In one of the many iconic Tim Burton and Johnny Depp collaborations, Depp stars as the character Ichabod Crane from the classic Washington Irving story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Sent from New York City, Crane is tasked with uncovering a series of mysterious murders in the village of Sleepy Hollow. The ensemble cast includes Christina Ricci, Michael Gambon and Christopher Lee.
Though initially a skeptic, Crane eventually understands that he’s dealing with not just any murderer: a headless horseman is terrorizing the innocent villagers … but why? As the supernatural being leaves a trail of decapitated bodies in his wake, it’s up to Crane to lift the curse that’s been sent to plague the town of Sleepy Hollow.
Amy Adams stars as linguistics professor Louise Banks, who is suddenly at the center of one of the most consequential moments in human history — the arrival of lifeforms from another planet. Directed by Denis Villeneuve (Dune), Arrival is a meditative science-fiction drama on love, loss, and the nature of time itself.
As nations totter on the brink of all-out global war in the wake of the Heptapods’ landing on Earth, Banks finds herself in a race against time to understand the creatures and why they are here. She teams up with the US Army led by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker), alongside physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), to find a way to learn the language of the Heptapods and unravel the mystery of their presence.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, a man known only as the Zodiac Killer murders random people in and around San Francisco. No one knows who he is or why he does it, which is what draws cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) to the case. Slowly, he becomes obsessed with deciphering the Zodiac’s cryptic letters to his newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, and believes that’s the key to stopping the killer’s reign of terror. But will Graysmith’s all-consuming obsession ruin his marriage and life?
Zodiac flopped at the box office in 2007, but has since been recognized by Rolling Stone (and others) as one of the best movies of the 21st century. It’s hard to argue with that assumption when a picture like this is so well made by director David Fincher and well acted by a cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and Chloë Sevigny. Like the real-life case, Zodiac is a thriller without a satisfying ending, which is entirely the point. Some boogeymen don’t get caught and are still out there, lurking in the shadows.
4-year-old Amanda McCready (Madeline O’Brien) is missing, and no one can seem to find her. A media sensation ensues, with her mother, Helene (Amy Ryan), pleading to the cameras for her return. She hires two Boston detectives, Patrick (Casey Affleck) and Angie (Michelle Monaghan), to search for the little girl, but they soon discover her disappearance might be due to her relationship with a dangerous drug dealer. With too many suspects and not enough clues, Patrick and Angie must solve an impossible case and save Amanda before it’s too late.
A huge critical hit in 2007, Gone Baby Gone is a gripping crime thriller that never spares the tension — or the social commentary. It’s one of the few films to get Boston city life right, and that’s due to director Ben Affleck, a native who knows the rhythms and cadence of the city well. In addition to the superb, Oscar-nominated performance by Ryan as Amanda’s white trash mother, the film boasts a genuinely surprising ending that will frustrate you in a good way. It’s a terrific thriller that will make you care what happens to Amanda, even if the outcome isn’t what you want it to be.
“He had it coming!” So sings Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), one of the many bad girls of Chicago, the feature film adaptation of the hit 1975 film. She’s awaiting trial for killing her boyfriend and her sister, who were both sleeping together. She’s joined by Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger), a housewife who killed her lover in a fit of rage and passion. Together, these women capture the public’s imagination of 1920s Chicago, which can’t get enough of their sensational trials. But can Velma and Roxie sing and dance long enough to avoid the electric chair?
A Best Picture winner, Chicago is all razzle-dazzle with a plot as thin as Mr. Cellophane. That’s OK, since the musical numbers are sensational, particularly the standout number “All That Jazz.” Zellweger and Zeta-Jones are a hoot and a half as two murderers who love the limelight and Richard Gere has one of his best roles ever as the attention-seeking lawyer Billy Flynn.
The Last Stop in Yuma County didn’t get much traction in theaters, but this is one of the best neo-Westerns in years. The story is set in the ‘70s, and the shortage of gasoline has left an unnamed knife salesman (Jim Cummings) stuck at a diner with a waitress named Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue) when a pair of armed bank robbers come strolling in.
Travis (Nicholas Logan) and Beau (Vernon Richard Brake) just want to get gas and escape from the cops, but they’re just as trapped as hostages, Charlotte and the salesman. As the situation escalates, the salesman will have to determine just how far he’s willing to go to make it out of the diner alive.
The Last Stop in Yuma County is streaming on Paramount+.