Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Actor: Alfred Molina, André De Shields, Billy Smith, Casey Affleck, David Gborie, Don DiPetta, Hong Chau, Jack Harlow, Jason Furlani, Matt Damon, Michael Rodrick, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mike Bash, Natalie Carter, Paul Walter Hauser, Richie Moriarty, Rob Gronkowski, Robert Harvey, Ron Perlman, Shawn Fitzgibbon, Slate Holmgren, Toby Jones, Toby Onwumere, Tom Mariano, Tommy Nohilly, Ving Rhames
Director: Doug Liman
It would be unfair to demand the same things out of The Continental that the John Wick film series already does so well. And this three-episode prequel definitely works as its own animal; even if you haven't seen those increasingly elaborate Keanu Reeves movies, this miniseries easily finds a whole group of sympathetic characters worth rooting for and builds to a series of exciting set pieces full of personality and excellent choreography. The groundedness of The Continental's ensemble of heroes emerging from the seedy streets of this fictionalized 1970s New York works surprisingly well against the arrogance of the show's villains. And the world they all inhabit is rendered just as slickly as in the films.
But in its search for an identity of its own, The Continental becomes a reminder for why the John Wick movies work so well—and why this series just can't capture the same spark. Those are simple, primal movies that contrast Reeves' stoic, mythic protagonist against a bizarre world of colorful enemies. The Continental, in contrast, borrows from many hardboiled crime dramas but never actually provides any insight into the systems or rules that govern all the factions involved. Individual characters may achieve their goals by the end, but it's ultimately hard to see how they add to the grander ideas of revenge and redemption at play.
Genre: Action, Action & Adventure, Crime, Thriller
Actor: Ben Robson, Colin Woodell, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Jeremy Bobb, Katie McGrath, Mel Gibson, Mishel Prada, Peter Greene
Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Actor: Adam Basil, Arian Nik, Bharat Mistri, Bobby Naderi, Dan Li, David Witts, Derek Siow, Don Gilet, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Enzo Cilenti, Georgia Goodman, Jason Statham, Jay Rincon, Jemma Redgrave, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Cohen, Josh Hutcherson, Kevin Golding, Kojo Attah, Li Dan, Martin Gordon, Megan Le, Michael Epp, Minnie Driver, Peter Brooke, Phil Hodges, Phylicia Rashād, Rebecca Hazlewood, Reza Diako, Rocci Williams, Sophia Feliciano, Sunny Dhillon, Taylor James, Valentina Novakovic
Director: David Ayer
In Marlowe, Liam Neeson joins the lofty lineup of actors who have stepped into the shoes of Raymond Chandler's titular detective, famously played by Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, and Elliott Gould. These are big boots to fill — and, if you’ve been paying attention to Neeson’s career over the last decade or so, you’ll be aware that he hasn’t exactly been stretching himself, dramatically speaking.
But Marlowe is something of a happy anomaly in Neeson’s filmography, because it has more than just adrenaline-pumping ambitions. Written by director Neil Jordan (of Michael Collins fame) and William Monahan (the screenwriter behind The Departed), the 1930s Hollywood-set plot is steeped in noir’s characteristic cynicism, giving it the seductive pull of that well-loved genre. It’s true that a not insignificant portion of the dialogue is so hard-boiled you can see the cracks — a clunkiness that’s repeated in a couple of the phoned-in supporting performances and the movie’s awkward action sequences. However, with a couple of bright spots in the starry cast, handsome production values, and a labyrinthine plot that just about passes muster as homage and not muddle, there are enough noir trappings here to keep the movie slinking along well enough, even if it ultimately isn't nearly as memorable as Marlowe’s previous screen incarnations.
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Actor: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Alan Cumming, Alan Moloney, Colm Meaney, Daniela Melchior, Danny Huston, Darrell D'Silva, Diane Kruger, François Arnaud, Gary Anthony Stennette, Ian Hart, Jessica Lange, Julius Cotter, Kim DeLonghi, Liam Neeson, Mark Schardan, Michael Garvey, Minnie Marx, Mitchell Mullen, Patrick Muldoon, Roberto Peralta, Seána Kerslake, Stella Stocker, Tony Corvillo
Director: Neil Jordan
This a small-town, true-crime thriller that has John Hamm (Mad Men) as the detective, Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso) as the trusty sidekick, and Tina Fey (30 Rock) as the love interest. They’re a charismatic cast helming a bizarro story whose real-life details are already teeming with juicy details, and yet, the resulting film, directed by John Slattery, is as lackluster and forgettable as can be. There is no sense of mystery, the jokes fall flat, and every scene looks like it’s shot from a studio lot. There is plenty of better fare out there for anyone looking for comedy capers, and I bet the true crime documentary of the real-life Maggie Moore case is infinitely more engaging than its filmic counterpart.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Actor: Allison Dunbar, Bryant Carroll, Chance Romero, Christopher Denham, Christopher Kriesa, Debrianna Mansini, Denielle Fisher Johnson, Derek Basco, Happy Anderson, Jodi Lynn Thomas, Jon Hamm, Louisa Krause, Mary Holland, Micah Stock, Nick Mohammed, Oona Roche, Peter Diseth, Richard Lippert, Roni Geva, Sewell Whitney, Tate Ellington, Tina Fey
Director: John Slattery
Genre: Crime, Documentary
Actor: Debbie Pollack, Katrin Faust, Lucia Lu, Miroslaw Wawak, Monika Laschke, Niklas Kohrt, Patrik Berg, Rick Hübner, Tristan Bumm
Director: Caroline Schaper, Jan Zabeil
Based on the first three episodes watched for this review, Club Hooligans (titled onscreen as Barrabrava) is at its best when it illustrates how disorganized the gang at the center of the narrative really is, especially when their leader's position is threatened. This inherent lack of loyalty and structure contrasts nicely with the stricter culture of family obligation for its lead characters—even though the gang is still where these men find greater meaning. Unfortunately, the show can't quite build as strong a sense of urgency as it thinks, with far too little development happening for both plot and character in the first three episodes. And while the series clearly has production value to spare, its overly familiar gritty style ultimately does Club Hooligans no favors, as it struggles to come up with its own voice and identity.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Actor: Gastón Pauls, Gustavo Garzón, Liz Solari, Matías Mayer, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Mónica Gonzaga, Pablo Alarcón
It starts off rather plain and descriptive, almost like a Wikipedia article in documentary form with how unremarkable it is. While it maintains that bare minimalism throughout, the aggravating sadness begins to seep in as stories get a little more personal, ages get a little younger, and the list of transgressions starts getting longer. You can’t help but feel for these women and their families who are very much trapped or used by this exploitative “agency” and threatened by other dangerous circles. If you can stomach keeping it going, it’s tragic and disgusting in the most barebones and straightforward way.
Genre: Crime, Documentary
Genre: Action, Crime
Actor: Canon Nawata, Junichi Okada, Katsuhisa Namase, Ken Yamamura, Koki Maeda, Mitsuo Yoshihara, Namase Katsuhisa, Noriko Eguchi, Ryosuke Yamada, Ryudo Uzaki, Sakura Andô, Yasumasa Oba, Yasushi Fuchikami
Director: Masato Harada
With its wildly different shifts between the film’s chapters, Bad Education feels like it doesn’t know what to do with itself, like plenty of newly graduated teenagers. The first chapter holds such visceral revulsion that it first feels like it would be a serious cautionary tale, commenting on how, without guidance, teenagers will led each other astray. However, its next chapter takes a more comedic route as the kids try to escape from gangsters and the police. While director Kai Ko reveals an excellent sense of direction and imagery, his style feels like it’s been wasted on ill-thought intentions and a poorly written script. Bad Education at least has stunning visuals and a short runtime to get through it all.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Actor: Berant Zhu, Cheng Chih-wei, Chu-Ping Liu, Edison Song, Hong Yu Hong, Huang Hsin-Yao, Kai Ko, Kent Tsai, Kurt Hsiao, Leon Dai, McFly Wu, Ning Chang, Tzu-Chiang Wang
Director: Kai Ko
This installment in Netflix's series of sports documentary films, Untold, relies too heavily on information to pad its runtime. Even with intriguing parallel storylines that explain what Victor Conte was doing to secretly deal performance-enhancing drugs, and what investigators were doing to try and catch him, the story begins to repeat itself, forgetting to place more emphasis on analyzing this information and finding personal insights into the BALCO scandal. That said, Victor Conte himself is admittedly a fascinating criminal, seemingly remorseful for the lives and careers he's damaged, but still fascinated by the idea of synthesizing substances to push sports beyond their physical limits. By the end, there's a real moral grayness to this whole ordeal, putting into question what some athletes' goals really are, and whether or not certain sports organizations willingly play along with fraudulence or not.
Genre: Crime, Documentary
Actor: Barry Bonds, George W. Bush, Joe Biden, John Ashcroft, Matt Biondi
Director: Bryan Storkel
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Western
Actor: Andrew Schulz, Arliss Howard, Brent Stait, Caleb Ellsworth-Clark, David Midthunder, Esme Creed-Miles, Gbenga Akinnagbe, James Hetfield, Juliette Lewis, Leslie Grace, Levon Hawke, Macon Blair, Ned Dennehy, Peter Dinklage, Roger LeBlanc, Ryan Robbins, Teach Grant
Director: Elliott Lester
True crime stories set in the world of crypto are still relatively unexplored and therefore have a real contemporary edge to them; they feel more relatable because these criminals share the same online spaces we do. Bitconned taps into this with a more casual, carefree energy, but it also brings up the same concerns—namely: how helpful is it, really, to give this much attention to a con artist currently running free? The film spends most of its time explaining how its main characters built their scam then failed spectacularly at covering their tracks, but after a while even the entertainment of others' mistakes needs to be supported by more thorough analysis, which this documentary doesn't provide.
Genre: Crime, Documentary
Actor: Damian Williams, Ray Trapani, Robert Farkas, Sam Bankman-Fried, Sohrab Sharma
Director: Bryan Storkel
Just like with its predecessor, it can be surprising how sober Street Flow 2 is. You expect stories about street gang life to be of a certain tone, but these films are more interested in the emotional and philosophical struggle to respond to violence and poverty in a just and proper way. This sequel continues this conversation from a more stable (but therefore less interesting) position: youngest sibling Noumouké is no longer torn between the influence of his older brothers, as all three try to move forward as a united front. But without a more distinct dilemma driving the action forward, the film ends up spinning its wheels—and rushes to an incomplete ending that doesn't say enough about survival, lawfulness, or the African immigrant experience in France.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Actor: Alessandra Sublet, Alix Mathurin, Bakary Diombera, Cherine Ghemri, Foued Nabba, Georgina Elizabeth Okon, Jammeh Diangana, Kadi Diarra, Kery James, Krystel Roche, Mahamadou Coulibaly, Sana Sri
Director: Alix Mathurin, Kery James, Leïla Sy
Whodunnits are the cornerstone of murder mysteries, and their occasional resurgence is usually a reprieve from films with more complicated structures and twists. See How They Run gives the Agatha Christie mystery spoof a go, dissecting the cozy mystery conventions anew. With quirky British humor, solid acting, and good period-piece visuals, the familiarity and predictability culminate into an easy, well-paced watch. With no desire to reinvent the genre, the film seems to implore its audience to indulge in self-indulgence. Enjoy watching a piece of cinema for the sake of it.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Actor: Adrien Brody, Angus Wright, Ania Marson, Charlie Cooper, David Oyelowo, Gregory Cox, Harris Dickinson, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Kieran Hodgson, Laura Morgan, Lucian Msamati, Maggie McCarthy, Oliver Jackson, Paul Chahidi, Pearl Chanda, Philip Desmeules, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Reece Shearsmith, Ruth Wilson, Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Shirley Henderson, Sian Clifford, Tim Key, Tolu Ogunmefun
Director: Tom George