The Thirteenth Floor (1999)

Movies about virtual reality and the internet envision worlds within worlds – levels, Jerry, levels. So it is with movies about VR: The Matrix is at the top level, being a critical and commercial success that still stands the test of time. Then you have the next level, films like Dark City, which weren’t box […]

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 […]

Too Late For Tears (1949)

A bag filled with money is a classic object and inciting incident in film noir, never an opportunity but a source of fatalistic consequences. So it goes in Too Late For Tears (1949) when a married couple (Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy) are driving down a lonely stretch of road when another car throws in […]

Woman On The Run (1950)

Woman On The Run (1950) is an effective and underrated film noir that’s under 80 minutes and has made me a fan of main star Ann Sheridan (who was also a silent co-producer on it). When her husband (Ross Elliott) witnesses a murder while walking their dog, he reports it to the police but gets […]