This movie is another out-of-the-park non-stop action extravaganza from David Leitch. There are as many surprises and turnarounds as there are plot elements, and everything is used and reintroduced in surprising and inventive ways. The violence is rampant and often funny, but always well choreographed and flawlessly filmed.
Content warning: bloody action
Closest comparison: It’s like Snatch by way of Deadpool 2.
Setting: Thriller
Plot: Action
Tone: Action
This movie is a lot of fun, but completely braindead. It’s twice as long as it needs to be and keeps trying to inject useless drama into what is clearly a sci-fi disaster flick.
Closest comparison: It’s like 2012 by way of The Day After Tomorrow.
Setting: Adventure
Plot: Disaster
Tone: Action
This movie is a fun ‘what if’ that meanders along amicably until its ‘sure, why not’ conclusion. It takes itself unseriously enough to relish its own absurdities, which keeps it from subverting its premise in the payoff. It’s a lighthearted film and not much more.
Closest comparison: It’s like My Fair Lady by way of The Philadelphia Story.
Setting: Decadence
Plot: Prince/Pauper
Tone: Comedy
This movie is a solid indie revenge flick that pays off the suspense more than the action. Mark Dacascos is great, delivering outstanding martial arts and turning in a memorable performance, but everyone else has trouble acting in basic dialogue scenes. The visual style is slick and on point, although the strip club scene plays at odds with the heart of the narrative.
Content warning: female nudity
Closest comparison: It’s like Collateral by way of John Wick.
Setting: Thriller
Plot: Revenge
Tone: Action
This movie is a time-bending psychological thriller that plays out more like modern Shakespeare than any of its contemporaries. It blends mystery, romance, and thriller in a nice overall package, but is too strange to have the staying power it could have. The film goes in more for character drama than rational explanation by the end, which is fun but nothing more.
Closest comparison: It’s like Wuthering Heights by way of Wolf (1994).
Setting: Drama
Plot: Sci-Fi
Tone: Mystery
This movie is a no account grimy western that thinks reading depravity into historical settings is profound. The only good thing about this movie is its Leonard Cohen score, but that even clashes with the overall tone of the film. This film is an unmitigated disaster.
Content warning: female nudity
Closest comparison: It’s like Once Upon a Time in the West crossed with Taxi Driver.
Setting: Western
Plot: Entrepreneur
Tone: Sleaze
This movie is a run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, neither asking nor offering surprise. The main trio of actors is outstanding and worth the price of admission alone, and makes long strides to compensate for the lack of anything else in this film.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Parent Trap by way of Desk Set.
Setting: RomCom
Plot: RomCom
Tone: RomCom
This movie is an outstanding, self-aware cozy comedy that delivers impeccably on its task. It’s funny and clever, never overplaying its hand or underselling the mystery. It’s flush with style like Wes Anderson, but it never meanders aimlessly or forgets about the ending like his films can. Sam Rockwell’s accent goes in and out a bit but all of the characters, including his, are so layered that minor flaws in the performances are easy to overlook.
Closest comparison: It’s like Knives Out by way of The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Setting: Detective
Plot: Mystery
Tone: Comedy
This is a ‘based on a true story’ movie that plays out more like a classic Noir title than a true crime detective docudrama. The manhunt portions don’t lag terribly because they’re intercut between hunter and hunted. The short runtime also helps keep the story focused, not bogged down by manufactured drama.
Closest comparison: It’s like No Country For Old Men by way of Dark Passage.
Setting: Crime
Plot: Manhunt
Tone: Noir
This movie is more grounded addition to the Batman mythology, a less fantastical prequel than many of the other entries. The story is solid and straightforward, pretty much what anyone with any knowledge of Batman would expect at this point, but with all the crazy interpretations out there it’s nice to have a standard by which to measure.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Batman by way of The Long Halloween.
Setting: Noir
Plot: Crime
Tone: Super hero
This movie gets its reputation as being one of the only Capoeira movies, and as such it’s one of the best. But the cheesy ‘90s plot and awkward teen acting make it a painful watch at times. The action is mostly lacking, with a few exceptions, cutting too much and feeling more like stage acting than the gritty realism the tone of the movie is trying to accomplish.
Closest comparison: It’s like Kickboxer by way of Rad (1986).
Setting: Teen Drama
Plot: Bad Batch
Tone: Coming of Age
This is a somber, slow western that’s more wistful than it is profound. It’s strange and episodic, winding its narrative lazily along until it peters out unceremoniously. For all of its problems, however, it’s curiously fascinating and hard to look away from the bizarre journey.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs by way of Meek’s Cutoff.
Setting: Western
Plot: Chase
Tone: Stoner
This movie nails both the comedy and the sci-fi halves of its script, and provides a shining beacon in the silly time travel sub-genre, as well as the pub crawl sub-genre. It’s a self-contained knock-out that neither overstays its welcome nor overplays its hand. This film is a solidly good time, no two ways around it.
Closest comparison: It’s like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure by way of The World’s End.
Setting: Adventure
Plot: Time Travel
Tone: Comedy
This movie is an old classic, and true to form knocks it out of the park. In parts it’s a slapstick extravaganza, but on the whole it’s equal parts hilarious, heartfelt, and heartbreaking. There’s a purity to silent films that here is used to great effect, using the audience’s loss of one sense and lack of agency to empathize with the heroine. It has antiquated sensibilities and pacing, but it comes across as sincere and meaningful ninety years later.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Pursuit of Happyness by way of Modern Times.
Setting: RomCom
Plot: Rags to Riches
Tone: Comedy/Drama
This movie is an excuse to put as much disgusting gore on screen as possible. It has an extremely small budget, judging by the production values, and the tiny plot serves only as a backdrop for the sadistic torture that’s at the heart of this film. The special effects are reminiscent of The Thing, but grosser and more unsettling. The effects may well have been stunning for the time, but even die hard horror fans have to admit there’s a lot better fare out there these days.
Content warning: female nudity, extended sickening gore
Closest comparison: It’s like the third act of Event Horizon, but with more gore.
Setting: Sci-Fi
Plot: Horror
Tone: Splatter
This movie is a solid Hitchcock thriller, without going above and beyond. It feels very similar to Hitchcock’s other early work, specifically The 39 Steps and Secret Agent, but done a bit better here. Peter Lorre steals the show as always but there’s a good, thrilling narrative to hold up this film as well.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Lady Vanishes by way of The 39 Steps.
Setting: Espionage
Plot: Detective
Tone: Noir
This movie is the epitome of film noir, with a classic detective narrative, revelations of a sordid past, and slowburn tension in a sleazy-yet-sophisticated setting. Unfortunately there is no depth beyond the face-value narrative. Still, this is a must-see for fans of the genre.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Maltese Falcon by way of Detour.
Setting: Noir
Plot: Noir
Tone: Noir
This movie is a teen knockoff of the Top Gun formula, using high school prank antics in place of training montages and young pluck in place of expertise. It’s a fun ‘80s teen movie that takes itself about as seriously as any adventure movie of the era. The suspension of disbelief will likely be too much for some viewers, but the film obeys its own rules for the most part and delivers neither more nor less than it promises.
Closest comparison: It’s like Top Gun if it were directed by John Hughes.
Setting: Military
Plot: Rescue
Tone: High School
This is a solid entry in the cozy mystery genre, albeit a little more edgy in a few places than your standard 1960’s BBC fare. It plays out like any other Agatha Christie story and although I can’t add much more without spoiling the mystery, I can safely say it’s one of the best Miss Marple mysteries I’ve seen.
Closest comparison: It’s like Sunset Boulevard by way of the BBC cozy mysteries.
Setting: Town Drama
Plot: Cozy Mystery
Tone: BBC TeleDrama
This movie is much too long for its simple, pithy point, and would have done much better as an episode of a TV show like Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It’s a long, sordid drama that revisits the same ground until it’s blue in the face before finally delivering what a mounts to a recognizable noir cautionary morality tale. Initially the overlong repetition works in the film’s favor by increasing tension, but eventually the prospect of tragedy looks enticing as long as it results in forward narrative motion. Still, the performances are palpable and the plot is mechanically sound.
Closest comparison: It’s like an extended episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Setting: Noir
Plot: Crime
Tone: Thriller
