[3] In this self-proclaimed ‘rock & roll fable’ from director Walter Hill (The Warriors, 48 Hrs.), a mercenary is summoned to rescue a revered singer from a motorcycle gang that kidnapped her right off the stage. That the singer and the mercenary were once lovers complicates matters, especially since her new boyfriend and stage manager is funding the rescue operation. The idea of Streets of …
[6] This movie has the distinction of being the first released film about the eponymous serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the late ’60s. While it has all the low production values you might expect from a 16mm low-budget drive-in flick, the screenplay is structurally sound and does an interesting job marrying fact with fiction. The Zodiac Killer starts off by …
[8] Socially-conscious filmmaker Stanley Kramer (Inherit the Wind, Judgment at Nuremberg) made an impact early in his directing career with this dramatic chase story of two escaped convicts evading authorities while chained together at the wrists. The twist? One prisoner’s white and the other’s black. This poetic plot point allows The Defiant Ones to address racism in America while also delivering as a tense cat …
[4] Michael Fassbender (Shame, Steve Jobs) stars as a Norwegian police detective on a missing person case that quickly becomes the hunt for a serial killer called The Snowman. Rebecca Ferguson (Dune, Doctor Sleep) co-stars as his eager new partner, who discovers potential leads involving a fertility doctor and a powerful businessman. But as leads turn into red herrings, is it possible the killer is …
[8] Adrien Brody (The Pianist, The Thin Red Line) plays a ’50s Hollywood detective investigating the mysterious death of actor George Reeves, played by Ben Affleck (Gone Girl, The Town). Hollywoodland is based on the true story of Reeves, who struggled to claim fame on the big screen but ended up finding it as the star of television’s The Adventures of Superman. Brody and Affleck …
[6] Peter Cushing and Andre Morell, paired a few years earlier in The Hound of the Baskervilles, re-team for Hammer Studios in Cash on Demand. Based on a stage play, this is largely a two-man show with Morell playing a charming but dangerous bank robber who forces Cushing, a bank manager, to help him abscond with over ninety-thousand pounds. Taking place in ‘real time’ two …
[7] Chris Pine and Ben Foster play west Texas brothers who resort to bank robbing to keep from losing their family farm. This draws the attention of a Texas Ranger, played by a snarky Jeff Bridges, and his long-suffering partner (Gil Birmingham). As the brothers collect nearly enough to stop the bank from foreclosing, the rangers close in. Will they secure a future for their …
[7] William Petersen (C.S.I., Manhunter) made his film debut in this William Friedkin crime flick about a secret service agent who obsessively pursues the counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe) who killed his partner. Paired with a conscientious new partner (John Pankow), Petersen bends the rules and crosses the line of the law in an attempt to bring Dafoe to justice. But as the case wears on, Petersen …
[7] Joan Crawford won her Oscar for playing the title character in this noir-melodrama from director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca). Based on the book by James M. Cain, Mildred Pierce is told largely in flashback, with Crawford spilling the beans to police after her second husband is found murdered in their beach house. She tells them how she divorced her adulterous first husband and pulled herself …
[7] A London man gives refuge to a female spy, but after she’s knifed in the back he’s accused of her murder. The only way to clear his name is to piece together the clues she left behind and prevent top secret information from being smuggled out of the country. The 39 Steps is an taut espionage-thriller from Alfred Hitchcock that exemplifies the director’s fascination …
Copyright © 2024 | Theme by MH Themes