Category: Crime

The Commando Starring Michael Jai White & Mickey Rourke – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster is pretty boring but the trailer for The Commando shows promise.  If you’re looking for a drive-in movie, then The Commando will fit the bill.  I’d watch.

ComingSoon is debuting the exclusive trailer, key art, and new photos for the upcoming action crime thriller The Commando. Starring Michael Jai White (Spawn, The Dark Knight, Black Dynamite) and Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Sin City, Iron Man 2) Saban Films will release the film in theaters, on Digital, and On Demand on January 7, 2022.

“In this edge-of-your-seat crime thriller, an elite DEA agent (White) returns home after a failed mission when his family makes an unexpected discovery in their house – a stash of money worth $3 million,” reads the official synopsis. “They soon face the danger and threat of a newly released criminal (Rourke) and his crew who will do whatever it takes to retrieve the money – including kidnap the agent’s daughters. Stakes are high and lives are at risk in this head-to-head battle as the agent stops at nothing to protect his family against the money-hungry criminals.”

Robert B. Parker’s BYE BYE BABY (A Spenser Novel) by Ace Atkins is Coming!

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Sometimes you only see family or friends once a year, but as the meeting date draws closer you begin to anticipate the fun you’re going to have.  Robert B. Parker’s Spenser is one of those friends.  Thanks to Ace Atkins, Spenser will be coming around again on January 11th with Bye Bye Baby!

Boston PI Spenser takes on a new case in this installment in Robert B. Parker’s iconic New York Times bestselling series.

Carolina Garcia-Ramirez is a rising star in national politics, taking on the establishment with her progressive agenda. Tough, outspoken, and driven, the young congresswoman has ignited a new conversation in Boston about race, poverty, health care, and the environment. Now facing her second campaign, she finds herself not only fighting a tight primary with an old guard challenger but also contending with numerous death threats coming from hundreds of suspects.

When her chief of staff reaches out to Spenser for security and help finding the culprits of what he believes to be the most credible threats, Garcia-Ramirez is less than thrilled. Since her first grassroots run, she’s used to the antipathy and intimidation women of color often face when seeking power. To her, it’s all noise. But it turns out an FBI agent disagrees, warning Spenser that Garcia-Ramirez might be in real danger this time.

It doesn’t take long for Spenser to cross paths with an extremist group called The Minutemen, led by a wealthy Harvard grad named Bishop Graves. Although Graves is a social media sensation, pushing an agenda of white supremacy and toxic masculinity, he denies he’s behind the attacks. As the primary nears and threats become a deadly plot, it’s up to Spenser, Hawk, and a surprise trusted ally to ensure the congresswoman is safe. This is Spenser doing what he does best, living by a personal code and moral compass that can’t ever be broken.

Pre-orders are available now!

The All-Time Best Noir Films Ranked!

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Fiona Underhill at /Film came up with her list of The 14 Best Noir Movies Ranked.  Underhill’s choices are excellent examples of the genre.

We both placed Double Indemnity in our top two (#1 for Underhill and #2 for me).  Coming in first for me was The Postman Always Rings Twice (#7 for Underhill).  My third spot went to The Big Sleep which surprisingly Underhill listed at 14th on her list.

One movie that didn’t make Underhill’s list and would have easily made mine was The Big Heat. (And now that I think about it, I would have also found a spot for Body Heat.)

“Run & Gun” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I’m not a big fan of the Run & Gun poster, but since it is art and not Photoshopped heads I won’t complain too loudly.  The trailer isn’t great but by the end it had grown on me.  I think Run & Gun might be an okay way to spend a late night when nothing was popping.

After leaving a life of crime and violence, Ray is a reformed good guy, enjoying a quiet family life in the ‘burbs. But when his past is discovered, Ray is blackmailed into one last job to collect a mysterious package. After a deadly double-cross, he finds himself wounded and on the run from ruthless assassins who will stop at nothing to get what he has. Now, with the lives of his loved ones hanging in the balance and danger at every turn, Ray’s only hope is to draw upon his violent past to survive.

Featuring: Ben Milliken, Brad William Henke, Janel Parrish, Mark Dacascos, Celestino Cornielle, Angela Sarafyan, Alison Thorton, Hudson Yang, Michelle Campbell, Ari Barkan, Rafael Cebrián, Richard Kind

Oliver Stone’s “JFK: Destiny Denied” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy, but I have an open mind and am interested in learning more about the case.  I’ve read the Warren Commission Report.  I’ve watched documentaries and read many different theories.  The “magic bullet” can be explained and really didn’t make the turns and twists some have speculated.  With all that said, I’m interested in seeing Oliver Stone’s JFK: Destiny Denied.

JFK: DESTINY BETRAYED is #OliverStone’s four-part “deep dive” into the infamous Kennedy assassination. Over a period of months, Stone spoke to a diverse array of authors, historians, witnesses, and experts in forensics, ballistics, and medicine. Subjects covered in the mini-series include the early formation of President Kennedy’s foreign policy worldview, his travels to Vietnam as a senator (where he saw first-hand the French losing their colonial war), his support of fledgling democracies in Africa, and his anti-colonial convictions which put him in opposition to the Eisenhower administration, the CIA, and the Pentagon. Viewers are also given a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the post-assassination actions and initial suspicions of Kennedy’s brother, Robert, as well as his views on the official Warren Commission investigation. Additionally, assassination forensic and ballistic evidence is explored here in great detail. #JFK #JohnFKennedy #CIA

With narration by Whoopi Goldberg and Donald Sutherland.

“Shattered” Starring C. Monaghan, F. Grillo & J. Malkovich – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The Shattered poster is generic but the trailer has twists and a cast that makes me interested in seeing it.

In the tradition of Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct comes this dazzling action thriller starring Academy Award Nominee John Malkovich (RED) and Frank Grillo (Avengers: Endgame). As lonely tech millionaire Chris (Cameron Monaghan, “Shameless”) encounters charming, sexy Sky (Lilly Krug), passion grows between them. And when he’s injured, she quickly steps in as his nurse. But Sky’s odd behavior makes Chris suspect that she has more sinister intentions, especially when Sky’s roommate is found dead from mysterious causes.

Phillip Marlowe Returns in THE GOODBYE COAST by Joe Ide!

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I’m a Phillip Marlowe fan.  I’ve read the original novels by Raymond Chandler.  I read Robert B. Parker’s Marlowe novels.  In movies, I’ve seen Marlowe played by Humphrey Bogart, Dick Powell, Robert Montgomery, James Garner, Elliott Gould and Robert Mitchum.

What I haven’t read is the Phillip Marlowe novel The Goodbye Coast by Joe Ide. Of course it won’t be released until February 1, 2022.  Here’s the synopsis…

Raymond Chandler’s iconic detective, Philip Marlowe, gets a dramatic and colorful reinvention at the hands of award-winning novelist Joe Ide

The seductive and relentless figure of Raymond Chandler’s detective, Philip Marlowe, is vividly re-imagined in present-day Los Angeles. Here is a city of scheming Malibu actresses, ruthless gang members, virulent inequality, and washed-out police. Acclaimed and award-winning novelist Joe Ide imagines a Marlowe very much of our time: he’s a quiet, lonely, and remarkably capable and confident private detective, though he lives beneath the shadow of his father, a once-decorated LAPD homicide detective, famous throughout the city, who’s given in to drink after the death of Marlowe’s mother.

Marlowe, against his better judgement, accepts two missing person cases, the first a daughter of a faded, tyrannical Hollywood starlet, and the second, a British child stolen from his mother by his father. At the center of The Goodbye Coast is Marlowe’s troubled and confounding relationship with his father, a son who despises yet respects his dad, and a dad who’s unable to hide his bitter disappointment with his grown boy.

Steeped in the richly detailed ethnic neighborhoods of modern LA, Ide’s The Goodbye Coast is a bold recreation that is viciously funny, ingeniously plotted, and surprisingly tender.

I like the sound of The Goodbye Coast.  I even like the fact that they’re putting Marlowe in current times, which surprises me.  Joe Ide is a writer of note.  I think I’m going to have to give this one a go.  

“Red Notice” / Z-View

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Red Notice (2021) Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber Screenplay: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Ritu Arya.

Tagline: Pros and Cons. The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

FBI agent, John Hartley (Johnson) is on the trail of Nolan Booth (Reynolds), one of the world’s top art thieves.  What looks like a slam dunk arrest of Booth goes sideways and Hartley is left holding the bag.  In this case the bag is one of three priceless eggs created for Cleopatra.  In order to clear his name, Hartley becomes an reluctant partner to Booth.  They will have to steal back the original egg as well as the other two that are in different exotic locations around the world.  Complicating matters is The Bishop (Gadot), an art thief, also after the priceless relics.

Red Notice is a fast, fun action/caper that doesn’t take itself too seriously.  It is filled with tons of stunts and funny (well, mostly funny) repartee performed by likeable stars.  There are homages to James Bond, the Bourne films, Raiders of the Lost Ark, True Lies and more.  Our heroes fight with each other, Russian prisoners, each other, Interpol agents, each other, a crime lord’s guards, each other and a bull.  They fall off a building, escape from a Russian gulag, are knocked unconscious, have a bridge blown out from under them, suffer electric shock to the groin, survive multiple car crashes, fall off a gigantic waterfall, are shot at with pistols, machine guns, rocket launchers and are never even winged.  In fact thousands of rounds of ammo are spent and NOBODY gets hit.  Even our heroes are terrible shots.

And that is my biggest problem with the film.  Our heroes are put in dangerous situations, but very quickly we get the sense that nothing bad is going to happen to them.  The stakes don’t seem real.

 If that doesn’t bother you, then you’ll probably enjoy Red Notice even more than I did and I liked it.  There are some scenes/lines that made me laugh and even more that made me smile (far outnumbering the few that fell flat).  I appreciated the fast pace, action and stars.  There’s a fun plot twist that I didn’t see coming.    Red Notice has the potential for a sequel and I’d be up for that.

ONE-HIT WONDER Crime Graphic Novel is Coming!

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One-Hit Wonder by writer Fabrice Sapolsky and artists Ariel Olivetti, Stephen Thompson, Ivan Fiorelli, Dennis Calero and Joe Suitor looks interesting. 

Richie Reese was a (terrible) child actor. He was the worst. Seriously, he couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. His heart filled with anger, he found solace in violence and everything Mafia related. Until he joins the mob for real.

That’s where we meet Richie. He’s at the top of his game. He’s internalized every bit of crazy that Hollywood has thrown at him over his decades living in Tinseltown, but he’s become very efficient hitman in the process.

When, one of the only people tethering him to the last shreds of his humanity is murdered, Richie starts looking for answers. But what he finds is more terrifying than he could ever have imagined…

If One-Hit Wonder sounds like something you’d like, you can pre-order it here or ask your local comic shop to reserve you a copy!

The All-Time Best Neo-Noir Films

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Liam Gaughan, at /Film, came up with his list of The 12 Best Neo-Noir Films Ranked.  It is a solid list.  Before you click over, here are my top three in alphabetical order.  All are well written, well cast and well directed.  If I were to pick four films, I’d have included Se7en since it meets the same criteria.  ; )

  • LA Confidential
  • No Country for Old Men
  • The Usual Suspects