This Wales-set tale of sex and intrigue among quarry workers is strangely murky, although the scenery looks lovelyThis Wales-set thriller is called The Ballad of Billy McCrae for unaccountable reasons – it’s quite obvious throughout that the story isn’…
The Gateway review – if Dirty Harry worked for social services
A hard-boozing caseworker grimaces his way around St Louis in Michele Civetta’s overblown urban thrillerNot quite credible enough to stand up as a gritty, 70s-esque social drama, and lacking the focus of the Training Day-style urban thriller it’s marke…
Rose Plays Julie review – identity quest goes to truly dark places
A student’s search for her birth mother has haunting results in this tale from the innovative Irish directing team of Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor“Who are you?” That’s a question that rings throughout the work of Dublin-born film-making duo Christin…
Small World review – full-throttle trafficking tale goes off the rails
Polish director Patryk Vega’s usually slick technique fails him utterly here in this lurid story about a cop investigating a girl’s kidnapping by the Russian mafiaPatryk Vega is the Polish writer-director whose hardboiled thrillers have found commercia…
Lakewood review – Naomi Watts school shooting thriller falls short
A pandemic-made project, starring the Oscar winner as a mother racing to save her son, starts out with tension but ends up in sillinessAs more pandemic-produced movies continue trickling out, we’re able to see that for the majority, they can be easily …
The best recent thrillers – review roundup
This month’s crop of crime and suspense fiction includes an engaging tale of government secrets by Robert Peston and a nail-biting new series from Val McDermidZaffre, £14.99, pp400 Continue reading…
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon review – B-movie thrills in New Orleans superhero gumbo
The new film from Ana Lily Amirpour will keep the fans happy with the tale of mind-controlling waitress on the loose the French QuarterIranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour serves up heaped spoonfuls of B-movie thrills in Mona Lisa and the Blood …
Last Night in Soho review – a gaudy romp that’s stupidly enjoyable
Edgar Wright’s time-travel film plays like a 60s pop song building towards a big climaxThe nostalgia gauge is code-red on Last Night in Soho, a gaudy time-travel romp that whisks its modern-day heroine to a bygone London that probably never existed out…
The Toll review – toll booth man with no name fights back in jokey Welsh western
Michael Smiley is the toll operator facing up to his murky past in this fusion of western and black comedyFather Ted meets the old west in this entertaining black comedy set in rural Pembrokeshire – “where English people come to die”, according to graf…
The Last Job review – Richard Dreyfuss is a retiree on a rampage in muddled melodrama
Dreyfuss is a former mobster resorting to violence in a film whose delightful score can’t save it from being a hot messThe best thing about this crime melodrama is the score, credited to composers Shane Endsley, Ben Wendel and Nate Wood (all part of a …