Aarcflick

The Netflix series *Flunked* centers on Eddy, a small-time criminal gifted with an innate talent for mathematics. In this series, the police assign Eddy a bizarre mission: to help them locate the son of a criminal who is hiding out in a high school classroom. While the task itself is easy for him to grasp, carrying it out proves extremely difficult—especially considering it thrusts him into entirely new territory, a world far noisier and more chaotic than he can possibly handle. Barely a few minutes into the first episode, the viewer already grasps the essence of the plot's central conflict. Although Eddy is a mathematical genius, dealing with a classroom packed with teenagers, irate parents, and the inherent complexities of the school environment presents a challenge of an entirely different magnitude. Most of the series' humor stems precisely from this stark contrast between his strengths and his weaknesses. Stars: Alexandre Kominek, Yannik Landrein, Bérangère McNeese What fa...

 *Fuze* is an incredibly cool movie. It is, in part, an explosive countdown thriller; in part, a heist thriller; and in part, a revenge thriller. Much of its appeal lies in the fluidity with which it transitions between these different genres. Ben Hopkins (*Inside*) has penned a script full of twists, which director David Mackenzie (*Hell or High Water*) brings to the screen with great elegance. The story begins with construction workers discovering what appears to be an unexploded World War II bomb while excavating at a work site. Local residents—including the immigrant Rahim (Elham Ehsas)—are evacuated as Major Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his team arrive on the scene to defuse it. Police Superintendent Zuzana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) oversees the situation from headquarters. The mission becomes complicated when they discover that the bomb’s timer mechanism has been activated. Meanwhile, criminals Karalis (Theo James), "X" (Sam Worthington), and two other accomplices se...

 Ben Kingsley and Aaron Eckhart pilot a commercial airliner straight into the center of a feeding frenzy in this above-average shark thriller. Renny Harlin’s solid and entertaining film, *Deep Water*, centers on a plane that crashes right in the middle of a massive pack of sharks. And let me tell you: those sharks are absolutely ravenous. Director: Renny Harlin Writers: Pete Bridges, Shayne Armstrong, S.P. Krause Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Ben Kingsley, Angus Sampson One would think that the sound of a 747 (or whatever it is) splitting in two right over their favorite dining spot would scare these mako sharks away; however, these predators—rendered via CGI, though convincingly enough—smell, both literally and figuratively, blood in the water. The wreckage of the plane is still ablaze when they begin devouring the survivors, acting as if they were perfect, God-given jump scares. Even the tiger sharks that devoured so many of Quint’s shipmates—crew members of the USS Indianapolis—in the f...

 Damian McCarthy’s third feature film refines the Irish writer-director’s horror style into something sharp and terrifying. Jump scares often get a bad rap. It is true that they can be a lazy device—a crutch for directors who lack the skill to build tension through more ambitious structural means. But when paired with solid filmmaking, a good jump scare can transform a movie—one that might otherwise be merely good—into a dizzying, thrilling experience that leaves us gasping in awe; and that is exactly what Irish writer-director Damian McCarthy achieves with *Hokum*. Director: Damian Mc Carthy Writer: Damian Mc Carthy Stars: Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, David Wilmot McCarthy’s previous film, *Oddity* (2024), featured the most terrifying scene of that year: a sequence involving a flashlight, a tent, and a thunderous bang on the door of an isolated farmhouse in the dead of night. And while it is barely March, *Hokum* is almost certainly already shaping up to be a strong contender for tha...

Fatih Akin took over the direction of *Amrum* when his friend, the German cult director Hark Bohm, fell ill and was unable to direct it himself. Fatih Akin’s latest film is not, in fact, a typical Fatih Akin film at all. Rather, it is "a Hark Bohm film made by Fatih Akin." By presenting *Amrum* in this way, the opening credits prepare the viewer for a type of story very different from what one might expect if already familiar with Akin’s work. But it also presupposes prior knowledge of Bohm—the cult German author, screenwriter, and film director who originally wrote the screenplay for this film, drawing inspiration from his childhood memories on that small island. Director: Fatih Akin Writers: Fatih Akin, Hark Bohm Stars: Jasper Billerbeck, Laura Tonke, Lisa Hagmeister When Bohm fell ill, Akin stepped in to help co-write the story, before finally agreeing to take on the directing duties as well. The result is a film that the director’s longtime fans might not even recognize a...

 Written and directed by Kevin Interdonato, the action-crime film *Dirty Hands* kicks off in the Chicago underworld when a routine drug deal goes awry for the Denton brothers: Richie and Danny. Sheila, Richie’s girlfriend, finds herself torn between her loyalty to Richie and her loyalty to his boss, while rival leader Rodney and his bloodthirsty gang come hunting for them. With the son of a crime boss dead, the brothers must fight for their lives if they hope to survive the night. The film stars Patrick Muldoon as Richie Denton, Kevin Interdonato as Danny Denton, and Guy Nardulli as Rodney; it also features Denise Richards as Sheila and Michael Beach as Dally. Director: Kevin Interdonato Writer: Kevin Interdonato Stars: Patrick Muldoon, Kevin Interdonato, Denise Richards *Dirty Hands* opens in the Chicago underworld when a routine drug exchange goes wrong for the Denton brothers: Richie (Muldoon) and Danny (Interdonato). Sheila (Richards), Richie’s girlfriend, is caught between her...