Many of us enjoy comedies, while others are partial to a good crime story. Then some adore a decently-made gangster picture, and those of us who love the experience of a strongly-constructed thriller. Somehow, there is a film that combines all four of these genres, and even adds in a bit of social satire and…

If there was ever any example of the importance of not judging a film by its title, To Catch a Killer is one of the most appropriate candidates. Despite its generic title that seems more like what the writer would use to pitch the project rather than the overall encapsulation of the story, the film…

In the early 1960s, the American public (as well as the rest of the world) was captivated by the existence of the serial killer known as The Boston Strangler, an individual who spent the years between 1962 and 1964 on a trail of murder, his victims being over a dozen single women that he targeted…

We may tend to think that Hollywood was built on the big-budget spectacle, put together by masterful craftsmen that had strong directorial vision, and guide by the watchful eye of the tyrannical producers that kept them on the straight and narrow. However, what we soon come to realize after a while is that, while important,…

You never can have quite enough paranoia when it comes to the subject of bureaucrats. Whether governmental or in terms of law enforcement, those who occupy any position with civil servitude are immersing themselves in a very challenging world, specifically in regards to some of the draconian policies that govern these institutions, supposedly in favour…

It seems almost too ludicrous to be true, but there was a time when Joel and Ethan Coen weren’t the iconic stalwarts of filmmaking they are today, but rather obscure independent storytellers, film school graduates without any experienced, venturing into Hollywood with nothing but ambition and a couple of strong ideas for stories. Blood Simple,…

There are two ways to make a good sequel – either hire the exact same people and attempt to replicate exactly what made the original such a success in the first place, or do everything extremely differently, keeping the similarities to the film that preceded it to an absolute minimum, as a way of avoiding…

Crime doesn’t pay, but it does help with the bills from time to time. This is the general foundation on which Emily the Criminal is built, which serves to establish this as one of the most unexpectedly fascinating films of the past year. Written and directed by John Patton Ford in his directorial debut, the…

The 1930s were so overwhelmingly filled with gangster films, that on the odd occasion that one came along that dared to look at the popular genre from a different perspective, it would immediately stand out. The Little Giant is perhaps not a film that most are entirely familiar with, but once it reaches the orbit…

The story of Mark Brandon Read, who was better known by the name “Chopper” Read, is one of the most notorious in Australian history. Not only was he a bloodthirsty criminal who took the lives of anyone who would dare cross him (often doing it with a grin on his ghastly face), he was also…