ALL IS LOST
Robert Redford gives the finest performance of his career in writer-director J.C. Chandor’s literal and metaphorical tale of one man’s…
Suspense
ALL IS LOST — NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL 2013
Robert Redford gives the finest performance of his career in writer-director J.C. Chandor’s literal and metaphorical tale of one man’s…
THE COMPANY YOU KEEP
A movie in search of a story, this Robert Redford-directed flop has all the interest and suspense of a piece…
SIDE EFFECTS
Corporate Corruption, FIVE STARS, Political Satire, Reviews Blog, Suspense, Video Essay, Women's Cinema
Catherine Zeta-Jones turns in an impressive bit of acting as the last shrink to look after Emily before Dr. Banks…
ARBITRAGE
Some not-so-fancy narrative mechanics set Richard Gere up as a one-percenter antihero in a movie that deplorably attempts to mitigate…
ARBITRAGE
Some not-so-fancy narrative mechanics set Richard Gere up as a one-percenter antihero in a movie that deplorably attempts to mitigate…
COMPLIANCE
Capsules Blog, FIVE STARS, sex, Sexploitation, Social Satire, Suspense, Thriller, True Crime, Women's Cinema
Americans have a deathly fear of authority — especially of cops. Endless accounts of police brutality, wrongful arrests, and senseless…
THE SKIN I LIVE IN — NYFF 2011
Pedro Almodóvar proves himself an apt technician at sustaining suspense in the thriller genre. Antonio Banderas returns to work with…
CONTAGION
The ensemble performances are strong, and the film’s atmosphere is appropriately glum, but there’s nothing here to make you feel…
30 MINUTES OR LESS
Talk about “unclear on the concept,” director Ruben Fleisher and screenwriter Michael Diliberti cobble together a black comedy that is…
FINAL DESTINATION 5
Capsules Blog, Disaster, Horror, SHOCKTOBER!, Social Satire, Suspense, THREE STARS, Thriller, Women's Cinema
There’s irony in how entertaining this 11-year-old horror franchise as compared with the torture-porn stylings of lesser efforts, such as…
POINT BLANK
A textbook exercise in the efficiency of barebones suspense, co-writer/director Fred Cavaye doesn’t so much mask plot holes as ignore…
VANISHING ON 7TH STREET
“Vanishing on 7th Street” is a mood piece more than the social satire that screenwriter Anthony Jaswinski aspires to create.…
SANCTUM
It’s unforgivable that the filmmakers fail to scratch the surface of 3D’s potential to put the audience inside Papua, New…
THE ROOMMATE
It might have behooved the filmmakers to at least watch Barbet Schroeder’s great 1992 thriller “Single White Female” before embarking…
ALL GOOD THINGS
Capsules Blog, Serial Killer, Suspense, Thriller, TWO STARS, Video Essay, Women Filmmakers, Women's Cinema
Known for his winning documentary “Capturing the Friedmans,” Andrew Jarecki makes the leap to narrative features with a false start.…
THE NEXT THREE DAYS
Writer/director Paul Haggis’s prison-break drama is so full of plot holes that it defies all suspension of disbelief. Cole Smithey.
UNSTOPPABLE
In spite of its knee jerk camera-pan-focus-jump visual tic, “Unstoppable” is one hot nail-biter of an action/suspense movie. Cole Smithey.
127 HOURS
Boyle has fun playing with the challenge by compressing time with things like dream sequences that mirror Ralston’s warped mental…
STONE
Echoes of “Cape Fear” reverberate across a withering suspense thriller that pales in comparison. “Stone” comes off as an open-handed…
COLE SMITHEY’S CLASSIC CINEMA
