Trancers (1984)

Flipping through video store magazines as a kid, I’d come across the occasional straight-to-video sequel advertised in its pages and wonder, “What is this film? There must be fans if they’ve made four or five of these!” It’s like another universe. Trancers (1984), like many a Full Moon production (an outfit I’m not that knowledgable […]

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 […]

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 […]

Maps To The Stars (2014)

“Please. No film noir questions.” Maps To The Stars (2014) fits into the sub-genre of Hollywood noir or neo-noir rather, a descendant of Sunset Boulevard’s scathing look at the film industry, wrapped up in murder, gothic imagery, grotesqueries, and sardonic comedy. David Cronenberg’s film, the first he shot in Los Angeles, and working with a […]

Point Blank (1967)

Lee Marvin in a series of dapper suits with a revolver in hand is enough for a 1960s neo-noir like Point Blank (1967) but the actor’s collaboration with young British director John Boorman offered them both a chance to push the crime genre into pop art experimentation. Revisiting Point Blank, it feels like Steven Soderbergh […]