Thriller

Filmmaking debuts are something that has always fascinated me. To be a filmmaker is to be courageous enough to put something that is a part of you out for, hypothetically, the entire world to access. …

Movies about hitmen tend to go either of two ways: either they are about specialized killers with a moral code (see Jean Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï, Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog, or the recent David Fincher …

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about the Australian outback is 2005’s intensely divisive Wolf Creek. The sinister picture that Wolf Creek paints of the Aussie wilderness could put off any …

Film as a medium has always worked in nebulous service of the truth. Subjectivity, in particular, is one of its most prominent tools; the limitations of the frame allow for countless possibilities to express what …

It’s been funny to see Knives Out essentially take the Hercule Poirot franchise’s lunch the last few years. That’s not to say Kenneth Branagh’s Agatha Christie trilogy is an abject failure, but comparing the two …

If there’s one thing to take away from New Life, it’s that John Rosman knows how to structure a screenplay. Rosman’s debut is the special kind of film that withholds just the right amount of …

One of my toxic traits is that I love a good single-location thriller. There’s something about being trapped in a life-threatening situation with one character that always pulls me in. Are they hurt? Are they …

In an age with too many Adam McKay or Aaron Sorkin movies that are punishingly tone-deaf and insultingly superficial in their political critiques, R.M.N. is a breath of fresh air. Well, maybe not exactly — …

As a twenty-something American, I am no stranger to the existential angst associated with pondering the horrors of climate change and how it will negatively impact my life. It’s impossible for me to fathom the …

They say all publicity is good publicity, and Olivia Wilde’s much-anticipated directorial follow-up to Booksmart has brought with it a cascading deluge of behind-the-scenes gossip. From conflicting reports on Shia LaBeouf’s departure from the project, Wilde’s affair …

There’s a scene towards the middle of Abi Damaris Corbin’s Breaking (originally titled 892 at its Sundance 2022 premiere) in which former Marine Lance Corporal Brian Brown-Easley (played by John Boyega), after being withheld from his disability check for …

Expanding on the thematic foundation established by his previous feature, The Killing of Two Lovers — a film in which a father of four, emasculated by his wife’s relationship with a new partner in the midst of a …

The Aviary opens on Jillian (Malin Akerman) and Blair (Lorenza Izzo) stumbling into the pre-dawn desert and looking back at a compound that “looks so small from here.” We quickly learn that they are escaping …

Rebecca Hall has been on a tear as of late, starring in one severely disturbing film after the next, while also taking time to direct a very impressive debut feature in Passing (which continues to …

Director Carey Williams has an exceptionally powerful film on his hands with Emergency, the first great film I’ve seen at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Based on his short film (that also premiered at Sundance) …

“People are desperate to tell you who they are.” This lesson is one of many imparted to Stan (Bradley Cooper) in the first act of Nightmare Alley — the story of a rise and fall …

Over the past few years, Jim Cummings has become one of the most promising up-and-coming filmmakers, not only on the indie scene, but in the world of filmmaking. Cummings has proven himself to be an …

I’ll be honest, I only watched this film to see the underutilized Shea Whigham in a lead role. I’ve been a big fan of him ever since his supporting turn in the glorious HBO crime …

The slang term ‘Karen’ represents the racist, entitled white women of suburbia. A creature from the lagoon of (usually) far-right misinformation. Stereotypically, you can see a ‘Karen’ donning a bob cut with blonde highlights. As …

Santiago Segura takes the driver’s seat in the fast-paced journey that is The Five Rules of Success. This is not for the faint-hearted.  X (Santiago Segura) is an ex-convict newly released back into the world. …

There has been a considerable amount of discourse surrounding M. Night Shyamalan in the days leading up to and following the release of his latest film, Old, and I want to start this review by …

Few arguments seem more daunting in 2021 than taking the stance that Nicolas Cage is a good actor. Best known in 2021 as the man who stole the Declaration of Independence, or perhaps more unfortunately …

Profile is a story delivered in a repetitive pattern by Timur Bekmambetov who is now mostly known for producing Screenlife hits like Unfriended and Searching. A film that came out at an opportune time since …

I promise I like a lot of movies — I even am a huge fan of the thriller genre! I know that recent reviews of The Virtuoso and The Woman in the Window seem to …

A horrific crime, locals thirsty for vengeance. When Federal Agent Aaron Falk returns to his remote, drought-stricken hometown in the Australian outback to go to the funeral of a friend, he’s roped into solving a …

Taylor Sheridan emerged as an exciting new screenwriting talent in the mid-2010s. A long-time TV actor who appeared on shows like Sons of Anarchy and Veronica Mars, Sheridan’s first screenplay for 2015’s Sicario introduced the world to …

Growing up, there was a time in my life where only one book series truly mattered: Goosebumps. And within R.L. Stine’s nearly infinite list of book titles was a particularly special set of books, the …

The “new” movie City of Lies is based on a 2002 nonfiction book called (deep breath), LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records’ Suge …

Coming nine years after his debut feature film, director Nicholas Jarecki returns with Crisis. The film stars Gary Oldman, Evangeline Lilly, and Armie Hammer and tells three colliding stories about the world of opioids and their …

In The Winter Lake, Tom and his mother Elaine move to a small village in Ireland after a traumatic event surrounding Tom occurs. They quickly meet Ward and his daughter Holly. The pair has a …