North by Northwest (1959)

Thriller Rated NR

The VistaVision widescreen process results in perhaps the definitive cinematic sequence of the Alfred Hitchcock oeuvre: Cary Grant versus a crop-duster. Hitchcock uses every inch of the yawning screen to tease and terrify us, letting us think we know what is about to happen – and how – before yanking us in an unexpected direction.

American, The (2010)

Thriller Rated R

"…cleverly, disconcertingly hushed."

Secret in Their Eyes, The (2009)

Thriller Rated R

The Best Foreign Language Film winner at this year’s Oscars plays Wednesday at the Beverly Arts Center.

Inception (2010)

Thriller Rated PG-13

“Inception opens with a dream within a dream. Then it gets complicated.”

Salt (2010)

Thriller Rated PG-13

“Salt is a spy movie on the wrong side of ridiculousness…

Shutter Island (2010)

Thriller Rated R

Shutter Island begins as a fun and crazily creepy popcorn thriller, but the movie eventually turns into something far more disturbing. By the end, it’s not fun at all – the preview audience I saw it with was stunned into silence. So does this mean the film makes a serious misstep or that it’s a

Ghost Writer, The (2010)

Thriller Rated PG-13

The Ghost Writer knows how to set the mood – and it’s anything but romantic. Set in a bunker-like beach house on an island off the East Coast, The Ghost Writer follows an author (Ewan McGregor) who has been assigned to spruce up the autobiography of former English prime minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). Lang

Box, The (2009)

Thriller Rated PG-13

“…a case of half-hearted ambition, if there is such a thing. Kelly fails, but the problem is he doesn’t fail big enough.

Whiteout (2009)

Thriller Rated R

“…feels like one of those movies that never progressed much beyond the concept stage – yet ended up getting released anyway.

Tell No One (2006)

Thriller Rated R

There are twists upon twists upon twists in this French thriller – perhaps one or two twists too many. Hitchcock and (more country appropriate) Henri Georges-Clouzot are both evoked in this tale of a pediatrician (Francois Cluzet) who is struggling to recover from his wife’s murder years earlier. When new evidence is found, he is