Crime Movie Reviews | Picturenose

Cinema Movie Review: The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)

May

2013

Compelling In The Place Beyond the Pines (2013), Derek Cianfrance finds himself re-teaming with Ryan Gosling from his first film, Blue Valentine (2010). The film tells three separate, but connected stories based in Schenectady, New York. In Mohican, Schenectady means ‘place beyond the pine plains’. Just as the Mohicans depicted the pines separating two different ...

Cinema Movie Review: Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Apr

2013

Killer idea Due to my enjoyment of the cult-classic In Bruges (2008), Martin McDonagh’s film Seven Psychopaths became one of my most anticipated of 2012. The only concern I had going into the film was whether McDonagh’s creativity and audacity would remain in the Hollywood format? It was only fitting that the film turned out ...

DVD Movie Review: The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Jan

2013

Now you see her… Way back into cinema history we go, for a much-respected early Hitch talkie, The Lady Vanishes (1938). Based on the short story The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, with a screenplay by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, Alfred Hitchcock‘s film presents us with an intriguing ‘locked-door’ mystery – what has ...

DVD Movie Review: McVicar (1980)

Aug

2012

Heist society I came to write this by popular demand – in that James is a member of the population and he demanded I write something again, preferably before the next Ice Age. It’s certainly an intriguing story though, and one I am happy to be able to discuss. If you’re expecting tall tales of ...

The Perfect Host (2010)

Jul

2012

Party animal Segue-ing nicely off the back of James’s Big Night (1996) review – a film that’s been on my to-watch list since he first told me about it – I bring you another piece that plays on the almost timeless premise that everyone at the dinner table is not all they are cracked up ...

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) 4

Jul

2012

Black rainbow My Picturenose partner in crime, Colin, has very kindly handed over the honours to, ahem, the Boy Wonder, in order that I may offer my thoughts on Christopher Nolan‘s conclusion to his Batman trilogy. I mean, let’s face it, we all *know* what ‘Bat-afficionado’ Col is going to say about The Dark Knight ...

Cecil B. Demented (2000)

May

2012

Deviously demented John Waters is a name that is unmistakably associated with kitsch and trash cinema. Obsessed since early childhood with violence and gore, Waters still manages to combine such elements with playful irony in his low-budget, always Baltimore-based films. Having started as an underground artist, he was noticed by Hollywood after the success of ...

Tais-toi! (2003) 1

Apr

2012

Double-act dynamite I really do enjoy the films of French director Francis Veber, and the writer-director of Le dîner de cons (The Dinner Game) (1998), which is one of the funniest films I have ever seen, once again excelled himself with Tais-toi! (2003), which was written by Veber from an idea by Serge Frydman. At ...

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Apr

2012

And like that…he’s gone And, as always happens when we make a list, our talk of Top 10 Movie Villains put me in mind of notable omissions – Blofeld of the James Bond films, perhaps, Noah Cross of Chinatown (1974), and Keyser Soze of Bryan Singer‘s The Usual Suspects (1995), absolutely definitely. And just what, ...

Dirty Harry (1971)

Apr

2012

‘Cause he likes it’ Colin was talking recently about one Andy Robinson, citing him as an under-rated actor who, because of a certain ‘break-out’ role, had never achieved the level of success he deserved. Well, Dirty Harry (1971) by Don Seigel starring we-all-know-who was the film in question, and Robinson as Scorpio, a serial killer ...

Tower Heist (2011)

Mar

2012

Stiller force to be reckoned with Hey-ho, another day, another Ben Stiller movie. Or is it? Yes, it is – but this one’s actually quite a lot of fun. If you long for the days gone by when a film did pretty much what was advertised on the poster (The Towering Inferno (1974), Jaws (1975)) ...