DVD Review– New Tricks: Season 12 While Hollywood steadily pushes youth-oriented fare, the BBC’s series New Tricks broke the mold in a refreshing manner. The premiere showed an ambitious young police officer’s career sidelined by a twist of fate and sent to what was supposed to be career limbo: she was placed in charge of […]
Category Archives: Films
DVD Review– The American Friend from the Patricia Highsmith Novel
DVD Review– The American Friend (Der amerikanische Freund) (DVD Review– The American Friend by Christopher Chan who looks at Bruno Ganz and Dennis Hopper) Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel Ripley’s Game, the 1977 movie The American Friend is an intriguing experiment in crime drama. The West German production is bilingual, blending English dialogue with German […]
DVD Review– True Detective: The Complete Second Season
DVD Review– True Detective: The Complete Second Season The first season of True Detective was a critical smash, with its fans bandying about praises like “best series ever,” and declaring that it deserved every award available. I had a more lukewarm opinion of Season One, appreciating the very strong performances by Woody Harrelson and […]
DVD Review– Better Call Saul: Season One
DVD Review– Better Call Saul: Season One With Breaking Bad universally and deservedly acclaimed as one of the greatest television dramas of all time, fans might be justified in worrying that a spin-off prequel series might taint the legacy of Breaking Bad. Though understandable, such trepidation is dispelled early in the first episode of Better […]
DVD Review– Foyle’s War: The Complete Saga
DVD Review– Foyle’s War: The Complete Saga With television drama seemingly infatuated with deeply flawed antiheroes, Foyle’s War stands out with a protagonist who never wavered from his moral compass. When the series first started in 2002, it began as a really good historical mystery series, opening […]
Top Ten James Bond Villains
Top Ten James Bond Villains As a college kid, I celebrated the end of exams by binge-watching James Bond movies, with a select group of equally passionate friends and a gluttonous order of Chinese takeout. The evening always ended with a debate I’ll call Best Bond Ever: which actor defined 007 in the movies? […]
DVD Review: In Cold Blood
DVD Review: In Cold Blood In recent years, the story behind the making of Truman Capote’s famous “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood has become almost as famous as the book and film adaptation themselves, due to the Oscar-winning movie Capote and the less-lauded but still-praised Infamous. Contrary to the common assertion, Capote did not […]
Top Ten Crime Films that won the Oscar For Best Picture
Top Ten Crime Films that won the Oscar For Best Picture I know the Oscars seem to last forever, can be unforgivably corny, and those speeches or intros where celebs read from tele-prompters kind of make me want to scream, “Cut, you’re sounding like a robot.” But beneath that saccharine-like glitter, the Oscars have been […]
DVD Review: Partners In Crime.
DVD Review: Partners In Crime–the wonderful adventures of Tommy and Tuppence are as timely as ever… Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime takes its title from the second book about the adventures of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, uses the novel The Secret Adversary for the plot of the first three episodes, and adapts N or M? […]
DVD Review: Mr. Holmes (starring Ian McKellen)
DVD Review: Mr. Holmes Does one really want to watch a movie about a ninety-plus Sherlock Holmes, suffering from age-related memory loss and mourning the decline in his deductive powers? It would be rather like a film about a paraplegic Captain America or a Robin Hood whose arthritis left him incapable of using a bow […]
The Hitman in films and novels…
Hitman in films and novels from Kill Bill to Fargo Michael Hendricks of The Killing Kind is not your typical hitman. For one, he only hits other hitmen. For two, he doesn’t do it for the thrill or the money (although he does charge—for ten times the price on your head, he’ll make the hitman […]
Reel Crimes, Real Crimes
Reel Crimes, Real Crimes “Have you reached a verdict?”“We have, Your Honor.”“Okay, cut.” The camera stops shooting at the director’s command, the jurors stretch and study the next scene, and the judge jumps up and heads for the craft service table for some candy. I was observing all of this from behind the camera and […]
