Marathon Man - 3/5

This movie is a capable thriller, but some of the tense scenes have cheap, underwhelming reversals. The setup is great and much of the runtime is devoted to dwelling in the uncertainty of the protagonist’s position. There’s a torture scene that seemed mostly pointless to dwell on in retrospect, and the ending is downright out of character. But for a tense, paranoid conspiracy thriller you could do a lot worse.

Closest comparison: It’s like Enemy of the State by way of Three Days of the Condor.

Setting: Espionage
Plot: Espionage
Tone: Thriller

All the President's Men (1976) - 2/5

This is a very boring docudrama about reporters and the Watergate scandal. The pacing is impressively bad, so much so that it’s ubiquitously unclear what key persons of interest mean to the investigation at large, and the goalposts keep moving without resolution. The film seems to think it’s a thriller but has no teeth, even including one confusing jumpscare with nobody there in an empty parking garage. Presumably it may make more sense to someone know knows the subject matter very well, but that philosophy is antithetical to the fundamental concept of filmmaking.

Content warning: language

Closest comparison: It’s like Kill The Messenger by way of ‘Good Night and Good Luck’.

Setting: Journalism
Plot: Investigation
Tone: Drama

Dick Tracy (1990) - 1/5

This movie has an amazing style somewhere between Sin City and Edward Scissorhands, but it’s plot and execution is so wildly ill-advised that it’s surprising it got made. It serves as a warning to anyone attempting to make a film that purports to be for children in its intellectual property, style, and tone, but insists on including mistreatment and exploitation of women in a gritty gangster plot.

Content warning: female nudity

Closest comparison: It’s like The Maltese Falcon by way of Speed Racer (2008).

Setting: Noir
Plot: Detective
Tone: Adventure

Sphere - 2/5

This movie is a strange, confusing attempt at multiple genres, below average for Michael Crichton. It’s a film about scientists where the main interpersonal conflict boils down to “he said she said” drama, that all doesn’t end up mattering in the end. A recurring theme is characters getting into a deadly situation and shouting “Help me! Do something!” over and over while everyone else sits around not doing anything. Bizarrely enough, this happens just as often the other way around, and the characters detach the audience from the narrative in a very damaging way. Although it has an interesting sci-fi concept it overstays its welcome and fails to flush out its runtime with an interesting, and by the end even a workable, plot.

Closest comparison: It’s like a worse version of Underwater by way of a much tamer Event Horizon.

Setting: Deep Sea Adventure
Plot: Sci-Fi Thriller
Tone: Disaster