Archive for the ‘Thriller’ Category
Monday, May 18th, 2026
HEAVEN’S PRISONERS is a new-to-me ’96 joint. I was vaguely aware that it’s based on a book, and I think somebody recommended it to me at some point in my life, though it seems to have gotten terrible reviews and was also a flop. Alec Baldwin (THE SHADOW) plays Dave Robicheaux, a recovering alcoholic former New Orleans homicide detective, now living “back on the bayou selling worms and all that jazz.” One day he and his wife Annie (Kelly Lynch, ROAD HOUSE) are on their boat, about to get out the air mattress to fuck on, when a small plane swoops down and crashes in the water right next to them.
They heroically leap into action to try to rescue the passengers, but the only survivor is a little girl from El Salvador (Samantha Lagpacan), who they assume is “an illegal” and “immigration is gonna send her right back” so they decide to off-the-books adopt her and name her Alafair after his mother. She doesn’t speak English, they only speak a tiny bit of Spanish, and don’t make much of an effort to change this, so the subject of didn’t she already have a name she could be using never does come up. I feel like she probly had a name she’d been using up to that point though. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Alec Baldwin, Badja Djola, Don Stark, Eric Roberts, Harley Peyton, Harris Savides, Kelly Lynch, Mary Stuart Masterson, Phil Joanou, Scott Frank, Teri Hatcher, Vondie Curtis-Hall
Posted in Reviews, Thriller | 7 Comments »
Thursday, April 30th, 2026
APEX is a solid made-for-Netflix picture – nice looking, to-the-point, occasionally surprising, and a good showcase for its star, who happens to be one of my favorites. When I revisited ÆON FLUX recently I mentioned how ever since that movie I’ve thought of Charlize Theron as one of those rare actors who’s exactly as serious about the physical performance as the emotional, and excels at both. So, you know, she wins an Oscar for throwing herself into MONSTER and then when she does ATOMIC BLONDE she goes just as hard at fight training and stunt work as she did at portraying the inner life of a serial killer. Here she says you know what? I’m gonna learn how to climb rocks. I’m gonna climb so many rocks in this movie.
Not that that’s the entire topic. Her character Sasha enjoys extreme sports. In the opening she and her husband Tommy (the motherfuckin HULK Eric Bana!) are tandem climbing the Troll Wall in Norway. You know, climbing until they get tired, hanging a tent from the side at night, it’s fucking terrifying, who does that? Sasha and Tommy, that’s who. Though Tommy is getting wary that maybe he’s past his prime. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Australia, Baltasar Kormakur, Charlize Theron, Eric Bana, Jeremy Robbins, Taron Egerton
Posted in Reviews, Action, Horror, Thriller | 11 Comments »
Monday, April 20th, 2026
HUMINT (as in “human intelligence”) is a 2026 South Korean thriller from writer/director Ryoo Seung-wan (THE CITY OF VIOLENCE, ESCAPE FROM MOGADISHU). It stars Zo In-sung (THE GREAT BATTLE) as Manager Zo, an agent for South Korea’s National Intelligence Service who goes undercover to bust human traffickers.
In the opening he’s at a brothel to record the final testimony of his informant, Soo-rin, on the last day before they’re supposed to get her out and back to her family. When she escaped North Korea she was trafficked by the Russian mafia and now is heavily scarred, addicted and desperate. The trouble is that Zo’s handlers, talking to him in his earpiece, are only interested in the narcotics part of her story, and aren’t sure she’s given them enough. After Soo-rin causes a scene that draws the attention of her pimp, Zo learns that the budget to move her hasn’t even been approved yet. He bows his head and asks his team, “Is this seriously… the best we can do?”
Soo-rin gets a beating while he follows his orders to walk away and “not engage.” Except then he thinks better of it, and there’s an excellent fight scene. When more thugs arrive he pulls his gun, and his handlers tell him, “If you open fire there’s no turning back.” He thinks about it for a moment, then turns the gun around and uses it like a hammer. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Korean cinema, North Korea, Park Hae-joon, Park Jeong-min, Robert Maaser, Russian mafia, Ryoo Seung-wan, Shin Se-kyung, spies, undercover, Zo In-sung
Posted in Reviews, Thriller | 4 Comments »
Monday, March 23rd, 2026
THE HOUSEMAID is a 2025 thriller from director Paul Feig, the guy who did BRIDESMAIDS, THE HEAT and SPY, but remember he also did A SIMPLE FAVOR. This is in that vein: twisty, a little sexy, a little trashy, all in good fun. A romp.
Sydney Sweeney (THE MARTIAL ARTS KID) stars as Millie Calloway, who applies for a job as live-in maid for rich lady Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried, FIRST REFORMED) in her big ol’ gated estate. Millie lies about her experience, pretends to be overqualified, but narrates to us that she doesn’t know why she even applied, because a background check will reveal she’s a felon on parole. Wrong! She gets the job. Sydney Sweeney is… THE HOUSEMAID.
One red flag about the job is that on day one Nina excitedly welcomes her, saying “It’s gonna be fun, Millie!,” but gives zero explanation for why the house looks completely trashed, like there was a huge party and not one single thing was picked up afterwards. Millie cleans and cooks and gets a triangular attic room that’s decidedly not as nice as any other room in the entire house, but maybe she means it when she politely says “It’s perfect,” because it’s a step up for her. By the way, is it weird that the window doesn’t open and the door only locks from the outside and she has to ask a couple times before she gets the key for it? Eh, it’s probly nothing. Nina is really nice at first and we assume her little girl Cece (Indiana Elle) will warm up to Millie eventually. For now she just pouts and lectures her about fresh-from-the-dishwasher glasses being too dirty. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Elizabeth Perkins, erotic thriller, Freida McFadden, Michele Morrone, Paul Feig, Rebecca Sonnenshine, Sydney Sweeney
Posted in Reviews, Thriller | 9 Comments »
Thursday, February 26th, 2026
THE SECRET AGENT (O Agente Secreto) is the last 2025 best picture nominee I hadn’t seen, but I was gonna see it anyway. By coincidence I had just caught up with writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s 2019 film BACURAU (which he co-directed with Juliano Dornelles) right when this came out here. THE SECRET AGENT is slightly more normal, but still very distinct, and a leap forward in terms of filmmaking prowess. As far as Oscars it’s a surprising choice because it’s in Portuguese and it’s odd and puzzling and and takes its sweet time letting you know what it’s about. But also it kinda makes sense because it’s unique and great and though it’s about Brazil in 1977 it has many echoes of things going on right now over here and elsewhere.
Last year also had a Brazilian best picture nominee – I’M STILL HERE – a haunting story about how people tried to go on living while authoritarianism and corruption were corroding their society in the ‘70s. This tackles overlapping material in a completely different way, a little more comparable to my favorite movie of the year, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER. It’s serious and tragic but also very funny and satirical, a realistic world peppered with the surreal, the absurd, the arguably exaggerated that’s somehow truer than if it wasn’t. And it’s that rare pleasure of a movie where I truly have no idea what it’s going to be about or sense of where it’s going but I stay enraptured. (read the rest of this shit…)
Posted in Reviews, Drama, Thriller | 7 Comments »
Monday, February 2nd, 2026
Sam Raimi is back! With a new movie. Not one of his best, but hey – we got a new Sam Raimi movie. SEND HELP was brought to him by screenwriters Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (FREDDY VS. JASON, FRIDAY THE 13TH 2009), but it follows part of the DRAG ME TO HELL template in that it’s about a timid woman who doesn’t fit in and gets overlooked and mistreated by the sexist assholes at her corporate job, then finds her inner viciousness to be able to compete with them. A difference is that in the earlier film the horror scenario comes as punishment for the shitty thing she does to get ahead. This one is about how getting stranded on an island with her asshole boss becomes her opportunity to unleash her mean side.
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams, PASSION) has worked for seven years as a corporate strategist, though her new boss thinks she’s an accountant. The previous CEO promised her a promotion to vice president, but then he died and his son Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien, AMERICAN ASSASSIN) took over. To Linda’s shock he gives the promotion to Donovan (Xavier Samuel, THE LOVED ONES, Bernard Rose’s FRANKENSTEIN), an idiotic Patrick Bateman type who’s pretty new there, steals credit for her work and happens to have been Bradley’s frat brother. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Bill Pope, Bob Murawski, Damian Shannon, Dennis Haysbert, Dylan O'Brien, Mark Swift, Rachel McAdams, Sam Raimi, stranded on an island, Xavier Samuel
Posted in Reviews, Comedy/Laffs, Horror, Thriller | 26 Comments »
Thursday, January 22nd, 2026
THE RIP is Netflix’s new Gritty Cop Thriller (G.C.T.) written and directed by Joe Carnahan (THE A-TEAM, THE GREY, BOSS LEVEL), sharing story credit with Michael McGrale (additional literary material, THE EXPENDABLES 4). It’s a pretty good movie if you enjoy Carnahan’s more serious minded work and/or if you’re interested in the gimmick of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reuniting as best buddies but in a movie where they’re Gritty Cops so they’re each afraid the other is corrupt and is gonna stab them in the back. There is friendship but also yelling, guns, etc.
It all starts with the prologue death of Captain Jackie Velez (Lina Esco, LONDON) of the Miami-Dade PD. She seems to be Onto Something Big when she gets ambushed by masked men. It’s a good shoot out scene, of the post-HEAT loud and quasi-realistic variety. I like the detail that she’s having trouble calling for help because she got some of her blood on her phone screen. This is the incident that sends FBI agents played by Scott Adkins (X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE) and Daisuke Tsuji (Ghost of Tsushima video game) in to question the members of Jackie’s elite Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT), suggesting they might have been involved. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Ben Affleck, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Daisuke Tsuji, Joe Carnahan, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Kyle Chandler, Lina Esco, Matt Damon, Sasha Calle, Scott Adkins, siege, Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor
Posted in Reviews, Action, Thriller | 12 Comments »
Thursday, December 18th, 2025
A couple years ago I really liked this horror-thriller I saw on Shudder called INFLUENCER. Yes, I agree with you that movies, and especially horror, are a little too fascinated with social media influencers right now, but I swear this is a good one. Madison (Emily Tennant, SNIPER: ASSASSIN’S END) makes a very good living traveling to exotic places and posting about her adventurous lifestyle, but we see that at least at this time it’s kind of a front. She’s actually depressed and mostly staying alone at a resort in Bangkok, sad that her boyfriend didn’t come.
Then she meets CW, played by Cassandra Naud (IT’S A WONDERFUL KNIFE), an American expat who has lived there for a while and shows her a good time. Unfortunately for Madison, fortunately for cinema, CW turns out to be a psycho with a resentment toward influencers and the computer skills to really do a number on their lives. I like that the influencer is somehow sympathetic but the villain is still fun. It’s kind of a modern take on ‘90s thrillers like SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, BASIC INSTINCT and THE NET, but also kind of a noir because it mostly follows CW as she gets deeper and deeper into her lies and tries to navigate a smooth exit. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Cassandra Naud, Emily Tennant, Georgina Campbell, influencers, Jonathan Whitesell, Kurtis David Harder, Lisa Delamar, Veronica Long
Posted in Reviews, Horror, Thriller | 4 Comments »
Friday, October 17th, 2025
THE HITCHER (2007) is a Platinum Dunes remake I had no interest in at the time. Robert Harmon’s 1986 cult classic obviously didn’t require a remake, and I didn’t trust those guys to do one. Also almost everybody said it was terrible. I do know of an exception – Jordan Crucchiola and Sam Wineman used to rave about it on their podcast Aughtsterion, and they got it to #1 on the “’00 Slashers” episode of Screen Drafts. They’re younger and much more attached to that era of horror than me, but their enthusiasm made me curious.
And I think they’re right! There’s a good chance I wouldn’t have liked it back then, when I had a grudge against Michael Bay productions and the original was more fresh on my mind. It’s certainly not a replacement, and some of it might’ve been lessened if I remembered the original better. But viewed on its own, as 2007 studio horror, it’s pretty impressive – a vicious 84 minute head on collision of a movie. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: car horror, Dave Meyers, Eric Bernt, Eric Red, Jake Wade Wall, Kyle Davis, Neal McDonough, Platinum Dunes, remakes, Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Steve Jablonsky, Zachary Knighton
Posted in Reviews, Horror, Thriller | 10 Comments »
Tuesday, October 14th, 2025
(there will be spoilers)
I was pretty sure I’d like Paul Thomas Anderson’s ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, but I was surprised to walk out feeling it was the movie of the year. That’s not only because it speaks so deeply to our exact moment of political insanity, but because it’s such an exhilarating viewing experience – confident, masterful filmmaking, very effective as a thriller, but also extremely funny, absurd and original. It’s possibly Anderson’s most traditionally entertaining movie but it doesn’t feel in any way watered down or compromised.
I saw it in bona fide IMAX, where its Vista Vision format fills the entire screen, so the anxiety-inducing score by Johnny Greenwood rumbles in your jaw as you stare at a scraggly, sweaty, 37-foot-tall Leonardo DiCaprio face fretting and scowling. Then sometimes it switches to a taller version of a Sergio-Leone-type-shot where two tiny characters stand apart on opposite sides of the screen. That’s the full range of cinema right there.
The credits say this was inspired by (not adapted from) the book Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. I was surprised when I learned that character names like Perfidia Beverly Hills, Virgil Throckmorton and Junglepussy didn’t come from the book. These little heightened details spike a mostly naturalistic feeling world with exaggeration and draw attention to the authentic ridiculousness of our world. Sometimes that feels more real than if it was realistic. (read the rest of this shit…)
Tags: Benicio Del Toro, Chase Infiniti, Eric Schweig, Leonardo DiCaprio, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Thomas Pynchon
Posted in Reviews, Action, Comedy/Laffs, Drama, Thriller | 20 Comments »
