In real life, they were named Albrecht Muth and Viola Drath, but the film calls them Ulrich Mott and Elsa Brecht, which maybe does him a small favor. According to the New York Times magazine, their marriage was “Georgetown’s Worst,” but that seems slightly unfair. They had things in common, like their German roots and…
In a way, he considered himself the fifth Beatle, but he wasn’t Billy Preston or Stuart Sutcliffe, so it was a problem. According to Charles Manson’s twisted mythology, the Beatles were the four angels who came to Earth to warn humanity of all their tawdry problems and he was the fifth angel who would fix…
It could have been even more embarrassing for the Soviet Union if the Western Media used the official name of the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station in its accounts of the notorious 1986 nuclear misadventure. Instead, they simply called it “Chernobyl,” referring to the neighboring Ukrainian town. The heroic work of first responders to contain…
Thematically, murder ballads would better fit the fatal kind of trouble the Connolly Sisters find themselves in, but the sea shanties that punctuate this film better suit their coastal Maine fishing village. Priscilla is the reserved, responsible sister, but she gets caught up in Mary Beth’s chaos, out of sibling loyalty and guilt in Bridget…
This is not your Hallmark Channel family reconciliation movie. It’s about mean drunks and their emotionally stunted sons—and a whole bunch of dastardly skullduggery. It would be telling to identify what kind precisely, but eventually plodding Norval Greenwood will start to understand the whole picture. In the meantime, he will try to get to know…
Since its inception, the Tribeca Film Festival has taken a leading role in efforts to revitalize post-9/11 Lower Manhattan. In that time, it has become the quintessential New York film festival. We dig our crime stories here in New York, so it stands to reason Tribeca has showcased many memorable mysteries, thrillers, and crime documentaries.…
For traditionalists, Nancy Drew mysteries were the ones with the yellow spines, whereas the Hardy Boys were blue. Although the two respective series were written with either girls or boys in mind, there was a lot of crossover readership, because they always primarily focused on some sort of mystery. That changed in the mid-1980s, when…
June Leigh is a lot like the heroine of Wait Until Dark, except it is her own hang-ups and agoraphobia that keeps her trapped in her apartment. It is also unclear whether her tormentor is flesh-and-blood or a figment of her fevered mind. Nevertheless, there is indeed plenty of danger outside her door in the…
Bugsy Siegel and John Gotti were exceptions. Most gangsters do no want publicity, especially not the Sicilian Mafia. That definitely put photo-journalist (and former member of parliament) Letizia Battaglia in a dangerous position, since she spent the better part of her career documenting the Mafia’s violent crimes. Yet, she survived to help lead the tide-changing…
Det. Jack Radcliff has a heck of a wireless package. Somehow, he can place calls to his late niece several days before her violent death. With her help, Radcliff will try to solve and prevent her murder in Jacob Estes’s Blumhouse-produced Relive, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Radcliff always took a special…
