Thriller
Doctor Sleep
There is a motif in Doctor Sleep which sees Ewan McGregor’s Dan Torrence locking monsters from his past away in metaphorical boxes. It is an adpt one given the way the film is not only contending with being both a sequel to Sta...
Crawl
How’s this for a high-concept horror; what if, during a hurricane a young girl found herself trapped in the crawlspace of her previous family home with a hungry alligator? Sounds great right? In fact, a similar concept was atte...
Suspiria
For some a film like Suspiria should never be remade. It is, after all, a cult-classic. Argento at his very Arengto-ish. So it is with some trepidation that one embarks upon Call Me By Your Name’s Luca Guadagnino’s remake. The ...
Widows
It’s taken its sweet time about it but Hollywood is finally coming around to the fact that films with a predominantly female cast can still do Wonders at the box office. But too often the strategy seems to be, ‘take what worked...
Human Desire
She was born to be bad… to be kissed…to make trouble…” so ran the tag line for Human Desire—Fritz Lang’s 1954 noir thriller. A chillingly dark film, Human Desire reunited Lang with Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame from the previo...
A Simple Favour
They don’t make the kind of ‘90s airport read type thrillers anymore. When they do they tend to be longform TV shows. The kind of shows that allow for a cliffhanger ending of each episode while twisting and turning forcing you ...
Upgrade
Go and watch the trailer for Upgrade and then try to act that you are not stupidly excited to see the end product. From its stunning action sequences to its tongue-in-cheek humour Upgrade should be a B-Movie that breaks free of...
Searching
How often do you see a trailer for a film which is essentially a ‘found-footage’ that looks amazing but the end product never lives up to the concept’s promise? Watching the trailer for Searching you would be forgiven for think...
Mission Impossible: Fallout
There was a time when it came to certain franchises you knew what you were getting. Take James Bond for example, you went for the gadgets, the quips, the exotic locations and Bond being, well, Bond. But, in order to stay fresh,...
A Quiet Place
The premise for A Quiet Place is the kind of high concept idea that Hollywood used to dine out on with big budget blockbusters. The kind you can jot down on a napkin while being wined and dined by executive producers. It’s simp...
Beast
Part psychological thriller, part twisted fairy tale, part character drama Beast is a film that manages, like its lead character, to never conform to one thing. As such it is a film that demands your attention, but never allows...
You Were Never Really Here
Imagine if a film like Taken had substance. If it wasn’t just about bloody revenge and action set pieces. Imagine if a revenge thriller was less about the revenging and the thrilling as it was about the emotional impact these e...
All The Money In The World
It’s difficult to discuss All The Money In The World without referencing the elephant in the room that is Kevin Spacey. After the Oscar winning actor had numerous allegations levied at him director Ridley Scott took the eye-wid...
The Commuter
That The Commuter stars Liam Neeson and is mostly set on a train you would be forgiven for assuming this is an action cousin to Jason Statham franchise The Transporter, albeit at a more ‘wrong leaves on the track’ kind of pace....
Thelma
Mainstream cinema is currently in the throws of a love affair with all things superhero. In an era when there is political turmoil and a fear of the future, superheroes offer a form of much needed escapism. But for the most par...
Blade Runner 2049
Within a matter of minutes of the opening of Blade Runner 2049 you sense this film has captured the essence of the original film. From the close-up of an eye, a vast, sprawling vista of a dystopian future and a world seeped in ...
American Assassin
In recent memory action films have changed. Gone are the days of the wise-cracking heroes like John McClane or even Arnie quipping their way through a hail of bullets dispatching bad guys. It would be easy to blame Liam Neeson ...
Dunkirk
Rarely is a film as meticulously or as perfectly directed as Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. That might sound hyperbolic but the reality is Dunkirk should see The Dark Knight helmsman win all the awards going. From it’...
Atomic Blonde
It’s no secret that there simply aren’t enough female-led films made. The fact that this year’s Wonder Woman was so heralded in the industry not only shines a light of hope but also illustrates how much the male-dominated narra...
Ghost In The Shell
Based on a manga and cult favourite anime Ghost In The Shell should be a slam dunk of a live action adaption. Especially given it stars Hollywood’s biggest grossing actress Scarlett Johansson and is directed by the visual prowe...
