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.
Thriller (72)
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 16, 2026Assault on Wall Street (2013)
Uwe Boll's 2013 post-financial-crisis vigilante film. Dominic Purcell as a security guard ruined by Wall Street. Premise exceeds execution.
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 18, 2026Basic (2003)
2003 John McTiernan military thriller with Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson. Rashomon-style investigation of a Panama training accident.
May 17, 2026Battle Royale (2000)
Fukasaku's 2000 teen-survival film. Junior high students sent to an island to kill each other. The source The Hunger Games stole from and softened.
May 17, 2026Blue Velvet (1986)
Lynch's 1986 small-town surrealist thriller. MacLachlan, Rossellini, Hopper as Frank Booth. The severed ear opening. Suburban America's underside on film.
May 19, 2026Body Heat (1981)
Lawrence Kasdan's 1981 directorial debut. William Hurt, Kathleen Turner. Double Indemnity through 1980s Florida humidity. Murder plot.
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 19, 2026Coma (1978)
Michael Crichton's 1978 medical thriller. Genevieve Bujold investigates hospital coma conspiracy. Source novel by Robin Cook.
May 17, 2026Deathtrap (1982)
Lumet's 1982 stage-play adaptation. Caine, Reeve, Cannon. Ira Levin source. The script doubles back on itself three times. The least-known great Lumet film.
May 16, 2026Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Stanley Kubrick's 1999 final film. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Schnitzler novella adaptation. Substantial conclusion to Kubrick's filmography.
May 18, 2026Face/Off (1997)
1997 John Woo action with Travolta and Nicolas Cage swapping faces as cop and terrorist. Operatic ridiculousness.
May 16, 2026Falling Down (1993)
Schumacher's 1993 urban thriller. Michael Douglas walks across LA leaving violence behind, Robert Duvall follows. The Whammyburger scene is the least of it.
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, 2026Fight Club (1999)
David Fincher's 1999 anarchist satire. Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter. The film that gave us a reading test the audience usually fails.
May 17, 2026Following (1998)
Nolan's 1998 debut. Black and white, 70 minutes, shot on weekends with available light. The film that proved he could structure non-linear narrative cleanly.
May 18, 2026Get Carter (1971)
1971 Mike Hodges crime film with Michael Caine as a London gangster avenging his brother in Newcastle. Cold and merciless.
May 19, 2026Get Out (2017)
Jordan Peele's 2017 directorial debut. Daniel Kaluuya at his white girlfriend's parents' house. Sunken Place. Won Best Original Screenplay.
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 17, 2026I Saw the Devil (2010)
Kim Jee-woon's 2010 extreme revenge thriller. Lee Byung-hun as the cop, Choi Min-sik as the killer. Where the genre ends. Not for casual viewing.
May 19, 2026Inside Man (2006)
Spike Lee's 2006 Manhattan bank heist. Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster. Real plot mechanics, not just style.
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, 2026Juror #2 (2024)
2024 Clint Eastwood courtroom drama with Nicholas Hoult as a juror who realizes he may have caused the death his trial is examining.
May 18, 2026King of New York (1990)
1990 Abel Ferrara crime film with Christopher Walken as drug lord Frank White redistributing wealth in 1980s New York.
May 17, 2026Le Samouraï (1967)
Melville's 1967 French crime film. Alain Delon as the hitman in trench coat and fedora. The visual template every quiet-assassin film has copied since.
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 18, 2026Michael Clayton (2007)
2007 Tony Gilroy legal thriller with George Clooney as a corporate law firm fixer entangled in a class-action chemical case.
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 18, 2026Mission: Impossible (1996)
1996 Brian De Palma spy thriller launching the Tom Cruise franchise. IMF agent Ethan Hunt is framed and must find the real mole.
May 17, 2026Mulholland Drive (2001)
Lynch's 2001 Hollywood nightmare. Started as a TV pilot, became a feature. Naomi Watts in a dual role that announced her. The Club Silencio scene.
May 18, 2026New Rose Hotel (1998)
1998 Abel Ferrara sci-fi with Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe as corporate spies. Adapts William Gibson cyberpunk story.
May 16, 2026Nightcrawler (2014)
Dan Gilroy's 2014 LA satire. Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom, freelance crime videographer. One of the great American films of its decade.
May 17, 2026North by Northwest (1959)
Hitchcock's 1959 spy thriller. Grant as the wrong man, Saint as the mystery woman, Mason as the urbane villain. Crop-duster, Mount Rushmore, train interior.
May 18, 2026Now You See Me (2013)
2013 Louis Leterrier heist thriller. Four illusionists pull off bank robberies during stage shows. Mark Ruffalo investigates.
May 18, 2026Now You See Me 2 (2016)
2016 Jon M. Chu sequel with the Horsemen blackmailed into a Macau heist. Daniel Radcliffe joins as tech billionaire.
May 17, 2026Oldboy (2003)
Park Chan-wook's 2003 Korean revenge film. Oh Dae-su imprisoned 15 years in one room. The hammer hallway take. Peak of Park's vengeance trilogy.
May 17, 2026Oldboy (2013)
Spike Lee's 2013 remake of Park Chan-wook's Korean original. Josh Brolin and Sharlto Copley. Cleaner and more straightforward than the 2003 version.
May 16, 2026Payback (1999)
Brian Helgeland's 1999 Mel Gibson crime thriller. Two versions: studio theatrical and 2006 director's cut. Westlake Parker adaptation under Porter name.
May 17, 2026Pi (1998)
Aronofsky's 1998 debut. Black-and-white paranoid math thriller. A number theorist on the edge. The film that announced both Aronofsky and Sean Gullette.
May 16, 2026Presumed Innocent (1990)
Alan J. Pakula's 1990 legal thriller. Harrison Ford as compromised prosecutor accused of murder. One of the strongest 1990s American legal films.
May 18, 2026Primal Fear (1996)
1996 Gregory Hoblit thriller with Richard Gere as a Chicago defense attorney and Edward Norton's breakthrough as an altar boy accused of murder.
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 18, 2026Ransom (1996)
1996 Ron Howard thriller with Mel Gibson as a wealthy father whose kidnapped son demands a different kind of response. Gary Sinise as kidnapper.
May 17, 2026Rear Window (1954)
Hitchcock's 1954 voyeurism thriller. Stewart immobilized in a wheelchair, Kelly, Burr across the courtyard. Entire film shot from one apartment.
May 16, 2026Red Sparrow (2018)
Francis Lawrence's 2018 spy thriller. Jennifer Lawrence as Russian intelligence Sparrow. Jason Matthews source material from actual CIA officer.
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 18, 2026Runaway Jury (2003)
2003 Gary Fleder thriller from John Grisham. John Cusack manipulates a New Orleans gun-manufacturer trial with Rachel Weisz.
May 18, 2026Savages (2012)
2012 Oliver Stone crime drama with Travolta, Benicio del Toro, Salma Hayek. California marijuana growers versus Mexican cartel.
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, 2026Street Kings (2008)
David Ayer's 2008 LAPD corruption thriller. Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, James Ellroy on the screenplay. Genre material at higher register.
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 16, 2026The Brave One (2007)
Neil Jordan's 2007 NYC vigilante film. Jodie Foster as a radio host transformed by trauma. Female-led entry that refuses empowerment narrative.
May 19, 2026The China Syndrome (1979)
James Bridges' 1979 nuclear plant near-meltdown. Lemmon, Fonda, Douglas. Released twelve days before Three Mile Island. Predictive.
May 17, 2026The Conformist (1970)
Bertolucci's 1970 political thriller. Trintignant as a man trying to become normal under fascism. Storaro's cinematography reshaped what color film could do.
May 16, 2026The Corruptor (1999)
James Foley's 1999 NYC Chinatown thriller. Chow Yun-fat in mainstream American production with Mark Wahlberg. Cultural engagement above typical genre.
May 16, 2026The Departed (2006)
Scorsese's 2006 Boston crime thriller. Two moles, one in the mob, one in the police. DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson. Finally got Scorsese his Oscar.
May 18, 2026The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
1976 John Sturges WWII thriller with Michael Caine as a German paratrooper colonel sent to kidnap Churchill from rural England.
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 17, 2026The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Oplev's 2009 Swedish thriller. Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. Original adaptation of Stieg Larsson's trilogy. Sharper than the Fincher remake.
May 18, 2026The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
2011 Brad Furman drama with Matthew McConaughey as a Los Angeles defense attorney working out of his Lincoln Town Car.
May 18, 2026The Prestige (2006)
2006 Christopher Nolan period thriller with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as rival Victorian magicians destroying each other.
May 16, 2026The Purge (2013)
James DeMonaco's 2013 home invasion thriller. The premise has acquired more cultural standing than the actual films have generated.
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, 2026The Sixth Sense (1999)
M. Night Shyamalan's 1999 ghost story with the most-quoted twist of its decade. Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, a script that earns its reveal twice.
May 16, 2026Unhinged (2020)
Derrick Borte's 2020 road rage thriller. Russell Crowe as the deranged driver. Compressed runtime, sustained menace, no fat. Genre work done right.
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.
May 16, 2026Zodiac (2007)
David Fincher's 2007 procedural on the SF Zodiac killer investigation. Three protagonists, no killer caught. Obsession as the actual subject.