Hitchcock makes sound transition to talkies in ‘Blackmail’ (1929)
On a Hitchcock kick (Movie review): The tech transition feels gimmicky, but three compelling characters and a modern theme keep matters suspenseful.
Hitchcock makes sound transition to talkies in ‘Blackmail’ (1929)
Continental Op makes rip-roaring leap to novels in ‘Red Harvest’ (1929)
Sleuthing Sunday (Book review): One of the earliest hardboiled detectives is not merely a prototype, but also still among the best.
Ricci tries bizarre British whimsy in ‘Miranda’ (2002)
Throwback Thursday (Movie review): With mild success, a one-and-done screenwriter blends a con drama, an orphan tragedy and romantic flailing.
du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ (1938) a slower burn than the film
On a Hitchcock kick (Book review): Hitchcock’s faithfulness limits surprises for those tackling the novel afterward, but it has one key difference.
‘Last Bookshop in London’ (2021) blends love of books with WWII
Book club book report: In a young-adult style, Madeline Martin communicates the horrors of the Blitz to folks who’d rather curl up with a good novel.
2024: A horror ‘Oddity’ – Irish film is year’s best so far
Movie review: Writer-director Damian Mc Carthy masterfully crafts a character-driven supernatural whodunit at a refurbished Irish manor.
Horror-thriller ‘Longlegs’ has loads of style, not enough story
Movie review: The latest nutso performance by Nicolas Cage is in service of a moody horror-thriller where the story pieces don’t fit.
Hammett’s ‘The Glass Key’ (1931) digs into city political games
Sleuthing Sunday (Book review): Though unavoidably a complex subject, Hammett and his most unethical detective make government corruption accessible.
‘Shining Girls’ (2022): Make it make sense
Throwback Thursday (TV review): A shaky portrayal of a newspaper and even shakier time-travel logistics undercut nice design and good acting.
‘All the President’s Men’ (1976) grandly caps Pakula’s ‘paranoia trilogy’
The ‘paranoia trilogy’ (Movie review): But it’s not paranoia if it really happened, and that’s the case in one of the all-time best non-fictional accounts of newspaper reporting.