Collateral (2004)
[7] Jamie Foxx stars as an L.A. cab driver forced to chauffeur a hitman played by Tom Cruise. Director Michael Mann (Heat, Last of the Mohicans) works from a solid script by Stuart Beattie that balances action and suspense with…
Tequila Sunrise (1988)
[3] Mel Gibson plays a drug dealer trying to come clean. Kurt Russell plays a cop assigned to bring Mel down. Trouble is, they're kinda friends. And now they're both sort of in love with the same woman, a restaurant…
Nightcrawler (2014)
[8] Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a morally bankrupt ambulance chaser who sells gruesome crime video to L.A. television stations. First-time writer/director Dan Gilroy paints an interesting portrait of a disturbed man who may reflect our times more accurately than we're…
The Getaway (1972)
[7] An ex-con and his wife are on the lam after a heist goes bad in this flick from Sam Peckinpah (Straw Dogs, The Wild Bunch). Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw star as the central couple. She has to sleep…
Basic Instinct (1992)
[8] Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop, Soldier of Orange) directs this sexually super-charged Hitchcockian thriller about a San Francisco detective (Michael Douglas) investigating a seductive writer (Sharon Stone) about a murder case that plays out similar to one of her novels. As…
Bullitt (1968)
[6] Steve McQueen stars as a San Francisco cop charged with protecting a mobster who is about to squeal for a US senator. When the witness is killed, McQueen works around the clock to discern the identity of the killers…
Training Day (2001)
[7] Ethan Hawke plays a freshman L.A. narcotics officer crash-coursing with a rogue, undercover detective played by Denzel Washington. Training Day hits the ground running and turns into a taut, character-driven thriller that throws a few twists and surprises I…
Cruising (1980)
[8] Al Pacino plays a New York police detective who goes deep under cover within the city's S&M community to catch a serial killer preying on gay men. Director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) stirred controversy for his…
American Hustle (2013)
[8]
Two con artists (Christian Bale and Amy Adams) get roped by an FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) into a scheme to bring down an earnest mayor (Jeremy Renner) and as many congressmen as possible. But when the mafia (headed by Robert DeNiro) get embroiled in the ruse, allegiances get dicey. American Hustle is from one of my favorite writer/directors, David O. Russell (Three Kings, Silver Linings Playbook), who has yet to wrong to the movie-going public. He’s great with ensembles and he’s smart enough to give good ones a wide berth. The men all do fine jobs here, including comedian Louis C.K. in a memorable supporting role as Cooper’s reluctant boss. But it’s the women who really shine. Four-time Oscar nominee Adams is especially good when she tells boyfriend Bale the great lengths to which she will go to make Cooper think she loves him. She’ll keep you guessing as to whose side she’s really on.
The Departed (2006)
[9] Martin Scorsese helms this dramatic thriller about an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a gang mole in the Boston police (Matt Damon) who race to uncover each other's identities while a powerful mobster (Jack Nicholson) manipulates them both to…