Tag Archives: crime

REVIEW: Mickey Spillane lives on in ‘Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer’

mickey spillane's mike hammer

Fans of the hard-boiled detective genre and grittier comics will enjoy 'Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer.' The casual sexism and senseless brutality may offend modern sensibilities. But taken as a product of the time in which it was originally created, this is a beautiful adaption, keeping alive one of pulp fiction’s most distinctive characters.

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‘Amiss’ far surpasses its limits

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It would be easy for the elements of 'Amiss' to slip into a derivative crime drama, but instead the film crafts a mystery where overlapping narratives deepen character and widen the scope of an intimate story. This is a very assured piece of filmmaking from a pair of first-time feature directors without the eagerness or mimicry common to other debut films.

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The Dinner │ Review

the-dinner-herman-koch-review

'The Dinner' commits the cardinal sin of not having any likeable characters. But if you go in forewarned and willing to absolve Koch of this transgression, the book is worth the steady, hard look it gives a number of unpleasant topics we’d rather not discuss.

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The Counselor │ Review

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'The Counselor' will inevitably be a very entertaining movie, but Cormac McCarthy is our greatest living writer, so it is very likely he intends to do more than just entertain us here. Like 'Blood Meridian,' this is about the inner frontiers within us and how we become most alive when we live close to these frontiers and demarcate them within ourselves, staking out the interior territory that we call our souls.

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And justice for none: ‘Prisoners’ and the anxiety over justice in America

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This post examines how the movie 'Prisoners' brushes upon topics of law and justice in the United States beyond its most obvious one. It’s a story, and stories seldom provide answers. Stories raise doubt and ask questions which generate discussions. That’s where answers begin.

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Prisoners │ Review

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If one is capable of suspending both disgust and disbelief, 'Prisoners' becomes an intense, masterfully acted suspense-thriller which mentions but never pontificates on numerous larger issues within modern American life.

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