Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like To Die For:
How to Make a Killing
Glad to see John Patton Ford continue a lot of the success of Emily the Criminal with How to Make a Killing, and equally glad to see Glen Powell land a leading role that at least somewhat fits his talents as charming and conniving, as opposed to the more empathetic, everyman or out-and-out heroic protagonist that hasn’t exactly suited his strengths over the last few years since his meteoric rise post-Top Gun: Maverick. The guy has movie star gravity to spare, but the roles haven’t always known what to do with it.
Saltburn
Emerald Fennell‘s sophomore movie, Saltburn, emerges from the rubble of her polarizing debut, Promising Young Woman, with a cast that elevates the material despite its endlessly convoluted and plainly put narrative. This comedy-drama-thriller hybrid film weaves a perplexing tale of obsession, deception, and tragedy within the confines of the aristocratic Catton family’s titular estate.
No Other Choice
No Other Choice finds Park Chan-wook in a sharper comedic register than usual, a black comedy that keeps tipping toward farce while tracking a middle class collapse. I like the switch of gears. I also felt the hype machine pull a little harder than the movie earns. It is lively, cleverly staged, and often very funny, yet it lands as a thoughtful middle entry for Park rather than a top tier picture beside The Handmaiden, Oldboy or Decision to Leave.
Rushmore
Even if decades have passed since Rushmore first hit movie theaters, Wes Anderson’s sophomore film still has characters and tonal inflections that he hasn’t quite matched since. Jason Schwartzman proves he’s a perfect match for Wes’ desired movie-making style.
Hit Man
Despite my love for nearly all things Richard Linklater and Glen Powell, I just couldn’t bring myself to fall for their newest release on Netflix – Hit Man, which tries its hardest to hide its superstar lead behind a thick layer of nerdy, undesirable heft that I saw right through from beginning to end.
A History of Violence
Leave it to David Cronenberg to deconstruct the mythical American hero with odd wit and clinical detail. A History of Violence looks like a small-town melodrama on the surface, then peels back skin to expose identity, impulse, and the stories we tell to survive. Viggo Mortensen gives one of his sharpest performances as Tom Stall, a soft-spoken diner owner whose quick, efficient dispatching of two spree killers turns him into a local legend and blows up the quiet life he has built with Edie, played with fierce tenderness by Maria Bello.
The Drama
Kristoffer Borgli has quickly become one of the great conceivers of hooks for films. A single-sentence elevator pitch for each of his releases is enough to generate buzz and attract high-profile talent, from everyone in the world seeing Nicholas Cage’s character in their dreams on the same night in Borgli’s delirious Dream Scenario, to his latest Zendaya and Robert Pattinson-led The Drama, about a seemingly perfect couple’s life being uprooted mere days before their wedding because of an innocent enough game of “What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done?”
Blue Velvet
If for nothing else, Blue Velvet serves as a key to unlock the filmography of David Lynch, as if every subsequent movie would take bits and pieces from Blue Velvet and expand them into their own ideas and themes. It’s cryptic, morally ambiguous, and set in the heart of a deep underbelly within small town life. The film is beguiling as hell, and even features many of Lynch’s recurring actors and actresses, led by Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern. The movie isn’t as nearly as cut-and-dry as its noir elements suggest and its contemporaries often were, and it seems that public consensus has only further improved since Blue Velvet‘s release in 1986.
Send Help
Sam Raimi is back to his old ways. Having spent nearly the entire 21st century being put through the franchise ringer, from a Spider-Man trilogy to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to a very strange Oz reimagining, there have been only a couple of original film highlights spilled in between. Drag Me to Hell developed a cult following, and his latest film Send Help seems destined to do the same.
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Stylistically and visually, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a real treat. The scenes are lush and vibrant, and the color design for this film is excellent. As all A24 horror projects go, this film finds its pocket early on and sticks to it. Even with a narrative that can feel generic at this point, Bodies Bodies Bodies excels at amplifying and hyper-intensifying the world around its main plotline.
READ MORE: Movies Like The Drama, Movies Like Hit Man
