Thriller

The Holcroft Covenant

  • Title: The Holcroft Covenant
  • IMDb: link

Adapted from the Robert Ludlum novel, 1985’s The Holcroft Covenant is a convoluted affair starring Michael Caine as the American son of one of Adolf Hitler’s top aides. Noel Holcroft’s birthday triggers a plan his father, and two other Nazi officers, created in the wanning days of World War II. Money put aside in 1945, along with four decades of interest, is to be turned over to Noel and the sons of the other two officers (Anthony Andrews and Michael Lonsdale) to disperse as they please as reparations for WWII.

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Jaws

  • Title: Jaws
  • IMDb: link

Released 50 years ago, Steven Spielberg‘s Jaws forever changed what a summer movie was and what horror movie was capable of. Far more successful than anyone could hope, Jaws captured the hearts and minds of audiences making it the most profitable movie ever released in theaters (at least until a certain sci-fi fantasy hit theaters two years later). Despite it’s troubled production, including a mechanical shark that often wouldn’t work as intended, Spielberg delivered by suggesting the shark’s presence through most of the first-half of the film relying heavily on his human actors and John Williams‘ famous score to set the mood of the film.

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3 Days of the Condor

  • Title: 3 Days of the Condor
  • IMDb: link

Throwback Tuesday takes us back to a 70s spy thriller involving a CIA researcher who got in over his head. Adapted from James Grady‘s novel Six Days of the Condor, the film stars Robert Redford as the sole survivor of an attack on a CIA office in New York City. Contacting the CIA in an attempt to come in only results in another attempt on his life. On the run, with no one to trust, Joe Turner has to work out who wants him dead and why.

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Basic Instinct

  • Title: Basic Instinct
  • IMDb: link

It’s hard to describe how big director Paul Verhoeven‘s stylish neo-noir was when it hit theaters in 1992. Splitting audience and critics, the controversial erotic thriller cashed in big at the box office (providing a boom for the genre that was never quite duplicated, despite many imitators) while stirring up controversy for from both the left, for its depiction of a bisexual woman as a nymphomaniac serial killer, and right with the kind of explicit sexuality usually reserved for softcore porn shown late at night on Cinemax. The film made Sharon Stone a star moving her on to bigger and better projects including being the rare woman to headline a western in The Quick and the Dead and a supporting role in Casino both just three years later.

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Scream 4

  • Title: Scream 4
  • IMDb: link

Scream Sunday takes us back to the world of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) in the worst movie (at least so far) of the 30 year-old franchise. The characters feel far too long-in-the tooth at this point as the film goes extra-hard with Stab parody sequel cameos (featuring the likes of Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Shenae Grimes, and Lucy Hale) and new Ghostface killings (this time with the killer filming their own murders) while limping to an unsatisfying twist ending that ties in social media feeding narcissism and fame-seeking without delivering a satisfying conclusion.

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