Category: Crime

PAYBACK IS FOREVER by Nick Kolakowski!

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I just learned that Nick Kolakowski has a new novella coming out tomorrow.  Yep, the author of Love & Bullets Megabomb Edition, Boise Longpig Hunting Club and Rattlesnake Rodeo has a new crime story called Payback is Forever.  Here’s the lowdown…

Miller thought it was the perfect heist: Five minutes to hit the cash room of an amusement park, then another two minutes to the getaway car, then gone. As a professional thief, he’d done jobs like that dozens of times. But Miller’s partners had other ideas. When things go bad and bloody, Miller is forced to flee back to familiar territory: New York City’s West Village, where even the target of a nationwide manhunt can hide out amidst the freaks.

But Miller’s refuge might prove even more dangerous. Approached by an old friend about a shady protection job, Miller finds himself thrown into a bizarre world of pint-sized gangsters, aging war criminals, and shady government agents… all of whom are pursuing a prize beyond imagination.

Sounds like my jam.  Maybe yours too.  You can get it on Kindle or as a paperback if you’re so inclined.

“Eraser: Reborn” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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The poster for Eraser: Reborn is pretty generic.  The trailer isn’t bad, so I’ll check out Eraser: Reborn when it comes to streaming.

25 years after the blockbuster Arnold Schwarzenegger hit, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release Eraser: Reborn on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD on June 7, 2022. A reboot of the 1996 blockbuster, this all-new action film follows US Marshal Mason Pollard, a specialist in engineering the fake deaths of witnesses that need to leave no trace of their existence.

The film stars Dominic Sherwood (Shadowhunters) as Mason Pollard, Jacky Lai (V-Wars) as Rina Kimura, McKinley Belcher III (Marriage Story) as Paul Whitlock, a mentor to Pollard, and Eddie Ramos (Animal Kingdom) as Sugar Jax, a local gangster.

Eraser: Reborn is directed by John Pogue (The Quiet Ones, Deep Blue Sea 3) and written by Michael Weiss (Jarhead3: The Siege). Hunt Lowry (Donnie Darko) and Patty Reed (Pure Country Pure Heart) produce for Roserock Films.

“Memory” Starring Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce – The Trailer is Here!

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Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce in Memory, an action thriller with a cool concept.  Deal me in.

MEMORY follows Alex Lewis (Liam Neeson), an expert assassin with a reputation for discreet precision. Caught in a moral quagmire, Alex refuses to complete a job that violates his code and must quickly hunt down and kill the people who hired him before they and FBI agent Vincent Serra (Guy Pearce) find him first. Alex is built for revenge but, with a memory that is beginning to falter, he is forced to question his every action, blurring the line between right and wrong.

“Watcher” – The Trailer is Here!

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Watcher has a great look and vibe.  Deal me in.

US Release Date: June 3, 2022
Starring: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman
Directed By: Chloe Okuno
Synopsis: Julia uproots her life in America to accompany her husband to Bucharest, Romania. As she spends more time alone, she notices a shadowy figure staring from the opposite block. Her curiosity turns to fear when she hears of a murderer in the area.

“The Takedown” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I like the poster and trailer for The Takedown.  I’m ready for a fun buddy-movie.  Deal me in.

Ousmane Diakité (Omar Sy) and François Monge (Laurent Lafitte) are two cops with very different styles, backgrounds and careers. The unlikely pair are reunited once again for a new investigation that takes them across France. What seemed to be a simple drug deal turns out to be a high scale criminal case wrapped in danger and unexpected comedy.

Watch The Takedown, only on Netflix May 6

DEAD DOGS by Manny Torres!

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I want to pass along a crime novel I just learned about (and ordered).  Dead Dogs by Manny Torres sounds like a wild ride, I’d like to take.

Two Atlanta misfits in debt to notorious dog fighter and drug dealer Boots Tumbler are coerced into handling his dirty work. Phobos and Chuck, desperate to pay him back, go elbow deep in blood, dirt, and gristle, cleaning up dog fights, delivering drugs, and disposing of dead bodies. Regardless of the haul, they shovel it, bag it up, stuff it in the trunk of their 1982 Cadillac Deville and drive it off for disposal. The misfit pair fumble their way through dangerous circumstances and criminal adventures. Desperation eventually drives them out of the city, across lost highways, encountering a circus of outlaws and revolutionaries living on the margins of morality.

Dead Dogs currently has a near-perfect 4.9 star rating on Amazon from 22 reviewers!  As I said, I’ve ordered my copy.

If you’re interested you can get an autographed copy from Mr. Torres!

Or if you prefer Amazon, here’s a link!

“Tokyo Vice” Starring Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Tokyo Vice – the poster and trailer for the new series starring Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe are here.  Deal me in.

Based on Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat, starring Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe. The drama captures Adelstein’s daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo, where nothing and no one is truly what or who they seem. Streaming April 7 on HBO Max.

“Below Zero” (2021) / Z-View

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Below Zero (2021)

Director:  Lluís Quílez

Writers:  Fernando Navarro, Lluís Quílez

Starring:  Javier Gutiérrez, Karra Elejalde  and Luis Callejo.

Tagline: Escape is not the exit.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When a prison transport on a deserted road comes under attack, one police officer survives by getting in the armored truck with the prisoners.  Outside the weather is freezing and a killer wants one of them dead.  But which one?  And why?

Below Zero has action, mystery and atmosphere.  The fact that it lacks American stars adds to the suspense of who may die. The foggy night and frozen lake scenes are memorable.  Below Zero rates 3 of 5 stars.

Rattlesnake Rodeo by Nick Kolakowski / Z-View

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Rattlesnake Rodeo by Nick Kolakowski

Trade Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Down & Out Books (October 26, 2020)

First sentence…

After we blew up a few of the richest and most powerful men in Idaho, my sister Frankie wanted to stop for fries.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

After surviving the horrors of the Boise Longpig Hunting Club, Jake Halligan, his fiancée and sister think they’re in the clear.

They’re not.

A powerful judge knows what Jake and his crew did to survive.  The judge offers them a deal: If they murder a child that has information the judge doesn’t want to get out, she’ll destroy all incriminating evidence linking Jake, his fiancée and sister to the crimes that they committed.

The clock is ticking as Jake, Janine and Frankie try to figure out a way to save the child and themselves.

Kolakowski picks up the action right where the Boise Longpig Hunting Club leaves off.  If you like action with heart and humor, then this one is for you.  Rattlesnake Rodeo rates 4 of 5 stars!

Rating:

“Alice” – Revenge is Long Overdue! – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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I love the throwback 70s feel to the poster for Alice.  The trailer sets up an interesting mash-up of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village and most any Pam Grier movie from back in the day.

I love it.  Can you dig it?

Deal me in!

Alice (Keke Palmer) yearns for freedom as an enslaved person on a rural Georgia plantation under its brutal and disturbed owner Paul (Jonny Lee Miller). After a violent clash with Paul, she flees through the neighboring woods and stumbles onto the unfamiliar sight of a highway, soon discovering the year is actually 1973. Rescued on the roadside by a disillusioned political activist named Frank (Common), Alice quickly comprehends the lies that have kept her in bondage and the promise of Black liberation. Inspired by true accounts, Alice is a modern empowerment fable tracing Alice’s journey through the post-Civil Rights Era American South.

“21 Bridges” (2019) / Z-View

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21 Bridges (2019)

Director: Brian Kirk

Screenplay:  Adam Mervis, Matthew Michael Carnahan

Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Sienna Miller, J.K. Simmons, Taylor Kitsch and Keith David.

Tagline:  The Only Way Out is Through Him

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A couple of small time thieves get a tip on a cocaine stash of 30 kilos.  When they go to rip it off, they discover 300 kilos!  Cops show up and the thieves kill them all.  Detective Andre Davis (Boseman) is assigned to bring in the cop killers.  As the bodies pile up, Davis begins to realize that there is more at play than a simple robbery gone wrong.  The conspiracy runs deep and Davis doesn’t know who he can trust.

21 Bridges is a fast paced action thriller that is well cast and directed.  Sienna Miller is believable as a tough female detective.  Boseman and J.K. Simmons are always good.  Keith David doesn’t have a lot to do, but is also a welcome addition to the cast.  21 Bridges rates 4 of 5 stars.