This is a minuscule plot, presented in a stylish cinema noir wrapper and packed with Gallic panache. It features powerful performances from the two male leads, as it explores their relationship and the consequences of the catastrophic event which saw one of them drummed out of the police force and imprisoned for causing deaths while…
We enjoy all sorts of thrillers here at MMM, from non-stop action romps to inexplicable international arthouse adventures, from popcorn puff to self-indulgent intellectualism.* Recently we’ve seen three wonderfully weird examples of world cinema, each of which revolves around a captivating female central character. Each of them is a solid four-star flick, worthy of…
Typically reserved and inward-looking, this intriguing Icelandic docu-drama treads much the same water (sorry) as Robert Redford’s All Is Lost romp. But while the latter is a ripping yarn of high-tension on the high seas, The Deep is far more remarkable because it’s a credible re-telling of actual events. The Deep explores the unlikely survival…
Don’t watch this looking for a Hollywood-style sword-n-savagery action flick (although there is plenty of bloodily realistic hacking, maiming and killing). This is not the Mads Mikkelsen you know from Hannibal. This is experimental, art-house, risk-taking film-making. It is weird and beautiful and brutal. It’s also minimalist, surreal, philosophical and prone to showing extended clips…
We’re giving away two terrific crime-thriller flicks on DVD this week. EL NINO is intelligent Eurocrime; a stylish slice of modern Spanish movie-making about narcotic smuggling in the Med. Here’s our full review. ALL THAT MATTERS IS PAST is a disconcerting Scandinavian psychodrama featuring murder, a tangled love-triangle, sibling rivalry and sexual violence. Here’s all…
This week on MMM we’re giving away a stack of books, ebooks and DVDs; a selection of outstanding criminal investigations, murder-mysteries, Nordic noir, sci-fi, supernatural and chilling thrillers, including several exclusive hard-copies signed by the author. IT’S CRIMINALLY SIMPLE TO ENTER: >>‘Like’ the Murder Mayhem and More Facebook page >>Find the book, film, ebook or TV show…
It’s never easy adapting a quirky book into an interesting film. ‘Horns’ turned out to be much better than you might expect. It’s an engaging, entertaining murder-mystery with a preposterous but perfectly accomplished supernatural spin. Take away the horns and you have a genre standard, wrongly-accused, coming of age investigation which centres on the brutal…
For more than two hours, this intelligent, taut, low-key thriller kept us entertained and engaged. It far exceeds expectation, and delivers a typically thoughtful and powerful performance from Denzel Washington. It also perfectly sets up a sequel or TV series, but it’s now hard to imagine someone other than Denzel taking centrestage in the role…
A clever, low-key thriller, Closed Circuit has more in common with Tinker Tailor than Jason Bourne. It’s a typically English conspiracy, exploring similar issues of modern political morality as Bill Nighy’s Page Eight, and harking back to the days of Sandbaggers and beyond. This is most definitely not a running / shooting / shouting action-adventure…
God’s Pocket is the kind of low-key high-brow crime drama typical of Continental cinema which Hollywood rarely produces. That probably explains why the American audience didn’t quite know how to take it. It mixes bitterly bleak, stiletto-sharp social observation with slapstick snapshots of comedy, played to perfection by a sweatily lumbering but utterly understated Hoffman.…
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