Thinking this will prevent war, the US government gives an impenetrable supercomputer total control over launching nuclear missiles. But what the computer does with the power is unimaginable to its creators.

I guess by now everyone is familiar with the story from the Terminator movies. Well, this is basically how Skynet is created. I loved the setting of it, the retro-futurism and while this is made at the start of the 70s, it also has that 60s artistic vibe, reminding me of Dr. Strangelove. Directed by Joseph Sargent (who also directed the original “Taking of Pelham 123”), and starring Eric Braeden in the main role (YES, Victor Newman from “The Young and the Restless” - where he starred in 4346 episodes so far) makes this a great old school watch. Six popcorns and it goes into the Movie Vault.

We can coexist, but only on my terms. You will say you will lose your freedom, freedom is an illusion.

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Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on step-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo.

Epic movie spanning over 15 years, telling the storyy of three guys from the neighbourhood and their paths in life. Six popcorns and it goes into the Movie Vault.

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One of the most renowned card magicians of all time, Richard Turner astounds audiences around the world with his legendary sleight of hand. What they may not even realize—and what makes his achievements all the more amazing—is that he is completely blind. Charting Turner’s colorful life from his tumultuous childhood to the present, Dealt reveals how through determination and force of will, he overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to rise to the top of his profession. It’s both a tantalizing, up-close look at the secretive world of magic and a candid, awe-inspiring portrait of a man who lives beyond his limitations.

Sixty-two year old Richard Turner is renowned as one of the world’s greatest card magicians, yet he is completely blind. This is an in-depth look at a complex character who is one of magic’s greatest hidden treasures. A good story about stubbornness and living with your limitations. Five popcorns.

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Littlefinger (Spriditis) is having a hard time living with the evil stepmother and despite his grandmother’s and Lienite’s attempts to dissuade him, he goes out into the world to find happiness.

Nice little story based on the Tom Thumb folklore story and because it’s made in the Soviet Union in the 80s, it reminds me of the Romanian movies that I saw growing up, where the little hero outsmarts everyone and makes everything possible. Lovely recommendation from Liga, it just took me a lot of time to find the movie in a good quality and with the original sound and some English subtitles, you can just get a free 7 days trial and watch it here. Five popcorns and it goes into the Movie Vault.

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A wildlife officer helps an FBI agent investigate a murder on an American Indian reservation.

Slow progressing movie in the start, really picks up in the second half, unfolding a story behind the mysterious death of a young woman found in the snow. While the acting is nothing to write home about, Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen are okay, but what I enjoyed was seeing Graham Greene in another role, as he passed away this September. The sountrack is also very well made, in tone with the movie.

Four popcorns.

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A confident young cop is shown the ropes by a veteran partner in the dangerous gang-controlled barrios of L.A. about to explode in violence in this look at the gang culture enforced by the colors that members wear.

Excellent movie about the gang wars in Los Angeles, credited as the movie that brought the war to the mainstream. Directed by Dennis Hopper, with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall in great roles and supported by Don Cheadle, Trinidad Silva, even Damon Wayans, this is a great insight into the gangbagers culture. Six popcorns and goes into the Movie Vault.

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A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.

This is one of the first movies of Christian Bale and it’s also one of his best. This is not an overstatement, as I consider this movie to be one of Steven Spierlberg’s best, which says a lot. There are also appearances by John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Joe Pantoliano, Masato Ibu, Peter Gale and even an appearance of Ben Stiller, but Bale manages to steal the show. Seven popcorns and goes into the Movie Vault.

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In 2024, Marcel Iures brings back Romania’s Enigmas for a second season. Being short, with only three episodes, it’s even better made and with interesting topics of discussion. Once again, featuring interviews with good people from their specific fields, it brings into the spotlight subjects that are usually left in the shadows. Four popcorns.

Episode 1: Barbu Catargiu: Who Is The Killer?

The first political assassination in the history of modern Romania. The first Prime Minister of Unified Romania, Barbu Catargiu, is shot in broad daylight under mysterious circumstances that have never been fully clarified.

A mysterious story about the first political assassination, the prime-minister Barbu Catargiu, in 1862.

My take:

Episode 2: UFOs in Romania

Numerous UFO sightings have been reported in Romania — even aerial enigmas observed in flight. Most appear to be exaggerations, but not all of them! One such incident occurred in 1989 at Kogălniceanu Airport — today a NATO base on the Black Sea — witnessed by supersonic jet pilots. Another case involved nine military helicopter pilots and technicians during a night flight in 1992.

The first UFO sighting photographed in Romania, above the Baciu Forest, was acknowledged by experts and later mentioned at an international symposium on the subject. Dumitru Prunariu, Romania’s famous astronaut, was himself a witness to a strange aerial event during his Soyuz space mission in 1981.

Military and government officials have always remained silent. What really happened in Romania’s skies — and why was it all kept so secret?

A great modern enigma regarding unidentified flying objects. I was surprised to see one of the actors in one of the re-enactments to be a former workmate. Neat!

My take:

Episode 3: Maria Tănase: A Forbidden Love

Known as the “Divine Bird,” Maria Tănase was the Edith Piaf of Romania. Her songs, voice, and beauty captivated both Romanians (including today’s youth and celebrities) and international audiences. But there was also a darker side to her fairy-tale life, largely due to her passionate loves — sometimes for the wrong people.

The fantastic tale of one of Romania’s greatest musician of all time, and the unbelievable story of the person behind the artist.

My take:

Acclaimed Romanian actor Marcel Iures will dig into a series of unanswered enigmas arising from the Romania’s history, geology, castles, who-done-it crimes, celestial lights, mental derangements and hidden religious rites.

The episodes explore mysteries and enigmas from Romania’s history, in a blend of cinematic re-enactments, dialogues with experts on the matter or people close to the case one way or the other. Decently written, well filmed, it’s not a masterpiece, but it’s nice to see these stories getting some screen time. Four popcorns.

Episode 1: The Brukenthal Museum Robbery

Romania in 1968 was better guarded than Alcatraz. No one moved a stick in the country without the Secret Services being informed. And the Bruckenthal Museum in Sibiu was one of the hotspots monitored by the dictator Ceausescu s Secret Service (the Securitate). Under these conditions, 8 very valuable paintings were stolen and taken out of the country. 55 years later, nobody knows what happened. Only 4 of them were found, in USA and President Emil Constantinescu took them back, with the help of Bill Clinton and the World Bank. How did the paintings end up in USA? Who stole them? How were they transported over the borders of two communist counties? (Romania and Hungary) Where are the other four paintings? What the police found out? Who are the main suspects? These are only a few of the questions.

Really nice episode about a story that I didn’t even know it happened.

My take:

Episode 2: The Miracle from Maglavit

Was it a fraud, or was it God talking to the people through a deaf -mute shepherd? In the summer of 1935, over 2 million people left for Maglavit to see God. To talk to him. To be healed. All the newspapers talked about Maglavit, a poor village in Oltenia, where the shepherd Petrache Lupu claimed to have seen and talked to God. And then, started, as a deaf-mute to speak to crowds of hundreds of thousands of people. There were only a few newspapers and most of population that didn’t know how to read. However, it turned into a pilgrimage of the masses, compared to Lourdes. A wasteful amount of money was collected from donations and people claimed to have been cured of serious illnesses. Where is the money? Was Petrache Lupu a saint or a fraud? Was the whole movement put down by moguls or was it something saint oppressed by war and communists?

Another story that I didn’t know about, combined with seeing Gigi Becali in the role of “philantropist”. Lmao.

My take:

Episode 3: The Death of Mihai Eminescu

Was Mihai Eminescu killed, was he the victim of a political complot, the victim of the malpraxis or he really died because of the syphilis and serious mental illness? Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889) is the most famous and influential Romanian poet and journalist. He is described as a genius. At the age of 33 he was hospitalised in a mental asylum. On the same day, Romania was changing its allies, something vehemently criticized by the very influent journalist, Eminescu. He died 6 years later, but during this time he was many times hospitalized by his friends who supported the country s new foreign policy orientation. The conspiracy theories start from the mercury treatment that was administered to him during the 6 years.

I like this episode because it reaches stuff that they don’t tell you in school about the guy that’s considered one of the best poets in Romanian literature. Loved the cinematic re-enactments.

My take:

Episode 4: The Ostara Yacht Mystery

In 1920, in the Black Sea, near the Danube Delta, a yacht full of gold belonging to a family of very influent and rich Russian nobles ran aground. The victims were fleeing the Bolsheviks. 11 or 13 were found dead on board, most of them shot. The bodies of two other nobles were washed ashore by the waves, two months later. The boat was full of gold, money, and jewellery which were never found. The family tried to convince the fishermen and the border police to help them get to the shore. But it never happened. Instead, all of them were found dead. The documents disappeared, as well as the treasure. What happened to the treasure? Were the nobles killed for it? Did the commit group-suicide? These are only a few questions we are trying to answer.

Rich people turn out dead and their wealth turns out missing. Tale as old as time.

My take:

Episode 5: Elisabeth Bathory and Julia Hasdeu

Countess Elisabeth Bathory also known as the Blood Countess, was a Hungarian noblewoman. After her husband’s death in 1604, rumours began to circulate about her involvement in the torture and killing of young girls, because bathing in the blood of virgins would preserve her youth and beauty. She was accused of killing dozens to hundreds of maids, but nobody could prove that. According to the speculations, she put the young girls in a cage, from where they were wounded and bled. Their blood was used for the skin of the countess. According to other sources, the story was invented by King Matias who was in debt to the countess. Sentencing her to death would help the King seize her wealth. Almost the same happened to Anna Bathory, her aunt, also rich and powerful, she was judged for the same accusations, and even more: witchcraft and incest. Were they both victims of a complot, of the fake news, or the most ruthless serial killers?

This episode was a weird one. I was the most excited about it, because it treated the story of the Julia Hasdeu castle (which I’ve written about before), but it only talks a bit about it. The rest of the episode is about the Bathory family drama, which doesn’t connect that much to the Hasdeu family, nor Romania.

My take:

Episode 6: Vlad the Impaler

Everybody heard about Dracula. A bloody character inspired by the historian figure of the Wallachian prince Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler). He is the most famous Romanian warrior who fought against the Ottomans. There are 5 theories about the place he was buried in. We would need Sherlock to find out where is the grave. How did he die? Who killed him? We tried to find out all the answers from people who made a goal to study his life, from the archaeologists who searched for his grave in 1933 and in 1972. Here is what we found out.

Interesting little episode about one of the greatest rulers of Wallachia and the mysteries that outlive him and are puzzling even to this day.

My take:

In 2045, Spain like the rest of the western world has been driven into a dictatorial regime by the lack of natural resources. Life in the countryside is impossible, and in the city a fence divides peoples into the powerful, and the rest.

Set in a not too distant future, in a world fairly possible. Mixing a bit of dictatorship (the police uniform are straight up nazi-SS), a bit of The Handmaid’s Tale, a bit of Children of Men, it’s a decent dystopian drama. I’ve seen it get a ton of praise, but I find them too much. The show is fine, it’s a strong European production, but also has some pretty strong flaws, characters taking weird decisions, and somehow, in Madrid, a city with several million occupants all the characters seem to be connected somehow and the show is riddled soon by bloated storylines that could be axed from the get go or that straight up make no sense. All in all, an okay watch, four popcorns because good European productions are rare, and the bar is not that high.

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A young boy is arrested by the U.S. Secret Service for writing a computer virus and is banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday. Years later, he and his new-found friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus.

Remember when movies used to be cool, interesting and fun? A then-upcoming star, Angelina Jolie in a techno-punk thriller, what more could you ask for? One of the best movies of the 90s, reaching cult-movie status, with well written story, absolutely banging soundtrack, and even if it drags on some cliches of the technology (like visualising the digital medium like a maze of 3D buildings, or laptop screens reflecting on actor’s faces), I think they’re part of what makes this movie good. A great cast (Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Fisher Stevens, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard, Laurence Mason) and some nice appearances (Wendell Pierce, Marc Anthony, Penn Jillette) make this movie one to remember, but I think its strongest point now 30 years later is the nostalgia factor, the days when hackers were actually hacking, when computers were used for more than just mindlessly consuming content, back when dorks were people with a computer trying to hack the planet, not ugly bitches trying to promote their OnlyFans accounts.

Seven popcorns straight up and goes into the Movie Vault.

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A security android struggles with emotions and free will while balancing dangerous missions and desire for isolation, evading detection of its self-hacking as it finds its place.

This is a funny sci-fi, and although the story is not extremely well-written, it’s “Friends” meets “Alien”, but without the Alien. Or Rachel. All in all, it’s a fun quick watch (ten episodes of less than half an hour), the visuals are great and the jokes land nicely. Can’t wait for the next season. Five popcorns.

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