Subgenre Sampler

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Anatomy of a Fall (2023): Dir. Justine Triet
Feat. Sandra Huller, Swann Arlaud, Jehnny Beth…; An extraordinary, multi–layered dramatic thriller from France that deservingly won the Palm D'or at Cannes. For the past year, Sandra, a…
Cat Person (2023): Dir. Susanna Fogel
Feat. Emilia Jones, Nicholas Braun, Geraldine Viswanathan…; An extended film adaptation of a 2017 'New Yorker' short story that went viral on account of its wildly relatable tale of a young millennial woman's…
Forgiven, The (2021): Dir. John Michael McDonagh
Feat. Ralph Fiennes, Jessica Chastain, Christopher Abbott…; Speeding through the Moroccan desert to attend an old friend’s lavish weekend party, wealthy Londoners (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) are…
Full Time (A Plien Temps) (2021): Dir. Eric Gravel
Feat. Laure Calamy, Genevieve Mnich, Anne Suarez; A cracker of a French drama that teeters on the edge of a thriller throughout because it’s all about the pressure cooker that is modern life.…
Nightmare Alley (2021): Dir. Guillermo Del Toro
Feat. Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette…; Dark and stormy neo–noir thriller from director Guillermo del Toro (THE SHAPE OF WATER) about a low–ranking carnie (Bradley Cooper) who…
Nitram (2021): Dir. Justin Kurzel
Feat. Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis…; An intense yet clear–eyed psychological drama from accomplished director Justin Kurzel (TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG) depicting the events…
No Man of God (2021): Dir. Amber Sealey
Feat. Elijah Wood, Luke Kirby, Aleksa Palladino…; Engrossing thriller based on the relationship between FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier and serial killer Ted Bundy. Set in Bundy's final years on death…
Pig (2021): Dir. Michael Sarnoski
Feat. Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin…; A mesmerising drama with Nicolas Cage (somewhat) changing pace to play a bedraggled truffle hunter living in the remote Oregonian wilderness. When…
Smother (TV Series) (2021): Feat. Dervla Kirwan, Seána Kerslake, Niamh Walsh…; Riveting Irish TV thriller set on the wild and rugged coast of County Clare, where a matriarch (Dervla Kirwan) is determined to find out who killed…
Stillwater (2021): Dir. Tom McCarthy
Feat. Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin…; Crime drama directed by Tom McCarthy (THE VISITOR), with Matt Damon playing an unemployed oil–rig worker from Stillwater, Oklahoma who travels…
To Chiara (A Chiara) (2021): Dir. Jonas Carpignano
Feat. Swamy Rotolo, Claudio Rotolo, Giorgia Rotolo…; A rites–of–passage drama in the Italian neo–realist tradition that examines the impact of Mafia activity on those in the close…
West Side Story (2021): Dir. Steven Spielberg
Feat. Rachel Zegler, Ansel Elgort, Ariana DeBose…; Steven Spielberg's dazzling adaptation of the 1957 musical, an American fairy tale of doomed love and the rivalry between Puerto Rican and white…
Antebellum (2020): Dir. Gerard Bush, Christopher Renz
Feat. Janelle Monáe, Eric Lange, Jena Malone…; A provocative psychological horror in which a modern day African American writer finds herself trapped in a 19th Century Southern slave plantation. A…
Ava (2020): Dir. Tate Taylor
Feat. Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Common …; Jessica Chastain delivers another full force performance in this otherwise by–the–numbers crime thriller, playing a Bostonian…
Capone (2020): Dir. Josh Trank
Feat. Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini, Jack Lowden…; Tom Hardy plays the legendary Chicago gangster at the age of 47, after a decade in prison, where his untreated neurosyphilis is robbing him of…
Courier, The (Ironbark) (2020): Dir. Dominic Cooke
Feat. Benedict Cumberbatch, Jessie Buckley, Angus Wright…; Gripping Cold War spy thriller with Cumberbatch playing real life British businessman Greville Wynne, who was recruited by the SIS to deliver covert…
Dry, The (2020): Dir. Robert Connolly
Feat. Eric Bana, Genevieve O’Reilly, Keir O'Donnell…; Conventional though atmospheric outback thriller starring Eric Bana as a federal agent who returns to his drought–stricken home town after more…
Let Him Go (2020): Dir. Thomas Bezucha
Feat. Diane Lane, Kevin Costner, Lesley Manville…; Gripping neo–western thriller following a retired sheriff and his wife from rural Montana, who are grieving over the death of their son when…
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears (2020): Dir. Tony Tilse
Feat. Essie Davis, Nathan Page; Film based on the acclaimed TV series MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES, with Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis) returning as the Jazz age sleuth, unravelling…
Miss Scarlet and The Duke (TV Series) (2020): Feat. Kate Phillips, Danny Midwinter, Stuart Martin; Crime series set in Victorian London, where a penniless single woman decides to keep her father's detective agency running after his death, and hires…
Nest, The (TV Mini-series) (2020): Feat. Martin Compston, Sophie Rundle, Mirren Mack…; Suspenseful Scottish 5–part TV drama starring Martin Compston (LINE OF DUTY) and Sophie Rundle (PEAKY BLINDERS, BODYGUARD) as a wealthy couple…
Pale Horse, The (2020): Dir. Leonora Lonsdale
Feat. Rufus Sewell, Sheila Atim, Georgina Campbell…; Two–part miniseries based on the 1961 Agatha Christie novel of the same name, involving all manner of malevolent goings on in the picturesque…
Penance (TV Mini-series) (2020): Feat. Julie Graham, Nico Mirallegro, Neil Morrissey…; 3–part TV miniseries which replaces the male gaze with that of a mother who, grieving for her son's death, struggles with maelstrom of emotions…
Promising Young Woman (2020): Dir. Emerald Fennell
Feat. Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie…; Carey Mulligan is sensational as the 'promising young woman' who contrives an elaborate scheme to avenge for a traumatizing past event in this…
Savage (2020): Dir. Sam Kelly
Feat. Jake Ryan, John Tui, Chelsie Preston-Crayford; Powerful drama inspired by the history of NZ's gangs, following a young boy in three different stages of life from the 1960's to the 1980's, as he…
Shirley (2020): Dir. Josephine Decker
Feat. Elisabeth Moss, Odessa Young, Michael Stuhlbarg; Elisabeth Moss gives another inspired performance in this literary themed thriller, playing a renowned horror writer who is interrupted on the brink…
Six Minutes to Midnight (2020): Dir. Andy Goddard
Feat. Eddie Izzard, Carla Juri, James D'Arcy…; A tense British period thriller loosely based on the true story of the disappearance of a school teacher at an elite girls' boarding school shortly…
Sounds, The (TV Mini-series) (2020): Dir. Peter Stebbings
Feat. Matt Whelen, Rachelle Lefevre, Matt Nable…; Kiwi mystery drama series from writer Sarah–Kate Lynch (800 WORDS), about a Canadian couple who move to the Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere region in…
Wildland (2020): Dir. Jeanette Nordahl
Feat. Sandra Guldberg Kampp, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Joachim Fjelstrup; Powerful coming–of–age Scandi–noir about a Danish teenager who becomes embroiled in the ruthless criminal life of her aunt and…
A Confession (TV Mini-Series) (2019): Feat. Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, Siobhan Finneran; British crime drama with Martin Freeman playing a Detective Superintendent willing to risk his career and reputation to catch the killer of a…
A White, White Day (2019): Dir. Hlynur Pálmason
Feat. Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Ida Mekkin Hlynsdottir, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason…; Aesthetically striking Icelandic drama which plunges the viewer deep into the psyche of a tortured former police officer who suspects a neighbour…
Apartment 1BR (1BR) (2019): Dir. David Marmor
Feat. Nicole Brydon Bloom, Giles Matthey, Taylor Nichols…; Smartly scripted psychological thriller about an aspiring costumer designer in Los Angeles whose new neighbours belong to a creepy cult–like…
Baptiste (TV Series) (2019): Feat. Tcheky Karyo, Tom Hollander, Jessica Raine…; A TV spin–off of the acclaimed BBC crime drama THE MISSING, with the same writers and some of the same cast, which follows the character Julien…
Big Little Lies - Season 2 (TV Mini-series) (2019): Dir. Andrea Arnold
Feat. Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley…; The second chapter of this acclaimed HBO series, this time from the director of FISHTANK and AMERICAN HONEY, throws a grief ridden…
Burnt Orange Heresy, The (2019): Dir. Giuseppe Capotondi
Feat. Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Mick Jagger…; Sophisticated crime thriller set in the privileged world of fine art, where an art critic (Claes Bang, who played the unfortunate gallery curator in…
Calm With Horses (The Shadow of Violence) (2019): Dir. Nick Rowland
Feat. Cosmo Jarvis, Barry Keoghan, Ned Dennehy; Bleak and unflinching Irish crime drama following the fate of a troubled former boxer descending into a complex ecosystem of crime.
Corpus Christi (2019): Dir. Jan Komasa
Feat. Bartosz Bielenia, Aleksandra Konieczna, Eliza Rycembel…; A devastating, gripping drama based on the true story of a charismatic ex–convict who is mistaken to be a priest in a devout Polish village, a…
Fanny Lye Deliver'd (The Delivered) (2019): Dir. Thomas Clay
Feat. Maxine Peake, Charles Dance, Freddie Fox; British period thriller set in 1657 on a Shropshire farm, where Fanny Lye (the magnificent Maxine Peake) is living a quiet, puritan life until the…
Human Capital (2019): Dir. Marc Meyers
Feat. Liev Schreiber, Marisa Tomei, Maya Hawke…; Thoroughly engrossing drama about three upstate New York families whose lives are entangled by a hit–and–run accident. Filled with…
Inheritance (2019): Dir. Vaughn Stein
Feat. Lily Collins, Simon Pegg, Connie Nielsen…; Juicy gothic thriller from the director of TERMINAL, following the daughter of a wealthy patriarch whose secret inheritance threatens to tear the…
Irishman, The (2019): Dir. Martin Scorsese
Feat. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci…; Unwieldly but fascinating Scorsese crime drama, in which the director reunites with good fellas Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci to tell the…
Joker (2019): Dir. Todd Phillips
Feat. Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz…; Brilliantly dark psychological thriller introducing Batman's arch nemesis as a traumatised loner who finds his voice in acts of violence. An achingly…
Just Mercy (2019): Dir. Destin Cretton
Feat. Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson…; Powerful legal drama from director Destin Daniel Cretton (SHORT TERM 12), telling the true story of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), the…
Kitchen, The (2019): Dir. Andrea Berloff
Feat. Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss…; After their mobster husbands get locked up in prison, three housewives decide to take over the family business. Set in Hell's Kitchen in 1978, and…
Les Miserables (2019): Dir. Ladj Ly
Feat. Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djebril Zonga…; This impressive feature debut from French director Ladj Ly is set in the French criminal underworld in aftermath of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, when…
Luce (2019): Dir. Julius Onah
Feat. Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Kelvin Harrison Jr.…; A tense and knotty social thriller based on a play of the same name by J.C. Lee, about a married American couple who have their idealised image of…
Miss Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries (TV Mini-Series) (2019): Feat. Geraldine Hakewill, Joel Jackson, Catherine McClements…; Spin–off of the popular Australian TV series MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES, set in Melbourne in the 1960's, and following a woman who aspires…
MotherFatherSon (TV Mini-series) (2019): Feat. Richard Gere, Helen McCrory, Billy Howle…; BBC TV thriller of distinction, interweaving themes of politics, media and law enforcement as it follows three members of a fractured but powerful…
Mr. Jones (2019): Dir. Agnieszka Holland
Feat. James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard; Strikingly bold political thriller from eminent Polish director Agnieszka Holland (IN DARKNESS), loosely based on the true story of ambitious Welsh…
Official Secrets (2019): Dir. Gavin Hood
Feat. Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode…; Engrossing drama based on the life of whistleblower Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), the GCHQ emplyee who leaked a secret memo about an illegal NSA…
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood) (2019): Dir. Quentin Tarantino
Feat. Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie…; Sprawling love–letter to the final years of Hollywood's golden age, following a faded television actor and his stunt double as they face the…
Queen & Slim (Queen and Slim) (2019): Dir. Melina Matsoukas
Feat. Daniel Kaluuya, Bokeem Woodbine, Chloe Sevigny…; An African American couple's first date is interrupted when they kill a cop in self–defence and go on the run to avoid prison. A brilliantly…
Rose Plays Julie (2019): Dir. Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor
Feat. Ann Skelly, Orla Brady, Aidan Gillen; Bracing drama made by the interdisciplinary art collective Desperate Optimists, which follows an adopted Irish girl who tracks down her birth mother.…
Traitors (TV Series) (2019): Feat. Emma Appleton, Luke Treadaway, Michael Stuhlbarg…; 6–part TV series set in London in 1945, where a young women is recruited by the American Office of Strategic Services to spy on her own…
Who You Think I Am (Celle que vous croyez) (2019): Dir. Safy Nebbou
Feat. Juliette Binoche, François Civil, Nicole Garcia…; Juliet Binoche is outstanding at the helm of this elegant psychological thriller, playing a French literature professor and middle–aged…
Wolf Hour, The (2019): Dir. Alistair Banks Griffin
Feat. Naomi Watts, Jennifer Ehle, Emory Cohen…; Psychological thriller set in New York in 1977, anchored by Naomi Watts playing a reclusive author who is targeted by an unseen tormentor as violence…
A Private War (2018): Dir. Matthew Heineman
Feat. Rosamund Pike, Greg Wise, Alexandra Moen; Rosamund Pike is a stand out in this powerful thriller based on the true story of the fearless and celebrated war correspondent Marie Colvin. Having…
A Vigilante (2018): Dir. Sarah Daggar-Nickson
Feat. Olivia Wilde, Morgan Spector, Kyle Catlett; A thoroughly committed performance from Olivia Wilde anchors this thriller about a domestic abuse survivor who makes it her mission to support other…
Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018): Dir. Terry Loane
Feat. Ruth Bradley, Ralph Ineson, Pippa Haywood; Crime thriller imagining what happened to Agatha Christie during her 11–day disappearance in 1926. Stuck in a writer's rut, she finds herself…
American Woman (2018): Dir. Jake Scott
Feat. Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul, Christina Hendricks…; Sienna Miller gets a rare chance to flex her acting chops as a single mother faced with raising her grandson after her daughter goes missing under…
Birds of Passage (2018): Dir. Ciro Guerra, Cristina Gallego
Feat. Natalia Reyes, Carmina Martinez, Jose Acosta; Intelligent and engrossing narco–thriller set in Columbia in the 1960's, following an indigenous Wayuu man and his family as they turn to drug…
Bletchley Circle, The: San Francisco (TV Mini-series) (2018): Feat. Julie Graham, Rachael Stirling, Crystal Balint…; Set during the thrilling social change of the mid–1950s, these new episodes see two characters from the original British series travel to…
By the Grace of God (Grâce à Dieu) (2018): Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet, Swann Arlaud; Hard–hitting French–Belgian drama about three sexual abuse victims who attempt to the to justice the Catholic priest who was…
Clovehitch Killer, The (2018): Dir. Duncan Skiles
Feat. Dylan McDermott, Charlie Plummer, Samantha Mathis; A tense, effectively slowburn horror–thriller from the writer of COP CAR that stars Charlie Plummer (so good in LEAN ON PETE) as the dutiful…
Escape at Dannemora (TV Mini-series) (2018): Dir. Ben Stiller
Feat. Benicio Del Toro, Patricia Arquette, Paul Dano…; TV miniseries based on the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape, where a prison employee (Patricia Arquette, who steals the show) becomes…
Everybody Knows (Todos Lo Saben) (2018): Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ricardo Darín; Iranian maestro Asghar Farhadi assembles a powerhouse cast for this Spanish–language about a mother–of–two who returns from Buenos…
Greta (2018): Dir. Neil Jordan
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Chloe Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe…; Creepy psychological thriller from Neil Jordan with a reliably fantastic performance from Huppert as a lonely widow with a sinister agenda who…
Innocent (TV Mini-series) (2018): Feat. Lee Ingleby, Daniel Ryan, Adrian Rawlins; TV miniseries following a man who is released from prison after his conviction for the murder of his wife is overturned, and sets about rebuilding…
Judy & Punch (Judy and Punch) (2018): Dir. Mirrah Foulkes
Feat. Mia Wasikowska, Damon Herriman; A gorgeously carnivalesque and blackly comic Australian period drama in which the traditional fairy tale of Punch and Judy is turned on its head. The…
Kindergarten Teacher, The (2018): Dir. Sara Colangelo
Feat. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Sevak, Rosa Salazar…; English–language remake of the 2014 Israeli film of the same name about a jaded teacher, mother and aspiring poet who becomes obsessed with one…
King of Thieves (2018): Dir. James Marsh
Feat. Michael Caine, Charlie Cox, Michael Gambon…; British heist movie in the classic mould, bringing together an impressive cast to tell the true story of the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary of…
Little Woods (2018): Dir. Nia DaCosta
Feat. Tessa Thompson, Lily James, Luke Kirby; Impressive debut from writer–director Nia DaCosta, detailing the struggles faced by a pair of sisters trying to make ends meet in an…
Lizzie (2018): Dir. Craig William Macneill
Feat. Chloe Sevigny, Kristen Stewart, Jamey Sheridan…; Biographical thriller with Chloe Sevigny excellent as Lizzie Borden, the woman who was accused and acquitted of the murders of her father and…
Mother is Wrong (TV Mini-series) (Maman a tort) (2018): Feat. Anne Charrier, Pascal Elbé; French thriller following a detective who, despite being already consumed by a major robbery, takes on the chilling case of a child who tells her his…
Mrs. Wilson (TV Mini-series) (2018): Dir. Richard Laxton
Feat. Ruth Wilson, Iain Glen, Keeley Hawes…; Fascinating 60's period drama series starring and executive–produced by Ruth Wilson, who plays her real–life grandmother, a widow who…
Mule, The (2018): Dir. Clint Eastwood
Feat. Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne…; Clint Eastwood directs and acts in this compelling crime drama about an 80–year old WWII vet who, facing financial pressures, takes a job as a…
Mystery Road (TV Mini-series) (2018): Dir. Rachel Perkins
Feat. Aaron Pedersen, Judy Davis, Deborah Mailman…; Six–part miniseries based on the outback noir film of the same name, following indigenous detective Jay Swan as he investigates the…
Ordeal By Innocence (TV Mini-series) (2018): Dir. Sandra Goldbacher
Feat. Bill Nighy, Anthony Boyle, Anna Chancellor…; Three–part BBC drama based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name. Set in 1954, where a wealthy philanthropist is murdered and her…
Picnic at Hanging Rock (TV Mini-series) (2018): Feat. Natalie Dormer, Lily Sullivan, Lola Bessis…; A second screen re–imagining of the iconic Australian novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay. On Valentines day in 1900, three school girls and…
Red Joan (2018): Dir. Trevor Nunn
Feat. Sophie Cookson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tom Hughes…; The story of Joan Stanley, who was exposed as the KGB's longest–serving British spy. Arrested in retirement by the MI5, the extraordinary…
Ruben Brandt, Collector (2018): Dir. Milorad Krstic; Brilliantly animated crime drama following four thieves who attempt to steal the legendary artworks that are inspiring the nightmares of their…
Sharp Objects (TV Mini-series) (2018): Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
Feat. Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina…; Searing psychological thriller with Amy Adams playing a reporter who returns to her small home town to investigate the murders of two preteen girls.…
Succession (TV series) (2018): Feat. Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin…; Provocative and witty satirical drama created by Jesse Armstrong (IN THE LOOP) about a dysfunctional dynasty led by an aging patriarch (Brian Cox).
Transit (2018): Dir. Christian Petzold
Feat. Franz Rogowski; Distinguished wartime melodrama from Christian Petzold (BARBARA, PHOENIX) following the plight of a holocaust survivor who assumes the identity of a…
Vanishing, The (Keepers) (2018): Dir. Kristoffer Nyholm
Feat. Peter Mullan, Gerard Butler; Windswept psychological thriller set on the remote Flannan Isles, where three lighthouse keepers find a hidden trunk of gold, then mysteriously…
White Boy Rick (2018): Feat. Matthew McConaughey, Richie Merritt, Bel Powley…; Compelling true crime story from the director of '71, following 14–year old drug trafficker Richard Wershe Jr. who was an undercover informant…
13 Reasons Why (TV Series) (2017): Feat. Dylan Minnette, Katherine Langford, Christian Navarro…; Controversial and sometimes gruelling teenage mystery series about a high school student who discovers a box of cassette tapes recorded by his friend…
All the Money in the World (2017): Dir. Ridley Scott
Feat. Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg…; Solid kidnapping thriller with a terrific performance by Michelle Williams as a mother who attempts to convince her aging oil tycoon…
Apple Tree Yard (TV Mini-series) (2017): Dir. Jessica Hobbs
Feat. Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin; Gripping drama with Emily Watson superb as a woman whose impulsive and passionate affair with a complete stranger is the first in a series of events…
Beast (2017): Dir. Michael Pearce
Feat. Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, Geraldine James; While an isolated community hunts for a serial killer in their midst, a troubled woman provokes disapproval when she is drawn to a secretive outsider…
Big Little Lies - Season 1 (TV Mini-series) (2017): Dir. Jean-Marc Vallée
Feat. Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley…; A superb, darkly comedic seven–part HBO miniseries set in the tranquil seaside town of Monterey, California, that weaves a tale of murder and…
Circle, The (2017): Dir. James Ponsoldt
Feat. Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega…; Dave Egger's 2013 novel is adapted into this gripping modern thriller with Emma Watson rising in the ranks of the world's largest and most powerful…
Crooked House (2017): Dir. Gilles Paquet-Brenner
Feat. Glenn Close, Terence Stamp, Max Irons…; Agatha Christie adaptation set in post–war London, where a hard up private detective is asked by a sultry woman from his past to solve the…
Detroit (2017): Dir. Kathryn Bigelow
Feat. John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith…; Harrowing account of the tragic five day race riot in Detroit, 1967, which lead to The Algiers Motel Incident, in which black civilians were beaten,…
Killing of a Sacred Deer, The (2017): Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Feat. Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan…; Colin Farrell returns for the singular director of THE LOBSTER for another round of macabre absurdism, this time cast as a cardiovascular surgeon and…
Murder on the Orient Express (2017): Dir. Kenneth Branagh
Feat. Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe…; Adaptation of the novel by Agatha Christie, in the capable hands of director Kenneth Branagh, who also stars as Hercule Poirot, the renowned…
Post, The (2017): Dir. Steven Spielberg
Feat. Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson…; The story of The Washington Post's attempt to publish The Pentagon Papers is given the Spielberg treatment. A riveting political thriller with…
Riverdale (TV Series) (2017): Feat. KJ Apa; Millennial neo–noir teen drama set in the deceptively idyllic town of Riverdale, based on characters from the Archie Comics universe. Centres…
Riviera (TV Series) (2017): Feat. Julia Stiles, Lena Olin, Adrian Lester…; A TV mini–series set on the French Riviera, where a recently widowed art curator from the Midwest (Julia Stiles) seeks the truth about her…
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017): Dir. Dan Gilroy
Feat. Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo; A superbly written dramatic thriller from the director of NIGHTCRAWLER set within the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system. Denzel…
Shot Caller (2017): Dir. Ric Roman Waugh
Feat. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Omari Hardwick, Lake Bell…; The transformation of an intelligent businessman into a ruthless gangster is chronicled in this taut thriller set within the American prison system.
StartUp (TV Series) (2017): Feat. Martin Freeman, Adam Brody; A unique cyber thriller in which the entrepreneurs behind a revolutionary unregulated digital currency are three strangers from the wrong side of the…
Suburbicon (2017): Dir. George Clooney
Feat. Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac; Dark crime comedy set in supposedly idyllic 50's suburbia, with Matt Damon as a husband and father who is discovering a dark underbelly of crime and…
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017): Dir. Martin McDonagh
Feat. Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell…; Frances McDormand gives an Oscar–winning turn as a grieving mother who personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's…
Woodshock (2017): Dir. Kate Mulleavy, Laura Mulleavy
Feat. Kirsten Dunst, Joe Cole, Pilou Asbæk; A stylistically unique psychological thriller with all the elegance you'd expect from fashion designer siblings Kate and Laura Mulleavy in their…
You Were Never Really Here (2017): Dir. Lynne Ramsay
Feat. Joaquin Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov, Alex Manette; Another impressionistic masterpiece from director Lynne Ramsay, with a brilliantly volatile performance from Joaquin Phoenix as a deeply traumatised…
Allied (2016): Dir. Robert Zemeckis
Feat. Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Lizzy Caplan…; Old–fashioned wartime romance between an intelligence officer and a French resistance fighter in 1942, which develops into a satisfying…
Beast (2016): Dir. Sam McKeith, Tom McKeith
Feat. Chad McKinney, Garret Dillahunt; Gutsy account of a young Filipino boxer coming to terms with a tragic incident during a match in the slums of Manila.
Burn Country (The Fixer) (2016): Dir. Ian Olds
Feat. Dominic Rains, Melissa Leo, James Franco…; Iranian–American actor Dominic Rains gives an impessive performance in this topical crime drama as an exiled Afghan journalist who is given…
Complete Unknown (2016): Dir. Joshua Marston
Feat. Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon; A shape–shifting tale of the perils and pleasures of self–reinvention in which a man is confronted by an old flame – a woman who…
Dheepan (2016): Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Antonythasan Jesuthasan; A Sri Lankan refugee in France finds himself posing as the father and husband of two other refugees in order to gain asylum status. An unflinchingly…
Elle (2016): Dir. Paul Verhoeven
Feat. Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny…; Controversial, unflinching drama closely following the perspective of a woman who is repeatedly raped by the same masked intruder, but whose…
Equity (2016): Dir. Meera Menon
Feat. Anna Gunn, James Purefoy, Sarah Megan Thomas…; Sharp, female–centric financial thriller with BREAKING BAD's Anna Gunn as a senior investment banker who finds her career undermined by scandal…
Frank and Lola (2016): Dir. Matthew Ross
Feat. Michael Shannon, Imogen Poots, Michael Nyqvist…; Haunting neo–noir romance which delves deep into the male psyche to offer a portrait of desire, obsession and suspicion, bathed in a…
Girl on the Train, The (2016): Dir. Tate Taylor
Feat. Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson…; Adapted of the best–selling novel by Paula Hawkins (and transposed from its British setting to America), the mystery unravels for Emily Blunt…
Handmaiden, The (2016): Dir. Park Chan-Wook
Feat. Min-hee Kim, Tae-ri Kim, Jung-woo Ha…; Delicious erotic thriller from the brilliant Park Chan–Wook, who lends his impeccable style to a provocative potboiler of lesbian love and…
Money Monster (2016): Dir. Jodie Foster
Feat. George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell…; Jodie Foster directs this angry media satire starring George Clooney as a financial TV host held hostage by an irate investor.
Moonstone, The (TV Mini-series) (2016): Feat. John Thomson, Sarah Hadland, Joshua Silver…; Updated BBC version of the Wilkie Collins' novel in which the numerous party guests at an English country house have a motive for stealing a missing…
Nocturnal Animals (2016): Dir. Tom Ford
Feat. Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon…; Renowned fashion designer Tom Ford follows his film debut A SINGLE MAN with this highly intriguing neo–noir tale about a wealthy art gallery…
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer (2016): Dir. Joseph Cedar
Feat. Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Hank Azaria…; Richard Gere plays a down–on–his–luck Jewish "macher" (person of high influence in circles of wealth and power) whose friend…
Thirteen (TV Mini-series) (2016): Feat. Jodie Comer, Natasha Little, Stuart Graham…; Five–part BBC psychological drama that follows a 26–year–old woman who learns to live again after being abducted and held in…
Whole Truth, The (2016): Feat. Keanu Reeves, Renee Zellweger, Gugu Mbatha-Raw…; Keanu Reeves plays an attorney who works on a tough case to defend a 17–year–old suspected of murdering his wealthy father in this…
Witness for the Prosecution, The (2016): Feat. Toby Jones, Andrea Riseborough, David Haig…; 2–part miniseries based on Agatha Christie's popular story. A wealthy heiress is found murdered and her principle heir is naturally the major…
'71 (2015): Dir. Yann Demange
Feat. Jack O'Connell, Richard Dormer, Sean Harris; A visceral thriller in which a young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the…
Black Mass (2015): Dir. Scott Cooper
Feat. Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson…; True crime yarn with Johnny Depp disappearing into the role of notorious gangster Whitey Bulger, who became an FBI informant in order to take down a…
Bloodline (TV Series) (2015): Feat. Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini…; Knotty thriller about a family of adult siblings who find that their past secrets and scars are revealed when their black sheep of a brother returns…
Boomerang (2015): Dir. François Favrat
Feat. Laurent Lafitte, Mélanie Laurent, Audrey Dana…; Proficient French thriller from the author of SARAH'S KEY concerns a pair of siblings and their pursuit for the truth behind their mother's death.
Bridge of Spies (2015): Dir. Steven Spielberg
Feat. Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda…; Elegant, nostalgic Cold–War drama from Steven Spielberg based on a true story. Tom Hanks plays the American attorney thanklessly tasked with…
Capital (2015): Feat. Adeel Akhtar, Danny Ashok, Mona Goodwin…; A three–part British TV adaptation of the novel by John Lanchester, set on an affluent London street, where residents receive a strange note…
Catching Milat (TV Mini-series) (2015): Feat. Richard Cawthorne, Malcolm Kennard; Rigorous psychological thriller based on the investigation into the 1990s backpacker murders leading to the arrest and conviction of serial killer…
Chi-Raq (2015): Dir. Spike Lee
Feat. Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Teyonah Parris…; Brilliant Spike Lee musical transposing the classical Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes into the setting of a Chicago neighbourhood beset by gang…
Child 44 (2015): Dir. Daniel Espinosa
Feat. Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace…; Disturbing thriller with Tom Hardy as disgraced member of the military police investigating a series of nasty child murders during the…
Childhood of a Leader, The (2015): Dir. Brady Corbet
Feat. Bérénice Bejo, Liam Cunningham, Stacy Martin…; Based loosely on a Jean–Paul Sartre short story and also John Fowles' novel, The Magus, this arresting arthouse directing debut for American…
Doctor Foster (TV Series) (2015-2017): Feat. Suranne Jones, Bertie Carvel, Jodie Comer; Top quality BBC melodrama with Suranne Jones superb as a general practitioner who becomes obessed with the notion that her doting husband may be…
Driftless Area, The (2015): Dir. Zachary Sluser
Feat. Anton Yelchin, Zooey Deschanel, John Hawkes…; Reality–bending thriller about a man who returns to his hometown after his parents die and soon becomes involved in a dangerous situation with…
Eye in the Sky (2015): Dir. Gavin Hood
Feat. Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, Barkhad Abdi…; Provocative drama that examines the perils of drone warfare with Helen Mirren as a military officer in command of a mission to capture terrorists in…
Fargo - Season 2 (TV Series) (2015): Feat. Kirsten Dunst, Patrick Wilson, Jesse Plemons…; Much acclaimed second season is set in the late seventies and features more deception, intrigue and murder in and around the town of Fargo, North…
Fortitude (TV Series) (2015): Feat. Sofie Grabol, Richard Dormer, Stanley Tucci…; Addictive murder mystery set on the edge of the Arctic Circle, in the town of Fortitude, a town whose peaceful reputation is under threat.
Heat Wave (Coup de chaud) (2015): Dir. Raphaël Jacoulot
Feat. Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Gregory Gadebois; A peaceful French hamlet is turned upside down when a deranged local starts harassing the the villagers and causing hostilities to rise dangerously.…
Into the Forest (2015): Dir. Patricia Rozema
Feat. Elliot Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Callum Keith Rennie…; Quiet, character driven post–apocalyptic drama following two sisters whose peaceful Pacific Northwestern lives are disrupted by a…
Mr. Holmes (2015): Dir. Bill Condon
Feat. Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Hiroyuki Sanada…; An intriguing take on the great detective's final years with Ian McKellen in his element as the retired Sherlock Holmes who, dealing with early…
Mr. Robot (TV Series) (2015-2020): Feat. Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday; The excellent Rami Malek stars as an expert hacker recruited by a mysterious anarchist, who calls himself Mr. Robot. 44 episodes across 4 seasons.
Narcos (TV Series) (2015): Feat. Wagner Moura, Boyd Holbrook, Pedro Pascal; Vivid, unflinching HBO drama chronicles the exploits of the notorious Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Partisan (2015): Dir. Ariel Kleiman
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Jeremy Chabriel, Florence Mezzara; A bracing Australian thriller about a young boy raised to be an assassin in a small cult–like community who begins to question his father's…
Remember (2015): Dir. Atom Egoyan
Feat. Christopher Plummer, Bruno Ganz, Jurgen Prochnow…; A holocaust survivor with dementia sets out to kill a Nazi war criminal in this unsettling and unique thriller from Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan.
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (2015): Dir. Douglas Mackinnon
Feat. Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs…; One–off holiday special with the modern Sherlock and Watson finding themselves back in 1890's London.
Sicario (2015): Dir. Denis Villeneuve
Feat. Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro…; Nerve–jangling thriller follows an idealistic FBI agent drawn into the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and…
Strangerland (2015): Dir. Kim Farrant
Feat. Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Joseph Fiennes; Twisty Australian thriller has a family finding their life in a rural outback town rocked after their two teenage children disappear into the desert,…
Suburra (2015): Dir. Stefano Sollima
Feat. Pierfrancesco Favino, Elio Germano, Claudio Amendola…; Enthralling crime saga follows a gangster named Samurai as he attempts to turn the waterfront of Rome into an Italian Las Vegas.
Wayward Pines (TV Series) (2015): Feat. Matt Dillon, Carla Gugino, Shannyn Sossamon…; Matt Dillon stars as a Secret Service agent who journeys to the small town of Wayward Pines in search of two federal agents who have disappeared.
99 Homes (2014): Dir. Ramin Bahrani
Feat. Michael Shannon, Andrew Garfield, Laura Dern…; Andrew Garfield turns in a muscular performance as a recently unemployed single father who struggles to regain his family home by working for the…
Captive, The (2014): Dir. Atom Egoyan
Feat. Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson…; Atom Egoyan directs this atmospheric if occasionally implausible thriller about a man's obsessive search for his long–missing daughter,…
Cymbeline (Anarchy) (2014): Dir. Michael Almereyda
Feat. Ethan Hawke, Ed Harris, Milla Jovovich…; After their edgy version of Hamlet (2000), Ethan Hawke and director Michael Almereyda re–team for one of Shakespeare's lesser–known…
Drop, The (2014): Dir. Michael R. Roskam
Feat. Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace…; Englishman Tom Hardy displays his extraordinary acting range as lonely New York bartender who finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and…
Dying of the Light (2014): Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Nicolas Cage, Anton Yelchin, Alexander Karim…; Curious thriller with Nicolas Cage as a CIA agent in the earl stages of dementia going rogue to hunt down a terrorist who tortured him during a…
Elephant Song (2014): Dir. Charles Biname
Feat. Bruce Greenwood, Xavier Dolan, Catherine Keener…; Canadian cinema's "enfant terrible" Xaviar Dolan takes the lead in this dark psychodrama in which a psychiatrist is drawn into a complex mind game…
Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014): Dir. Andrea Di Stefano
Feat. Josh Hutcherson, Benicio Del Toro, Brady Corbet…; Romantic thriller set in Colombia where a young surfer meets the woman of his dreams – and then he meets her uncle, Pablo Escobar.
Face of an Angel, The (2014): Dir. Michael Winterbottom
Feat. Cara Delevingne, Kate Beckinsale, Daniel Bruhl; Inspired by the trial of Amanda Knox, Michael Winterbottom directs this tale of journalist and a documentary filmmaker pursuing the story of a murder…
Fargo - Season 1 (TV Series) (2014): Feat. Billy Bob Thornton, Allison Tolman, Colin Hanks…; This splendid reworking of the Coen Brothers' cult midwestern noir expands on the film's frosty Minnesota murder mystery with more eccentric…
Faults (2014): Dir. Riley Stearns
Feat. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Leland Orser; Commendable, darkly comic indie–drama set in the intiguing world of cult de–programming with excellent performances from Lealand Orser…
Fool, The (Durak) (2014): Dir. Yuri Bykov
Feat. Artyom Bystrov, Boris Nevzorov, Natalia Surkova; An idealistic Russian plumber discovers a building is about to collapse, and when he alerts the authorities of the need to evacuate the residents…
Game, The (TV Mini-Series) (2014): Feat. Brian Cox, Tom Hughes, Jonathan Aris…; Brian Cox leads the cast in this Cold War spy thriller set in the world of 1970's espionage. It tells the story of the invisible war fought by MI5…
Glass Chin (2014): Dir. Noah Buschel
Feat. Corey Stoll, Billy Crudup, Yul Vazquez…; Juicy slice of neo–noir about downtrodden former boxing champ forced to make a choice between friendship and ambition when he is framed for…
Good People (2014): Dir. Henrik Ruben Genz
Feat. Kate Hudson, James Franco, Tom Wilkinson…; Discovering a cache of cash in their dead tenant's apartment a couple in debt take the money and find themselves the target of a deadly…
Gracepoint (TV Series) (2014): Feat. David Tennant, Anna Gunn, Jackie Weaver…; The US remake of BROADCHURCH is largely a shot–for–shot remake with some minor plot tweaking. A young boy is found dead on the shores of…
Grantchester (TV Series) (2014): Feat. James Norton, Robson Green, Morven Christie; Amiable 1950s detective drama set in the village of Grantchester near Cambridge where a local Anglican vicar develops a sideline in sleuthing.
Keeping Rosy (2014): Dir. Steve Reeves
Feat. Maxine Peake, Brooke Skylar Baptist, Delta Storm Baptist…; Maxine Peake plays a women whose life is shattered after her company's board of directors betrays her, in this chilly thriller based on director…
Kill the Messenger (2014): Dir. Michael Cuesta
Feat. Jeremy Renner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ray Liotta…; A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign after he exposes the CIA's role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine…
Missing, The (TV Series) (2014-2016): Feat. James Nesbitt, Frances O’Connor, Tcheky Karyo…; Gripping BBC drama with James Nesbitt as a man devastated by the abduction of his young son during a family vacation in France.
Phoenix (2014): Dir. Christian Petzold
Feat. Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf; The director of YELLA and BARBARA reunites with his ingenue Nina Hoss for this romantic tale of deception about a concentration camp survivor who…
Second Chance, A (2014): Dir. Susanne Bier
Feat. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Thomas Bo Larsen…; Susanne Bier directs a haunting melodrama about the contrasting lives of two police officers, whose lives take a dark turn after finding a neglected…
Veronica Mars (2014): Dir. Rob Thomas
Feat. Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni…; A crowd–funded movie swansong for Kristen Bell's cult teenage private eye, here drawn back as an adult into the mysteries of her hometown on…
Widower, The (2014): Dir. Paul Whittington
Feat. John Hannah, Sheridan Smith, Reece Shearsmith…; Unnerving true crime drama depicting the life of criminal Malcolm Webster, who was convicted of murder, attempted murder and vast amounts of…
A Touch of Sin (2013): Dir. Jia Zhang-ke
Feat. Wu Jiang, Baoqiang Wang, Zhao Tao; Another striking modern tale of urban discontent from leading Chinese auteur Jia Zhang–ke, one which remains as perceptive and…
Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013): Dir. David Lowery
Feat. Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster…; In this poetic tale of love and desperation, a Texan outlaw on the run attempts to reunite with his wife and daughter.
American Hustle (2013): Dir. David O. Russell
Feat. Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams…; David O. Russell directs a full–house of acting talent in this wild crime drama about a FBI agent and con man collaborating to sting corrupt…
Best Offer, The (2013): Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
Feat. Geoffrey Rush, Jim Sturgess, Donald Sutherland…; An obsessive antiques dealer becomes entangled with an heiress who asks him appraise a series of family art works in this baroque mystery from CINEMA…
Blue Caprice (2013): Dir. Alexandre Moors
Feat. Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Tim Blake Nelson…; A 17–year–old boy is taken under the wing of a paternal figure with a vindictive streak in this chilling and perceptive account of the…
Breaking Bad - The Final Season (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn…; Final episodes in the addictive series chronicling the deeds of anti–hero Walter White (Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher who turns to…
Broadchurch - Series 1 (TV Series) (2013): Feat. David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Jodie Whittaker…; Superb addition to the euro crime craze, with Tennant and Colman bringing a surprisingly fresh take on the mismatched partner scenario, as detectives…
Canyons, The (2013): Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Nolan Gerard Funk…; Dir. Paul Schrader and writer Bret Easton Ellis collaborate on this seedy tale of independent film production, set in a washed out L.A. Lindsay Lohan…
Captain Phillips (2013): Dir. Paul Greengrass
Feat. Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Catherine Keener; Paul Greengrass directs with exhilarating dramatic realism this gripping true account of the hijacking of a U.S. container ship by Somali pirates.
Closed Circuit (2013): Dir. John Crowley
Feat. Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Jim Broadbent…; A dangerous conflict of interest arises when two ex–lovers end up on opposite sides of a high profile terrorism trial in this probing courtroom…
Eastern Boys (2013): Dir. Robin Campillo
Feat. Olivier Rabourdin, Kirill Emelyanov, Danil Vorobyev; Unconventional thriller explores the shifting dynamics in a relationship between an older man and a young immigrant male hustler.
Father Brown (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Mark Williams, Hugo Speer, Sorcha Cusack; A reboot of the 1970's British television detective period drama about the eponymous Roman Catholic priest who solves crimes in a fictional Cotswold…
Felony (2013): Dir. Matthew Saville
Feat. Tom Wilkinson, Joel Edgerton, Jai Courtney…; Matthew Saville (NOISE) directs this taut, emotionally credible thriller centred on three detectives with differing views on how to deal with a…
Fifth Estate, The (5ifth Estate, The) (2013): Dir. Bill Condon
Feat. Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Peter Capaldi…; Benedict Cumberbatch plays Julian Assange in this urgent dramatisation of the WikiLeaks founder's controversial rise to prominence.
Fold, The (2013): Dir. John Jencks
Feat. Catherine McCormack, Marina Stoimenova, Dakota Blue Richards; In this tempestuous drama, an Anglican priest mourning the death of her daughter develops an uneasy maternal relationship with Eastern European…
Friends From France (Les interdits) (2013): Dir. Philippe Kotlarski, Anne Weil; Two cousins pose as an engaged couple on a tour to Odessa in order to help liberate persecuted Jews in this suspenseful Iron Curtain thriller.
German Doctor, The (2013): Dir. Lucía Puenzo
Feat. Àlex Brendemühl, Natalia Oreiro; Chilling domestic thriller centred on the Argentine family who lived unknowingly with Josef Mengele, the notorious Auschwitz physician, after he fled…
Harry (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Oscar Kightley, Sam Neill, Hunter Kamuhemu…; Oscar Kightley plays a grieving South Auckland detective swamped by a series of armed robberies in this dark, authentic local policier, a welcome…
Hummingbird (Redemption) (2013): Dir. Steven Knight
Feat. Jason Statham, Agata Buzek, Vicky McClure; Jason Statham attempts to break out from his one note action persona, playing a troubled British Special Forces veteran seeking forgiveness in a…
Justified - Season 4 (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins, Joelle Carter…; Further episodes from the slick urban western about an old–school U.S. Marshal reassigned from Miami to his childhood home in the poor, rural…
Locke (2013): Dir. Steven Knight
Feat. Tom Hardy, Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson…; Tom Hardy plays a family man plunged into crisis and armed only with his mobile telephone in this brilliant, one–man chamber piece set entirely…
Metro Manila (2013): Dir. Sean Ellis
Feat. Jake Macapagal, John Arcilla, Althea Vega; Tough–minded drama about in which a Filipino rice farmer seeks a better life in the bustling metropolis of Manila.
Mystery of Lord Lucan, The (Lucan, The Trial of Lord Lucan) (2013): Feat. Rory Kinnear, Catherine McCormack, Christopher Eccleston; A two–part TV miniseries depicting the mysterious real–life case of an aristocrat, the 7th Earl of Lucan, who disappeared 1974 after…
Mystery Road (2013): Dir. Ivan Sen
Feat. Aaron Pedersen, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten…; In this sparse and evocative Outback murder mystery, a detective returns to his fractured hometown to investigate the death of a young girl.
Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, The (2013): Dir. Fredrik Bond
Feat. Shia LaBeouf, Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen…; This chaotic, wildly expressive love story follows an American adrift in Bucharest and his affair with a beautiful cellist with ties to the…
Parkland (2013): Dir. Peter Landesman
Feat. Marcia Gay Harden, Zac Efron, Paul Giamatti…; A suspenseful account of the chaotic events that occurred directly in the aftermath of JFK's assassination.
Prisoners (2013): Dir. Denis Villeneuve
Feat. Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis…; The dir. of INCENDIES crafts another tense, eye–opening thriller in this tale of a family man who turns vigilante after his daughter is…
Sacrament, The (2013): Dir. Ti West
Feat. Joe Swanberg, Amy Seimetz, Kate Lyn Sheil; A pair of "Vice" journalists infiltrate a cult in Africa in search of a missing woman in this unsettling "found footage" horror from dir. Ti West.
Sherlock - Series 3 (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman; Further episodes from this ingenious update of the master detective, with Benedict Cumberbatch's idiosyncratic take on the character nicely…
Starred Up (2013): Dir. David Mackenzie
Feat. Jack O'Connell, Ben Mendelsohn; A troubled teenager is transferred to the same prison as his violent father in this explosive British prison drama.
Stoker (2013): Dir. Park Chan-Wook
Feat. Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode…; Korean director Park Chan–wook (OLD BOY) makes a head–turning English–language debut with this uber–stylish and sensitized…
Thirteenth Tale, The (2013): Dir. James Kent
Feat. Olivia Colman, Vanessa Redgrave, Sophie Turner…; An ageing novelist (Vanessa Redgrave) enlists the help of a biographer (Olivia Colman) to tell her life story, including her childhood in a decaying…
Wentworth (TV Series) (2013): Feat. Danielle Cormack, Leeanna Walsman, Robbie Magasiva…; Glossy, menacing re–imagining of 80's series PRISONER, centers around a suburban housewife forced to come to terms with life inside one of…
A Mother's Son (TV Mini-Series) (2012): Feat. Hermione Norris, Martin Clunes, Paul McGann…; Taut two–part psychological thriller set in the sleepy Suffolk market town of Eastlee, where the disappearance of a young girl sends the…
Arbitrage (2012): Dir. Nicholas Jarecki
Feat. Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling…; Sleek drama with "silver fox" Richard Gere in fine form as a troubled hedge fund magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire before…
Argo (2012): Dir. Ben Affleck
Feat. Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin…; Oscar–winning thriller based on the fact–based story of a CIA agent's unconventional plans to rescue six American diplomats during the…
Bletchley Circle, The (TV Series) (2012): Feat. Anna Maxwell Martin, Rachael Stirling, Julie Graham…; A smart, suspenseful period thriller set around a series of unsolved murders surreptitiously investigated by four former female codebreakers at…
Boot Tracks (2012): Dir. David Jacobson
Feat. Stephen Dorff, Michelle Monaghan, Willem Dafoe; Charlie Rankin, recently released from prison, seeks vengeance for his jail–house mentor William The Buddha Pettigrew. Along the way, he meets…
Breaking Bad - Season 5 (TV Series) (2012): Feat. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn…; Further episodes chronicling the deeds of anti–hero Walter White (Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher who turns to a life of…
Company You Keep, The (2012): Dir. Robert Redford
Feat. Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie…; Robert Redford directs and stars in this bristling thriller, about a former Weather Underground member, now in hiding, whose violent past comes back…
Disconnect (2012): Dir. Henry Alex Rubin
Feat. Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Michael Nyqvist…; A suspenseful, topical ensemble drama that addresses the corrosive effect of the internet and social media on the lives of two generations of…
Flight (2012): Dir. Robert Zemeckis
Feat. Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly…; Denzel Washington plays a lauded pilot whose heroic landing of a crippled airliner is called into question when a history of alcoholism and substance…
Hotel Noir (2012): Dir. Sebastian Guitierrez
Feat. Malin Akerman, Rosario Dawson, Danny De Vito…; Cult dir. Guitierrez tries his hand at film noir pastiche with this luscious ensemble piece about a detective whose encounters with various…
I, Anna (2012): Dir. Barnaby Southcombe
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Gabriel Byrne, Hayley Atwell…; A modest, artfully unfurled London noir, centred on a glamourous sixty–something (Rampling) who falls in with a detective (Byrne) investigating…
Letter, The (2012): Dir. Jay Anania
Feat. Winona Ryder, James Franco, Josh Hamilton; Discordant effort by James Franco's NYU professor has Winona Ryder as a playwright suffering paranoid hallucinations as she attempts to stage a new…
Motel Life, The (2012): Dir. Gabe Polsky, Alan Polsky
Feat. Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Dakota Fanning…; Two brothers hit the road after becoming involved in a fatal hit–and–run accident. Evocatively set between Reno and the Sierra Nevadas,…
Mud (2012): Dir. Jeff Nichols
Feat. Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland…; Jeff Nichols (TAKE SHELTER) directs this thrilling backwoods adventure, about two boys who befriend a charismatic criminal in hiding on the…
Place Beyond the Pines, The (2012): Dir. Derek Cianfrance
Feat. Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper…; Ryan Gosling re–teams with the dir. of BLUE VALENTINE for this equally arresting crime saga that unfolds after a motorcycling drifter's…
Pusher (2012): Dir. Luke Prieto
Feat. Richard Coyle, Bronson Webb, Agyness Deyn…; Slick remake of the Nicolas Winding Refn thriller with Richard Coyle as a street dealer who's life spins out of control after losing a drug shipment.
Scandal (TV Series) (2012-2016): Feat. Kerry Washington, Columbus Short, Tony Goldwyn; Kerry Washington plays a 'professional fixer' whose former life as a White House staffer draws her back into the world of political…
Secret of Crickley Hall, The (TV Mini-series) (2012): Dir. Joe Ahearne
Feat. Suranne Jones, Tom Ellis, Douglas Henshall…; Atmospheric 3–part BBC adaptation of the novel by prolific British horror writer James Herbert that connects a supernatural mystery between two…
Sherlock - Series 2 (TV Series) (2012): Dir. Paul McGuigan
Feat. Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Mark Gatiss…; Further episodes from this ingenious update of the master detective, with Benedict Cumberbatch's idiosyncratic take on the character nicely…
Taste of Money, The (2012): Dir. Sang-soo Im
Feat. Kang-woo Kim, Yoon-sik Baek, Yuh-jung Youn; The dir. of THE HOUSEMAID buffs this heady class critique of Korea's impudent elite to a high sheen, with the lust and corruption of a wealthy family…
Town, The (TV Mini-Series) (2012): Feat. Andrew Scott, Martin Clunes, Kelly Adams…; A Londoner returns home following his parents' double–suicide, where he begins to suspect foul play in a town full of secrets in this…
White Elephant (2012): Dir. Pablo Trapero
Feat. Ricardo Darín, Jeremie Renier, Martina Gusman; Two priests determined to build a hospital in a Buenos Aires shantytown encounter violent resistance from local drug lords in this superb social…
Anonymous (2011): Dir. Roland Emmerich
Feat. Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, David Thewlis…; Enjoyable hokum posits that the true writer of Shakespeare's plays was in fact the Earl of Oxford. Some of Britain's finest thesps – including…
Appropriate Adult (TV Mini-series) (2011): Dir. Julian Jarrold
Feat. Emily Watson, Dominic West; Utterly riveting, BAFTA and Golden Globe winning mini–series that details the crucial part played by a trainee social worker in uncovering the…
Black Pond (2011): Dir. Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe
Feat. Chris Langham, Simon Amstell, Amanda Hadingue…; Distinctive indie thriller from acclaimed up–and–coming UK writer–directors Tom Kingsley and Will Sharpe. A suburban man in a…
Breaking Bad - Season 4 (TV Series) (2011): Feat. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn…; Further episodes chronicling the deeds of anti–hero Walter White (Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher who turns to a life of…
Devil's Double, The (2011): Dir. Lee Tamahori
Feat. Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier; An Iraqi foot solider is selected as the body double for Saddam Hussein's ruthless son Uday in this violent docu–drama from Kiwi dir. Lee…
Field of Blood, The (TV Mini-Series) (2011): Dir. David Kane
Feat. Jayd Johnson, David Morrissey, Peter Capaldi…; Grim, girl–powered crime drama shot through with impeccable period detail. Set in the male–dominated world of British journalism in the…
Hour, The - Series 1 (TV Series) (2011): Feat. Dominic West, Romola Garai, Ben Whishaw…; A team of journalists (lead by THE WIRE's Dominic West) front a groundbreaking news hour for the BBC, only to chance upon a high–level…
Jury, The (The Jury 2) (2011): Feat. Julie Walters, John Lynch, Roger Allam…; A gripping court room drama regarded for its authenticity and attention to detail, which centres on a prolonged court room trial from the perspective…
Life Without Principle (2011): Dir. Johnnie To
Feat. Lau Ching-wan, Terence Yin, Richie Ren; Hong Kong's master of suspense crafts this swirling triumvirate of stories centred on unraveling lives amidst the global financial crisis. Combing…
Machine Gun Preacher (2011): Dir. Marc Forster
Feat. Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon…; A surprisingly solid – and notwithstanding its sensationalist title – serious movie (amid splashes of gun–toting action) about the plight…
Mad Dogs (TV Series) (2011): Feat. John Simm, Marc Warren, Max Beesley…; Oddly unsettling and engaging in equal measure, this mid–life black comedy centres on four middle–aged blokes who reunite to celebrate…
Marchlands (TV Series) (2011): Dir. James Kent
Feat. Jodie Whittaker, Denis Lawson, Alex Kingston…; Time–switching supernatural drama where three separate families who have lived in the same Yorkshire house in 1968, 1987 and the present day,…
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011): Dir. Sean Durkin
Feat. Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy…; A damaged young woman struggles to re–assimilate with her sister after fleeing an abusive cult in this unnerving, suggestive psycho–drama…
Polisse (2011): Dir. Maïwenn
Feat. Karin Viard, Marina Fois, Nicolas Duvauchelle …; A tough, unglamorous insight into the police work of a Parisian Juvenile Protection Unit, whose officers grapple with the moral and personal dilemmas…
Snowtown (2011): Dir. Justin Kurzel
Feat. Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Louise Harris…; Australian serial killer John Bunting is the controversial subject of this disturbing yet persuasively told recreation of the 'scum' murders that…
Take Shelter (2011): Dir. Jeff Nichols
Feat. Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham…; Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young family man questions whether to shelter his wife and daughter from the spectre of a coming storm,…
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): Dir. Tomas Alfredson
Feat. Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, John Hurt…; An enthralling, impeccably cast screen adaptation of John Le Carre’s quintessential cold war spy novel, centred on a retired George Smiley (Oldman)…
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011): Dir. Lynne Ramsay
Feat. Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller; Tilda Swinton struggles to cope with the grief and guilt of mothering a deeply troubled child in Lynne Ramsay's unflinching, stylistic adaptation of…
A Quiet Life (2010): Dir. Claudio Cupellini
Feat. Toni Servillo, Marco D'Amore, Francesco Di Leva…; Moody thriller with Servillo –outstanding once again– as a restauranteur who's past resurfaces after a chance encounter with two…
All Good Things (2010): Dir. Andrew Jarecki
Feat. Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella…; Bizarre account of a notorious unsolved murder with Ryan Gosling as an eccentric business heir who's wife mysteriously disappears in the…
Animal Kingdom (2010): Dir. David Michod
Feat. Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce…; The deadly underworld politics of a Melbourne crime family come under the microscope in this outstanding Australian gangland thriller. Framed…
Blue Bloods (TV Series) (2010-2020): Feat. Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan; Character driven police procedural set in New York City where an Irish Catholic family has a history of work in law enforcement, with each family…
Breaking Bad - Season 3 (TV Series) (2010): Feat. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn…; Further episodes chronicling the deeds of anti–hero Walter White (Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher who turns to a life of…
Carlos (Carlos the Jackal) (2010): Dir. Olivier Assayas
Feat. Édgar Ramírez, Nora von Waldstätten, Alexander Scheer; An explosive, globe–trotting biopic of Venezuelan terrorist and fugitive Ilich Ramírez Sánchez – aka Carlos the Jackal – whose exploits…
Dear Mr. Gacy (2010): Dir. Svetozar Ristovski
Feat. William Forsythe, Jesse Moss, Emma Lahana; Haunting cautionary tale – based on a true story – chronicles the interactions between an ambitious college student and the notorious…
Fair Game (2010): Dir. Doug Liman
Feat. Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Tom McCarthy…; A smart, ground level conspiracy thriller based on the true story of an undercover CIA operative (Watts) whose identity was suspiciously leaked after…
Holy Rollers (2010): Dir. Kevin Asch
Feat. Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Bartha, Ari Graynor; The true story of a disillusioned Orthodox Jew who turns to Ecstasy dealing is given an underwhelming treatment in this otherwise fascinating glimpse…
Housemaid, The (2010): Dir. Sang-soo Im
Feat. Do-yeon Jeon, Jung-Jae Lee, Seo Woo; A sleek, sexual thriller of manipulation and revenge, centred on the consequences of a torrid affair between a wealthy industrialist and his newly…
Hunter, The (Shekarchi) (2010): Dir. Rafi Pitts
Feat. Rafi Pitts; Spare, lyrical drama with a low–paid security guard on the run from authorities after gunning down two police officers. Unfolding against the…
Mr. Nice (2010): Dir. Bernard Rose
Feat. Rhys Ifans, Chloe Sevigny, David Thewlis…; Droll tale of the life raconteur and international drug smuggler Howard Marks who Ifans plays as a smug hippie–capitalist. The endless…
Once Fallen (2010): Dir. Ash Adams
Feat. Brian Presley, Taraji P. Henson, Ed Harris…; Credible portrait of a young drug–trafficker's struggle to adjust to life outside prison. Committed performances help disguise what is…
Red White and Blue (2010): Dir. Simon Rumley
Feat. Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller, Marc Senter; Engrossing but ultimately depressing tale of a libidinous young woman, an Iraq War veteran and an aspiring rocker whose lives violently intersect.
Sherlock - Series 1 (TV Series) (2010): Dir. Paul McGuigan
Feat. Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs…; Ingenious updating of the master detective finds the famous sleuth and his doctor partner solving crime in 21st century London. Benedict…
Small Town Murder Songs (2010): Dir. Ed Gass-Donnelly
Feat. Peter Stormare, Jill Hennessy, Martha Plimpton…; Simmering provincial redemption story stars Peter Stormare as a clammy police officer trying to escape his violent past in a small Mennonite…
Stolen (2010): Dir. Britta Hawkins
Feat. Miriama Smith, Scott Wills, George Henare…; TV thriller based on the real life 2002 kidnapping of Baby Kahu Durie, which saturated NZ media at the time. Held for $3 million ransom, the child…
Stone (2010): Dir. John Curran
Feat. Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Milla Jovovich…; Smouldering thriller with Edward Norton as a convicted arsonist who looks to manipulate a parole officer into a plan to secure his parole by placing…
Tourist, The (2010): Dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Feat. Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany…; Vacationing in Venice, Johnny Depp is drawn into the web of a beautiful woman (Angelina Jolie) in this intriguing international thriller from the…
True Grit (2010): Dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Feat. Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin…; This lively, immaculately shot remake of John Wayne’s classic 1969 western sees the Coen Brothers reinterpret Charles Portis’s novel, about a…
Wasted on the Young (2010): Dir. Ben C. Lucas
Feat. Oliver Ackland, Adelaide Clemens, Alex Russell…; Potent teen thriller, stylishly directed by first–timer Lucas, has a party getting out of hand an triggering a wave of revenge acts.
Whistleblower, The (2010): Dir. Larysa Kondracki
Feat. Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci…; Uncompromising drama with Rachel Weisz as an American cop whose stint as a Bosnian peacekeeper exposes her to a human trafficking ring run from…
William Vincent (Shadows and Lies) (2010): Dir. Jay Anania
Feat. James Franco, Martin Donovan, Josh Lucas…; A quiet criminal recounts the eccentric path that has brought him to New York – after four years in exile, to rescue the favourite call girl of…
Winter's Bone (2010): Dir. Debra Granik
Feat. Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt…; Celebrated art–house thriller set in the Ozark Mountains follows a teenage girl as she desperately searches for her drug–dealing father…
About Elly (2009): Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Feat. Golshifteh Farahani, Shahab Hosseini, Taraneh Alidoosti…; Though something of a dress rehearsal for Farhadi's Oscar–winning A SEPARATION, this tense and absorbing account of a beach holiday tainted by…
Balibo (2009): Dir. Robert Connolly
Feat. Anthony LaPaglia, Oscar Isaac, Nathan Phillips…; Searing political thriller based on the death of five Australian–based journalists (one, a Kiwi) who, upon covering the occupation of East…
Breaking Bad - Season 2 (TV Series) (2009): Feat. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn…; Further episodes chronicling the deeds of anti–hero Walter White (Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher who turns to a life of…
Brooklyn's Finest (2009): Dir. Antoine Fuqua
Feat. Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke…; The dir. of TRAINING DAY spins this heavy–handed multi–narrative around three burnt out NYC cops at the end of their tether. Posturing…
Fortapasc (Fort Apache) (2009): Dir. Marco Risi
Feat. Libero de Rienzo, Valentina Lodovini, Michele Riondino…; Poignant account of the last days in the life of a young Italian journalist who's investigations into the Neapolitan Mafia resulted in his murder.
Glorious 39 (2009): Dir. Stephen Poliakoff
Feat. Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, David Tennant…; Trademark Stephen Poliakoff visuals and upper crust intrigue characterise this pre–WWII mystery, starring Romola Garai as the adoptive daughter…
Good Wife, The (TV Series) (2009-2016): Feat. Julianne Margulies, Chris Noth, Josh Charles…; First–rate, Golden Globe–winning series about a politician's wife who must return to the workforce after a sex and corruption scandal…
Hurt (2009): Dir. Barbara Stepansky
Feat. Melora Walters, William Mapother, Johanna Braddy…; Desert set indie–horror is a more thoughtful entry in the burgeoning 'demon child' canon with Melora Walters as a mother trying to hold the…
Incendiary (2009): Dir. Sharon Maguire
Feat. Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams, Matthew MacFadyen…; Thriller set in the aftermath of a terrorist strike in London, based on the novel by Chris Cleave. Though it boasts a typically fine Michelle…
Leaves of Grass (2009): Dir. Tim Blake Nelson
Feat. Edward Norton, Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss…; Stoner comedy for the philosophically inclined with Edward Norton pulling double duty as an Ivy League professor lured back to his Oklahoma hometown,…
Lie To Me (TV Series) (2009-2011): Feat. Tim Roth, Kelli Williams, Brendan Hines; Engaging crime drama that sees an unlikely Tim Roth play Cal Lightman, a doctor who has such an uncanny ability to read facial expressions and body…
Limits of Control, The (2009): Dir. Jim Jarmusch
Feat. Isaach de Bankole, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton…; Indie King Jim Jarmusch directs this mysterious and moody crime thriller, in which a Lone Man wanders through Madrid and Seville on an undisclosed…
Lucky Country (2009): Dir. Kriv Stenders
Feat. Aden Young; Terrific outback chamber piece is a turn–of–the–century powerplay between a poverty–stricken family, and three…
Peacock (2009): Dir. Michael Lander
Feat. Cillian Murphy, Elliot Page, Susan Sarandon…; A freak accident in a small American town threatens to disclose a bank teller's secret life – that of a split personality – in this…
State Of Play (2009): Dir. Kevin MacDonald
Feat. Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams…; With excellent political thriller credentials, this accomplished remake (from the BBC mini–series) transposes its conspiracy–laden scoop…
Storm (2009): Dir. Hans-Christian Schmid
Feat. Kerry Fox, Anamaria Marinca, Stephen Dillane; Accomplished international courtroom drama sees a determined prosecutor (Fox) risk life and limb in order to prove that the former commander of the…
Turn of the Screw (2009): Dir. Tim Fywell
Feat. Michelle Dockery, Sue Johnston, Eva Sayer…; Solid adaptation of the Henry James classic substitutes subtle scares for jolts in this classic tale of a governess under paranormal…
Uncertainty (2009): Dir. David Siegel, Scott McGehee
Feat. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lynn Collins, Assumpta Serna…; 'Uncertainty' is both the title and the key to enjoying this convention–defying thriller that interweaves two parallel stories that feature the…
Unforgiven (2009): Dir. David Evans
Feat. Suranne Jones, Matthew McNulty, Emily Beecham…; 3–part crime drama about a woman in Yorkshire who was found guilty of murdering two police officers when she was a teenager. After spending 15…
Van Diemen's Land (2009): Dir. Jonathan auf der Heide
Feat. Oscar Redding, Arthur Angel, Paul Ashcroft…; Forbidding re–enactment of the "legend" of Alexander Pearce, who escaped from a penal colony in 1822 into the unforgiving Tasmanian wilderness…
White Collar (TV Series) (2009-2014): Feat. Matt Bomer, Marsha Thomason, Tim DeKay…; Police procedural series following a hard working and honest FBI agent (Tim DeKay) who makes a work–release deal with a captured con artist…
Acolytes (2008): Dir. Jon Hewitt
Feat. Joel Edgerton, Michael Dorman, Hanna Mangan Lawrence…; Chilling, if somewhat uneven, low–budget Aussie thriller concerning a group of teens who blackmail a serial killer to help them extract revenge…
Breaking Bad - Complete Boxset (TV Series) (2008-2013): Feat. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn…; Boxed set edition of AMC's heavy–hitting TV series, about a high school chemistry teacher (Cranston) who turns to a life of drug–dealing…
Breaking Bad - Season 1 (TV Series) (2008): Feat. Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn…; Cynical drama series that gives us a new anti–hero in Walter White (Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher who turns to a life of…
Cass (2008): Dir. Jon S. Baird
Feat. Nonso Anozie, Natalie Press, Leo Gregory; Freewheeling hooligan flick centered around the true story of Cass Pennant, a Jamaican brought up in an all white area of London who grew up to be…
Changeling (2008): Dir. Clint Eastwood
Feat. Angelina Jolie, Gattlin Griffith, John Malkovich; Would–be heavyweight drama set in 1920's L.A. sees solo mother Angelina Jolie reunite with her kidnapped son only to realise he is an impostor,…
Eye, The (2008): Dir. David Moreau, Xavier Palud
Feat. Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Rade Serbedzija…; Mildly startling Hollywood remake of creepy Hong Kong horror sees Jessica Alba playing the once–blind violinist whose sight gets surgically…
Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008): Dir. Kari Skogland
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess, Kevin Zegers…; Sharp docu–drama with Jim Sturgess as Irishman Martin McGartland, charged with infiltrating the IRA during the 1980s. Tense action sequences…
Frozen River (2008): Dir. Courtney Hunt
Feat. Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott; A fraught, unexpected thriller within indie drama specs, this engrossing premise concerns two single mothers who find themselves smuggling immigrants…
Generation Kill (TV Mini-series) (2008): Feat. Alexander Skarsgard, James Ransone, Lee Tergesen…; Superlative HBO series from the makers of THE WIRE following the U.S. Marine reconnaissance battalion in the first year of the Iraq invasion.…
Gran Torino (2008): Dir. Clint Eastwood
Feat. Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her…; Grizzly Korean war veteran Clint Eastwood puts aside his prejudices to defend a family of Hmong immigrants from Asian gangsters in this clear cut and…
Guns (TV Mini-series) (2008): Dir. David Sutherland
Feat. Elisha Cuthbert, Lyriq Bent, Colm Feore; Mini–series exploring the issue of gun violence in Canada through the story of four families caught up in illegal trafficking in Toronto.…
I Know You Know (2008): Dir. Justin Kerrigan
Feat. Robert Carlyle, Arron Fuller, David Bradley; Grim British drama focused on the volatile Charlie (Carlyle), an undercover spy working for a shadowy agency, and the fiercely protective…
Last Confession of Alexander Pearce, The (2008): Dir. Michael James Rowland
Feat. Adrian Dunbar, Ciaran McMenamin, Don Hany…; Potent docu–drama revealing the true story of the infamous Irish convict Alexander Pearce during the days leading up to his execution at the…
Mentalist, The (TV Series) (2008): Feat. Simon Baker, Robin Tunney, Tim Kang; Superior crime series sees Simon Baker play an ex–'psychic' who now uses his remarkable powers of scrupulous observation in the name of the…
Nothing But The Truth (2008): Dir. Rod Lurie
Feat. Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett…; Solid political drama 'inspired' on a true story focused around a young journalist who faces imprisonment after outing a CIA agent and refusing to…
Other Man, The (2008): Dir. Richard Eyre
Feat. Laura Linney, Antonio Banderas, Liam Neeson…; Melodrama starring Liam Neeson as a man whose struggle to find his missing and unfaithful wife (Linney) brings him into contact with her new lover…
Oxford Murders, The (2008): Dir. Alex de la Iglesia
Feat. Elijah Wood, John Hurt, Leonor Watling…; At Oxford University, a professor and a grad student work together to try and stop a potential series of murders seemingly linked by mathematical…
Quid Pro Quo (2008): Dir. Carlos Brooks
Feat. Nick Stahl, Vera Farmiga; Offbeat indie thriller focused on a wheelchair–bound radio reporter sent to investigate the emerging trend of people paying doctors to remove…
Revanche (2008): Dir. Gotz Spielmann
Feat. Johannes Krisch, Irina Potapenko, Andreas Lust; A botched bank robbery resulting in the death of a prostitute compels an embittered ex–con to contemplate revenge in this steely, impressive…
Tender Hook, The (2008): Dir. Jonathan Ogilvie
Feat. Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving, Matthew Le Nevez…; Noted for its production design and cinematography, this film captures the visual mood of 1920s Sydney to enfold a melodrama of corruption,…
XIII: The Conspiracy (TV Mini-Series) (2008): Feat. Val Kilmer, Stephen Dorff; Intriguing mini–series set around the premise that the first female President of the United States has been assassinated by an unknown sniper…
Air I Breathe, The (2007): Dir. Jieho Lee
Feat. Brendan Fraser, Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia…; Slick ensemble drama charting four desperate city dwellers who find their destinies intertwined through the four emotions of Happiness, Pleasure,…
Black Snake Moan (2007): Dir. Craig Brewer
Feat. Christina Ricci, Samuel L. Jackson, Justin Timberlake; Christina Ricci stars as a scrawny, Southern–fried nympho whose demons get her deep into trouble in the deep, deep South the minute her doting…
Breach (2007): Dir. Billy Ray
Feat. Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney; A first–rate dramatic thriller that pits spy against spy on the American homefront, based on the true story of the FBI's internal investigation…
Brooklyn Rules (2007): Dir. Michael Corrente
Feat. Alec Baldwin, Scott Caan, Freddie Prinze Jnr.…; Three impressionable Italian Americans must choose to resist or surrender to Mob life in this familiar, but soundly acted coming–of–age,…
Cassandra's Dream (2007): Dir. Woody Allen
Feat. Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson…; Woody Allen–directed suspense, rounding out his recent penchant for London–set thrillers, starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell as…
City of Men (Cidade dos Homens) (2007): Dir. Paulo Morelli
Feat. Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha; Salty Rio back–blocks melodrama from the producers of CITY OF GOD revolving around two orphaned street kids on the brink of adulthood faced…
Day Zero (2007): Dir. Bryan Gunnar Cole
Feat. Elijah Wood, Jon Bernthal, Chris Klein…; A 'what if scenario' study of three New Yorkers facing the draft in an alternate post–9/11 reality. There's embattled Ivy Leaguer Chris…
Dead Clever (The Life and Crimes of Julie Bottomley) (2007): Dir. Dearbhla Walsh
Feat. Suranne Jones, Helen Baxendale, Dean Lennox Kelly; Smart British suburban thriller in which a scorned wife extracts wicked revenge on her cheating husband. A simple concept that skirts the line…
Durham County (TV Series) (2007-2008): Feat. Hugh Dillon; An emotionally powerful series centered around Detective Mike Sweeney and his family as he hunts a serial killer he's certain is the guy across the…
Extraordinary Rendition (2007): Dir. Jim Threapleton
Feat. Andy Serkis, Omar Berdouni, Ania Sowinski; Topical, slightly underdone small–budget political thriller tracks a forward thinking UK teacher who is abducted and brutally tortured in an…
Fallen Angel (TV Series) (2007): Dir. David Drury
Feat. Emilia Fox, Charles Dance, Clare Holman; Disquieting Brit crime thriller fixed on the story of a murderess, starting at her most recent crime then winding back through time to reveal her…
Far North (2007): Dir. Asif Kapadia
Feat. Michelle Yeoh, Michelle Krusiec, Sean Bean…; On the Arctic tundra a starving stranger is thrown upon the charity of two Inuit women, driven to isolation by fear of prophecy and a violent past,…
Girl by the Lake, The (La ragazza del lago) (2007): Dir. Andrea Molaioli
Feat. Toni Servillo, Denis Fasolo, Nello Mascia…; A murder–mystery that swept Italy's Academy Awards set in an idyllic North Italian village where a beautiful young girl is found murdered.…
He Was a Quiet Man (2007): Dir. Frank A. Cappello
Feat. Christian Slater, Elisha Cuthbert, William H. Macy; With his best role in donkey's years, Christian Slater stars in this bleakly satirical drama as a frustrated loner who decides to take out his anger…
In the Valley of Elah (2007): Dir. Paul Haggis
Feat. Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon…; Calculated military mystery from the director of CRASH, concerning an out–of–touch dad (Jones) searching for his missing son who has gone…
Joshua (2007): Dir. George Ratliff
Feat. Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, Celia Weston…; Carefully drawn psychological thriller in which a precocious child of Manhattan's wealthy elite starts to act up – in a creepy, possibly…
La Zona (2007): Dir. Rodrigo Plá
Feat. Daniel Giménez Cacho, Carlos Bardem, Daniel Tovar…; Award winning, intensely scripted and thought provoking drama set in a wealthy Mexican compound where the residents have formed a vigilante group to…
Lust, Caution (Se, Jie) (2007): Dir. Ang Lee
Feat. Tony Leung (Chiu-wai), Joan Chen, Wei Tang…; Dir. Ang Lee (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) returns to the mainland to present a slow–burn, psychologically dense and provocative spy thriller, based on…
Michael Clayton (2007): Dir. Tony Gilroy
Feat. George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson…; Razor–sharp legal thriller involving a sprawling class–action law suit and alleged cover–up, George Clooney plays a humble legal…
Monkey Puzzle (2007): Dir. Mark Forstmann; A camping trip in search of a rare tree goes pear–shaped for a group of Aussie twenty–somethings as they lose their bearings and their…
Nines, The (2007): Dir. John August
Feat. Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, Melissa McCarthy…; Exigent thriller commenting on the realities of Hollywood, told by way of three connected stories inside the minds of an actor, a screenwriter and a…
Noise (2007): Dir. Matthew Saville
Feat. Brendan Cowell, Maia Thomas; An impressive Australian modern 'noir', refreshingly off–centred around a hearing–afflicted cop who is assigned the night shift at a…
Premonition (2007): Dir. Mennan Yapo
Feat. Sandra Bullock, Julian McMahon; Sandra Bullock loses her husband to a car accident – or does she? – in this eerie time–bending thriller. While Bullock haters will view…
Rendition (2007): Dir. Gavin Hood
Feat. Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Sarsgaard…; Frenetic thriller by dir. of TSOTSI concerns Witherspoon's desperate search for her husband after he goes missing on an international flight,…
Reservation Road (2007): Dir. Terry George
Feat. Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly…; Emotionally charged thriller from the director of HOTEL RWANDA set around two families whose lives will forever be intertwined after a hasty father…
Rush Hour (The Trial Begins) (2007): Dir. Vincenzo Marra
Feat. Michelle Lastella, Fanny Ardant, Giulia Bevilacqua…; Tightly directed drama about the temptation of amoral manipulation. Italian tax official Filippo makes himself guilty of fraud and bribery to join…
Savage Grace (2007): Dir. Tom Kalin
Feat. Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Eddie Redmayne…; Featuring another fearless performance from the great Julianne Moore, this takes the family dysfunction drama to a disturbing extreme as it maps the…
Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2007): Dir. Julian Kemp
Feat. Jonathan Pryce, Bill Paterson, Anna Chancellor; Holmes gets kicked into the 21st century with this made–for–TV family drama in which the crime–busting duo must rely on a gang of…
Shotgun Stories (2007): Dir. Jeff Nichols
Feat. Michael Shannon, Douglas Ligon, Barlow Jacobs…; Sturdy, atmospheric independent drama detailing the simmering rivalry between two sets of half–brothers which boils over after the death of…
Walk All Over Me (2007): Dir. Robert Cuffley
Feat. Leelee Sobieski, Tricia Helfer, Lothaire Bluteau…; Shadowy crime thriller leavened by screwball comedy–styled pickles sees small–town woman (Sobieski) adopting her friend's dominatrix…
Walker, The (2007): Dir. Paul Schrader
Feat. Woody Harrelson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lauren Bacall…; Woody Harrelson plays against type as a sharp–witted blueblood socialite who tries to solve the mystery of a murder he's framed for after…
Alpha Dog (2006): Dir. Nick Cassavetes
Feat. Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch, Sharon Stone…; The versatile Emile Hirsch plays a rich, white, and very teenage drug dealer whose charmed existence is threatened when a kidnapping–murder…
Bug (2006): Dir. William Friedkin
Feat. Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Harry Connick Jnr.…; Claustrophobic, knife's–edge drama in which a victim of spousal abuse (Judd) develops an obsessive, paranoid relationship with an enigmatic…
Dead Girl, The (2006): Dir. Karen Moncrieff
Feat. Toni Collette, Piper Laurie, Rose Byrne…; A superb ensemble cast give rich life to this exceptional drama that interlinks the unsettling stories of five women connected to the discovery of a…
Departed, The (2006): Dir. Martin Scorsese
Feat. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson…; A rip–roaring remake of Hong Kong actioner INFERNAL AFFAIRS, Martin Scorsese returns to the mean streets in this high–performance game of…
First Snow (2006): Dir. Mark Fergus
Feat. Guy Pearce, Piper Perabo, William Fichtner; Fateful neo–noir thriller stars Guy Pearce as a shyster salesman whose life is sent into a paranoid tailspin after a trailer park palm reader…
Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) (2006): Dir. Chris Kraus
Feat. Monika Bliebtreu, Hannah Herzsprung; Unrelentingly gritty German drama of redemption details the hostile relationship between an incarcerated piano player and her emotionally chilly…
Good German, The (2006): Dir. Steven Soderbergh
Feat. George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire; Dir. Steven Soderbergh takes another extravagant artistic punt with this meticulous pastiche of 1940's war stories, shot not only in…
Good Shepherd, The (2006): Dir. Robert De Niro
Feat. Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro…; Robert De Niro directs this dramatization of the CIA’s clandestine origins, with Matt Damon in the central role of a colourless career…
Hollywoodland (2006): Dir. Allen Coulter
Feat. Adrien Brody, Diane Lane, Ben Affleck…; The intriguing, mysterious circumstances surrounding George ‘Superman’ Reeves’ suicide are exhumed by a private eye (Adrien Brody) in this…
Illusionist, The (2006): Dir. Neil Burger
Feat. Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti…; Edward Norton plays an enigmatic magician who courts a Viennese Dutchness (Biel) with the art of illusion in this lush and mystical period…
Inland Empire (2006): Dir. David Lynch
Feat. Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux…; Warped and optically haunting suspense starring Lynch regular Laura Dern as a focused actress ecstatic about receiving a part in a new film, until…
Irresistible (2006): Dir. Ann Turner
Feat. Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, Emily Blunt; Susan Sarandon feels the wrath of Emily Blunt in this Hitchcockian fable of one woman's struggle to prevent her life from being overtaken by another.…
Like Minds (2006): Dir. Gregory J. Read
Feat. Toni Collette, Richard Roxburgh, Eddie Redmayne…; Determinedly creepy psychological thriller with Richard Roxburgh and Toni Collette partnered as detective and forensic psychologist investigating a…
London to Brighton (2006): Dir. Paul Andrew Williams
Feat. Lorraine Stanley, Georgia Groome; Two women on the lam board a train in hope of evading their violent pursuers in this tough–as–nails contemporary British…
Macbeth (2006): Dir. Geoffrey Wright
Feat. Sam Worthington, Steve Bastoni; A black–lacquered contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s 'Macbeth' set in the ganglands of Melbourne, with dir. Wright (ROMPER STOMPER)…
New Street Law (TV Series) (2006): Feat. John Hannah, Paul Freeman, John Thomson…; Engrossing legal drama with Hannah and Freeman as heads of two law firms sharing the same premises. Plenty of ethical conundrums populate a tightly…
Notes on a Scandal (2006): Dir. Richard Eyre
Feat. Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy; Authorities Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench go head–to–head in this psychological gambit between a pottery teacher engaged in an illicit…
Out of the Blue (Aramoana) (2006): Dir. Robert Sarkies
Feat. Karl Urban, Matthew Sunderland, Simon Ferry…; A moving, uncomfortably harrowing account of New Zealand’s worst mass murder, bringing the trauma of 1990’s Aramoana massacre to the screen with…
Perfume - The Story of a Murderer (2006): Dir. Tom Tykwer
Feat. Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman, Ben Whishaw…; Lush, faithful adaptation of Patrick Suskind’s 1985 novel, with Ben Whishaw as Jean–Baptiste Grenouille, the gifted ‘nose’ turned…
Red Road (2006): Dir. Andrea Arnold
Feat. Kate Dickie, Tony Curran, Martin Compston…; Absorbing, unbearably tense drama of undisclosed motivations, which follows a lonely surveillance operator and her pursuit of a man throughout the…
Sally Lockhart Mysteries, The (TV Mini-series) (The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North ) (2006-2007): Dir. Brian Percival
Feat. Billie Piper, Julie Walters; Billy Piper stars as Sally Lockhart – the gutsy mystery–solving heroine of this Victorian England mystery series adapted straight from…
See No Evil - The Story of the Moors Murders (2006): Dir. Christopher Menaul; Well–made, sensitive teledrama that depicts in grim detail the story of the notorious "Moors murderers" Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, who…
Situation, The (2006): Dir. Philip Haas
Feat. Damian Lewis, Connie Nielsen, Mido Hadama; A noted fictional dramatisation of the Iraq conflict and its many complex participants and victims, this film interweaves a love triangle with…
Southland Tales (2006): Dir. Richard Kelly
Feat. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Seann William Scott, Mandy Moore…; A chaotically comedic, pre–apocalyptic sci–fi ensemble piece, helmed with self–importance and unrestraint by the…
State Within, The (TV Series) (2006): Dir. Daniel Percival
Feat. Jason Isaacs, Ben Daniels, Sharon Gless; Gripping political series centred on the British Ambassador to Washington who finds himself entangled in the midst of political scandal after a plane…
State's Evidence (2006): Dir. Benjamin Louis
Feat. Alexa Vega, Douglas Smith, Majandra Delfino…; Six high school students make a suicide pact which goes nastily awry, in this prurient youth drama clearly influenced by cinema provocateurs Larry…
True North (2006): Dir. Steve Hudson
Feat. Peter Mullan, Martin Compston, Gary Lewis; Devastating thriller concerning the crew of a Scottish trawler in financial strife who smuggle Chinese immigrants in appalling conditions across the…
Bleak House (Mini-series) (2005): Dir. Justin Chadwick
Feat. Gillian Anderson, Alun Armstrong, Warren Clarke…; From the pen of Charles Dickens comes this pacy, razor sharp BBC adaptation dabbling in murder, lineage, and the 19th century legal…
Bubble (2005): Dir. Steven Soderbergh
Feat. Debbie Doebereiner, Dustin Ashley, Misty Wilkins; Steven Soderbergh's creepy, independent sojourn (made between OCEAN'S 12 and 13) casts an uneasy eye on a midwestern doll factory, where the…
Closer, The (TV Series) (2005-2006): Feat. Kyra Sedgwick; Capable and assured detective drama dodges most of the worst cliches of the genre, with Kyra Sedwick playing a talented 'Southern Belle' investigator…
Constant Gardener, The (2005): Dir. Fernando Mierelles
Feat. Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bill Nighy…; A British diplomat in Kenya (Fiennes) becomes obsessed with uncovering the secrets that lie behind his wife's (Weisz) murder which seem to lead to…
Crime Novel (Romanzo criminale) (2005): Feat. Kim Rossi Stuart, Pierfrancesco Favino, Claudio Santamaria…; Novel–based Italian crime drama concerning a group of small–town crims who went on to become Rome's most merciless crime family and a…
Down in the Valley (2005): Dir. David Jacobson
Feat. Edward Norton, Evan Rachel Wood, David Morse…; Slow–burn yet layered and intense drama has Edward Norton in fine form as a delusional 'cowboy' who charms his way into trouble via the heart…
Edmond (2005): Dir. Stuart Gordon
Feat. William H. Macy, Julia Stiles, Joe Mantegna…; Raw, unapologetic adaptation of David Mamet's 1982 stageplay stars William H. Macy as a downtrodden everyman who embarks on a volatile…
Hard Candy (2005): Dir. David Slade
Feat. Elliot Page, Patrick Wilson, Sandra Oh; Unflinchingly dark and slickly impressive thriller proceeds from the chatroom flirtations between a precocious teenager (Page) and a…
King, The (2005): Dir. James Marsh
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, William Hurt, Laura Elena Harring; A brooding, accomplished slice of southern discomfort with Gael Garcia Bernal (in his first US film) playing recently dischargee from the Navy named…
Love (2005): Dir. Vladen Nikolic; Little–known but extremely worthwhile drama lays out several major storylines, but centres on the struggles of a former Serbian soldier trying…
Match Point (2005): Dir. Woody Allen
Feat. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emily Mortimer, Scarlett Johansson…; Widely touted as Woody Allen's finest film since the mid–80's, this is also his least characteristic – set in London and entirely…
Munich (2005): Dir. Steven Spielberg
Feat. Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Mathieu Kassovitz…; Compelling, if occasionally muddily–overearnest thriller based around the aftermath of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich…
Proposition, The (2005): Dir. John Hillcoat
Feat. Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston…; Grimly intense and atmospheric 'Australian Western' – scripted by singer Nick Cave – is set the outback of the 1880s, where lawman Ray…
Quiet, The (2005): Dir. Jamie Babbitt
Feat. Elisha Cuthbert, Camilla Belle, Martin Donovan…; A creepy teenage melodrama about an orphaned deaf–mute girl (Belle) who goes to live in suburbia with her godparents (Falco, Donovan) and…
Separate Lies (2005): Dir. Julian Fellowes
Feat. Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Rupert Everett; Tense tragedy of manners stars Tom Wilkinson as a complacent lawyer whose young wife (Watson) confesses to being tangled–up in a fatal…
Sorry, Haters (2005): Dir. Jeff Stanzler
Feat. Robin Wright, Abdellatif Kechiche, Elodie Bouchez…; The after–effects of September 11 act as a racially–charged backdrop to this low–budget thriller set on the mean streets of New…
Syriana (2005): Dir. Stephen Gaghan
Feat. George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright…; Fierce and dense exploration of the machinations and consequences of the global oil industry in the form of a multiple–storyline drama (from…
Tsotsi (2005): Dir. Gavin Hood
Feat. Presley Chweneyagae; Deserved winner of the 2006 Foreign Language Oscar, this gripping tale of a young homicidal street–thug ('tsotsi') in post–apartheid…
Two for the Money (2005): Dir. D. J. Caruso
Feat. Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo…; Set in the world of gridiron betting, this steamy male melodrama has an injured quarterback (McConaughey) tempted into the field of 'sports…
Where the Truth Lies (2005): Dir. Atom Egoyan
Feat. Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth, Alison Lohman; Challenging and kinky mystery drama from dir. Atom Egoyan (EXOTICA), in which a reporter in the 1970s (Lohman) investigates the death by overdose of…
24 - Season 3 (TV Series) (2004): Feat. Kiefer Sutherland; Further episodes in this high–concept TV thriller, covering 24 hours of real time events (an hour per episode) with Kiefer Sutherland as lead…
Assassination of Richard Nixon, The (2004): Dir. Niels Mueller
Feat. Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Naomi Watts…; The ghost of 'Travis Bickle' (TAXI DRIVER) pervades this accomplished diatribe on the contentious era of Richard Nixon's administration – a…
Birth (2004): Dir. Jonathan Glazer
Feat. Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Danny Huston…; An absorbing psychological drama about a young widow (Kidman) whose New York life is disrupted when a 10 year–old boy claims to be the…
Collateral (2004): Dir. Michael Mann
Feat. Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith…; A moody night–thriller that cruises the streets of Los Angeles with a taxi–driver (Foxx) whose cab is commandered by a ruthless,…
Cooler, The (2004): Dir. Wayne Kramer
Feat. William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Alec Baldwin…; Casino–cool 'indie' film starring William H. Macy as a life–long loser employed to 'cool' the winning streaks of high–rollers in a…
Fida (2004): Dir. Ken Ghosh
Feat. Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Fardeen Khan; Typically likeable Bollywood item that intercrosses two love stories with the tale of an online bank heist. Treading lightly through the genre…
Fracture (2004): Dir. Larry Parr
Feat. Kate Elliot, Miranda Harcourt, Jennifer Ward-Lealand…; An impressively staged adaptation of Maurice Gee's novel "Crime Story", set around two equally fractured families who enter each other's orbit after…
Hotel Rwanda (2004): Dir. Terry George
Feat. Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte, Sophie Okonedo…; A deeply affecting expose of the Rwandan conflict of the early 1990s that matches its political conscience with vivid staging and terrific…
In My Father's Den (2004): Dir. Brad McGann
Feat. Matthew MacFadyen, Emily Barclay, Miranda Otto…; Achieving a new high watermark in production terms at least, this vivid New Zealand melodrama harnesses the complexities of Maurice Gee's…
Machinist, The (2004): Dir. Brad Anderson
Feat. Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Ironside; A mind–twisting thriller in the industrial–gothic mould, this might at times feel like an off–cut from the David…
Memories of Tomorrow (2004): Dir. Amit Tripuraneni
Feat. Richard Thompson, Rachel Gilchrist, Ray Trickitt; An artful psychological thriller set around a man's (Thompson) frustrating amnesia of a past which seemingly involves commando training and…
Murder in Suburbia (TV Series) (2004): Feat. Lisa Faulkner, Caroline Catz; Another variation on Britain’s fetish for sleuthing duos, this is a spunkier, sexier alternative to most under the female eye two abrasively…
One Last Chance (2004): Dir. Stewart Svaasand
Feat. Iain Robertson, Dougray Scott, Kevin McKidd; Scottish hi–jinks cut in the same droll humour as SHALLOW GRAVE, with a young man landlocked in his small highland village discovering a gold…
She's Gone (2004): Dir. Adrian Shergold
Feat. Ray Winstone, Lindsey Coulson, Gary Lucy…; Ray Winstone is typically compelling as the father of a young British woman who goes missing in Turkey. Travelling to the Middle East, he quests to…
Undertow (2004): Dir. David Gordon Green
Feat. Jamie Bell, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney; Southern Gothic melodrama from dir. Green (GEORGE WASHINGTON) who here applies his off–centre visual tics to a story of family inheritances,…
Veronica Mars (TV Series) (2004): Feat. Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni…; Addictive, dark–hued mystery noir masquerading as a high school drama, centred on the socially ostracised teen daughter of a private eye whose…
21 Grams (2003): Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Feat. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro…; For his English–language debut, the celebrated Mexican director of AMORES PERROS weighs in with an unconventional, soul–baring drama that…
Alexandra's Project (2003): Dir. Rolf De Heer
Feat. Helen Buday, Gary Sweet; Business executive Gary Sweet arrives home one evening and walks into a psychological trap set by his aggreived wife (Buday). Finding that she has…
As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2003): Dir. Hardy Martins; Based on the novel by Josef Martin Bauer, this film recounts the harrowing true story of Clemens Forell, the German POW who escaped a Siberian labour…
Ashes and Sand (2003): Dir. Bob Blagden
Feat. Nick Moran, Lara Belmont; Promising but ultimately disappointing drama set among the members of a girl–gang in Brighton, England. Although based on an…
Blackjack (TV Series) (2003-2007): Dir. Peter Andrikidis
Feat. Colin Friels, Vince Colosimo, Kate Beahan…; Tenacious Aussie crime series centred on a detective banished to work in the police archives section, who uses his new surrounds to solve long…
Blind Flight (2003): Dir. John Furse
Feat. Ian Hart, Linus Roache; True story of the 4–year kidnapping in 80s Lebanon of Irishman Brian Keenan and Englishman John McCarthy, given an affecting depth by its…
Blue Murder (TV Series) (2003): Feat. Caroline Quentin; Pragmatic crime series featuring British comedian Caroline Quentin as a detective at the top of her game, trying to juggle her demanding career and…
Carandiru (2003): Dir. Hector Babenco; An expressionist series of tales set within the notorious titular prison in Sao Paolo, Brazil, as seen through the eyes of a benevolent doctor and…
Dallas 362 (2003): Dir. Scott Caan
Feat. Scott Caan, Jeff Goldblum, Shawn Hatosy…; Minor but admirable drama about a young man seeking to break away from his stifling life in Los Angeles with the encouragement of his stoner…
Dot The I (El Punto sobre la I) (2003): Dir. Matthew Parkhill
Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, James D'Arcy, Natalia Verbeke; A skillfully moody London romance, in which the relationship of an engaged couple is disturbed by a pre–wedding ritual in which Verbeke must…
Elephant (2003): Dir. Gus Van Sant
Feat. Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, Timothy Bottoms…; A smoothly crafted, but troubling depiction of the Columbine High School massacre in which two disaffected teenagers planned and staged the multiple…
For Good (2003): Dir. Stuart McKenzie
Feat. Michelle Langstone, Timothy Balme, Miranda Harcourt…; Deserving of a wider audience, this assured and well–focused NZ feature debut belies its limited budget with a pertinent crime story executed…
Good Morning, Night (2003): Dir. Marco Bellocchio; A dramatisation of events surrounding the kidnapping and murder of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in 1978 by The Red Brigades, as seen through the…
I'm Not Scared (Io Non Ho Paura) (2003): Dir. Gabriele Salvatores
Feat. Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Dino Abbrescia, Giorgio Careccia…; Atmospheric thriller from dir. Gabriele Salvatores that deftly conveys a foreboding childhood experience during a long, hot summer in the country,…
Imagining Argentina (2003): Dir. Christopher Hampton
Feat. Antonio Banderas, Emma Thompson, Ruben Blades…; A controversial adaptation of Lawrence Thornton's award–winning novel, set in the Argentine dictatorship of the mid–1970s. Thompson is…
Intermission (2003): Dir. John Crowley
Feat. Colin Farrell, Colm Meaney, Cillian Murphy…; Irish crime drama teeming with 'interconnected' plotlines and profane lowlife, dreaming various criminal and romantic endeavours into…
Mean Creek (2003): Dir. Jacob Aaron Estes
Feat. Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelly; Skillful 'delinquent thriller' about a group of highschool kids who plot to humiliate the overweight school bully on a boating daytrip. Though the…
Missing, The (2003): Dir. Ron Howard
Feat. Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Evan Rachel Wood…; A brooding historical thriller set in 19th–century New Mexico in which Blanchett reunites with her estranged father (Jones) to search for her…
Monster (2003): Dir. Patty Jenkins
Feat. Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern…; Powerful dramatization of the story of female serial–killer Aileen Wournos, strong enough to support an astonishing, Oscar–winning…
Mystic River (2003): Dir. Clint Eastwood
Feat. Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon…; Dignified crime thriller shot in unfussy style by old pro Clint Eastwood, this is less thrilling than a reliable entertainment, with the emotional…
Owning Mahowny (2003): Dir. Richard Kwietniowski
Feat. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, John Hurt…; Phillip Seymour Hoffman stars in this fact–based story of a Toronto bank manager who became legendary for gambling away millions of his…
Perfect Strangers (2003): Dir. Gaylene Preston
Feat. Sam Neill, Rachael Blake, Joel Tobeck; Thriller of possessive love, set effectively on the rugged coastline of New Zealand’s West Coast, that changes tack mid–way into blackly…
Planman, The (2003): Dir. John Strickland
Feat. Robbie Coltrane, Graham Crowden; Ingenious two–part thriller in which Robbie Coltrane, in a near–reprise of his CRACKER role, plays a clever Scottish lawyer who in his…
Reckoning, The (2003): Dir. Paul McGuigan
Feat. Willem Dafoe, Paul Bettany, Vincent Cassel…; A sober minded recreation of plague–blasted England of the Middle Ages, with Bettany cowling–up as a monk on the run who falls in with a…
Return, The (Vozvrashcheniye) (2003): Dir. Andrei Zvyagintsev
Feat. Ivan Dobronravov, Vladimir Garin, Konstantin Lavronenko…; A surprise arthouse hit about a couple of teenage brothers who are taken on a mysterious trip by their estranged and rather surly father, with his…
Rosemary & Thyme (TV Series) (2003): Dir. Tom Clegg
Feat. Pam Ferris, Felicity Kendal; Utterly peculiar crime series follows two disenchanted botanists – Rosemary, a sacked horticulture lecturer, and Laura, a police officer separated…
Runaway Jury (2003): Dir. Gary Fleder
Feat. John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman…; It's back to court with John Grisham, in a well–cast, entertaining tale of gun–control issues, jury–manipulation, big business and…
Singing Detective, The (2003): Dir. Keith Gordon
Feat. Robert Downey Jnr., Robin Wright, Jeremy Northam…; A not unthoughtful remake of Dennis Potter's iconic 1980s TV Series, in which a psoriasis–afflicted crime writer hallucinates mystery plots and…
Statement, The (2003): Dir. Norman Jewison
Feat. Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Northam…; Michael Caine plays an ex–Nazi collaborator who has remained beyond the law for fifty years in post–WW2 France thanks to the Roman…
Swimming Pool (2003): Dir. Francois Ozon
Feat. Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance; A beguiling psychological thriller, in which a British mystery–novelist (Rampling) travels to her publisher's holiday house in rural France for…
Torso (Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story) (2003): Dir. Alex Chapple
Feat. Kathleen Robertson, Victor Garber, Brenda Fricker…; Would–be socialite Evelyn Dick is arrested by Canadian police for the murder of her husband in this above–average account of the trial…
Veronica Guerin (2003): Dir. Joel Schumacher
Feat. Cate Blanchett, Ciaran Hinds, Brenda Fricker; Playing an Irish journalist determined to uncover the drug–networks of Ireland, Blanchett gives a rounded portrait of a headstrong…
Young Adam (2003): Dir. David Mackenzie
Feat. Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan; Evocatively set amid the grimy canal barges of post–WW2 Scotland, this follows the shady fortunes of a failed writer (McGregor), whose…
Zero Day (2003): Dir. Ben Coccio
Feat. Andre Keuck, Calvin Robertson; A confronting, fictionalized insight into the nihilistic mind–set of two alienated students who plotted and carried out a violent massacre at…
'R Xmas (2002): Dir. Abel Ferrara
Feat. Lillo Brancato Jr., Drea De Matteo, Ice-T; Familiar territory tinged with originality from bad boy dir. Ferrara, examining the unusual Christmas crises of a drug–dealing Latino couple in…
And Now Ladies and Gentlemen (2002): Dir. Claude Lelouch
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Patricia Kaas, Thierry Lhermitte…; A smooth exercise in self–satire from dir. Lelouch, with Jeremy Irons playing a shifty jewel–thief who hooks up with lounge–singer…
Assassination Tango (2002): Dir. Robert Duvall
Feat. Robert Duvall, Kathy Baker, Ruben Blades; Unassuming, yet engrossing crime drama, which follows aging hitman Robert Duvall on a job in Argentina, while casually digressing into a search for…
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002): Dir. Justin Lin
Feat. Perry Shen, Jason J. Tobin, Sung Kang…; Spinning a novel twist on a few cliches, this parable concerns a group of bored Asian–American high schoolers in Orange County, California who…
Changing Lanes (2002): Dir. Roger Michell
Feat. Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Affleck, Toni Collette…; After a rush hour fender–bender between lawyer Ben Affleck and insurance agent Samuel L Jackson, a tit for tat game of ‘get even’ for high…
Chaos (2002): Dir. Coline Serreau
Feat. Vincent Lindon, Catherine Frot; A witty French thriller where, through a chance meeting, a middle–class woman comes to the rescue of an Algerian–born prostitute who is…
City By the Sea (2002): Dir. Michael Caton-Jones
Feat. Robert De Niro, Frances McDormand; Robert De Niro faces a personal and professional dilemma as a decent cop/bad father who discovers that the prime suspect in the murder of his partner…
City of Ghosts (2002): Dir. Matt Dillon
Feat. Matt Dillon, James Caan, Natascha McElhone…; A moody debut for dir. Dillon, unfolding a familiar thriller of dueling lowlifes in the exotic–chaotic scenery of presentday…
City of God (Cidade de Deus) (2002): Dir. Fernando Mierelles
Feat. Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmano da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen; An incendiary Brazilian drama depicting two decades of blood–drenched rivalry between two youth gangs who control a slum area of Rio De…
Crime and Punishment (TV Mini-series) (2002): Dir. Julian Jarrold
Feat. John Simm, Kate Ashfield, Lara Belmont…; Lyrical TV adaptation of the great Dostoevsky novel focused on a young murderer struggling to escape his feelings of guilt and paranoia before they…
Dancer Upstairs, The (2002): Dir. John Malkovich
Feat. Javier Bardem; John Malkovich debuts as a director with this slow–burn police thriller played out in the humid atmosphere of an unamed South American…
Dirty Pretty Things (2002): Dir. Stephen Frears
Feat. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou, Sergi Lopez; A tightly–wound, satisfying British melodrama about illegal immigrants in London that find themselves exploited by a medical scam. Chiwetel…
El Bonaerense (2002): Dir. Pablo Trapero; An authentically macho tale about the notoriously clannish and corrupt police force of Buenos Aires (members are known as 'el Bonaerense') which…
Foyle's War (TV Series) (2002-2015): Feat. Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Anthony Howell; A distinguished drama series of mysteries set at the dawn of World War II, from the makers of Midsomer Murders. Michael Kitchen stars as charismatic…
Gangs of New York (2002): Dir. Martin Scorsese
Feat. Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz…; Dir. Martin Scorsese’s messy yet resonant epic based on a 19th century chapter that witnessed mass civil unrest in NYC is painted with the…
Heaven (2002): Dir. Tom Tykwer
Feat. Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi; An art–thriller worked from a script by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski which follows the enigmatic trail of recently widowed and vengeful Cate…
John Q (2002): Dir. Nick Cassavetes
Feat. Denzel Washington, Ray Liotta, Robert Duvall…; Denzel Washington plays a cash–strapped pillar–of–decency who can’t afford his son’s heart–transplant in the mercenary US…
Killing Me Softly (2002): Dir. Chen Kaige
Feat. Heather Graham, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone…; The first and only English language film from respected Chinese director Chen Kaige (TOGETHER) is this erotic thriller based on the 1999 novel of the…
L'Homme du Train (Man on the Train) (2002): Dir. Patrice Leconte
Feat. Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday; An elegantly amusing role–switching tale that's equal parts social comedy, existential drama and subtle thriller, tinged with melancholy…
Laramie Project, The (2002): Dir. Moisés Kaufman
Feat. Steve Buscemi, Clea Duvall, Jeremy Davies…; Moisés Kaufman directs this film based on his own play, set in the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student in…
Mataku (TV Series) (2002-2005): Dir. Michael Bennett, Peter Berger
Feat. Temuera Morrison; A well–mounted anthology of contemporary one–off dramas, adapted from the unique and mystical world of Maori supernatural legends. The…
Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002): Dir. Shane Meadows
Feat. Robert Carlyle, Kathy Burke, Ricky Tomlinson…; The bittersweet dramatics of dir. Meadows (ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS) get a fresh telling in this Nottingham drama, with the added spin of some ironic…
People I Know (2002): Dir. Daniel Algrant
Feat. Al Pacino, Kim Basinger, Ryan O'Neal…; A NYC publicist personally and professionally crashing helps out a high–profile client and ends up trapped in a warren of drug fuelled scandal…
Quiet American, The (2002): Dir. Phillip Noyce
Feat. Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Rade Serbedzija; True to the spirit of Graham Greene’s novel, this cautionary tale of American interference in 50s French Vietnam is an involving,…
Relative Evil (Ball in the House) (2002): Dir. Tanya Wexler
Feat. Jonathan Tucker, Jennifer Tilly, David Strathairn…; Deceptively marketed as a kind of "wicked stepmother" thriller, this is instead a well–constructed, paranoid black comedy about a teenage…
Spun (2002): Dir. Jonas Akerlund
Feat. Jason Schwartzman, Brittany Murphy, John Leguizamo…; A cinematically exhilarating depiction of existence among a group of methamphetamine (P) addicts in Los Angeles, that is sure to divide audiences as…
Ted Bundy (2002): Dir. Matthew Bright
Feat. Michel Reilly Brooke; For those not wearied of the serial–killer genre, this is a memorable portrait of America’s first acknowledged specimen, Ted Bundy…
Wire in the Blood (TV Series) (2002): Feat. Robson Green, Hermione Norris, Simone Lahbib; Terrific tough–as–nails UK detective show focused on a compassionate clinical psychologist (Green) and an ambitious Detective Inspector…
Wire, The - Season 1 (TV Series) (2002): Feat. Dominic West, Idris Elba, Wood Harris…; Tough, patient HBO TV policier (from David Simon, creator of HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS) follows the Baltimore drug scene from both the police and…
Without a Trace (TV Series) (2002): Feat. Anthony LaPaglia, Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Television crime drama from the Jerry Bruckheimer stable (see also CSI) that traces the investigations of the FBI's Missing Persons Squad, led by the…
Buffalo Soldiers (2001): Dir. Gregor Jordan
Feat. Joaquin Phoenix, Anna Paquin, Ed Harris…; Broadly subversive drama set among the bored US Army Corp guarding West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Chiefly tracks…
Four Days (2001): Dir. Curtis Wehrfritz
Feat. Colm Meaney, Lolita Davidovich, Kevin Zegers…; This accomplished 'existential thriller', based on 60s crime novel by John Buell, fuses genre conventions with weightier concerns about loneliness…
Gosford Park (2001): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Maggie Smith…; A handsome recital of Agatha Christie–style whodunnit and ‘upstairs–downstairs’ class–drama set in the confines of an English…
In the Bedroom (2001): Dir. Todd Field
Feat. Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl…; Both deservingly nominated for Oscars, Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson hardly miss a beat as the middle–aged couple forced to deal with the…
Invisible Circus, The (2001): Dir. Adam Brooks
Feat. Cameron Diaz, Jordana Brewster, Christopher Eccleston…; Even–toned, detached political thriller that follows the disappearance of free–spirit Cameron Diaz in the late 1960s and the search by…
Love the Hard Way (2001): Dir. Peter Sehr
Feat. Adrien Brody, Pam Grier; Big–city fable with Brody playing a snakeskin–jacketed thief with some polished one–liners, who nurses a secret ambition to be a…
Merci Pour Le Chocolat (Nightcap) (2001): Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Isabelle Huppert; Slyly subversive psychodrama, with Isabelle Huppert excelling as the owner of a Swiss chocolate–business, who also happens to be a…
Murder In Mind (TV Series) (2001): Excellent star–studded series of self–contained stories on the theme of murder, generally centered around apparently 'normal people' who…
Night at the Golden Eagle (2001): Dir. Adam Rifkin
Feat. Vinnie Jones, James Caan, Ann Magnuson…; A grimly satisfying, verbally violent drama set in a fleabag hotel in L.A. where two aging hoods plan their migration to the not–so–mean…
Prime Gig, The (2001): Dir. Gregory Mosher
Feat. Ed Harris, Vince Vaughn, Julia Ormond…; A soberly played drama–thriller, in which Vince Vaughn is drawn into a shady telemarketing scam operated by philosophising villain Ed…
Read My Lips (Sur Mes Levres) (2001): Dir. Jacques Audiard
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Emmanuelle Devos; Sturdy, unconventional French thriller about an insecure, partially–deaf office clerk who tries to help an irascible ex–con integrate…
Till Human Voices Wake Us (2001): Dir. Michael Petroni
Feat. Guy Pearce, Helena Bonham Carter; A supernaturally–tinged drama in which psychiatrist Guy Pearce returns his hometown and the spectres of a doomed teenage romance. Mourning…
To End All Wars (2001): Dir. David L Cunningham
Feat. Robert Carlyle, Kiefer Sutherland, Ciaran McMenamin; Underrated drama based around the infamous building of the bridge over the River Kwai by allied POWs during WW2, 'encouraged' by their Japanese…
Tunnel, The (2001): Dir. Roland Suso Richter
Feat. Heino Ferch, Nicolette Krebitz; An extended though by no means deep excavation of German Cold War history, in which an East German swimmer (Ferch) defects to West Berlin in 1961 and…
Yards, The (2001): Dir. James Gray
Feat. Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron…; Shot through with epic ambitions, this crime–drama, set amid the corruption of a New York subway–repair yards, boasts a compelling lead…
Auggie Rose (2000): Dir. Matthew Tabak
Feat. Jeff Goldblum, Anne Heche, Nancy Travis…; Bearing witness to the death of an ex–convict triggers midlife anxiety for insurance agent Jeff Goldblum, who proceeds to assume his identity…
Burnside (TV Series) (2000): Feat. Christopher Ellison; Bearable Detective spin–off series of THE BILL, with Christopher Ellison reprising the riveting character of Detective Frank Burnside, who…
Contender, The (2000): Dir. Rod Lurie
Feat. Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges…; Strongly performed political thriller centred around the confirmation of Vice–Presidential candidate Joan Allen, whose enemies try every trick…
Gossip (2000): Dir. Davis Guggenheim
Feat. Lena Headey, Kate Hudson, Norman Reedus…; Three media students decide to create a story out of pure, unfounded gossip, targeting a affluent and prudish classmate. The story of her sexual…
Mr. Rice's Secret (2000): Dir. Nicholas Kendall
Feat. David Bowie; David Bowie is the 400–yr old ‘friend’ of a terminally ill boy who is directed into a magical adventure in this British–Canadian…
Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series) (2000): Dir. Paul Seed
Feat. Ian Richardson, Robin Laing, Charles Dance; A rather fascinating speculation which dramatises the real–life relationship between "Sherlock Homes"–author Arthur Conan Doyle (Laing)…
O (Othello) (2000): Dir. Tim Blake Nelson
Feat. Josh Hartnett, Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles; Continuing recent trends, this ‘updating’ of Shakespeare’s ”Othello” transfers the dialogue and setting into the US schoolyard, where Josh…
One Hundred Steps, The (I Cento Passi) (2000): Dir. Marco Tullio Giordana; Expansive, fact–based drama set around a young man's fight against local mafiosos in the small Sicilian village of Cinisi in the…
Pledge, The (2000): Dir. Sean Penn
Feat. Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Helen Mirren…; Sean Penn as director's pledge to the stuff of raw drama pays off with a thriller/parable centred round a powerhouse turn from Jack Nicholson. As…
Series 7: The Contenders (2000): Dir. Daniel Minahan
Feat. Brooke Smith, Marylouise Burke; The scourge of ‘reality–TV’ gets its comeuppance (or homage?) in this ultraviolent satire. We’re in the near–future,…
Sins, The (TV Mini-series) (2000): Feat. Pete Postlethwaite, Geraldine James, Frank Finlay…; BBC miniseries with Pete Postlethwaite playing an aging getaway driver who decides to go straight – after one last robbery. A light hearted…
Takedown (2000): Dir. Joe Chappelle
Feat. Skeet Ulrich, Tom Berenger; This telemovie depiction of infamous computer hacker Kevin Mitnick, who went on the run in the 1990s, is less flashy than expected, with some…
Traffic (2000): Dir. Steven Soderbergh
Feat. Michael Douglas, Benicio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones…; A masterful, suitably complex address of the ‘drug problem’ and how it enslaves consumers, dealers, policy–makers and law–enforcers…
When The Sky Falls (2000): Dir. John Mackenzie
Feat. Joan Allen, Pete Postlethwaite, Patrick Bergin; A gritty suspense with Joan Allen portraying Irish journalist Vernoica Guerin who risked her life to take down Dublin's criminal underworld and bring…
Where the Money Is (2000): Dir. Marek Kanievska
Feat. Paul Newman, Linda Fiorentino, Dermot Mulroney; A still–charismatic Paul Newman is an aged bank–robber esconsed in a nursing home after suffering a stroke, though his nurse Linda…
Brokedown Palace (1999): Dir. Jonathan Kaplan
Feat. Claire Danes, Kate Beckinsale, Bill Pullman; OE–gone–awry flick has an impetuous Claire Danes and demure Kate Beckinsale land in major difficulties during their Thai holiday after…
Channeling Baby (1999): Dir. Christine Parker
Feat. Danielle Cormack, Kevin Smith; 'First sight' romance between a blind pacifist and a shell–shocked soldier in the 70s ended in heartbreak after the tragic 'disappearance' of…
Civil Action, A (1999): Dir. Steven Zaillian
Feat. John Travolta, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy…; Fact–based account of a protracted courtroom duel between two corporations and small–town folk, whose children have been affected by…
Cruel Intentions (1999): Dir. Roger Kumble
Feat. Sarah Michelle Geller, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon; Spoiled and randy step–siblings Sarah Michelle Geller and Ryan Phillipe raise the amorality stakes by betting that he can deflower the prim…
I Want You (1999): Dir. Michael Winterbottom
Feat. Rachel Weisz, Alessandro Nivola; Determinedly stylish mystery set in a British seaside town explores various permutations of unrequited love and sexual frustration in drawing up to…
Insider, The (1999): Dir. Michael Mann
Feat. Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer…; A brooding masterpiece from dir. Mann (HEAT), who finally wrestles down a topic of sufficient weight to justify the peerless brilliance of his…
Life Before This, The (1999): Dir. Jerry Ciccoritti
Feat. Sarah Polley, Stephen Rea, Joe Pantoliano…; Based loosely on a real–life shootout in Toronto, this ambitious drama postulates life as a mosaic of interconnected actions, where often…
Limbo (1999): Dir. John Sayles
Feat. David Strathairn, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio; John Sayles, the doyen of American independents, succeeds all Johnny–Come–Lately's with an arresting, multi–layered fable that…
Million Dollar Hotel, The (1999): Dir. Wim Wenders
Feat. Mel Gibson, Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich…; Dir. Wim Wenders (WINGS OF DESIRE) works–up his latest narrative of modern alienation in the scuzzy, titular hotel (which actually exists in…
Room for Romeo Brass, A (1999): Dir. Shane Meadows
Feat. Paddy Considine; This extraordinary coming–of–age story places two twelve–year–old boys in the company of a well–meaning but…
Sopranos, The (TV Series) - Season 1 (1999): Dir. Nick Gomez, John Patterson, David Chase
Feat. James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Lorraine Bracco…; Groundbreaking TV–series that ironically portrays the life of a New Jersey Mafia clan as a parade of suburban neurosis, pop–culture…
Interview, The (1998): Dir. Craig Monahan
Feat. Hugo Weaving; Sleek, edgy Aussie drama works a detailed script and a sharp cast to pile layers of ambiguity and guilt into a standard interrogation premise. Winner…
Love And Rage (1998): Dir. Cathal Black
Feat. Greta Scacchi, Daniel Craig, Stephen Dillane; Tantalising Irish melodrama starring Greta Scacchi as an English aristocrat who hires Daniel Craig as manager for her sumptuous estate and ends up…
Miss Monday (1998): Dir. Benson Lee
Feat. James Hicks, Andrea Hart; An improving indie thriller sets its improbable but well–realised story around a struggling screenwriter, who sneaks into a woman's apartment…
Players Club, The (1998): Dir. Ice Cube
Feat. Monica Calhoun, Lisa Raye, Jamie Foxx…; Proving a talent on his first directorial outing, actor–rapper Ice Cube enlists a no–name cast in this seriocomic glimpse into a tawdry…
Snow Falling On Cedars (1998): Dir. Scott Hicks
Feat. Ethan Hawke, Sam Shepard, Max von Sydow; The seemingly perfect conjunction of David Guterson's best–selling novel and dir. Hicks (SHINE), results in a technically magnificent, but…
So Close To Paradise (Biandan, guniang) (1998): Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai
Feat. Wang Tong, Shi Yu, Guo Tao; Chinese film set in the city of Wuhan before it was a household name, where two young migrant workers become embroiled in the city's criminal…
Such a Long Journey (1998): Dir. Sturla Gunnarsson
Feat. Om Puri, Roshan Seth, Naseeruddin Shah; Set in the turbulent India of 1971, just prior to the war with Pakistan, this artfully fashioned drama centres on the political and personal crises…
Blackout, The (1997): Dir. Abel Ferrara
Feat. Matthew Modine, Claudia Schiffer; Dir. Abel Ferrara spills more lurid behaviour all over the screen just like he did in BAD LIEUTENANT. Matthew Modine does the honours for this spin…
Blood and Wine (1997): Dir. Bob Rafelson
Feat. Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Jennifer Lopez…; Jack Nicholson dusts off his cynical, scowling persona of the 70s, as a desperate, philandering Florida wine merchant who enlists Michael Caine for a…
Blood Oranges, The (1997): Dir. Philip Haas
Feat. Charles Dance, Sheryl Lee, Colin Lane…; An obscure indie–psychodrama from the dir. of MUSIC OF CHANCE and ANGELS AND INSECTS, with Charles Dance and Sheryl Lee as a…
Character (1997): Dir. Mike van Diem
Feat. Fedja Van Huet; A murderous confrontation bookends an elegantly told story of class, oppression and perseverance in 1920s Rotterdam, in which a young…
Donnie Brasco (1997): Dir. Mike Newell
Feat. Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen…; Riveting, true–life tale of an FBI agent's perilous infiltration of the New York Mafia in the 70s. A knife–edge dramatic tension is…
Duggan (TV Series) (Death in Paradise, Sins of the Fathers) (1997-1998): Dir. Yvonne MacKay
Feat. John Bach; Detective inspector John Bach heads up these made–for–TV policiers as a recluse drawn into a murder cases near his Marlborough Sounds…
La Vie de Jesus (Life of Jesus) (1997): Dir. Bruno Dumont; Virtuoso bleakness from the dir. of TWENTYNINE PALMS, in his debut study of alienated existence for a group of unruly skinheads in rural Flanders who…
Lakes, The (TV Series) (1997): Feat. John Simm, Emma Cunniffe, Kaye Wragg…; Gritty British drama following a compulsive gambler from Liverpool who moves to the Lake District and encounters the secrets, lies and crimes that…
Live Flesh (1997): Dir. Pedro Almodovar
Feat. Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal; Five aggrieved characters get wrapped in a sticky web of consequence after a fateful incident leaves one paralysed and another in jail. Dir.…
She's So Lovely (1997): Dir. Nick Cassavetes
Feat. Robin Wright, Sean Penn, John Travolta; As a low–life couple whose romantic intensity borders on madness, married double–act Robin Wright and Sean Penn off–handedly…
Traveller (1997): Dir. Jack N. Green
Feat. Bill Paxton, Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Margulies…; 'One–last–score' movie in which a young man, desperate to be accepted by a clan of Irish grifters teams up with a veteran con who wants…
Twentyfour Seven (1997): Dir. Shane Meadows
Feat. Bob Hoskins; The cockney director of low–budget miracle SMALL TIME, enters the ring with a few more bob and a larger cast, delivering a warm, yet…
Twilight (1997): Dir. Robert Benton
Feat. Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman…; Star wattage brightens this old–fashioned, autumnal mystery–drama, reuniting NOBODY'S FOOL director Benton with Paul Newman as a…
Ulee's Gold (1997): Dir. Victor Nunez
Feat. Peter Fonda, Patricia Richardson, Jessica Biel; Peter Fonda gives good grace as an ageing, emotionally reticent beekeeper who is much less at ease with what's going on in his family's hive, a unit…
Woman In White, The (1997): Dir. Tim Fywell
Feat. Tara Fitzgerald, Justine Waddell, Ian Richardson…; Suitably creepy, if not entirely faithful, BBC adaptation of Wilkie Collins' gothic tale of murder, love and greed, in which a pair of half sisters…
Before and After (1996): Dir. Barbet Schroeder
Feat. Liam Neeson, Meryl Streep; Moral dilemmas loom large for Liam Neeson and Meryl Streep as the distressed parents of a teenager suspected of murdering his girlfriend. Thrills…
Dalziel and Pascoe (TV Series) (1996): Feat. Warren Clarke, Colin Buchanan; Adapted from a series of novels by Reginald Hill, Clarke and Buchanan play a pair of mismatched Yorkshire detectives whose clash in personal and…
Gotti (1996): Dir. Robert Harmon
Feat. Armand Assante, William Forsythe, Anthony Quinn; Armand Assante picked up an Emmy Award for his convincing impression of the legendary mobster John Gotti, who ruled the New York Mafia during the…
Hard Eight (Sydney) (1996): Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
Feat. Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow…; Cucumber–cool first feature set in the thick of Reno's casino culture, boasts four superb character–based performances and extended…
Homicide - The Movie (1996): Dir. Jean De Segonzac
Feat. Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer…; A special movie–length episode of the cult TV crime series "Homicide – Life on the Streets", which was probably the grittiest and…
In Cold Blood (1996): Dir. Jonathan Kaplan
Feat. Sam Neill, Anthony Edwards, Eric Roberts; Mini–series adaptation of Truman Capote's novel about the real–life murders of a family in a sleepy Kansas town. Solid but not a patch on…
Inspector Wexford Collection, The (TV Mini-series) (1996-2000): Feat. George Baker, Sadie Frost; Collection of commended adaptations based on the Ruth Rendell novels and centred on the recurring Rendell character of Inspector Wexford – an…
Jaded (1996): Dir. Caryn Krooth
Feat. Carla Gugino, Rya Kihlstedt, Christopher McDonald…; Putting a hefty, controversial twist on the subject of rape, this psychodrama has smalltown loner Carla Gugino sexually abused, not by a man, but by…
Jason's Lyric (1996): Dir. Doug McHenry
Feat. Allen Payne, Jada Pinkett Smith, Forest Whitaker…; If you can't get enough boys in the 'hood, there's plenty of bloodshed and moral penance to be found in this tale of doomed lovers struggling to…
Kansas City (1996): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Miranda Richardson, Harry Belafonte; An all–star cast jam out on the multiple storylines of Robert Altman's homage to the 30s jazz–mecca of Kansas City. The old master stirs…
Keeper, The (1996): Dir. Joe Brewster
Feat. Giancarlo Esposito, Isaach de Bankole, Regina Taylor…; An idealistic black corrections officer bails out and offers shelter to a Haitian immigrant unjustly accused of rape, a gesture that will profoundly…
Killer: a Journal of Murder (1996): Dir. Tim Metcalfe
Feat. James Woods, Robert Sean Leonard, Ellen Greene; James Woods plays America's first official serial killer, Carl Panzram, but his demonic energies seem wasted on a simplistic film that offers scant…
Lone Star (1996): Dir. John Sayles
Feat. Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Pena, Matthew McConaughey…; John Sayles' searching character study set in a dusty New Mexican town crosses multiple characters and time frames across three ethnic cultures.…
Lowball (1996): Dir. Demian Lichenstein
Feat. Peter Greene; Grimy, low–budget drama pursues NY cop Peter Greene through the mire of his deep cover assignment, as the various temptations of the scumbag…
Minette Walters - The Collection (The Ice House, The Echo, The Dark Room, The Sculptress, The Scold's Bridle) (1996-1999): Dir. Diarmuid Lawrence, David Thacker
Feat. Daniel Craig, Corin Redgrave, Clive Owen…; A box–set of five film adaptations of murder mysteries by English crime writer Minette Walters, from the BBC. All are psychological thrillers…
Sleepers (1996): Dir. Barry Levinson
Feat. Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman; Based on a purportedly fact–based novel by Lorenzo Carcaterra, a disastrous prank lands four schoolboys in a borstal where they suffer…
Too Late (Prea Târziu) (1996): Dir. Lucian Pintilie
Feat. Razvan Vasilescu; Bleak, unflinching examination of Romanian society from dir. Pintilie focuses on an inexperienced investigator who discovers a myriad of corruption…
Carried Away (1995): Dir. Bruno Barreto
Feat. Dennis Hopper, Amy Irving, Amy Locane…; Rustic, brooding melodrama in which a middle–aged school–teacher (Dennis Hopper) crosses the line with his 17–year old student, and…
Dolores Claiborne (1995): Dir. Taylor Hackford
Feat. Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judy Parfitt…; After MISERY, this non–supernatural Stephen King adaptation displays yet another facet of Kathy Bates multiple screen personas – here she…
La Haine (Hate) (1995): Dir. Mathieu Kassovitz
Feat. Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui…; A distinctive French urban crime drama in which the idle hands of male youth form fisticuffs on mean urban streets. A whole lot punchier, intelligent…
McCallum (TV Series) (1995-1998): Feat. John Hannah; Above–par crime series trails the private and professional life of the titular forensic pathologist as he becomes entangled in various murder…
Oliver's Travels (TV Mini-series) (1995): Feat. Alan Bates, Sinead Cusack, Bill Paterson; BBC oddity centered around Oliver (Bates), an ex–university lecturer with a passion for puzzles, who goes on a search to find legendary…
Death of a Cheerleader (A Friend to Die For) (1994): Dir. William A. Graham
Feat. Tori Spelling, Valerie Harper, Kellie Martin; Enjoyably trashy true story in which a mousy Catholic girl transfers to a public school and desperately attempts to befriend the most popular girl in…
Getting Gotti (1994): Dir. Roger Young
Feat. Lorraine Bracco, Ellen Burstyn, Anthony John Denison; Lorraine Bracco pre–SOPRANOS stardom takes on the role of a determined U.S. Attorney Assistant tracking down a Mafia Crime Boss that grew up in…
Heavenly Creatures (1994): Dir. Peter Jackson
Feat. Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse; Peter Jackson follows his zombie trilogy with this Oscar–nominated tour–de–force based on the Parker–Hulme murders of the…
Little Odessa (1994): Dir. James Gray
Feat. Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Vanessa Redgrave…; Fugutive assassin Tim Roth returns home to the Russian quarter of New York, where personal problems compound the stresses of the job. Portrait of a…
Love and Human Remains (1994): Dir. Denys Arcand
Feat. Thomas Gibson, Ruth Marshall, Cameron Bancroft…; A fascinating hybrid of twentysomething romantic comedy, cynical social satire and mystery thriller, adapted from an accomplished stageplay by the…
No Ordinary Love (1994): Dir. Doug Witkins
Feat. Smith Forte, Erika Klein, Robert Pecora…; Intriguing clash of styles marks this MELROSE PLACE spoof as one to watch, with five sexy and possibly dangerous housemates coping with a unexpected…
Silent Fall (1994): Dir. Bruce Beresford
Feat. Richard Dreyfuss; An autistic child is the only witness to a brutal murder. The job of bringing him out of his shell falls to discredited child psychologist Richard…
Wycliffe (TV Series) (1994): Dir. Jack Shepherd
Feat. Bill Nighy, Jack Shepherd; Edgy novel based detective drama following the feats of a conventional trench coat clad superintendent investigating small town crime. Effectively…
Blood In, Blood Out (Bound by Honour) (1993): Dir. Taylor Hackford
Feat. Benjamin Bratt; Melodramatic but exciting depiction of Hispanic prison gangs at war in San Quentin, California during the 1980s. Set around two brothers and their…
Chain of Desire (1993): Dir. Temistocles Lopez
Feat. Linda Fiorentino, Malcolm McDowell; A 'chain' of sexual encounters between numerous partners, brought full circle before the stinging twist in its tale. Linda Fiorentino and Malcolm…
Cracker (TV Series) (1993-1994): Dir. Michael Winterbottom, Andy Wilson, Julian Jarrold
Feat. Robbie Coltrane, Christopher Eccleston, Adrian Dunbar…; Justifiably acclaimed, often grim television drama centred round the forensic exploits of troubled, gambling–addict psychologist Robbie…
Diagnosis Murder (TV Series) (1993): Feat. Dick Van Dyke, Scott Baio, Charlie Schlatter…; Dick Van Dyke is on duty as Dr. Mark Sloan, a good–natured, unconventional and sometimes zany physician with a nose for murder. A…
Flesh and Bone (1993): Dir. Steve Kloves
Feat. James Caan, Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan; Southern gothic mood piece with James Caan and Dennis Quaid as estranged father and son that share a sinister secret involving Meg Ryan. This won't…
In the Name of the Father (1993): Dir. Jim Sheridan
Feat. Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson; Daniel Day–Lewis gives a devastating performance in this powerhouse re–creation of the tragedy that beset Jerry Conlon, his family and…
Intersection (1993): Dir. Mark Rydell
Feat. Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, Lolita Davidovich; Compelling shaggy–dog tale of an architect caught between his stale marriage and fiery mistress. Richard Gere and Sharon Stone star but its…
Joh's Jury (1993): Dir. Ken Cameron
Feat. Simon Bossell, Noah Taylor, Gerry Connolly; Intensively researched teledrama about the sensational trial of Queensland state premier Joh Bjelke–Petersen (Connolly) for perjury in…
Music of Chance, The (1993): Dir. Philip Haas
Feat. James Spader, Mandy Patinkin, Charles Durning…; Impressively cast against type, James Spader's slimy card shark entices broken family man Mandy Patinkin to accept a poker challenge by two eccentric…
Nun and the Bandit (1993): Dir. Paul Cox
Feat. Chris Haywood, Gosia Dobrowolska; Cox returns with regulars Chris Haywood and Gosia Dobrowolska for a tale of industrial disputes, revenge and kidnapping in the Australian bush.
NYPD Blue (TV Series) (1993): Feat. David Caruso, Dennis Franz, Amy Brenneman…; "Groundbreaking" TV cop show that wasn't so much groundbreaking as a slick 90s rehash of the likes of 'Hill Street Blues'. But despite all the fast…
Perfect World, A (1993): Dir. Clint Eastwood
Feat. Clint Eastwood, Laura Dern, Kevin Costner; Sheriff Clint Eastwood and criminologist Laura Dern clash egos in pursuit of Kevin Costner, who's imperfectly cast as an escaped convict with an…
A Touch of Frost (TV Series) (1992-1995): Feat. David Jason; An old–fashioned but thoroughly reliable British detective series set around a Detective Inspector with the 'common touch'. David Jason's…
Accompanist, The (1992): Dir. Claude Miller
Feat. Richard Bohringer, Romane Bohringer; A humble pianist is hired to accompany a wealthy soprano in occupied France, but their partnership becomes fraught with rivalry and…
Damage (1992): Dir. Louis Malle
Feat. Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson; Jeremy Irons plays a Tory cabinet minister who becomes entangled, (especially physically) with his son's fiancee – a chic,…
Framed (1992): Dir. Geoffrey Sax
Feat. Penelope Cruz, Timothy Dalton, Timothy West…; Psychological thriller by award winning screenwriter / author Lynda La Plante (PRIME SUSPECT) mapping a battle of minds between a young cop and an…
Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992): Dir. Jeff Stanzler
Feat. Tim Roth, Alexis Arquette; Tim Roth and Alexis Arquette both give knock–out performances in this powerful drama about a violent man trying to clean–up his…
La Sentinelle (The Sentinel) (1992): Dir. Arnaud Desplechin
Feat. Emmanuel Salinger, Thibault de Montalembert, Jean-Louis Richard…; French chiller from director Arnaud Desplechin (A CHRISTMAS TALE) about a forensic medicine student who finds himself mysteriously in possession of a…
Laws of Gravity (1992): Dir. Nick Gomez
Feat. Peter Greene, Edie Falco, Adam Trese…; Remarkably authentic Brooklyn street story follows a couple of aimless pals, their girlfriends and a volitile circle of hoods. The four leads are…
Love Field (1992): Dir. Jonathan Kaplan
Feat. Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Haysbert; Michelle Pfeiffer plays a forlorn housewife who befriends a black man and his daughter en route to JFK's funeral. Confederate cronies and bitter…
Maigret (TV Series) (1992-1993): Feat. Michael Gambon, Jack Galloway; Michael Gambon plays Chief Inspector Jules Maigret of the Paris Surete in this realistic crime series centred on Maigret's investigations into…
Player, The (1992): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Tim Robbins, Greta Scacchi, Whoopi Goldberg…; A glittering Tinseltown satire that manages to be an intricate, clever, surprising and entertaining thriller all at the same time, with a cast of…
Ruby (1992): Dir. John Mackenzie
Feat. Danny Aiello; The story of the man who shot the man who shot JFK, with Danny Aiello perhaps too likeable in the title role. Worthy slant on an increasingly…
Rush (1992): Dir. Lili Fini Zanuck
Feat. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jason Patric; This sordid but engaging parable posits Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Patric as narcotics cops who slip into a drug–addicted mire whilst…
A Murder of Quality (1991): Dir. Gavin Millar
Feat. Denholm Elliott, Glenda Jackson, Joss Ackland…; Tele–movie based on the novel by John le Carré, who also served here as screenwriter, following the fictional character George Smiley…
Billy Bathgate (1991): Dir. Robert Benton
Feat. Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis; Tempers flare as loyalties are betrayed in this solid gangland tale concerning the indoctrination of a teenager into the mob.
Indecent Woman, The (1991): Dir. Ben Verbong
Feat. Jose Way, Coen Van Vrijberghe de Coningh, Huub Stapel; A married violinist is drawn into a no–holds–barred relationship with a mystery man. A decent erotic parable that perceptively explores…
Medicine Man (1991): Dir. John McTiernan
Feat. Sean Connery, Lorraine Bracco; Sean Connery plays a crotchety mad scientist whose tinkerings in the Amazon rainforest result in a cure for cancer – but then he just as soon…
Mortal Thoughts (1991): Dir. Alan Rudolph
Feat. Demi Moore, Glenne Headly, Bruce Willis…; Less idiosyncratic than cult director Alan Rudolph's 1980's output, this earnest dramatic thriller stars Demi Moore (hot off the smash hit, GHOST) as…
Nirvana Street Murder (1991): Dir. Aleksi Vellis
Feat. Mark Little, Ben Mendelsohn; Raw, inventive street story that juggles cultural conflict with matters of the heart as two disparate brothers find themselves in a scrape with Greek…
Not Without My Daughter (1991): Dir. Brian Gilbert
Feat. Sally Field, Alfred Molina; Sally Field stars in this gripping true story of a woman who accompanied her Iranian–born husband to his homeland, and became his permanent…
Prime Suspect (TV Series) (1991-2003): Dir. Christopher Menaul
Feat. Helen Mirren, Tom Bell, Tom Wilkinson…; Helen Mirren stars as DCI Tennison in seven award–winning (Emmy and BAFTA) mini–series from the pen of Lynda La Plante.
Proof (1991): Dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse
Feat. Hugo Weaving, Russell Crowe, Genevieve Picot; Near–perfect little drama makes the most of its intriguing premise; a blind photographer interprets the world by having his photographs…
Class Action (1990): Dir. Michael Apted
Feat. Gene Hackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio; A lawyer becomes forced to prosecute a case in which his estranged daughter will act for the defence. Courtroom ethics are violated in style by Gene…
Godfather Part 3, The (1990): Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Feat. Al Pacino; The conclusion of the epic Corleone trilogy, with an aging Al Pacino looking to legitimise his business activities, and find a suitable successor.…
Havana (1990): Dir. Sydney Pollack
Feat. Robert Redford, Lena Olin; A gracefully ageing Robert Redford seeks his fortune on the verge of the Cuban revolution, while romantic entanglement with Lena Olin has political…
Hidden Agenda (1990): Dir. Ken Loach
Feat. Brian Cox, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif…; Perhaps dir. Loach’s most genre–based film, this political thriller about sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland in the early 1980s involves…
Horseplayer (1990): Dir. Kurt Voss
Feat. Brad Dourif, Sammi Davis, Max Perlich; Interesting item stars the incomparably strange Brad Dourif as a loner being manipulated by bored neighbours. Unfortunately for them, Brad turns out…
Russia House, The (1990): Dir. Fred Schepisi
Feat. Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer; Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer star in this cat–and–mouse drama involving Western intelligence's use of a publisher to liaise with an…
Two Jakes, The (1990): Dir. Jack Nicholson
Feat. Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel; Long–awaited sequel to CHINATOWN, with Jack Nicholson reprising his role as the laconic P.I. whose petty burrowing upturns homicide and…
Agatha Christie's Poirot (TV Series) (1989-2002): Feat. David Suchet; Solid TV adaptation of Agatha Christie's series of detective novels featuring the fussily eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot as he goes about…
Kitchen Sink (1989): Dir. Alison Maclean
Feat. Theresa Healy, Peter Tait, Anagretta Christian; Three shorts from director Alison Maclean. Her 1989 award–winning Gothic horror is here paired with two earlier works, TALKBACK (1987), and the…
Master of the Marionettes, A (1989): Dir. Pedr James
Feat. Kenneth Cranham, Carol Drinkwater; Effective though modest BBC drama–thriller posits a 'Twilight Zone' scenario of a salesman suspected of stabbing a man he has rescued. As…
Music Box (1989): Dir. Costa-Gavras
Feat. Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest…; Jessica Lange plays the attorney daughter of a Hungarian immigrant (Mueller–Stahl), now accused of WW2 war crimes. Her quest for the truth…
Nocturne Indien (1989): Dir. Alain Corneau
Feat. Jean-Hugues Anglade, Clémentine Célarié, Otto Tausig; Moody drama from dir. Corneau (TOUS LES MATINS DU MONDE) sees a young Frenchman travel to India to search for a missing friend, and get lost in…
Summer's Lease (TV Mini-series) (1989): Feat. Susan Fleetwood, John Gielgud, Michael Pennington; BBC "masterpiece theatre" drama–mystery series set in Tuscany, based on the novel by John Mortimer (RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY) and adapted by the…
As Tears Go By (Wong gok ka moon) (1988): Dir. Wong Kar-Wai
Feat. Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Jacky Cheung; Dir. Wong Kar–Wai debuted with this ambitious remake of MEAN STREETS, where best buddies Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung struggle through the…
Bourne Identity, The (Mini-series) (1988): Dir. Roger Young
Feat. Richard Chamberlain, Jaclyn Smith, Anthony Quayle…; Mini–series based on Robert Ludlam's best–seller about an injured, unconscious man who washes ashore in a small French town and discovers…
For Queen and Country (1988): Dir. Martin Stellman
Feat. Denzel Washington, George Baker, Amanda Redman; Denzel Washington plays a retired paratrooper who struggles to adapt to civilian life after returning home from the Falklands War. Crime drama…
Grievous Bodily Harm (1988): Dir. Mark Joffe
Feat. Colin Friels, Bruno Lawrence, John Waters; Police thriller from Australia following a school teacher who becomes convinced that his lover did not die in a car accident as officially stated.
Jack the Ripper (TV Mini-series) (1988): Dir. David Wickes
Feat. Michael Caine, Armand Assante, Jane Seymour; This British television series adds a new solution to the ever–intriguing and grisly case of Jack the Ripper, who preyed on women in Victorian…
Tenth Man, The (1988): Dir. Jack Gold, Richard T. Heffron
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Brenda Bruce, Derek Jacobi…; A measured TV–movie adaptation of the novel by Graham Greene about a French lawyer who saves himself from being executed during the Nazi…
Best Seller (1987): Dir. John Flynn
Feat. Brian Dennehy, James Woods, Victoria Tennant; An arresting thriller with Brian Dennehy and an on–form James Woods.
Billionaire Boys Club (1987): Dir. Marvin J. Chomsky
Feat. Judd Nelson, Ron Silver; Glossy but compulsive TV mini–series about a preppy blue–blood who persuades his well–connected classmates to join his investment…
Dangerous Orphans (1987): Dir. John Laing
Feat. Peter Stevens, Michael Hurst, Jennifer Ward-Lealand; Three orphans act on their plan to avenge the death of their father but must undermine an elaborate crime ring to carry it out. With Peter Stevens,…
Ebony Tower, The (1987): Dir. Robert Knights
Feat. Laurence Olivier, Roger Rees, Greta Scacchi…; Self–conscious but watchable satire has a young art critic finding himself attracted to the unusual lifestyle of a reclusive painter. Based on…
Julia and Julia (1987): Dir. Peter Del Monte
Feat. Kathleen Turner, Gabriel Byrne, Sting; Kathleen Turner leads a double (love) life with husband Gabriel Byrne and toy–boy photographer Sting.
Edge of Darkness (TV Mini-series) (1986): Dir. Martin Campbell
Feat. Bob Peck, Joe Don Baker, Joanne Whalley…; Multi award–winning suspense drama journeys into the secret, high–stakes world of the nuclear state. This is television at its most…
Mona Lisa (1986): Dir. Neil Jordan
Feat. Bob Hoskins, Michael Caine; Gritty British crime thriller, with Bob Hoskins in great form as a crim fresh out of prison.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents… (1985): Dir. Various
Feat. Ned Beatty, John Huston, Steven Bauer…; Four episodes from the TV–series, posthumously endorsed by Hitch, which replicate his blend of suspense, macabre humour and brutal…
At Close Range (1985): Dir. James Foley
Feat. Sean Penn, Christopher Walken; Sean Penn plays a wayward youth who reunites with his gangland father (Christopher Walken) with violent consequences. Sordid yet solid drama.
Beiderbecke Affair, The (TV Series) (1985): Feat. James Bolam, Barbara Flynn, Dudley Sutton; Character–centric Brit TV series that was the first in the 'Beiderbecke Trilogy' following a couple of Leed's teachers ensconced in a…
Boys Next Door, The (1985): Dir. Penelope Spheeris
Feat. Charlie Sheen, Maxwell Caulfield; Early feature film by celebrated underground film maker Penelope Spheeris (DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION), with Charlie Sheen Maxwell Caulfield…
Falcon and the Snowman (1985): Dir. John Schlesinger
Feat. Sean Penn, Timothy Hutton; A composed intellectual convinces his wayward friend to sell federal secrets to the Russians. Stunning political drama featuring a stand–out…
Lost Tribe, The (1985): Dir. John Laing
Feat. John Bach, Darien Takle, Martyn Sanderson…; John Bach's performance is the highlight of this mysterious drama in which he plays a man suspected of murdering his anthropologist brother who has…
Mesmerized (1985): Dir. Michael Laughlin
Feat. Jodie Foster, John Lithgow, Michael Murphy…; Jodie Foster plays a young woman in colonial NZ who flees an orphanage but finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage to a much older business man…
Should I Be Good or Should I Be Evil? (1985): Dir. Graham McLean
Feat. Beaver , Harry Lyon; Musos Beaver and Harry Lyon from Hello Sailor have a bash at acting in a story based on the Mr Asia drug–ring. Music by Hammond Gamble.
White Nights (1985): Dir. Taylor Hackford
Feat. Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Jerzy Skolimowski…; Baryshnikov and Hines try to dance themselves free from Soviet oppression in this amusing dated thriller. The dance sequences still hold up though.
Bill, The (TV Series) (1984-2006): One of the longest–running TV series in history, this surprisingly realistic drama is set around the comings and goings of the Sun Hill Police…
Element of Crime, The (1984): Dir. Lars Von Trier
Feat. Michael Elphick; A detective’s unconventional methods qualify him for the investigation of child murders in a dark, decaying, post–apocalyptic Germany.…
Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) (1984-1990): Feat. Angela Lansbury; The archetypal amateur sleuth series, this long–running show starred the indomitable Angela Lansbury as a mystery…
Widows (TV Series) (1984): Feat. Ann Mitchell, Ann Mitchell; Gritty crime TV from the writer of PRIME SUSPECT, Lynda La Plante, about the widows of three armed robbers who take over their husbands' crime busines
Agatha Christie: Partners in Crime (TV Series) (1983): Feat. Francesca Annis, James Warwick, Reece Dinsdale; Crisp adaptation of some of Dame Agatha's lesser known short mysteries. The protagonists here are husband and wife sleuths Tommy and Prudence…
Chiefs (TV Mini Series) (1983): Dir. Jerry London
Feat. Charlton Heston, Keith Carradine, Brad Davis…; A well–regarded television series stretching across three generations of policemen in a small city in the American South, beset by changing…
Hound of the Baskervilles, The (1983): Dir. Douglas Hickox
Feat. Ian Richardson, Martin Shaw, Denholm Elliott…; Ian Richardson (HOUSE OF CARDS) plays Sherlock Holmes in this crafted version of Conan Doyle’s most famous mystery, in which a monstrous…
Jamaica Inn (Mini Series) (1983): Dir. Lawrence Gordon Clark
Feat. Jane Seymour, Patrick McGoohan, Trevor Eve
Reilly Ace Of Spies (TV Mini-series) (1983): Dir. Martin Campbell, Jim Goddard
Feat. Sam Neill, Peter Egan, Ian Charleson…; Quintessential 1980s mini–series follows the adventures of a real life British superspy Sidney Reilly in the turbulent Russia, Europe and Asia…
Scales of Justice (TV Mini-series) (1983): Dir. Michael Jenkins
Feat. John Hargreaves, Bill Hunter, Isabelle Anderson…; A three–part crime drama which links tales of drug–dealing, organised crime, police corruption and political conspiracy in 1980s…
Angel (1982): Dir. Neil Jordan
Feat. Stephen Rea, Marie Kean, Ray McAnally; The gritty feature debut of Irish director Neil Jordan stars Stephen Rea as a saxophonist who witnesses the gangland murder of the band's manager and…
Hound of the Baskervilles, The (1982): Dir. Peter Duguid
Feat. Tom Baker; Former Doctor Who Tom Baker plays Inspector Holmes in this serviceable adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan's most famous Sherlock mystery.
Missing (1982): Dir. Costa-Gavras
Feat. Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron…; Jack Lemmon goes in search of his missing son in volatile Latin America (based on Chile), where even the American representives seem to be concealing…
Coup de Torchon (Clean Slate) (1981): Dir. Bertrand Tavernier
Feat. Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre Marielle…; Mordantly humourous suspense set in dusty French Senegal, with Noiret playing a much–abused police chief who begins to have dreams of…
Evil Under the Sun (1981): Dir. Guy Hamilton
Feat. Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Colin Blakely…; Murder at a resort hotel, with Peter Ustinov as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. An all–star cast and top production values, with sun and sea…
Taps (1981): Dir. Harold Becker
Feat. Sean Penn, Timothy Hutton, George C. Scott…; A surprise box–office smash about a group of cadets who take over their military college, which is on the brink of being closed down. Inspired…
Brubaker (1980): Dir. Stuart Rosenberg
Feat. Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Alexander…; Straight–edged prison drama based around the true story of a warden who disguised himself as a convict in order to expose the corruptions of…
First Deadly Sin, The (1980): Dir. Brian G. Hutton
Feat. Frank Sinatra, Faye Dunaway, Bruce Willis…; Probably Ol' Blue Eyes' last decent film, giving an understated, effective performance as a pressured NYC detective hunting a serial killer and…
Formula, The (1980): Dir. John G. Avildsen
Feat. Marlon Brando, George C. Scott, Marthe Keller…; Muddled thriller with Scott as a detective caught up in a conspiracy to manipulate world fuel prices. Brando –only in three scenes– does…
From the Life of the Marionettes (1980): Dir. Ingmar Bergman
Feat. Robert Atzom, Heinz Bennent, Martin Benrath; A dark themed and intricately plotted drama from dir. Bergman's later period, concerning a businessman who commits the sex–murder of a…
Hussy (1980): Dir. Michael Chapman
Feat. Helen Mirren, John Shea, Paul Angelis; A prostitute working in a posh London nightclub begins an affair with a mysterious American and is pulled further into the criminal underworld she is…
Juliet Bravo (TV Series) (1980): Feat. Stephanie Turner, David Ellison, Noel Collins; Massively popular – although rather dated – UK police series focused on a female police officer who takes charge of a fictional…
Oppenheimer (TV Mini-series) (1980): Dir. Barry Davis
Feat. Sam Waterston, Shane Rimmer, David Suchet; Excellent mini–series starring Waterson as nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who helped build the atomic bomb for the 'Manhattan…
S.O.S. Titanic (1979): Dir. William Hale
Feat. Helen Mirren, Ian Holm, David Janssen…; Solid telemovie depiction of the notorious sinking of the Big Ship in 1912, with an approach that distinguishes it from the other versions. Involving…
Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, The (1978): Dir. Fred Schepisi
Feat. Tommy Lewis, Freddy Reynolds, Jack Charles; Powerful adaptation of Thomas Keneally's fact–based novel about an exploited half–caste Aborigine who eventually erupts in tragic…
Fingers (1978): Dir. James Toback
Feat. Harvey Keitel, Tisa Farrow, Jim Brown…; Harvey Keitel conjures up the required intensity for this portrait of a frustrated concert pianist with a violent temper. The nerve–shredding…
Second Awakening of Christina Klages, The (Das zweite Erwachen der Christa Klages) (1978): Dir. Margarethe von Trotta; A young woman robs a bank to pay for her daughter’s day–care. On the run, she is pursued by the police along with the cashier she has taken…
Backroads (1977): Dir. Phillip Noyce
Feat. Bill Hunter; This short road–movie was a moody debut for dir. Noyce, laying out the tale of two drifters (one black, one white) who steal a car for an…
Murder Most English (TV Series) (The Flaxborough Chronicles) (1977): Feat. Anton Rodgers, Christopher Timothy; Based on the Colin Watson mysteries, this Ever–so–English detective series follows two English detectives as they solve particularly…
Summerfield (1977): Dir. Ken Hannam
Feat. John Waters, Charles Tingwell, Nick Tate; A low–key but atmospheric mystery from the Australian New Wave of the 1970s, in which a well–meaning replacement teacher (Tate) arrives…
All the President's Men (1976): Dir. Alan J. Pakula
Feat. Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford; Chilling account of events that led to the publicising of the Watergate scandal, as uncovered by two reporters. A key film of the 1970s. Bluray…
Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, The (1976): Dir. Buzz Kulik
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Martin Balsam, Cliff DeYoung…; A TV film dramatising the events of the Lindbergh kidnapping, in which the son of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was abducted…
Mikey and Nicky (1976): Dir. Elaine May
Feat. Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty…; Loosely improvised drama, with a wild–eyed John Cassavetes calling on old pal Peter Falk to help escape the Mob. Turns out he may not be such a…
Rocky Boxset (Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, Rocky Balboa) (1976-2006): Feat. Sylvester Stallone; The complete Rocky legacy in one box–set, including Stallone's final recent swansong in the career–defining role.
Lost Honor of Katherina Blum, The (1975): Dir. Volker Schlondorff
Feat. Angela Winkler, Jurgen Prochnow; Taken from the novel by Heinrich Boll, this reproach to the powers–that–be in mid–70s West Germany portrays the hardheaded…
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975): Dir. Peter Weir
Feat. Rachel Roberts, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse…; Simply one of the best Australian films ever, this elegant mystery, based on the novel by Joan Lindsay, centres around the disappearance of several…
Stepford Wives, The (1975): Dir. Bryan Forbes
Feat. Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson…; Beautifully understated, bizarre satire on suburbia and the feminist movement in which the inhabitants of a small town seem curiously contented. …
Gambler, The (1974): Dir. Karel Reisz
Feat. James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton…; A typically gritty 70s crime drama, adapted from a story by Dostoevsky, that boasts a fine performance by James Caan as a well–respected…
Godfather Part 2, The (1974): Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Feat. Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton…; The Corleone saga continues with the same passion and exacting standards, it both broadens the scope and bolsters the stature of the original. Hailed…
Melissa (TV Mini-series) (1974): Dir. Peter Moffatt
Feat. Peter Barkworth, Moira Redmond; Riveting BBC mystery thriller series adapted from the Francis Durbridge novel that tells the tale of a husband who begins to uncover the mysterious…
Rockford Files, The (TV Series) (1974-1975): Feat. James Garner, Noah Jr. Beery, Joe Santos…; In the spirit of 'Cold Case' this detective thriller series stars James Garner as an easy going plaid jacket attired investigator pursuing unsolved…
Burned Barns, The (Les granges brulées) (1973): Dir. Jean Chapot
Feat. Alain Delon, Simone Signoret; Moody provincial drama of death and betrayal reunites Delon and Signoret, this time on opposite sides of the law. More a character study than a…
Long Goodbye, The (1973): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Elliott Gould, Sterling Hayden, Nina Van Pallandt; Elliot Gould portrays a '70s Philip Marlowe, a wildly unkempt version of Chandler's legendary detective. Altman's film noir pastiche is equally…
Emergency! (TV Series) (1972): Feat. Randolph Mantooth, Kevin Tighe, Julie London; Thrilling medical drama concerning firefighting paramedics weaves nonsensical medical jargon and elaborate novelty accidents with the one–two…
Godfather, The (1972): Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Feat. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro…; Adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel is a vivid and immaculately staged chronicle of a Sicilian family's ascension to NY gangland dominance. Seamlessly…
Images (1972): Dir. Robert Altman
Feat. Susannah York, Cathryn Harrison; A stark and daring portrait of descending madness, Susannah York gives a seismic performance as a woman troubled by disturbing hallucinations. Filmed…
Moonstone, The (1972): Dir. Robert Bierman
Feat. Kathleen Byron, Robin Ellis, Basil Dignam…; Atmospheric whodunit drama, based on the Wilkie Collins novel, which tells the tale of an investigation into the theft of a precious Indian jewel…
American Soldier, The (Der Amerikanische Soldat) (1970): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Karl Scheydt, Elga Sorbas, Jan George…; The third in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career. A…
Gods of the Plague (Götter der Pest) (1970): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Hanna Schygulla, Margarethe von Trotta, Harry Baer…; The second in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career. In this…
Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The (1970): Dir. Billy Wilder
Feat. Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Genevieve Page…; Late period Billy Wilder (THE APARTMENT) applies his ironic sensibility, with less acid than usual, to the mind of Conan Doyle's detecting hero and…
Femme Infidele, La (The Unfaithful Wife) (1969): Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Michel Bouquet, Stephane Audran, Maurice Ronet; French bourgeoisie couple Michel Bouquet and Stephane Audran form a murderous love–triangle with seducer Maurice Ronet, revealing the hidden…
Love is Colder Than Death (Liebe ist kälter als der Tod) (1969): Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Feat. Ulli Lommel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Hanna Schygulla…; The first in a loose trilogy of gangster films directed by prolific German iconoclast Rainer Werner Fassbinder early in his career. Fassbinder…
Michael Kohlhaas (1969): Dir. David Warner
Feat. David Warner; Bizarre high drama about a 16th Century horse–dealer who leads a revolt against an unscrupulous Baron overlord. David Warner inhabits the title…
Que La Bete Meure (This Man Must Die) (1969): Dir. Claude Chabrol
Feat. Michel Duchaussoy, Jean Yanne, Caroline Cellier; Thriller based on the book called The Beast Must Die by Cecil Day–Lewis (under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake), about a man who becomes involved…
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969): Dir. Abraham Polonsky
Feat. Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Robert Blake…; This Western comeback from blacklisted director Polonsky (FORCE OF EVIL) focuses (rather ironically) on the manhunt of Robert Blake, who here plays…
A Lovely Way to Die (1968): Dir. David Lowell Rich
Feat. Kirk Douglas, Eli Wallach, Sylva Koscina; Dramatic suspense in which a retired vigilante NYC cop hired to look after a potential murderess ends up unprofessionally mixing business and…
Bride Wore Black, The (La Mariée était en noir) (1968): Dir. Francois Truffaut
Feat. Jeanne Moreau, Michel Bouquet, Jean-Claude Brialy…; Traumatised by her fiance's death, moments before due to be wed, Jeanne Moreau dedicates herself to a long–term plan of revenge, hunting and…
No Way to Treat a Lady (1968): Dir. Jack Smight
Feat. Rod Steiger, Lee Remick, George Segal…; Macabre cat–and–mouse thriller from the pen of suspense–master William Goldman (MARATHON MAN), about a psychotic master of disguise…
In the Heat of the Night (1967): Dir. Norman Jewison
Feat. Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger; Oscar winning thriller starring Sidney Poitier as an urban black detective brought in to investigate a murder in a racist southern town. Rod Steiger…
Incident, The (1967): Dir. Larry Peerce
Feat. Martin Sheen, Tony Musante, Beau Bridges…; This stark, hard–hitting melodrama depicts two young thugs who drunkenly taunt and terrorize their fellow passengers on a New York subway…
Diamonds of the Night (1964): Dir. Jan Nemec
Feat. Ladislav Jansky, Antonin Kumbera, Irma Bischofova; Extraordinarily intense account, told with almost no dialogue, of two Jewish teenagers running for their lives after escaping from a train bound for…
Hamlet (1964): Dir. Grigori Kozintsev
Feat. Innokenti Smoktunovsky; The legendary Russian version of Shakespeare's play, which visually at least, stands as the greatest yet. Staged amidst the massive battlements of…
Kitten with a Whip (1964): Dir. Douglas Heyes
Feat. Ann-Margret, John Forsythe, Peter Brown…; Ann–Margaret brings white–hot intensity to this cult classic about a teenage girl on the run from the law who blackmails a clueless…
Dr. Crippen (1962): Dir. Robert Lynn
Feat. Donald Pleasence, Coral Browne, Samantha Eggar; This well paced drama centered around Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen's murder of his wife was originally billed as a horror, but is actually a rather…
Le Combat Dans L'île (1962): Dir. Alain Cavalier
Feat. Romy Schneider, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Henri Serre…; French drama exploring the tension between right and left wing politics in the early 60's, through the romantic conflict faced by a woman (Romy…
Victim (1961): Dir. Basil Dearden
Feat. Dirk Bogarde, Sylvia Syms; As an English barrister blackmailed over his homosexual past, Dirk Bogarde gives a keynote performance, the first in what was to become a long line…
Young Savages, The (1961): Dir. John Frankenheimer
Feat. Burt Lancaster, Dina Merrill, Edward Andrews…; Arresting crime drama set on the segregated streets of East Harlem and focused on a district attorney investigating the murder of a blind Puerto…
Come Dance with Me (Voulez-Vous Danser Avec Moi?) (1959): Dir. Michel Boisrond
Feat. Brigitte Bardot, Dawn Addams; Surprisingly entertaining French mystery thriller tracking a wife attempting to clear her husband's name from involvement in a dance studio murder.…
Last Train from Gun Hill (1959): Dir. John Sturges
Feat. Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones…; Underrated American Western telling the tale of a U.S. Marshal seeking revenge in the town of 'Gun Hill' after the racially charged rape and murder…
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957): Dir. John Huston
Feat. Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr; Kerr and Mitchum play a nun and Marine sergeant respectively, who are stranded on a desert island during WWII – the island happens to also be…
Time Without Pity (1957): Dir. Joseph Losey
Feat. Michael Redgrave, Leo McKern, Ann Todd…; Nervy noir has Michael Redgrave in top form as an alcoholic father racing against time to save his son from the gallows. Somewhat dated thriller…
Backlash (1956): Dir. John Sturges
Feat. Richard Widmark, Donna Reed, William Campbell…; Richard Widmark and Donna Reed play the tough–talkin', rootin–tootin leads in this gritty horse opera, as they both seek vengeance for…
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956): Dir. Fritz Lang
Feat. Dana Andrews, Joan Fontaine, Sidney Blackmer…; This bleak film noir from director Fritz Lang is a triumph of style and mood with a cynical take on fate and the human condition. An impeccably…
Yield to the Night (Blonde Sinner) (1956): Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Diana Dors, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig; British crime drama film that features a celebrated performance by "blonde bombshell" Diana Dors. Bearing a coincidental resemblance to the Ruth…
Man Without A Star (1955): Dir. King Vidor
Feat. Kirk Douglas, Jeanne Crain, Claire Trevor; Character–driven Western sees Kirk Douglas plays a laconic gunslinger with a dark–side, who drifts from scrape to scrape while working…
Seminole (1953): Dir. Budd Boetticher
Feat. Rock Hudson, Barbara Hale, Anthony Quinn…; Superlative Western set against the backdrop of 1835 Florida, where Rock Hudson plays a West Pointer Lieutenant who, on the insistence of Richard…
Damned Don't Cry, The (1950): Dir. Vincent Sherman
Feat. Joan Crawford, David Brian, Steve Cochran…; Loosely based on the relationship between Bugsy Siegel and Virginia Hill, this riveting film tells of a New York socialite's involvement with an…
Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi) (1948): Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura; The film that made Toshiro Mifune a star – playing a petty gangster with TB, who turns to an alcoholic doctor for help after a shoot–out.…
Fallen Idol, The (1948): Dir. Carol Reed
Feat. Ralph Richardson; Celebrated, tasteful British thriller about the muddled attempt of an 8–year–old ambassador's son to protect the embassy butler (Ralph…
My Brother's Keeper (1948): Dir. Alfred Roome
Feat. Jack Warner, Jane Hylton, David Tomlinson…; Rickety chase film from Gainsborough Pictures with two prisoners chained together making a dash for freedom.
Desert Fury (1947): Dir. Lewis Allen
Feat. Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak, Burt Lancaster…; Small town Nevada desert set suspense focusing around a gambling empire obstinately led by a tough woman whose perfect monopoly is interrupted by her…
It Always Rains on Sunday (1947): Dir. Robert Hamer
Feat. Googie Withers, John McCallum, Jack Warner; Overlooked masterpiece of British crime noir which blends kitchen sink realism with the poetic sensibilities of 30's French cinema. An escaped…
Man I Love, The (1946): Dir. Raoul Walsh
Feat. Ida Lupino, Robert Alda, Bruce Bennett…; Romantic drama about a New York lounge singer who becomes homesick and decides to visit her siblings on the West Coast, where she unexpectedly falls…
Seventh Veil, The (1945): Dir. Compton Bennett
Feat. James Mason, Ann Todd; Renowned film serves up psychiatry in bite sized chunks as a concert pianist is cured of her complexes by a shrink intent on fixing her up with the…
Le Corbeau (1943): Dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
Feat. Pierre Fresnay; Fascinating as a wartime allegory made under the German Occupation of France, a small town becomes a hot–bed of paranoia following a rash of…
Ox Bow Incident, The (Strange Incident) (1943): Dir. William A. Wellman
Feat. Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes…; Superlative moral drama in a Western setting, where three lynched cattle rustlers are later proven innocent by the upstanding Henry Ford. Although…
Went the Day Well? (1942): Dir. Alberto Cavalcanti
Feat. Leslie Banks, Valerie Taylor, Marie Lohr; British pluck and courage is put to the test in this Graham Greene story, where a cosy English village is infiltrated during WWII by a truckload of…
Swamp Water (1941): Dir. Jean Renoir
Feat. Walter Brennan, Walter Huston, Anne Baxter…; An interesting melodrama, dank with the regional atmosphere of the Florida Everglades, about the problems undergone by a youthful fur trapper…
Rebecca (1940): Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Feat. Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders; A masterful gothic romance about a nobleman's second wife who becomes haunted by the image of his beloved first. Hitchcock's first American film was…
Algiers (1938): Dir. John Cromwell
Feat. Hedy Lamarr, Charles Boyer, Sigrid Gurie…; Remake of a PEPE LE MOKO, in which a dashing jewel thief who has been hiding out for two years in the mysterious, murky Casbah, falls madly in love…
Regeneration (w/ Young Romance) (1915): Dir. Raoul Walsh
Feat. Anna Q. Nilsson, Carl Harbaugh, Rockliffe Fellowes…; The debut feature of director Raoul Walsh is an early gangster film following the trajectory of a poor orphan who grows up to assume a powerful…

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