Matthew Singer

It’s hard to imagine now but at one point in time it seemed like you couldn’t go to the multiplex without having the option of watching a woman have sex with a man – usually Michael Douglas – and then try to ruin or end their life. Or both. Yes, erotic thrillers were often ‘problematic’ and almost always self-consciously campy, but damn, they could be a lot of fun – and during their ’80s and ’90s glory years, they did big box office. But then, sometime around the turn of the millennium, studios just stopped making them. What gives? Whatever the reason, it took a failed revival to remind us just how much we miss them. Earlier this year, Adrian Lyne, the British director who made his name cranking out blockbuster erotic thrillers like Fatal Attraction and Unfaithful, came out of retirement to adapt the Patricia Highsmith novel Deep Water. But instead of bringing the genre back from the dead, it only served to show just how prudish movies have become over the last two decades – the film shows more close-ups of Ben Affleck’s pet snails than actual sex. Thankfully, for a while, Hollywood was cranking out more erotic thrillers than most of us could watch, leaving us with a rich back catalogue of steamy violence to revisit. Here are TK of cinema’s best erotic thrillers to get your blood boiling. Recommended: 🍆 The 101 best sex scenes in movies😬 The 100 best thriller movies of all-time😍 The 100 best romantic films of all-time 🕵️ 40 murder mystery movies to test your sleuthing ski

What makes a great thriller? Well, let’s see. Are your palms sweaty? Your teeth clenched? Is your heart pumping and your leg shaking uncontrollably? If so, the chances are that the movie you’re watching is doing its job. When done right, a thriller provokes a physical response more than any other genre, bar horror. Exactly how it initiates those reactions, however, varies greatly. In the pantheon of the best thrillers ever made, you’ll find murder, political intrigue, espionage, conspiracy, manipulation, gaslighting, and, of course, lots and lots of crime. But as a category of movie, the thriller is also loosely defined – within the genre, you’ll find examples of science fiction, horror, heists, action, even comedy, along with the ever-nebulous ‘psychological thriller’ subdivision. In other words, the thriller contains multitudes. But the best of them will always draw you in, make you sweat and leave you breathless. Here are the 100 greatest thrillers ever made. Written by Abbey Bender, Joshua Rothkopf, Phil de Semlyen, Tom Huddleston, Andy Kryza, Tomris Laffly & Matthew Singer RECOMMENDED: 🕯️ The 35 steamiest erotic thrillers ever made😬 The 20 best thriller movies on Netflix 💣 The 101 best action movies ever made🔪 The 35 steamiest erotic thrillers 🔥 The 100 best movies of all time

When it comes to sex, the movie are currently going through a bit of a dry spell. It feels like it’s been a long while since we’ve seen a hot, steamy, taboo-shattering roll in the hay – or hot tub, or midsize sedan, or literal bay of hale – in a major studio film, at least not one that truly shocks the zeitgeist and gets audiences talking. Is it because of society’s general rightward shift recently? Or did filmmakers start listening to those misguided social media debates about the merits of the sex scene? In any case, it’s far past time the movies got back to getting it on – and here are 101 examples why. Sure, in some cases, sex scenes can seem pointless. In the best examples of cinematic boffing, though, sex tells stories. It develops characters. Sometimes it’s a punchline, sometimes it’s terrifying. Sometimes, yes, it’s simply meant to arouse – but titillation has value, too. Pour yourself some wine and slip into something a little more comfortable. Here are the 101 best sex scenes of all-time. Written by Dave Calhoun, Joshua Rothkopf, Cath Clarke, David Ehrlich, Phil de Semlyen, Daniel Walber, Trevor Johnston, Andy Kryza, Daniel Walber and Matthew Singer Recommended: 🕯️ The 35 steamiest erotic thrillers ever made🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time❤ The 100 best romantic films of all-time😬 The 50 most controversial movies ever made💪 The 100 best feminist films of all-time

Other movies may grab your eyeballs and rattle your eardrums or manipulate your heartstrings, but no other genre engages your mind and pulls you through the screen quite like a murder mystery. It’s the most immersive cinematic experience, in part because most of us have solved many ourselves, whether it was on a game board or in a roleplaying dinner party with friends. Mostly, though, it’s simply human nature to see a puzzle and try to piece it together. No matter how charismatic the sleuth up on the screen is, we always see them as a proxy for ourselves – and we always try to one-up them by figuring things out before they do.   It’s a bit odd, then, to imagine that the genre has ever gone out of style. Murder mysteries have been part of filmdom stretching back to the 1930s, but up until recently, the classic whodunnit felt woefully old-fashioned – perhaps because, with the rise of streaming and thus, more distracted viewing, movies that demand an audience’s full attention are less in demand than ever. But over the last two years, murder mysteries have steadily made a comeback, thanks to movies like Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile and, especially, Knives Out. And with Knives Out 2 arriving later this year, we felt it was time to round up the genre’s classics, along with its hidden gems. Here are 40 of the best. Contributors: Phil de Semlyen, Matthew Singer, Annette Richardson, Ashanti Omkar Recommended:🕵️ The 100 best thriller films of all time🔪 The best

The streaming world is much more crowded than it was when Netflix broke the mould with House of Cards back in 2013. Make no mistake, though: whatever you think of the rest of the platform’s offerings, its run of original programming has consistently changed the game, whether it’s Stranger Things or BoJack Horseman or The Crown. Even when it seems like the Big N is being eclipsed by other services that came along later, something like Squid Game explodes out of nowhere and becomes a cultural phenomenon. There’s a lot of competition for your attention these days, and even Netflix itself now has more series than anyone has time for. So we’ve put together a list of the 40 Netflix originals series you absolutely must binge. We’ve left out shows that originated elsewhere before the platform picked them up (sorry Black Mirror) and.we’re also sticking to scripted series (sorry not sorry, Tiger King). Recommended: 🎥 The 35 best movies on Netflix right now🔎 The best true crime documentaries on Netflix👽 The best sci-fi shows streaming on Netflix

These days, we’re all accustomed to throwing something on Netflix and reflexively scrolling through our phones while half-watching the movie in the background. No matter how big of a cineaste you consider yourself, passive viewing outside the theatre has become the norm. It’s time to break that habit by streaming something that forces you to engage with what’s on the screen - and nothing engages the wits more than a good mystery movie. Admittedly, it’s a hard genre to define. Is it always a whodunnit? Or is it more about weird events that defy easy explanation? Or maybe it’s the movie itself that’s the mystery. However you define it, there are plenty of mysteries streaming on Netflix demanding your attention right now, from classic capers to psychological thrillers to films whose plots are Rubik’s Cube unto themselves.  Recommended: 🔎 40 murder-mystery movies to test your sleuthing skills to the max😰 The 100 best thriller movies of all-time💻 The 40 best Netflix original series to binge

Time was, ‘pop’ meant manufactured acts whose music erred towards the disposable. Sure, there were a few certified geniuses like Michael Jackson or Madonna. But for all the units shifted, in the twentieth-century pop never seemed to be the zeitgeist artform of the day: the Beatles weren’t pop; Pink Floyd weren’t pop; Dolly Parton wasn’t pop; NWA weren’t pop. At the dawn of the new millennium, all the rules for pop went out the window. A complicated series of cultural shifts that can largely be attributed to the internet kicked in: suddenly the bottom fell out of the market for guitar-based music, and suddenly it was sophisticated pop production that was getting the audiophiles drooling. It’s an age we’re absolutely still living through, with little sign of letting up. And so, for this list, we’ve taken a long listen to some of the biggest bangers of the last 20-plus years and did what feels nearly impossible: we’ve ranked them. As a genre, pop has always been nebulously defined, so while we’ve broadly speaking excluded rock, country and hip-hop (though elements of all those things appear), you’ll find R&B jams, dance-floor fillers and insanely catchy earworms not even the snootiest of snobs can deny. These are the best pop songs of the twenty-first century.  RECOMMENDED: 🎉 The best party songs ever made🎸 The best classic rock songs🎤 The best karaoke songs🎶 The best ’80s songs🎵 The best ’90s songs

En el lapso de tres películas, el comediante convertido en autor de terror, Jordan Peele, ha entrado en el nivel cada vez más enrarecido de director cuyo nombre genera una intensa anticipación en torno a cualquier proyecto al que esté vinculado. En resumen, es uno de los mejores cineastas del planeta. La razón es que sus películas han estado a la altura de las expectativas: tanto su gran debut de 2017, Get Out , como la continuación, Us de 2019, mezclaron el terror y la sátira social lacerante con la habilidad de George A Romero en su mejor momento. Pero también se debe a que es un experto único en el arte de la provocación. El verano pasado, Peele dio a conocer el cartel de su último largometraje, Nope. Solo proporcionó el título, el elenco y la fecha de lanzamiento, pero la imagen central al estilo de Stephen King, una nube siniestra que se cierne sobre una ciudad iluminada, una cuerda de papalote colgando de su base, fue suficiente para hacer volar la imaginación colectiva de Internet. Luego, durante el fin de semana del Super Bowl, apareció el primer tráiler, tentando aún más al público, pero revelando solo un puñado de pistas adicionales. Sin embargo, eso no nos ha impedido recopilar toda la información que podamos.Aquí está todo lo que sabemos sobre Nope.

It’s almost surprising to find a documentary on Netflix that isn’t true crime these days. Over the last few years, the streamer has made the genre one of its cornerstones, which makes a ton of sense. Once considered tawdry tabloid fodder, true crime has lately become big business, thanks to podcasts like Serial and a few of Netflix’s early forays such as Making a Murderer.  But not all murders are created equal. Given the last decade’s fervor for twisty tales of violence and deception, a lot of creators think all you have to do is find a crime, put on an affectless reporter voice, grab some talking heads and voilà, you’ve got a hit. But in such a crowded marketplace it takes more than a compelling crime to stand out – you better have the skills to tell the story in a compelling way. Here are the best examples you’ll find on Netflix right now. Recommended: 📹 The 65 best documentaries of all-time💻 The 29 best Netflix documentaries to stream in the US👂 The 50 best podcasts to listen to in 2022🔪 The 31 best serial killer movies 

Romantic relationships get all the love in movies, but it’s high time we give it up for the friendship flicks. After all, not everyone has been in love, but most of us have bro’d down and/or girl-crushed at some point in our lives – or at least, felt a fleeting connection with Colin from accounting while waiting for the microwave in the breakroom. Whatever the case, good friends are just as important as great lovers, in the real world and onscreen. So let’s high-five and celebrate our staff picks for cinema’s best BFFs.   Recommended: 🤣 The 100 best comedy movies💓 The 100 best romantic movies of all-time✍ The 100 best animated movies of all-time

When the world feels like it’s on the verge of spinning off its axis – which is all the time these days – sometimes the best way to deal with the stress is to draw the blinds, hit the couch and turn on a movie. Of course, not every movie is designed to provide the dopamine rush to help ease your anxiety; some will exacerbate it. But if you plan ahead, the ideal injection of warm fuzzies to stream into your nervous system is out there – and Netflix has plenty to choose from. From musicals to romantic comedies to animated flicks that appeal to both kids and adults, these 25 movies will cure whatever ails you.  Recommended: 🤣 The 100 best comedy movies💃 The 40 best musical movies👪 The best family movies on Netflix for all ages

If there’s one thing all kids love – apart from candy – it’s cute animals. Any adult who needs a breather can just put on a webcam of some baby ducks at a petting zoo and be guaranteed at least a few moments of peace. But if you’re actually looking to spend some bonding time with the wee one, a movie starring a furry, scaly, sometimes smooth and wet friend will keep you both enraptured. Here, we’ve rounded up the best movies in which an animal factors heavily into the story. Some are animated, others are real. All of them are adorable, and sure to get two paws (or fins) up from the little beasts in your house. Recommended: 🐭 The 50 best Disney movies for family night👪 The 50 best family films to stream on movie night🤣 The 35 best family comedy movies

It’s the kind of true crime story episodes of Dateline are made of: a mild-mannered dentist in upstate New York is accused of killing the husband of the woman he’d been having an affair with. The murder weapon? A poison highly specific to his profession.  But that’s truly just the beginning of the bizarre twists and high drama of My Dentist’s Murder Trial, an upcoming limited series from HBO based on a 2017 New Yorker article. Written by a journalist who was also one of the dentist in question’s longtime patients, the piece adds a level of meta-narrative that lifts the tale above its sordid, soap-operatic details and made it the sort of story worthy of HBO – and some top-class actors – rather than, say, the Lifetime channel.     Here’s what we know about the series so far: When is My Dentist’s Murder Trial on HBO? According to Variety, the show is in early development as of July 2022, and no release date has been set – and given the recent tumult at the ol’ Home Box Office, let’s just hope it gets released at all. Who is starring in My Dentist’s Murder Trial? So far, only two names are confirmed to be involved in the project. One is Pedro Pascal, the Chilean-born actor best known for his starring role in The Mandalorian and who’s also turned up in Game of Thrones, Narcos and HBO’s highly anticipated upcoming video-game adaptation The Last of Us. He’s slated to play the dentist of the title, Dr Gilberto Nunez, who in 2017 was accused of killing his friend. The other name is Da

David O Russell is back, and that’s something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, the Silver Linings Playbook director’s new movie, Amsterdam, looks like one of the year’s first true award contenders, a high-energy 1930s period piece with an absolutely loaded cast. Like, everyone is in it. Everyone.  The problem is Russell himself. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker has long been known as an on-set tyrant, and the release of the Amsterdam’s trailer has dredged up an even more disturbing accusation of sexual assault, levied against him by his own niece in 2011.  How might those resurfaced allegations affect the critical and audience response to the film? It’s hard to predict at this point. But here’s everything we do know about Amsterdam – and about Russell’s past misdeeds.  Photograph: Courtesy of 20th Century StudiosZoe Saldana as Irma When does Amsterdam come out? It’s scheduled to hit theatres – no streaming, for now – on November 4, 2022. Is there a trailer for Amsterdam? There is and you can watch it below. What’s Amsterdam about? While the trailer gives an overview of the tone (comedic and caper-y), the time period (1930s) and the massive cast (see below), it doesn’t reveal much about the actual plot. The official synopsis describes it as ‘an original crime epic about three close friends who find themselves at the centre of one of the most shocking secret plots in American history.’ And the trailer plays up that the film is loosely b

When Disney first released the family-friendly horror-comedy Hocus Pocus in 1993, audiences did not immediately fall under its spell. Critics were unamused, and it bombed at the box office. But like the trio of witchy sisters at its centre, the movie found a second life, both on home video and cable - not to mention among cosplayers and drag performers. For a generation of ’90s kids, no Halloween is complete without a viewing. Now, after years of rumours, fan campaigns and public nudging from its stars, the film is finally getting a sequel. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy are all back, reprising their roles as the Sanderson sisters, the goofily sinister trio of 17th century witches who have a serious bone to pick with the citizens of Salem, Massachusetts. The involvement of the original cast is probably all Hocus Pocus fans need to make the sequel must-watch. But here’s everything else we know right now about Hocus Pocus 2.     When will Hocus Pocus 2 be released? It’s scheduled to hit Disney+ on September 30 – just in time for the start of spooky season. Is there a trailer for Hocus Pocus 2? Behold! What happened in the original Hocus Pocus? On Halloween 1993, young residents of Salem unwittingly resurrect three witch sisters who were executed by the townsfolk 300 years prior by lighting the cursed Black Flame Candle. By the rules of the spell that brought them back to life, they must steal a child’s life force by sun-up to stay

Calling all gambling addicts, refugees, old men with terminal diseases, laid-off Netflix employees and other financially desperate folks: Netflix wants to cast you to compete in a real-life Squid Game. In a dystopian twist straight out of a very meta Black Mirror episode, the streaming platform is literally turning its most-watched original series – which, as you might recall, involves a competition in which players perform a series of kids’ games, with the losers being murdered on the spot – into an actual reality show. Like the fictional Squid Game, Squid: The Challenge will involve 456 contestants competing for a sum of money: in this case, $4.56 million – supposedly the largest prize in TV history. Netflix is calling it ‘the biggest reality competition series ever,’ while also ominously referring to it as a ‘social experiment.’   ‘As they compete through a series of games inspired by the original show – plus surprising new additions – their strategies, alliances, and character will be put to the test while competitors are eliminated around them,’ reads the Netflix statement. ‘The stakes are high, but in this game the worst fate is going home empty-handed.’   The casting page notes that ‘win or lose, all players will leave unscathed’, which is a relief to hear. Still, creating a ‘real’ Squid Game seems like a rather audacious misreading of the show’s critique of the Korean class system and capitalism in general. Then again, this isn’t the first time someone with a b

Can it really be true that the world is only now, in the year 2022, getting a gay romantic comedy from a major Hollywood studio written by an openly gay person? Somehow it is. But the good news is that Hollywood given the honour of making it to Billy Eichner, whose dyspeptic comic sensibilities ensure that it definitely won’t just be a queer-themed Hallmark movie. Bros, co-written by Eichner and Nicholas Stoller, who also directs, is described as ‘a smart, swoony and heartfelt comedy about how hard it is to find another tolerable human being to go through life with’, which doesn’t sound too far off in spirit from Eichner’s Hulu series about caustic besties, Difficult People. Eichner also stars, alongside a majority-LGBTQ+ supporting cast occupying both gay and straight roles – another first.    All those milestones are great, but they’ll matter much less if the movie doesn’t ring true for the community the film is aimed at – something Eichner is keenly aware of. ‘[While] I wanted to make a movie that was hilarious and relatable to everyone, first and foremost I wanted to make a movie that felt authentic for the LGBTQ folks that the movie is about,’ says Eichner, ‘and who have been so profoundly underserved by Hollywood over the years, particularly the major movie studios.’ Will Bros live up to its historic billing? We won’t know for a few more months. But here’s everything we do know about Bros right now. When is Bros out? Originally due out in August, Bros will now land in U

In the span of three films, Key & Peele sketch comedian-turned-horror auteur Jordan Peele has entered the increasingly rarefied tier of director whose name generates intense anticipation around any project it’s attached to. In short, he’s one of the coolest filmmakers on the planet. Part of the reason for that, of course, his movies have lived up to the hype: both his smash 2017 debut, Get Out, and the follow-up, 2019’s Us, mixed horror and lacerating social satire with the skill of George A Romero at his best. But it’s also because he’s uniquely adept at the art of the tease. Last summer, Peele unveiled the poster for his latest feature, Nope. It only provided the title, cast and release date, but the Stephen King-like central image – an ominous cloud hovering above a lit-up town, a kite string dangling from its base – was enough to send the internet’s collective imagination racing. Then, during Super Bowl weekend, the first trailer dropped, tantalising audiences further – but revealing only a handful of additional clues.  That hasn’t stopped us from scraping up whatever information we can, though. Here’s everything we know about Nope. When is Nope coming out? One of the few things we can say about Nope with absolute certainty is the release date: July 22, 2022. Universal is pitching it as a ‘new pop nightmare’ and Peele’s first foray into summer blockbuster territory (Get Out and Us were both autumn releases). Reportedly, the film will bypass streaming services and debut ex