| Title |
Year |
Rating |
Rank |
Review |
| End of Watch | 2012 | 100 | 1 | - The on screen chemistry between Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena and the raw,urban cinematography are phenomenal. As a police procedural, it's perfect. |
| Town, The | 2010 | 100 | 1 | - Dare I say it, the best heist movie EVER. Every aspect of this film was done flawlessly. If you haven't seen this movie, it is YOUR loss! |
| Dark Knight Rises, The | 2012 | 98 | 3 | - Might be EVEN better than The Dark Knight, which is saying something. Just such a brilliantly executed film from every angle. Once again Christopher Nolan sets the bar very, very high. |
| Dark Knight, The | 2008 | 97 | 4 | - Solid summer super hero blockbuster. Sad to see him go, but Heath Ledger definitely extended us a gem from beyond the grave. |
| Hurt Locker, The | 2008 | 96 | 5 | - What Platoon was to Vietnam, Hurt Locker is to Iraq. Beautifully done. Keeps you fully engrossed and never falls into the temptation of giving you a political perspective on the war. |
| Spy Game | 2001 | 96 | 5 | - 'Spy Game' is that rare big stakes, behind-the-curtain government thriller that does not come off as cheesy. As far as spy thrillers go, this is the gold standard. |
| Heat | 1995 | 95 | 7 | - The ancestor to The Town. Which is better? Some say the former. I say, either way, it's neck and neck. |
| Zero Dark Thirty | 2012 | 95 | 7 | - I'm not sure this story could be told better in 100 attempts. People will come and watch for its historical and personal importance, but they'll leave satisfied solely off of Kathryn Bigelow's vision. |
| Argo | 2012 | 94 | 9 | - Ben Affleck is quickly establishing himself as the next great American storyteller. But for all the rave reviews his acting gets in the film, Bryan Cranston is sorely overlooked. He is phenomenal! |
| Inception | 2010 | 94 | 9 | - It's a dream inside a dream inside a dream. It's also a good movie inside a great movie inside a terrific movie. |
| Side Effects (2013) | 2013 | 94 | 9 | - Side Effects reminds us why we enjoy going to the movies in the first place: to take part in thrill rides we alone couldn't conjure up. |
| Captain Phillips | 2013 | 93 | 12 | - A sensational thriller. The emotional heft the story brings only further cements you on the edge of your seat. |
| In the Bedroom | 2001 | 93 | 12 | - 'In The Bedroom', as a title, decieves its viewers. Because the movie doesn't take place in the bedroom, it takes place in the heart. |
| Memento | 2000 | 93 | 12 | - Watch this without knowing anyone or anything behind it and you'll say, "where has this movie been all my life?" Then discover Christopher Nolan's name and say "Ah, that explains it all." |
| Spotlight | 2015 | 93 | 12 | - For all the talking heads, half-truths, and sensationalism that dominates the so-called "news channels" these days, we needed this film. Not only to remind us what passionate people can still do, but what journalism, true journalism, can still be. |
| Departed, The | 2006 | 92 | 16 | - Scorcese at his best. There's a reason this one put him over the top. A near-perfect film! |
| Insider, The | 1999 | 92 | 16 | - A corporate/political thriller of the highest order. This is the kind of film that reminds us how awesome movies can be. |
| United 93 | 2006 | 92 | 16 | - We throw the term 'heroes' around a lot, especially in films. Those men and women aboard United 93 are real heroes. In every sense of the word. And this film is a memorial to them. To tell their story. |
| Michael Clayton | 2007 | 91 | 19 | - When you draw up a big-business thriller and execute it flawlessly, very little proves to be more worth your two hours. |
| Captain America: The Winter Soldier | 2014 | 90 | 20 | - One of the best Marvel movies ever! |
| Conjuring, The | 2013 | 90 | 20 | - James Wan's best horror flick yet! |
| Impossible, The | 2012 | 90 | 20 | - Nothing -- and I mean NOTHING -- will leave you more raw than this movie. Sensational. |
| Inglourious Basterds | 2009 | 90 | 20 | - Tarantino takes history and puts it through a blender with the top off. The end result is a red, frothy, delicious, and splattered on the walls. |
| Sicario | 2015 | 90 | 20 | - A 'Traffic' for the 'Call of Duty' generation. |
| The Visit | 2015 | 90 | 20 | - From the director branded by his famous plot twists and showing us things that aren't what they really seem, how's this for a twist? An underdog film from a household name director that's been in a slump recently that is genuinely unsettling yet riveting, creepy yet human, and terrifying yet sincere. |
| You're Next | 2011 | 90 | 20 | - Nothing short of a cinematic roller coaster, the twists, for plenty of them there are, are fast and unpredictable and it's all over before you want it to be. |
| Zodiac | 2007 | 90 | 20 | - A riveting sort of 'historical thriller', but at times the film feels as though it covers its span of 22 years in realtime. |
| Chinatown | 1974 | 89 | 28 | - The more you look back and the more you cut away al the bells and whistles of modern cinema, the more you realize just how much Nicholson's charisma bursts right through the screen. |
| Contagion | 2011 | 89 | 28 | - It'll scare you to your core, but there's no villain. The villain is mother nature, making it all the more terrifying. It's a medical Silence of the Lambs, and Hanibal is no bigger than a human cell. |
| Manchurian Candidate, The (1962) | 1962 | 89 | 28 | - A classic thriller. One of THE greatest/shocking/amazing endings of all time. |
| No Country for Old Men | 2007 | 89 | 28 | - The slow-building thriller relies on brilliant cinematography and flawless performances to deliver all the tension. |
| Room | 2015 | 89 | 28 | - Both heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time for the duration. |
| Boondock Saints, The | 1999 | 88 | 33 | - Classic cult film. Thoroughly enjoyable and utterly addictive. A movie that will be quoted for decades as well it should. |
| Cabin in the Woods, The | 2011 | 88 | 33 | - A funny, thrtilling horror flick that turns the genre on its head? What's not to love? |
| Call, The | 2013 | 88 | 33 | - The key to a good thriller is intensity, and 'The Call' has it in droves. |
| Dark Skies | 2013 | 88 | 33 | - It's Paranormal Activity with an extraterrestrial twist. The funny thing is that it works pretty well. And even as it gives away the end in the beginning, 'Dark Skies' saves one last surprise that it pulls off with decent success. |
| Gravity | 2013 | 88 | 33 | - Gravity's biggest strength is how dynamic it is. It can be both very small and very large at the same time, and that's as cool as any of the visuals. |
| Hunger Games, The | 2012 | 88 | 33 | (full review) - Staying relatively true to the novel was the only key to success Hunger Games needed. |
| The Martian | 2015 | 88 | 33 | - It's rare that a cast of this level of notoriety is also so well used. 'The Martian', both in development and in execution, tells you it takes an army to truly save one man. |
| Air Force One | 1997 | 87 | 40 | - A so-called old school action movie before glitz and glam dominated flashy action flicks. |
| Aliens | 1986 | 87 | 40 | - From its scope to its imagination to its just overall sense of purpose, James Cameron's sequel is SO much better than Ridley Scott's first installment. |
| Clear and Present Danger | 1994 | 87 | 40 | - A first-rate political thriller. But like everything in D.C., it takes far too long to come to a resolution. |
| Cloverfield | 2008 | 87 | 40 | - One of the first mainstream films to popularize the found film genre. |
| Die Hard: With a Vengeance | 1995 | 87 | 40 | - This is the best of not only the trilogy, but the franchise. |
| Fast And The Furious (2001) | 2001 | 87 | 40 | - Nothing has topped the original. This raw, urban action flick provided a nitrous boost to the now overpopulated street racing genre. |
| Great Escape, The | 1963 | 87 | 40 | - Just a terrific movie. The whole cast really is incredible. |
| Shining, The | 1980 | 87 | 40 | - It's a mind-melting horror show, and might've been darn near perfect had it been about 30 minutes shorter. |
| Silence of the Lambs, The | 1991 | 87 | 40 | - It's rare that a thriller is, at the same time, both genuinely creepy and compelling. Ultimately, that's what makes The Silence of the Lambs special. |
| Traffic | 2000 | 87 | 40 | - A massive drug and crime saga. Very few movies have tried to be as broad in scope and achieve so much with it. |
| V/H/S/2 | 2013 | 87 | 40 | - It's the first V/H/S only more refined. The end result? A pretty spectacular homage to both the found film and horror genres. |
| A Hijacking | 2012 | 86 | 51 | - It's hard to call 'A Hijacking' a precursor to 'Captain Phillips' for obvious factual reasons, but it certainly alludes to how compelling such a story can be when thrown up on the big screen. |
| A Most Violent Year | 2014 | 86 | 51 | - A truly tense and unsettling drama. |
| Body of Lies | 2008 | 86 | 51 | - DiCaprio, once again, is terrific which adds quality to Scott's thrilling direction that would keep you in your seat on its own. |
| Deepwater Horizon | 2016 | 86 | 51 | - Just a really, really well done movie. Probably no one could've told this story like Peter Berg did. |
| Fast Five | 2011 | 86 | 51 | - It's the closest any sequel has come yet to the original. The action is over the top, and flirts with obsurdity, but that's the point of a blockbuster. The bank vault chase scene is one of the coolest I've seen in a very, very long time. |
| Margin Call | 2011 | 86 | 51 | - A captivating, apolitical drama that captures the dawn of the economic collapse near perfectly. |
| Skyfall | 2012 | 86 | 51 | - For such a landmark film, plot-wise, in the James Bond series, Skyfall is a little lacking in the traditional things we've come to love about James Bond. It's a dark time for 007, a theme that will play to mixed results with the audience. |
| Taken | 2008 | 86 | 51 | - Liam Neeson proves that the aging action hero flick can be done well when the right people are in it and behind it. |
| American Psycho | 2000 | 85 | 59 | - A really, really, really well done film. In fact, it may be OVER done. We could've lived without the "questioning reality" side of the story. It's commentary on greed, superficialness, and intimacy are enough. |
| Interpreter, The (2005) | 2005 | 85 | 59 | - A successful "high stakes" thriller. |
| Peacemaker (1997) | 1997 | 85 | 59 | - It's an all-thrills, no-frills political action drama that is nothing short of one hell of a ride. |
| Perfect Storm, The | 2000 | 85 | 59 | - We get that swordfisherman and coast guard rescue divers and new englanders in general are a rough, hardy bunch, but even here the gung-ho machismo is a bit much. And that's too bad, because it's the only thing keeping this movie from being a classic action flick. |
| Sixth Sense, The | 1999 | 85 | 59 | - The final plot twist (you KNOW the one I'm talking about) goes right up there with Vader telling Luke who his father is. |
| All the Presidents Men | 1976 | 84 | 64 | - Successfully captures a terific story and throws it on film. |
| Anatomy of a Murder | 1959 | 84 | 64 | - Solidifies James Stewart as one of the greatest actors of all time. |
| Bridge of Spies | 2015 | 84 | 64 | - At its core, 'Bridge of Spies' is not a thriller about a few prisoners. No, it is a dissection of what made the 'Cold War' a terrifying and tense time. |
| Buried | 2010 | 84 | 64 | - Simple yet complex. Familiar yet unique. Stagnant yet fully engrossing. There's no other way to say it: this is a one-of-a-kind treat in filmmaking. |
| East, The (2013) | 2013 | 84 | 64 | - Underneath the film's steely thriller exterior lies a morality play about justice and revenge and the cost of achieving each. |
| Faults | 2015 | 84 | 64 | - It's very rare in this day and age that a film throws an ending as unexpected and as brilliant as 'Faults' does. |
| Frequency | 2000 | 84 | 64 | - This is the kind of magic movies are supposed to be made of. It doesn't all have to fit logically, it just has to be fun. |
| Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (American) | 2011 | 84 | 64 | - I like my European thrillers sleek, provocative, and chock-full of entitled white people that turn out to be bats*** crazy. That's why the American go-round of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo delivers the goods. |
| Gone Girl | 2014 | 84 | 64 | - David Fincher is successful in his effort to make a story that was so compelling in novel-form as compelling when transferred to the big screen. |
| Goodnight Mommy | 2015 | 84 | 64 | - One of the most disturbing films I've ever seen. |
| Imperium | 2016 | 84 | 64 | - Admittedly a little rough around the edges but the tension is palpable. |
| Kill the Messenger | 2014 | 84 | 64 | - Though the title has very little (if anything) to do with the film, it is a compelling, intellectual thriller. Viewers who thought it was the B-Action movie it's poster art tries to sell it as will likely be disappointed. |
| North By Northwest | 1959 | 84 | 64 | - It serves as the blueprint for every successful blockbuster thriller. It shouldn't surprise you that Hitchcock pulled it off first. |
| Remember | 2015 | 84 | 64 | - It is, at once, painfully tedious and unbearably gripping. An enigma in and of itself. |
| Reservoir Dogs | 1992 | 84 | 64 | - An absolute bloodbath that serves as the perfect foreword to Quentin Tarantino's directorial career. |
| Take Shelter | 2011 | 84 | 64 | - While the apocalypse angle will be the main pull for prospective audiences, its the film's honest, raw depiction of a family struggling with mental illness that makes it so unforgettable. |
| The Gift (Edgerton / Bateman) | 2015 | 84 | 64 | - It's a gripping suspense-driven drama. |
| The Strangers | 2008 | 84 | 64 | - It's scary, yes, but even more so it's just very, very dark. There never seems to be any real hope of getting out alive for the poor protagonist and thus the whole movie feels like a morbid countdown to their inevitable doom. |
| Thirteen Days | 2000 | 84 | 64 | - An engrossing look at one of the most uncertain times in American history. |
| Basic Instinct | 1992 | 83 | 83 | - It's a well-done crime thriller, but it's not as smart as it thinks it is. |
| Black Sea | 2014 | 83 | 83 | - A gripping submarine thriller. |
| Bourne Supremacy | 2004 | 83 | 83 | - Gun to my head, I narrowly like it over the original. There's something about angry, vengeful Jason Bourne that is slightly more fun than the amnesiac. |
| Bourne Ultimatum | 2007 | 83 | 83 | - Before 'Legacy', 'Ultimatum' seemed to have wrapped up the franchise darn near perfectly. |
| Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | 2014 | 83 | 83 | - Captivating, yes, but also painfully formulaic. I felt like I knew the story before it was told. |
| Die Hard 2 | 1990 | 83 | 83 | - Slightly better than the first. How do I know? I don't. But for whatever reason the same wintery atmosphere seems to make the two films very comparable. |
| Fugitive, The | 1993 | 83 | 83 | - It's good guy vs. secret good guy vs. bad guy that the good guy doesn't know exists. Is there a better premise for a manhunt flick? |
| Green Room | 2016 | 83 | 83 | - So it turns out white supremacists manufacturing drugs under the watchful eye of a cult-like leader are not the most wonderful people. Who knew? |
| Jack Reacher | 2012 | 83 | 83 | - Cliche, predictable, ....and fun. Like my favorite drive, I enjoyed the trip despite seeing every turn coming. So sue me. |
| Jurassic World | 2015 | 83 | 83 | - Easily the best of the 'Jurassic Park' franchise since the original. |
| Kajaki | 2014 | 83 | 83 | - There are no epic shootouts or thrilling dogfights, but 'Kilo Two Bravo' is just as tense and exhilarating. Not with full scale battles, but the slightest footstep or rolling rock. |
| Kill Bill vol 2 | 2004 | 83 | 83 | - These 'Kill Bill' movies are so wildly unique the only workable comparison is to each other. In that regard, this sequel is marginally better. |
| Oceans Eleven (2001) | 2001 | 83 | 83 | - Comedy, action, wit, and a script that actually took some thinking and direction. It all ends in an enjoyable film. |
| Poseidon Adventure, The (1972) | 1972 | 83 | 83 | - There are so few truly great films taking place on/around NYE that this is near the top of the list. |
| Street Fighter | 1994 | 83 | 83 | - An intense look at how dirty politics can be, and how the truly admirable candidates seem to find a way to rise above it. Mostly. |
| Valkyrie | 2008 | 83 | 83 | - 'Valkyrie' is an enigma. It's good, but it should be even better. It brings a great story into the limelight, but seemingly not far enough. Will you enjoy it? Sure. And yet, you'll leave somewhat unsatisfied. |
| Blue Ruin | 2014 | 82 | 99 | - It's a gripping little tale of revenge. |
| Bourne Identity | 2002 | 82 | 99 | - The quintessential espionage action-thriller. |
| Hunt for Red October | 1990 | 82 | 99 | - If you can get over the movie selling you Sean Connery and Sam Neill as Russian Naval Officers, chances are you'll enjoy it very much. |
| JFK | 1991 | 82 | 99 | - It's good or maybe even great, but certainly not excellent. It's lasting legacy will be adding fuel to the fire of conspiracy theorists everywhere. |
| Lethal Weapon | 1987 | 82 | 99 | - Mel Gibson and Danny Glover fight Gary Busey? How does that NOT have '80's classic written all over it? |
| Munich | 2005 | 82 | 99 | - Besides one ludicrous scene at the end of the movie, everything is done with decent taste. The real interesting aspect is the conversations it begins about issues that still exist today. |
| Mystic River | 2003 | 82 | 99 | - You may feel as though you need to start taking anti-depressants as the end credits roll up, but it'll be worth it. |
| Negotiator, The | 1998 | 82 | 99 | - It's The Fugitive meets SWAT meets every other cop thriller with David Morse in it. |
| Passengers | 2016 | 82 | 99 | - The questions about humanity, its limits, and our philosophies give this far, far outer space thriller context. |
| Scream | 1996 | 82 | 99 | - The no-frills teens slasher knows what its about and doesn't deviate from a solid concept. It's a low-risk, moderate-reward plan that leads to glass-ceiling success. |
| State of Play | 2009 | 82 | 99 | - A solid political thriller. |
| The Hitcher | 2007 | 82 | 99 | - The remake of a thriller into more of a slasher/horror prospect is in an interesting concept. And this sub-90-minute film works in its own little world. |
| The Two Faces of January | 2014 | 82 | 99 | - What makes Hosseini Amini's film fun is the twists do not come in the plot but rather the motivation of its characters. |
| Bad Boys II | 2003 | 81 | 112 | - Easily one of my all-time favorite action blockbusters. A fun ride from start to finish with superb replay value. |
| Die Hard | 1988 | 81 | 112 | - Greatest/only Christmas action movie of all time. |
| Double Indemnity | 1944 | 81 | 112 | - Take it from me, someone who doesn't buy the notion that films are necessarily better just because their old: this one is worth your time. |
| Nothing But the Truth | 2008 | 81 | 112 | - The ultra-low-budget thriller derives its pull from it's story and it's actors. |
| Orphan | 2009 | 81 | 112 | - Thoroughly unsettling. |
| Secret in Their Eyes | 2015 | 81 | 112 | - Your convential crime thriller. |
| The Conjuring 2 | 2016 | 81 | 112 | - Can't quite live up to the original, but much better than 'Annabelle'. |
| Wrong Turn | 2003 | 81 | 112 | - A conventional slasher. The only people allowed to be upset with this film are probably the Department of Tourism in Greenbrier County, WV. |
| 127 Hours | 2010 | 80 | 120 | - Any movie that takes place largely in just one nook in between two rocks and manages to keep you captivated is fine filmmaking. |
| Casino Royale | 2006 | 80 | 120 | - Gadgets, action, sex, and violence. The factory-issued latest installment of the Bond series transitions to a new 007 just fine. |
| Company You Keep, The | 2013 | 80 | 120 | - What starts out at a terrific thriller-esque pace dies down into drab and uninspiring philosophical commentary. |
| Go | 1999 | 80 | 120 | - Just when you think these differing takes on the same night are not going to end with any resolution and on the most disappointing of notes, it's all tied up for you in a pretty bow. |
| Pulp Fiction | 1994 | 80 | 120 | - An instant cult classic, but be warned: it's trendier to pretend to like this movie than it is to actually like it. |
| The Imitation Game | 2014 | 80 | 120 | - The tension of the moment is cut only by the film's inisistence on being both a biopic and a World War II era period piece. In truth, had it stuck to one, it probably would've gone a lot further. |
| Train to Busan | 2016 | 80 | 120 | - The end product is a solid, if not occasionally overacted, addition to the zombie genre. |
| Z for Zachariah | 2015 | 80 | 120 | - It seems like it is moving methodically, with intention. Building to a crescendo. But 'Z For Zachariah' does not go out with a bang, but a whimper. |
| Act of Valor | 2012 | 79 | 128 | (full review) - The acting isn't the best, but the action sequences are next to none. Really shows other action blockbusters how it's done. |
| Assault on Precinct 13 | 2005 | 79 | 128 | - For the most part, it sticks to the same-old tired action flick script. |
| Black Christmas | 2006 | 79 | 128 | - People can hate on this movie all they want -- and they will -- but I have no problem with it. In fact, dare I say it, I even kind of like it. |
| Black Rock | 2013 | 79 | 128 | - It's a neat little horror-thriller. Sort of a nice blueprint for quality low-budget filmmaking. |
| Bullitt | 1968 | 79 | 128 | - The car chase scene is perhaps the greatest of all time. |
| Chronicle | 2012 | 79 | 128 | (full review) - Holds it own even in the ubiquitous 'Found Film' genre. A film that sort of came out of nowhere that is definitely worth your time. |
| Grizzly | 2015 | 79 | 128 | - As far as apex predator horror/thriller flicks go, there are far worse renditions out there. |
| Hostage | 2005 | 79 | 128 | - It doesn't do Robert Crais' novel justice. That being said, it's still worth the price of admission. |
| Jason Bourne | 2016 | 79 | 128 | - Greengrass returns to the franchise, and all the pieces are there, but it's just not the same. |
| Jaws | 1975 | 79 | 128 | - It depends on how you view it, quite frankly. A thriller? A compelling one, to be sure. But a true horror? Well, let's just say it's not as big of a fish as it thinks it is. |
| Live Free or Die Hard | 2007 | 79 | 128 | - Is Bruce Willis getting up there? Yeah, but like Liam Neeson in 'Taken', it doesn't really seem to get in the way here. The fourth installment is substantially weaker than the first three, but it doesn't deviate from what makes the franchise successful. And for that, we thank you. |
| Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol | 2011 | 79 | 128 | - There is a clear effort here to inject some real comedy -- chiefly on the back of Simon Pegg who has risen to stardom during the eight years since M:I3 -- for the first time in this franchise, putting 'Ghost Protocol' almost in a different genre entirely. Therefore, to compare it to M:I3 -- the best and latest installment of this franchise before 'Ghost Protocol' -- is rather hard to do. |
| Mission: Impossible III | 2006 | 79 | 128 | - There's no denying the whole 'retired spy back for one more mission' story line is a bit overplayed, but there's no denying that M:I3 is better than either of the first two. |
| Mississippi Burning | 1988 | 79 | 128 | - The suspense in 'Mississippi Burning' is palpable, but make no mistake: this is simply a thriller involving racism, not a film that actually delves into the issue. |
| Prisoners | 2013 | 79 | 128 | - If nothing else, 'Prisoners' is a shoe-in for darkest film of the year. |
| The Infiltrator | 2016 | 79 | 128 | - It's definitely good, just not must-see-again good. |
| The One I Love | 2014 | 79 | 128 | - Apparently the Duplass brothers thought a whole bunch of people were going around thinking, "it's about time they turned 'Inception' into a rom-com." |
| Crimson Tide | 1995 | 78 | 145 | - For something that boils down to essentially a testosterone-packed, machismo-laced soap opera, it works surprisingly well. |
| Dirty War | 2004 | 78 | 145 | - Daniel Percival and Lizzie Mickery have created what amounts to basically a worst-case scenario for a major Western metropolis. |
| Hours | 2013 | 78 | 145 | - A neat little drama. |
| Money Monster | 2016 | 78 | 145 | - I guess the question is whether or not this is supposed to just be a standalone thriller with no social commentary or is it a message on Wall Street? Because if it is the latter, while it definitely rides the wave of populist anger, it doesn't seem so sure as to who to blame for the mess. Is it the television shtick-heavy hack? Or is it the corrupt businessman? Or perhaps it's just the system in general? Ironically, the one man the movie never tries to blame is the guy with the gun. |
| Nightcrawler | 2014 | 78 | 145 | - 'Nightcrawler' essentially sets out to villify anyone and everyone associated with television news. And painting in such broad strokes will be off-putting to many. |
| Oceans Thirteen | 2007 | 78 | 145 | - This third installment continues to get away from what made the first one so great. Rather than developing a creative story of its own, the movie settles for taking topical, pop culture pot shots at its extensive cast. |
| Red Dawn (2012) | 2012 | 78 | 145 | - It's an action movie with obvious holes that keeps you constantly entertained. In my estimation, it paid perfect homage to the original. |
| Rendition | 2007 | 78 | 145 | - The dramatization of a dark part of the CIA's history would be more palpable if EVERY character in the story wasn't puddle shallow. |
| The Omen | 1976 | 78 | 145 | - The most frustrating aspect of The Omen is the amount of potential that it doesn't quite live up to. |
| The Purge: Anarchy | 2014 | 78 | 145 | - Far and away better than the original. |
| V for Vendetta | 2005 | 78 | 145 | - Is it a superhero movie? I suppose so. Either way, it's one of the coolest in the genre! Reminds us there were filmmakers taking down hypothetical totalitarian government ever before Katniss Everdeen came along. |
| X2: X-Men United | 2003 | 78 | 145 | - It does what a sequel should: it builds off the original story. This is not a new adventure for this band of Marvel Superheroes, but rather the same adventure extended. |
| 10 Cloverfield Lane | 2016 | 77 | 157 | - Inside the fallout shelter lay a wonderfully thrilling story. Psychological in a cabin fever sort of way, clostrophobic as three virtual strangers are forced into confinement with one another, and eerily twisted like a Hitchcock great. Then she pops the lid, runs from aliens, and everything we go through suddenly feels a bit more silly. |
| 71 | 2014 | 77 | 157 | - It should serve as a reminder to everyone that religious and cultural strife is just as integral a part of the western world as it is the east. |
| Carrie (1976) | 1976 | 77 | 157 | - The first half is almost a teen drama. It's in the second half of 'Carrie' that you really get your money's worth. |
| Changing Lanes | 2002 | 77 | 157 | - It's very Shakespearean in the way it allows sort of a simple snafu to blow up into virtually a full scale war between two men who had no intention of letting it go there. |
| Halloween (1978) | 1978 | 77 | 157 | - John Carpenter's Hallow's Eve tale proves to be a clinic on slow, methodical build-up, but I'm not sure the payoff is really there. |
| Nocturnal Animals | 2016 | 77 | 157 | - Honestly, had the film only been of the story in the manuscript itself, it would have been better. The superficial characters of the 'real world' bring nothing to the table and even Edward Sheffield, who we only see in flashbacks, ends us with a reminder that he's not much better, either. |
| Psycho | 1960 | 77 | 157 | - It's value isn't necessarily what is on the screen so much as what it has inspired since. |
| Spectre | 2015 | 77 | 157 | - 'Spectre' marks the second straight time in the Daniel Craig era of the James Bond franchise that Bond is out only to be brought back in it for one more go 'round. At some point, we're going to have to accuse him of being the superspy who cried wolf. |
| The Lazarus Effect | 2015 | 77 | 157 | - I enjoyed it and didn't even need DMT. So sue me. |
| Angels And Demons | 2009 | 76 | 166 | - Where the first (The DaVinci Code) felt about as exciting as a real history investigation, Angels and Demons puts the thrill back into this thriller series. |
| Children of the Corn | 1984 | 76 | 166 | - As with almost all Stephen King tales, a solid, simple, scary plot has to go supernatural an force you to roll your eyes. |
| Collateral | 2004 | 76 | 166 | - A decent thriller. |
| Con Air | 1997 | 76 | 166 | - John Malkovich is magnificent, as always, but the rest of the crowd can't keep pace. The end result is yet another good-but-not-great, B-list action flick. |
| Inferno | 2016 | 76 | 166 | - It's definitely different than the first two, but all the key ingredients -- the gripping thriller elements, the puzzle-piece plot, the historical hide-and-seek -- are all there. If you liked the first two, you're going to like this one just fine. |
| Kiss the Girls | 1997 | 76 | 166 | - Don't focus on the fact that it's a James Patterson novel too much. What 'Kiss The Girls' really is adapted from is 'The Silence of the Lambs', which it wants to be oh so very badly. |
| Lord of War | 2005 | 76 | 166 | - It was fun and exciting right up until the point it tried to grow a conscience. |
| Rock, The | 1996 | 76 | 166 | - That scene where the guy has the poisonous ball in his mouth effectively ruined my childhood. |
| Runner Runner | 2013 | 76 | 166 | - It's one of those movies that's all been done entirely before, but that doesn't mean this time around isn't a little fun. |
| The Sentinel | 2006 | 76 | 166 | - A decent if not overly produced and directed thriller. I mean, the protagonist secret service agent having an affair with the first lady? Really? It's so cheesy I can practically feel it clogging my arteries. |
| U.S. Marshals | 1998 | 76 | 166 | - Not as good as the original (most people don't realize it's a sequel), but a fun ride in its own right. |
| GoldenEye | 1995 | 75 | 177 | - Brosnan's first go at it as the famous superspy is also probably is best one. |
| Hills Have Eyes II (2007) | 2007 | 75 | 177 | - It's not nearly as bad as the original sequel, but it's far from being groundbreaking, either. |
| Insomnia | 2002 | 75 | 177 | - This is one of Christopher Nolan's lesser-known works, probably with sound reason. |
| Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension | 2015 | 75 | 177 | - Some wooden acting and obvious 3D gimmicks aside, it's a palpable addition to the popular franchise. |
| Safe | 2012 | 75 | 177 | - Yes, its an onslaught of action with no depth to support it. Admit it though, you've gone to see worse. |
| Starship Troopers | 1997 | 75 | 177 | - Full disclosure: this was my favorite movie for a while. Full disclosure again: it was before my brain fully developed. |
| Taken 2 | 2012 | 75 | 177 | - The action sequences are near flawless, but the dialogue gets tacky quickly and the plot pushes over that line from extreme to ridiculous. |
| The Accountant | 2016 | 75 | 177 | - For about three quarters of its runtime it's a fairly smart, engaging, intriguing thriller. And then it devolves into cliche and tacky plot developments and the eye rolls begin. |
| Felony | 2014 | 74 | 185 | - Perhaps in Australia, audiences haven't seen quite the number of police thrillers we have here in the states. That's about the only way 'Felony' doesn't come across as astonishingly formulaic. |
| Goldfinger | 1964 | 74 | 185 | - Even a man as suave and sophisticated as James Bond can't help but to be the butt of the joke from time to time. |
| Oceans Twelve | 2004 | 74 | 185 | - The sequel's concept did very little for me, especially in the context that the third movie essentially goes against its entire premise. |
| Out of the Furnace | 2013 | 74 | 185 | - A small town thriller with equally small "feel". |
| Black Swan | 2010 | 73 | 189 | - Sort of plays like a choppy music video, rife with innuendo and insinuations. It's rather easy to delve into the mind of a crazy person and call it art. |
| Coriolanus | 2011 | 73 | 189 | (full review) - Very cool concept translated into film, but definitely not for everyone. You have to appreciate Shakespeare in order to really enjoy this movie. |
| Hills Have Eyes (1977) | 1977 | 73 | 189 | - While the story overall is better constructed than the remake(s), these hill people just are too human to be truly scary. |
| Killer Joe | 2011 | 73 | 189 | - As messy as a bloodied piece of K Fried C. |
| Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones | 2014 | 73 | 189 | - Does it have all the pieces it needs? Yeah, sure, fine. But this is the first installment where even I, fan boy numero uno of the franchise, began to wonder 'haven't we had enough?'. That, and by validating the end to the fourth movie, they made this ending even more ridiculous. |
| Along Came a Spider | 2001 | 72 | 194 | - It absolutely feels like a novel transferred to the big screen. Is it that a good or bad thing, though? |
| Before The Devil Knows You're Dead | 2007 | 72 | 194 | - Basically just an above average soap opera. |
| Now You See Me 2 | 2016 | 72 | 194 | - As with the first, 'Now You See Me 2', like a magician, wows you with flash and pizzazz. It all makes for an exciting spectacle. But when you peek behind the curtains, you realize there really isn't much to it. |
| Point Break | 2015 | 72 | 194 | - The whole thing feels like a music video in IMAX: a plethora of breathtaking, wide angle shots with not a whole hell of a lot of plot in between. |
| Sleepy Hollow | 1999 | 72 | 194 | - The frustrating thing here is that Tim Burton can't help but to put his own little twist on a classic story. Everything feels a little less scary "Burton-ized". |
| Street Kings | 2008 | 72 | 194 | - This is sort of the baseline for David Ayer's films. Neither his worst nor his best. |
| Sunshine | 2007 | 72 | 194 | - For a film that likes to believe it's more than your conventional space thriller, it sure does love reality television-like drama amongst its characters. |
| A Most Wanted Man | 2014 | 71 | 201 | - Strings you along just enough until its incredibly fitting ending. |
| House at the End of the Street | 2012 | 71 | 201 | - It's Hitchcock-ian twists are fun, but the level of material is clearly only satisfactory. |
| Joy Ride | 2001 | 71 | 201 | - Your standard-issue thriller destined to be a Saturday matinee on cable channels everywhere. |
| Need for Speed | 2014 | 71 | 201 | - At the end of the day, it's an action blockbuster. It doesn't TRY to be anything more, it doesn't WANT to be anything more. The cars are fast and loose and, so, sometimes the plot and characters are too. If you're disappointed, quite frankly, that's on you. |
| Point Break | 1991 | 71 | 201 | - There are good parts and bad parts. The good parts show Bigelow's early potential as a film maker. The bad parts show it couldn't escape much of the cheesiness that plagued hit movies of the '80's. |
| Eye in the Sky | 2016 | 70 | 206 | - For something that wants to be a relevant and topical film, it sure uses sci-fi like technology to push its story along. |
| Fargo | 1996 | 70 | 206 | - The Coen brothers' 'Fargo' is an enigma: not funny enough to be a real comedy, not serious enough to be a decent drama, and nowhere close to neatly fitting into any other genre. |
| Mist, The (2007) | 2007 | 70 | 206 | - Frank Darabont's film adaptation of Stephen King's novella is more concerned with the beasts within. The monsters in the mist aren't nearly as scary as the monsters inside the grocery store once everything turns all 'Lord of the Flies'. |
| Shooter | 2007 | 70 | 206 | - It's your standard-issue action thriller. If I didn't know Fuqua had directed it, Michael Bay would've felt like a safe bet. |
| Source Code | 2011 | 70 | 206 | - What stops it from being better? An utterly frustrating ending. |
| The Gambler | 2014 | 70 | 206 | - Painfully generic. |
| The Shallows | 2016 | 70 | 206 | - For every moment where 'The Shallows' comes off as a smart, true-to-form survivalist tale there's another moment where it reaches for the incredulous. |
| Carrie (2013) | 2013 | 69 | 213 | - An unnecessary remake. It's not even that the original is better, it's that the reboot offers absolutely nothing new. The remake of 'Psycho' instantly comes to mind. |
| Closed Circuit | 2013 | 69 | 213 | - It's all been done before... |
| Eastern Promises | 2007 | 69 | 213 | - If you want to delve into the saturated genre of organized crime noirs, you better bring something special. 'Eastern Promises' does not. |
| French Connection, The | 1971 | 69 | 213 | - After an hour or so of nothing more than people following people, The French Connection FINALLY gets going. |
| Phone Booth | 2002 | 69 | 213 | - You get the idea that its supposed to be a scary situation, but you have a very hard time buying it. |
| Usual Suspects | 1995 | 69 | 213 | - Big surprise endings are made all the better by the audience being invested in the characters and/or the outcome of the movie. In 'The Usual Suspects', too many won't be. |
| Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | 2016 | 68 | 219 | - It doesn't even stand up on its own let alone in the shadow of Christopher Nolan's magnificent trilogy. |
| Cold Comes the Night | 2014 | 68 | 219 | - A nice little thriller. In it's own little small-town-world, it works. |
| Miami Vice | 2006 | 68 | 219 | - In a city full of culture and vividness, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx have about as much charisma as two unnamed goons from a direct-to-DVD action film. |
| Rear Window | 1954 | 68 | 219 | - Hitchcock did better in his career. |
| The Conspiracy | 2012 | 68 | 219 | - If this were a college film project, it'd probably get an 'A'. As it is though, with it's film school-esque rawness, it's no more than slightly above average. Entertaining, yes. Captivating, yes. But rough around the edges? Way too much so. |
| The Stanford Prison Experiment | 2015 | 68 | 219 | - It's dark and brutal in its own little implausible way, but the bigger sin is that it feels like it enjoys showing us human punishment just a little too much. |
| Battleship | 2012 | 67 | 225 | - To my surprise, Battleship has its moments. It's also utterly ridiculous at times, just as I suspected. |
| Disturbia | 2007 | 67 | 225 | - It's essentially a remake of 'Rear Window'. I don't know why they didn't just embrace that concept with open arms. |
| Mississippi Grind | 2015 | 67 | 225 | - Ryan Reynolds' charisma isn't enough to elevate a mediocre film. |
| Regression | 2015 | 67 | 225 | - I guess we weren't supposed to see the obvious twist coming? |
| Rise of the Planet of the Apes | 2011 | 67 | 225 | - When you use CGI so heavily as a crutch, it usually means everything else is lacking. That's exactly what happened here. |
| A Walk Among the Tombstones | 2014 | 65 | 230 | - The slow-moving thriller feels exactly like a book transferred to the big screen, and is probably better in its original form. |
| Foxcatcher | 2014 | 65 | 230 | - Where the film would have you believe it's being meticulous, it's actually just dragging it's feet. The fact that Ruffalo, Tatum, and Carrell all turn in remarkable performances is wasted by the fact that you're constantly looking at your watch. |
| Looper | 2012 | 65 | 230 | - You're basically preoccupied with Gordon-Levitt's bizarre face until the tempermental child out of The Omen shows up. |
| Martha Marcy May Marlene | 2011 | 65 | 230 | - More bizarre than anything else. It's biggest success is really just tainting yet another Olsen. |
| Night Moves | 2013 | 65 | 230 | - Weak characters beget a weaker story. But you stay tuned just to see how everything works out. |
| Theeb | 2014 | 65 | 230 | - It's just your generic action/adventure flick in another language. |
| SALT | 2010 | 64 | 236 | - A seemingly great premise is ruined by horribly flawed execution and one stupid, eye-rolling ending |
| Seven | 1995 | 63 | 237 | - It's not nearly the philosophical essay on morals that it thinks it is. |
| 88 Minutes | 2007 | 62 | 238 | - For all the smart characters its story surrounds, this movie is rather dumb. |
| I Am Legend | 2007 | 62 | 238 | - So you're telling me if you're the last man on earth you're bound to go a little crazy? Wow, who knew? |
| Tusk | 2014 | 62 | 238 | - Kevin Smith's understated parody plays more like an inside joke. By the time chuckles turn into genuine laughter, 'Tusk' is nearly over. |
| Da Vinci Code, The | 2006 | 61 | 241 | - It meanders along at a frustratingly slow pace and, in the process, sucks all the momentum out of its big, climactic ending. |
| Fifth Estate, The | 2013 | 61 | 241 | - Rife with over-simplified stances on modern politics and giving us virtually no reason to like the main character, every so often, the film goes away from these truly bad habits. And it's in these moment, however brief, that one can actually enjoy themselves. |
| Godfather Part III, The | 1990 | 61 | 241 | - Every franchise has that movie that tells everyone it's time to stop. This is that movie. |
| Good Day To Die Hard, A | 2013 | 61 | 241 | - Sadly, I both fear and hope that this franchise has come to a morose conclusion. |
| Mission: Impossible | 1996 | 61 | 241 | - Ludicrous and a bit too tacky. |
| Night of the Living Dead | 1968 | 61 | 241 | - The original zombie flick. It's pretty obvious how this film unearthed (pun intended) our love for the undead. |
| Alien | 1979 | 60 | 247 | - Even if you can forgive the first half of the movie essentially being build-up, the pace is just brutally tedious. No me gusta for a sci-fi horror flick. |
| Deja Vu | 2006 | 60 | 247 | - I can say matter-of-factly the using-time-travel-to-solve-crime concept has thoroughly been warned out. Hasn't been used that much, you say? My point exactly. |
| Mulholland Drive | 2001 | 60 | 247 | - David Lynch's headlong dive into the troubled (understatement!) mind of a young starlet is wholly intoxicating. Not the fun-night-out-with-friends kind of intoxicating, though. The I'm-sick-make-this-night-stop kind. |
| 28 Days Later | 2002 | 59 | 250 | - It's ironic that Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's infected humans are adrenaline-packed, raging monsters, because they are cast amidst a rather slow-moving world, and in a movie that never really takes off. |
| Dark Places | 2015 | 59 | 250 | - If you're expecting a second 'Gone Girl', prepare to be disappointed. |
| Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, The | 2006 | 59 | 250 | - A surprising and welcomed improvement over the second. The complete abandonment of the original characters went fairly smoothly given how 2 Fast 2 Furious went. |
| The Equalizer | 2014 | 59 | 250 | - Just another factory-issued action-thriller. |
| 28 Weeks Later | 2007 | 57 | 254 | - Not the best post-apocalypse movie ever, but it will entertain you through the run time. |
| Audition | 2000 | 57 | 254 | - What's Japanese for "bitches be crazy"? |
| History of Violence, A | 2005 | 57 | 254 | - One of those movies that thinks it's smarter than it actually is. Never succeeds in grasping the audience. |
| Deadfall | 2012 | 56 | 257 | - Even under 2 hours, 'Deadfall' is rife with unnecessary scenes that, ironically, could've been used to give the story's love triangle more weight. Maybe then the climactic ending wouldn't seem so silly. |
| Man On A Ledge | 2012 | 56 | 257 | - It's about as silly as it sounds. |
| Slumdog Millionaire | 2008 | 55 | 259 | - Boyle's high-adrenaline, psychedellic vision for the film gets in the way of what would have otherwise been a fairly impressive script. |
| Hitchcock | 2012 | 54 | 260 | - What should be a legendary biopic instead comes across as a half-hearted smear campaign to give everyone in Hitchcock's life credit except the man himself. |
| Raven, The | 2012 | 54 | 260 | - Bland and inconsistent. |
| Saw IV | 2007 | 54 | 260 | - What started off as a movie franchise about social philosophy shrouded in sheer horror has devolved into almost every relevant character suffering cheap deaths in order for the story to escape the unfathomably numerous plotholes it's left behind. |
| Locke | 2014 | 53 | 263 | - The world's longest BMW commercial. |
| The Walk | 2015 | 53 | 263 | - Though the actual scenes walking between the two towers themselves are breathtaking, everything leading up to it is a painful lesson in how not to handle a biopic. |
| Transcendence | 2014 | 53 | 263 | - Like the movie's main character, 'Transendence' gets carried away. Running far past the depths of a story one might actually buy, 'Transendence' doesn't stop until it's plot borders on the ridiculous. |
| Into the Storm | 2014 | 52 | 266 | - If I didn't know better, I would guess some 'Twister' fanboy finally found the one rich schlub dumb enough to fund his wet dream in the form of a movie. |
| Blackhat | 2015 | 51 | 267 | - While I'm sure hackers and coders everywhere appreciate being portrayed as Bond-like international men of mystery, it makes for a pretty silly story here. |
| Broken City | 2013 | 51 | 267 | - Nothing more than a mediocre thriller. |
| Out of Time | 2003 | 51 | 267 | - Ultimately a forgettable thriller. |
| Road to Perdition | 2002 | 51 | 267 | - This tedious and slow-moving drama has hit men and gangsters abound, but not the spirit and energy behind them. |
| Counselor, The | 2013 | 50 | 271 | - First Prometheus and now this. It's safe to say Ridley Scott has lost his touch. |
| Fast And Furious 6 | 2013 | 50 | 271 | - Alas, we have the first installment to seriously challenge '2 Fast 2 Furious' as the worst in the franchise. '6' does beat it out, but only marginally. |
| Insidious Chapter 2 | 2013 | 50 | 271 | - The only thing different in Chapter 2 is Insidious no longer tries to hide being nothing more than 'Poltergeist' fan fiction. |
| Prometheus | 2012 | 50 | 271 | - Visually stunning, substantively lacking. |
| Purge, The | 2013 | 50 | 271 | - A word to the wise: horror flicks that want to have moral lessons just don't work. |
| Serenity | 2005 | 50 | 271 | - Joss Whedon's initial transition from television to film is tacky, unpolished, and rife with poor acting. Ironically, it comes across as a TV movie. |
| Star Trek: First Contact | 1996 | 50 | 271 | - It really is nothing more than an extended episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. |
| Vertigo | 1958 | 50 | 271 | - Alfred Hitchcock's thriller piques your interest, but fails to keep it. |
| Fifty Shades of Grey | 2015 | 49 | 279 | - It's sort of like if 'American Psycho' had kinky sex with a 25-cent romance novel. |
| Insidious Chapter 3 | 2015 | 49 | 279 | - Definitely weaker than the first two. |
| Saw III | 2006 | 49 | 279 | - A profoundly disappointing addition to the franchise. |
| Sin City: A Dame to Kill For | 2014 | 49 | 279 | - It could do with about half the characters. As it is, it's cumbersome. To a fault. |
| The Third Man | 1949 | 49 | 279 | - Underneath its steely cinematography and chilling score, there's just not a whole lot there. |
| As Above, So Below | 2014 | 48 | 284 | - It all feels very artificial and forced right up until it's preposterous ending. |
| Beyond the Reach | 2014 | 48 | 284 | - For two thirds of its runtime, 'Beyond The Reach' is a decent indie thriller with an interesting premise. Then, without warning, it devolves into cliches and half-hearted filmmaking. |
| Enemy | 2013 | 47 | 286 | - The whole time you're asking the question the movie obviously wants you to ask: Does Adam really have a double or is he bonkers? The movie probably does NOT anticipate, however, that you could care less. |
| Killing Them Softly | 2012 | 47 | 286 | - If Goodfellas is sphaghetti with marinara sauce, this is egg noodles and ketchup. |
| Taken 3 | 2015 | 47 | 286 | - Doesn't have an original bone in its body. |
| The Ledge | 2011 | 47 | 286 | - It feels like a college film class project that someone roped an impressive number of stars into participating. |
| 3 Days to Kill | 2014 | 46 | 290 | - Eye-rollingly absurd. For 2 hours, 3 Days To Kill can't decide if it's an action-comedy or a bona fide thriller. And the only thing lethal here is the dose of cliches it throws at you. |
| Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day | 2009 | 46 | 290 | - Horribly disappointing. You just wish it had never been made. |
| Grey, The | 2011 | 46 | 290 | - Frustratingly formulaic. A standard-issue survival drama. |
| Strange Days | 1995 | 46 | 290 | - Bigelow's sci-fi thriller is little more than a bizarre, unnecessarily sexual romp of a nightmare. |
| Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) | 2013 | 46 | 290 | - The frustrating thing is that it's plausbile, ambitious even, until, like most modern day slashers, it devolves into something completely ludicrous on several fronts. |
| Gamer | 2009 | 45 | 295 | - Convinces you the marriage between video games and movies is better off ending. |
| Lords of Salem, The | 2013 | 43 | 296 | - Listen, we all know Rob Zombie is a hit-or-miss director. Unfortunately for us this year, 'Lords' is a decisive miss. |
| Sabotage | 2014 | 41 | 297 | - This is an unfathomably large step backwards for David Ayer. |
| Alex Cross | 2012 | 36 | 298 | - There's no other way to say this: it's just a bad, bad movie. |
| London Has Fallen | 2016 | 36 | 298 | - It's actually WORSE than you fear it will be. |
| Piranha DD (2012) | 2012 | 35 | 300 | - The thing that made the first one work at least marginally was that, like a misbehaving puppy, you couldn't stay mad at it with all its shortcomings. Here, in the sequel, the charm is less so. |
| Saw V | 2008 | 34 | 301 | - This will be the last Saw movie I see. I'm sorry, I can't do it any more. I'm honestly surprised they can still drum up actors for these money-making travesties. |
| Cottage Country | 2013 | 32 | 302 | - Just utterly ludicrous in almost every facet. |
| The Double | 2013 | 31 | 303 | - We've seen this sort of "questioning reality" type of film time and time again. When it works, it's very, very good. But when it's not, as it is here, it feels like it throws as much cow excrement at you as possible to throw you off the fact that they (the writers, directors, and, well, the cast and crew in general) don't actually know where they are going with this. |
| Under the Skin | 2014 | 31 | 303 | - Bizarre. Just utterly bizarre. |
| Nines, The | 2007 | 29 | 305 | - Returns nothing for the investment of your time. How in the hell did Ryan Reynolds and Melissa McCarthy get roped into this? |
