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“Relay” is an accomplished conspiracy thriller that echoes “New Hollywood” classics like “Three Days of the Condor” or “The Parallax View,” as it’s an examination of a whistleblower’s attempts to survive an all-powerful system. The difference between the 1970s and the 21st century is that now corporations and businesses are just as influential as governments; in fact, the secrecy involved in an employer-led manhunt is more terrifying than legal persecution, as a private company does not have to abide by the rules of the judiciary. While “Relay” makes a fatal mistake in its final act that invalidates much of the worldbuilding that it had already established, it’s still a worthwhile watch that serves as a compelling revamp of a quintessential subgenre.

Riz Ahmed stars as Ash, a “fixer” for a powerful corporation who helps form secret arrangements on its behalf. After being assigned to extract pertinent information from the whistleblower,...

On the heels of broadcast journalism being thwarted by way of President Trump, IndieWire can announce that iconic Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein biopic “All the President’s Men” will get a 2025 spin by way of more than a few Oscar winners.

Robert Downey Jr., Kenneth Lonergan, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, and Ramy Youssef will all participate in a one-night-only staged reading of William Goldman’s Academy Award-winning 1976 screenplay about the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. John Benjamin Hickey will direct the reading, with additional stars will be announced in the coming weeks. The cast will participate in a Q&a as well. The event will take place at the acclaimed Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY on Monday, August 25 at 7:00 p.m. Et.

The live “All the President’s Men” reading is presented by nonprofit arts and community The Center at West Park...

In 2025, there is no excuse for a film set to be anything other than fully safe and secure. Obviously, accidents will happen. Just as sure as you might take a stumble while out for a walk, or put a foot wrong while walking up the stairs, people will get hurt performing stunts. What should never, ever occur, however, is a miscue that leaves someone seriously injured or, god forbid, dead. When there is a fatal accident on set, it is almost certainly due to gross negligence, as was the case when Alec Baldwin shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins with a live round from a prop gun during the filming of "Rust."

Fortunately, there have been relatively few instances of such incompetence over the last couple of decades, but during the silent and early talkies eras, fatal accidents were much more frequent. Airplane stunts went awry, fires got wildly out of control,...

This is a list of films about America. I got the idea for the list after watching The Brutalist, and then hearing Ray Charles’s America, the Beautiful playing somewhere. These ten films were chosen from a bigger list of 25 films, and each film presents a distinct critical viewpoint on an aspect, or aspects, of the American experiment. Six of the films are set in their respective presents, whereas the other 4 depict a recent past. Both forms of social commentary are worthwhile and thought-provoking. No matter the time period they explore, every film is a product of the moment in which it was created, meaning that a movie released in 2002 and set in 1955 is just as much about 2002 as it is about 1955.

The films have been placed in chronological order of release, but their subject matter spans the America of 1898 to the America of the 2010s. These are not the ten best films about America,...

Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford co-starred in 1997's The Devil's Own, a crime drama that explored controversial political themes. Both actors were cast as the film's protagonists, which was problematic given the nature of the script.

The Devil's Own will be available to stream on Netflix from June 1. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, this action-thriller was one of Brad Pitt's early hits. The film revolves around Francis McGuire (Pitt), an Ira (Irish Republican Army) member sent to buy black market missiles in the United States. He stays with Irish-American NYPD Sergeant Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford) and his family. Things come to a head when Tom realizes Francis' true motives.

The Devil's Own was a box office success, despitemixed reception from audiences and critics. Much of the contention revolved around the controversial premise. Film critic Roger Ebert stated that the story showed "ignorance of the history of Northern Ireland," it also...

After making his feature scripting debut with 1992's "The Cutting Edge," an agreeable figure skating riff on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" starring D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly, Tony Gilroy quickly established himself as a Hollywood screenwriter to watch. Though he received only scattered praise for delivering a hugely engrossing adaptation of Stephen King's "Dolores Claiborne" and penning the niftily plotted medical thriller "Extreme Measures," his major rewrite of "The Devil's Advocate," which transformed a difficult-to-pin-down project into a shamelessly entertaining box office hit, placed him on the town's A-list.

While Gilroy didn't have a singular voice like his top-paid peers Shane Black, Joe Eszterhas, and Daniel Waters, he was highly valued by filmmakers for his wit, sense of storytelling structure, and lack of preciousness. He wasn't above tinkering on Michael Bay's silly "Armageddon" or Antoine Fuqua's action-comedy "Bait," which was likely because a) the money...

Created by David E. Kelley, the legal thriller series Presumed Innocent is based on the novel of the same name by Scott Turow. The first season of the show starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Rusty Sabich, a prosecutor who finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of co-workers with whom he was physically involved.

Presumed Innocent, upon release, exceeded critics’ and audiences’ expectations of a legal thriller, as it was described as a perfect blend of realism with twists and turns. The twists and turns kept the viewers on the edge of their seats, and it was regarded as one of the best-watched series on Apple TV+. It was renewed for a second season in July 2024, and here’s everything we know about the upcoming season.

Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent Season 2 is not based on Scott Turow’s novel

The highly anticipated season two of the legal thriller series...

Rob McElhenney, the actor widely known for his work in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, started his career on quite a humiliating note. In the late ’90s, McElhenney landed what seemed like a dream opportunity, a role in the 1997 action thriller The Devil’s Own, starring Hollywood stars Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt.

The aspiring actor was excited to make his big-screen debut. But what should have been a promising first step in his career turned into a crushing disappointment when all of his scenes were cut from the movie.

Rob McElhenney recalled his crushed Hollywood debut in The Devil’s Own

During a recent appearance on Hot Ones, Rob McElhenney recalled how his first-ever acting job in the industry left him with the most “humiliating and terrible” experience of his life. The actor had landed his first role in the 1997 action thriller The Devil’s Own.

Directed by Alan J. Pakula and...

Fandor has revealed the new films that are joining the artfully entertaining streaming service in April.

Highlights include: Russ Meyer‘s satirical sexploitation Vixen trilogy; acclaimed psychological nightmare Repulsion; ’70s Gothic horror And Now the Screaming Starts starring Peter Cushing; and Dario Argento‘s aria of terror in Opera;

There’s also Takashi Miike‘s supernatural chiller Over Your Dead Body; body-horror favorite American Mary; Soviet dystopian sci-fi comedy Kin-dza-dza; Taiwanese neo-noir crime thriller Who Killed Cock Robin; and Slamdance Grand Jury Prize winner The Accident.

Here’s the full line-up:

April 4: Wuss, Louder Than You Think: A Lo-fi History of Gary Young and Pavement, Striding into the Wind, Who Killed Cock Robin, Alan Pakula: Going For the Truth, Therapy Dogs, Kin-dza-dza!

April 8: The Accident

April 11: Over Your Dead Body, Clearcut, Opera, Moments Like This Never Last

April 18: And Now the Screaming Starts, Vixen,...

Did Meryl Streep work hard to learn Polish for Sophie’s Choice role?(Photo Credit –Wikimedia)

Streep captivated as Sophie, a Polish immigrant with a haunting past. Sophie’s Choice (1982) followed her life in Brooklyn, but its most gut-wrenching moments came through flashbacks to her time in a Nazi camp.

To truly embody Sophie, Meryl Streep had to learn Polish. She initially assumed it would be as easy as picking up Italian or French. “I thought it would be a piece of cake, like picking up Italian or French or something—but it’s not,” Streep said in an interview. “It’s a lot like Latin because there are seven cases, I think—my teacher will kill me if I don’t get this right—grammar wasn’t my strong point, I can get the accent.”

Streep continued: “Anyway, because of that it was real hard to learn, you have to...

For a moment in the 1990s, adapting a John Grisham novel into a movie was akin to printing money. It all started with "The Firm," a film that had the good fortune of coming along just as its leading man, Tom Cruise, was really hitting his stride that decade thanks to "A Few Good Men." Of course, it helped that the 1993 legal thriller also paired Tommy C with the dream team of director Sydney Pollack, writer Robert Towne, and a killer supporting cast featuring Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Wilford Brimley, and the ever-on-point Gene Hackman.

(Fun fact: "The Firm" is also the flick Aubrey Plaza's character is watching as she practices her meat-beating skills in "The To Do List." If having your movie serve as the punchline in a teen sex romp isn't something all filmmakers aspire to, then I dunno what we're even doing.)

On top of striking box office gold,...

Finally, the truth. Subhash Ghai’s most atypical film Black & White, released on March 7, 2008, was a blatant ripoff of Alan Pakula’s The Devil’s Own. Although Ghai denied the comparison, the similarities are too many to ignore. Subhash Ghai ventures into a territory that would characteristically be considered uninviting for an escapist entertainer.

It’s a well-crafted, finely written, and packaged piece of cinema done with more heartfelt Gandhian articulations than most recent films, which have merchandized poor Gandhiji in Munna-tones of bubble-gum philosophy.

You don’t often come away from a film disturbed yet hopeful about the distending dimensions of modern-day violence and terrorism. We did it in Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se, Gulzar’s Maachis, and Santosh Sivan’s Terrorist. Now we feel a genuine concern for the collapse of Gandhi’s secular dream in India, as Chandni Chowk (which is rapidly becoming a favourite haunting-ground for...

The 97th Academy Awards were held on Sunday night, i.e., the Super Bowl for movie fans. That comparison might sting a little for ABC, which probably wishes it could achieve Super Bowl ratings numbers for the Oscars, especially following Hulu's glitchy livestream, which likely contributed to a decrease in viewers for the first time in four years.

According to Variety, the 2025 Oscars attracted 18.1 million viewers to watchAnora claim Best Picture of the year, down 7% from the 19.5 million people who tuned in for the 2024 ceremony. Given that ratings for the awards ceremony have seen much lower lows, this is a respectable number, but it may be a sign that some of the films, beyond box-office behemoth Wicked, weren't sampled by casual moviegoers and mostly appealed to more dedicated cinephiles.

Related2025's Academy Awards Were One of the Best in Years

The 97th Academy Awards did not mock the nominees...

Will Conan O'Brien host the Academy Awards again? The question has been on everyone's lips since his performance during last night's ceremony. Thankfully, Walt Disney TV's Rob Mills, the executive VP of unscripted and alternative entertainment in charge of these things, has some thoughts on the matter, too. And in a new interview with Variety, the executive lays out his thoughts on that, some of the night's biggest jokes, and more.

Though hardly confirmation of anything that may or may not happen in the future, Mills put the ball directly in O'Brien's court when it comes to hosting the award show again, confirming to the outlet that ABC's parent company was deeply satisfied with the job the comedian did. Considering how thankless it can be to host an awards show (just ask all the other folks who have hosted award shows), it's a huge compliment to O'Brien's ability to appeal...

Chris Rock is playing coy about hosting the Academy Awards again. The former host — who was involved in one of the most memorable moments in Oscars history when he was slapped by Will Smith onstage — remained vague when asked whether or not he would tackle the role taken on by Conan O'Brien in this year's ceremony.

Considering all that he had to endure not only during the 2022 Oscars, but the fallout after the fact, it's not surprising that the Fargo star was hesitant to commit to returning. But given that Rock was all about "forgiveness" when E! News asked him about it at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, we could absolutely see a world where he comes back and hosts the show again. But if you want to know exactly what he had to say about the matter, keep reading below!

RelatedChris Rock Faces Humorous Threat from Another Round Director...

“If there was only certainty, and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore, no need for faith. Let us pray that God will grant us a Pope who doubts,” Cardinal Lawrence cautions his fellow cardinals in Conclave in a poignant speech at the start of the papal summit to select the next leader of the Catholic Church.

The Machiavellian machinations escalate as over 100 cardinals from around the world gather after the expected death of the current Pontiff to participate in a brutal battle of succession, pitting the liberal camp of the order—led by Cardinal Bellini—against the conservatives with Cardinal Tedesco of Venice (Sergio Castellitto). A fast-paced tale of duty, power, faith, and comeuppance, director Edward Berger’s riveting election thriller was recently anointed the Best Film of the year by BAFTA and nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Scoring his first BAFTA win for the film two weeks ago,...

Rob McElhenney, the actor and creator of the hit sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, reveals that he had a part in the action thriller starring Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford, The Devil's Own. However, when he saw the movie, he realized all his scenes had been cut out: "They were all A players. I was a D player on the ground. I wasn't even a player, I was on the editing room's floor."

McElhenney appeared onHot Ones(via ScreenRant), the web series where celebrities eat hot wings and speak about their work as their mouths burst into flames. The star of It's Always Sunnyrecalled being cast in the 1997 action film by Alan J. Pakula and even shooting a handful of scenes. Nevertheless, his character was scrapped in the editing room, and he wasn't aware of this. McElhenney only realized this when he saw the final cut, along with his...

Apple Original Films is in talks to buy an untitled high-concept UFO package that has “Top Gun: Maverick” filmmaker Joseph Kosinski directing and Jerry Bruckheimer producing, according to an insider with knowledge.

The script written by Zach Baylin is described as “a UFO disclosure-themed take on ‘All the President’s Men,’ the classic 1976 political thriller from Alan J. Pakula,” according to Deadline, which first reported the news. Baylin previously wrote the screenplay to the Oscar-winning drama “King Richard.”

Kosinski and Bruckheimer produced Brad Pitt-starrer “F1” at the streamer, which opens in theaters this June. Apple was able to land the package after it hit town last week after the streamer’s strong working relationship with both Kosinski and Bruckheimer producing on the Formula 1 film.

What is of note is that David Grusch, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and Pentagon whistleblower who gained notoriety and made national headlines...

Exclusive: The package market has been booming over the past couple weeks and here is another one that looks to have found its new home. Sources tell Deadline that Apple Original Films is in talks to land the untitled UFO package that has Joseph Kosinski directing and Jerry Bruckheimer producing. Zach Baylin penned the script, which is akin to a UFO disclosure-themed take on All the President’s Men, the classic 1976 political thriller from Alan J. Pakula.

The package hit the market last week with several bids coming in and sources say a big reason Apple ended up winning the bid was the strong relationship that grew out of the studio’s F1 movie that Kosinski directed and Bruckheimer produced. Insiders are very high on that film, which will bow in June, and were eager to work again after the film finished production.

David Grusch, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence...

Everyone's favorite canoe-paddler and gigglepuss extraordinaire, Nick Offerman, has been confirmed as the official Show Announcer for this year's Academy Awards ceremony. The Parks and Recreation funnyman will join host Conan O'Brien in show duties that are sure to bring the funny to this year's Oscars. And he's not the only famous face (or voice) to be newly confirmed to present or join the broadcast of the 97th installment of cinematic accolades.

The news was confirmed on Wednesday by The Hollywood Reporter while speaking with executive producer and showrunner Raj Kapoor and executive producer Katy Mullan. The event will be the first time the Emmy Award-winning performer has attended the ceremony.

Also planning to work that night are Oprah Winfrey, Selena Gomez, Ben Stiller, Willem Dafoe, Goldie Hawn, Sterling K. Brown, Joe Alwyn, Lily-Rose Depp, Ana de Armas, and Connie Nielsen — all of whom have been confirmed as presenters at the awards.

Following collaborations on smash hit Paramount sequel Top Gun: Maverick and the forthcoming Formula 1 pic F1 for Apple and Warner Bros, director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are eyeing a reteam on a hot new package out to the town.

We’re told that the as-yet-untitled project is akin to a UFO disclosure-themed take on All the President’s Men, the classic 1976 political thriller from Alan J. Pakula. At least nine bids for the project are in around town from suitors like Amazon, Skydance, Lionsgate, Sony, Warner Bros, Paramount, 20th, Apple and Universal.

Kosinski will direct from a script by Zach Baylin — the Oscar-nominated scribe behind The Order and King Richard — with Bruckheimer producing.

David Grusch, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and Pentagon whistleblower who gained attention in 2023 for his claims about the U.S. government’s involvement in unidentified aerial phenomena research, will executive produce and serve...

Author John Grisham has turned his legal experience into a host of best-selling novels, many of which have become television series and movies. Feature films based on Grisham's work have grossed hundreds of millions of dollars at the domestic box office alone, attesting to his widespread appeal.

Not every one of the nine feature films based on Grisham's works is about the law, however, with Christmas with the Kranks standing alone as a comedy. Grisham has also tried his hand at writing at least one movie screenplay, Mickey, but the best-known John Grisham movies are the legal thrillers based on the books for which he's so well known.

The chronology of movies based on Grisham's work is a fascinating look back at just how far his star has risen. Some of the biggest names in Hollywood have appeared in Grisham flicks, making them even more must-see movies.

Movie

Release Year...

Jeffrey Wright credits his “Highest 2 Lowest” director Spike Lee for encouraging a career “high” of his own: making his directorial debut.

Wright told Men’s Health that Lee inspired him to direct his first project, which will be shot in 2026. It’s unclear whether the yet-to-be-announced project is a film or a series, but it will be Wright’s first time behind the camera regardless.

“Well, Spike would say to me, and a few other people I’ve worked with have said to me, ‘When are you going to direct?’” Wright said. “So that may be in the works. That is in the works, actually, for a project we’ll shoot in 2026. I’ll have to talk to you about that one later.”

Wright will draw from his past experiences with auteurs like Lee to make his own directorial debut.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with many...

Alan J. Pakula was one of the most influential filmmakers of the “New Hollywood” era, as his work on classic conspiracy thrillers like Klute, The Parallax View, All the President’s Men, and Rollover helped to define the espionage genre as it is known today. Although there are many classical filmmakers that choose to retire early, Pakula found a resurgence in popularity in the 1990s thanks to the success of the legal thrillers Presumed Innocent and The Pelican Brief, which combined complex ethical dilemmas with dynamic performances from some of the biggest stars working in the industry. Pakula tragically passed away in 1998, but his career concluded on a high note with the underrated crime thriller The Devil’s Own, which featured strong performances from Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt.

In his new book “Presumed Guilty,” Scott Turow revisits one of his most famous characters: 35 years after the events of “Presumed Innocent,” Rusty Sabich is on the other side of the courtroom as he defends his fiancé Bea’s son Aaron on murder charges.

While there was speculation that the new novel might also serve as the second season for the Apple TV+ series “Presumed Innocent,” Turow told TheWrap that neither of his sequels about Rusty Sabich — including the 2010 novel “Innocent” — would have worked as a follow-up to the David E. Kelley and JJ Abrams-produced series.

“‘Innocent’ is set 20 years later, so it would be hard to do it as a follow on to the prior series,” he said. “Also, Peter Sarsgaard said from the beginning, ‘I’m not doing sequels.‘ And as it happens, his character, Tommy Molto, was at the center of the story in ‘Innocent,” so...

Tom Holland will star in and produce an adaptation of John Grisham’s 1997 bestseller “The Partner,” TheWrap has learned. Oscar-winning “The Imitation Game” writer Graham Moore will pen the script for the Universal project.

Holland will play Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm. But when he learns of a plan by the firm’s partners, in collusion with a wealthy client (a shipbuilding magnate), he constructs a plan of his own. Lanigan steals $90 million from the client, fakes his own death and flees to South America, where he starts a new life. But, as happens in these stories, his past comes back to haunt him and with the client closing in, he gives himself over to the FBI and starts defending himself in multiple cases.

When the book was released in ’97, it was praised for its tight plotting and smart storytelling. It was only Grisham...

When David Fincher directed “Se7en” in 1995, his reputation was strangely bifurcated. On the one hand, he was a supremely successful commercial and music video director at the top of his field, having helmed innovative and influential shorts for icons including Madonna, Sting, and Rick Springfield. On the other, his one attempt at feature filmmaking, “Alien 3,” had been a bust — a critical disappointment liked by virtually no one, including Fincher himself. Although it has since developed a bit of a cult following, Fincher disowned “Alien 3” and famously said that he’d rather die of colon cancer than direct another movie.

Luckily for him, and for us, Fincher changed his mind when he came across Andrew Kevin Walker’s script for “Se7en,” a perfectly calibrated blend of intellectual philosophizing and pulpy exploitation that ended up beautifully served by Fincher’s unerring ability to push the psychic trauma the story inflicted...

Photos (l-r) Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Halston, Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger by Dustin Pittman in New York After Dark (Rizzoli) at Eerdmans Photo: Anne Katrin Titze, featuring work by Dustin Pittman

In the second instalment of our conversation with renowned photographer Dustin Pittman and music producer and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman, we start out with the New York music scene at Cbgb and Hurrah, then go on to Andy Warhol superstars Candy Darling, Taylor Mead, Jackie Curtis, Sylvia Miles (in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy), Lana Jokel, and Bob Colacello. Dustin also had a distinguished career working with directors such as Alan J Pakula on The Sterile Cuckoo (starring Liza Minnelli), Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables, Miloš Forman’s Ragtime, and is seen at a party with Bernadette Peters in James Ivory’s adaptation of Tama Janowitz’s The Slaves Of New York.

Dustin Pittman (in Edie Sedgwick...

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Juror #2 is a legal thriller drama film directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by Jonathan Abrams. The 2024 film follows Justin Kemp, an ordinary member who is called upon to serve as a jury member in a murder case. However, when he realizes that the suspect is not really the murderer, he tries to sway the jury without telling anyone the truth without anyone finding out the truth, because if it comes out, it will destroy his life. Juror #2 stars Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Gabriel Basso, Zoey Deutch, and Cedric Yarbrough. So, if you loved the thrilling courtroom drama, intense twists, and compelling characters in Juror #2, here are some similar movies you should check out next.

12 Angry Men Credit – United Artists

12 Angry Men is a legal thriller drama film directed by Sidney Lumet...

The process of selecting the next pope is not the raw material of a traditional thriller. And while “Conclave” is packed with political intrigue, Edward Berger’s adaptation of Robert Harris’ 2016 book by the same name doesn’t indulge in conspiracies or the underlying fear of violence that are hallmarks of the paranoid 1970s political thrillers the director is emulating with this film.

While Berger was on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast he discussed the films of director Alan Pakula, like “Parallex View” and “All the President’s Men,” and how he used various cinemtic tools to make his story of a conclave of cardinals feel like a Paranoid ‘70s thriller.

Creeping Inside Cardinal Lawrence’s Brain

Until a new pope is selected, the pressures of administering the conclave’s proceedings fall on one man, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), who has been experiencing religous doubt — we learn he even unsuccessfully attempted to...

In 1971, celebrated director Alan J. Pakula unleashed one of the grittiest films of that (decisive) decade: the neo-noir thriller Klute. Starring Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, and Roy Scheider, Klute concerns itself with the exploits of a high-end call girl who slowly gets wrapped up in a missing persons case when an out-of-state detective arrives in New York City and requests her help tracking down a former client.

Practically the definition of 70s cinema, Klute became the first entry in what would later come to be known as Alan J. Pakula's "paranoia trilogy," which also includes 1974's The Parallax View, followed by 1976's All the President's Men. But the film's legacy is far more extensive than just its director's filmography. Klute has also proven to be an extremely influential film for an entirely new generation of filmmakers, directors like Matt Reeves, who, time and time again, has pointed to...

The following contains spoilers for Apple TV's Presumed Innocent, including revealing who committed the murder at the heart of the series.

In 1987, two years before John Grisham published his first novel, author Scott Turow became the reigning master of the legal thriller, thanks to the gigantic success of his book Presumed Innocent. Three years later, the bestseller spawned a feature film adaptation starring Harrison Ford, directed by one of Hollywood's most acclaimed filmmakers, Alan J. Pakula. More than a modest success, Presumed Innocent earned over $200 million at the worldwide box office and became Warner Bros.'s highest-grossing film of the year. Then, the IP sat dormant for over 30 years.

Like Scott Turow was once the master of the legal thriller on the page, television producer David E. Kelley has earned his reputation as the reigning king of legal dramas and thrillers on TV after an impressive body of nearly four decades of work.

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In this age of superhero movies, we rarely see a blockbuster take over the conversation in pop culture. Yes, I know there is Top Gun: Maverick, Barbie, and Oppenheimer but the true era of blockbusters is long gone and so are the movie stars there were times when blockbusters were all the rage and in this list, we are talking about that time, 1990s. Countless films were released in the 1990s and several of them became blockbusters but now many people don’t even remember them and even if they do they are not talking about them. So, we took it upon ourselves to create a list of the best 10 forgotten blockbusters that were released in the 1990s.

Air Force One (Rent on Prime Video) Box Office: $315.2 Million Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79% Credit – Sony Pictures

Air Force One is...

In honor of this year's Election Day in the US, have a look at one of our favorite conspiracy thrillers. The Parallax View, directed by the great Alan J. Pakula, originally opened in theaters June 1974. It's one of many conspiracy thrillers from the 70s about how the US government is super shady and caught up in all kinds of sneaky operations. It's about a reporter's investigation into a secretive organization, the Parallax Corporation, whose business is political assassination. 3 years after witnessing the murder of a senator atop Seattle’s Space Needle, reporter Joseph Frady digs into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the event—and stumbles into a labyrinthine conspiracy far more sinister than he could have imagined. Warren Beatty stars with Hume Cronyn, William Daniels, and Paula Prentiss. I had never seen this movie until the Criterion re-release a few years ago, and it blew me away. Its been stuck in my mind ever since.

The journalism thriller has been a quintessential subgenre of American historical cinema for decades, with Alan J. Pakula’s classic “All The President’s Men” often heralded as the best example. The reason that this perspective holds so much value is simple; by looking back at the ways in which news professionals covered a certain event, it becomes easier for the filmmaker to explore the profound impact that historical milestones had in real time. “September 5” could have easily been misconstrued as an attempted parallel to the current political crisis that has divided the world, but instead it reveals itself to be a thrilling procedural that examines the challenges of breaking a live story.

Tim Fehlbaum’s breakneck, 94-minute thriller examines the direct response and aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympic hostage crisis, in which the Israeli Olympic team were held hostage by terrorists. The incident was not only the first instance of...

When movie lovers talk about the most influential films of all time, they usually stick to the classics of yesteryear. Some often mentioned names are Citizen Kane, The Searchers, The Godfather, Jaws, so on and so forth. All of these choices are equally valid and equally correct, but a truly industry-changing film doesn't have to wait 50 years to see the full range of its influence. Some movies change the industry within years, months, or even weeks, and one of these movies was released in 2007.

Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton was hugely successful upon release, both in terms of box office and during the awards season, but the impact it would make is far bigger than any dollar amount. With a perfect screenplay and incredible performances from the likes of George Clooney and Tilda Swinton, this film is one of the best of its time. From the small yet exciting legal...

“I thought I would have a strategy,” said Anna Kendrick as she peered around thousands of classic cinematic treasures. “And now that I’m here, I don’t. But that’s okay. Sometimes great things happen when you don’t have a great plan.”

So begins Kendrick’s venture into the beloved Criterion Closet. The Academy-Award nominated actress and now director took a stop by Criterion’s offices in New York while promoting her recently released Netflix film, “Woman of the Hour,” and found herself throwing plans out the window, instead letting her experience be driven by chance. Having a musical background herself, Kendrick started with a classic in the genre, Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical “All That Jazz.”

“You always want to say that you saw all these movies, like, at least a decade ago, right? But I just saw this a few years ago,” said Kendrick. “‘All That Jazz.

Prime Video’s “Killer Heat” is a new mystery thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Nick Bali, a private investigator. It shows Nick traveling to Greece to investigate the shocking death of a wealthy man named Leo Vardakis. Nick is hired by Penelope, Leo’s identical twin brother’s wife. The film takes place entirely on a scenic island and relies on the moodiness of the setting as it unravels new bits of information. It seems heavily inspired by the Hollywood noir classics that redefined the genre conventions decades ago. Fans of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and movies like “Killer Heat,” featuring slow-burn mysteries, can check out this thriller on Prime Video.

This 2024 film is based on Jo Nesbø’s short story – “The Jealousy Man.” The film is directed by Philippe Lacôte, known for directing “Night of the Kings,” a critically acclaimed fantasy drama. Besides Gordon-Levit, the film also stars Shailene Woodley and...

It’s understandable that most movie and TV fans remember Maggie Smith for her dynamic work in the “Harry Potter” films and “Downton Abbey.” More recent and far more widely seen in their time, they are worthy examples of her outstanding work.

But unknown to even some of the most knowledgeable cinephiles is most of her screen work before the 1980s beyond her two Oscar wins (Best Actress for “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and Supporting Actress for “California Suite”). Her passing at 89 represents a chance to look back at not only roles that conveyed her later brilliance but also, in some cases, present a broader range than what became the standard — though always with nuance and distinctiveness — Maggie Smith role of later years.

When reviewing her film career until at least 2008, it’s critical to remember that she was first and foremost a stage actor. She joined Laurence Olivier...

Every generation deserves a version of Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom to call its own, including and especially one for which there are few aspects of life that can’t be mediated by screens. Indeed, it’s overwhelming just how many ways there are to watch another human being in 2024, many of which don’t necessitate them watching back. Web streams, security feeds, social media–all glimpses into the private lives of others, each with subtly distinct social functions, facilitating both exhibitionism and voyeurism as a matter of daily routine.

It’s around this tension that writer-director Yeo Siew Hua’s Stranger Eyes coalesces. To describe the film as a surveillance thriller wouldn’t quite be accurate, inasmuch as that term conjures images of shady government figures hunched over chunky laptops, scrutinizing an unsuspecting public. Though there is certainly a bit of that, especially in the beginning, when Stranger Eyes...

Can’t get enough of “Rebel Ridge”? You’re certainly not alone. Jeremy Saulnier’s Netflix hit has soared up the streaming charts, thanks to Saulnier’s tight script, toothsome filmmaking and one star-making performance from Aaron Pierre. But all the qualities that make it so special also make it hard to find more movies that will scratch the same itch.

For one thing, it’s distressingly difficult to find action movies (that aren’t Batman or Spider-Man) where the hero makes an active effort not to kill people. But “Rebel Ridge” also treads in unique cinematic waters, a hybrid neo-western legal conspiracy thriller by way of payback actioner that seamlessly blends vintage sensibilities with modern techniques and is led by just about the coolest movie character of the decade. There’s nothing quite like it, but if you’re looking for more movies like “Rebel Ridge,” here’s a...

Before "Salem's Lot" returned to the zeitgeist with a highly-anticipated reboot movie, the Stephen King classic was a miniseries that shook the world. Directed by "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" mastermind Tobe Hooper, the two-part 1979 series was event TV at its spookiest.

The original "Salem's Lot" limited series has never been among the best King adaptations out there, but it holds a unique place in pop culture history thanks to its status as one of the earliest on-screen takes on a King book — plus some truly frightening moments. Several members of the show's sprawling ensemble cast, including David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, and vamp actor Reggie Nalder, have passed away in the decades since "Salem's Lot" first beamed its way into our collective consciousness. Of the actors who are still with us, several have gone on to award-winning careers in film and television, while others retired or found fulfillment in other careers.

If the presidential campaign stirs your appetite for still more political noise, here’s a quick solution: Catch the new biopics of Donald Trump or Ronald Reagan. Trump calls the movie about him “a hit job”; Reagan likely would find his biopic a sleeper..

Is there an audience for political movies? Perhaps it’s no coincidence that two movie stars known as policy activists instead have created caper films for the popcorn crowd, or the streaming subset.

George Clooney glibly glides through Wolfs, co-starring Brad Pitt, while Matt Damon ambles through the chaos of The Instigators, co-starring Casey Affleck. The paydays are formidable, but their Tomatoes will whither on the vine.

But then political movies always have had a troubled history in terms of impact and accuracy: One helped obliterate an entire studio regime, another triggered a bitter creative feud. But none became a major audience hit.

Decades before Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones made headlines by not kissing at the end of "Twisters," another big screen non-kiss was the talk of Hollywood. In the 1993 film "The Pelican Brief," two stars who were skyrocketing to fame shared plenty of screen time and chemistry, but no climactic kiss.

Denzel Washington starred opposite Julia Roberts in the big screen adaptation of John Grisham's legal thriller novel. "The Pelican Brief" was the last film ever written and directed by "Klute" and "All the President's Men" filmmaker Alan J. Pakula, and it was a box office hit despite earning mixed reviews from critics. One point of contention? The lack of lip-locking closure between the two main characters, a decision that would be talked about extensively in the press –- especially once they caught wind of the reason an apparently planned kiss scene got axed.

In an interview with Newsweek from...

When it comes to Hollywood and the history of film, various decades have been defined by particular genres, whether it was the dominance of slashers during the 1980s or superhero blockbusters during the 2010s. The 1970s was a decade mostly defined by the growth of gritty, well-written thrillers, which surpassed Westerns as the go-to source of entertainment for mature audiences.

The 1970s quickly garnered a reputation for breaking Hollywood taboos, exploring morally ambiguous protagonists, and dark conspiracies, and exploring the crime wave of its era. 1971 alone is often cited as the single greatest film in cinematic history, and this is especially true when it comes to the thriller genre. While the decade may have produced some of the most bleak endings in the genre, these stories are still some of the best told.

Marathon Man Is A Gripping Conspiracy Thriller

Director

John Schlesinger

IMDb Rating

7.4

Marathon Man focuses on Thomas Babington "Babe" Levy,...

Steven Spielberg is no stranger to intense films, but there’s one project he found so brutal that he passed it off like a hot potato. Picture this: Spielberg was initially set to direct Schindler’s List but found himself tangled in a different script—a $182M Robert De Niro movie so violent, it made him think twice. Instead of diving into the blood-soaked world of Cape Fear, he swapped with his buddy Martin Scorsese, who took on the De Niro thriller with gusto.

Steven Spielberg submitted a script for the Argo mission (image credit: Gage Skidmore/Cc By-sa 2.0/Wikimedia Commons)

Meanwhile, Spielberg went on to craft the haunting and historic Schindler’s List. Sometimes, a little film trade among friends can lead to cinematic masterpieces on both ends!

Did Spielberg and Scorsese Make a Hollywood Deal for Two Iconic Films? Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, and Leonardo DiCaprio in...

September marks Marcello Mastroianni’s centennial, and the Criterion Channel pays respect with a retrospective that puts the expected alongside some lesser-knowns: Monicelli’s The Organizer, Jacques Demy’s A Slightly Pregnant Man, and two by Ettore Scola. There’s also the welcome return of “Adventures In Moviegoing” with Rachel Kushner’s formidable selections, among them Fassbinder’s Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven, Pialat’s L’enfance nue, and Jean Eustache’s Le cochon. In the lead-up to His Three Daughters, a four-film Azazel Jacobs program arrives.

Theme-wise, a set of courtroom dramas runs from 12 Angry Men and Anatomy of a Murder to My Cousin Vinny and Philadelphia; a look at ’30s female screenwriters includes Fritz Lang’s You and Me, McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow, and Cukor’s What Price Hollywood? There’s also a giallo series if you want to watch an Argento movie and ask yourself,...

Released during a bleak era, The Parallax View taps into widespread paranoia and distrust of government institutions. The film's protagonist, played by Warren Beatty, finds himself immersed in a vast conspiracy beyond his understanding. The dark and fatalistic ending of The Parallax View reflects the film's commitment to maintaining a bleak vision with merciless honesty.

Released in 1974, The Parallax View became the most despairing film in a rather despairing decade. One of the most frightening aspects of the film, in which Warren Beatty stars as a reporter whose initial investigation into a senators assassination leads to a vast conspiracy, is how believable the film seems relative to its distinctly gloomy era.

Released nearly six years after the Robert F. Kennedy assassination and less than two months before Richard Nixon became the first United States president to resign from office, The Parallax View arrived amid a deeply cynical, depressed public mood,...

The legendary actor, Donald Sutherland, has passed on and even though his passing is something to mourn, his legacy will live on and that is something to be most grateful for. Early life Donald McNichol Sutherland was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada in 1935. Sutherland worked in several different jobs before beginning his acting career, one of them being a radio DJ in his youth. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in engineering and was almost set on becoming an engineer. However, he also graduated with a degree in drama, and he chose arts over applied science. And aren’t we all so glad that he did? 1960s: Career starter Sutherland's first roles were very small parts in films such as the 1965 horror film ‘Dr. Terror's House of Horrors’, starring Christopher Lee. He also appeared on the small screen doing episodes of shows such as...

Editor’s note: This post discusses the ending of Apple TV+’s “Presumed Innocent.”

No ending that includes Elizabeth Marvel and Bill Camp gardening together in blissful harmony — with Mr. Marvel wearing a Chicago Bears shirt — can be all bad. And, to be fair, the “Presumed Innocent” finale accomplished exactly what the series has been striving for throughout its lengthy, often hysterical (in every meaning of the word) eight-episode run: It ended with a twist as gasp-inducing in the moment as it was groan-worthy a few minutes later.

After all, the title and history behind “Presumed Innocent” point viewers toward an ending where the guilty party is hiding in plain sight. Someone who’s conveniently, almost instinctively written off not just because they couldn’t commit murder, but also because they wouldn’t commit murder. That rules out Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal), a loud and violent fella who had an affair with the victim,...