TMW #43: The Amateur, Drop and Black Mirror reviewed

Do you like credulity-stretching three-star thrillers? Head this way...

Greetings cine-connoisseurs,

And a very happy Friday to you. As chance would have it, this weekend sees the cinema release of two enjoyable throwbacks to simpler genre times. Rami Malek leads espionage thriller The Amateur, while spellcheck-nightmare Meghann Fahy is on message in high-concept date-night-from-hell, Drop. Plus, we’ve also gorged on the new season of Black Mirror, which is streaming on Netflix now.

Beyond the paywall we have further recommendations, including a coming-of-ager that’s anything but cheesy, and an amuse-bouche to tide you over if you’re desperately awaiting the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Plus, there have been an absolutely bumper crop of must-see trailers this week, and we’ve rounded them all up: from Wes Anderson’s latest all-star caper, to lightcycles, impossible missions and Murderbots.

If you want to sign up to be a paying member, it’ll cost you less than the price of an appetiser at a mid-range restaurant (£5.99 per month, or £60 annually) to get unredacted editions twice-weekly. And if you appreciate what we do, we always welcome a like, comment, restack, or a IRL recommendation to a pal.

We’ll be back on Tuesday with - among other things - an interview with Andor and Adolescence star Faye Marsay. See you then! 🫡

Matt (Jordan and Matthew)

The Amateur

12A, in cinemas now

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Rami Malek in The Amateur (credit: Disney)

There’s a pleasing throwback thrill to The Amateur, a straightforwardly enjoyable espionage romp that puts a serious sheen over frankly ludicrous material. Star Rami Malek also produces this adaptation of a novel by Robert Littel, and you can see the appeal. It won’t win him another Oscar, but it’s a decent showcase for his abilities. And like the classy cohort of co-stars assembled around him here, his screen presence gives the whole thing a lift.

In case you haven’t seen any of the overly revealing trailers, the premise is fairly straightforward. Charlie Heller (Malek) works in ‘decryption and analysis’ for the CIA. Working from a windowless room, he receives a tip-off that doesn’t reflect particularly well on his superiors (Mindhunter’s Holt McCallany gives good gruff as an any-means-necessary suit), not long before his wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), becomes collateral damage in a terrorist attack while on a business trip. This set of circumstances leads to socially awkward desk jockey Charlie demanding to be trained up with assassin skills so that he can hunt down the people responsible for his wife’s death on a globe-trotting revenge mission.

That’s just the beginning of the credibility straining, but The Amateur plays it with a remarkably straight face, and director James Hawes (Slow Horses, One Life) understands the mechanics of this kind of thriller, parcelling out incident and tension over an efficient two hours. The pleasure certainly feels heightened by the relatively dearth of ‘this sort of thing’ these days. While there are shades of Bourne, it doesn’t have that film series’ grit or standout action, but fans of redacted docs, enhanced CCTV footage and superintelligent protagonists being two steps ahead at all times are well served.

Heller’s methods of dispatch get increasingly convoluted as his mission progresses - his plan to take out one bad'un with a pollen overdose being the logic-defying zenith (or nadir, depending on your tolerance for overly elaborate hits), but there’s also the much marketed rooftop ‘Sky Pool’ sequence, and more besides. Surely less conspicuous methods were available? It will be interesting to see how far the film - which will be screened on IMAX screens as part of its theatrical rollout - will convince cinemagoers of a certain vintage to get off their sofas. If it doesn’t take off at the box office, it’s easy to imagine it shooting up the streaming charts soon enough.

But whether it’s because of or despite its trash-in-classy-clothing absurdity, or down to the almost cosy nostalgia of its well executed genre tropes, or thanks to the seemingly inexhaustible roster of quality character actors popping up in secondary roles (Laurence Fishburne, Julianna Nicholson, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jon Bernthal!), The Amateur is never less than mildly compelling. Perhaps Malek, Hawes and co were overly aware of hacks who could easily use the film’s title to give it a kicking, but the whole thing is polished to a very professional standard. (Matt Maytum)

IN SHORT: The kind of thriller that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but rolls very smoothly regardless, The Amateur is a pleasant reminder of old-school, star-powered escapism.

STAY FOR THE END CREDITS: While there’s a slight hint that the door could be left open for sequels, there’s no sting to hang around for.

BEST DRINKS ORDERING OF 2025 TO DATE: “Deux Heinekens, s’il vous plait,” delivered with an accompanying hand gesture by Laurence Fishburne in a grubby nightclub bar.

Drop

15, in cinemas now

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Meghann Fahy in Drop (credit: © 2025 Universal Studios)

Widowed single mum Violet (Meghann Fahy) is finally ready to get back in the dating game; she’s decided to take a chance on Henry (Brandon Sklenar), meeting the laid-back photographer in a high-rise Chicago restaurant. They’ve barely had a chance to look at the specials when Violet starts receiving increasingly alarming texts from an anonymous sender lurking nearby…

Directed by Christopher Landon (Freaky, the Happy Death Day movies) from a script by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach (Truth or Dare), Drop was shot entirely in Ireland, which has an easy-enough job doubling for Chicago given the majority of the action takes place in the swanky restaurant. Of course, everyone and their dining partner is on their phone, so there’s plenty of fraught fun guessing who Violet’s mystery tormentor could be - and yes, tonight’s menu features some tasty red herrings.

If you’ve seen the spoilery trailer, you’ll know some of the jeopardy that awaits Violet; in its second half the film starts trading suspense for spectacle, ultimately failing to land the killer blow it earlier seems poised to deliver. As for the deadly scheme afoot, the more details that emerge, the more you question how/why anyone would go to such absurdly complicated lengths.

For best results, save the perverse enjoyment of picking the plot apart for the end credits and focus instead on Drop’s in-the-moment pleasures. For one, the multiple plays on the movie’s title (which ostensibly refers to the AirDrop app used to send the evil memes and demands). For another, Meghann Fahy’s agile performance: the White Lotus star marshals humour, resourcefulness, relatability and suppressed panic (discreetly dealing with matters of life and death on her keypad while choosing her starter and main). She also illuminates her character’s history as a domestic-abuse survivor, giving Drop some added depth. (Matthew Leyland)

SCENE STEALER: Jeffery Self deserves a big tip as Fahy and Skelnar’s over-friendly waiter, who keeps picking the wrong moment with expert comic timing.

Black Mirror S7

15, streaming now on Netflix

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Crisin Milioti in Black Mirror (credit: Nick Wall/Netflix)

Following some dubious detours into horror for season six, the latest batch of Black Mirror episodes are something of a return to techno-terror basics. Two of them are sequels, for starters: blockbuster “USS Callister” follow-up “Into Infinity” (The Penguin’s Cristin Milioti returns) and “Plaything”, another retro gaming episode which brings back Will Poulter’s peroxide blonde game designer from 2018’s “Bandersnatch”. There isn’t a true standout in the bunch, but it’s the most consistent season since the shift to Netflix in 2016.

Suffocating satire “Common People”, which stars Chris O’Dowd and Rashida Jones as a married couple whose medical debt is tied to a rapidly rising subscription price, starts strong before turning the screw a little too tight, but bonus points for targeting the subs economy on a Netflix series. Film fans and “San Junipero” stans will get the most out of “Hotel Reverie”, in which Issa Rae’s A-lister steps into an AI-powered remake of a classic British romance alongside Emma Corrin’s period star. Timely idea, but the execution is cumbersome.

“Bête Noire” is a mostly effective paranoid thriller with an enjoyably unhinged performance from Blue Jean’s Rosy McEwan, but the resolution stretches credulity in a series that typically grounds its near-future sci-fi in contemporary tech. “Plaything”, which centres on sentient Tamagotchis (a game you can actually play), takes a similarly big swing, boasting stark direction from Black Mirror vet David Slade and a twitchy Peter Capaldi performance.

Paul Giamatti also gets a plum role in “Eulogy” – a melancholy riff on “The Entire History of You” in which his “wounded dog” loner relives a painful breakup. Goes for tears, but doesn’t quite get there. While the feature-length finale “USS Callister: Into Infinity” is as big budget as Black Mirror gets, and Milioti is always good value, but it ultimately feels like a waste to retread familiar ground in a series built on original concepts. Strong overall relative to recent seasons, but not quite Black Mirror at its best. (Jordan Farley)

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY “Common People” star Rashida Jones has Black Mirror priors: she previously co-wrote the season three episode “Nosedive”, alongside Parks and Rec creator Mike Schur.