Best Modern Noir
These are the best examples of modern day (post 1968) film noir movies.
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- DirectorDavid LynchStarsBill PullmanPatricia ArquetteJohn RoseliusAnonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.The first of David Lynch's horror-noir puzzle film sequence. Thematically similar to Hitchcock's "Vertigo," the film deals with a musician accused of killing his wife suddenly morphing into a young man who is enticed by a beautiful young woman. A woman who looks just like the first mans; wife.
- DirectorJames FoleyStarsAl PacinoJack LemmonAlec BaldwinAn examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office.Over-stressed salesmen in a real-estate office are driven to steal profitable leads in a night of moral weakness, the next day, however, passions run high, as the police begin an investigation, and bonds are tested.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsWilliam H. MacyFrances McDormandSteve BuscemiMinnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.In this black comedy, psychological-noir film, reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith's works, a man hires two inept kidnappers to take his wife and hold her for a ransom to be paid by her wealthy father. The plan goes awry due to the idiocy of the kidnappers and the police work of a persistent, constantly chilled-out, and pregnant police chief.
- DirectorGregory HoblitStarsRichard GereLaura LinneyEdward NortonAn altar boy is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.Based on the novel by William Diehl, this psychological thriller/noir/courtroom drama pits a celebrity lawyer against a corrupt city planner after the murder of a pedophilic priest. As the lawyer steps in to defend the accused alter boy, dark truths about the boy's psyche are exposed.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.The second of the puzzle film series pits a woman in a desperate battle against herself. As a beautiful, amnesiac woman shows up in her home, a young woman is forced to decipher truth from lies, and her own guilt-created fantasies from realities.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsIsabella RosselliniKyle MacLachlanDennis HopperThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.David Lynch's first attempt at noir involves four central characters. Jeffrey, the college student, home to visit his ailing father. Sandy, the beautiful girl who loves him. Dorothy, the enigmatic nightclub singer with whom he begins a dark love affair. And Frank Booth, one of cinema's greatest villains, who's engaging in sexual blackmail with Dorothy. The price if she doesn't cooperate? The life of her child.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsMorgan FreemanBrad PittKevin SpaceyTwo detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.This neo-urban gothic psychological horror movie pits two detectives against a madman who choses his victims based on the seven deadly sins.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsJeremy TheobaldAlex HawLucy RussellA young writer who follows strangers for material meets a thief who takes him under his wing.Christopher Nolan's debut film follows the life of a young writer as he is coached by a master thief in the art of breaking and entering, little realizing the web of deceit he's being drawn in to.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsKarolina GruszkaKrzysztof MajchrzakGrace ZabriskieAs an actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.The final puzzle film (and by far, the strangest) finds an actress being sucked into a web of surreal madness as she begins to accept a new role, and her sanity begins to crumble around her.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsGuy PearceCarrie-Anne MossJoe PantolianoA man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.Armed only with tattooed clues, and advise from untrustworthy "allies," an amnesiac man attempts to find his wife's murderer.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsHarrison FordRutger HauerSean YoungA blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.Based on the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep," by Philip K. Dick, this sci-fi noir film pits a "Blade Runner," against human-like androids known as "Replicants."
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.Roman Polanski's thriller features Jack Nicholson in a complicated web of deceit involving the California water supply.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsJohn TravoltaUma ThurmanSamuel L. JacksonThe lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece film features interlocking stories of philosophy and violence as the lives of two hitmen, a mob wife, sandwich thieves, a house husband with a secret criminal past (played by Tarantino himself) and a boxer are intertwined.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsPam GrierSamuel L. JacksonRobert ForsterA flight attendant with a criminal past gets nabbed by the ATF for smuggling. Under pressure to become an informant against the illegal arms dealer she works for, she must find a way to secure her future without getting killed.Based on the novel "Rum Punch" by Elmore Leonard, Quentin Tarantino's third film deals with a sting run by the eponymous flight attendant, as she, a cop and her lover, attempt to outwit two arms dealers and their surfer girl friend.
- DirectorBryan SingerStarsKevin SpaceyGabriel ByrneChazz PalminteriThe sole survivor of a pier shoot-out tells the story of how a notorious criminal influenced the events that began with five criminals meeting in a seemingly random police lineup.After the destruction of a boat, a limping petty crook tell a story of violence in this twisting psychological thriller.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsHarvey KeitelTim RothMichael MadsenWhen a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.After a botched jewel heist, a group of thieves come to suspect that there is a mole among them.
- DirectorFrank MillerQuentin TarantinoRobert RodriguezStarsMickey RourkeClive OwenBruce WillisAn exploration of the dark and miserable Basin City and three of its residents, all of whom are caught up in violent corruption.Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, this film tells interlocking tales of graphic violence bordering on horror in this disturbing film.
- DirectorAnthony MinghellaStarsMatt DamonGwyneth PaltrowJude LawIn late 1950s New York, a young underachiever named Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve Dickie Greenleaf, a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.How far would you go to be another person? This adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel answers that question, as a sociopathic man is seduced by the libertine life of a young man he is sent to Europe to retrieve. After dispatching that man, he begins a journey through Italy, leading a double life.
- DirectorLuc BessonStarsJean RenoGary OldmanNatalie Portman12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.This film tells a story of vengeance. After a twelve year old girl's family is slaughtered by corrupt DEA agents, she befriends her French hitman neighbor to train her in a quest for vengeance against the agents' deranged leader.