Narrow Margin (1990)

Gene Hackman’s presence as a thinking man action star occupied video store shelf space in the 1980s with stuff like The Package, Bat 21 and Company Business. Pre-Tom Clancy, Cold War era, Dad movies utilising Hackman’s trademark quality; an affable chuckle that could snap into authoritarian rage. For the film noir remake, Narrow Margin (1990), […]

The Missing Person (2009)

Michael Shannon and John Ventimiglia on the side of a dusty road talking for five minutes about what breed of dog Serpico had in the film Serpico is my idea of cinema, baby! That’s one scene from the neo-noir comedy-drama, The Missing Person (2009), which stars Michael Shannon as an alcoholic private eye named John […]

At Close Range (1986)

The Patrick Leonard score to At Close Range (1986), and the “teasing” (as director James Foley described in the interview accompanying the new blu-ray release) of the Madonna single, ‘Live To Tell’ (written for the movie) is so great. Just a haunting synth ambience that works as an overture to the oncoming tragedy ahead of […]

Throw Down (2004)

Director Johnnie To said in an interview that he “didn’t want any antagonists” in the Hong Kong film, Throw Down (2004). This is intriguing to hear – no antagonists in a neo-noir martial arts movie set in the backstreets, gambling dens and smoky bars of Hong Kong? And that is specifically about the fighting form […]

After Dark, My Sweet (1990)

Adapted from a novel by Jim Thompson, After Dark, My Sweet (1990) is an underrated neo-noir that is set in the outskirts of Palm Springs, California. Wandering out of the desert is a drifter, Kid Collins (Jason Patric), an ex-boxer who tells us over voice over narration that he’s escaped from a mental ward. In […]