The Killing (AMC Cable) returns June 2 for its third season. The crime series is set in Seattle with plenty of rainy, murky atmosphere and an offbeat pair of lead characters in police detectives Sara Linden and Steven Holder.
This season they investigate a new case involving the multiple murders of missing teens and street kids who may have been hunted by a serial killer.
The Killing is a sinister, addictive puzzle full of swirling undercurrents and hidden secrets. But the series frustrated viewers in Season One by leaving hanging the identity of the killer of Rosie Larsen. The killer was finally revealed at the end of Season Two, but by then the drawn-out mystery lost much of its impact. It was a major storyline mistake which the show producers promise not to repeat this season.
Given all that, The Killing remains a first rate crime series that's as dark and chilly as its Pacific Northwest setting.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Sunday, May 5, 2013
THE BAT by Jo Nesbo Another Outstanding Crime Thriller
The Bat by Norwegian author Jo Nesbo is an earlier written crime novel that has become available for the first time in the U.S. This is the first in the terrific series featuring Oslo police detective Harry Hole.
Here we see a younger Harry, not yet beset by the drug use and mental demons which will torment him in later novels. His demeanor is still thoughtful and pragmatic, not yet degenerated into his later bitter cynicism toward his police work and the perverse killers that he hunts.
Here we also learn Harry Hole's last name has the correct Norwegian pronunciation of "Hoo-leh." Nice to have that cleared up.
In The Bat, Harry is sent to Australia to assist the Aussie police in the murder of a young Norwegian woman there. Harry is paired with an Aborigine detective as the investigation moves through the colorful Australian culture. But when a pattern of similar murders is uncovered, Harry knows he is now on the track of a vicious serial killer.
For Jo Nesbo fans, The Bat is a can't-miss treat and a chance to see where it all started for Harry Hole. Highly recommended.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Here we see a younger Harry, not yet beset by the drug use and mental demons which will torment him in later novels. His demeanor is still thoughtful and pragmatic, not yet degenerated into his later bitter cynicism toward his police work and the perverse killers that he hunts.
Here we also learn Harry Hole's last name has the correct Norwegian pronunciation of "Hoo-leh." Nice to have that cleared up.
In The Bat, Harry is sent to Australia to assist the Aussie police in the murder of a young Norwegian woman there. Harry is paired with an Aborigine detective as the investigation moves through the colorful Australian culture. But when a pattern of similar murders is uncovered, Harry knows he is now on the track of a vicious serial killer.
For Jo Nesbo fans, The Bat is a can't-miss treat and a chance to see where it all started for Harry Hole. Highly recommended.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Saturday, April 20, 2013
WORLD WAR Z a Documentary Horror Novel
World War Z by Max Brooks is a horror novel about a worldwide plague that turns the infected into living dead predators. The novel is written in documentary fashion, from first hand personal reports, giving it a credible, immediate realism. If Michael Crichton ever wrote a science-based zombie novel, this would be it.
World War Z stands apart from other typical zombie tales in the way it explores scientific issues, government actions, and the military program to exterminate the infected hordes. Another difference is that these predators are fast moving, tenacious, and work together in cooperative masses to overrun everything. This is a big canvas portrayal of how the plague sweeps around the world, doing massive damage to human society. The novel recalls other pandemic thrillers like Contagion and 28 Days Later.
The movie version of World war Z is scheduled to be released this June and could be a summer box office hit. Read the chilling, addictive novel first to get a sneak preview.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
World War Z stands apart from other typical zombie tales in the way it explores scientific issues, government actions, and the military program to exterminate the infected hordes. Another difference is that these predators are fast moving, tenacious, and work together in cooperative masses to overrun everything. This is a big canvas portrayal of how the plague sweeps around the world, doing massive damage to human society. The novel recalls other pandemic thrillers like Contagion and 28 Days Later.
The movie version of World war Z is scheduled to be released this June and could be a summer box office hit. Read the chilling, addictive novel first to get a sneak preview.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Best Main Characters in a Mystery Series
Many Mystery and Crime readers like to follow a favorite main character through a series of novels. It gives readers a familiar personality to identify with through the pages of twisted, violent cases, where we see the emotional impact on the character of the crimes he or she investigates.
Here are some of the best characters in a current Mystery/Crime series:
Dave Robicheaux - Created by James Lee Burke, Dave is a police detective in the bayou country of Iberia Parish, Louisiana. He's a troubled figure, both embittered and tormented by past alcoholism and the murder of his wife. The Robicheaux novels are always haunted by a sense of pervasive evil and the futility that Dave feels as he fights against it. That feeling can be heard in his melancholy, resigned narrative voice. Outstanding early novels in the series are Heaven's Prisoners and Dixie City Jam.
Harry Bosch - Created by Michael Connelly, Bosch is an LAPD detective whose hard nosed, maverick style makes enemies for him in the police high command. Bosch is a driven, uncompromising investigator who follows the evidence, whatever the consequences. He never met an official line he's unwilling to cross. A cynical loner, Harry is unable to build emotional relationships. His sole commitment is to the police work that he does. The Closers is a first rate police procedural in the Bosch series.
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro - Created by Dennis Lehane, this private eye team works the gritty, blue collar streets of South Boston. Kenzie is the impulsive, sometimes hot-headed one. Gennaro is the practical, more cautious realist. Together they complement each other as they work cases, and the two main characters offer a unique perspective. When they become married and then have a child later in the series, it brings a new family consideration to the stark dangers of their work. The highlight novel for this pair is Gone, Baby, Gone.
Harry Hole - Created by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo, Harry is an Oslo police inspector in this chilling Nordic crime series. Harry can be erratic and unreliable as he struggles against his drug use and psychological demons. But Harry is at his obsessive best when he's locked onto the trail of a diabolical serial killer. The vicious depravity of those cases at times threatens to drag Harry himself into the black moral abyss. Two terrific thrillers in the Harry Hole series are The Snowman and The Leopard.
Elvis Cole - Created by Robert Crais, Elvis is a private investigator in Los Angeles. Early on, Elvis is more of a wiseguy who drives a classic Corvette and keeps Disney memorabilia in his office. But later in the series, the wisecracks get fewer as the cases Cole takes get darker and more personal for him. Continuing themes in the series are Cole's sour clashes with the LAPD and the ever present backdrop of the L.A. cultural scene. Exceptional novels in the series are L.A. Requiem and Chasing Darkness.
Here are some of the best characters in a current Mystery/Crime series:
Dave Robicheaux - Created by James Lee Burke, Dave is a police detective in the bayou country of Iberia Parish, Louisiana. He's a troubled figure, both embittered and tormented by past alcoholism and the murder of his wife. The Robicheaux novels are always haunted by a sense of pervasive evil and the futility that Dave feels as he fights against it. That feeling can be heard in his melancholy, resigned narrative voice. Outstanding early novels in the series are Heaven's Prisoners and Dixie City Jam.
Harry Bosch - Created by Michael Connelly, Bosch is an LAPD detective whose hard nosed, maverick style makes enemies for him in the police high command. Bosch is a driven, uncompromising investigator who follows the evidence, whatever the consequences. He never met an official line he's unwilling to cross. A cynical loner, Harry is unable to build emotional relationships. His sole commitment is to the police work that he does. The Closers is a first rate police procedural in the Bosch series.
Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro - Created by Dennis Lehane, this private eye team works the gritty, blue collar streets of South Boston. Kenzie is the impulsive, sometimes hot-headed one. Gennaro is the practical, more cautious realist. Together they complement each other as they work cases, and the two main characters offer a unique perspective. When they become married and then have a child later in the series, it brings a new family consideration to the stark dangers of their work. The highlight novel for this pair is Gone, Baby, Gone.
Harry Hole - Created by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo, Harry is an Oslo police inspector in this chilling Nordic crime series. Harry can be erratic and unreliable as he struggles against his drug use and psychological demons. But Harry is at his obsessive best when he's locked onto the trail of a diabolical serial killer. The vicious depravity of those cases at times threatens to drag Harry himself into the black moral abyss. Two terrific thrillers in the Harry Hole series are The Snowman and The Leopard.
Elvis Cole - Created by Robert Crais, Elvis is a private investigator in Los Angeles. Early on, Elvis is more of a wiseguy who drives a classic Corvette and keeps Disney memorabilia in his office. But later in the series, the wisecracks get fewer as the cases Cole takes get darker and more personal for him. Continuing themes in the series are Cole's sour clashes with the LAPD and the ever present backdrop of the L.A. cultural scene. Exceptional novels in the series are L.A. Requiem and Chasing Darkness.
Friday, March 15, 2013
THE FOLLOWING Borrows Plot Formula From 24
The Following, the creepy, addictive new Fox TV drama uses the same formula of another Fox hit drama, 24. But this time, it's with a conspiracy of sociopath killers instead of a terrorist plot.
The Following is built around serial killer Joe Carroll, a Charles Manson type guru whose magnetism controls a secret cult of sociopath followers. Battling them is troubled, driven former FBI profiler Ryan Hardy, who captured Carroll once before.
The parallels with 24 are many. Serial episodes with surprise plot twists and cliffhanger crises. An ongoing conspiracy threat that must be stopped. Routine characters who suddenly turn out to be part of the cult conspiracy. A relentless hero willing to do whatever it takes, including torture of suspects, to stop the cult plans.
The problem with The Following is its lack of plausibility. The central premise of a secret cult of killers hidden everywhere is far fetched. The motivation of such a mass conspiracy to do evil in order to serve one guru master is literally not believable. That's where the parallel with 24 ends. That series worked because it dealt with an all too realistic terrorist threat. The Following is a horror thriller that's plenty disturbing, but doesn't deal with reality at all.
The Following is built around serial killer Joe Carroll, a Charles Manson type guru whose magnetism controls a secret cult of sociopath followers. Battling them is troubled, driven former FBI profiler Ryan Hardy, who captured Carroll once before.
The parallels with 24 are many. Serial episodes with surprise plot twists and cliffhanger crises. An ongoing conspiracy threat that must be stopped. Routine characters who suddenly turn out to be part of the cult conspiracy. A relentless hero willing to do whatever it takes, including torture of suspects, to stop the cult plans.
The problem with The Following is its lack of plausibility. The central premise of a secret cult of killers hidden everywhere is far fetched. The motivation of such a mass conspiracy to do evil in order to serve one guru master is literally not believable. That's where the parallel with 24 ends. That series worked because it dealt with an all too realistic terrorist threat. The Following is a horror thriller that's plenty disturbing, but doesn't deal with reality at all.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
HITCHCOCK a Shallow Portrayal of Suspense Master
Hitchcock (out March 12 on DVD) is a shallow view of of iconic film director Alfred Hitchcock during the making of his famous suspense classic Psycho.
The movie focuses its attention mostly on Hitch's eccentric personality and personal aberrations. His droll macabre showmanship. His repressed sexual fixations on his chilly blond leading ladies. His peculiar marital status with his wife and longtime script collaborator, Alma Reville. The movie skims over the inner contradictions and guilt that Hitchcock suffered from all his life.
What is also not shown is any serious examination of Hitch's work methods as a master of suspense films. His meticulous pre-planning of every physical detail in each scene in the script before he ever began filming. His careful selection of film projects which reflected the same disturbing psychological themes that dominated his entire body of work.
Hitchcock's great theme was the danger of potential chaos and doom that is always waiting beneath the surface of ordinary daily life. Once that superficial order is broken, either by a chance event or by a deliberate guilty act, the result is disaster.
At the peak of his career, Hitchcock made a run of suspense movie classics which has never been equalled: Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, and Marnie. These movies still stand today as models for how to make a suspense masterpiece.
The movie focuses its attention mostly on Hitch's eccentric personality and personal aberrations. His droll macabre showmanship. His repressed sexual fixations on his chilly blond leading ladies. His peculiar marital status with his wife and longtime script collaborator, Alma Reville. The movie skims over the inner contradictions and guilt that Hitchcock suffered from all his life.
What is also not shown is any serious examination of Hitch's work methods as a master of suspense films. His meticulous pre-planning of every physical detail in each scene in the script before he ever began filming. His careful selection of film projects which reflected the same disturbing psychological themes that dominated his entire body of work.
Hitchcock's great theme was the danger of potential chaos and doom that is always waiting beneath the surface of ordinary daily life. Once that superficial order is broken, either by a chance event or by a deliberate guilty act, the result is disaster.
At the peak of his career, Hitchcock made a run of suspense movie classics which has never been equalled: Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, and Marnie. These movies still stand today as models for how to make a suspense masterpiece.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
SIDE EFFECTS Thriller Bends Perception of Events
Side Effects is a newly released suspense film that not only questions the use of anti-depression drugs which alter the user's perception, but the movie bends the viewer's sense of real events as well.
The movie concerns a woman who is going through severe depression problems. After she attempts suicide, she is treated by a psychiatrist who puts her on an experimental anti-depression drug. Side effects of the drug may include sleep walking type behavior that the user is completely unaware of.
When a murder is committed, the legal question of guilt while under the influence of a powerful psychoactive drug is debated. The doctor who prescribed the medication finds his own career facing ruin. But everything may not be as it seems on the surface.
Side Effects is a tense, complex thriller that takes a late, wrenching twist with disturbing implications. But this drastic shift in the perception of events is only in keeping with the film's theme of the potential dangers of anti-depression prescription drug use.
BEACH RATING: 3 AND 1/2 Palm Trees
The movie concerns a woman who is going through severe depression problems. After she attempts suicide, she is treated by a psychiatrist who puts her on an experimental anti-depression drug. Side effects of the drug may include sleep walking type behavior that the user is completely unaware of.
When a murder is committed, the legal question of guilt while under the influence of a powerful psychoactive drug is debated. The doctor who prescribed the medication finds his own career facing ruin. But everything may not be as it seems on the surface.
Side Effects is a tense, complex thriller that takes a late, wrenching twist with disturbing implications. But this drastic shift in the perception of events is only in keeping with the film's theme of the potential dangers of anti-depression prescription drug use.
BEACH RATING: 3 AND 1/2 Palm Trees
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
