Category: Crime

Fargo | Installment 5 Teaser is Here! – Dot Lyon (Juno Temple) is a Homemaker

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It’s about to get saucy. Installment 5 of FX’s Fargo premieres 11.21 on FX. Stream on Hulu. 

| Visit Official Site https://fx.tv/Fargo

The latest installment of Fargo is set in Minnesota and North Dakota, 2019. After an unexpected series of events lands “Dorothy ‘Dot’ Lyon” (Juno Temple) in hot water with the authorities, this seemingly typical Midwestern housewife is suddenly plunged back into a life she thought she had left behind.

Frank Miller’s Very Limited Signed & Numbered SIN CITY: Marv & Nancy Callahan Lithographs!

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Frank Miller has teamed with MEL Publisher for a very limited set of two signed and numbered SIN CITY lithographs.

  • SIN CITY – MARV , 2022
    Lithograph in black on BFK Rives 400 grams paper.
    Numbered edition of 60 copies
    Signed in pencil by the artist
    160 x 107 cm
    Printed on the presses of the Idem workshop, Paris.
    Cost is approximately  $3,729.39
  • SIN CITY – NANCY CALLAHAN , 2022
    Screen printing in 3 colors on BFK Rives 300 grams paper.
    Numbered edition of 50 copies
    Signed in pencil by the artist
    90 x 62 cm
    Printed on the presses of the Tchikebe workshop in Marseille.
    Cost is approximately  $1,278.68

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial Official Trailer directed by William Friedkin, starring Keifer Sutherland – The Trailer is Here!

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This looks good.  Deal me in!

Caine Mutiny Court-Martial follows a U.S. naval first officer who’s standing trial for orchestrating a mutiny after his captain shows signs of becoming unhinged and jeopardizes the lives of his crew. Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke, Jake Lacy, Monica Raymund, Lewis Pullman, Jay Duplass, Tom Riley And Lance Reddick. Streaming October 6 with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan. The stars have aligned. Paramount+ is the streaming home of SHOWTIME. Try Paramount+ for free today: https://prmntpl.us/PPlusYT

Subscribe to the SHOWTIME YouTube channel: http://goo.gl/esCMib

About The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial: Barney Greenwald, a skeptical lawyer, reluctantly defends an officer of the navy who took control of the Caine from its captain, Lt. Philip Francis Queeg (Kiefer Sutherland), while caught in a violent sea storm. As the court-martial proceeds, however, Greenwald increasingly questions if it was truly a mutiny or rather the courageous acts of a group of sailors who could not trust their unstable leader. Written and directed by Academy Award®-celebrated filmmaker William Friedkin and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk of the same name. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial streaming October 6 with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan.

“Jack Ryan: Season 4” (2023) starring John Krasinski, Wendell Pierce, Michael Kelly, Betty Gabriel & Michael Peña, / Z-View

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Jack Ryan: Season 4 (2023)

Written by: Vaun Wilmott and Aaron Rabin and Steven Kane (ep. 25); Aaron Rabin (ep. 26, 30); Jada M. Nation (ep. 27); Robert Port and Aaron Rabin (ep. 28); Joe Greskoviak and Aaron Rabin (ep. 29)

Directed by: Lukas Ettlin (ep. 25, 29-30 ); Jann Turner (ep. 26, 28); Shana Stein (ep. 27);

Stars: John Krasinski, Wendell Pierce, Abbie Cornish, Michael Kelly, Betty Gabriel, Michael Peña, John Hoogenakker and Adam Bernett.

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Jack Ryan steps down as the CIA’s Acting Deputy Director in order to go into the field.  Evidence points to collusion between a high ranking US government official(s) with one or more people in the CIA and a drug cartel/terrorist organization.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Jack Ryan has been nominated for 3 Prime Time Emmy Awards:

  • 2019  Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role – Nominee
  • 2019  Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) – Nominee
  • 2020  Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role – Nominee

It has been fun to see Jack Ryan develop from an brilliant analyst to a James Bond-type field agent.

Season four didn’t resonate as well with me as previous outings.  I liked it and thought it was well done.  The problem is we know Jack is going to survive.  The real danger is to the supporting characters.  John Krasinski is excellent as Jack Ryan.  The supporting cast is wonderful as well.  Kudos to Wendell Pierce, Abbie Cornish, Michael Kelly, Betty Gabriel and Michael Peña, (Soon congratulations may be in order for Peña since a spin-off featuring his character is in development.)

Jack Ryan: Season 4 (2023) earns 3 of 5 stars.

FAR SOUTH by Rodolfo Santullo & Leandro Fernandez

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FAR SOUTH by Rodolfo Santullo (writer) and Leandro Fernandez (artist) sounds like it might be pretty good.  Here’s the lowdown, followed by a couple of sample pages.  Click on them to see them biggie-sized.  Also keep in mind that they haven’t been translated to English yet.

What happens in the Far South stays in the Far South! Pimps, crooks and gauchos call it home even though it’s dirty, greasy and violent. Welcome to a ruthless world where violence is the only love language. A Sin City-esque graphic novel brought to you by Leandro Fernandez (The Old Guard) and Argentinian best-selling novelist Rodolfo Santullo.

An arid and wild land, cut off from the world, populated by rustic men with hot blood and fond of alcohol. This is where the taciturn Montoya runs a bar. A bar where the worst scoundrels in the area come to settle their differences or talk about their setbacks. This book will immerse you in the merciless world of these cowboys through a series of short stories of jubilant violence in the ancient land of the Gauchos!

“The Continental: From the World of John Wick” | Opening Fight Scene – Sneak Peek

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This looks better and better.

The three-part event will explore the origin behind the iconic hotel-for-assassins centerpiece of the John Wick universe through the eyes and actions of a young Winston Scott, as he’s dragged into the Hell-scape of 1970’s New York City to face a past he thought he’d left behind. Winston charts a deadly course through the hotel’s mysterious underworld in a harrowing attempt to seize the hotel where he will eventually take his future throne.

THE SLANTED GUTTER by S. Craig Zahler

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S. Craig Zahler is best known as an award-winning screenwriter and director.  He’s the guy who wrote and directed Bone Tomahawk, Brawl and Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete.  Zahler is also an accomplished cinematographer, and musician.  But none of those things are what this post is about.

S. Craig Zahler is also a novelist.  His book THE SLANTED GUTTER came to my attention through Stephen J. Golds’ review on Twitter.  Gold said:

Just finished this crime novel by S. Craig Zahler and it may be one of the best-written noir stories of the last decade.
So noir it borders on absolute nightmare.

Don’t read anything about it. Just go into it blind. This book will lure you in and then pulverize you.

Here’s the synopsis on Amazon…

Take a roller coaster ride through the gutter in this gripping pull-no-punches thriller from S. Craig Zahler

He knows what you’ll do – including what you’ll sacrifice for protection.

Darren Tasking is an entrepreneur whose business is people, and when it comes to people he specializes in risk, pleasure, and fear.

He knows what will break you – before you even feel a second of pain.

Tasking has everything and everyone, in his orbit, under control. If there’s something he wants he will alter your life, elaborately and maliciously, until you yield to his wishes.

He knows what makes the Machos tick – and how to keep them in the dark.

The police tried to keep Tasking down with their macho modus operandi, sent him away long ago, but they couldn’t keep him incarcerated forever. Now he’s older, uncommonly careful, and keeps the machos oblivious to his enterprises. But when he meets a dancer named Erin Green at the Cherry Red strip club everything changes.

He knows the streets of Great Crown, Florida can only be dominated by the remorseless insights of a relentless slick like him.

The brothels and gambling parlors secreted behind iron doors keep the slick autonomous and successful, but Erin proves to be the variable that could put him on a collision course with unrepentant sadists, machos, and a trap created by the slick’s own extortionist machinations.

THE SLANTED GUTTER is a devastating character study painted with the darkest shades of noir, penned by a hand as unflinching as Tasking’s steely-eyed pursuit of his large dollar goal, as unforgiving on the reader as those who seek retribution against the slick for his nocturnal misdeeds.

Step into this gutter at your own risk.

THE SLANTED GUTTER has gone on my to-be-purchased list.  Oh, and how about that cover!

THE SLANTED GUTTER   paperback

THE SLANTED GUTTER   hardback

THE SLANTED GUTTER   Kindle

“Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal”: Season 2 | Official Trailer

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On March 2, 2023, Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the murder of his wife, Maggie, and son, Paul. The world watched with bated breath as a verdict was announced. The people of the Lowcountry had been waiting the better part of two years to understand what happened the night of June 7, 2021.

Season 2 will feature first-hand accounts from those who were there the days leading up to and following the murders, giving more insight than ever into that deadly night, including Blanca Turrubiate-Simpson (Former Murdaugh Family Housekeeper) and Mushelle “Shelly” Smith (Caregiver for Libby Murdaugh) – who became some of the most powerful witnesses at the trial – Curtis Edward Smith (aka Cousin Eddie), and Gwen Generette, one of the trial’s jurors. Morgan Doughty, Paul’s ex-girlfriend, Anthony Cook, Paul’s friend, and Valerie Bauerlein, Wall Street Journal reporter, also return.

FLIPPING BOXCARS by Cedric “The Entertainer” Kyles with Alan Eisenstock

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Here’s one I didn’t see coming.  Cedric “The Entertainer” Kyles (with Alan Eisenstock) has a book coming out on September 19th.  It’s titled FLIPPING BOXCARS.  Here’s the lowdown…

The first novel from one of the original Kings of Comedy, Cedric “The Entertainer,” an engaging and entertaining crime caper that is a valentine to close-knit black families and tightly woven communities struggling to get by during the Depression and World War II.

Babe is a charismatic and widely loved man, a gambler with a gift for gab that often gets him out of tricky situations. He’s also a dreamer, something he shares with his patient and loving wife, Rosie. They both yearn for financial stability and see the land they own as insurance for future generations. But when Babe and a few comrades enlist in a scheme that improbably falls apart, he endangers the little security the family has.

On the verge of losing everything, what’s a family man to do?

If you’re a gambler like Babe, you double down and risk it all for one big score—this time, a plan involving railroad boxcars.

Will Babe succeed? Will Rosie continue to support her husband? Are the Feds on to his make-or-break scheme?

FLIPPING BOXCARS is Cedric “The Entertainer” at his most engaging best—a charming, fast-paced novel that pays homage to his beloved grandfather and a generation past, anchored by rich, multi-dimensional characters and oozing with irresistible charm.

FLIPPING BOXCARS  hardcover

FLIPPING BOXCARS  Kindle

“Give ’em Hell Malone” (2009) starring Thomas Jane & Ving Rhames / Z-View

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Give ’em Hell Malone (2009)

Director: Russell Mulcahy

Screenplay: Mark Hosack

Stars: Thomas Jane, Ving Rhames, Elsa Pataky, Chris Yen, French Stewart, Leland Orser, Chris Yen, William Abadie, Doug Hutchison, David Andriole  and Gregory Harrison.

Tagline: Hard to love… Harder to kill.

The Plot…

Malone (Jane), a private detective, is hired to retrieve a suitcase.  When he recovers the goods, Malone finds himself in a building full of hard cases trying to kill him.  Although wounded, he survives.  Now Malone is determined to find out what the case contained and who set him up… even if he has to kill a lot of people to get answers.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)

Give ’em Hell Malone is full of hits and misses, but man, it swings for the fence every chance it gets.  The film reminds me of a cross between Streets of Fire, Sin City and every tough private eye film ever made.  I mean that in the best way possible.

Give ’em Hell Malone opens in the middle of a protracted gun battle!  There’s a mystery about the contents of the suitcase Malone is hired to retrieve.  Give ’em Hell Malone is set in an undefined time period. It feels retro yet modern. 

The movie features a great cast playing over the top characters:

  • Malone – the hero who takes a beating and keeps moving forward
  • Boulder (Rhames) – Malone’s one time friend who now works for someone who wants Malone dead
  • Matchstick (Hutchison) – the burn-scarred psycho pyromaniac
  • Frankie the Crooner (Stewart) – the small time entertainer (and I mean small time)
  • Murphy (Orser) – Malone’s friend who learns that saying the wrong thing can make things get hot fast.
  • Evelyn (Pataky) – Murphy’s sexy sister who has an agenda of her own
  • Mauler (Yen) – the little assassin with big knives
  • Whitmore (Harrison) – the man with the power working behind the scenes

Give ’em Hell Malone isn’t a great film, but it is a fun one.  Not every scene works, but in every scene you can see what they were working for.  If you’re in the right frame of mind, a fan of noir, old-time detective movies and more modern films like Sin City and Streets of Fire, then you’d probably enjoy Give ’em Hell Malone a shot.  There has been talk of a sequel and I’d love it to happen.

Give ’em Hell Malone (2009) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“Mr. Inbetween”: Season 3 (2021) written by and starring Scott Ryan

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Mr. Inbetween: Season 3 (2021)

Written by: Scott Ryan

Directed by: Nash Edgerton

Stars: Scott Ryan, Justin Rosniak, Brooke Satchwell, Nicholas Cassim, Chika Yasumura, Damon Herriman and Matt Nable

Tagline: None.

The Plot…

Ray Shoesmith is a professional criminal/killer with an anger problem.  Ray’s also juggling his responsibilities as a divorced dad with a young daughter and is caretaker of his older brother who suffers from a degenerative neural disease.

In season three Ray…

  • takes in a guns deal that gets hijacked… Ray doesn’t take it well
  • gets jail time after a want-to-be-tough-guy breaks Ray’s car’s mirror
  • takes a job on another inmate while in jail
  • rekindles his relationship with his estranged father
  • literally helps his friend on a ledge
  • accepts a job to dispose of a woman’s body
  • takes on a hit for free when he learns that an older friend committed suicide after being scammed of his life savings
  • agrees to do some free work for a crime boss in exchange for giving Ray’s friend more time to pay off a debt
  • while on a drug run, is involved in a car wreck caused by a kangaroo
  • is set-up to be murdered by a friend

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Season 3 of Mr. Inbetween continues the streak of excellent shows featuring a great mix of drama and comedy. Each episode clocks in between 21 and 32 minutes which makes it perfect if time is short.

Mr. Inbetween: Season 3 (2021) earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Dark Winds”: Season 2 (2023) starring Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten & Deanna Allison / Z-View

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Dark Winds Season 2 (2023)

Director:  Chris Eyre (Eps 1, 2, 6), Michael Nankin (Eps 3, 4), Billy Luther (Ep. 5)

Teleplay by:  John Wirth & Rhiana Yazzie (Ep 1), Max Hurwitz & DezBaa’ (Ep 2),  Steven Paul Judd (Ep 3), Jason Gavin (Ep 4), Billy Luther & Max Hurwitz (Ep 5), Graham Roland & John Wirth (Ep 6)  // Based on the Leaphorn & Chee novels by Tony Hillerman

Starring:  Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, Deanna Allison, Elva Guerra, Nicholas Logan, A Martinez, John Diehl and Jeri Ryan.

Tagline:  None

The Plot… (beware of spoilers)

A car explosion kills a terminal cancer patient, and injures Emma Leaphorn (Allison). Emma’s husband, Sheriff Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon) arrives to check on his wife.  Once assured her injuries are minor, Leaphorn checks out the scene of the explosion and quickly finds evidence of a car bomb.  Why would anyone want to kill someone with little time to live?

Jim Chee (Gordon), no longer on the force, is now a private investigator.  Chee is hired by Rosemary Vines (Jeri Ryan).  Rosemary is the wife of B.J. Vines (John Diehl), the richest man in the state.  Rosemary wants Chee to recover a box stolen from her husband.  She refuses to say what is in the box.

When Chee visits Leaphorn to get background information, Chee learns that Vines owns the property where six men were killed in a mining explosion.  One of those men was Leaphorn’s son.  Leaphorn and Chee drive out to the remote desert property.  They are attacked by Cotton Wolf (Logan).  Chee is shot and badly wounded.  Leaphorn returns fire, but Wolf escapes.  They discover that Wolf was burning the contents of the box that Chee was hired to find.  One of the items in the box was Leaphorn’s son’s belt buckle.

Leaphorn and Chee find themselves the target of a psycho-killer who murders without hesitation.  They have also ignited the ire of B.J. Vines who is hiding more than one dark secret.

Thoughts 

Dark Winds: Season 1 provided an excellent mystery from a perspective not often seen in television/film. There was a feeling of respect and authenticity to Navajos due to the writers being Native American.  I was happy to see this continue in Season 2.

I’ve been an A. Martinez fan since I first saw him in John Wayne’s The Cowboys.  Loved seeing him here.  Jerri Ryan is excellent as Rosemary Vines.  She reminded me of a fem fatale from the 40s.  Perfect.  Nicholas Logan was spot on creepy as the killer Cotton Wolf.  Logan was scary even in his quiet moments.

Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten and Deanna Allison have real chemistry.  I look forward to Season 3.

KRAJ the ENFORCER: STORIES by Rusty Barnes

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I’ve never read anything by Rusty Barnes.  That’s about to change.  I’m going to put in my order for KRAJ the ENFORCER: STORIES.  Check out the synopsis below,  It may be something you’d like as well.

Meet Kraj—pronounced krai—a low-level errand boy and hitman masquerading as a bouncer for Tricky Ricky Gutierrez, nefarious owner of the Twist, a club in upstate Elmira NY. A place that has both a LGBTQIA night and a cowboy country night, this cockeyed corner bar in northern Appalachia supports Ricky’s illegal schemes, and serves as a rural balm for Croatian-war refugee Kraj.

Kraj plies his trade over a short span, moving from petty theft to strong-arming tips from people at the door, breaking up redneck fights, protecting the club’s nubile female staff and collecting gambling debts owed Tricky Ricky. Kraj eventually gets sucked further and further into Ricky’s underworld plans, where he wants to be seen as a man on the come-up, but he has problems moving up in Ricky’s organization will never solve. His sister Ana, missing since the Croatian War for Independence, never strays far from his mind.

Kraj, together with his sometime girlfriend Cami, newly become manager of a franchisee McDonald’s, and his manager Mikael. negotiates his way through underground fight clubs, prostitution rings, drug deals, petty thievery, and of course, murder. Tricky Ricky gives Kraj a great deal of rope and autonomy to operate.

Will he hang himself with it or swing?

KRAJ the ENFORCER: STORIES   Paperback

KRAJ the ENFORCER: STORIES  Kindle