Genre: Crime
Crime stories live on the wrong side of the law — the planning, the act, and the fallout. They follow criminals, victims, and the line between them.
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Wrath of Man (2021) — Review
Guy Ritchie's late-career crime action masterpiece. Jason Statham's career-defining controlled-rage performance. Multi-perspective revenge narrative. 10+/10. -
The Town (2010) — Review
Ben Affleck's Charlestown Boston heist film. Jeremy Renner Oscar-nominated. Substantive cultural specificity and procedural authenticity. 8/10. -
American Gangster (2007) — Review
Ridley Scott crime film with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Frank Lucas's actual Harlem heroin operations during the Vietnam War. 9/10. -
The Bank Job (2008) — Review
Roger Donaldson's heist film based on the 1971 Lloyds Bank Baker Street robbery. Jason Statham outside his action register. Princess Margaret D-Notice. 8/10. -
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) — Review
Guy Ritchie's directorial debut. Launched Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones. Multi-thread East London crime comedy. 8/10. -
Casino (1995) — Review
Scorsese's Las Vegas mob masterpiece. De Niro, Pesci, Sharon Stone Oscar-nominated. Three hours that don't feel long. Foundational crime cinema. 10+/10. -
The Getaway (1972) and The Getaway (1994) — Review
Two adaptations of Jim Thompson's novel. 1972 Peckinpah with Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw foundational. 1994 Donaldson with Baldwin and Basinger. 8.5/10. -
The Greatest Cruise Ship and Ocean Liner Films
Twenty films set on cruise ships and ocean liners — from Titanic's class-divided sinking to Triangle of Sadness's savage yacht satire to The Love Boat's aspirational not-sinking. The ship is never just a ship. It's a floating world, a class system, a trap, and a romance. The ocean surrounds all of it, indifferent to whatever is happening on the decks above. -
Movies Rotten Tomatoes Got Dead Wrong
Twenty films that Rotten Tomatoes scored wrong — from Blade Runner's lukewarm 1982 reception to Soldier's inexplicable 10%. Why critics get films wrong, what the aggregator actually measures, and the political bias that explains why Disney's worst remakes score 90% while audiences rate them 40%. -
The Greatest Prison Films
Twenty prison films covering every variation of the genre — from Shawshank's hope as active resistance to Cool Hand Luke's refusal unto death to A Prophet's criminal education. What every prison film is always about: a person confronting a system with more patience than any individual, finding what makes them irreducible to what the system wants them to become.