Who’s the star? The man or the car? This trailer doesn’t tell. Here’s the thing about Tom Cruise. He always, always looks like Tom Cruise. You may like or dislike his look, and it may fit some roles very well while others not so well, but it never changes. And he always sounds like Tom…
It is perhaps one of the most dubious casting choices Hollywood has recently made. You could say that it has sparked a bit of a debate here at Criminal Element; one that we have even revisited once or twice now. But, be it good, evil, poor, or dead on, Tom Cruise is our Jack Reacher.…
At its heart, lasagna is a simple dish in concept. But if you have a version you love—your grandma’s or uncle’s, favorite checked-tablecloth joint’s, even favorite freezer box’s—you can taste the differences. Subtleties come alive in the taster’s experience, appreciable, even if not specifically definable. Crime stories across all subgenres (heck genre fiction in general)…
I know it’s a time travel show, but that doesn’t mean I should receive the whole storyline ages before it happens. Having now seen 3 hours of Alcatraz, the new J.J. Abrams-produced para-crime show, I’m a little concerned that the clumisiness of the backstory dumps and inconsistent characterization may not mellow with time the way…
My opinions are subject to revision, of course, but when first hearing the official news (hat tip: digital spy) about CBS’s Sherlock-series pilot late last week, I thought, UGH! Can’t possibly NOT suck. I know, I know, there are talented Justified alums involved, but that doesn’t guarantee lightning strikes twice. Are any of these hard-core…
Feeling gloomy this Friday the 13th? Well, batten down the hatches—you’re in for more rain and soggy cemetery scenes! If you were aggrieved after the letdown of the first season’s finale of The Killing, you won’t be comforted to learn the central question of WHO KILLED ROSIE LARSEN won’t be answered until the end of…
There I sat in Caffé Trieste on Vallejo Street in The City, attempting to channel the spirit of Francis Ford Coppola (he worked on the script for The Godfather in this very café) as I pored over my latest manuscript, but it just wasn’t working. Why, you may ask, was I suffering the slings and…
The mystery reader should have a fair chance to detect the criminal in a logical manner. I blame Stephen King for an overall lack of fair play in recent mystery writing. He unfettered the imagination of a generation of writers. In On Writing, King proposed starting a written story with the question: what if ____…
So this bartender walks into a crime lab…still working on the punchline there. Maybe Ted Danson will be able to help me out a bit. CSI showed up to the Television Critics Association press tour with producers and the “new Grissom” in tow. The show’s producers were quick to point out that this upcoming season…
The trailer for Drive, adapted from the novel by James Sallis, is out now and it got me thinking. I read Drive and liked it. The trailer looks great, the film even won best director at Cannes, which is rare for a crime drama in a non-Tarantino year. Yes, I may see the movie, but…
