Crime 101 (2026) | REVIEW

Barry Keoghan (Left) and Chris Hemsworth (Right) in Bart Layton’s CRIME 101 — PHOTO: AMAZON MGM STUDIOS (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Bart Layton — Screenplay by Bart Layton.

Based on a Don Winslow novella of the same name, Bart Layton’s Crime 101 follows a disciplined and lonely thief named Mike (played by Chris Hemsworth), who has done a good job of avoiding capture and planning out his robberies over the years. Now, after having completed a mission in which he stole diamonds (but which almost cost him his life), he’s on the fence about what to do next and is unsure about going straight into the next heist, even though his underworld middleman, Money (played by Nick Nolte), is frustrated by his unwillingness to go straight into the next job. So, while Mike strikes up a romance with a woman he encounters named Maya (played by Monica Barbaro), Money enlists a wild and unpredictable thief called Ormon (played by Barry Keoghan) to do what Mike won’t and possibly cut off the loose end that Mike personifies. Meanwhile, LAPD detective Lou Lubesnick (played by Mark Ruffalo) has managed to connect the crimes Mike committed and has determined that one person committed all of them. While both the criminal underworld and law enforcement are trying to track down Mike, he attempts to juggle a blossoming romantic relationship with getting ‘one last job’ done so that he can put his criminal days behind him for good. That ‘last job’ will involve Sharon Combs (played by Halle Berry), an increasingly disgruntled insurance broker, who may or may not be interested in breaking bad.

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Eenie Meanie (2025) | REVIEW

Karl Glusman and Samara Weaving in EENIE MEANIE — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Shawn Simmons — Screenplay by Shawn Simmons.

Shawn Simmons’ Eenie Meanie is a crime comedy-thriller that follows Edie (played by Samara Weaving), who has a past as a getaway driver. Edie has just found out that she is pregnant, and so she decides to seek out the child’s ne’er-do-well father, John (played by Karl Glusman), whom she hasn’t been with in months. When she shows up at his apartment, however, she becomes entangled in a web of crime to which her former lover is stuck. To save the father of her child, Edie will have to put some of her old skills to good use to do a job.

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REVIEW: Ambulance (2022)

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jake Gyllenhaal in AMBULANCE — PHOTO: Andrew Cooper / Universal Pictures.

Directed by Michael Bay — Screenplay by Chris Fedak.

At this point, I’m starting to get used to the idea of seeing Jake Gyllenhaal in American remakes of Danish films. In 2009, he appeared in Jim Sheridan’s Brothers, a remake of Susanne Bier’s Brødre. In 2021, he appeared in Antoine Fuqua’s The Guilty, a remake of Gustav Möller’s Den Skyldige. And now, in 2022, he stars in Michael Bay’s Ambulance, a remake of Laurits Munch-Petersen’s Ambulancen. I don’t know what it is that draws him to Danish projects. What I do know is that I think Bay’s remake might be an improvement on the Danish film.

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REVIEW: Tenet (2020)

Theatrical Release Poster – Warner Bros. Pictures

The following is a review of Tenet — Directed by Christopher Nolan.

In December of 2019, I sat down in an IMAX theater to watch the ninth episode of the so-called Skywalker-saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Accompanying the latest Disney space opera was an early preview of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film Tenet. The lengthy, overwhelming, and jaw-dropping clip was riveting and showed a lot of promise. As a Star Wars fan, it hurts to admit that that clip was so good, in fact, that the Disney-film it preceded struggled to live up to it. In fact, during the last eight months, I’ve thought a lot about that preview, while I have yet to revisit The Rise of Skywalker. Christopher Nolan’s ambitious spy flick has, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, been proclaimed to be the potential savior of the theatrical experience, which has, understandably, struggled immensely this summer. Continue reading “REVIEW: Tenet (2020)”

REVIEW: Triple Frontier (2019)

Release Poster – Netflix

The following is a review of Triple Frontier — Directed by J. C. Chandor.

From the director of All is Lost and A Most Violent Year, J. C. Chandor, and the writer of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal, Netflix’s Triple Frontier — named for the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay — includes arguably the most star-studded blockbuster-like cast for a Netflix Original Film yet. Continue reading “REVIEW: Triple Frontier (2019)”

REVIEW: Baby Driver (2017)

Theatrical Release Poster – TriStar Pictures

The following is a review of Baby Driver – Directed by Edgar Wright.

In Edgar Wright’s newest film – Baby Driver – one character remarks that “you don’t need a score to do a score,” a proposed fact that the talented writer-director refutes with one of the most entertaining films that I’ve seen in years. Continue reading “REVIEW: Baby Driver (2017)”