Horror purists have to be careful not to get duped because of films like “It Comes at Night.” With its creepy horror title, a trailer that presents like a mysterious “cabin in the woods” zombie movie and a solid amount of critical praise, horror fans will undoubtedly give Trey Edward Shults’ sophomore feature a go. […]

Jumping way forward in time for my next Tom Hanks archive review (in the spirit of T.Hanks-giving) to probably his best performance of this decade, though I suppose it’s neck and neck with “Sully,” given the similarities. I’m not sure how this didn’t make it onto the site, possibly because I was too late to […]

Horror tension, mystery tension and racial tension blend together into a gripping and formidable nail-biter in “Get Out,” the astonishing directorial debut of Jordan Peele. The former half of the comedy duo “Key & Peele” has found a way to both honor and subvert the thriller and horror genres in a way that’s unmistakably modern.

Few filmmakers have faced the scrutiny M. Night Shyamalan has endured in the nearly 20 years since “The Sixth Sense” became a global phenomenon and launched his memorable name into the spotlight. With each progressive film, it seemed Shyamalan drew more and more ire for his twist-focused approach to horror and by the late 2000s, […]

The J.J. Abrams Bad Robot “Mystery Box” formula has yielded lots of intriguing and successful films and television shows, perhaps none of them as cultish as 2008’s “Cloverfield,” which alongside “Paranormal Activity” put the found footage genre permanently on the map with this elusive, almost anti-Hollywood alien invasion story.

Law enforcement battles with drug cartels tend to be the focal point of bullet-ridden crime thrillers with strong “Type A” heroes and despicable villains and a handful of characters who cross the line between the two. “Sicario,” on the other hand, is good-and-evil gray area for endless miles.

Directors don’t become synonymous with genres as often as they used to in Hollywood’s Golden Age, but play the word association game with “David Fincher” and you’re bound to hear “thriller” come up. There’s little doubt that if you’re producing an intense, dark, mystery-driven film, Fincher’s your first choice, and he proves it yet again […]

If you’ve ever wondered how cool it would be if a superhero movie was combined with an espionage thriller, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is a dream come true. It’s as much “The Rogers Ultimatum” as it is an irresistibly cool blockbuster, and though a totally different film than the quality origin story of “Captain […]

A two-headed thriller, “Prisoners” is one part conventional kidnapping mystery and one part psychological drama. While the mystery of who abducted two little girls haunts the entirety of the 153-minute runtime and will keep audiences glued for every minute, the film also serves as a portrait of a desperate parent willing to cross any line […]

For a totally preposterous magician caper, “Now You See Me” has a surprising meta edge to it. The film talks a big talk about deception with its Morgan Freeman voice-over narration (“the closer you think you are, the less you will actually see”), but in spite of its high levels of ludicrousness, it delivers exactly […]

A man who doesn’t play by the law when it comes to delivering justice isn’t an original idea for a main character, and Tom Cruise is far from an original action star, but somehow “Jack Reacher” doesn’t suffer too much from being stale.

Advertisements for anti-depression or anti-anxiety medications are all over television, and when the announcer rattles off the two-dozen or so horrific-sounding side effects, you can’t help but think about taking your chances and sticking with the depression. “Side Effects” explores the dangers of these drugs — and they go beyond the warnings on the label.

The timeless narrative of people who do bad things getting what they deserve has become so entrenched in the way we look at books, movies, television and more. For that reason, many who finish “Arbitrage” will find themselves rather bewildered.

As Americans, we had never been so fixated on killing a single individual as we were Osama bin Laden, the brain behind Al Qaeda and dubbed architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “Zero Dark Thirty,” the story of this 10-year manhunt, leaves out that social and political narrative, opting instead to capture the CIA’s operation […]

William Friedkin is a name you know, but not one you hear much about these days. The “French Connection” and “The Exorcist” director hasn’t delivered anything of that quality since those days in the ’70s, but he shows he’s still a skilled and relevant filmmaker with his film version of the Tracy Letts play “Killer […]