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Crime 101 (2026)
Sleek, sexy, and surprisingly character-centric, Crime 101 isn’t so much a how-to guide on criminal activities, it’s more a how-to on successfully replicating Michael Mann style of urban crime thriller. Chris Hemsworth plays a meticulous gentleman thief whose last job went bad. The LAPD detective (Mark Ruffalo) is on the case and is convinced there is one master thief connecting several high-end robberies along the 101 Highway in Los Angeles (thus the title, not in reference to a college class). Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) is the romantic partner tempting our thief to retire to a “normal life.” Halle Berry plays an insurance broker to the rich who is eager to be made partner in her firm. And Barry Keoghan is, you guessed it, playing a psychopathic chaos agent. Draw all these characters into one big score, throw in one-or-two-scene players like Jennifer Jason-Leigh as Ruffalo’s divorcing wife, Nick Nolte as a grizzled criminal middleman, and Corey Hawkins as a police detective, and it’s quite a stacked cast for your standard crime thriller. That’s because, thanks to writer/director Bart Layton, the man behind one of the best movies of 2018, American Animals, which was also an unusual take on dispelling our movie fantasy notions on crime, and also co-starred Keoghan. Layton’s adaptation of the novel by Don Winslow keeps the people at the heart of the action. Trust me, the actual chases and schemes are indeed thrilling, but it’s the rich and generous characterization that makes the inner life of this movie feel so much more bristling. You could have taken any of these major characters and made them the focal point, they’re that interesting and complicated. Mixing them together into an ensemble while still finding time for each of their perspectives and idiosyncrasies is just a feast for fans of engrossing and empathetic thrillers. Whatever you’re expecting, Crime 101 is likely better than that. Layton, already proven to be a master at genre replication, deserves more film opportunities when he’s delivering quality movies that know how to deliver the goods.
Nate’s Grade: B+
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A Complete Unknown (2024)
I’m not really a Bob Dylan fan. While I can appreciate several of his songs, it’s his voice that has always put me off. An entire movie about the mystique of Dylan and his rise through the 1960s folk scene was never going to be too appealing for me. So keep all of that in mind as I tell you that A Complete Unknown is a thoroughly fine movie with the not-so grand insight that this famous troubadour might just be a talented prick. The end. Director/co-writer James Mangold returns to the musical biopic sub-genre almost twenty years after his Walk the Line (a non-Joaquin Phoenix Johnny Cash has a cameo in this movie too, securing the Boomer Music Cinematic Universe). It all feels very stately and staid and reverent and, especially during its climax, hopelessly quaint. The conclusion is over whether or not Dylan will play music at the Newport Folk Festival that the fuddy-duddy programmers demand. Will he go electric? Will he play traditional folk? Will you care? I suppose it’s about people trying to control and define this idiosyncratic artist who wants to be himself, whatever that may be, whatever feathers may be ruffled by the traditionalist gatekeepers of the folk music scene. This celebration of artistic integrity and creative revolution would mean a little more if I got a better understanding of Dylan as a person. Blessed with audience foreknowledge, we already know he’s going to be successful and that his creative impulses will be rewarded. Timothee Chalamet does a fine Dylan impression and recreates the famous songs with an impeccable nasally impersonation. For my money, I’d rather this have been a Pete Seger (Edward Norton) movie about his passing of the torch from one generation of folk artists to another and recognizing that the culture and peace movement were moving beyond him. Regardless, if you’re a Bob Dylan fan, there’s plenty to like, especially many extended jam sessions. If you’re looking for more than a handsomely recreated Best Of album, you might need to read a book instead.
Nate’s Grade: C+
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