Stories by @nitrogencake

...And Justice for All (2022)

A lawyer, Arthur Kirkland, challenges the US legal system as he defends innocent people who are convicted of crimes they did not commit, and a guilty judge he is forced to defend who tries to use his status in court to aquitt himself. Kirkland is disgusted with the corrupt courts and tries to bring justice to people who are innocent and punishment to people who are guilty.

The Prisoner of Zenda (2019)

A confusion of identities leads to alternately comic and dangerous situations for a king and his look-a-like.

They Live (2018)

Nada, a wanderer without meaning in his life, discovers a pair of sunglasses capable of showing the world the way it truly is. As he walks the streets of Los Angeles, Nada notices that both the media and the government are comprised of subliminal messages meant to keep the population subdued, and that most of the social elite are skull-faced aliens bent on world domination. With this shocking discovery, Nada fights to free humanity from the mind-controlling aliens.

The Terminal (2022)

When Viktor Navorski, an Eastern European tourist, arrives at JFK in New York, war breaks out in his country and he finds himself caught up in international politics. Because of the war, the Department of Homeland Security won't let him enter or exit the United States. He's trapped at JFK -- indefinitely. While living at the airport, Viktor falls for a flight attendant. She may have feelings for him too. But what good is love if Viktor can't leave the terminal?

House of Stairs

Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in the art world, even in his native Netherlands. He was 70 before a retrospective exhibition was held. In the late twentieth century, he became more widely appreciated, and in the twenty-first century he has been celebrated in exhibitions around the world.

The Long Good Friday (2022)

In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.

The 'Burbs (2019)

Settling in for some time off in his suburban home, Ray Peterson's vacation becomes a horror when the Klopeks, a suspiciously odd family, move in down the block. Enlisting the aid of his paranoid buddy, Art, and his militia-man neighbor, Rumsfield, Ray sends his son and wife away on a trip while he investigates the Klopeks. When a neighbor disappears, Ray and his cohorts risk their lives to save their cul-de-sac from the clutches of evil.

Nick of Time (2022)

Gene Watson arrives at an L.A. train station with his young daughter, Lynn, and is confronted by mysterious Mr. Smith and Ms. Jones. They hand him a gun, order him to kill the state governor within 75 minutes and threaten to murder his child if he doesn't comply. Smith accompanies Watson to a hotel where the governor is to speak, while Jones holds the girl. As Watson considers his options, the hour to act draws ever nearer.

Delirious (2021)

Jack Gable, a soap opera writer with little in the way of a love life -- and even less job security -- takes a knock on the head one day and wakes up in the very television show he has been writing. He discovers that through his typewriter he can control events in his new reality. At first, Jack believes this will help him impress Laura, the actress who plays the program's star, but soon he realizes that no matter how much power he has, he can't control everything.

Giant (2021)

Wealthy Texas rancher Bick Benedict shakes things up at home when he returns from a trip to the East Coast with a love interest, the refined Leslie Lynnton. Bick and Leslie get married, but she clashes with his sister, Luz, and wins the admiration of the ambitious young Jett Rink. Bick and Jett form a tense rivalry that continues to surface as the years pass and fortunes change in this sweeping drama.

Paper Moon (2013)

When Moze is unexpectedly saddled with getting 9-year-old Addie to relatives in Missouri after the death of her mother, his attempt to dupe her out of her money backfires, and he's forced to take her on as a partner. Swindling their way through farm country, the pair is nearly done in by a burlesque dancer and an angry bootlegger.

Clockwise (2021)

School headmaster Brian Stimpson is obsessed with timeliness, order and discipline. After meticulously preparing a speech for an education conference, Brian misses his train. With no one else to turn to, he asks young former student Laura Wisely for a ride. Laura, upset over a break-up, impulsively agrees to drive him in her parents' car -- which alarms her mother and father, who worry that she has run away with a married man and subsequently alert the police.

To Catch a Thief (2015)

Notorious cat burglar John Robie has long since retired to tend vineyards on the French Riviera. When a series of robberies is committed in his style, John must clear his name. Armed with a list of people who own the most expensive jewels currently in the area, John begins following the first owner, young Francie. When her jewels are stolen, Francie suspects John, destroying their tentative romance. John goes on the lam to catch the thief and clear his own name.

The Last Detail (2013)

When sailor Larry Meadows is sentenced to eight years in a New Hampshire prison, Navy lifers Billy Buddusky and Mule Mulhall are assigned to escort him there from Virginia. Along the way, they warm up to their prisoner, indulging him in small ways such as making excursions to a brothel, and to his mother's house. As they get closer to their destination, their fondness for Larry makes it harder for them to execute their orders.

Mona Lisa (2021)

George is a small-time crook just out of prison who discovers his tough-guy image is out of date. Reduced to working as a minder/driver for high class call girl Simone, he has to agree when she asks him to find a young colleague from her King's Cross days. That's when George's troubles just start.

Five Miles to Midnight (2022)

Lisa Macklin tells her abusive, emotionally immature husband, Robert, that she doesn't want to see him again. He leaves on a business flight bound for Casablanca. That evening, she is shocked to learn that his plane crashed, with all aboard presumed dead. After his funeral, she finds him at home, having survived the crash. He promises to leave her life for good if she helps him commit life insurance fraud, and she agrees, in order to get rid of him for good.

Stanley Kubrick's The Birds

Melanie Daniels meets Mitch Brenner in a San Francisco pet store and decides to follow him home. She brings with her the gift of two love birds and they strike up a romance. One day birds start attacking children at Mitch's sisters party. A huge assault starts on the town by attacking birds.

Broadcast News (2017)

Intelligent satire of American television news. A highly strung news producer finds herself strangely attracted to a vapid anchorman even through she loathes everything he personifies. To make matters worse, her best friend, a talented but not particularly telegenic news reporter, is secretly in love with her.

Alfred Hitchcock's Dr. Strangelove

(Side Note: I really wanted to fit the entire title in there.) A film about what could happen if the wrong person pushed the wrong button -- and it played the situation for laughs. U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper goes completely insane, and sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. He thinks that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people.

Hoffa (2022)

The story of the notorious American labor union figure Jimmy Hoffa, who organizes a bitter strike, makes deals with members of the organized crime syndicate and mysteriously disappears in 1975.