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Post by Lex Salander on Feb 8, 2022 7:03:48 GMT
Some first time viewings from January
- House of Gucci: Definitely messy, all over the place and could've benefitted from being a little longer (especially in the third act). However I enjoyed it, especially with the performances.
- No Sudden Move: One of Steven Soderbergh's best movie, stylish, smart and entertaining with a great cast.
- The Crazies (1973): Well handled low budget horror thriller with social commentary.
- Don't Look Up: I liked parts of it including most of the cast. However it has a lot of problems, especially when it comes to the satirical elements.
- Death to 2021: Pretty much just Death to 2020 but less funny.
- Belfast: Simple but decent little family drama, with a strong cast of performances.
- Tick, Tick... Boom!: Not all the movie works, but I liked the music and Andrew Garfield is fantastic, well worth checking out for him alone.
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me: Fantastic and impactful prequel to the Twin Peaks show, one of my favourite Lynch films.
- Drive My Car: One of 2021's best, watch it as soon as you can.
- The King's Man: I liked it but its a bit too serious for this franchise and is possibly the worst of the three films.
- The Tragedy of Macbeth: A very uniquely presented take on the Shakespeare play, fantastic on a technical level, and the cast are incredible.
- Faster: Typical but enjoyable action thriller.
- Mass: One of 2021's best, written and acted performed wonderfully.
- The Siege: Decent action movie with some good performances.
- Spencer: Unconventional and well directed biopic. Kristen Stewart gives one of the best performances of the year.
- Passing: Doesn't quite come together with its ideas but nonethless is quite good. Performances from Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga are incredible.
- Cellular: Surprisingly good action thriller.
- The Bodyguard: A lot of 90s cheese, but enjoyable.
- Snow White and the Huntsman: Not without its issues, but I liked the visuals as well as Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron in their roles.
- Nightmare Alley: One of my favourites from Guillermo del Toro.
- Clickbait (Netflix show): Pretty decent thriller show, althought it disappoints in its final episode.
- CODA: A conventional but nonetheless great and touching coming of age movie.
- Licorice Pizza: Decent but probably Paul Thomas Anderson's worst movie. Despite the performances and the direction, I just couldn't connect with the story or characters.
- El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie: A satisfying coda to the Breaking Bad story.
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Post by sethan on Feb 23, 2022 16:21:04 GMT
I loved Licorice Pizza. I can see why it isn’t for everyone but It was for me. I just love the way PTA shoots his worlds, even if aren’t my kind of worlds or something. Alana Haim is superb and Cooper is special too.
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Post by Lex Salander on Mar 3, 2022 10:28:07 GMT
My first time February watches
- The Harder They Fall: A stylish and entertaining western with a good cast.
- Great coming of age romantic dramedy, writing, directing and acting excellent, one of the best from 2021.
- Absolute Power: Decent political thriller from Clint Eastwood.
- Paycheck: Better than excepted. It doesn't live up to its fullest potential but it is entertaining and benefits from the cast and John Woo's direction.
- Bergman Island: Not without its issues but is well shot and with some good performances.
- Parallel Mothers: Incredible and gripping drama, with excellent performances.
- Nine Days: Original, thought provoking movie about existence and life. Overlooked and really worth watching.
- The Eyes of Tammy Faye: Could've been better but unfortunately was a standard biopic overall. It is worth watching for the performances from Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield though.
- Being the Ricardos: Made me appreciate Don't Look Up's best picture nomination more. The performances aren't good enough to elevate the movie beyond an average, bland and frustrating biopic.
- Hotel Mumbai: Brutal and intense thriller that manages to avoid falling into exploitation. Very well made and performed.
- The Punisher (2004): Flawed especially as an adaptation of the Punsiher character but otherwise a decent action thriller.
- Death on the Nile (2022): Decent murder mystery, although a step below Murder on the Orient Express (2017) due to the very drawn out first act.
- Universal Soldier: Very cheesy and derivative but fun to watch.
- Red Rocket: Solid, entertaining and uncomfortable dramedy and characvter study. Well directed and with great performances, especially from Simon Rex.
- C'mon C'mon: Heartfelt and poignant dramedy, beautifully written and directed and with amazing performances.
- Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces: More a collection of deleted scenes (from Fire Walk with Me) than a normal movie but essential to watch for Twin Peaks fans.
- Jack Reacher: Never Go Back: Step down from the previous Jack Reacher movie and is a bit generic but it was entertaining enough.
- Encanto: Solid animated movie with fantastic animation and good songs.
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Post by Lex Salander on Apr 2, 2022 23:00:10 GMT
Some first time March viewings
- Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City: Definitely close to the source material of the games, even if it proves to be a double edged sword. It has a fair amount of issues but I really enjoyed it.
- West Side Story (2021): As someone not familiar with the musical, I really enjoyed it. Most of the performances are great and Steven Spielberg's direction is fantastic with some stellar song and dance sequences.
- In Time: Interesting ideas that makes for a decent sci-fi movie but doesn't reach its fullest potential. I would actually like to see a remake of this one day.
- The Batman: Fantastic Batman and detective noire movie with excellent performances from the cast, an engaging story, and strong helmed by Matt Reeves.
- Hard Boiled: Incredibly entertaining and satisfying action thriller from John Woo, I really want to watch more of his movies.
- Killer Elite (2011): Not great by any means but a passable if generic action thriller that entertains with the action and the cast.
- The Adam Project: Wasn't expecting much but was better than I expected.
- Jumper: Cool premise, disappointing execution, but it was okay and entertaining enough.
- Courage Under Fire: Well written and directed drama and military procedural, elevated by the good performances.
- Misbehaviour: It doesn't really succeed in all the topics and themes it tries to explore but it is decent overall, helped by the great cast.
- Harakiri: Slow building but complex and incredibly satisfying film.
- The Skin I Live In: Dark, disturbing and incredibly well crafted psychological thriller.
- Angel Heart: Gripping psychological mystery thriller that mixes neo noir and horror together excellently.
- Quiz Show: Riveting and well made drama, with great performances.
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Post by LaraQ on Apr 4, 2022 15:29:42 GMT
The Bubble (Netflix).One of the worst films I've seen in a long time.What happened to Judd Apatow?.
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Post by RedSparrow on Apr 5, 2022 17:04:06 GMT
The Bubble (Netflix).One of the worst films I've seen in a long time.What happened to Judd Apatow?. Seriously, what happened to him? This movie (if you can even call it that) was complete trash. Hopefully Judd bounces back with the possible sequel to ‘This is 40’ which he revealed on Fallon. |
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Post by Lex Salander on May 13, 2022 11:23:02 GMT
Some first time watches in April:
- Fair Game: A decent thriller from Doug Liman, helped by some good performances.
- Last Action Hero: A meta and satirical action movie ahead of its time, a lot of fun.
- Mississippi Burning: Dark, brutal, hard hitting and incredibly well crafted. Greatly directed and with excellent performances, especially from Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.
- The Strangers: Prey at Night: Improvement over the first movie (although a completely different type of horror movie), great homage to the slashers from the 80s, helped by the great direction.
- Kimi: Fantastic thriller from Steven Soderbergh, effectively anxious, tightly directed and has an amazing performance from Zoe Kravitz in the central role.
- The Man Who Knew Too Much: A bit too slow at times and not one of Alfred Hitchcock's best, but nonetheless a fun and entertaining thriller.
- Deep Cover: Great and engaging crime thriller, stylishly directed and with stellar performances, especially from a career best Laurence Fishburne.
- The Negotiator: Solid and well made, if conventional and slightly overlong thriller, made better by some solid performances.
- Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: Best entry of the FB movies thus far, it's directed well and has a solid cast (especially Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen). The story still has its issues and is messy, but is an improvement over its predecessor.
- Host (2020): Although fairly typical and has familiar horror beats, it’s a creative and surprisingly effective found footage film.
- The Duellists: Well shot and crafted historical drama with great performances from Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel. Very strong debut from Ridley Scott.
- Ambulance: Although it’s a bit overlong and the writing has issues, it is a thoroughly enjoyable (and gloriously silly) action movie, with good performances and thrilling action sequences. Among Michael Bay’s best films.
- Everything Everywhere All At Once: Bonkers, hilarious and overwhelming, yet sincere, heartfelt and emotional. Creative, fantastically written and directed, and with great performances from the cast, it’s already one of the best films of 2022.
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Charming and funny romantic comedy.
- X: Solid, suspenseful, gory and darkly funny horror movie and homage to the grindhouse slashers of the 70s, stylishly directed and with a great cast of performances.
- The Howling: Despite a slow pacing and forgettable characters, pretty decent with a good cast and great makeup, special and practical effects.
- Moonfall: Gloriously silly as you’d expect from a Roland Emmerich movie. It’s too absurd for its own good and it can be quite dull in parts, but the over the top destruction and some of the cast made it entertaining enough for what it was.
- Eat Pray Love: Overlong, all over the place and a bit bland. However the cast are watchable.
- Inland Empire: Experimental, surreal, bizarre, a bit overlong and hard to grasp even by David Lynch standards. Nonetheless intriguing, greatly directed, effectively nightmarish and with incredible performances, especially from Laura Dern.
- The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: While it is familiar and falls into predictable clichés, it is a fun meta comedy and love letter to Nicolas Cage, with entertaining performances, especially from Cage and Pedro Pascal.
- Uncharted: Not a good adaptation of the video games its based on, but is otherwise a decent if familiar and generic action adventure, with entertaining action and good performances from Tom Holland and Tati Gabrielle being the highlights.
- Small Axe: Education: While it could’ve been longer, it’s really good, well made, and a damning portrait of racism in the schooling system. Great conclusion to the Small Axe anthology.
- Big Trouble in Little China: Thoroughly enjoyable and gloriously over the top 80s action flick.
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Post by Lex Salander on May 31, 2022 8:55:02 GMT
Recent first time watches of May
- G.I. Joe: Retaliation: Like the previous movie, dumb fun with a silly plot. The action is entertaining and has been improved, but it unfortunately lacks some of the absurd and cartoonish nature of the first movie.
- What a Girl Wants: Definitely very cliched but a lot of silly fun.
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: While the script is flawed and has some of the typical MCU fallings, quite good and creative, succeeding largely due to Sam Raimi’s great and distinct style, direction, and glorious horror influences.
- The International: Well directed, intriguing and suspenseful thriller with solid performances.
- Greenland: Better than expected. A disaster movie that's thrilling, as well as refreshingly small scale and grounded. Definitely familiar to other similar films but entertaining, well directed and with good performances.
- The Day After Tomorrow: Some of the CGI is dated, it is very silly, and is definitely cliched. But overall, it is an entertaining disaster movie with good set pieces and a solid cast. One of Roland Emmerich's better movies.
- The Age of Adaline: A bit cliched and doesn't quite take full advantage of its premise. Nonetheless it is decent, benefitting from its solid performances, especially from Blake Lively and Harrison Ford.
- Little Caesar: Overly simplistic gangster movie with basic direction but very influential for the genre, and has some good performances, with Edward G. Robinson being the highlight of the whole film.
- Black Book: Pulpy, entertaining, greatly performed and incredibly well made WWII espionage thriller, made even better by Paul Verhoeven's approach and direction.
- Passion: Ridiculous and melodramatic thriller that's entertaining, helped by the performances and Brian de Palma's stylistic direction. Not one of his best, but enjoyable nonetheless.
- Primal Fear: Effective courtroom drama with a compelling and suspenseful plot and great performances, especially from an excellent Edward Norton.
- The Northman: A creative, ambitious, brutal and spectacular Norse revenge epic that’s visually stunning, fantastically directed by Robert Eggers, and has great performances. One of 2022’s best (and my current favourite from the year).
- Brief Encounter: Incredibly well constructed, written directed and performed romantic drama.
- Twister: Definitely highly implausible, but enjoyable dumb fun, with plenty of thrilling and over the top set pieces and some good performances.
- Insomnia (1997): Dark and slow burn murder mystery thriller, well directed and led by a great performance from Stellan Skarsgard. Interesting to watch having only seen the Christopher Nolan remake.
- Hackers: Very dated, cliched and full of 90s cheese, but fairly entertaining.
- City Lights: Delightful and funny throughout. Very well crafted for its time.
- Domino: Although some of the writing and storytelling can be a little messy and the plot isn't the most interesting, it is otherwise pretty good with solid performances led by Keira Knightley, and flashy and stylish direction from Tony Scott.
- Top Gun: Maverick: Outstanding, far surpassing the original. With fantastic direction, thrilling action sequences, great performances, and a surprisingly heartfelt story, it's one of the best legacy sequels, and one of the best films from 2022.
- Cobra: Simplistic yet effective hybrid of over the top 80s action and suspenseful crime thrillers, with some slasher elements.
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Post by Lex Salander on Jul 5, 2022 7:53:00 GMT
My first time viewings from June:
- Barton Fink: Dark yet comical and satirical thriller about Hollywood, excellently written and directed by the Coen Brothers, and with great performances from the cast especially John Turturro and John Goodman.
- The Cleansing Hour: While it definitely falls into the standard possession movie tropes, it is entertaining and has some good practical effects.
- The Lost City: A straightforward and cliché but nonetheless entertaining, funny and goofy adventure rom-com, with some enjoyable performances that carry much of the film.
- Belle de Jour: Really good film, well made and with great performances, especially from Catherine Deneuve as the lead.
- Jurassic World: Dominion: A a mixed bag with clunky writing and a convoluted and unfocussed story. Still, the impressive visuals, entertaining set pieces, solid cast (especially Dern, Neill and Goldblum), and enjoyable absurdity made it fun to watch.
- My Fair Lady: Despite some annoying and outdated aspects as well as a very long runtime, its an enjoyable musical with great direction and some good performances, especially from Audrey Hepburn.
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Classic musical that's very endearing and entertaining.
- The Conversation: Solid and suspenseful paranoia thriller and character study, well written and directed, and with a strong lead performance from Gene Hackman.
- Need for Speed: Very formulaic and silly action thriller with weak writing but still entertaining with its fun car chase and racing sequences and decent performances.
- K-19: The Widowmaker: Tense submarine thriller that's decent, if a little overlong and initially meandering. Benefits from its direction and the solid performances (bad Russian accents aside).
- Men: Doesn’t quite succeed at what it sets out to do, with its writing, surface-level themes, and attempts at horror. However, the solid direction, amazing visuals, and excellent lead performance from Jessie Buckley make up for a lot of it.
- Disobedience: Engaging and very well written and directed drama with strong performances, especially from Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams and Alessandro Nivola.
- Margin Call: Gripping thriller that's greatly written and directed, with an amazing and stacked cast delivering compelling work.
- The Huntsman: Winter's War: Standard fantasy movie that’s worse than the previous film, but elevated by a good cast and some entertaining action.
- Elvis: Yet another music biopic, and one that’s overlong, messy and exhausting at times. However it is made energetic and entertaining with Baz Luhrmann’s stylish and fast paced direction, and the incredible lead performance from Austin Butler.
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Post by Lex Salander on Aug 2, 2022 9:27:08 GMT
First time viewings from July:
- Crimes of the Future (2022): A welcome return to form for David Cronenberg. While it does feel a little incomplete, it is a bizarre, fascinating, and thematically intriguing and thought provoking film, which is directed excellently and has some great performances. Among my favourites of the year thus far.
- Dead Poets Society: Really great movie, well directed, written and acted.
- Thor: Love and Thunder: Aside from some enjoyable scenes and Christian Bale’s villainous performance, it is messy and full of misses. The visuals are mostly terrible, the humour was mostly unfunny, and its script is weak, lazy, generic and on autopilot. Lowest point of the MCU.
- Interceptor: An incredibly generic action thriller that lacks the self awareness which would’ve made it fun to watch. Action sequences are fine and Elsa Pataky is decent as the lead, but the cliched, heavy handed and terrible script lets it down.
- Knight and Day: It is a very familiar, cliched and dumb action comedy but it is quite entertaining, helped by the solid and over the top action, funny humour, and a great cast (especially a hilarious Tom Cruise).
- The Replacement Killers: Over the top and well paced flick, with a solid cast and enjoyable action.
- Predator 2: A refreshingly different film to its predecessor, if not as good. Entertaining, over the top and well directed with solid special effects and great action.
- Hard Target: Very fun and over the top B-movie, with some entertaining action, enjoyable cheesiness, solid villains in Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo, and really good direction from John Woo.
- The Manchurian Candidate (2004): Solid and intriguing political thriller, well directed by Jonathan Demme, and has a great cast of performances led by an ever reliable Denzel Washington.
- The Great Dictator: It gets overlong in the second half but is otherwise an entertaining, funny, greatly performed and well made political satire.
- Grosse Pointe Blank: The tone and writing can be a bit all over the place, but overall it is a decent and dark rom-com that is helped by the good performances.
- The Last Stand (2013): Tense and entertaining action flick that throws back to similar films of the 80s. Benefits from a good cast, the great action sequences, and Kim Jee-woon’s strong direction.
- The Gray Man: Very derivative and generic action thriller with a mixed script and some flat visuals. However the decent cast and action set pieces help make it entertaining.
- Vantage Point: While the execution could've been stronger and its writing has its contrivances and conveniences, it has an interesting premise and storytelling technique, the cast are solid, and the action is entertaining. Overall an enjoyable action thriller.
- Eagle Eye: Far fetched, tense and silly action thriller with an absurd plot and writing, but enjoyable for that. It doesn't really deliver on its potential but is nonetheless enjoyable, helped by the committed performances and some entertaining action.
- The Losers: The writing and plot is quite thin but the very stylized direction and action as well as the fun cast make up for it.
- Nixon: Bold, unsubtle and fascinating biopic and character study that's stylishly and incredibly directed and has excellent performances, led by an amazing Anthony Hopkins.
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Post by Lex Salander on Sept 5, 2022 9:17:18 GMT
Some first time viewings from August:
- Sudden Death: Very fun and enjoyably silly action movie with strong performances (especially Powers Boothe as the villain), direction and action.
- Assassins: Decent and well directed action thriller which works fine but is a bit too long and could've been better. Still, it is entertaining with good set pieces, and benefits from a highly energetic performance from Antonio Banderas.
- Bullet Train: While the story and tone could be inconsistent and messy and the writing and humour can be hit or miss, it is an otherwise visually pleasing, stylish and entertaining movie, helped by the exciting action and the great cast.
- The Client: Standard and typical 90s legal thriller, but it’s still well made and directed, and is helped by the great acting.
- The Rainmaker: It is a bit overlong and not one of Francis Ford Coppola's best movies, otherwise its a very well made courtroom drama with great performances.
- Thirteen Lives: Despite a overly long runtime and a lack of characterization, it is a very solid thriller and admirable retelling of the true events, with great performances and excellent direction from Ron Howard.
- Blown Away: Overblown and over the top but entertaining and well made, and helped by the performances from Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones.
- Casino Royale (1967): Baffling and incredibly ill-conceived movie. Overlong, dull, and none of its unfunny jokes land. Fails as a James Bond movie, as a James Bond parody, and as a comedy. The worst "James Bond film" that you've never seen.
- War (2007): Despite some twists and entertaining action, it doesn't live up to the potential and wastes its leads. Its held back by some dull writing, annoying editing, and a disappointing ending.
- Annette: Imaginative, surreal, unconventional and visually mesmerizing musical, directed wonderfully and with excellent music and outstanding performances from Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard.
- Inventing Anna: Interesting idea for a show, however is stretched out and wastes its potential. It starts off well, but loses steam and becomes tedious and frustrating by the end. It does benefit from some good performances, especially from Julia Garner and Arian Moayed.
- Murder on the Orient Express (1974): Great and stylish whodunnit classic, well directed and a solid ensemble cast.
- Executive Decision: Action thriller that is a bit overlong and very familiar, but is solid, and well made nonetheless.
- Spiderhead: It has a very intriguing premise, but it needed more fleshing out and doesn’t reach its potential, especially with its disappointing third act. However it’s interesting enough for it’s runtime and is well acted, especially by Miles Teller and a scene stealing Chris Hemsworth.
- Traitor: Solid political thriller, well crafted and with great performances.
- The Sentinel: A familiar and generic, yet entertaining enough political action thriller.
- Presumed Innocent: Effective courtroom thriller, with its great script, engaging story, excellent direction, and stellar performances led by Harrison Ford.
- Frantic: Very entertaining thriller that is well written, directed, and performed.
- Mysterious Skin: Brilliant and haunting movie. Beautifully made, empathetically written and with phenomenal performances.
- Braid: A bit messy and unfocused, but nonetheless a well performed, greatly directed and visually striking horror film.
- Gosford Park: Great, engaging and layered murder mystery drama, incredibly written and directed, and with outstanding performances from its stellar cast.
- My Cousin Vinny: Really entertaining and funny courtroom comedy which has some great performances, especially from Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei.
- The Jackal: The writing and plot are mixed and generic, but its a competent enough and mildly entertaining thriller, with some good action sequences and performances.
- Lockout: Very derivative and familiar action sci-fi thriller with dodgy CGI, but entertaining enough for what it is, with some fun action and an enjoyable cast.
- Heist: Very familiar heist movie, but the direction, writing and actors are on point nonetheless.
- Notting Hill: Even though it has some of the typical rom-com cliches, it is very enjoyable with great performances.
- 48 Hrs: A dated and familiar buddy cop comedy that doesn't always succeed, but does entertain enough and is helped by the energetic performances.
- Nope: A tense, thematically dense, and spectacular sci-fi horror movie, incredibly written and directed, and with great performances. Another fantastic film from Jordan Peele, and possibly his best yet.
- Death Race: Messy and flawed but a brutal and entertaining action thrill ride, especially with the cast and the action sequences. One of Paul WS Anderson's best movies.
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Post by Lex Salander on Oct 2, 2022 6:52:52 GMT
First time watches of September:
- Out of Time: Contrived and familiar yet entertaining neo-noir thriller, led by an ever reliable Denzel Washington.
- Three Thousand Years of Longing: A beautiful, imaginative, contemplative and original movie, with great performances, stunning visuals and creative direction from George Miller.
- Devil in a Blue Dress: Fantastic and intriguing noir mystery thriller, incredibly directed, and well acted with another excellent performance from Denzel Washington.
- Decision to Leave: While the plot can get convoluted and its 1st half is stronger than it’s 2nd, overall it is an enthralling romantic mystery noir thriller that is spectacularly directed, visually stunning, and has great performances. Another incredible film from Park Chan-wook and already one of 2022’s best.
- The Pelican Brief: While it is overlong and the pacing can occasionally drag, it is a well made, enjoyable and intriguing enough conspiracy thriller.
- High Crimes: Not one of Carl Franklin’s best, but overall a decent and entertaining legal thriller, helped by the strong direction and solid performances.
- Ricochet: Well made, over the top, and surprisingly brutal thriller, with strong performances from Denzel Washington and John Lithgow.
- Modern Times: Entertaining from start to finish.
- After Yang: A meditative, intimate, existential and melancholic drama. A beautiful reflection on life, loss and humanity which is visually stunning, excellently directed, and has great performances.
- And Then There Were None (1945): Well paced, greatly acted, entertaining, and surprisingly funny whodunnit.
- Predators: While it is very familiar and the characters are thinly written, it works well for what it is, especially with some great action and a strong cast.
- Immortals: Flawed in its writing, but is helped by a decent cast, great action, and absolutely stunning visuals.
- Memory: Another Liam Neeson action thriller that’s generic and forgettable despite its potential, but is made better by the solid direction, and the performances from Neeson and Guy Pearce.
- 6 Underground: Unhinged, chaotic, non stop action film that's highly entertaining despite some messiness with the writing and story structure. Michael Bay's most Michael Bay movie yet.
- Above the Law: Routine action thriller, but a fun early Steven Seagal movie, with solid direction and some well crafted action sequences.
- Chain Reaction: The plot is generic, forgettable and hard to follow, but on the whole the movie is entertaining, helped by the direction and cast.
- Rush Hour 2: More of the same and maybe not as good as the first movie, but about as entertaining and funny.
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Post by Lex Salander on Nov 2, 2022 8:32:47 GMT
First time watches of October:
- Nosferatu the Vampyre: Great remake which pays homage while standing on its own. Atmospheric, methodically paced, visually stunning, and excellently performed. Improves over the original.
- Money Monster: Compelling and suspenseful thriller, greatly directed and with really good performances.
- Creature from the Black Lagoon: Influential and classic monster film, and very well made, especially for its time.
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): Iconic and influential sci-fi horror thriller, suspenseful, well directed and with great performances.
- The Innocents (1961): Incredible psychological/ghost story. Atmospheric, haunting, fantastically directed and acted horror film.
- The Black Phone: A tense, entertaining, and solid horror movie. While some of the writing can be a mixed bag, the strong direction and great performances make up for it.
- Maze Runner: The Death Cure: Best of the trilogy, and especially delivering on the performances, direction and action. One of the better YA movies.
- The Hunger: Stylish and atmospheric vampire movie, with great performances and strong direction. One of Tony Scott's most underrated, and one of his best.
- The Hills Have Eyes (1977): Messy and low budget, but nonetheless highly effective horror movie; bleak, intense, and directed very well by Wes Craven.
- Tenebre: Compelling, stylish, and incredibly made horror thriller.
- The Contract (2006): Very forgettable action thriller, with decent performances from Joan Cusack and Morgan Freeman.
- House of 1000 Corpses: Messy and derivative, but nonetheless effective and energetic throwback to 70s grindhouse movies.
- Black Adam: Very familiar and generic comic book movie, with a mixed bag of a script and some pacing problems. However, it is entertaining, with fun action scenes, and some solid performances.
- Pearl: A solid horror movie, character piece, and prequel to X. The plot is slower paced and predictable, but it’s directed greatly, and is led by a fantastic performance from Mia Goth.
- Halloween Ends: One of the most bold and unique entries in the franchise, even if it doesn’t entirely work and some parts could’ve been executed better. Probably the best of David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy.
- Live Wire: Incredibly goofy and dumb yet entertaining 90s action flick.
- Near Dark: Really good neo-western vampire movie, very well directed, with a strong atmosphere, and a great cast (especially a scene stealing Bill Paxton). Solid debut from Kathryn Bigelow.
- The Contractor (2022): A passable and familiar action thriller, competently made and helps by the solid cast led by Chris Pine.
- The Woman King: The Woman King is a very well crafted and riveting historical epic, fantastically directed with good action sequences, and most of all great performances.
- Braven: A familiar but decent action thriller, well made with some good action sequences, and Jason Momoa is solid in the lead role.
- The Blob (1988): Great horror remake that improves over the original film. It has fantastic special effects which mostly hold up today, strong performances, enjoyable humour, and is entertaining from beginning to end.
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