From psychological to political, here are some of our favorite thrillers since 2020 What is a thriller? The thriller genre is difficult to nail down because the genre itself is so broad. Where does the thriller genre end and horror begin? Are all action movies thrillers, but not all thrillers action movies? While the definition…
The Guilty follows a suspended police officer working 911 dispatch who falls upon an abduction case that he becomes determined to solve The Guilty is a tense, innovative, and constantly twisting police procedural that unfolds in real-time and solely through phone calls to incredible effect. However, it elevates itself by also acting as a character…
Jake Gyllenhaal, the Oscar-less powerhouse actor, has turned it iconic performance after performance in some of the greatest movies of the century. Here's where to watch them. Jake Gyllenhaal is arguably one of the greatest actors of his generation making his Oscar-less status a bit confounding. Nonetheless, he's turned in some of the best performances…
David Fincher's 2008 film Zodiac has grown to be one of his best, if not one of the best cinematic offerings of the century. Zodiac strikes the perfect balance between engrossing police procedural, atmospheric horror, and compelling character study to be one of the best movies of the century. To fully appreciate Zodiac, you have to watch it…
Velvet Buzzsaw has trouble balancing its satirical and horror elements, which results in an interesting, but unsatisfying Netflix original. Velvet Buzzsaw doesn’t become the movie we want it to be until the last 30 minutes. That’s when it starts working effectively as an art-world satire and horror-thriller. The rest, though, has a hard time striking a…
Jake Gyllenhaal plays an art critic that is haunted by an artist's work (literally) in the trailer for Dan Gilroy's Velvet Buzzsaw. https://youtu.be/GzxMLxO0ggk Velvet Buzzsaw reunites Jake Gyllenhaal with his Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy and co-star Rene Russo. Here's the plot description: Velvet Buzzsaw is a thriller set in the contemporary art world scene of Los Angeles, where…
Best Actor has quickly become one of the hardest categories to predict at the Oscars with several contenders and no clear frontrunner. Though, it looks like Timothée Chalamet or Gary Oldman could rise to the top. If there’s a category without a frontrunner, it’s Best Actor. Early in the season, Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) seemed…
Paul Dano's directorial debut Wildlife is a quiet but powerful tale of self-destruction with a masterful performance by Carey Mulligan. Wildlife has all the workings of a classic kitchen sink drama. However, instead of the poor industrial towns of England, actor Paul Dano's directorial debut moves the setting to 1960s Montana and follows a working-class family as they…
Subverting genre tropes, Stronger is a humanist story about triumph over adversity with stellar performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Tatiana Maslany. Jeff Bauman's story feels like one that Hollywood would consume into its "based on a true story" formula and spit out an emotionally manipulative story of triumph over adversity. Stronger is not one of those movies. That's because…
Life is an interesting and sleek take on the horror movie in space premise, but it's too weak on character to bring anything new to the genre. Between Gravity, The Martian, and now Daniel Espinosa's Life, there has been enough movie reaffirming my decision not to go into space... ever. Although, Life has more in common…
