A first date movie needs to do several things at once: be engaging enough to talk about, not so intense it kills the mood, and ideally leave you both with something to say when the credits roll.
The 2010s were defined by a wave of filmmakers who understood that the best genre films work on multiple levels simultaneously.
Crime as a genre works because it forces moral clarity in situations designed to resist it.
Police officer Asger Holm, demoted to desk work as an alarm dispatcher, answers a call from a panicked woman who claims to have been kidnapped. Confined to the police station and with the phone as his only tool, Asger races against time to get help and find her.
A divorced dad and his ex-con brother resort to a desperate scheme in order to save their family's farm in West Texas.
A gangster known as "Samurai" wants to turn the waterfront of Rome into a new Las Vegas. All the local mob bosses have agreed to work for this common goal. But peace is not to last long.
McCall believes he has put his mysterious past behind him and dedicated himself to beginning a new, quiet life. But when he meets Teri, a young girl under the control of ultra-violent Russian gangsters, he can't stand idly by - he has to help her. Armed with hidden skills that allow him to serve vengeance against anyone who would brutalize the helpless, McCall comes out of his self-imposed retirement and finds his desire for justice reawakened. If someone has a problem, if the odds are stacked against them, if they have nowhere else to turn, McCall will help. He is The Equalizer.
Gru is a supervillain determined to prove he's the greatest by stealing the Moon. To pull off his plan, he adopts three orphaned girls-Margo, Edith, and Agnes-intending to use them as part of his scheme. However, as Gru bonds with the girls, his cold, villainous exterior begins to melt.
What sets great crime cinema apart is consequence. Every action has a cost. These films make you feel that cost.
A wealthy playboy named Bruce Wayne and a Chicago cop named Jim Gordon both return to Gotham City where their lives unexpectedly intersect.
An accomplished headhunter risks everything to obtain a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary.
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.
Damian Wayne is having a hard time coping with his father's "no killing" rule. Meanwhile, Gotham is going through hell with threats such as the insane Dollmaker, and the secretive Court of Owls.
Doug MacRay is a longtime thief, who, smarter than the rest of his crew, is looking for his chance to exit the game. When a bank job leads to the group kidnapping an attractive branch manager, he takes on the role of monitoring her - but their burgeoning relationship threatens to unveil the identities of Doug and his crew to the FBI Agent who is on their case.
Great films that make you cry do so because they've made you care. By the time the emotion lands, you're not surprised - you're just not ready for it.
Great crime cinema lingers because it doesn't offer easy resolution. The moral weight sits with you.