The Revival House: Shining a light on underrated crime films. The coulda beens and shoulda beens you ought to know about. Tonight’s Screening: Atlantic City (1981) Why is it so often foreigners have a more astute vision of America than Americans do? When French director Louis Malle took on the decaying also-ran gambling world of…
Sunset by Christos Gage and Jorge Lucas is a noir graphic novel featuring Nick Bellamy, a 78-year-old army vet who’s out for revenge (available July 31, 2012). Sunset comes with a warning: “If you are reading this on any kind of e-device, Sunset protagonist, Nick Bellamy would most likely punch you in the throat, just…
Ever have those moments when you’re reflecting on your youth and you wonder “What the heck was I watching/doing/playing with? And how did I not notice how bad it was!” Well, the creators of the “Steve the Tramp” action figure probably had a similar smacking-their-forehead moment when they realized the political incorrectness of their toy.…
This post will kick off a semi-regular look at some of the great character actors who occupy the margins of film noir. If you have even a glancing familiarity with classic crime, you will recognize some of these faces, if not the names. While most of these folks were never famous, film noir is all…
At Criminal Element, we like our memes. We also happen to like Ryan Gosling in Gangster Squad, so what’s a Crime HQ agent to do but make our own “Hey Girl, Ryan Gosling” memes, of course! We’re big fedora fans, and the new Gangster Squad trailer is filled with ’em. Plus we’re loving the story…
We’re just getting our feet wet (wingtips wet? brogues? Dapper haberdasher Mickey Cohen would know) with Gangster Squad. As a result, I’m diving into the original L.A. Times articles by Paul Lieberman upon which the movie’s based. In case you’re a true crime/noir junky, or just love the period, there are loads of fascinating, specific…
Hey…why does the bad guy look like he’s the one with the halo? Because it’s Chinatown. At least the time and place and stink of corruption are about right. Gangster Squad is an upcoming movie about an LAPD squad assembled and working off the books from 1946 through the 1950s to prevent the incursion of…
There was I was, sitting in my latest favorite bar in the city, Held Up in Traffic, when the door opened and in walked a Russian secret agent, an old mobster, and a Nazi zombie. Yeah, I know. Sounds like the beginning to a bad joke. Work with me here, yeah? I looked at them,…
At long last, we have reached the finals. After some very tight races and some runaway landslides, we have the two most hated plot devices in crime fiction. Now it’s time to vote for the one you most want to see go away. Then we write an open letter to authors and ask them politely…
Considering the worst cliches in crime, the votes have been tallied and it’s final four time. A lot of passionate responses and a mix of tight races and lopsided contests. Let’s recap from the first round: As protagonists, Hit Men and Serial Killers were (broken) neck and neck, but in the final votes, Serial Killers…
