These 46 Action Movies Are

[Arguably] The Best Ever Made

     As long as there are movies, there will be action movies. No young girl or boy grows up pretending to be a damsel in distress or a sidekick; they all want to punch, draw swords, and run toward the danger. These are the heroes and the future directors, choreographers, and performers who bring their imaginations to life. As an article in Men’s Health recently observed, “The action genre hasn’t slipped on its roundhouse kick; if anything, we are now experiencing another golden age of ass-kicking cinema. While there are obvious developments in VFX technology, which have allowed for larger set pieces and more realistic thrills, much of what makes a great action film a great action film hasn’t changed: painstaking choreography, fearless stunt performers/actors, and clear cinematography.

     "The only thing that’s changed are the names and faces. Such legendary action directors as Ang Lee, John Woo, Robert Clouse, and Zhang Yimou (still going strong) have given way to newer arrivals like Gareth Evans, Chad Stahelski, and Christopher Nolan. And such performers as Bruce Lee, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have changed to Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, and Charlize Theron. If anything, the fights are becoming more brutal, more carefully choreographed, and more ambitious. And international actors and directors are finally getting increased attention (and direction) in a Hollywood overly-saturated with slapstick cinematography and post-production punches.”

     With this in mind, here are—in no particular order—the 46 best action movies ever made.

Like Tears In The Rain: 13 Forgotten

Neo-Noir Films Of The 21st Century

     Film noir as we know it has had as shady a history as the hearts of the men and women at its dark core. As Gabriel Serrano David recently wrote in Comics Beat, “[noir is] a shadow-filled film style borne from the gray morality and paranoia of the 1940s and ‘50s, and later reconfigured in the brilliance of color but even more sordid and nihilistic in the years after the freefall of the ‘60s faded. [Noir] peaked in popularity several times throughout the 20th century, and provided a solid blueprint for filmmakers exploring the current social, political, and existential crises of their times.

     “At the turn of the century, several filmmakers rekindled the stark light of noir and delivered some of the best examples of the genre. Christopher Nolan’s Memento, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, and Michael Mann’s Collateral, to name a few, reinvigorated noir in the 21st century and with them came a boom of noir-tinged films that continue to influence filmmakers today. From 2000 to around 2016, a steady delivery of dark tales told in the noir language could be found in art-house theaters and on home video.” This was the time when such production companies as Focus Features and Spyglass Entertainment were producing several independent features from newer directors, and such home video companies as First Look Studios and Tartan Films were putting edgy and violent films (often noir thrillers), both domestic and global, into U.S. video stores. In an act of remembrance and hope for these films to be rescued by niche streaming services or restored by physical media to their pristine glory, here is a selection of the best forgotten neo-noir.

COLD CASES SOLVED

Man Arrested After DNA Helps Crack

Two Murder Cases Nearly 40 Years

   On November 14, 1986, 40-year-old Jacqueline Lard was last seen closing for the day at her realty office, but she never made it home. The next morning, employees at neighboring businesses called the police after they discovered a “crime scene that indicated a horrific struggle.” Her body was discovered underneath a pile of discarded carpet in a wooded area in Woodbridge, Virginia, about 30 miles southwest of Washington DC.

Just a few years later in 1989, 18-year-old Amy Baker was visiting family in Falls Church when she went missing while driving back home to Stafford County, according to Fairfax County Police. On March 29, 1989, her unoccupied vehicle was found on the side of the road and was towed by police the following day, as it was presumed abandoned.

     In both cases, forensic evidence was collected but the cases eventually went cold. It wasn’t until 2021, in fact, that DNA led to a breakthrough in both cases. Detectives with the Fairfax County Police Department submitted evidence from Baker’s cold case to DNA Labs International and a DNA profile was developed; meanwhile, a detective in Stafford County was using forensic investigative genetic genealogy to help identify Lard’s killer. Detectives from both counties and identified a family name for a suspect in December, and Stafford County resident Elroy Harrison, 65, was arrested last week.

The 10 Best Gangster Movies, Ranked

     The gangster genre, initially popularized by classic movies of Hollywood's Golden Age, such as The Public Enemy and Angels with Dirty Faces, has a sacred place in the hearts of many film fanatics. As Andrea Ciriaco wrote last week in Collider, “During the New Hollywood Movement, the genre was revitalized by Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece, The Godfather, and has since become one of the most beloved film genres with such modern hits as Goodfellas and Donnie Brasco. While there are hundreds of memorable mobster movies, there are some that are simply in a category of their own as being the all-time best.

     “Through the years, countless gangster movies have come to deserve exceptional praise and recognition,” she says, “but titles like White Heat, The Godfather: Part II, and Scarface have had a profound and immense influence on the iconic genre that continues to rank as one of the most popular.”

     Out of classic mafioso movies such as Little Caesar, The Untouchables, and Casino, these are the 10 best gangster movies, ranked by Ciriaco.

Americana—With A Perfect 100 Rotten

Tomatoes Score—To Hit Theaters

     Almost a year after its premiere at SXSW in March 2023, Americana, the critically acclaimed thriller starring Sydney Sweeney, is finally getting a release after Lionsgate purchased worldwide distribution rights. The film is set in a small town in South Dakota, where a string of violent crimes breaks out after a valuable Native American artifact is stolen. Alongside Sweeney, the film also stars I, Tonya's Paul Walter Hauser, Red Rocket's Simon Rex, and singer Halsey in one of her first big-screen roles.

     The movie has a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with Deadline's Valerie Complex praising its “brilliant writing and the script’s comedic timing,” while The Hollywood Reporter's Justin Lowe compares director Justin Tost's debut feature to Quentin Tarantino, writing, “Although stylistically and thematically a Western, the borderline comedic tone of Tost’s script, along with frequent gratuitous violence, rapid-fire dialogue, and a non-linear narrative structure, suggests Americana is more of a hybrid crime drama in the Tarantino mold.”

     Americana doesn't have a release date just yet, but it’s definitely generating enough buzz for me to put it on my must-see list.

Coming Next Week!

Beyond All Doubt

[Reed Bunzel writing as Hilton Reed]

“Beyond All Doubt is an edge-of-your-seat fast-moving thrill-ride, kicked off by the reappearance of a dead man and propelling the reader along to the final bullet—and beyond.”— S.J. Rozan, best-selling author of The Mayors of New York

​

“Beyond All Doubt is a taut, smart, and emotionally rich thriller. Reed has a sharp eye for character and a screenwriter's feel for action. This tale is sleek as a mink and fast as a bullet.”— T. Jefferson Parker, author of The Rescue

“Beyond All Doubt is not a 'who done it,' but a twisty, compelling 'who did what.' Cameron Kane is a sympathetic, yet unrelenting bulldog in his pursuit of the truth about his wife's death. Intriguing and intense, Beyond All Doubt is a winner!”—Matt Coyle, bestselling author of the Rick Cahill crime novels

“In this action-packed and engrossing thriller, Reed masterfully balances between a husband’s drive to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and a father’s instinct to protect his family at all costs. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down!”— Matthew Farrell, bestselling author of The Woman at Number 6

“Beyond All Doubt has plenty of thrills—deadly snipers, false identities, shocking deaths—but at its heart, this book is about a grieving single father whose desperation propels the plot like a speeding car with its brake lines cut.”— Cayce Osborne, author of I Know What You Did