The following content is generally available worldwide, except where otherwise noted. All TV shows listed are for networks and streaming services based in the United States. All movies listed are those released in U.S. cinemas. This schedule is for content and events premiering this week and does not include content that has already been made available.
April 14 – April 20, 2025
TV/Streaming Services
All times listed are Eastern Time/Pacific Time, unless otherwise noted.
Netflix’s documentary film “Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror” premieres on Friday, April 18 at 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT.
“Snapped: Killer Couples” “Holly Elkins and Andrew Beard” (Episode 1808) Sunday, April 20, 6 p.m., Oxygen
“Fatal Family Feuds” “Disappearance in the Desert” (Episode 210) Sunday, April 20, 7 p.m., Oxygen
“Evil Lives Here” “He Was Whistling as He Did It” (Episode 1709) Sunday, April 20, 9 p.m., Investigation Discovery
Movies in Theaters or on Home Video
No new true crime movies released in theaters or on home video this week.
Radio/Podcasts
No new true crime podcast series debuting this week.
Events
Events listed here are not considered endorsements by this website. All ticket buyers with questions or concerns about the event should contact the event promoter or ticket seller directly.
All start times listed are local time, unless otherwise noted.
Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed society in an unspecified period of time, the sci-fi drama film “The Assessment” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few South Asian and black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A married couple must past a rigorous seven-day assessment test, conducted by a government assessor, in order to determine if the couple will be approved to have a child.
Culture Audience: “The Assessment” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and sci-fi dramas about futuristic worlds where the governments are oppressive and the protagonists have to make difficult decisions about compliance versus rebellion.
Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen in “The Assessment” (Photo by Magnus Jønck/Magnolia Pictures)
“The Assessment” is an emotionally somber but visually stylish drama that shows a post-apocalyptic society where people have to pass a government evaluation test for approval to become parents. The principal cast members give memorable performances. This movie seems intentionally set in an unspecified time and place because the underlying message is that what happens in the movie could happen in some variation at any time, in any place.
Fleur Fortuné, who has a background in directing music videos and short films, makes her feature-film directorial debut with “The Assessment.” The movie was written by Dave Thomas (under the alias Mr. Thomas), Nell Garfath Cox (under the alias Mrs. Thomas) and John Donnelly. “The Assessment’ (which was filmed in Spain) had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
“The Assessment” begins by showing a scene of a girl name Mia (played by Suhayla Balli Al Soufi Del Diego), who’s about 12 or 13 years old, swimming in an ocean. Her mother is on the rocky shore and calls out to her: “Mia, come back!” It’s a flashback memory to a period of time when Mia last saw her mother. What happened to Mia’s mother is revealed in bits and pieces of conversations. Mia also had a sister, who is mentioned in the movie.
What is revealed is that this is a relatively new society that has left its “old world” behind because the “old world” became too polluted. Certain people who were considered “undesirable” or too rebellious were left behind in the “old world.” Those who made it to this new world are considered to be worthy of procreating so future generations can live in this new world.
But even among these “elite” survivors, there’s a hierarchy. Only a small percentage of people are chosen by the government to become parents. Those who are chosen have t go through a rigorous seven-day assessment test. During these seven days, the assessor lives with the prospective parents. The assessor’s decision is final on whether or not to approve the application.
When viewers first see adult Mia (played by Elizabeth Olsen) and her husband Aaryan (played by Himesh Patel), all of this background information is not revealed right away. What is shown early on in the movie is that Mia and Aaryan are happily married, but this upcoming visit from the assessor has caused tension in their marriage. In bed, Mia says to Aaryan: “What if we’re not good enough? I’m just nervous. It’s just all so secretive.”
Mia and Aaryan live in a modern-yet-retro-looking home on a rocky beach area. Mia is a sculptor who makes her art in a converted greenhouse. Aaryan works for the government as an artificial intelligence (A.I.) designer. The government has exterminated all real pets, so Aaryan is developing a secretive project that creates lifelike pets powered by artificial intelligence. The idea for these robot pets is so people can have a safe alternative to real pets. Aaryan has already built an A.I. cat as a beta test.
Artificial intelligence is an everyday and accepted part of life in this society. Mia and Himesh have an A.I. assistant that’s very similar to Amazon’s Alexa. The device’s owner can program the A.I. assistant to have different voices. Aaryan lets Mia know that he has changed their A.I. assistant’s voice to sound like his mother. Mia is okay with this change.
The couple’s assessor shows up fairly early on in the movie. Her name is Virginia (played by Alicia Vikander), who is a calm professional but very aloof and clinical. Virginia informs Mia and Aaryan that the couple made it into the top 1% of couples who are chosen for this assessment. Virginia tells Mia and Aaryan that they have the right to end the assessment at any time but warns that if they choose to end the assessment before it concludes, they won’t be given another chance to apply for another assessment.
Mia and Aaryan are also expected to give samples of their bodily fluids to Virginia, such as blood, mucus, semen and vaginal secretions. Virginia also says that Mia and Aaryan will be evaluated on their mental and emotional stability. And they are required to keep confidential everything that happens during this assessment visit. Needless to say, it’s a high-pressure situation for Mia and Aaryan to have one person (Virginia) decide whether or not Aaryan and Mia are fit to be parents.
At first, Mia and Aaryan are overly accommodating and polite because they want to do everything they can to impress Mia. But over time, Mia becomes very uncomfortable with the process and openly questions Virginia’s tactics. Mia’s discomfort starts on the first day, when Virginia asks for explicit details on the couple’s sex life. Virginia writes everything down in a notebook.
Later that evening, when Mia and Aaryan are in their bedroom and getting sexually intimate, they are shocked to see that Virginia has opened the door to watch them in the hallway. Mia and Aaryan are embarrassed and stop what they’re doing. But Virginia orders them to keep doing what they’re doing and to pretend that she’s not there. Mia is much more reluctant than Aaryan to go along with this order.
Another major test comes when Virginia does some Method acting and pretends that she is a misbehaving and cranky toddler, 24 hours a day. The idea is to test the parental patience of Aaryan and Mia. You can easily predict which of the spouses will get frustrated and lose patience first.
What isn’t so easy to predict are some of the mind games that Virginia plays with this couple. These mind games have nothing to do with their skills as a parent but have to do with testing how strong the couple’s marriage is and their trust in each other. Viewers will start to wonder about Virginia’s manipulations: “Is this really part of the assessment, or is this something that Virginia that is doing that’s separate from the assessment?”
Although there’s friction between Mia and Virginia, there are a few moments where Mia opens up to Virginia. When Mia is asked why she wants to become a parent, Mia says: “I want to give a child what I never had: a sense of belonging.” Mia is the character who is the most likely to be an independent thinker, which is why Olsen gives the movie’s standout performance. Vikander’s performance becomes more layered as more things are revealed about Virginia.
Most of “The Assessment” features scenes only with Mia, Aaryan and Virginia. However, there’s a pivotal scene during Day 4 of the assessment’s when Virginia has invited six guests over to the couple’s house for a dinner party on short notice, without the consent of Mia and Aaryan. It’s another one of Virginia’s tests.
The six people invited to the party are Aayran’s accomplished mother Ambika (played by Indira Varma); a prominent scientist named Walter (played by Nicholas Pinnock); Walter’s snobbish wife Evie (played by Minnie Driver); and a friendly lesbian couple named Serena (played by Charlotte Ritchie) and Holly (played by Leah Harvey) with their daughter Amelia (played by Anaya Thorley), who’s about 5 or 6 years old. Serena and Holly, who are strangers to Mia and Aaryan, reassure Mia and Aaryan because they say that Amelia was the result of Serena and Holly getting an approved assessment. There’s tension between Mia and Evie because Mia used to be Walter’s lab assistant before Mia was marred and might or might not have had an affair with Walter.
“The Assessment” is meant to make viewers ponder just how far they would be willing to go to take this type of test. The test isn’t just about getting “approval” to become parents. It’s also about how much control people will allow a government to have in their lives and how much people will choose to go along with outrageous orders without questions or criticism.
Some viewers might not like how the movie ends. However, the conclusion of the movie can be effectively intepreted as a sign of despair or sign of hope. Viewers are free to decide, based on their personal opinions and perspectives.
Magnolia Pictures released “The Assessment” in select U.S. cinemas on March 21, 2025. The movie was released on digital and VOD on April 8, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in California, mostly in the mid-2010s, the dramatic film “Like Father Like Son” features a predominantly white group of people (with a African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: An adult son of a convicted serial killer, who is awaiting death-row execution, tries to fight off the feeling that he has inherited his father’s murderous tendencies.
Culture Audience: “Like Father Like Son” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and terribly made crime dramas with gratuitous violence.
Dermot Mulroney in “Like Father Like Son” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)
“Like Father Like Son” is an utterly trashy drama about a convicted serial killer’s son who uses his father’s criminal history as an excuse to also become a serial killer. The screenplay, direction, film editing, and most of the acting are horrendous. This is the type of movie that has no redeeming qualities and is actually quite soulless and empty.
Written and directed by Barry Jay, “Like Father Like Son” takes place in California, mostly in the mid-2010s. However, the movie begins in the summer of 1990, in Richmond, California. It’s a flashback scene that shows Gabriel “Gabe” McKinnon (played by Dermot Mulroney) at his job as a park sanitation worker. One day, Gabe is outside in the park when he sees a teenage bully named Lonnie (played by Pappy Faulkner) beating up a smaller teen named Gary (played by Jonathan Tysor), who is no match for muscular Lonnie. Gary had a comic book that Lonnie tore up before this physical assault.
Gabe is offended by what he sees. Gary manages to run away. And what does Gabe do? He murders Lonnie by stabbing Lonnie in the neck and then viciously bludgeoning Lonnie. There’s a witness to this murder: Gabe’s son Eli, who is 7 or 8 years old. Gabe orders Eli to go home. Gabe gets arrested and convicted of first-degree murder and is given the death penalty as his sentence.
The movie then fast-forwards about 25 years later, when Eli (played by Dylan Flashner) is in his early 30s. Eli is a bachelor who works as a low-level telephone sales operator for a company called Holder Last Insurance. Eli is terrible at getting sales for this job, where he is openly disrespected by his boss Jake (played by Jim Klock, who is one of the producers of this awful movie). It’s only a matter of time before Eli will get fired.
Making matters worse for Eli, he’s having financial problems that have led to having his truck repossessed. He’s also gotten behind on the rent at the house where he lives. His landlord Tzipora (played by Prima Apollinaare), who lives with her elderly rabbi father (played by Daniel Lench), is so generous and understanding, not only does she give Eli more time to pay the rent that he owes, but she also gives him some free groceries. Eli promises he’ll pay back what he owes when he has the money.
Meanwhile, Eli is in therapy that is paid for by the government because Eli is the child of a death-row inmate. Eli’s mother abandoned him “a long time ago,” so Eli grew up in foster care after his father Gabe was sent to prison. Eli’s therapist Anabelle Weiss (played by Mayim Bialik) is professional and compassionate.
Eli confides in Anabelle that he’s had uncontrollable rage and thoughts of harming people. Eli believes he might have inherited a gene from his father that would make Eli a serial killer, even though there’s no scientific proof that being a serial killer is a biologically inherited trait. Annabelle tells Eli, “This isn’t about your father. You have to control your rage, how it will affect your life.”
Annabelle suggests to Eli that he should visit Gabe in prison before Gabe is executed, so that Eli can better understand Gabe. It seems like terrible advice because Eli doesn’t seem interested or ready to establish a relationship with Gabe. Eli has his own problems to deal with, but he takes Annabelle’s advice and eventually visits Gabe in prison.
Before this prison visit happens, Eli is so desperate for money, he sells one of the last valuables that he has: an inherited watch. He goes to a sleazy lowlife named Sam (played by Eric Michael Cole), who offers to buy the watch for well below the market value. Eli does some haggling but eventually agrees to sell the watch for only $50. Later, Eli buys a gun from Sam.
Feeling lonely and depressed, Eli goes to a bar and picks up a sassy woman named Hayley Moretti (played by Ariel Winter), a sex worker and a thief. Hayley has a one-night stand with Eli, who wakes up the next morning to find his wallet is missing. He accuses Hayley of stealing his wallet.
Hayley denies it, but he strangles her unconscious so he can look through her purse. And sure enough, Eli finds his wallet in Hayley’s purse. When Hayley regains consciousness, she calls Eli a “psycho” and leaves in a huff. It won’t be the last time that Hayley and Eli see each other.
Eli gets fired from his job. He decides to take his therapist’s advice about visiting Gabe. At the prison, Gabe is unapologetic for his crimes. Gabe can see that Eli is very troubled when Eli admits that he has uncontrollable rages.
Gabe tells Eli, “Maybe we’re a little more alike than you think.” Eli denies it and says he could never murder anyone. And in this atrocious movie that has the subtlety of a bulldozer, that’s exactly when you know it won’t be long before Eli murders someone.
That moment happens when he sees Hayley being attacked by a man in the dark shadows outside of a building at night. Without hesitation, Eli takes a rock and bashes it repeatedly over the man’s head. Hayley doesn’t seem to have any qualms about this gruesome and unnecessary murder. She thanks Eli and asks him if she could temporarily move in with Eli because she needs a place to stay.
A reminder: The last time Hayley saw Eli, he strangled her until she was unconscious. She has now witnessed Eli as a cold-blooded murderer. And now, she wants to live with him. The movie tries to make it look romantic, but it all looks so repulsive.
You know how this movie is going to go as soon as Eli and Hayley start living together. They fall “in love,” while he continues his serial killing. He keeps it a secret from Hayley, even though she already knows he’s a murderer. Apparently, Hayley thinks that murder she saw Eli commit was okay with her because the person who was killed was attacking her.
“Like Father, Like Son” tries to make Eli’s killings look justified because he goes after people who hurt others. In one scene, he murders a thief who robs a homeless man. Eli gets a new job as a newspaper delivery driver. He is hired by a no-nonsense boss named Louise (played by Vivica A. Fox), who is one of many characters in “Like Father Like Son” who just show up to say some lines of dialogue but didn’t need to be in the story at all.
At one point in the movie, Eli and Hayley move to San Diego to start a new life when Hayley finds out that she’s pregnant. Eli’s murder spree doesn’t stop. And you know exactly what’s going to happen when Hayley confides in Eli that her stepfather sexually molested her when she was a child, and her mother knew but did nothing about it. Eli’s murders become less and less justifiable until he starts killing anyone who makes him angry.
“Like Father Like Son” has some very tacky editing, where Eli’s murders are often shown in a montage of freeze frames. The movie rambles along with no purpose and is just a series of scenes of Eli becoming more mentally unstable and murdering people in the process. The music score is bombastic, while the movie’s pacing is erratic.
Perhaps the only person in the cast who doesn’t give a bland or terrible performance is Bialik, but that’s not saying much because she’s only in the movie for about five minutes. “Like Father Like Son” seems to be an endorsement of the idea that serial killers can at least partially blame their crimes on having an inherited gene that makes them murderers, instead of the murderers full responsibility for their actions. Even if the movie’s filmmaking had been better, it’s still a heinous concept for a movie that isn’t worth anyone’s time.
Lionsgate released “Like Father Like Son” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on January 31, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Massachusetts, the comedy/drama film “Cold Wallet” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Three disgruntled investors, who lost thousands of dollars in a cryptocurrency fraud, kidnap the company’s CEO, who faked his own death, and try to force him to tell them where he hid the fortune that he got from scamming people.
Culture Audience: “Cold Wallet” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in stories about cryptocurrency scams, even if some of the plot developments in “Cold Wallet” look too contrived for the movie.
Tony Cavalero and Raúl Castillo in “Cold Wallet” (Photo courtesy of Well Go USA)
“Cold Wallet” is not a great movie about the consequences of cryptocurrency scamming. It’s better taken as a dark comedy instead of a serious thriller. The performances are watchable, and there’s enough suspense to keep most viewers engaged in the story. There are some plot holes, but the movie’s often-absurd tone gives this entire film an aura of hyper-realism that’s not meant to be taken too seriously.
Directed by Cutter Hodierne and written by John Hibey, “Cold Wallet” had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. The movie takes place in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts. The movie’s title refers to virtual cryptocurrency wallets that are in “cold storage”—meaning kept off of the Internet. A “cold wallet” is device or method to store cryptocurrency keys that are hidden and untraceable, similar to offshore accounts in traditional banking.
“Cold Wallet” is loosely based on the real-life scandal of the cryptocurrency company Quadriga, but the vigilante plot was fabricated for the movie. In 2018, Quadriga founder/CEO Gerald William Cotton reportedly died when he was traveling in India, but there has been speculation that he faked his death in order to take a fortune that only he could access through cryptocurrency. According to news reports, $190 million went missing or could not be accessed, with much of the money in “cold wallet” accounts, where only Cotton knew the password. About 115,000 Quadriga investors were affected.
“Cold Wallet” takes a fictional look at what would happen in a similar situation if the company CEO faked his own death, and then three vengeful investors tracked him down, kidnapped him at his hideout place, and forced him to give them the passwords to these “cold wallet” accounts. The movie’s main protagonist is a sad sack named Billy (played by Raúl Castillo), who wants to prove to his ex-wife Eileen (played by Zoe Winters) that he’s not a deadbeat dad. Billy and Eileen have a daughter named Steph (played by Joanna Sylvie Weinig), who’s about 8 or 9 years old.
Eileen and her current husband or partner Justin live with Steph in a house owned by Billy. However, Billy hasn’t paid the house’s mortgage for the past 10 months. Eileen is very resentful that she and Justin have had to cover the mortgage payments during this time period. Not much else is mentioned about Billy’s background except he is currently unemployed and almost financially broke. He’s taken a big gamble by investing in a cryptocurrency company named Tulip.
Billy brags to a skeptical Eileen and Justin that this investment will pay off very well and will result in Billy having enough money to pay his debts and have enough left over to buy a new house for himself. Billy promises Steph that he’s going to buy a bigger and better house that she can go to when he visits her. The relationship between Billy and Eileen is still fraught with a lot of anger and bitterness. Their interactions in the movie show her mostly yelling at and insulting him.
Billy soon gets very bad news when he finds out that he’s lost a little more than $42,000 from online trading of Tulip stocks. And the news gets worse: The CEO of Tulip, Charles Hegel (played by Josh Brener), died in Kenya over the weekend, according to media reports. Charles is the only one with access to unlock the Tulip Exchange. Investors in Tulip can no longer buy or sell their Tulip stock, which gets delisted. This delisting leaves thousands of customers with worthless Tulip stock and financial losses totaling millions of dollars for all of these scammed customers.
Billy’s closest friend Dom (played by Tony Cavalero) is one of these Tulip investors too. Dom is a semi-professional wrestler who does wrestling training at a local gym that is financially struggling. Dom, who lost about $25,000 in the Tulip scam, took out a personal loan to help save the gym. Dom had been counting on the Tulip investment to pay back the loan. And now, Dom (just like Billy) is financially broke, wth both of ther losses totaling $67,000.
Unlike volatile Billy, Dom likes to think he has a calm spirit who wants to be at peace and harmony in the world. Dom is the type of person who meditates. Billy most definitely is not that type of person. Although Dom is not very smart, he has a moral compass which makes it harder for him to go along with the criminal plan that is hatched in the story.
For about a year, Billy has been communicating on Reddit with another Tulip investor, who uses the name Eva Zero (played by Melonie Diaz) and who has also lost her money in the Tulip scam. Eva messages Billy after this financial fiasco to tell him that she has proof that Charles is still alive. She believes that he bought a fake death certificate. Through some amateur detective work, Eva says that she’s tracked down Charles’ hiding place at a mansion in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Eva tells Billy that they should do a home invasion of this hideout, hold Charles captive, and force Charles to give them the password for Charles’ “cold wallet.” Billy is desperate to get his money back, so he tells Dom about this plan and says they should do this home invasion. Dom immediately says no. Billy persuades Dom to at least go with him to meet Eva in person.
Billy and Dom meet Eva at a diner. She is forceful, intense and very bossy. Eva is a skilled computer hacker and is the mastermind of the plan, but she needs Billy and Dom to be the physical enforcers. Dom agrees to the home invasion and kidnapping on the condition that if they steal a fortune from Charles, they should keep for themselves only the amounts that they lost in their Tulip investments and give the rest of the money to all the other cheated Tulip investors that they know about.
Billy, Dom and Eva do a lot of things that show they’re really bungling criminals. They buy a gun and other items used in the home invasion that could easily be traced back to them. They also use Billy’s car to drive to the mansion (which is in a remote wooded area) and don’t even try to hide the license plate. The kidnapping takes place during a winter month when there is icy snow covering the ground, which means their footprints and tire tracks could be left in the snow as evidence.
Here’s where the movie starts to get a bit unrealistic: The only person who seems to be guarding the mansion is an unnamed elderly groundskeeper (played by Nigel Gore), who is immediately suspicious when Billy, Dom and Eva drive up to the mansion. Billy pretends that he is there to deliver food that was ordered by Charles. The groundskeeper doesn’t quite believe this story and orders them off of the property.
However, the groundskeeper tells Billy to “tell corporate what’s going on,” in case Billy is telling the truth. The groundskeeper isn’t shown checking with anyone inside the mansion to see if Billy’s story is true. This mansion is also too accessible, since there is no security gate.
The three vigilantes drive away but eventually go back to the mansion at night. The groundskeeper is nowhere in sight, so they just sneak into the mansion. It looks too easy. For a fugitive who’s in hiding, Charles hasn’t made it very hard for people to find him in a house that doesn’t have a security gate or other security precautions.
Charles has camera surveillance inside the house, but that’s not enough to prevent anyone from breaking into the house. The movie also shows that Charles is in the mansion by himself and has no bodyguards or other security personnel. This lack of protection looks very foolish for a multimillionaire fugitive. However, some disbelief can be suspended if you consider that many real-life financial criminals have made more foolish mistakes.
As already revealed in the “Cold Wallet” trailer, the three home invaders succeed in taking Charles hostage. (He’s a cliché of an arrogant and nerdy computer tech millionaire.) What happens after that is a battle of wits, fueled by greed, as Charles and the vigilantes try to outsmart each other. Charles uses manipulation to try to turn the vigilantes against each other. The vigilantes use threats and guesses to try to get access to Charles’ cold wallet information.
“Cold Wallet” is sometimes unevenly paced. It’s also a movie where viewers should not expect to like many of the characters. One of the saving graces of the story is that it doesn’t completely glorify vigilantism, because there are many dangerous things that happen to the three home invaders. Ultimately, the movie is less about the kidnapping and more about the “get rich quick” mentality that causes people to get into these messes in the first place.
Well Go USA released “Cold Wallet” in select U.S. cinemas and on digital and VOD on February 28, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Denmark, Sweden and briefly in Spain, in 2007 and 2008, the dramatic film “The Quiet Ones” (based on a true story) features a predominantly white group of people (with some Middle Easterns and Africans) representing the working-class, middle-class and criminal underground.
Culture Clash: A group of thieves commit the largest robbery in the history of Denmark, when they steal about 60 million Danish kroner in cash from a warehouse for a cash transportation company.
Culture Audience: “The Quiet Ones” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in drama based on true crimes, but this is a drab and hollow recreation of a notorious and fascinating case.
Amanda Collin in “The Quiet Ones” (Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing)
“The Quiet Ones” is a disappointing drama (based on a true story) about robbers who committed the biggest cash heist in Denmark history. The movie begins with a gripping, action-packed sequence, but then fizzles out with mediocre acting and a listless plot. The movie’s direction and screenplay are clunky, making most of the main characters shallow and uninteresting.
Directed by Frederik Louis Hviid and written by Anders Frithiof August, “The Quiet Ones” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie takes place mostly in 2007 and 2008 in Denmark and in Sweden. Many people watching “The Quiet Ones” will already know it’s based on a true story, so there’s no real suspense that this major heist is going to happen.
Unfortunately, the movie gets bogged down in a lot of dull scenes about the robbers having personal conflicts with each other and with other people in their lives. The planning of this crime is shown in very superfical ways. And when it finally does happen, the movie is almost over.
“The Quiet Ones” begins by showing a botched and deadly robbery that happened in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2007. Three armed and masked men hold up a security van occupied by two co-workers (a man and a woman) who have some valuables in the van. The van’s windows are bulletproof, but the armed robbers force the co-workers out of the car.
The van has a suitcase and a safe. The robbers want what’s in the safe. The female co-worker explains why she can’t open the safe: “The new system requires new keys.” She says that she and her co-worker do not have the keys. The male co-worker is able to escape by running away, but the female co-worker isn’t so lucky. She’s shot in the face and dies.
The movie then does a time jump to 2008, in Ballerup, Denmark, where aspiring mixed-martial arts fighter Kasper (played by Gustav Giese) lives with his wife Aaliyah (played by Camilla Lau) and their 7-year-old daughter. The movie is told from Kasper’s perspective. Aaliyah tells Kasper that her brother wants Kasper to stop by the brother’s shop because a Moroccan wants to talk to Kasper.
Kasper doesn’t actually meet the mysterious Moroccan in the shop but in a dark alley. The stranger’s name is Slimani (played by Reda Kateb), who says these ominous words to Kasper: “I heard about you guys. You fucked up in Sweden last year.” This is how the movie reveals that Kasper was in that trio of robbers who killed the security van employee.
The rest of “The Quiet Ones” shows how Kasper forms an uneasy alliance with Slimani, who’s the ruthless mastermind behind the 60 million-Danish kroner (kr) heist that’s depicted in the movie On August 10, 2008, when the robbery occurred, 60 million kr would have been equal to about $12 million in U.S. dollars. The thieves plan to steal the cash from a warehouse used by Dansk Value Handling, a cash transportation company. The warehouse is in Glostrup, Demark, a suburb of the Denmak capital Copenhagen.
The only thing that’s revealed about Slimani and his personal life is that he’s abusive to his loyal girlfriend Pumpkin (played by Ida Cæcilie Rasmussen), who lives in Sengeløse, Denmark. As an example of how cruel Slimani is, there’s a scene where Pumpkin asks him not to bring any guns into the house. His response is to strangle her and dunk her head in a water-filled kitchen sink. He doesn’t kill her, but his attack is brutal enough for Pumpkin to live in fear of Slimani.
In addition to Kasper and Slimani, the other men in this group of conniving thieves are Hasse (played by Christopher Wagelin), Warsame (played by Amin Ahmed), Joppe (played by Jens Hultén) and Mo (played by Granit Rushiti), who don’t have personalities that stand out. There are six thieves who are shown doing the heist, but in real life, there were actually a lot more thieves (15 of them were caught and convicted) who were responsible for this crime. The movie has an epilogue about what happened to the stolen loot and the thieves.
Why does family man Kasper want to get involved in such a high-risk robbery? The only explanations that the movie gives are he doesn’t want to work in a regular job and he wants the money to fuel his mixed-martial arts training and not have to work for the rest of his life. Amanda Collin has a supporting role as a security guard named Maria, who is on duty at the Dansk Value Handling warehouse when the thieves arrive.
The buildup to this heist is very underwhelming. The dialogue in the movie is generic and doesn’t give much insight into who these characters really are. “The Quiet Ones” also has too much drab cinematography that makes almost everything looked washed-out and bland. By the end of the movie, you won’t care about what happens to this deplorable bunch of criminals because the film ends in such a wishy-washy manner, with no real closure before the rushed epilogue.
Magnet Releasing released “The Quiet Ones” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on February 21, 2025. The movie was released in Denmark and Sweden in 2024.
Culture Representation: Filmed during rock musician Neil Young’s 2023 solo tour of the West Coast of the United States, the documentary film “Coastal” features an all-white group of people who are connected in some way to Neil Young and the music industry.
Culture Clash: Young went on a solo tour where he did not have any backup musicians on stage with him, which is a big change from most of his previous tours.
Culture Audience: “Coastal” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Young and other rock music artists who emerged in the 1960s.
Neil Young in “Coastal” (Photo courtesy of Shakey Pictures/Trafalgar Releasing)
“Coastal” is a “casual hangout” documentary that is an easygoing reflection of Neil Young’s no-frills 2023 solo tour. The cinematic tone is a laid-back family movie with tour bus conversations getting almost as much screen time as the performances. This a movie made mainly for fans of Young. Everyone else might be a bored but could be charmed by how unpretentious he is as an artist on this tour. It his first tour in nearly four years and his first tour since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many tour cancellations. The tour (which lasted from June to July 2023) mainly went to cities in California, with a few concert dates in Oregon and Washington state.
Directed by Daryl Hannah (Young’s actress/filmmaker wife; they’ve been married since 2018), “Coastal” is entirely in black and white, which makes the film look more timeless than it really is. The movie had its world premiere at the 2024 Woodstock Film Festival and then screened at the 2025 Santa Barbara Film Festival. Young (who was born in Toronto on November 12, 1945) has been a longtime U.S. resident who’s lived in California for decades. His familiarity with California is evident in his commentary as his tour bus drives on the highway to get to the venues that are featured in the movie, such as the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara Bowl, and the Greek Theatre in Berkeley.
As most music fans already know, Young can be put in the “legend” category for his talent and influence as a music artist, beginning with Buffalo Springfield, and then with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and continuing through his solo career. And even though he’s known for his collaborations with a lot of outstanding musicians throughout his career, Young did something that most singers and musicians with his experience wouldn’t do: He did a tour where he was the only one performing on stage, and he didn’t perform his greatest hits. For this tour and in the “Coastal” documentary, he played guitar, piano and harmonica.
The beginning of “Coastal” (which clocks in at 106 minutes) has a memorable opening shot of Young writing the words “Before & After” in the sand on an unnamed beach. After that, the first 15 minutes of the “Coastal” might throw some viewers off, because it basically shows Young on his tour bus making small talk with his tour bus driver Jerry Don Borden, who looks like he’s from the same Baby Boomer generation as Young. They talk about the traffic and some other mundane things as they head to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
Young does not travel with a large entourage. Young’s longtime colleague Bob Rice (a music producer, guitarist, sound designer and engineer) is on the tour to look after and tune the instruments. Young is not particularly extroverted and social with the backstage people at the venue, but he’s friendly and likes to casually joke around.
“Coastal” director Hannah doesn’t put herself in the documentary very much. She can be heard talking off-camera and is briefly glimpsed on camera, such as when she lovingly fixes Young’s rumpled hair before he goes on stage. And she wasn’t on the entire tour because there’s a scene where Young tells with fondness, backstage before a show, “I missed you.”
The audience members are not shown during the performances, although there’s some footage of fans gathered near the tour bus and saying nice things to Young. The movie doesn’t show him interacting with his fans other than these short encounters. In this documentary, you won’t see him doing backstage meet-and-greets or signing autographs or taking photos with people waiting near his tour bus. Young also doesn’t care about personally going on social media to promote himself, so don’t expect him to see him doing things like livestreams or selfie postings.
Young’s banter with the concert audiences is genial and sometimes self-deprecating. When he performs “I’m the Ocean,” he comments on how he’s aged: “I can hardly recognize myself.” He gets enthusiastic applause and cheers of approval for that statement when he says that maybe some people in the audience can relate to that. He adds, “You might want to find out about me before …” and then his voice trails off. He concludes by saying how people can find out: “There’s the Internet.”
The audience members show a lot of love in return and treat his brief jokey comments as if he’s a masterful stand-up comedian. (He’s not.) Sometimes, the audiences can be heard laughing at anything Young says. It’s mainly because Young looks like he could be a cranky old man, but he’s not when he’s on stage. He does have wry observations that look completely unrehearsed and unscripted. Audiences appreciate that authenticity.
He’s also shown telling anecdotes about some of the instruments he plays on stage. He talks about a Martin D-45 acoustic guitar that his former bandmate Stephen Stills gave to him. Young points out that the guitar is very old and of beat up but it’s one of his most treasured gutars. He adds, “Buffalo Springfield was a lot of fun. We had a good time there.”
During a performance of “Love Earth,” Young begins by asking the crowd, “What’s your favorite planet?” They shout back “Earth!” Then, Young gets a little annoyed when he doesn’t think the audience is singing the song’s chorus loud enough. He tells them to sing louder until he’s satisfied.
At other times in the documentary, Young’s on-stage banter is nothing more than forgettable rambling. Young isn’t trying to prove that he’s got youthful energy. He performs as well as expected and has more passion than energy in his performances.
Off stage, it’s back to the tour bus, where Young is content to have casual conversations with bus driver Borden, occasionally with Hannah, and no one else. When the bus passes a sign for Howard Hughes Parkway, Young asks Borden what Howard Hughes’ main claim to fame and if Hughes had any ties to the entertainment industry. Borden then gives an impressive biographical summary, including talking about Hughes’ business ventures, how Hughes dated some famous actresses, and the famous story of how “mentally unstable” Hughes was told to leave a hotel and bought the hotel instead. Borden concludes by saying, “I can’t believe I know so much about Howard Hughes.
Is this “Coastal” documentary an outstanding technical achievement? No, and it was not meant to be outstanding technical achievement. There are a few visually striking shots, such as a full moon overlooking the outdoor venue when Young performs “Comes a Time.” He’s also a model train enthusiast, so the documentary includes the whimsical way that he ends a concert by switching on a model train set-up on stage.
Young is a truly original artist. “Coastal” won’t be considered his best concert documentary, but it’s a worthy showcase to prove that in many ways, he’s still got a big non-conformist streak by refusing to give in to pressure to just play his hits. What you see is what you get. And sometimes, that’s all that matters.
Here is the complete song list for the “Coastal” documentary:
“I’m the Ocean”
“Comes a Time”
“Prime of Life”
“My Heart”
“Dream That Can Last”
“On the Way Home”
“Love Earth”
“Throw Your Hatred Down”
“Mr. Soul”
“When I Hold You in My Arms”
Trafalgar Releasing will release “Coastal” for a one-night-only limited engagement in cinemas worldwide on April 17, 2025.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald; co-directed by Sam Rice-Edwards
Culture Representation: Taking place from 1971 to 1973, primarily in New York City, the documentary film “One to One: John & Yoko” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few Asians, Latin people and African Americans) discussing the period of time when John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono were outspoken sociopolitical activists during the first few years that they lived in New York City.
Culture Clash: Lennon’s and Ono’s left-wing liberal political views and the couple’s celebrity influence made them targets of the right-wing conservative then-U.S. President Richard Nixon, whose administration put the couple under surveillance and immigration scrutiny.
Culture Audience: “One to One: John & Yoko” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Lennon, Ono, the Beatles and documentaries about rock music, pop culture and political activism in the 1970s.
A 1969 photo of Yoko Ono, Kyoko Cox and John Lennon in “One to One: John & Yoko” (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
“One to One: John & Yoko” is named after the One to One charity concerts (headlined by spouses John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a member of the Plastic Ono Elephant’s Memory Band) that took place on August 30, 1972 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, as a fundraiser for the Willowbrook State School for disabled children. There were two concerts for the event: one concert was held in the afternoon, and the other concert was held in the evening. Die-hard fans will already be familiar with many of the concert performances in the documentary. The movie is more interesting with its previously unreleased archival material, such as recordings of John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s phone conversations. In this all-archival documentary, the concert footage is prominent, but it’s not the main purpose of the film.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, “One to One: John & Yoko” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival and subsequently had screenings at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival and the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The One to One concert performances were not only Lennon’s first full-length concerts as a solo artist after the 1970 breakup for Lennon’s former band The Beatles but the concerts were also Lennon’s last public performances where he did a full set of songs. Highlights from Lennon’s performances at the One to One concerts were released in 1986 as a John Lennon album and home video titled “Live in New York City.”
“One to One: John & Yoko” features restored and remastered concert footage that includes Ono performing “Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow),” a song that was not in the “Live in New York City” compilation. Sean Ono Lennon (the son of Lennon and Ono) produced and remixed the documentary’s score music and serves as one of the movie’s executive producers. Sam Rice-Edwards co-directed and edited “One to One: John & Yoko,” which has Macdonald, Peter Worsley and Alice Ebb as producers. Other performers at the One to One concerts included Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Melanie Safka (also known as just Melanie) and Sha Na Na, but they are only seen in this documentary in the all-star finale when Lennon led a sing-along of “Give Peace a Chance.”
The documentary aims to serve as a time capsule of what was going on in the lives of Lennon and Ono (who got married in 1969) during the years 1971 to 1973, the first years that the couple made New York City their main home base. Lennon (who was born and raised in England) and Ono (who was born and raised in Japan) still maintained a home in England throughout their marriage. On December 8, 1980, Lennon (at the age of 40) was tragically murdered by a lone gunman outside of Lennon’s home in New York City. Lennon’s murderer was sentenced to life in prison.
Lennon and Ono said in interviews that they spent of a lot of their free time watching TV. The documentary has a clip of Lennon quipping in an interview that TV is “the window of the world.” Much of the documentary consists of news clips and pop culture tidbits to give context to the period of time that’s covered in the movie. Sometimes, the clips are well-edited. Other times, the clips look like a hodgepodge of things thrown together to fill up time in the documentary.
These news clips include coverage of the Vietnam War and the 1971 deadly prison rebellion Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, New York. There’s also footage from TV journalist Geraldo Rivera’s 1972 WABC-TV documentary “Willowbrook: The Last Great Disgrace,” which exposed Willowbrook to be a hellish, understaffed institution that abused and neglected its child residents. Rivera was the person credited with persuading Lennon to perform at the One to One concerts, which were intended to raise money to reform Willowbrook. The pop culture clips, which are less substantial than the news footage, include commercials for Coca-Cola, footage from the TV game show “The Price Is Right” and scenes from the family drama “The Waltons,” which was a popular series at the time.
The documentary also includes clips (video and audio) of interviews that Lennon and Ono did during this time period, including their appearances on “The Mike Douglas Show” and “The Dick Cavett Show.” In various other interviews, Ono talks abut feminism and about the racist bullying, death threats and physical attacks (such as hair pulling and worse) that she received from people who wrongfully blamed her for breaking up the Beatles. Lennon praises Ono for being a strong and creative woman.
Lennon’s attitude about the Beatles was summed up in an interview quote included in the documentary: “I don’t want to recreate the past. I want to be me now.” Ono takes issue with the other former members of the Beatles (Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr) by saying that she doesn’t get enough credit for all the compliments that she gave to the Beatles in the media. Ono bitterly comments that McCartney, Harrison and Starr never gave the same compliments to her in the media.
Lennon and Ono both talk about the emotional pain of not seeing Ono’s daughter Kyoko Cox for years, due to a custody battle that Ono was having with Ono’s ex-husband Tony Cox, who was Kyoko’s father. There is no mention of Lennon’s son Julian, who was living with Lennon’s ex-wife Cynthia at the time. Even though there was no custody battle between Julian’s parents, it’s been well-documented (but not mentioned in this documentary) that Julian had a complicated relationship with his father, whom he felt neglected him during much of Julian’s childhood.
“One to One: John & Yoko” is at its best when it shows the evolution of Lennon and Ono as sociopolitical activists. The couple famously spent their 1969 honeymoon doing a Bed-In for Peace, where they stayed in bed in two separate one-week periods (one week in Montreal, another week in Amsterdam) to promote world peace. By 1971, as residents of the United States, the couple became more outspoken against the controversial Vietnam War. As the documentary points out, it’s one thing for celebrities to speak about their political views. It’s another thing for celebrities to use their influence to make a difference in legal and political situations.
And that’s what Lennon and Ono did when they performed a song at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, an event for left-wing activist/poet John Sinclair, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of two marijuana joints. The rally took place at the University of Michigan’s Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which was Sinclair’s home state. Grammy-winning superstar Wonder, Bob Seger and Phil Ochs were among the other performers at the rally, which was filmed for the televised documentary “Ten for Two: The John Sinclair Freedom Rally.”
As a result of the rally, Sinclair was let out of prison. It put the U.S. government on notice that Lennon and Ono had the power to influence public opinion and outcomes of political oppression. Because of this event and the couple’s other high-profile activism, declassified FBI documents have since confirmed that Lennon and Ono were put under U.S. government surveillance and were targeted for immigrant visa problems. Lennon was threatened with deportation and had to go to court to fight these visa problems. Audio clips from recorded phone calls and interviews reveal that Lennon knew that his private phones were tapped, and the U.S. government was listening in on his conversations.
Lennon’s and Ono’s social circles began to include poet Allen Ginsberg and left-wing activist Jerry Rubin, who co-founded the Youth International Party (YIP), also known as the Yippies. Rubin, who was considered a leader of the counterculture/anti-establishment movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, became such a close confidante of Lennon and Ono, he convinced them to be part of a Free the People tour (a liberal counterculture event mixing politics and music) that was also supposed to have Bob Dylan as a co-headliner. The tour had been planned to culminate at the 1972 Republican National Convention, which was held in Miami.
Phone conversations between Lennon, Ono, Lennon’s manager Allen Klein reveal some of the behind-the-scenes drama and negotiations involved in the couple’s activism. For the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, Klein can be heard objecting to Lennon’s idea to perform the song “Attica State” (which is on Lennon’s 1972 album “Some Time in New York City”) because Klein thinks it’s too much of a controversial political statement. Lennon compromises and says he’ll do another one of his original songs instead. That song was “John Sinclair,” a song that he wrote specifically for the event. “John Sinclair” is also on “Some Time in New York City” album.
There was even more turmoil over Dylan’s involvement in the Free the People tour. In a phone call, Ono asks writer A.J. Weberman (who has been called outside of this documentary a “Dylanologist,” a “Dylan expert” and a “Dylan stalker”) to stop harassing Dylan because she wants Dylan to do the tour. Weberman says he will make an apology to Dylan. By this time, Dylan was having second thoughts about doing the tour and backed out before any official contracts were signed.
Even though Dylan had a “counterculture” image, he was reportedly wary of how the tour would affect his future business prospects. In the end, the Free the People tour didn’t happen. Lennon and Ono also dropped Rubin from their circle of friends. The documentary has a more diplomatic way of putting it by saying that Lennon and Ono “parted ways” with Rubin.
“One to One: John & Yoko” doesn’t have all the songs featured on “Live in New York City.” In addition to “Give Peace a Chance,” the other songs performed in “One to One: John & Yoko” are “Power to the People”; “Come Together” (a song originally recorded by the Beatles); “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)”; “Hound Dog” (a song originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton and made more famous by Elvis Presley’s version of the song); “Cold Turkey”; “Mother”; and “Imagine.”
An epilogue mentions that in August 1973, Lennon and Ono moved out of their relatively small apartment in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village region to a larger apartment in the luxury Dakota building in Manhattan’s Upper West Side region. This move to the Dakota also marked a new chapter in their lives. The documentary doesn’t mention that not long after Lennon and Ono moved to the Dakota, the couple separated for about 18 months (beginning in the summer of 1973 and ending in early 1975), when he lived mostly in Los Angeles with their personal assistant May Pang, who became Lennon’s mistress because Ono demanded it. Pang’s memoirs and the 2023 documentary “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story” have details about this marital separation period of Lennon’s life, when he self-admittedly was abusing alcohol and drugs.
Because “One to One: John & Yoko” was approved by the Lennon estate, these are the messy details of his life that aren’t going to be in this type of documentary. What is presented in this documentary is undoubtedly carefully curated, but still has some meaning in showing how even a world-famous celebrity as Lennon got backlash because he took risks and stood up for the political causes that meant a lot to him. Ono was a willing partner who also went through her own difficulties. “One to One: John & Yoko” doesn’t try to make Lennon and Ono look perfect but makes them look like two celebrities who were aware of the privileges and burdens of fame and did what they could to make the best of it.
Magnolia Pictures will release “One to One: John & Yoko” in select U.S. cinemas on April 11, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Ramadi, Iraq, on November 25, 2006, the action film “Warfare” features a predominantly white and Middle Eastern group of people (with some Latin people, African Americans, Asians and one Native American) representing the both sides of the the United States-Iraq War.
Culture Clash: Several U.S. Navy SEAL members are trapped inside a house by enemies and must fight their way out to safety.
Culture Audience: “Warfare” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and realistic war movies.
A scene from “Warfare” (Photo by Murray Close/A24)
“Warfare” gives a brutal and intense dramatic recreation of a real-life Navy SEAL combat and rescue mission that took place in Iraq in 2006. The real-time narrative and exceptional sound design increase the tension for this unique war movie. “Warfare” is not a film that is easily forgotten. Sensitive viewers be warned: The movie is very graphic in the violence, injuries and psychological trauma that can occur during combat.
“Warfare” was written and directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza, a real-life Iraq War veteran. Mendoza’s memories and the memories of many of his former Navy SEAL comrades are the basis of what is shown in the movie. This is not a film that takes its time for viewers to get to know the participants. “Warfare” (which clocks in at 95 minutes) is very much a “snapshot” film offers a glimpse into a short but very intense period of time in the lives of the protagonists in the movie.
“Warfare”takes place on November 25, 2006, during two Navy SEAL operations in Ramadi, Iraq. The movie begins with a joyful scene of camaraderie among the approximately 20 young Navy SEALs who are gathered ina room during some down time. They are watching the music video for Eric Prydz’s 2004 hit song “Call on Me,” which features a 1980s-styled aerobics workout of women in skin-tight exercise outfits gyrating with one man in the room.
The Navy SEALs whoop, holler, and start bopping along to the music. It’s the closest thing that this group has to a fraternity party. In interviews, Mendoza says that this type of activity was a ritual for him and his squad members to help them relax and enjoy time together before going into combat. Unfortunately, for the squad in “Warfare,” this happiness is short-lived.
The squad members are shown doing a quiet invasion of a house where a civilian Iraqi family lives. The family is held captive (but are not harmed) in a bedroom while the Navy SEAL squad members use the home as a stakeout building. The squad members are accompanied by two Iraqi scouts—Sidar (played by Heider Ali) and Farid (played by Nathan Altai)—who are language translators. Their hiding place won’t be a secret for long. A bomb goes off, and the squad members quickly figure out that they are surrounded by enemy soldiers.
Once the combat begins in “Warfare,” it doesn’t really let up. Viewers won’t really find out much about the personal backgrounds of each of the characters, but glimpses of their personalities are show during these harrowing war scenes. Some viewers might think this lack of information makes the characters too generic or vague.
Erik (played by Will Poulter) is the officer in charge of the first Ramadi operation. Erik prides himself on staying calm in situations where other people are panicking. His stoicism is tested when he starts to mentally unravel as the group is under siege and backup help is delayed.
Sam (played by Joseph Quinn) is seriously injured during the battle. After the bomb blast, Sam wakes up to see that his right leg is inflames. Getting him to emergency medical care is one of the motivations for the squad to get out and get help as soon as possible.
Ray Mendoza (played by D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) is a reliable communications officer who often has to fight the panic that sometimes overtakes him. He’s very loyal to his squad members and can ultmately be counted on to help as much as he can. Elliott (played by Cosmo Jarvis) is a wisecracking sniper/medica who becomes severely wounded.
Tommy (played by Kit Connor) is a rookie who sometimes gets teased by other squad members, including Lt. Macdonald (played by Michael Gandolfini), who also gets wounded in combat. Jake Wayne (played by Charles Melton), who can think logically under high pressure, is the officer in charge of the second Ramadi operation depicted in the movie. Jake steps up into a leadership role when Erik starts to mentally fall apart. Some other members of the squad include gunner Brian (played by Noah Centineo), communications officer John (played by Finn Bennett), sniper Brock (played by Evan Holtzman), point man Aaron (played by Henrique Zaga), sniper Frank (played by Taylor John Smith) and Sgt. Laerrus (played by Adain Bradley).
“Warfare” shows in unflinching ways how split-second decisions can mean the difference between life and death. And these decisions are often be based on hunches or guesses because those are the only options. Perhaps the only minor criticism about “Warfare” is that almost all of these Navy SEALs in the movie are unrealistically physically attractive. There isn’t an “ugly” one in the bunch. Even though a lot of the movie’s Navy SEALs look like Hollywood actors, the cast members’ performances are admirable and do justice to the real people involved.
A24 will release “Warfare” in U.S cinemas on April 11, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 7 and April 9, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Chicago, the horror film “Drop” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A single mother, who’s on her first date in years, gets Digidrop phone messages from a stranger, who orders her to kill her date, or else her son and sister will be murdered.
Culture Audience: “Drop” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and suspenseful movies about people being held hostage in various ways.
Brandon Sklenar and Jeffery Self in “Drop” (Photo by Bernard Walsh/Universal Pictures)
Even though the thriller Drop gets utterly ridiculous in the movie’s last 15 minutes, this entertaining movie succeeds in delivering suspense and some intended comic relief. The performances elevate the story, which is far-fetched but not entirely impossible. In this tale of a single mother who goes on a first date (dinner at a restaurant) with a man she got to know online, she finds out within minutes of their date starting that her son and her sister are being held hostage. In order to save their lives, she has to kill the man who’s on this date with her. The motives and the culprits are revealed in the movie.
Directed by Christopher Landon and written by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, “Drop” had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. Although “Drop” has been described a horror movie, it’s more of a mystery thriller. The movie isn’t complete fluff because it has themes abut recovering from the trauma of domestic abuse. The protagonist of the story is an abuse survivor, whose decision making is affected by abuse experiences that she’s had in the past.
“Drop” (which takes place in Chicago) begins by showing one of several flashbacks to a terrifying incident that happened about four years before the main story take place. (“Drop” was actually filmed in Ireland.) Violet Gates (played by Meghann Fahy) is bruised, battered, and being theatened by her ex-husband Blake (played by Michael Shea) at her home. Another flashback shows that the ex-couple’s toddler son Toby is nearby in his crib.
Blake is yelling at Violet and threatening to kill her. At one point, a gun comes out, and Blake ends up dead. The last flashback scene reveals what happened right before Blake died. It’s the movie’s way of saying, “Don’t assume you know the whole story if you’ve only seen parts of it.” That’s also the underlying message of the entire movie, which is an intense whodunit mystery about the people behind the sinister acts that take place.
The present-day part of the story in “Drop” takes place when Toby (played by Jacob Robinson) is 5 years old. Violet moved to Chicago with Toby to start a new life. Violet works as a psychologist whose therapy clients are often abuse survivors. She is going on her first date in years, presumably her first date since the death of Blake. The man she’s meeting for her date is a photographer named Henry Campbell (played by Brandon Sklenar), whom she’s been talking with online for about three months.
Violet and Henry are meeting at an upscale restaurant called Palate, which is in a high-rise building with gorgeous views of Chicago. Violet is very nervous about going on this date. Her sarcastic sister Jen (played by Violett Beane) has come over to Violet’s place to babysit Jacob. Jen gives fashion advice on what to wear, such as telling Violet not to wear something she would wear in an office but to wear something sexier in case the date goes well. Violet wends up wearing a scarlet red velvet jumpsuit.
Jen tries to assure Violet before the day to not be scared of what could happen. Jen comments on the men who could be Violet’s potential dates: “They’re not all Blake … You deserve to be happy. And you need to get laid.” Toby knows that Violet is going out on a date and asks Violet: “Does he know about my dad?” Violet answers yes, with sadness in her eyes.
On the way to the restaurant, Henry texts Violet to tell her that he’ll be about 10 minutes late. While she’s waiting for Henry at the restaurant’s bar, Violet meets some people in the restaurant, where anyone could be a suspect for the terror that will ensue. A somewhat uptight hostess named Lindy (played by Sarah McCormack) and a friendly bartender named Cara (played by Gabrielle Ryan) are among the first people she talks to in the restaurant.
While walking to the bar, Violet accidentally bumps into a stranger in his 30s named Connor (played by Travis Nelson), and drops her cell phone in the process. Violet makes a profuse apology as an understanding Connor gives Violet her cell phone. Violet notices that Connor is by himself and is frequently on his phone.
At the bar, Violet is seated next to a man in his 50s named Richard (played by Reed Diamond), who strikes up a conversation with her. Richard says he’s also meeting someone for a first date and is nervous about it. Just like Violet, Richard said he first made contact with his date online. Richard, who confuses Facebook and Friendster, sheepishly says he’s not very savvy when it comes to technology.
As Violet and Richard are talking, a pushy Brit in his 40s named Phil (played by Ed Weeks) interrupts the conversation and tries to flirt with Violet. Phil somewhat backs off when Violet tells him that she’s waiting for her date. It’s later revealed that Phil is the restaurant’s piano player.
Henry eventually shows up and says he’s sorry for being late. Henry is an easygoing and polite guy whose job includes working in the press office for Chicago’s mayor. Henry has brought a bag that has his camera because he says he doesn’t want to risk leaving his camera in his car.
Violet and Henry are seated at a window table. Violet tells Henry her sister Jen is babysitting Toby tonight, and Violet says she wants to keep her phone on the table in case she gets any emergency messages from Jen. Henry says he doesn’t mind at all.
Their server is named Matt (played Jeffery Self), who is a hyper motormouth and is intended to be the character that makes viewers laugh the most because he doesn’t know when to shut up. When Matt finds out that Violet and Henry are on their first date, he reveals that this is his very first shift as a server at the restaurant. Matt then tells them that what he really wants to do is be a comedian, and he’s taking classes at Second City.
Within a few minutes of being seated at the table, Violet gets messages via Digidrop, which is supposed to be similar to AirDrop: People can share messages, photos and videos in the same WiFi network. It’s mentioned at one point in the movie that people need to be within 50 feet of each other to send and receive Digidrop content.
At first, the messages are photos that seem to be some kind of prank. But the messages grow increasingly ominous. In one message, there’s are two photos shown side by side. A photo caption says: “Torment a Stranger or Torment Violet.”
Violet shows the messages to Henry, who takes her phone and tries to find out who’s sending the messages by walking around the restaurant with the phone. Henry discovers that the Digidrop has blind spots in the restaurant’s lobby and kitchen. The restaurant also has surveillance cameras in several places.
Henry isn’t able to find out who’s sending the messages because many of the people in the restaurant seem to have their phones out. There’s a table of teenagers who look like they’re dressed for their prom. Henry and Violet assume that the teenagers are sending the messages to random people as a prank.
And then, Violet gets this message: “Check your security cameras.” Violet is terrified when she checks her security cameras at home and sees a masked gunman (played by Ben Pelletier) is in her kitchen. She soon finds out that this gunman has taken Jen and Toby hostage.
Violet is told by the person who’s messaging her that if she leaves the restaurant or tells anyone about what’s going on, then Toby and Jen will die. The person sending the messages also says that Violet is being watched everywhere she goes in the restaurant. Violet then finds out what this mystery criminal wants: Violet has to kill Henry by putting a lethal liquid in his drink.
The reason why Henry is the target of a murder plot is revealed about halfway through the movie when Violet is ordered to do something else related to this crime. And why was Violet chosen to murder Henry? The person behind this murder plot wants Violet to be framed for the murder. Violet tries not to panic in this high-pressure situation that becomes more dangerous as the story goes along.
As preposterous as this plot might sound, “Drop” is the type of movie that has enough tension and believable performances, it’s easy to get swept up in this cinematic ride. Fahy carries the movie with a thoroughly engaging performance. The other cast members also do well in their roles, with Sklenar showing good chemistry with Fahy.
“Drop” has excellent cinematography that sometimes replicates what someone might be feeling during a panic attack. The movie skillfully puts on display the fears and anxieties that people have about things that could go wrong on first dates and abuse of technology. Viewers have to turn off some brain logic when watching “Drop,” but the movie hits all the right areas when it comes to delivering an adrenaline-pumping mystery.
Universal Pictures will release “Drop” in U.S. cinemas on April 11, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 7 and April 9, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place in 2024, in the United States, Europe and Asia, the action film “The Amateur” (based on the novel of the same name) features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A data analyst for the CIA goes on a vigilante mission to find and kill the terrorists who murdered his wife.
Culture Audience: “The Amateur” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the book on which the movie is based, and action films about espionage, terrorist attacks and vigilantism.
Laurence Fishburne and Rami Malek in “The Amateur” (Photo by John Wilson/20th Century Studios)
“The Amateur” is a vigilante movie with few surprises, but it’s not entirely formulaic. The well-paced action scenes are thrilling and complement the film’s message that intelligence can be more powerful than physical skills. The cast members give very good performances, even when some of the characters are written as fairly two-dimensional.
Directed by James Hawes and written by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli, “The Amateur” is based on Robert Littell’s 1981 novel of the same name. Littell and Diana Maddox co-wrote “The Amateur” movie (directed by Charles Jarrott and starring John Savage and Christopher Plummer) that was released in 1981. “The Amateur” movie released in 2025 has been updated to take place in 2024. The title character in the film is someone who works for the CIA but doesn’t have many fight skills and has to rely on his intelligence and technology skills when he goes on his revenge mission.
“The Amateur” begins by showing 43-year-old Charlie Heller (played by Rami Malek) and his wife Sarah (played by Rachel Brosnahan) at their home in Virginia, on what seems likes an ordinary day. Sarah is getting ready to go to London for five days to attend a conference on climate change and development. Charlie works as a data analyst for the CIA (whose headquarters are in Langley, Virginia), where he does a lot of deciphering of encrypted data.
Charlie and Sarah, who do not have any children together, have a stable and happy marriage. Sarah mentions to Charlie that she wishes that he could go on the trip with her. Charlie says he can’t because “There’s something I have to untangle at work.”
At his job, Charlie is a nerdy introvert who works mostly by himself. However, he has a friendly rapport with a colleague named The Bear (played by Jon Bernthal), a mysterious field agent who has mutual respect for Charlie because Charlie once helped The Bear out of a tough situation. The Bear shows up occasionally in the story but he’s not an essential character. The director of the CIA is Alice O’Brien (played by Julianne Nicholson), who runs the operation efficiently, but even she can’t prevent corruption within her ranks.
Charlie’s immediate supervisor is F. H. Moore (played by Holt McCallany), the director of the Special Activities Center (SAC), a secretive action and military operations division of the CIA. Director Moore works closely with Caleb (played by Danny Sapani), the CIA’s head of nuclear proliferation. As soon as you see Director Moore and Caleb working together, you know immediately that they’re up to no good and will be obstacles to whatever Charlie wants to do.
Charlie has been communicating with an enigmatic hacker who is currently in Istanbul. One thing that “The Amateur” doesn’t do is keep viewers guessing for a long time about the identities and motives of the characters. It’s eventually revealed that the mystery hacker is named Inquiline (played by Caitríona Balfe), and she plays a pivotal role in the story when Charlie goes on a globe-trotting quest for revenge.
His revenge motive happens on September 12, 2024, when terrorists attack at a London train station. Sarah is one of the innocent bystanders. She’s taken hostage and murdered. This attack has been recording on surveillance video.
When Charlie finds out that Sarah has been murdered, he’s understandably devastated. He goes into therapy, where he expresses survivor’s guilt and says he feels angry and useless. Charlie believes the only way justice can be achieved for Sarah’s murder is to get revenge and kill the terrorists responsible for the murder. And he wants to be the one to do it.
When he tells Director Moore and Caleb about this intention, they tell Charlie that he can’t be on this case because he’s too personally involved. Director Moore and Caleb laugh at Charlie when Charlie requests special mission training. Director Moore tells Charlie: “I don’t think you could beat a 90-year-old nun in an arm-wrestling match.”
However, in a fairly clunky part of the movie that isn’t explained very well, Charlie gets assigned someone to train him anyway. His name is Endo Henderson (played by Laurence Fishburne), a retired military colonel, who has a tough and no-nonsense attitude. Charlie finds out the identities of the four terrorists involved in the attack. And quicker than you can say “inspired by a Jason Bourne movie,” Charlie is going to various places in Europe and Asia to track down these murderers.
The four terrorists are:
Horst Schiller (played by Michael Stuhlbarg), the leader of the group who has an apparent affiliation with Russia’s KGB and who was the one who actually murdered Sarah,
Mishka Blazhic (played by Marc Rissmann), a Russian native who was the one who held Sarah hostage.
Lawrence Ellish (played by Joseph Millson), who is originally from South Africa.
Gretchen Frank (played by Barbara Probst), who is hiding out in Paris after the terrorist attack in London.
Charlie tracks down these terrorists, one by one. The movie trailer for “The Amateur” already reveals the fate of Mishka, who gets trapped in a mansion’s infinity pool that Charlie has rigged to collapse. It’s one of the most stunning visuals in the movie, which has good cinematography and editing.
“The Amateur” is not the type of film that is going to win major awards. It’s solidly entertaining but not groundbreaking. It’s not the type of spy movie where there are major twists and turns to the plot. “The Amateur” is very transparent about who the “heroes” and “villains” are but also leaves room for viewers to question and ponder the toll that vigilantism takes on the soul.
20th Century Studios will release “The Amateur” in U.S. cinemas on April 11, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 5, 2025.
