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.
Psychological (9)
May 19, 2026Audition (1999)
Takashi Miike directs the story of a widower staging fake auditions to find a new wife, with consequences he could not anticipate.
May 19, 2026Misery (1990)
A romance novelist crashes in a Colorado snowstorm and is rescued by a deranged fan who imprisons him in her remote home.
May 19, 2026Psycho (1960)
Hitchcock's adaptation of Robert Bloch's novel about a woman who steals from her employer and stops at the wrong motel.
May 19, 2026Saw (2004)
Two men wake chained in a filthy bathroom and discover they are pawns in a sadistic puzzle designed by the Jigsaw killer.
May 16, 2026The Game (1997)
David Fincher's 1997 psychological thriller. Michael Douglas as a wealthy banker experiencing immersive CRS service. Between Seven and Fight Club.
May 19, 2026The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
An FBI trainee consults imprisoned cannibal Hannibal Lecter to catch a serial killer skinning his victims.
May 19, 2026The Sixth Sense (1999)
M. Night Shyamalan's story of a child psychologist treating a boy who sees dead people, with the famous third-act revelation.
May 16, 2026Vanilla Sky (2001)
Cameron Crowe's 2001 adaptation of Spanish film Open Your Eyes. Tom Cruise psychological thriller. Substantial ambitions, uneven execution.
May 17, 2026Vertigo (1958)
Hitchcock's 1958 obsession thriller. Stewart, Novak, San Francisco. The dolly-zoom film. Now ranked as the greatest film ever made by Sight and Sound.