I like a good crime movie. Not those big, action-packed extravaganzas like the Fast and Furious movies, nor the over-the-top star vehicles like Oceans 11 and its sequels. Nor do I like movies that push me outside my suspension of disbelief. This puts movies like the frankly silly Driver and execrable Baby Driver right out.

No, what I like are the small films, character studies that use actors well-placed in roles that I can see as real people, involved in real struggles. I want to feel what a well-drawn character is going through, both their fears and their triumphs. It is also nice to see famous stars show their acting chops and immerse themselves in challenging roles. Most of all, I want movies that make me think, that force me to pay attention. So, with that in mind, here are three of the movies that have stuck with me over the last few decades.

Hard Eight (1996)

Small-time grifters working the boundaries of casino life, a cocktail waitress who hooks on the side, and actions of the past catching up with a man’s morals and guilt. This stars hang-dog character actor Phillip Baker Hall, with supporting actors John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow (excellently cast against type), and a nice, menacing turn by Samuel L. Jackson. Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s first movie languished in development hell while studios were bought and sold, and eventually, he was able to get the rights back to the film and release it independently, launching his career.  This movie doesn’t tell me, but shows me the lives of these small-time players and how they feel. Tensions ramp up, coming from natural reasons that are integral to the plot; this is how these people act in the normal course of their small, destructive lives.

 Killing Them Softly (2012)

Insider knowledge can be very lucrative, and it can also be very, very dangerous. When the manager of a small poker game, a game watched over by organized criminals, gets away with organizing the theft of the take, other criminals take notice and use that information for there own gain. And the people whose money is stolen will want to put an end to this, along with sending out a message, in the most permanent way possible. Starring Brad Pitt and Ray Liotta, this tale of the underbelly of America is an adaptation of George C. Higgins’s excellent novel Cogan’s Law. Higgins, a former U.S. Attorney, wrote some of the most realistic crime novels, and this movie firmly takes his world and runs with it. Stupid people are stupid, half-smart people think they are very smart, and those who stand back and let others handle things are usually the smartest.

 Emily the Criminal (2022)

Emily isn’t always truthful. Emily has anger issues. Emily cannot get a decent job and is reduced to menial labor while struggling to pay her bills. By chance, after reluctantly doing a co-worker a favor, she gets a tip for some extra-legal work, making purchases on stolen credit card numbers for other people. She is good at this, maybe, but she likes it, and, just as importantly, she likes the money and the feeling of control that it gives her. Funny woman Aubrey Plaza is wonderfully cast in this tale of thieves in the new economy, but still needing both victims and people willing to participate in what they know are shady deals. Nothing she does in this movie is for laughs, and while she will always be a very good-looking woman, here her beauty is made to look authentically rough and working class. Main supporting actor Theo Rossi, previously seen in Sons of Anarchy, submerses himself so that you don’t know who he is, what his background is, or where he is going. But, like all good stories, that is revealed like the peeling of an onion, all while his partners, family members like most criminal groups, are shown to be not so generous.

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The central theme these stories have in common is this: Actions Have Consequences. And while these might show immediately or decades later, they always show up. Also, as far as the casting goes, all of these are obviously labors of love, and it comes through in the casting decisions. Brad Pitt is not a cheap actor, Killing Them Softly is not a big-budget movie, nor was it ever going to make a ton of money, so it is pretty clear he did it due to the strength of the script and his co-actors. Whether it said something to him on a personal level or on an acting level, he did it for the best of all reasons: he wanted to. And this shows through with each of these movies. Whether it stars and up and coming actor like Plaza, or a grizzled veteran like James Gandolfini, these are the people who put in the time and effort into a project to make it succeed. And, on top of that, these are directors who want to tell a story, no matter how small it might seem to the big movie studios.

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All of these movies are available for streaming on the usual platforms.