What do you want to watch tonight?
Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.
Closest to Heat first
The Wire 2002
Series
Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.
The sides of The Wire
- Baltimore cops wiretapping a drug crew
- The docks, the schools, City Hall and the newspaper
- Dealers and detectives seen from both sides
Good for you if
- you like seeing how police, politics and schools keep a city stuck.
- you like a case built patiently over a whole season.
- you want people like Omar, Stringer Bell and McNulty to stay with you.
Bad for you if
- you lose track with dozens of characters on both sides.
- you need some hope. Baltimore rarely changes here.
About: institutions · the drug war · loyalty
Drive 2011
Film
Driver is a skilled Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. Though he projects an icy exterior, lately he's been warming up to a pretty neighbor named Irene and her young son, Benicio. When Irene's husband gets out of jail, he enlists Driver's help in a million-dollar heist. The job goes horribly wrong, and Driver must risk his life to protect Irene and Benicio from the vengeful masterminds behind the robbery.
The sides of Drive
- A silent professional with a code
- The city at night, neon and synths
- Tenderness, then sudden violence
Good for you if
- you like neon Los Angeles nights.
- you like a synth soundtrack you'll play on repeat.
- you like long silences and a hero who barely speaks.
Bad for you if
- sudden, very brutal violence ruins a film for you.
- you want characters who talk.
About: loneliness · protection · violence
Léon: The Professional 1994
Film
Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda. Before long, Mathilda's thoughts turn to revenge, and she considers following in Léon's footsteps.
The sides of Léon: The Professional
- A lonely hitman and a girl next door
- A plant he waters every day
- A corrupt cop on drugs
Good for you if
- you like an unlikely bond between a killer and a child.
- you like tight, stylish shootouts.
- you like an ending that leaves a lump in your throat.
Bad for you if
- shootouts and a family's murder are too much for you.
- a twelve-year-old playing Russian roulette is too much for you.
About: innocence · loneliness · revenge
Prisoners 2013
Film
When his young daughter and her friend disappear on Thanksgiving, a father takes the law into his own hands while a detective works the case.
The sides of Prisoners
- A detective who won't let go
- How far a father will go
- A case built like a maze
- Rain, cold, and grey light
Good for you if
- you like being tense for two and a half hours straight.
- you like collecting clues and trying to get ahead of the detective.
- you like watching an actor go somewhere raw. Hugh Jackman does.
Bad for you if
- a child in danger is too much for you.
- two and a half hours is too long for your evening.
About: faith · revenge · guilt · fatherhood
Money Heist 2017
Series
To carry out the biggest heist in history, a mysterious man called The Professor recruits a band of eight robbers who have a single characteristic: none of them has anything to lose. Five months of seclusion - memorizing every step, every detail, every probability - culminate in eleven days locked up in the National Coinage and Stamp Factory of Spain, surrounded by police forces and with dozens of hostages in their power, to find out whether their suicide wager will lead to everything or nothing.
The sides of Money Heist
- A heist planned for months
- A professor who has thought of everything
- Robbers with city names
Good for you if
- you like a hostage siege where every hour brings a problem.
- you like a plan that keeps surprising even the police.
- you like a gang where every robber has a story.
Bad for you if
- you won't read subtitles. It's in Spanish (a dub exists).
- several long seasons is more than you want to start.
About: resistance · loyalty · money
The Dark Knight 2008
Film
Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.
The sides of The Dark Knight
- A villain who only wants chaos
- A city forced to choose
- A hero paying the price
Good for you if
- you like a villain you can't take your eyes off.
- you like scenes where every choice could cost a life.
- you like tension that comes from people talking, like the interrogation room.
Bad for you if
- you need things to end on a high. This one leaves a weight.
- two and a half hours is too long for your evening.
About: chaos · order · sacrifice · corruption
The Departed 2006
Film
To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises through the police ranks. But both sides soon discover there's a mole among them.
The sides of The Departed
- A cop inside the mob
- A mobster inside the police
- Two rats looking for each other
Good for you if
- you like two men hunting each other without knowing who the other is.
- you like following cops, mobsters and a psychiatrist caught between two moles.
- you like a mob boss you can't predict.
Bad for you if
- sudden, point-blank shootings ruin a film for you.
- two and a half hours is too long for your evening.
About: identity · loyalty · betrayal
Breaking Bad 2008
Series
A high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer starts making meth with a former student to pay for his family's future.
The sides of Breaking Bad
- An ordinary man's slow corruption
- Crime as a business
- One bad choice that spirals
- Desert, tension, long silences
Good for you if
- you like rooting for someone you know you shouldn't.
- you like tension that builds for a whole episode before it breaks.
- you watch for how people change more than for what happens.
Bad for you if
- graphic violence ruins a show for you. Some scenes are hard to unsee.
- TV is how you unwind. This one keeps you tense.
- five seasons is more than you want to start.
About: pride · family · power · consequences
Chicago P.D. 2014
Series
A riveting police drama about the men and women of the Chicago Police Department's District 21 who put it all on the line to serve and protect their community. District 21 is made up of two distinctly different groups: the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head-to-head with the city's street crimes and the Intelligence Unit that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond.
The sides of Chicago P.D.
- Chicago's District 21
- An Intelligence Unit led by Hank Voight
- Street cops and major cases
Good for you if
- you like a sergeant like Voight who breaks rules to get results.
- you like raids and interrogations against the clock.
- you want chases and shootouts in Chicago streets.
Bad for you if
- over a dozen seasons is too much for you.
- you can't stand shootings and rough interrogations.
About: justice · loyalty · corruption
Reservoir Dogs 1992
Film
A botched robbery indicates a police informant, and the pressure mounts in the aftermath at a warehouse. Crime begets violence as the survivors -- veteran Mr. White, newcomer Mr. Orange, psychopathic parolee Mr. Blonde, bickering weasel Mr. Pink and Nice Guy Eddie -- unravel.
The sides of Reservoir Dogs
- A heist gone wrong
- A rat among the thieves
- A warehouse and a radio
Good for you if
- you like criminals arguing about tips and nicknames.
- you like trapped men suspecting each other.
- you like a radio show of 1970s hits playing through the whole film.
Bad for you if
- a torture scene is too much for you.
- you want scale. It's one warehouse and a handful of men.
About: betrayal · loyalty · trust
Die Hard 1988
Film
High above the city of L.A. a team of terrorists has seized a building, taken hostages, and declared war. One man has manages to escape... An off-duty cop hiding somewhere inside. He's alone, tired... and the only chance anyone has got.
The sides of Die Hard
- A cop barefoot in a skyscraper
- Terrorists at a Christmas party
- Yippee-ki-yay
Good for you if
- you like a hero fighting barefoot through air vents and elevator shafts.
- you like one man against many in one building.
- you like a hero who jokes when he's scared.
Bad for you if
- you want a Christmas film for the whole family. This one is for grown-ups.
- gunfights and broken glass ruin it for you.
About: marriage · survival · Christmas
The Irishman 2019
Film
Pennsylvania, 1956. Frank Sheeran, a war veteran of Irish origin who works as a truck driver, accidentally meets mobster Russell Bufalino. Once Frank becomes his trusted man, Bufalino sends him to Chicago with the task of helping Jimmy Hoffa, a powerful union leader related to organized crime, with whom Frank will maintain a close friendship for nearly twenty years.
The sides of The Irishman
- A hitman looking back from a nursing home
- Jimmy Hoffa
- Decades of the mob
Good for you if
- you like a slow, reflective gangster story.
- you like legends acting together one last time.
- you like an ending about loneliness and regret.
Bad for you if
- three and a half hours is far too long for you.
- you want a fast gangster film.
About: loyalty · ageing · regret
No Country for Old Men 2007
Film
A hunter in West Texas finds two million dollars at the scene of a drug deal gone wrong, and a hitman starts following him.
The sides of No Country for Old Men
- A cat-and-mouse chase across Texas
- A killer who flips a coin
- An old sheriff who doesn't understand his world anymore
- Silence instead of music
Good for you if
- you like suspense built from silence, a hotel room and a door.
- you like scenes that take their time before anything happens.
- you like an ending that leaves you thinking instead of explaining.
Bad for you if
- sudden, cold violence ruins a film for you.
- you need music to carry a film. There's almost none.
About: fate · chance · violence · growing old
Scarface 1983
Film
After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.
The sides of Scarface
- A refugee who wants the world
- Cocaine and Miami in the 80s
- Say hello to my little friend
Good for you if
- you like a performance that's over the top on purpose.
- you like following a ruthless Cuban refugee building a cocaine empire in Miami.
- you like an ending with no mercy.
Bad for you if
- chainsaws and shootouts ruin it for you.
- nearly three hours is too much for one evening.
- films from 1983 feel dated to you.
About: greed · power · excess
Fast Five 2011
Film
Former cop Brian O'Conner partners with ex-con Dom Toretto on the opposite side of the law. Since Brian and Mia Toretto broke Dom out of custody, they've blown across many borders to elude authorities. Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom.
The sides of Fast Five
- A heist in Rio
- A safe dragged through the streets
- A federal agent on their trail
Good for you if
- you like the series turning into a heist film.
- you like a whole crew coming together.
- you like banter between the team.
Bad for you if
- a safe dragged through a city at speed makes you groan.
- you can't stand long car chases. It ends on one through Rio.
About: family · freedom · loyalty
Taxi Driver 1976
Film
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.
The sides of Taxi Driver
- A lonely veteran driving nights in New York
- You talkin' to me?
- A girl he wants to save
Good for you if
- you like a performance that gets under your skin.
- you like a dark, dirty city and a darker mind.
- you like a character study of a man coming apart.
Bad for you if
- a sudden, bloody climax ruins it for you.
- you can't watch a child forced into prostitution. Jodie Foster plays Iris, twelve years old and on the street.
About: loneliness · violence · the city
The Usual Suspects 1995
Film
Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.
The sides of The Usual Suspects
- Five criminals in a line-up
- A survivor telling the police a story
- Keyser Söze
Good for you if
- you like an ending that makes you replay the whole film in your head.
- you like an interrogation that becomes a story.
- you like trying to work out who's behind it all.
Bad for you if
- you want a simple story. This one is told in flashbacks, on purpose.
- you can't root for crooks. Every lead here is a career criminal.
About: deception · legend · fear
Better Call Saul 2015
Series
Six years before Saul Goodman meets Walter White. We meet him when the man who will become Saul Goodman is known as Jimmy McGill, a small-time lawyer searching for his destiny, and, more immediately, hustling to make ends meet. Working alongside, and, often, against Jimmy, is “fixer” Mike Ehrmantraut. The series tracks Jimmy’s transformation into Saul Goodman, the man who puts “criminal” in “criminal lawyer".
The sides of Better Call Saul
- A small-time lawyer becoming Saul Goodman
- A brother who never believed in him
- A fixer named Mike Ehrmantraut
Good for you if
- you like a story that takes its time over one man's choices.
- you like watching Jimmy and Kim from up close, scene after scene.
- you like following a likable man you know will go bad.
Bad for you if
- you'd rather avoid cartel killings and Tuco's beatings.
- six seasons of slow change is too much for you.
About: ambition · brotherhood · morality · love
The Blacklist 2013
Series
Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.
The sides of The Blacklist
- A wanted criminal who turns himself in to the FBI
- A list of criminals nobody knew existed
- A rookie profiler he will only talk to
Good for you if
- you like James Spader's Red Reddington, a hat, a smile and a long story before every threat.
- you like a new criminal from Red's list in almost every episode.
- you want to know why Red chose Elizabeth Keen.
Bad for you if
- ten seasons is too much for you.
- you can't stand regular executions and shootouts.
About: secrets · loyalty · redemption
The Rookie 2018
Series
Starting over isn't easy, especially for small-town guy John Nolan who, after a life-altering incident, is pursuing his dream of being an LAPD officer. As the force's oldest rookie, he's met with skepticism from some higher-ups who see him as just a walking midlife crisis.
The sides of The Rookie
- The oldest rookie in the LAPD
- Training officers who doubt him
- Calls across Los Angeles
Good for you if
- you like car chases and patrol calls that go wrong in every episode.
- you like following a whole precinct of rookies and their training officers.
- you like a small-town man in midlife starting over as the LAPD's oldest rookie.
Bad for you if
- nine seasons is too much for you.
- you roll your eyes at heartfelt talks between partners after every case.
About: second chances · duty · age