movie review
Felony-focused film reviews; fictional movies and true crime documentaries depicting real-life stories or inspired by them.
A Filmmaker's Review: "Dahmer" (2002)
“Dahmer” (2002) is a film starring Jeremy Renner as the serial killer and cannibal/rapist Jeffrey Dahmer. It happens as two separate timelines. One in which Jeffrey Dahmer is an already profuse serial killer and the other where he is still starting out and understanding that he may actually be a monster. The starting-off timeline happens backwards and therefore, requires you to pay a lot of attention to why there is a damned pandora’s box in the bedroom and why he won’t let his father open it. However, it also requires you to pay attention to how these flashbacks are placed, because they are never there for no apparent reason. For example: the reason why Dahmer can’t go into the bar when Rodney does is told to us through a flashback. Be that as it may, this film had many pros and cons and we’re going to investigate them in much more detail as we delve deeper and see exactly why this film got very good reviews critically, but seemed to leave audiences a bit spaced out.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Criminal
Movie Review: 'The Lie' is an Unintentionally Laugh Out Loud Comedy
The Lie is one of the dumber movies I have seen in a long while. This sleezy production from Blumhouse Productions, better known for cheap horror, than anything remotely like The Lie, wants to put you in the awkward position of being the parents of a child who has murdered a friend. The filmmakers want you to ask what you would do in order to protect your child from going to prison for murder. For a good person, this question is very easy. For the low brain-power characters of The Lie it’s a plot contrivance.
By Sean Patrick5 years ago in Criminal
A Film Addict Reviews! Molly’s Game
Films that are based on true stories could always be embellished due to how the studio wanting to dramatize it. Also, films like those are also missing some vital pieces are rush through things just for the sake of telling the story. Molly’s Game would probably benefit from one.
By Anakin Shaw5 years ago in Criminal
Latasha's Song Can Still Be Heard
The short original Netflix documentary “A Love Song For Latasha”. In its twenty minute running time, what you get is a powerful, heart breaking look at the young girl, who at fifteen years old, had her life cut tragically short. While it would have been easy to focus entirely on the circumstances surrounding her untimely death, what we got with this short film was an insight into the young girl herself.
By Chloe Medeiros5 years ago in Criminal
'Unhinged' Movie Review
In Unhinged, struggling single mom Rachel (Caren Pistorius) just can't catch a break. Her ex seems to have the better divorce lawyer, she's always running late, her career is slipping, and her day is only about to get worse. When she takes a detour to try to get her son (Gabriel Bateman) to school on time, she has a little road rage altercation with a disgruntled driver (Russell Crowe). Little does she know, this man has nothing left to lose, and he decides to stalk her, leaving a trail of destruction in his path.
By Will Lasley5 years ago in Criminal
Booze, Broads and Blackjack
Despite being sidelined by COVID-19, Booze, Broads, and Blackjack has raked in the awards from film events on both sides of the US. It's a mob thriller film that presents the skill and on-screen power of veteran actor Vincent Pastore of The Sopranos fame. The film also shows that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas.
By Ethan H. Gaines5 years ago in Criminal
Russell Crowe is on a Murderous Rampage in the Highly Entertaining ‘Unhinged’
If you’re as obsessed with true crime stories as I am, you know the frightening concept of regular people suddenly turning homicidal. In some cases, we could have seen it coming. A past riddled with indications of sadism. Earlier indications of mental health issues. But occasionally, people just break bad. Their friends and families are baffled. They would tell the authorities that he seemed like such a gentle soul, he didn’t seem like the type of person who could have done something so terrible.
By MovieBabble5 years ago in Criminal
A Filmmaker's Guide to: 10 Courtroom Dramas
The courtroom drama has been a big piece of interesting cinema for so long purely because it has the ability to show us the loopholes and problems with the judicial system in a way a crime documentary about innocence would. The only difference is that we don't get these side notes teaching us about the legal system, instead we get a very clever storyline told through numerous different voices. We are not swayed to believe either way until someone is completely exonerated and so, it is very much like watching a crime and courtroom play out the long legal process. The reason why we find this interesting is because we are not only fascinated by the dark and criminal side of human nature but, somewhere deep down, we are the only ones who actually know how this case is going to turn out. Musical scores, especially character themes and scene setters can give us hints and clues and, with the want for closure, we can normally guess the ending before it happens. The reason we watch it therefore, is to see what we don't see in real life: the madness of the courtroom.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Criminal
A Filmmaker's Review: “The Innocent Man” (Netflix, 2018)
John Grisham is probably best known for his dramas of law and order in the world of literature. Films like “The Rainmaker” were based on his novels and his newest novel “Camino Island” is just as good as the others, I can assure you. As an incredible writer of fiction, there was one time when Grisham took a dip into the world of nonfiction, much like Truman Capote and others, he chose to cover the topic of true crime. The focus of his book being false confessions, coaxed interviews and wrongful imprisonment. The problems with the judicial system are probably Grisham’s forte in exploration but this took him far beyond anything he could imagine. He not only discovered a law enforcement team that were wrongfully imprisoning the ones they had coaxed to confess to crimes they didn’t commit, but he also discovered a law enforcement team that were corrupt as to ask for half of whatever the prisoner who had actually committed the crime was getting: whether it be drugs, money etc. In this incredible limited series, John Grisham not only explores what is wrong with the law enforcement in small towns, but also what people would do when given far too much power in a situation where they would have no requirement to give it up against their will.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Criminal
A Filmmaker’s Review: “Unabomber: In His Own Words” (Netflix, 2020)
I am pretty sure that anyone who hears the term ‘Unabomber’ has this weird chill that goes down them. You don’t really know why you have a certain chill but it’s there. It’s not really because of the man himself but more about the strangeness surrounding his situation - especially the odd three years he spent under the influence of a psychologist at Harvard University, apparently subjected to CIA style mind-altering torture techniques. Though the man himself maintains it did not change him, is it really that or is that just what he believes? This documentary investigates the years between 1978 and 1995 in which a Mathematics PhD killed three people and injured more than twenty by sending homemade bombs in the post to key locations, concentrating on the urgency for his capture and how ultimately - he was found. It is an incredible look into the life of a man who, since his capture, was shrouded in so much mystery that you practically could not learn anything about him apart from his stubbornly academic manifesto. In this documentary we also get to see his brother, his sister-in-law, a woman who interviewed him after he sent for her by name. We get to see that from the very start of his life there is a sense of withdrawal because of his vast intellect. This intellect that becomes used and abused by the wrong people for the wrong reasons.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Uncut Gems'
I realized years ago when I saw Milton Berle in a serious dramatic role -- I think in The Oscar in the 1960s -- that, contrary to what you might think, comedians can make excellent dramatic actors. Robin Williams confirmed this decades later, with a vengeance, in Insomnia.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
