Crisis

If you want to witness an exercise in hopelessness, take a gander at “Crisis,” an early frontrunner for 2021’s Feel-Bad Movie of the Year. A strong cast (Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly, Greg Kinnear, Gary Oldman) examines the opioid issue from multiple angles – junkies, overdosers, recoverers, dealers, law enforcement, researchers and Big Pharma. It’s not pretty. There’s suspense, however, as you see various storylines careening toward each other and you’re trying to guess which ones are going to make it to the intersection, which ones are (literally) going to die trying, and if it’s possible for anybody to get away clean.

Redemption Day

The most surprising thing about “Redemption Day” (2021) is it has the audacity to hint at a sequel. Otherwise, this extract-the-hostage flick is a replating of the same baloney sandwich first served 30-plus years ago by Chuck Norris and his action-hero brethren. There’s classic implausibility – an expert archaeologist gets abducted because she can’t figure out the border between Algeria and Morocco (I guess that’s why she’s not a geographist) but just so happens to be married to a Medal of Honor security operator with severe PTSD. There’s also an obligatoraly sleazy CIA handler, enabling heroic yet cynical hijinks to ensue.