Category: Crime

“First Shift” (2024) written & directed by Uwe Boll / Z-View

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First Shift (2024)

Director: Uwe Boll

Screenplay: Uwe Boll

Stars: Gino Anthony Pesi, Kristen Renton, Garry Pastore, Brandi Bravo, Daniel Sauli, Aaron Berg, Onye Eme-Akwari, Tom Ukah, Cate Bottiglione, Tamara Della Anderson and Willie C. Carpenter.

Tagline:  Day One, Duty Calls

The Plot…

 A hard-nosed NYPD cop is teamed with a new fresh-faced recruit from Atlanta.  They have different styles, but unless they can come together as a team, they won’t survive day one.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Gino Anthony Pesi and Kristen Renton have enough on-screen chemistry to make this one watchable… if you can’t find something better.

First Shift (2024) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“Monster: The Ed Gein Story” (2025) starring Charlie Hunnam and Laurie Metcalf / Z-View

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Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025)

Created by: Ian Brennan

Directed by:

  • Max Winkler (eps. 1-3; 6-8)
  • Ian Brennan (eps. 4-5)

Teleplay by:

  • (eps. 1-8) Ian Brennan

Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Suzanna Son, Vicky Krieps, Laurie Metcalf, Tom Hollander.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

Ed Gein was a murderer and grave robber.  In 1957, when a sheriff’s deputy, following up on a missing person’s case went to Gein’s farm he discovered the missing woman’s decapitated body in a shed.  The partial corpse was hung upside down and mutilated.  In Gein’s house some of what authorities found included:

  • Whole human bones and fragments
  • A wastebasket made of human skin
  • Human skin covering several chairs
  • Human skulls mounted on bedposts
  • Bowls made from human skulls
  • A corset made from a female torso skinned from shoulders to waist
  • Leggings made from human leg skin
  • Masks made from the skin of female heads
  • A victim’s face made into a mask in a paper bag
  • A victim’s entire head in a burlap sack
  • A victim’s heart in a plastic bag
  • A belt made from female human nipples
  • A pair of lips on a window shade drawstring
  • A lampshade made from the skin of a human face
  • more

Gein was determined to be mentally incompetent to stand trial.  He was sentenced to a State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he lived until his death in 1984.  Ed Gein’s murders and depravity inspired the novel (and later movie) Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and more.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Charlie Hunnam is almost unrecognizable as Ed Gein.  Kudos to him for taking on such a challenging role.  Laurie Metcalf is perfect as Gein’s mother.

I wish Monster: The Ed Gein Story stuck closer to actual events.  Liberties are taken that I feel weaken the story.  For example, Gein never had a love interest.  Gein never chased down and killed lost hunters with a chain saw.  Gein never had contact with Christine Jorgensen, an American actress famous for being known as the first transexual widely known in the United States.

Because of these fictional additions, it makes me question things when other real life personalitites, like Anthony Perkins and Alfred Hitchcock show up.  I realize Monster: The Ed Gein Story isn’t a documentary.  But it is supposed to be Gein’s story and that was creepy enough.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025) rates 3 of 5 stars.

FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips!

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Crime fiction fans will be excited to learn that Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have a new CRIMINAL graphic novel coming out on June 23, 2026.  It’s titled FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE: A CRIMINAL BOOK.  Here’s the scoop…

A brand new CRIMINAL graphic novel featuring the legendary RICKY LAWLESS and the crazy tale of how he and MALLORY fell in love in the midst of a crime spree.

In one of the wildest, most action-packed books that Brubaker and Phillips have ever done, we delve deep into the life of one of CRIMINAL‘s most complex and tragic characters, Ricky Lawless as he tries to pay off a deep debt to a mobster, while things just keep going from bad to worse.

FIVE GEARS IN REVERSE will have long-time CRIMINAL fans cheering the return of RICKY LAWLESS and new readers will find it a perfect jumping-on-point for the greatest crime comic series of the 21st century.

“Brubaker and Phillips don’t hit a wrong note.” – Shane Black

Pre-orders are available now.

“This Side of the Law” (1950) starring Viveca Lindfors, Kent Smith, Janis Paige, Robert Douglas / Z-View

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This Side of the Law (1950)

Director: Richard L. Bare

Screenplay: Russell S. Hughes; story by Richard Sale

Stars: Viveca Lindfors, Kent Smith, Janis Paige, Robert Douglas, John Alvin, Nita Talbot,
Michael Mark, Edward Van Sloan and Monte Blue.

Tagline: He’s coming back – the man they thought they double-crossed to death!

The Plot…

David Cummings is going through hard times.  Homeless and looking for work, Cummings is picked up on a vagrancy charge.  The judge sentences him to “$50 or 30 days.”  Cummings is surprised to learn that Philip Cagle, a lawyer in the courtroom, paid his fine.

Cagle then takes Cummings to dinner and offers him a job.  It turns out that Cummings looks exactly like one of Cagle’s clients.  A rich man who disappeared nearly seven years ago.  In fact, in two weeks it will be seven years exactly that the man has been missing.  At that point the man will be declared dead and the man’s estate will be divided up among the missing man’s wife, brother and sister-in-law.

Cagle offers Cummings $500 to impersonate the missing man.  Cagle hopes that Cummings will then be able to discover the fate of the missing man.  Cummings agrees to the job… for $5,000.00 and is surprised when Cagle agrees to the sum.

Cummings is able to fool everyone.  He quickly discovers that each member of the missing man’s family had reason to kill him.  And now at least one of them has reason to kill him again.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

If you can go along with the conceit that the imposter could fool the missing man’s wife, brother and former lover, then this movie works well.  I went with it and enjoyed the ride.

This Side of the Law marks Nita Talbot’s first credited feature film role.  Ms. Talbot would go on to accumulate over 150 credits on her acting resume.

This Side of the Law (1950) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“Absolution” (2024) starring Liam Neeson / Z-View

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Absolution (2024)

Director: Hans Petter Moland

Screenplay: Tony Gayton

Stars: Liam Neeson, Daniel Diemer, Javier Molina, Jimmy Gonzales, Brian A. White, William Xifaras, John Duddy, Yolonda Ross, Bruce Busta Soscia and Ron Perlman.

Tagline: Everyone pays in the end.

The Plot…

An aging legbreaker learns that he has Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).  He’s already forgetting things.  His diagnosis is fatal. In just a few months he will lose all memory.  The thug hopes to reconnect with his estranged daughter and grandson before he dies.

But time is running out… and his crime boss has other plans.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

I was hoping for better.  Absolution is, pun intended, forgettable.

A film that had a similar take and was excellent is Knox Goes Away.

Absolution (2024) rates 2 of 5 stars.

“The Undercover Man” (1949) starring Glenn Ford / Z-View

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The Undercover Man (1949)

Director: Joseph H. Lewis

Screenplay: Sydney Boehm, Malvin Wald (additional dialogue) based on Undercover Man: He Trapped Capone by Frank J. Wilson from a story outline by Jack Rubin

Stars: Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, James Whitmore, Barry Kelley, David Bauer (as David Wolfe), Howard St. John, Leo Penn, Esther Minciotti, Angela Clarke, Anthony Caruso, Robert Osterloh, Kay Medford, Patricia Barry (as Patricia White) and Peter Brocco.

Tagline: TOLD WITH THE SNARL OF A MACHINE GUN!

The Plot…

US Treasury Agent Frank Warren has been assigned to bring down the mob boss know as Big Fellow.  Every witness or informent is terrified from testifying, paid off or found dead.  Then Warren gets a lead from an unexpected source.

Now Big Fellow has targeted Frank Warren and his wife to die.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Big Fellow was of course based on Al Capone.

The Undercover Man marks James Whitmore’s feature film debut.

Leo Penn is the father of actors Sean and Chris Penn.

The Undercover Man (1949) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“The Big Steal” (1949) directed by Don Siegel; starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and William Bendix / Z-View

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The Big Steal (1949)

Director: Don Siegel

Screenplay: Gerald Drayson Adams, Daniel Mainwaring (as Geoffrey Homes) based on “The Road to Carmichael’s” by Richard Wormser

Stars: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix, Patric Knowles, Ramon Novarro, Don Alvarado and John Qualen.

Tagline: It’s a tough, terrific adventure in grand larceny! But, there’s more than money on his mind…when he mixes with this gal with the million dollar figure!

The Plot…

$300,000 was robbed from a U.S. military payroll. Army lieutenant Duke Halliday wants the money.  He knows Jim Fiske has it, but Fiske is on the lam.  Duke is in pursuit.  Duke’s superior, Captain Blake is after both Duke and Fiske.  Blake intends to get the money back.

Fiske makes it across the US/Mexican border with both Duke and Blake not far behind.  In Mexico, Duke meets Joan Graham.  Fiske scammed her for $2,000.00.  Duke and Joan reluctantly agree to work together.

Fiske is desperate.  He’s come too far to lose the money.  And he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way.  Duke and Joan are in his way.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)… 

Don Siegel, who would go on to helm classics such as Dirty Harry and Invasion of the Body Snatchers does a fine job in his third outing as a feature film director.

The film’s shooting schedule was disrupted by Robert Mitchum’s 50-day prison sentence for marijuana possession.

Jane Russell was up for the female lead, but Howard Hughes was worried that Mitchum’s marijuana arrest would reflect badly on her.  Russell was RKO Studios biggest female star and Hughes nixed her for the role.  Lizabeth Scott refused the part, because she was also afraid it would tarnish her career.  Jane Greer, who had worked with Mitchum in Out of the Past, got the role.

The Big Steal is the 1940s version of a chase movie.

There’s a couple of unexpected twists at the end.  The Big Steal is a fun ride.

The Big Steal (1949) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“Laws of Man” (2024) written & directed by Phil Blattenberger; starring Jacob Keohane, Jackson Rathbone, Dermot Mulroney, Harvey Keitel, Keith Carradine and Graham Greene / Z-View

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Laws of Man (2024)

Director:  Phil Blattenberger

Screenplay: Phil Blattenberger

Stars: Jacob Keohane, Jackson Rathbone, Dermot Mulroney, Harvey Keitel, Keith Carradine, Richard Brake, Forrie J. Smith, James Urbaniak, Kelly Lynn Reiter, Johnny Hoeft, Greg Kriek, David DeLao, Ashley Gallegos, Alaina Warren Zachary and Graham Greene.

Tagline: No One Is Innocent

The Plot…

1963.  US Marshalls Frank Fenton and Tommy Morton are sent to Nevada to bring in some bad hombres.  Frank is straight-laced and uptight.  His partner, Tommy is younger and hip.  While their outlooks on life are different they make a good team. During the course of an assignment to bring in a murderer they stumble on to a conspiracy.

Outgunned and over-their-heads, the pair refuse to back down.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Laws of Man plays out like a low-budget Tarantino movie.  Interesting and outlandish characters in over-the-top conflicts and a twist that takes the danger to the extreme.  The plot plays out like a fever dream set in 1963.

Jacob Keohane and Jackson Rathbone are excellent as the mismatched US Marshalls. Dermot Mulroney, Harvey Keitel, Keith Carradine and Graham Greene led a supporting cast with the ability to play unbridled scenes straight.

While Laws of Man isn’t a great film, it is a fun one.  I enjoyed the characters and outlandish plot… even the twist at the end.  As always, your mileage may vary.

Laws of Man (2024) rates 3 of 5 stars.