authorized the atrocities. The actors will be unknown to readers, as they’re all Argentines. The head prosecutor is repeatedly told that the judges will never convict theses guys. His life and family are threatened, but he perseveres. The evidence is overwhelming, but is justice served? Watch and see!

The Good Nurse (2022) stars Jessica Chastain as the good guy, Amy Loughren,  and Eddie Redmayne as the bad guy, Charile Cullen. Charlie seems a nice guy and very capable nurse. But he is a mass murderer who kills patients in a sly, diabolical manner. No, he doesn’t know them. Yes, this is based on a true story. And yes, Redmayne is sensational as the killer and good friend to Amy, a single mom struggling with her obligations. No reason is given for his actions, and the real Charlie never gave one either. 

Windfall is a throwback thriller with lots of sly twists. Jason Segel portrays a burglar who breaks into the house of a billionaire who is supposedly on vacation. But the owner and his wife return unexpectedly. Unable to escape, the burglar decides to hold them hostage and make the owner have the ransom delivered. There’s some good character stuff and an ending you will not see coming. 

Okay, if you’ve seen the Bourne movies you may think you’ve already seen The Grey Man. Ryan Gosling is the rogue CIA agent who knows too much and is the target of agency assassins. Lots of chases and gunfights. Still and all, I found it different enough to be enjoyable. The plot is too complicated to summarize here, but you can safely assume that Hollywood isn’t going to kill off the hero. Not when they’re planning a sequel.

The mostly unknown cast of The Wonder manages to pull off an Irish story that is different. A young girl becomes famous throughout the country because she never eats and yet remains healthy. This is supposedly a religious miracle, and a strict and suspicious nun is sent to the girl’s home to check out the story. An interesting facet of the film is how most people seem to want and need for the story to be true. So- is it? Watch and see!

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.