Sometimes, nothing is as satiating as a pulp-tastic revenge-plot splatterfest—and that’s one reason why I love the homage Quentin Tarantino paid to Hong Kong gangster flicks, Japanese chanbara (samurai period-pieces) films, and spaghetti westerns in the Kill Bill series. But that’s not the only reason. Buried beneath the gore-fest of violence and vengeance is a…
My husband is in love with Fanny Ardant. But I don’t mind. I’m in love with her too. She’s the beguiling actress who plays the female lead in François Truffaut’s Confidentially Yours (Vivement Dimanche!, or“Finally Sunday”in the original). It was Truffaut’s last film, made in 1983—an homage to Hitchcock. Julien Vercel (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a…
If the detective mystery is the father of crime fiction and noir the alcoholic uncle, then the caper is the lovable nev’r-do-well cousin. Well, I take that back. Capers are doing quite well, thank you. Just look at box office heists like The Italian Job and the remake of Ocean’s 11 (also 12, and 13). The…
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” Stephen King– THE DARK TOWER 1 – THE GUNSLINGER Okay. Here’s the deal. I love a good book and I really enjoy watching a film on the big screen. Growing up in Yorkshire, going to the pictures was a treat you saved your…
During the Tribeca Film Festival, I managed to catch a showing of Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. Watching the preview, this film promised big set pieces, lots of fiery explosions, and awesome martial arts action. A film that has Chinese alternate history and features a detective worthy of Sherlock, a black market…
Once upon a time, in the long-distant past, movies were made from books. You remember that, right? Everyone would say, “Oh, sure, I saw the movie, but it was nowhere near as good as the book,” even if they didn’t necessarily believe it to be true, because that was conventional wisdom. (In fact, it still…
The classic period of film noir lasted from roughly 1940 to 1960. Roughly is the operative word here since the exact perimeters of the period have always been open for debate. I mark the beginning as Boris Ingster’s Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) and the end as the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy,…
About my relationships with fake people: I have good friends and bad friends. And worse friends. They fill different needs in my life – people to encourage me, people I’m glad to know but even gladder not to be, and people I end up not liking whatsoever. These are all people I have some connection…
If you're looking for an unsual and challenging career change, crime scene clean-up may be for you. But don't be as pathetically unprepared as the cleaners in this Before picture from the charming family-business movie Sunshine Cleaning, starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. On their first housecall, they look unsettled, and who knows what they're…
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One Director, Two Thrillers, Three Decades. . .and One Line of Dialogue. Two of my favorite movie thrillers are by the same director, a pair of films made thirty years apart. As a director, the late Sydney Pollack was known for such works as Out of Africa, The Way We Were, and Jeremiah Johnson. He…
