Movie Reviews
Film and television reviewed the way I’d want to read them — with a rating that means something, an honest accounting of what works and what doesn’t, and craft notes for writers who want to understand how the machinery operates.
Each review includes a craft notes section for writers — specific observations about structure, character, world-building, and what the film does that you can actually use. Not theory. Technique you can steal.
Action (83)
May 16, 2026Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
John Carpenter's 1976 LA siege thriller. Decommissioned police station under gang assault. Rio Bravo transplanted to urban America.
May 14, 2026Baby Driver (2017) — Review
Edgar Wright's music-driven heist masterpiece. Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm. Every scene operates on musical cues. Atlanta. 10+/10.
May 14, 2026Basic Instinct (1992) — Review
Paul Verhoeven's foundational erotic thriller. Sharon Stone's career-defining performance. Michael Douglas, San Francisco setting. Multi-suspect. 8/10.
May 15, 2026Battleship (2012)
Battleship is one of the most unfairly criticized commercial action films of the 2010s. Seen it twice. The 7.5 rating is honest evaluation. Peter Berg directing. Taylor Kitsch as Lieutenant Alex Hopper. Liam Neeson as Admiral Shane. Alexander Skarsgård as Stone Hopper. Brooklyn Decker as Samantha...
May 19, 2026Black Hawk Down (2001)
Ridley Scott's 2001 Mogadishu battle. October 1993 Somalia raid gone wrong. Ensemble military procedural. Bowden book adaptation.
May 18, 2026Broken Arrow (1996)
1996 John Woo action with Travolta as rogue Air Force pilot who steals nuclear weapons. Christian Slater pursues.
May 17, 2026Bullet Train (2022)
David Leitch's 2022 Brad Pitt action-comedy. Five assassins on the same Tokyo bullet train, each with overlapping missions. Pulls Snatch into anime tempo.
May 18, 2026Cash Out (2024)
2024 Ives action with Travolta as a master thief in a botched bank heist. Direct-to-streaming late-career programmer.
May 16, 2026Cobra (1986)
George P. Cosmatos's 1986 Stallone action thriller. Compressed 87-minute runtime, iconographic Cobretti character. Mid-1980s American action.
May 16, 2026Code of Silence (1985)
Andrew Davis's 1985 Chicago cop thriller. Among the stronger Chuck Norris theatrical efforts. Early Andrew Davis work before The Fugitive.
May 15, 2026Cowboys and Aliens (2011)
Cowboys and Aliens is one of the most undervalued hybrid-genre films of the 2010s. Seen it three times across years. The 9 rating is honest evaluation. Jon Favreau directing. Daniel Craig as Jake Lonergan. Harrison Ford as Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde. Olivia Wilde as Ella. Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano,...
May 19, 2026Dante’s Peak (1997)
Roger Donaldson's 1997 volcano disaster. Pierce Brosnan as volcanologist. Linda Hamilton. The other 1997 volcano film.
May 16, 2026Death Wish (1974-1994)
Charles Bronson's five Death Wish films, 1974-1994. Architect-turned-vigilante across two decades of declining quality. The original is essential.
May 16, 2026Death Wish (2018)
Eli Roth's 2018 Death Wish remake with Bruce Willis. Updates the original to Chicago. Competent but cannot match Bronson's specific star presence.
May 11, 2026Die Hard (1988) — Review
Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman as god-tier Hans Gruber, and one perfect Christmas Eve at Nakatomi Plaza. Die Hard (1988) reviewed at 10+/10.
May 11, 2026Die Hard 2 (1990) — Review
Renny Harlin takes McClane to Dulles Airport on Christmas Eve for the twistiest entry in the franchise. Die Hard 2 reviewed at 8/10.
May 11, 2026Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, John McTiernan returns to direct, Jeremy Irons as Hans Gruber's brother. Die Hard with a Vengeance reviewed at 9.5/10.
May 16, 2026Dirty Harry Pentalogy (1971-1988)
Clint Eastwood's five Dirty Harry films, 1971-1988. The original and Magnum Force are essential. Foundational American police thriller cinema.
May 18, 2026Domino (2005)
2005 Tony Scott action with Keira Knightley as real-life model turned bounty hunter Domino Harvey. Hyperkinetic style.
May 18, 2026Face/Off (1997)
1997 John Woo action with Travolta and Nicolas Cage swapping faces as cop and terrorist. Operatic ridiculousness.
May 16, 2026Faster (2010)
George Tillman Jr.'s 2010 Dwayne Johnson revenge thriller. Three damaged men in parallel tracks. Billy Bob Thornton performance elevates the surrounding film.
May 16, 2026Four Brothers (2005)
John Singleton's 2005 Detroit revenge film. Wahlberg, Tyrese, André Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund as adopted brothers. Update of Sons of Katie Elder.
Jun 6, 2026From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's crime film detonates into a vampire splatter comedy at the halfway mark. A fun, shallow 7/10 reviewed at Master of Worlds.
May 14, 2026Goodfellas (1990) — Review
Goodfellas is one of the greatest crime films ever made. Scorsese directing. Liotta, De Niro, Pesci, Bracco. The Copacabana tracking shot. The Layla sequence.
May 17, 2026Hard Boiled (1992)
John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong action film. Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung. The hospital sequence that John Wick choreography traces back to.
May 16, 2026Havoc (2025)
Gareth Evans's 2025 Tom Hardy Netflix action thriller. Raid director applies established choreography approach to American institutional material.
May 14, 2026Heat (1995) — Review
Heat is the best of the best. Michael Mann directing. De Niro, Pacino, Kilmer, Voight. Real Neil McCauley history. The downtown LA bank shootout. The diner sce
May 18, 2026I Am Wrath (2016)
2016 Chuck Russell action with Cage as an engineer hunting his wife's killers through corrupt Columbus, Ohio.
May 19, 2026Iron Man 3 (2013)
Tony Stark hunts a terrorist called the Mandarin while battling PTSD from the Avengers, with Christmas as the season-long backdrop.
May 18, 2026Jack Reacher (2012)
2012 Christopher McQuarrie thriller with Tom Cruise as Lee Child's ex-military investigator looking into a Pittsburgh sniper case.
May 18, 2026Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
2016 sequel with Tom Cruise. Reacher returns to clear an army officer framed for espionage and uncovers deeper conspiracy.
May 16, 2026John Wick 1-4 (2014-2023)
Four John Wick films, 2014-2023. Keanu Reeves as the retired assassin. Action choreography that reshaped contemporary American action cinema.
May 18, 2026Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
2017 Matthew Vaughn sequel adding Statesman, the American counterpart agency. Julianne Moore as drug cartel villain.
May 18, 2026Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
2014 Matthew Vaughn spy action with Colin Firth recruiting Taron Egerton into a British independent intelligence agency.
May 17, 2026Last Man Standing (1996)
Hill's 1996 Walter Hill remake of Yojimbo. Bruce Willis as the drifter who plays two Prohibition-era gangs against each other. Texas dust, Christopher Walken.
May 15, 2026Leon: The Professional (1994)
Leon: The Professional is the best European-directed American thriller of the 1990s. Seen it four times across decades. The 10 rating is honest evaluation. Luc Besson writing and directing. Jean Reno as Léon. Natalie Portman as Mathilda in her feature debut. Gary Oldman as Norman Stansfield. Danny...
May 19, 2026Lethal Weapon (1987)
A suicidal LAPD detective is partnered with a family-man veteran during a Christmas drug investigation that turns into open warfare.
May 11, 2026Live Free or Die Hard (2007) — Review
Timothy Olyphant as the franchise's third great villain, Bruce Willis at 52, and a cyberterrorism plot that is dumb in fun ways. Live Free or Die Hard at 9/10.
May 17, 2026Man on Fire (2004)
Tony Scott's 2004 Mexico City revenge thriller. Denzel Washington as Creasy, Dakota Fanning as Pita. One of the great late-career Denzel performances.
May 16, 2026Marked for Death (1990)
Dwight H. Little's 1990 Steven Seagal thriller. Standard performer vehicle. Jamaican antagonist material reflects specific 1990 production conventions.
May 14, 2026Memento (2000) — Review
Christopher Nolan's directorial breakthrough. Guy Pearce's career-defining performance. Foundational reverse-chronology mystery. Amnesia film. 8/10.
May 15, 2026Monster Hunter (2020) — Review
Monster Hunter is one of the more enjoyable action camp productions of the early 2020s and a genuinely fun watch despite its substantial commercial disappointment and the critical reception that did not appreciate what the production was actually attempting. Paul W.S. Anderson directed and wrote...
May 14, 2026No Country for Old Men (2007) — Review
Coen Brothers' perfect Best Picture winner. Bardem's Oscar-winning Anton Chigurh. Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin. Cormac McCarthy adaptation. 10+/10.
May 16, 2026Nobody 1 & 2 (2021, 2025)
Bob Odenkirk's two Nobody films, 2021 and 2025. Suburban dad with hidden assassin past. Derek Kolstad screenplay, John Wick adjacent action.
May 18, 2026Oblivion (2013)
2013 Joseph Kosinski sci-fi with Tom Cruise as a post-war drone repair tech on devastated Earth who discovers the war isn't over.
May 18, 2026On Deadly Ground (1994)
1994 Steven Seagal action with the star as an Alaskan oil rig worker turning eco-warrior. Seagal's directorial debut and environmental sermon.
May 16, 2026Out for Justice (1991)
John Flynn's 1991 Brooklyn cop thriller. Among the stronger Steven Seagal theatrical efforts. William Forsythe antagonist elevates the work.
May 16, 2026Parker (2013)
Taylor Hackford's 2013 Jason Statham Donald Westlake adaptation. First major adaptation to use the Parker name. Acceptable but not substantial.
May 17, 2026Police Story (1985)
Jackie Chan's 1985 Hong Kong action film. He directed, choreographed, and did his own stunts. The mall finale is among the great unfaked action sequences.
May 16, 2026Rage (2014)
Paco Cabezas's 2014 Stallone vehicle. Original title Tombstone. Competent later-career Stallone work that does not exceed established conventions.
May 19, 2026Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Steven Spielberg's 1981 archeology adventure launcher. Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. Lucas-Spielberg-Kasdan template for blockbuster action.
Jun 6, 2026Renfield (2023)
Nicolas Cage's gloriously unhinged Dracula anchors a comedy about escaping a toxic boss, undercut by an overstuffed plot. A flawed, fun 6/10 reviewed at Master of Worlds.
May 15, 2026Robin Hood (1938 / 1973 / 1991 / 2010) — Contrast Review
Robin Hood is one of the most adapted properties in English-language popular culture. The legend traces back to medieval English ballads from at least the fifteenth century. Major screen adaptations have appeared across every decade of cinema. The four versions covered here represent the most...
May 15, 2026Romeo Must Die (2000) — Review
Romeo Must Die is one of the substantial American martial arts productions of the early 2000s and one of Jet Li's substantial Hollywood productions following his Lethal Weapon 4 introduction in 1998. Andrzej Bartkowiak directed. Eric Bernt and John Jarrell wrote the screenplay from a story by...
May 19, 2026Ronin (1998)
John Frankenheimer's 1998 Cold War remnant action. De Niro, Reno, Sean Bean. Practical car chases through Paris and Nice.
May 17, 2026Seven Samurai (1954)
Kurosawa's 1954 samurai epic. Three hours twenty-seven minutes. The film every assembled-team movie since 1960 has copied.
May 14, 2026Swordfish (2001) — Review
Dominic Sena's heist thriller. Travolta, Jackman, Halle Berry. Foundational opening monologue. Bullet-time explosion. Oakenfold soundtrack. 9/10.
May 15, 2026Taken (2008) — Review
Taken is the best pure action film of the twenty-first century. Pierre Morel directed it in thirty-six days in Paris on a twenty-five million dollar budget. The film grossed two hundred twenty-six million dollars worldwide. Liam Neeson was fifty-six years old when he played Bryan Mills. He had been...
May 16, 2026Taken Trilogy (2008-2014)
Liam Neeson's three Taken films, 2008-2014. The original is among the strongest compressed action thrillers of its decade. Sequels decline predictably.
May 15, 2026The Blade Trilogy (1998-2004) — Review
The Blade trilogy is the foundation document of modern Marvel cinema and one of the most influential American action horror franchises of the past three decades. The three films starred Wesley Snipes as the half-vampire vampire hunter Blade. The trilogy ran from 1998 through 2004. The combined...
May 15, 2026The Bourne Series (2002-2016) — Review
The Bourne series is one of the most influential American action franchises of the past twenty-five years and the production that basically transformed how mainstream action cinema is shot, edited, and choreographed. The original three Matt Damon films released between 2002 and 2007 are some of the...
May 17, 2026The Dark Knight (2008)
Nolan's 2008 Batman sequel. Bale, Ledger, Eckhart. Ledger's posthumous Oscar. The film that proved comic book films could be major cinema.
May 18, 2026The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
2012 Christopher Nolan finale to his Batman trilogy. Christian Bale, Tom Hardy as Bane, Anne Hathaway as Catwoman.
May 17, 2026The Dogs of War (1980)
Irvin's 1980 mercenary thriller. Christopher Walken leads a coup in a fictional African country. Frederick Forsyth source. Among the cleanest 1980s mercenary films.
May 15, 2026The Foreigner (2017) — Review
The Foreigner is one of the substantial action-thriller productions of the late 2010s and one of Jackie Chan's most substantively dramatic Hollywood productions. Martin Campbell directed. David Marconi wrote the screenplay from Stephen Leather's 1992 novel The Chinaman. The film was released in...
May 15, 2026The Indiana Jones Trilogy (1981, 1984, 1989) — Review
The first three Indiana Jones films are the best adventure trilogy ever made. Nothing else comes close. Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Temple of Doom in 1984, and The Last Crusade in 1989 form a complete trilogy that arrived before Hollywood started planning trilogies as franchise products. The...
May 17, 2026The Killer (1989)
John Woo's 1989 Hong Kong heroic bloodshed film. Chow Yun-fat as a hitman trying to retire. The film Tarantino spent a decade trying to remake.
May 18, 2026The Last Witch Hunter (2015)
2015 Breck Eisner fantasy action with Vin Diesel as an immortal witch hunter protecting modern New York from witches.
May 18, 2026The Mummy (2017)
2017 Alex Kurtzman action horror with Tom Cruise unleashing an ancient Egyptian princess. Universal's failed Dark Universe launch.
May 15, 2026The Mummy Trilogy (1999-2008) — Review
The Mummy trilogy is one of the most enjoyable adventure franchises of the late 1990s and 2000s and one of the more successful examples of what mainstream Hollywood could accomplish with classical adventure material before the broader shift toward darker superhero filmmaking. Stephen Sommers wrote...
May 17, 2026The Northman (2022)
Eggers's 2022 Viking revenge epic. Skarsgård, Kidman, Hawke, Bjork. The arthouse director given a $90M budget. Hamlet's actual source material.
May 19, 2026The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
Ronald Neame's 1972 capsized ocean liner. Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters. Defining 1970s disaster film. Original.
May 16, 2026The Punisher (1989, 2004, 2008)
Three theatrical Punisher films: 1989 Lundgren, 2004 Jane, 2008 Stevenson. Three distinct approaches, three distinct production eras.
May 15, 2026The Resident Evil Series (2002-2016) — Review
The Resident Evil series is one of the most commercially successful video game adaptation franchises in cinema history. Paul W.S. Anderson directed four of the six films and produced all of them. Milla Jovovich starred in all six films. The series ran from 2002 through 2016. The combined worldwide...
May 14, 2026The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974) and The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) — Review
Two substantial adaptations of John Godey's subway hijacking novel. 1974 Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw foundational. 2009 Washington and Travolta. 9/10.
May 15, 2026The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974) — Review
I have watched these two films more times than I can count. They are the best adaptation of Dumas ever put on screen. Nothing else comes close. The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974) are not actually two films. They are one six-hour Richard Lester production cut in half because...
May 19, 2026Three Kings (1999)
David O. Russell's 1999 Gulf War heist. Clooney, Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze. Stolen Kuwaiti gold, Iraqi refugee crisis.
May 19, 2026Twister (1996)
Jan de Bont's 1996 tornado-chase. Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt. Cow scene. Foundation for every storm-chasing production since.
May 16, 2026Under Siege 1 & 2 (1992, 1995)
Steven Seagal's two Under Siege films, 1992 and 1995. Battleship then train. Die Hard formula adapted with Tommy Lee Jones substantial in the first.
Jun 6, 2026Underworld Series (2003-2016)
The Underworld films turned the vampire into a leather-clad action hero across five entries. A slick, shallow, entertaining 6.5/10 saga reviewed at Master of Worlds.
Jun 6, 2026Vampires (1998)
John Carpenter turns vampire hunting into blue-collar work, with James Woods carrying the whole film on attitude.
May 19, 2026Violent Night (2022)
Santa Claus is trapped inside a wealthy family's compound as mercenaries take them hostage on Christmas Eve, and he fights back.
May 19, 2026Volcano (1997)
Mick Jackson's 1997 Los Angeles volcano. Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche. Released alongside Dante's Peak in volcano cinema year.