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Tough to properly concoct tension from a spoiled ending of a movie, but historic drama "Nuremberg" manages it quite well.

Quick catch up: the Nazis lost the last world war, and the remaining higher ups on the wrong side were tried in an international court of law. Sounds almost kangarooish: the bad guys were bad, and now they were going to be paraded and properly punished on a world stage.

Not so fast.

Turns out nothing like this was ever done before, and proving guilt was not as straight forward as it seemed. Especially with Hitler's ultra-right hand man, the cunning and bombastic Hermann Goring.

Played with astonishing flare by Russel Crowe, Goring struts his relentless larger than life narcissist frame in every frame. The film revolves around a complex dueling relationship Goring festers with his American psychiatrist - a wide-eyed (of course) Rami Malik. Their superficially friendly encounters evolve into a precarious traipse through the muddied recesses of Goring's mind mine field. A bit of a chess match this.

Without admission of guilt (specifically of the concentration camps), a book couldn't be properly thrown. War crimes is a tricky proposition. How the courtroom drama, and it is a fine drama, plays out is indeed fascinating.

While this is chiefly a two man play, there is something unsettlingly frightening about Crowe's intimidating yet charming portrayal of living evil that dominates this film.

Is it only in monsters, or is it in everyone? Just exactly what are we capable of? Lots of heady questions to ponder, especially in these turbulent times.

• hipCRANK.

Bare bones dystopian sci-fi future thriller without AI, robots, cell phones, nuclear fallout or helicopters. Just farm living. And only crops are involved. Not even a smart pig. "40 Acres" works as a minimalist thriller because everything is very simple. A family defends their land from the bad guys. There you go.

A simple premise with plenty of layers to chew on. Technology is useless, except for radios and guns. Seeds are gold because livestock is deadstock, or just disappeared stock. No stock. Farms are the new countries, barb-wire bordered and defended to the death.

The defenders here just happen to be of a mix of Native and Black North Americans, coexisting as a well-oiled military machine, thriving in a survivalist bootcamp scenario. Community, culture, education, loyalty, tradition, family, survival, greed, coming of age, life lessons, it is all here. Albeit a bit formulaic and predictable, the film is lively enough to pull the scenario off.

"40 Acres" is a very good-looking film, brimming with excellent performances, that never strays far from the action. The secret to succeeding in this genre: never slow down so the audience can question the sketchy logic. Go go go!

• hipCRANK.

A nine year labour of animated documentary love, "Endless Cookie" is the wonderful, cerebral, meandering film perfect for the times.

A long distance bridge of a film between Pete and Seth Scrivens tying together a unique family relationship between a white man from metropolitan Toronto and an indigenous half brother residing in the remote Shamattawa First Nations community of Northern Manitoba.

Shot in colourful, bubbly Spongebob manner, "Endless Cookie" looks delicious on the screen. The fun animation proves the perfect medium to present what is in essence a nine year conversation between the brothers. Stories are told. Stories are interrupted. Stories are picked up, only to be interrupted again. Some are funny, some are sad, some are amazing, but all ring true. As true as the laconic, relaxed conversation that can only come from loving brothers sharing lives despite a wide geographic, and societal separation. And of course, there is a cookie.

A beauty.