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The Lost Bus

The Lost Bus

Drama · Thriller · 2025

A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.

Movie details

The Lost Bus

“Inspired by a true story of survival.”

2025 Drama · Thriller 2h 10m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.8 / 10

51.7K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

87 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

64 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Lost Bus?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

A Dry White Season

A Dry White Season

Drama · 1989

During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.

Room

Room

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Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.

Little Boy Blue

Little Boy Blue

Drama · 1997

Living in rural Texas is a dysfunctional family: an abusive dad, a Vietnam vet with a war wound that's left him impotent; a compliant wife and a son of about 20, two small sons who look a lot like their brother. The dad harbors a secret, and he goes to murderous lengths to keep it hidden. The young man, Jimmy, who has suspicions, but little comes out until a Yankee woman comes to town.

End of the Road

End of the Road

Drama · 2022

Recently widowed mom Brenda fights to protect her family during a harrowing road trip when a murder and a missing bag of cash plunge them into danger.

Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy

Drama · 2018

After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.

House of Sand and Fog

House of Sand and Fog

Drama · 2003

Behrani, an Iranian immigrant buys a California bungalow, thinking he can fix it up, sell it again, and make enough money to send his son to college. However, the house is the legal property of former drug addict Kathy. After losing the house in an unfair legal dispute with the county, she is left with nowhere to go. Wanting her house back, she hires a lawyer and befriends a police officer. Neither Kathy nor Behrani have broken the law, so they find themselves involved in a difficult moral dilemma.

This Boy's Life

This Boy's Life

Drama · 1993

When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.

Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point

Drama · 1970

Anthropology student Daria, who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert, and dropout Mark, who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot, accidentally encounter each other in Death Valley and soon begin an unrestrained romance.

The Road

The Road

Adventure · 2009

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones and, when the snow falls, it is gray. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.

Leave the World Behind

Leave the World Behind

Drama · 2023

A family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyberattack knocks out their devices—and two strangers appear at their door.

Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Paul Greengrass

Written by

Brad Ingelsby · Paul Greengrass

Matthew McConaughey

Matthew McConaughey

Kevin McKay

America Ferrera

America Ferrera

Mary Ludwig

Yul Vazquez

Yul Vazquez

Chief Martinez

Ashlie Atkinson

Ashlie Atkinson

Ruby Bishop

Kimberli Flores

Kimberli Flores

Linda

L

Levi McConaughey

Shaun

Kay McConaughey

Kay McConaughey

Sherry

Court is in session

Put The Lost Bus on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.