A Private Life (2025)

Though obviously a successful psychiatrist, Lillian seems to be annoyed with humanity in general and is living a solitary life. Her son (a new father) only gets her attention when she needs something from him, which is also the experience of her ex-husband. After a patient dies from suicide, she learns that the patient's husband holds Lillian responsible and soon becomes convinced that it wasn't suicide.

This plays very much like a thriller, but that's obviously because we're seeing everything through Lillian's eyes. She feels threatened -- paranoid -- and very stuck in the life she's curated for herself. As she investigates the death of this patient, she can't help but re-engage with the world outside of her work and home. When all is said and done, she's still herself, but she's also an upgraded version of that person, no longer stuck. I thought it was brilliant.

A-

The Drowning Pool (1975)

This is the follow-up to Harper (a movie I really liked), with Paul Newman reprising the titular P.I. Though there are flashes of wit early on, the movie settles into a series of scenes featuring Harper chasing down (or being dragged to) yet another lowlife with another bit of information that may or may not be useful.

Meandering, confusing, and ugly. Also, Melanie Griffith as a nymphet ups the "yuck" factor.

C-

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Humphrey Bogart is Sam Spade, the prototypical hard-boiled detective -- unfazed by anyone including beautiful women in distress and slimy shake-down men. Everyone's after the titular statuette and they're all sure Spade can help.

Though there are better stories out there, as one of the first and most-referenced noirs, it is a must-see. Doesn't hurt that it's also entertaining with some fantastic performances.

B+

Black Death (2011)

The bubonic plague is claiming victims across England, but there are rumors of a remote town that been unaffected with further tales of their dead being brought back to life. After a group of soldiers fails to return from an investigative journey to the town, a second one is assigned the task and they recruit a young monk with motives of his own to accompany them as a guide.

It's an effective mystery with great atmosphere, but I feel like I've seen this type of thing done before. Add in the fact that it looks somehow cheap (perhaps it's the lighting?) and it tops out as "OK" or "serviceable."

C+

The Secret Agent (2025)

Watching this, I felt like I was in Brazil in the '70s. I actually caught my breath a couple of times due to immersive scenes that felt less like I was watching them and more like they were enveloping me. That said, I wasn't ever exactly sure what was happening (history is an embarrassingly weak spot for me). I was fully engaged throughout and, as I have an aversion to films that blow way past the 2-hour mark, that's quite a feat. 

Unfortunately, I can't help but ding this for the fact that I'm not quite sure I got the point.

B

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)

Father Jud is assigned to a parish with a shrinking congregation. It's soon clear to him what the issue is: Monsignor Wicks is deliberately abrasive, aiming for at least one "walk-out" per Sunday sermon so that those who endure will feel superior and even more dedicated. What's left is a tight group of seven parishioners who are fiercely loyal to Wicks and skeptical of Jud's agenda. But then Wicks is murdered in a "locked room mystery" and Benoit Blanc is called in to solve the crime.

It's more of the same and that's just fine.

B-

The Thin Man (1934)

I saw this probably 40 years ago and remembered it as delightful, so I was eager to see it again. What I'd obviously forgotten was just how long it takes to get to the good stuff! Powell and Loy are in top form, but we don't see them for nearly the first half-hour. We were introduced to so many characters before we got to Mr. and Mrs. Charles that I was starting to have trouble keeping them straight AND I began to wonder if something had gone wrong and we were somehow streaming a movie other than the one we'd rented.

Seriously, once Nick and Nora show up, things improve dramatically, but dedicating so much time to the rather "meh" mystery up front was a mistake.

C+

And Soon the Darkness (1971)

Two British nurses have decided to bike through the France on holiday, taking less traveled routes to see the real France rather than tourist traps. Because one is a "stick to the plan" type and the other would prefer to be more spontaneous, they have an argument resulting in one pedaling on ahead while the other stays behind to sunbathe. When the more responsible friend decides to go back to collect her friend, she's nowhere to be found.

Though the atmosphere was effective and the language barrier added a believable dash of confusion, the script relied too heavily on red herrings. Since there are only about half a dozen people in the film, this means that everyone's a suspect. It stretched believability to the breaking point: I would've been frustrated if I'd been at all invested.

C

Laura (1944)

When Laura is shot dead in her apartment, Detective Mark McPherson launches a no-nonsense investigation. Trouble is, her friend Waldo and fiancé Shelby feed him constant nonsense as he attempts to piece together what happened and why. We meet the lovely Laura in flashbacks from both of their perspectives and, along with Mark, can't help but fall a little bit in love.

I've seen this several times over the last 35 years or so and enjoy it every single time.

B+

Weapons (2025)

All of the students from an elementary school class -- except one -- run away during the night and have been missing for weeks. The police are stymied and tension in the town is high. Though, honestly, not nearly so high as I'd expect it to be. The classroom's teacher is an obvious target of suspicion and it's a nice touch that she's kinda messy. The shifting perspectives going over some of the same beats was an effective way to tell the story. 

But, nearly the entire time, I was frustrated by the laziness of the investigation. I mean, why on earth did it take so long for the idea to triangulate the children's destination from the trajectories recorded on ring cams to come up? And why was it a parent rather than a detective who figured that out? Also, a voiceover explaining that it was all covered up doesn't suffice, since the families SHOULD'VE been screaming about it non-stop. 

In the end, it was too big of an ask to suspend disbelief. Maybe it would've worked a bit better if we would've seen some kind of spell being cast over the parents/cops to explain why only a couple of people seemed to be interested in solving the case? 

C+

Night Watch (1973)

Ellen lives a comfortable life in an enviable home with her successful husband. On a rainy night, she claims to have seen a bloody corpse through the window of the boarded-up house next door. The cops, her husband, and the friend who's visiting all take it seriously, but no evidence of a body is found. Her continued insistence as well as her new reports of suspicious goings-on make her a bit of a joke to the police and begin to worry her husband and friend.

This is a surprisingly effective mystery with an ending I didn't see coming. Somehow, though, it feels a bit cheap, like an old network movie-of-the-week.

C+

Butterfly Kisses (2018)

Amateur documentarians decide to look into a local bogeyman. Legend has it that if you stare through a railroad bridge for a full hour without blinking, he'll appear at the far end. Then, every time you blink, he'll get a little bit closer until he's near enough to your face to tickle you with his eyelashes. 

Despite the fantastically natural "people on the street" interviews that sell us on the idea and the meta commentary about found footage/the convenience of the tapes falling into the hands of another filmmaker, there isn't enough here to keep it interesting through to the end. It leaves too many questions while also generating too little interest for me to really mind.

D

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

A wonderful cast simply squandered in a surprisingly basic whodunnit. I was so disappointed. If this becomes a franchise, I sure hope the mysteries grow into cases at least as interesting as those solving them.

C

The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

Miss Marple (Angela Lansbury) has a murder to solve when a local woman is poisoned. There's no shortage of suspects and perhaps even an extra target.

It feels more like a TV movie or an episode of Masterpiece Mystery than a major motion picture. If it weren't packed to the gills with major stars in their waning years (Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Kim Novak), it would be skippable. It might be skippable anyway.

C+

Vanilla Sky (2001)

Second viewing, first time was in a theater during its original release. What I retained from the first time I saw it was a general air of confusion without any of the bits that made it make sense. This time, in my living room, with the ability to pause and think about the experience, was a much more satisfying experience. Though my mind was repeating "what the HELL is going on," I was sure I wasn't missing anything, which gave me confidence it would all come together.

It's truly well-done. I was riveted by David's journey, even though I knew I was being gaslit right along with him. The biggest issue was that I didn't like any of the three primary players. David is a rich guy who acts like an entitled brat at work and with his friends -- I mean Sofia was his best friend's date and he didn't think twice about whisking her away from him. Sofia is just a typical manic pixie dream girl: beautiful and silly, hungry for all the attention. And Julie was a dangerous brand of crazy, but I honestly found her to be the most sympathetic.

Random thoughts:

• Jason Lee was Ryan Reynolds before Ryan was Ryan Reynolds
• Tom Cruise was shown as 5'11'' in his mug shot, so it should've been obvious right then that he isn't in touch with reality
• One of the best motion picture soundtracks of all time

B

Black Bag (2025)

I've just now realized that a movie directed by Soderbergh is not a slam dunk & I'm not sure why it took me so long to get here -- I should've noted this way back in 2005 when he gave us Bubble. And again in 2007 with Ocean's Thirteen. But then he goes and makes Logan Lucky, winning me back, right before he delivers Unsane, which lost me again.

Anyway. This movie is such a borefest. I had such a hard time focusing on the incessant dialogue that I just couldn't make myself care about any resolution.

C-

7 Women and a Murder (2022)

It's Christmas and an adult daughter arrives to spend it with her parents. Also there are her aunt, sister, grandmother, a housekeeper and -- eventually -- a mistress. When they discover the patriarch of the family with a knife in his back, the women try to figure out who's to blame. As the tension ratchets up, so do the obstacles (cut phone lines, power outage, a padlocked exit).

This suffers from a case of mildness. None of the women ever seemed to be truly scared or even really concerned. The funny bits only got a slight smile from me while the crime seemed to be just a subplot. It could've been a fun Marple-type of whodunit, but with a cast of characters who didn't seem to mind that their husband/lover/father/in-law had been struck down, I couldn't muster much interest either. Inoffensive and forgettable.

C-

Shutter Island (2010)

When a patient goes missing, a couple of marshals visit the island mental facility to figure out what happened. No one seems to be completely forthcoming and there's some suspicion about a secret facility in the lighthouse. To make matters even worse, a hurricane's brewing, which means no one can leave the island for a couple of days.

Within the first 15 minutes I said "here's what I think is happening..." and proceeded to get roughly 85% of the plot correct. So, though it looks great, it was pretty obvious what was going on from the moment the head doctor gave the marshal some aspirin.

C-

Caddo Lake (2024)

Paris was in the car with his mother when a sudden seizure caused them to crash into the lake. Since then, he's been obsessed with researching her illness and the lake levels while his personal life has suffered: his girlfriend and father need him to move on, but he just can't. In another storyline, teen Ellie is struggling in her blended family. Despite the friction with her mother and stepfather, her much younger stepsister Anna dotes on her. When Anna goes missing out on the lake, Ellie is frantic to find her and stumbles into Paris's world as he finds his way into hers.

Very effective film that doesn't get too deep into explanations. It just lets us viewers watch and start to piece together the truth along with Ellie and Paris. Original, if a bit too slight.

B

Killer Heat (2024)

Drunken PI with some demons is hired by a woman to investigate the death of her brother in law (her husband's identical twin). The case has been closed as accidental and the family into which she's married is very private and very powerful, so she wants him to keep quiet about what he's doing. 

I knew what was going on from the moment I heard "twin," so it became a matter of just waiting until the reveal to confirm that the obvious was true. There is a little twist at the very end, but it's not enough to alter my view of this as a by-the-numbers waste of time.

C-