Robert Mitchum was a high-mileage/hard-miles 57 when he took on Raymond Chandler’s iconic private eye Philip Marlowe in 1975’s “Farewell, My Lovely,” a character immortalized by Bogie in “The Big Sleep” in a story of that had been filmed twice before, in the film noir-mad 1940s. He wasn’t too old to take the part, but […]
Classic Film Review: Mitchum is Marlowe in Chandler’s “Farewell, My Lovely” (1975)
Category Archives: Mystery
REVIEW: “The Nun”
“The Nun” marks the fifth film in the Conjuring ‘universe’ and the third backstory spin-off. “The Conjuring” and its direct sequel remain two of my favorite horror films of the last several years. The first spin-off was the dull mess-of-a-movie “Annabelle”. The prequel to “Annabelle” was a good step in the right direction. That brings […]
REVIEW: “The Nun”
Becker: Sea of Love (1989)
When Sea of Love was released in 1989 Al Pacino hadn’t been in a film for four years – the longest gap in his career to date. His last film, Revolution, had also been a box-office bomb, meaning the American public hadn’t seen him in a prestigious role since Scarface in 1983. That makes Sea […]
Becker: Sea of Love (1989)
Into The Labyrinth
Available on DVD and digital download from 19th April, Into the Labyrinth, starring Dustin Hoffman, is a twisted psychological thriller in Italian and American English with a great international cast about a girl’s abduction and the hunt for her kidnapper. The film starts with the strange disappearance of a young girl Samantha Andretti (Valentina Bellè) […]
Into The Labyrinth
Hereditary (2018)
When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry, trying to outrun the sinister fate they have inherited. This is a film that had always been on the edge of my awareness especially as reviews came up when the film […]
Hereditary (2018)
The Priest
What is the movie about? :: Fr Carmen Benedict (Mammootty) is a priest who is known to have helped the police in multiple cases. Diya Alex Alatt (Saniya Iyappan) approaches him with a certain amount of concern regarding a series of deaths which had occured earlier in the rich and influential family, and were dismissed […]
The Priest
First Glance: “The Woman in the Window”
It took a while, but the long-delayed psychological thriller “The Woman in the Window” is finally set to see the light of day. Originally owned by 20th Century Fox, the rights then went to Disney following their acquisition of Fox. Now Netflix is set to release the film next month. It’s directed by Joe Wright […]
First Glance: “The Woman in the Window”
Movie Review – Beyond The Dream
Beyond The Dream Hong Kong (2019) Dir. Kiwi Chow “I thought love was only true in fairy tales / Meant for someone else, but not for me” This thing called love is a fantasy for some of us, yet, a condition exists which convinces people someone – a celebrity or somebody they know – is […]
Movie Review – Beyond The Dream
‘The Investigation’: HBO’s Danish Drama
Right until the end, Tobias Lindholm’s six-part search for the truth behind journalist Kim Wall’s death is TV designed to work against the genre’s usual rhythms.
‘The Investigation’: HBO’s Danish Drama Is as Unglamorous as TV True Crime Gets
REVIEW: “The Vigil” (2021)
In the upcoming indie chiller “The Vigil” a troubled young man encounters a malevolent spirit while watching over the body of deceased man from his Jewish community in Brooklyn. It’s a religious ritual where the person watching (called a shomer if male, a shomeret if female) both protects and comforts the deceased’s soul until time […]
REVIEW: “The Vigil” (2021)
Watchmen (2019) TV Review
Age Rating: Cast: Regina King as Angela Abar/Sister Night Don Johnson as Judd Crawford Tim Blake Nelson as Wade Tillman/Looking Glass Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Calvin “Cal” Abar Andrew Howard as Red Scare Jacob Ming-Trent as Panda Tom Mison as Mr. Phillips Sara Vickers as Ms. Crookshanks Dylan Schombing as Christopher “Topher” Abar Louis Gossett […]
Watchmen (2019) TV Review
REVIEW: “The Night” (2021)
Iranian-American director Kourosh Ahari delivers a striking feature film debut with “The Night”, a cerebral slice of psychological horror that impresses as much with its style as it does with its ability to get under your skin. Set within the creepy confines of an old history-rich hotel, “The Night” does what so many other good […]
REVIEW: “The Night” (2021)
BEHIND HER EYES (2021): New Trailer
Behind Her Eyes (2021), Simona Brown, Netflix Simona Brown, Eve Hewson and Tom Bateman are the stars of Behind Her Eyes; a new Steve Lightfoot directed Netflix mystery/thriller series about Louise; a single mom with a son and a part-time job in a psychiatrist’s office. Things get complicated when Louise begins an affair with her […]
BEHIND HER EYES (2021): New Trailer From Eve Hewson, Simona Brown, Tom Bateman…
The Empty Man (2020)
By the time it reached streaming screens in 2021, The Empty Man was so buried that it might as well have never existed. Although filming wrapped in 2017, 21st Century Fox didn’t release it before they were acquired by the Walt Disney Company in early 2019. Realising that this type of horror didn’t really sit […]
Prior: The Empty Man (2020)
The Flight Attendant
Meet Cassie Bowden: She drinks and makes terrible decisions and then she drinks some more to help her get through her terrible decisions. And I have to say I think Kaley Cuoco was perfect for this role because in other hands she might be maddening but I actually… love her. I mean The Flight Attendant […]
The Flight Attendant
Eddie Izzard Among New Cast Added to Harlan Coben’s “Stay Close” for Netflix
More cast members have been announced for Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Harlan Coben’s “Stay Close”. The upcoming 8-episode series has already been announced to star Cush Jumbo (“The Good Wife”), James Nesbitt (“Bloody Sunday”) and Richard Armitage (“The Stranger”) in the three lead roles, with Sarah Parish (“Bancroft”) also cast. But now more cast have been […]
Eddie Izzard Among New Cast Added to Harlan Coben’s “Stay Close” for Netflix
Hitchcock: The 39 Steps (1935)
The 39 Steps was arguably Alfred Hitchcock’s most adventurous adaptation at the time that it was released. It’s based on the novel by John Buchan, published in 1915, which tells the story of Richard Hannay, played here by Robert Donat, who becomes embroiled in an international conspiracy on the dawn of World War II. For […]
Hitchcock: The 39 Steps (1935)
John’s Horror Corner: Dead in the Water (2018)
MY CALL: Although far from great, this was a pleasantly surprising SyFy original TV movie. The acting and creature effects were more than sufficient to entertain me through this otherwise very familiar story. MORE MOVIES LIKE Dead in the Water: Well, first off, Sea Fever (2019) did it better. Looking for much better horror at […]
John’s Horror Corner: Dead in the Water (2018), a serviceable SyFy original creature feature at sea.
Elisabeth Moss Runs on Pain, Real and Imaginary, in ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘Shirley’
As the powerhouse explains, a neck injury enhanced her demented turn as Shirley Jackson. But other than that, Moss insists she’s no method actor.
Elisabeth Moss Runs on Pain, Real and Imaginary, in ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘Shirley’
Connolly: The Dry (2021)
The Dry is a pretty passable adaptation of a fairly readable novel – it’s not going to seriously disappoint any fans of the book but it never quite blooms into a film on its own term either. For those who haven’t read the crime thriller that took Australian readers by storm in 2016, Jane Harper’s […]
Connolly: The Dry (2021)