Category Archives: Crime

Apr 27 2024
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized

Presumed Innocent (1990).

Ford’s haircut, what might feasibly be deemed a Caesar, is the feature attraction but he pulls it off. 

You can tell from two mins into this brutal courtroom gig that it was shot by Gordon Willis, his unmistakable visuals a pallet of shadows and claustrophobia; when cinematography had character.

No faffing on your phone during the Caesar Attraction for you must pay attention. And it’s got that genuinely shocking ending that defines the era of the glossy star-powered thriller. 

Wildly entertaining, impeccably acted, Raul Julia rocks up and somehow becomes the most interesting character. What an inscrutable face, what a voice. 

The last great Alan J. Pakula movie.

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Apr 15 2024
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized

The Other Guys (2010).

It’s risky with some of its jokes but they are actually funny (most comedies are joke-free affairs) and stem from the growing characterisation and chemistry of the two leads, and the bizarre credibility of the bit-part players, some of whom appear to have wandered off from the set of Lethal Weapon (1987). 

Michael Keaton, eh. He can do no wrong in his Indian summer (I don’t wish to hear of this Batgirl … thing). 

For a comedy/satire, it’s well choreographed in its action scenes, even more so than the majority of buddy cop movies out there.

And the late Ray Stevenson pulls off an Aussie accent. X. 

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Apr 09 2024
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Movie, Movies, Technology, Television, Uncategorized

Ripley (2024). Excellent.

The cinematic travails of Tom Ripley have given us the quite barking The American Friend (1977), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and the little-seen Ripley’s Game (2002) – a multifarious holy trilogy of sorts linked by the amoral antihero. I have not seen Purple Noon (1960), nor the Barry Pepper number. And what the fuck happened to that actor? He was on the cusp but now operating in the AWOL stakes.

And this TV first, it’s exceptional, a throwback continental thriller with vistas galore. Ripley epitomises the self-effacing weasel; you need to watch out for these creeps for they lurk in the shadows.

It’s a 5/5 from me and I couldn’t find a flaw in it.

And Patricia Highsmith used to smuggle snails through airport customs ….

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Apr 06 2024
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Film, Movie, Movies

Glass (2019).

A surface-level bog-standard thriller with a bit more to it, recalling the gnarly Unbreakable (2000), sans that peculiar score fished from a ghetto’s gutter. It was the James Newton Howard one; he sounded like DJ Shadow with an orchestra back then.

An apparently ‘normal’ superhero (Big Brucie Bonus) doing the legwork and the nitty-gritty, with barely any quips and facepalm-inducing one liners. 

And this was pure rubbish but not … that bad. And it’s thoughtful in a way, institutions and their ingrained sordid ways given a bit of the Cuckoo’s Nest treatment.

Bruce is the best as always, and Bruce has been missed. Mace Windu is also here with us, a lad incapable of bad acting. Sarah Paulson runs the ward/show, though, an outwardly reasonable yet diabolically cruel gaslighting specialist. She excels at the Nurse Ratched role.

We also have a preposterous chat between a security guard and a low-level charge nurse (or whatever). It’s so accurate in depicting that moment when a gremlin is spraffing a life lesson to you, stuff you already know, but you are compelled to nod and pretend to be absorbing new information as they are in a position of authority. It’s every job I’ve ever had and you must endure the torture. 

I’d recommend this film. The reviews out there are a bit scathing. Don’t believe them. 

It’s not crap and I’m always correct. 

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Apr 01 2024
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Film, Movie, Movies, Uncategorized

The Outfit (2022).

So unusual for a crime thriller, we have a protagonist as nonthreatening as it comes operating on the sidelines of the mob. Nonthreatening until you really see how clever and kind of sinister he is, he reminded me of Tom Hardy in The Drop (2014).

Exquisitely crafted, intense, this is a good old-fashioned crime drama which goes beyond the situation piece it could have been as it never leaves the one location for its duration. A movie with no faffing around. And there are some brutal scenes.

A rare gem.

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Jan 21 2024
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Film

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024).

Happy times with Eddie.

This is either going to be absolute shite or okay, i.e., tolerable for nostalgia reasons, on a level of not being shite. Either way, they really need to stop making these things and just create something approaching brave material. Leave good movies alone, stop fiddling with them, cease from converting their original intent into a contemporary, i.e., pathetic, cultural minefield of human beings identifying as staplers.

But it’s going to get way worse before the baloney ends.

Fucking cretins.

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Jan 05 2024
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Art, Crime, Technology, Television, Uncategorized, United Kingdom

Fool Me Once (2024).

Watching this hugely entertaining binge-ripe trash, I was always aware of Scream‘s Randy Meeks’ assertion that “Everybody’s a suspect!”. And they are, with the red herrings and reverse cul-de-sacs. Who can you trust? No one. Who is likeable? A few, but they’re probably dirty.

Cluedo on steroids, it’s very well acted for what is essentially the TV equivalent of a sordid airport page-turner, even if it’s another gruelling example of the ‘Americanisation of conversation’. Example:

“Come on, Maya.”

“What, Eddie?”

“You’re not yourself, Maya.”

“I’m fine, Eddie.”

And Brendan Brady from Hollyoaks is in it.

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Nov 27 2023
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Film, Movie, Music, Uncategorized

Relaxing with Elliot Goldenthal.

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Nov 18 2023
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Art, Cinema, Crime, Uncategorized

Insomnia (2002) is phenomenal.

Al Pacino is so haggard here. It’s the most beaten-down human I’ve seen in a film and I hope it wasn’t method. I’ve been two days without sleep and I’ve hallucinated (Ah, Estonia Bantz 2011). Alcohol was the only solution but this guy doesn’t do any of that and just seems intent on torturing himself. It’s the best I’ve seen from one of our most lauded thesps.

Robin Williams turns up and he is diabolically insane in this role; he’s Mrs. Doubfire gone crackers. The acting ability of this bloke was quite something. There is “going dark” and then this. He just had an extraordinary gift for the theatrical and could tone it down when the script demanded.

Nothing exemplary here but it’s elevated by the off-the-charts acting and the pristine way the director frames and cuts.

It makes Alaska look lovely despite the ghastly happenings within the narrative.

Top film.

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Nov 09 2023
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Crime, Uncategorized, United States

Get Gotti (Netflix).

More valuable than most with its refreshing insight into procedural techniques, and it doesn’t delve much into the cultural appeal of Gotti at the time of his Al Capone status; why bother to dissect the masses’ tendency to elevate cunts into heroes? This creative decision was a relief (we could be here all fucking day).

I liked it mainly because the makers have clearly fashioned the music, the titles, the cinematography … the whole works on Drive (2011). That’s funny. I can picture the production team sitting down to watch the Gosling (birthing into ‘Gosling’) picture and concluding, “Our three-part series shall be Drive with a voice-over.”

Which it is.

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