Investigative Thriller

  • Movie Review: Rahasya (2015)

    Movie Review: Rahasya (2015)

    The truth about real-life incidents, like an unsolved homicide, while devastating to a family, can provide fertile ground for filmmakers to exercise their creativity and take a few poetic liberties. They are given a ready-made plot, allowing them to add or remove characters as necessary, change a few events, and speculate on the missing pieces.… Read more

  • Movie Review: Manhunter (1986)

    Movie Review: Manhunter (1986)

    Five years before “Silence of the Lambs” made Hannibal Lecter a household name, director Michael Mann released this stylized neo-noir classic, the first movie to feature the iconic villain. Based on the book “Red Dragon” by Thomas Harris, the movie stars William Petersen of “CSI” fame and Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecktor. Though it did… Read more

  • Movie Review: The Mirror Crack’d (1980)

    Movie Review: The Mirror Crack’d (1980)

    ‘The Mirror Crack’d’ is a British adaptation of Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side,’ featuring Angela Lansbury playing the ‘elderly spinster’ sleuth Miss Marple for the first and only time. Directed by Guy Hamilton, with a screenplay by Jonathan Hales and Barry Sandler, the movie boasts an ensemble cast including many thespians… Read more

  • Movie Review: Brick (2005)

    Movie Review: Brick (2005)

    “Brick,” directed by Rian Johnson, is one of the best neo-noir movies ever made. The plot attempts to recreate all the elements of a classic noir in a California suburb, unfolding near a college campus. A persistent teenager embodies the attributes of the brooding gumshoe detective and begins his own investigation into the murder of… Read more

  • Movie Review: Lady in the Lake (1947)

    Movie Review: Lady in the Lake (1947)

    Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe was one of the most popular fictitious gumshoe detectives of the classic film-noir era. Great thespians like Humphrey Bogart, Elliot Gould, James Garner, Danny Glover, George Montgomery, and Robert Mitchum have played him. This time we look at an interesting film noir where the role of Marlowe is played by Robert… Read more

  • Movie Review: Manorama Six Feet Under (2007)

    Movie Review: Manorama Six Feet Under (2007)

    After more than 300 posts on this blog, I am now reviewing a Bollywood movie for the first time. “Manorama Six Feet Under,” directed and co-written by Navdeep Singh, is more a homage than an adaptation of Polanski’s classic neo-noir, “Chinatown.” That being said, the movie introduces enough changes to “Chinatown’s” plot to make it… Read more