Film Reviews
Drive DVD starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Albert Brooks
contributor: Mark Timlin
Once upon a time, back in the good old, bad old days, I described James Sallis as 'an unsung hero of crime' in my column in the Independent on Sunday. Well, he's certainly not unsung these days, as his novel Drive is now a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE as they were described in my youth
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo David Fincher, Director
contributor: Barry Forshaw
First of all: no spoilers! David Fincher's film of Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a creditable remake/reimagining, with many impressive things that dispel any notion of the usual ill-advised Hollywood remake of a non-English language film. As Salander, Rooney Mara may initially register less of an impression than the memorable Noomi Rapace — until halfway through the film, and then the actress (adopting a vaguely Swedish accent — which comes and goes – in contrast to Daniel Craig's received pronunciation) really makes her mark. Paunchy middle-aged journo Blomkvist/Craig has James Bond's abs, but (to his credit) never looks heroic – the spectre of 007 is kept firmly at bay.
Brighton Rock Rowan Joffe, Director
contributor: Barry Forshaw
Rowan Joffe was repeatedly obliged to remark upon the fact that his film was not a remake of the Boulting Brothers film but a new version of Graham Greene's novel. To a large degree, this was a truthful observation, but one egregious miscalculation gave the lie to the notion, and proved that the earlier film version was very much in the filmmaker's minds when filming in the 21st century. Ironically, both versions were criticised for downplaying the Catholic elements of Greene's novel but in neither case did this criticism have any real validity...
The Prowler Joseph Losey, Director
contributor: Woody Haut
James Ellroy, in the documentary included with this DVD, calls Joseph Losey's 1951 The Prowler "perv-noir." And he might well be right. From the opening shot of his long unavailable film- Evelyn Keyes pulling down a blind after she notices a prowler looking at her through her bathroom window- the viewer is implicated in the film's voyeurism as well as its politics. Not only do we look at Keyes from the outside, just as any prowler would, but we are also meant to take a long hard look at America's materialistic post-WW2 culture. In that sense The Prowler is akin to, though more blatantly political than, that other paean to voyeurism, Powell and Pressburger's Peeping Tom.
The Killing Various Directors
contributor: Michael Carlson
BBC4 has now reached the halfway point, ten episodes, of the exceptional Danish crime drama The Killing. It follows in the wake of the Scandinavian crime boom, the Swedish and British Wallander shows, the Millennium films, and the best-sellers by Mankell, Larsson, Jo Nesbo, and others. But in fact, it's already nearly four years old, first shown in Denmark in 2007, and while it shares many of the characteristics of its Nordic peers, The Killing has a lot more in common with a number of Danish films, and some other European works.
A high-school girl is found raped, tortured, and murdered, in a car sunk into a lake outside Copenhagen...
Tv Review: Nordic Noir: The Story Of Scandinavian Crime Fiction
contributor: Paul Whitelaw
Accursed bloody snow. Everywhere this pitiless frozen wasteland stretches into infinity like the echoing silence of existential purgatory. What life is this for a man? Sorry, came over all Scandinavian. This is perfect weather for pretending to be an angst-ridden Nordic detective, preferably without the violence and murder... Paul Whitelaw in The Scotsman
Thorne: Sleepyhead Stephen Hopkins, Director
contributor: Michael Carlson
'It isn't just a question of technology, although huge flat screens and HD allow the living room to come somewhat closer to the look, if not the psychological dynamic, of the cinema, but it's also that much of the best writing, and acting, and sheer craftsmanship is currently taking place on television, which is functioning somewhat like the studio system did, say, in the 1950s, when stars began to become producers and B features were still being made by independents... '
The American Anton Corbijn, Director
contributor: Michael Carlson
THE AMERICAN: GEORGE CLOONEY A HIT MAN AT THE LONDON FILM FESTIVAL - NOTE: This review contains serious spoilers, so if you are intending to see the movie and don't want to know where it tries to go, don't read beyond the first three paragraphs...
Sharman – The Complete Series
contributor: Barry Forshaw
The non-appearance of this celebrated series (which came a cropper in the hysteria following the Hungerford killings) has been something a celebrated case – and it's to Network's credit that they have finally released the stylish crime series with a charismatic, pre-Hollywood Clive Owen as the eponymous detective created by ace crime writer Mark Timlin...
Give 'em Hell Malone Russell Mulcahy, Director
contributor: Barry Forshaw
Can one have one's cake and eat it? Director Russell Mulcahy thinks you can. His frenetic, hyper-violent period action movie, Give 'Em Hell Malone, functions both as an over-the-top 1940s style private eye movie (complete with treacherous femme fatale) and as a wicked parody of the genre...
Marple Series Four
contributor: Barry Forshaw
One can have nothing but praise for Julia McKenzie's intelligent, subtly acted incarnation of Agatha Christie's immortal spinster heroine, and the high gloss of this series of productions is immensely pleasing. What is puzzling is the variable direction given to the prestigious supporting casts who are often encouraged to act in a massively larger-than-life, end-of-the-pier fashion (in marked contrast to Julia McKenzie's nicely understated performance...
Mesrine Parts 1 & 2
contributor: Barry Forshaw
This uncompromising French gangster film arrives festooned with praise, and has already evoked comparisons with the crime epics of Coppola and Scorsese. The two films which combine to tell this lacerating story are both fascinating examples of the genre, but also a provocative examination of the nature of celebrity...
Spiral: The Second Series
contributor: Michael Carlson
BBC Four is showing the second series of Spiral, made in France in 2008, three years after the first (see IT's reaction to that here) and it has a different feel to the first series, while retaining some of the elements, at least at the start, that make it French. Let's just hope BBC4 don't do what they did to the Swedish Wallander series, and stop showing it with just three episodes to go, deciding it was so popular they would make its fans wait until a special holiday showing, and bigger ratings, might be ensured.
Red Riding Trilogy Various Directors
contributor: Barry Forshaw
TV broadcasts emphasised the dark visuals of this much-acclaimed series of adaptations of David Peace's scarifying Yorkshire-set crime novels; the DVD issues render detail far more clear and accessible. Scripted by Tony Grisoni and directed by Julian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker, Red Riding is a grim but utterly compelling trilogy of films built around the six-year police investigation of the Yorkshire Ripper, folded in with other fictitious crimes
Fifty Dead Men Walking Directed By Kari Skogland
contributor: Michael Carlson
Canadian director Kari Skogland may have been drawn to the story of IRA informer Martin McGartland because he survived an assassination attempt in Canada's Maritimes, but as a Canadian she's able to bring a sort of disinterest to the tale which both helps and hinders it
Quicksand Irving Pichel, Director
contributor: Barry Forshaw
Quicksand, with Mickey Rooney as a typically luckless film noir victim of a heartless femme fatale, is no undiscovered classic (and the print is fairly basic), but it's still highly intriguing – and any film with Pete Lorre as a sleazy amusement arcade owner is more than worth your time. Genre aficionados will be impatient for the other films in Glass Key's reissue programme.
The Ghoul
contributor: Barry Forshaw
Long considered to be a lost film, this first movie made by Boris Karloff after a return to England (his name established by the classic Universal horrors) finally surfaced in Britain in an almost unwatchable, sub-titled print – the form in which most aficionados of the classic horror film have seen it – until now. Network's exemplary transfer (from an excellent master found in the BFI archives) is a revelation
Watch Me When I Kill
contributor: Barry Forshaw
If you're a fan of the immensely stylish (and often hyper-violent) Italian giallo thriller genre, with its often visually stunning mayhem, you should be down on your knees in praise of the spunky and enterprising DVD company Shameless, which is doing an impressive job of making available some of the rarest entries in the field
Damages
A second season hit for Damages: Allesandra Stanley in the New York Times
The Designated Victim
contributor: Barry Forshaw
A visually stunning Latin riff on Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (definitely the film rather than Patricia Highsmith's original novel); the exquisitely shot Venice setting is a plus
Changeling
contributor: A O Scott
The sombre new Clint Eastwood criem drama reviewed in The New York Times by A O Scott
The Ultimate Gangster Class A Selection
contributor: Barry Forshaw
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Brian de Palma's version of Scarface, Universal have issued an impressive 10-disc collection including several of the most striking films in the gangster genre
The Walter Hill Collection
contributor: Barry Forshaw
In the tradition of such Hollywood professionals as Don Siegel and Howard Hawks, Walter Hill — with his lean, propulsive action sequences and pared-down, existential approach to screenwriting — is a genuine auteur of the contemporary thriller movie
Who Saw Her Die?
contributor: Barry Forshaw
Lado's impressive film has George Lazenby (after he blew his chance at playing 007 for a second time) in an atmospheric Venice-set mystery that interestingly anticipates Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now
The Man Who Could Cheat Death
contributor: Barry Forshaw
Not a major Terence Fisher movie by any assessment, but the director's admirers will rush to pick this up — even if they might wonder why Christopher Lee is not playing the central role
