Tag: True Crime

THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE (2024)

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Directed By: Magnus Von Horn

Written By: Magnus Von Horn And Line Langebek 

Cinematography: Michal Dymek 

Editor: Agnieszka Glinska 

Cast: Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dryholm, Besir Zeciri, Joachim Fjerstrup, Tessa Hoder, Ava Knox Martin, Ari Alexander, Benedikte Hansen 

Copenhagen 1919: A young worker finds herself unemployed and pregnant. She meets Dagmar, who runs an underground adoption agency. A strong connection grows but her world shatters when she stumbles on the shocking truth behind her work.

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This is a film that is hard to talk about as it is definitely a film. You should watch before fighting out too much information about the film so that you can discover what the film offers.

So if you haven’t seen it already, please stop reading this review as to discuss it. You can’t help but spoil part of it, though I will say this is definitely an experience. 

A historical tale filmed in black and white in Germany. This is a film that you admire the acting in the filmmaking, but it’s not a film. You will watch repeatedly due to it subject matter as it is definitely a hard watch after a while. 

The film does start out bleak, but it also at time seems to offer mercy and forgiveness that you think that the main character might still have a chance at a good life or things turning around for her only for it to become bleak again and things turned tragic.

especially when you get to the third act of the film, which is where the audience will be tested as to whether they can finish the film and go further it’s not what is shown on screen, but what the characters do that will be the thing that will be upsetting for most of the audience. Especially where in the end it reveals that this is based on a true story.

as when you’re watching the film, you’re just wondering like what kind of sick mind came up with this storyline and did it have to be as harsh but then the truly scary part is that it’s not necessarily an extension of the writer directors imagination, but presenting the facts to a certain extent 

The film is breathtaking in a way in which it begins at first you think it’s gonna be a rags to riches story but it seems to be a rags with hopes of riches gets a taste of riches get thrown back into rags and at the worst moments sort of gets lifted up only to be thrown down and even lower than they were before.

It humanizes even the violent characters giving a twisted reasoning for their behaviors as the film tries to end with a little bit of hope that you wonder is it too late and have the characters gone too far for that 

One of the amazing aspects of this movie is the lead played by Vic Carmen Sonne. as an actress she is quite a chameleon because though her character is pretty here, she’s so run down and grab that she has common looks, but has a look that stands out and then as a film goer, you remember her from the controversial movie HOLIDAY in which she played pretty much a cat woman, a sugar, baby, who all these men desired and literally were harming each other over her and here she’s treated like a little nothing

If anything this film ends up being a survivor story the cinematography black and white film is so beautiful and timeless that even though it’s said in the past, it feels like something that could still happen today when people are at their lowest.

This is one of those films where you know you’re never going to watch it again necessarily more because of the subject matter because it’s a beautifully made film. The filmmaking is exceptional, but the subject matter is hard for anyone to take and watch, even if not showing graphically just the thought of it the horror, the horrors. 

No one can understand why the story needs to be told but also you wonder once you know the twist does it lose the power of it as if you go into this film blind and let it build you’re going along a journey where you don’t know where it’s going to lead, and then that choice happens And has its effect on subsequent views if you choose to, is the filmmaking still powerful now that you know the twist, does it stay as strong on a repeat view it or was this meant to be a one and done?

For all the praise that movies like the sixth sense for instance gets and it is a well-made movie, but it doesn’t hit as hard once you know the twist so would it be quite as remarkable or stand the test of time without it. As always, I guess that is up to the individual. As some will keep watching just for the innovations or the filmmaking or the performances or they’ll find something to come back for. No matter how grizzly it might eventually become or even just to study it to see the clues if any early on order to see how it affects them slowly going to where they know the film is going to go.

as always, I will warn this is definitely not a film for everyone. If you are highly sensitive I would definitely say skip this movie maybe read up about it instead as again the film isn’t glory or even a violent, but it is subtle and it’s horror that will haunt and disturb you. 

Grade: A 

THE CLOVEHITCH KILLER (2018)

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Directed By: Douglas Sikes

Written By: Christopher Ford 

Cinematography: Luke McCoubrey

Editor: Megan Brooks and Andrew Hasse 

Cast: Dylan McDermott, Charlie Plummer, Madisen Beaty, Samantha Mathis, Emma Jones, Lance Chantiles-Wertz, Jonathan Riggs, Mark Nash 

A picture-perfect family is shattered when the work of a serial killer hits too close to home.

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This film is an interesting take on a serial killer. Where it asks what would you do if you found out that your parent might have been a serial killer.

What is most inventive of the film is that for a film about a serial killer and his killings. There is only One scene of true violence and luckily it’ not that explicit. Even as it delves into the killings throughout. 

The killisngs take place in the midwest in a heavily religious Community. Where it is happening right beneath their noses, by one of their own.

The true reason for the killings is more about power and control. Though eventually what seems to have kept him at bay was if he couldn’t have the actual thrill of the kill. It was the memory and having evidence as reminders. 

The second half shows that while this is based on various serial killers. It’s not a true story. As no one would admit to the actions of the third act.

The film presents it’s story bare and matter of factly. It doesn’t go for anything gratuitous or exploitive. It plays more like a racy Tv-movie of the same subject. Only not trying to put it down or diminish it’s strength in storytelling. It just feels there is little subtlety and goes for just straight shooting. Though there is a narrative disturbance that is creative and effective to

A degree. Maybe because it also revolves around an actor who was a big television star.

The strength of the filmmaking shows in that ot’s a horror film, built on tension and not gratuitous violence or sex ABD again for a film that couldneasilt have been a television movie on the subjects. It’s still haunting the audience after the film is done. Putting it’s Characters to make the hardest decisions in the worst situations. 

Dylan Mcdermott and Charlie Plummer both hit it out if the park in their roles. Which have so many layers and depth. That you constantoy believe them. 

In the end thenfiom breaks down into a character study of a father and son. The actions and suspicions set forth. As at first it plays like a mystery and then once learning the truth. The consequences of each actions.

Grade: B- 

THE POSSESSED (1965)

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Directed By: Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rossellini

Written By: Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini, Giulio Questi and Ernesto Gastoldi 

Based on the novel by: Giovanni Comisso

Cinematography: Leonida Barboni 

Editor: Nino Baragoli

Cast: Peter Baldwin, Salvo Randone, Valentina Cortese, Pia Lindstrom, Pier Giovanni Anchisi, Ennio Balbo, Verna Lisi, Philippe Leroy 

Famous writer Bernard travels to a small lakeside town for an off-season winter vacation. He checks into an old hotel owned by Enrico and his daughter Irma expecting to meet Tilde, the maid he had a crush on the last time he visited the town. However, he discovers that Tilde has committed suicide, and when he meets the local photographer, Bernard learns that she was pregnant. He becomes obsessed with finding out whether she really committed suicide and to guess what really happened. When Enrico’s son Mario and his wife Adriana arrive at the hotel, Bernard has daydreams about Tilde’s fate.

It’s true they don’t make films like these anymore and it’s a shame

This is a film. I have only heard about it recently. It’s a film. I am happy to have discovered it’s based on a true story. It might remind some viewers of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo more for its obsession and mystery aspects than necessarily the filmmaking or direction.

Only here it’s an Italian film and it’s beautiful to look at and the woman at the center of the mystery is pretty though not as haunting as other heroines in this type of film.

Which has the main character, a photographer, and writer comes to town to look up a female whom he had an acquaintance and took pictures of the year before and might be hoping to romance only to find that she is dead and that it was murder. He finds himself obsessed with getting to the bottom of it, aided by the few friends in town who give him hints but never quite the full story. 

It’s a short film you can pretty much guess who the guilty is, though throughout there are plenty of twists and turns and revelations that you don’t quite see coming that even the audience is introduced to that the author has until certain aspects of the story come into play.

This isn’t a very romantic film, but it’s a film shot in black-and-white and looks beautiful and the film does stay haunting even after the ending is revealed and the third act is full of twist. The film isn’t as deep and penetrating as you hope it is quite a surprise for those who don’t know about this film that is worth seeking out.

This isn’t a super sleuth tail, nor is it a tale of unrepentant evil characters. As it unfolds It’s a story that feels all the more human and it fails with characters who are more three dimensional, and ultimately tragedy is a fulfilling film by the end. 

it can only go so many places, especially based on a true story. I can’t say it’s something you’ve never seen before but it is a story that will keep your interest. It not only focuses on the who but also the Y and the aftermath

Grade: B-

THE BRINK’S JOB (1978)

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Directed By: William Friedkin

Written By: Walon Green

Based on “BIG STICKUP AT BRINK’S” By: Noel Behn

Cinematography: Norman Leigh 

Editor: Bud Smith and Robert K. Lambert

Cast: Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield, Gena Rowlands, Warren Oates, Paul Sorvino, Sheldon Leonard 

A fictional retelling of the infamous Boston Brink’s Company robbery on January 17th, 1950, of $2.7M, cost the American taxpayers $29M to apprehend the culprits with only $58,000 recovered.

The film feels fact-based and amazingly recreated, Sticking to the facts.  though it also feels like the film has no personality. Which is evident as neither do the characters. 

Just as the characters never come off as interesting just there to do a job or complete a mission no real character to them. As it’s supposed to be a comedy though the jokes are far away and many calamities happen in the caper. 

We never get to know any of the characters or their quirks to see how they might be funny or add to the proceedings. Even when given more of a comedic scenario. It feels so basic with no excitement that it just comes across as flat. 

Technically there is nothing wrong with it, But it comes and goes very easily without too much to remember. The cast is good, the production design is beautiful and the movie-making is good. It just feels like a project that was exactly where everyone did what was needed but nothing more or nothing less.

The film looks great from a production design stand pony and it feels like you are in that time. 

This was a film that was originally set up under director John Frankenheimer who left after problems with the studio. William Friedkin took over the project but threw out the original script and ordered a new one. So it wasn’t exactly a for-hire job. 

The film just seems to lack any spontaneity or any humor that many of the characters and situations the characters find themselves in and that the actors are clearly capable of but seem reigned in a bit. 

Grade: C

BOSTON STRANGLER (2023)

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Written & Directed By: Matt Ruskin 
Cinematography: Ben Kutchins 
Editor: Anne McCabe

Cast: Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Chris Cooper, Alessandro Nivola, Rory Cochrane, David Dastmalchain, Peter Gerety, Robert John Burke, Ryan Winkles, Morgan Spector 

Loretta McLaughlin was the reporter who first connected the murders and broke the story of the Boston Strangler. She and Jean Cole challenged the sexism of the early 1960s to report on the city’s most notorious serial killer.

The film is well shot almost like an episode of the show MINDHUNTER. This might be why it feels like an R-rated tv-movie, but it lacks the drama, tension, and strength of that television show. 

In fact, it ends up representing those made for cable movies of the 1990s and 2000s. That was meant to be an event. where they got an all-star or established cast of recognizable names.

The movie plays like it’s own version of SHE SAID, though instead of tackling the Harvey Weinstein case. There is two female reporters who are looked down upon. One established and one rookie, cracking a case wide open that established reporters didn’t. As they are even the first to notice a pattern. 

Similar to that film we get to see their domestic lives while also tackling this story. Only here Kiera Knightley gets more screen time. As the rookie and how this case is also disrupting her domestic situation. 

The film short changes Carrie Coon a bit. As she is the mentor to Knightley’s character. We learn a bit less about her. She also doesn’t have as much screen time or moments. 

I can admit so far I have never been a fan of the movies based on this true crime case. Including the film THE BOSTON STRANGLER from 1968 

Directed by Richard Fleischer and starred Henry Fonda, Tony Curtis, and George Kennedy. Though that movie focused more on the killer and the police detectives. 

As a true crime movie, you could easily look up the case to discover the ending as well as the ins and outs. What the film does actually do successfully is offered up the surprise of the suspects and the realization of how many men got away with murder using the M.O. of the strangler, but when not being able to be linked with the other crime of the strangler were let go.

As towards the end, a character pretty much defines what the movie is about and sums up the point of this dramatization. Which is the changing times and realizations of things either kept hidden, quiet or never acknowledged. That was unfortunately showing that society could never go back to being so innocent. 

Though the film at least offers some hope for two female reporters challenging the status quo and finding courageousness and leading a way for females in the future. Even as they are pretty much the prey out there at that time. 

Grade: C+

HOUSE OF GUCCI (2021)

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Directed By: Ridley Scott
Written By: Becky Johnston & Roberto Bentivenga
Based on the Book By: Sara Gay Forden 
Cinematography: Dariusz Wolski
Editor: Claire Simpson 

Cast: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Jack Huston, Salma Hayek, Camille Cottin, Reeve Carney 

When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel their legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately…murder.

This should be a movie that could almost guarantee an audience. It has a strong true life story of an emotive that is successful and slowly crumbles. The infighting amongst the family for control of this empire. An outsider who comes in and manipulates everyone and then later a true crime aspect. 

For such an established and pedigree cast this film should be much better. It is grand in style though strangely considering the story should feel epic. Never achieves the heights and power that it should. It never feels rich or full-bodied. 

Now, this is Lady Gaga’s first big starring role after A STAR IS BORN. All eyes are on her as she has the showiest role and while she does ok. It might have been much stronger with a more experienced actress. Who could captivate the audience.

Jared Leto acts like he is in a totally different film. His performance comes off as more comedic but will admit he is the most entertaining part of the film. As with him In Scenes. The film either feels uneven or that it is slipping more into camp at times. 

The film at least allows for other cast members to shine but they rarely come close to being as interesting or captivating. Other than gaga Adam driver has the character who shows the most range in terms of emotions and situations. 

The script fails at times also. As gaga’s character at first seems In love and humble and then all of a sudden seems to desire money and success manipulating her husband and the rest of the family. It might have been a little more understandable if the film showed she was a girl who came from much more humble beginnings and once around. Wealth and success she got spoiled and wanted to stay in that environment. Instead of making. It seems like she was a power mad gold digger all of a sudden.

The film feels like it is going through the motions of telling the story rather than being invested in it or the characters. It feels to a matter of fact or more reporting. Even in the good times, you don’t feel heights of joy or happiness. Though Can only go so far as Based ona true story

The film feels like it lacks the glamour and indulgence. It’s pretty much a television movie with a star name cast and more of a budget and even has scenes to help individualize the characters

It might be that wanting to show her more rags to riches we see glimpses  of the power and fortune and are left with more the gaudy and rather basic indulgences and keep i everything smaller with lesser volumes as far as size of story making it feel more personal 

As far as star casting she is in the middle of it all and does fine but needs a bigger star for us to indulge in. Went to tell a mroe realistic story instead of letting it either go to camp or makign it more about the Star than the story ala evita and with lady Gaga can see it as that kind of film where it could be but here the peers that be were more interested in story and details 

Which might disappoint her audience but for fans wanting to learn the story or look for this to be a mroe all around film night prefer it

When dealing with a film about a known empire of fashion. Most expect a film More of style than substance. Maybe the thinking of the filmmakers was to be more restrained as style would be expected. As the story itself was so wild in the first place.

In the end it ends up not only a true crime drama that only showcases that aspect in the last third. As the first third is a romance and rags to riches story and the middle is indulgence but after all is said and done it is ultimately a tragedy. Where the new element brought the house down, but also everyone’s individual greed is their own worst enemies that becomes personified in the end 

The film Works on many different levels for the audience star power as she has a best actress nomination. She has to be jsit as good as her cast memebers making her bring more of an a game as most of these actors are good even on their worst days

Her power of celebrity brings most of they punter audience even if not for die hard fans there is that element for others to see if she is up to par with her co-stars 

It would only be more heightened if she had performed a song for the soundtrack which might have helped the film financially but then would have come over even more as a vanity project 

Having Al Pacino in a movie set in Italy and with a crime drama background already poses sea the stereotype of somehow involving the mob. Luckily when it comes to him and his pedigree he is associated only with illustrious films about the mob that are mroe legendary

The film looks good but never quite as sharp as it should and never achieves the dramatic depth it should. Making it feel like it is constantly missing an ingredient. As it is definitely missing a sense of glamour.

Grade: C+