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The Bell Breakdown for your May 14 weekend

Posted at 12:14 PM, May 14, 2021
and last updated 2021-05-14 19:00:43-04

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — From taking down terrorists to a race against time.

You can catch 2 new intense thrilling movies this weekend.

Film critic Josh Bell discusses his two picks in this week's Bell Breakdown!

New in theaters this week is the thriller "Profile." The latest movie in the Screenlife brand from producer Timur Bekmambetov tells a more grounded story than previous Screenlife movies like Unfriended and Searching, while still confining the action to what can be seen on the main character's computer screen. Bekmambetov himself directs the story of a British journalist who creates a false online persona to connect with an ISIS recruiter in Syria. The movie explores questions of identity, placing the viewer right alongside the protagonist as she loses sight of herself in dangerous and heartbreaking ways. It's less effective at social commentary, mostly using terrorism as a framework for a suspense story. But the movie sustains its heightened tension for the entire running time, and the Screenlife format makes it immersive and relatable. That's "Profile," now in theaters citywide.

New on Netflix is sci-fi thriller "Oxygen." Veteran horror filmmaker Alexandre Aja creates a tense, claustrophobic thriller within a single cramped enclosure. Mélanie Laurent gives a mesmerizing performance as a woman who wakes up in a cryogenic pod with no memory of who she is or how she got there, only the urgent information that the oxygen in the pod is quickly running out. The filmmakers gradually fill in details about the sci-fi world outside, but it's Melanie Laurent's intense, emotional performance that keeps the audience invested as the movie unfolds essentially in real time. That's "Oxygen," now on Netflix.