They’ll have some free time in January to practice the ‘Thriller’ routine.

The Hollywood adaptation of the Stieg Larsson bestseller might not have been needed considering a Swedish-language film in 2009, but David Fincher’s efficient direction is more than welcome.

Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes deliver unforgettable performances in Sean Durkin’s equally unforgettable film about a woman trying desperately to find her way back to the person she was after extricating herself from a cult.

A large percentage of us spend our days in offices, so if a movie is going to spend much of its time there, it had better ring true. Lapses in accuracy about criminal underworlds might fly past us unnoticed, but lazy, fake workplace settings will take you out of the movie just as surely as a boom mike hanging in the frame or a reflection of a cameraman obviously visible in the mirror.

Fred Cavayé’s French thriller Point Blank has exactly the kind of no-frills, highly focused, adrenaline-fueled action that is missing or obscured in American summer thrill rides.

Angels have a pretty rough time of it in the movies. They get assigned odd menial tasks on Earth, like wandering around listening to the thoughts of people with whom they can never interact (Wings of Desire), keeping suicidal drunks from offing themselves (It’s a Wonderful Life), and trying to get notoriously fickle humans to fall (and stay) in love (A Life Less Ordinary). And when they screw up, they’re forced to wander Wisconsin for all eternity (Dogma). I’d say they need a union, but we all know what happened the last time they tried to organize in large numbers to address grievances with management.